A Colt to Forget

Chapters

New Experiences
Taken
Innocence Lost pt. 1
Innocence Lost pt. 2
Never come back
New Perspective
None Left Behind
Right Track, Wrong Train
Justified
Fallen Angel
All's Fair...
No Turning Back
Just Cause
Off the Beaten Path
A Holiday in Cambodia
Zero Dark Thirty
Break
The Paths We Choose
The Longest Road
A Colt To Forget
Prologue
Hell Breaking Loose
Just Before the Dawn
A Better or Worse World

New Experiences

Ryan aoke slowly but happily. His flight had been long and uneventful. The movies they showed were bad, and he didn’t know how to pay for the Wifi on the plane. After listening to his Ipod for hours, it died, and he went to sleep. While he slept, though, a baby started to cry, waking up everyone in the plane. The baby was three rows back, and the man next to Ryan couldn’t take it. Being tired, Ryan only remembered some of it. He remembered the man yelling, “Shut that stupid baby up!”, and then getting up and telling the guy to “calm the hell down before he was tossed out the door of the plane.” The guy promptly sat back down, but grumbled some nonsensical gibberish. After the flight, the mother of the baby had thanked Ryan for keeping the angry man in check.

Now, though, he was waking up in the guest room of his friends house in Cairns, Australia. It was a nice house; two floors and a basement, three bathrooms, a nice kitchen, three bedrooms, and several other rooms for other purposes. It was just the right size to fit four people. Harris had had a sister, but she was out of college, and no longer living in the house, so they had a guest room. It just had a really personalized theme.

As Ryan got up, he looked at the clock: 10:30 AM. Even after being awake until 5 AM, he could still get up earlier than most kids he knew could on a non-school day. He could function well, too. He figured this would be good for his hopeful career.

Getting dressed took him half an hour, and then he meandered in the room for a bit longer. At about 11:30, he went down to get his first meal of the day.

Upon entering the kitchen, he was greeted by Harris. “G’day, Ryan. How did you sleep?” he asked. Ryan smiled a little. The two hadn’t met face to face since Harris moved here. “Pretty good. The flight wasn’t SO horrible. I did get a couple hours of sleep.” he responded. “Good. My flight here was awful when we moved. This guy next to me was farting nonstop. When he noticed me cringe, he went into disgusting amounts of detail about this weird medical problem he had. He couldn’t digest properly, and because of that, he basically had this nasty form of Diarrhea all the time. Let me tell you...” Harris began. “Let me stop you there, and say, ‘Please spare me from cruel and unusual punishment’.” Harris laughed. “I’ll let you off this time, but next time I have a nasty story, I’ll make you hear it.” Ryan would, unfortunately, have to believe that.

The two boys ate their lunch, simple pasta, and decided that they would go out and have Ryan meet Harris’ friends. Harris’ parents both worked, so they pretty much gave him free reign over his own activities. This had given him freedom to do all kinds of ridiculous activities; he did mild parkour, played pranks on kids, went to parties, etc. He lived in a life oddly different from Ryan’s.

They walked into the city to a little park. Harris had told his friends about Ryan coming by, and they all wanted to meet, so they went to their typical meetup places. In the park, this was by a statue commemorating the Australian SAS’ service in the war in Vietnam.

As Harris and Ryan approached the statue, Harris called out. “Hey!” he yelled. From the other side of the large statue, three other kids came out. “Sup, guys. This is Ryan, just came here from America.” Ryan smiled and said hello. Harris’ friends were quick to greet him. “My name is Catherine.” the one girl said. She was short, had long brown hair, was clearly an athlete, and had a nice figure. “From what Harris told us, I have a feeling that you’ll be making some comments to me.” It was obvious to Ryan that she knew she was attractive. “More than some.” he replied. She laughed, and moved aside for one of the guys to step forward. “I’m Jackson. I like long walks on a moonlit beach, romantic dinners, and porn.” That last one caught Ryan off guard. He smiled. “Me too!” he announced. They both laughed. Jackson was pushed aside by the last guy. “My name is Paul.” he said sticking out his hand. Ryan took it and shook it firmly. “I work hard, and play harder.” That was all Ryan had to hear to know he was gonna be cool with this guy.

Ryan told his new buds about himself; his Karate, his SCUBA diving, and his various experiences. They would often ask him questions after he finished explaining something, especially about Karate. “So you could, like, wreck people in less than ten seconds?” Jackson asked. “If they’re not trained, I’ll flatten them in ten seconds.” This got him a chorus of “nice”es and “sweet”s. After he told them about himself and his home and other friends, they all decided to peruse the mall for random nonsense. Exploring shopping centers is always fun.

They made their way to the local mall, which was close by. On the way, Ryan noticed people looking at his group of friends and felt uneasy. “Why are we being looked at?” he asked Paul. “Them? Don’t worry; they’re probably just curious. You do kinda look like you’re not from here.” He was right. “I’ll get some new clothes at the mall.” he decided. He always felt uncomfortable when people looked at him intently.

Once at the mall, Ryan felt comfortable again. People were too busy to care about him, and they ignored him. He and his friends started off by going to a clothing store, with which Ryan was entirely unfamiliar. It was some new place, by the looks of it. They went inside and split off a bit to look at what was there. Catherine went with Ryan. “I think I know what will look good on you.” she told him. “Would that be you?” he responded. She stifled a laugh. Satisfied at his work, Ryan turned to the clothes in front of him. They were light colored. “Is it good or bad that the only thing I can determine about clothes is color and sometimes the type of fabric?” he wondered.

Recovering from her giggle fit, Catherine turned to Ryan. “Just to be totally clear... you’re not flirting, are you?” she asked with a hint of worry. “No,” Ryan replied, “I treat everyone this way, if I deem it appropriate.” She looked at him confused. “You think it can be appropriate to talk to people that way casually?” she asked, disbelief evident. “Shame is for the shameful.” Ryan responded.

Accepting that response, Catherine pulled out a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and handed them to Ryan. “Go try these on.” she commanded. Ryan obeyed, and went to the changing room. After trying them on and seeing that they fit nicely, he got back into his clothes and went back to Catherine. When he got close, he heard a voice talking to her. “Get lost.” she said. “Uh oh.” Ryan thought. He got behind a rack right next to the voices and hid. “Come on. You would look great in it.” a man’s voice resonated. That was enough for Ryan to hear to know what was happening. He went around and got behind the man, still hidden. “I told you, get lost.” Catherine ordered. “Don’t be that way. “ the man said. He went to put a hand on Catherine’s shoulder. Ready to shove it away, she never got the chance. “When a lady says no, it’s considered gentlemanly to leave it at that.” Ryan said, grabbing the man’s wrist. The man was at least 3 inches shorter than Ryan. He turned. “Get outta here, mate. This isn’t your business.” he said, trying to be intimidating. Ryan leaned in close to his face. “Do we have a problem? I REALLY hope we have a problem.” he said, beginning to twist the man’s wrist. He took the cue. “I gotta be elsewhere anyway. Maybe I’ll see you around, eh?” he said, winking to Catherine. “No.” Ryan said, stepping between them. “You won’t.”

Swallowing a bit, the guy tucked tail and ran. Ryan turned to CAtherine, who was stunned. “You alright?” he asked her. “Yeah.” she replied. “How did you do that?” she asked. “Lots of factors played into that one.” he said. “Anyway, I liked the clothes. Let’s pay and keep exploring.” he said.

They rounded up their other friends, paid for the clothes, and went off to see what else was there. They came across a survival and sports store, where Ryan bought a pocket knife, much to Jackson’s insistence. It had a 3½ inch blade and an ornate handle. “Gotta admit, it’s a nice knife.” Ryan thought. He could appreciate a good knife.

After finding little of genuine interest, they started talking about plans for that night. A lot of kids were out on their own trips, so anything with other kids was ruled out. No parkour at night. They couldn’t mess with people they didn’t know, that was dangerous. Then, Paul had a lightbulb. “Let’s co to the club!” he announced. They all agreed that it was good, except Ryan. “Do I look old enough to drink?” he asked sarcastically. Harris cut in. “Remember, the United States is the only place where the drinking age is twenty-one. It’s eighteen here, and you could easily pass off for nineteen if you just say it.” Ryan felt a change of heart. “Well, then, I think that sounds like a plan.” he said. His thoughts were just a bit different. “I won’t drink a ton... just a little. For the same money that they’ll spend, I’ll get top shelf, too.”

Their plan was set; they would meet at 8:30, and so they each went to their respective homes to prepare.

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Luna watched as the group of colts, and a filly, dispersed. “It’s good to see that he is going to consume alcohol in a responsible manner.” she said. She looked at her clock; 5:00 PM. They had said that they would meet later, well after sunset, and so Luna made her way back upstairs. “How to pass the time?” she thought. Lightbulb. “I’ll torment my guard!” she concluded with a mischievous grin.

When she went to get her guard, she found herself distracted by a letter on her bed. She went over and looked at it. It was from Celestia’s student.

Dear Princess Luna,

I have been looking into those spells that you inquired about. Unfortunately, I do not have the tome that contains them, nor can I do them myself. I find out, though, that the spells are contained in a book called Cantus Prodio. It is most likely in the forbidden section of the library, but you can get in there without issue. I can’t help but wonder why this interests you so.

Your Friend,

T.S.

After finishing the note, Luna started bouncing and giggling. “Yes, yes, yes! It CAN be done!” she announced happily to no one. A knocking on her door quickly followed her exclamation. “Your highness? Is everything alright?” her guard asked. “Could you come in?” she requested. Using a spell, she took the friction from the floor in front of the door. As her guard rushed in, he slipped and slid all the way to where Luna stood tall over him. “Your... highness?” he asked. She picked him up and pranced about. “I just thought I would share a happy moment with someone, and you were right there!” she told him. He smiled. “It’s good to see you this happy... may I please be put down?” he asked. “No. I will carry you for a time, I think.” she said. He blushed, embarrassed at being carried about like a baby as Luna left her quarters to raise the moon. Her regal sister laughed at the sight. “Why must they do this?” he wondered.

When they finished that business, Luna took her guard back to her door and left him there. She teased him with great frequency, but it was all in good fun.

She decided that, over the next few days, while the wedding was going on, she would research the spell and try to contact the colt of her studies. Oh, the exchange of knowledge! It would be great!

Going back down to her secret room, she looked into the pool. The colt and his new friends were approaching the “club” of which they spoke. “I wonder if it is of a... adult nature.” she thought.

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Ryan was at the back of his group as they approached the nightclub. It was a very “adult” club; it apparently had strippers and private dance rooms. When he found that out, he decided that he would probably spend VERY little money on alcohol. The place looked pretty good. It had only a few neon lights outlining the sign, which read, “Private or public; we don’t judge.” This was most wonderful, as it showed that the club was at least somewhat classy, even for a nightclub.

The line wasn’t very long yet, but Ryan could see a lot of people driving by already. Harris decided to make haste so that they wouldn’t lose their spots. It turned out to be a pretty good idea; people were starting to flood by after they got into line, which advanced quickly. When it was their turn to get past the bouncer, Paul was the only one he stopped. The bouncer asked him for an I.D., thinking he didn’t have one. Instead, Paul produced a fake I.D. Without even checking its authenticity, he let Paul past.

The inside of the club was very much alive. There were stirpper poles in various places, a fully stocked bar, and a dance floor. Jackson and Catherine immediately made their way to the floor, while Paul, Harris, and Ryan made their way to the bar.

They grabbed three open seats, with Ryan sitting in the middle. Harris and Paul waved over the bartender. “What’ll you have?” he asked, eying them with suspicion. “Shots.” Paul replied. Harris asked for scotch. The bartender turned to Ryan. “And you?” he asked. “What’s on the top shelf tonight?” he asked. The bartender’s face lightened up. “We got all kinds of stuff. How much can you afford?” he asked. “About,” Ryan checked his wallet “two hundred fifty.” he said. The bartender was quite pleased. “You only brought two-fifty for the top shelf?” he asked incredulously. “I plan on getting a dance.” Ryan replied with pride. The bartender’s face changed. “Well, then. I have an idea.” he said. Ryan listened. “See that girl?” he said. Ryan looked over toward the girl the bartender was pointing at. “She’s new here. Real nice girl. If you would be a mate and get a dance from her, and give her a good review, I’ll give you two shots of 55 Macallan. On the house. She hasn’t been given a chance to prove herself, but I know she’s got talent, and I’d hate to see her go. Plus, it’ll get lots more people to get dances from her.” he said. Ryan considered this. “What’ll the owner think of two free shots that should each be nineteen hundred dollars?” he asked. The bartender chuckled. “I am the owner, and I think it’s fine. No one buys it anyway, so giving it away won’t actually hurt me that much.” He was convinced. “You have a deal.” he said.

After a couple more words about the girl, Ryan got up and went over. He wondered how to do this. “Am I really about to go up to a girl and say, ‘Can I have a lap dance?’ I guess so.” He continued toward her. She noticed this. “Hey, baby.” she said. “How can I help you on this fine night?” Ryan made an awkward smile. He had never done this seriously before. “Do you do private dances?” he asked. Straight to the point is the way to go, after all. The girl’s face brightened. “Yes I do, honey. Come with me.” she said, and led Ryan to a room toward the back of the bar. As he followed, he observed her figure. It was pretty good; obviously firm butt, not too skinny, decent breasts, and a pretty face to boot. “This will be good. Probably.” he thought.

As they walked into the room, the stripper had Ryan sit down on a small chair. “Just relax, honey. I’ll show you a nice time...” she purred. Ryan could already sense his enjoyment rising to explosive proportions.

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“What in the world am I watching right now?!” Luna yelled out. The colt was in a chair, his... anatomy, clearly in view. The filly he was with had stripped her clothes off and was practically wrapped around him. Luna was dumbfounded. “I have heard of these in our fine city, but never really seen one...” she said. Continuing her observations, her face grew red as the dance approached the end. “Did he just..?” Indeed. Indeed he did.

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“I probably should have done this before, but... that’ll be fifty bucks.” she said. Ryan pulled out a fifty. “That was a good show, and good service has its rewards.” he said, pulling out another fifty. The girl took it gratefully. “Um, thanks.” she said. With that, Ryan used a towel for himself and exited to write a review and obtain his ‘hard’ earned reward. “It would suck if anyone saw all that.” he thought.

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Luna was in fedal position, still watching the colt go about the club. “Why? Why?” she kept asking. Why did she let herself watch that? She tried to distract herself from what she saw by thinking about messing with her guard. Lightbulb. “Maybe I could use that type of thing to my advantage!” she said. Then blushed fiercely. “I would hopefully find another to do the dance, though...” She turned her attention to the colt again.

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“So? How was she?” the bartender, and owner, asked. “So awesome.”Ryan responded. “I even felt a need to tip her for excellent service.” The bartender whistled. “And you did a written review?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “Then here you are my friend,” he said, pulling out two shots of Macallan 55. “On the house.” Ryan pulled the glasses close and picked one up. Sipping it, he thought to himself, “Now, this is classy, right here.” Before he knew it, he had spent ten minutes sipping up all of his two shots. Then he noticed that his friends were missing. “Where did my two buddies go?” he asked. The bartender pointed over to a table, where Paul seemed to be arguing with someone.

“Uh Oh.” Ryan went over, and as he got closer, he heard a guy say, “You best back the hell up, kid.” Paul was about to be in trouble. “Mayybe you shud a-poligizze to my fraynd, Mate.” he said. He was wasted out of his mind. Ryancame up next to him. “Is he bothering you, sir?” he asked the man. Paul turned, startled. “Yeah. You his friend?” the man asked. “Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll get him outta here.” he said. “No!” Paul responded. “He needs to apologize to Catherrine. He grabbed her ass and then just left. Harris took her outside, she wuz so trumutized.” Ryan sighed. “Look, I don’t care. Let’s go. I’ll talk to him.” Ryan said. Paul moved back slightly. Ryan turned to the man. “Just a bit of advice from a story; I once saw a guy get stabbed in the balls for grabbing a girl like that uninvited.” he said. The man grunted. “She was asking for it, the way she was dressed.” Ryan was about to “respectfully disagree” when Paul intervened. “You’re just a secksual perdator, you piece’a crap!” Ryan saw that the the situation was turning volatile.

And he was right. The man was not going to have any part of being insulted, and decided to lunge at Paul. Ryan wouldn’t react in time, and the man brought a mug around, striking Paul across the face. Ryan yelled out as Paul went down.

The time for diplomacy was over. Ryan went up behind the man and kicked out his leg from behind, following with a prompt elbow to the back of his head. grunting, the man hit the floor hard.

Ryan went to check on Paul. Most of the ones on the left side of his face were broken; the skin of his face hung down off his head like a wet rag. Blood from the impact point was seeping onto the floor, and Paul was moaning quietly on the floor. Unfortunately, this is why bar fights are dangerous; glasses don’t break like they do in movies. Bones break much easier than in movies, typically. And, when a person’s face is thoroughly wrecked, their skin has nothing to tightly hold to, so it hangs loose.

Behind him, the man was getting back up, peeved that this kid put him on the ground so quickly. He stood up and yelled at Ryan, who quickly turned around and stood. “You think you’re hot stuff? Come at me, mate!” Ryan stood there. “No.” he said. The man was most confused. “What? What do you mean, no?” “I mean, I’ve been taught not to fight unless necessary. I don’t need to fight you, since you’re too pussy to come at me.” Ryan was goading him to attack. He really wanted to put this guy down for the count.

And it worked. His adversary lunged with a feral roar. The guy clearly had no training. Ryan sidestepped his lunge and brought his knee up to meet his opponent’s gut. Instead, though, it connected with his chest. It knocked the air out of the guy’s lungs, and he went tumbling into a nearby table. While he gasped for air, Ryan went over to him nice and slow. He stood over him. “Didn’t go how you thought, did it?” he asked. The guy, gasping, looked up fearfully. “You simply have no idea what you’re doing. Me? I have thirteen years of Martial Arts. I grew up learning how to fight.” Ryan explained. He leaned in close. “I also know how to get around the laws when it comes to beating the crap out of people. So don’t. Hurt. My. Friends.” he ordered. Ryan pulled Paul over to the bar. “Yo!” he called out. The bartender turned. “Call an ambulance; we got two injured people here.” The bartender gasped at the sight of Paul, and quickly called the Emergency Services.

Ryan dragged Paul out of the club and was greeted by ambulances. They took Paul in and brought him to the hospital. As Ryan watched them go, Harris and Catherine came by. “What happened?” Harris asked. “Paul got messed up,” he said and pointed to a man being pulled out on a stretcher. “by that guy. I took care of him, though.” he said. Harris looked angrily at the stranger. “Noo good sonnofa...” Catherine looked at the guy wide-eyed. “He grabbed my ass!” she yelled. “Yeah, that’s the guy.”Ryan replied. “For his trouble, he got hurt.” The EMT’s came close enough for the kids to hear them. “He’s got two broken ribs and one cracked rib. Let’s get him to...” and they passed out of earshot. “You messed him up, bro.” Harris commented. Ryan shrugged. “He attacked first. My rule of engagement is that they always have to attack first.” With that, they went off to the hospital to visit and/or check Paul’s condition.

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Luna fumed. “The audacity of that one!” Then she huffed. “It is good that he was put in his place. To injure someone like that...” she said. “It is so awful!” looking at the time, she decided to hit the hay for the night. She walked up her stairs.

Once in bed, she thought about the contact with the colt. “It will take time to prepare,” she said. “but I will take the time. I don’t believe that anything so eventful like that will happen soon anyway.” Her mind turned to the upcoming wedding. “I suppose I can just watch the colt while that is happening.”

Thinking about the wedding of her niece on top of contacting strange being excited her. She felt quite playful. Looking around, she saw a piece of wood that was easily ten feet long. Using magic, she cut it into a pole. “Oh, guard!” she yelled.

He entered cautiously. Who knew what she would do to him this time? “Yes, your highness?” he asked. Then he saw her on her back legs leaning on a wooden pole. “Do explain to me the nature of this type of dance. I would like to know more about the activities of my subjects, and I was told you would know all about it.” Her guard blushed furiously and began stammering. “Better yet, why don’t you show me?” He was totally red. “Well, come here!” she said playfully. He approached slowly. “Now, how about you show me this type of dance?” she asked. Groaning, he climbed up and started his dance. Luna watched in a gigglefit. “Now how about a lap dance?” He stared at her, mouth agape, and resistantly climbed down to obey.

Once done, Luna laughed uncontrollably. The guard thought of how he could turn this around, but nothing came to mind. “I will call you again, should I need you.” she said, waving him away. He sprinted out, causing her to laugh harder. “I must share this with my sister!” she said.

With that, she slept.

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The kids arrived at the hospital by bus. It wasn’t very crowded, since not many people were out at 10:30 at night. Harris had called his parents and told them that Paul hurt himself; he said that he’d fallen on a sidewalk. For whatever reason, his parents believed him, and they all decided that they would be back at their respective homes by eleven.

The hospital was pretty nice. It wasn’t great, but it clearly wasn’t bad. The walls were standard white, no carpet, doctors walking around. Pretty normal. “Is Paul here? Has a broken...” he turned to Ryan, who shrugged. “face.” Upon hearing that, the front desk woman looked up. “yeah. They just finished him up. Lucky guy; today was the day that we happened to have one of the best reconstructive surgeons in the world. He was visiting to teach some nurses.” She gave them the room and sent them off.

When they arrived at the room, they opened the door slowly. Paul heard them come in. “Hey, guys.” he said. He wasn’t already sober, was he? “I’m still drunk, and now I’m on meds, heh heh...” Apparently not. Realizing this, Harris stepped forward. “Will you remember any of this?” he asked. “Yeah. “ Paul replied. “Good. Now; you’re an idiot! I’m kinda buzzed, but I didn’t get wasted. In two ways!” he said. Paul didn’t respond. “You need to moderate- wait, where did Jackson go?” he asked. “Oh!” Catherine exclaimed. “When the guy grabbed me, Jackson made a beeline for the exit. He was terrified of the guy, said he was going home.” Ryan brought his hand to his eye and rubbed. “Nice, Jackson. Real nice.” he thought. Harris waved it off. “Anyway, you need to learn to control yourself. This is what happens when you don’t. You were lucky that Ryan was there, or you’d be a lot worse off right now.” Ryan concurred, reminiscing his brief encounter with the angry man. After he finished, a nurse came in. “Time for rest.” she said. “You kids need to go home, now.” And that was what they each did.

When Harris and Ryan got home, they started talking about their shot plans for the week. “What should we do? Paul was gonna pay for a bunch of the stuff we had planned.” Harris complained. Ryan shrugged again. “I don’t know. Do stuff we can afford without Paul?” he suggested. Harris scoffed. “Yeah, I didn’t think of that. What will we do?” Ryan thought about that. “We could do stuff on the beach. Or we could see movies.” Harris looked a little less glum. “Yeah, that would work.” he said. He elbowed Ryan in the shoulder. “The babes down here are something, too.” Ryan smiled wide. “Now you’re talking.”

Now they had their plans. Little did anyone know, a storm was brewing. And it was gonna be big.

Taken

Luna’s week had been filled with study and avoiding the wedding processions. Up to now, it had all been pretty hectic. Guards were stationed everywhere, a protective barrier was put up around the city, invitations were sent, and all the rest of it. Luna was fine with it, as it did not affect her. She would not be leaving her chambers until the party tonight, anyway.

She had occasionally looked up the colt to see what he was doing, but his activities were not very notable. As he and Harris planned, they, and Jackson and Catherine, had gone with simple activities for most of the week. They went to the beach three times, where Ryan could not seem to help but leer at the females whom he believed to be attractive. He would lean in to his friends and make crude remarks about “tapping that” or other other such nonsense. They had gone to the movies, where their motion pictures were rather entertaining. Romantic comedies and action movies were what they watched. While they left the movie theatre one night, the only interesting thing of the week happened.

As the kids left, they noticed a sign. When they approached, Luna wondered what had captured their attention so easily. It was a poster for some music concert in “Weipa”, which she concluded must be a place. The concert was to star a DJ, who would play “dubstep”. “What is this ‘dubstep’ that the kids seem to love so?” she wondered. She watched them as they deliberated on whether or not they would go. Ultimately, they did, and were already driving there now.

Besides that, Luna had been practicing her communications spells. She went into many dreams lately and telepathically spoke to her guard frequently, often harassing him in one way or another. Now, she sat on her bed, with the book her sister’s pupil mentioned, wondering excitedly. “Oh, I do hope this works!” she said. She had nailed the spell she was looking for, and with the aid of the pool, she hoped to be able to speak with the colt. “What will I ask him, though? There’s so much...” She decided to go down to the pool, with her book, in the hopes that she could decide on specific questions.

She went down the stairs to the pool and sat with ferocious thought as she watched the events of the colt’s life unfold before her.

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Not having a license to drive in Australia, Ryan opted to sit in the back seat of the car while they drove to Weipa. They were halfway there, getting towards the tip of the peninsula on which the town was located. Harris was driving, with Catherine in the front passenger seat, and Jackson next to Ryan. They were in a red Ford Expedition that had 4 wheel drive. Harris had decided on this car, out of the two his parents had, because he didn’t know if a storm would hit, and wanted to be able to drive safely in the rain.

Ryan and Jackson had been having small conversations throughout their time in the car to pass the time. Jackson brought up the night at the bar. “I just really don’t want you to judge me.” he said. Ryan nodded. “I totally get it. That guy was a pretty decent size. Not having training like me, it was perfectly reasonable for you to get the heck outta there.” he replied. “I was kinda in trouble!” Catherine interjected. Jackson sighed and lowered his head. “Now hold on,” Ryan said. “he couldn’t have taken that guy. Jackson here?” he said, pointing his thumb at Jackson. “He doesn’t know how to handle these situations. Which isn’t exactly his fault. Had he tried to help you, he could easily have ended up with Paul in the ER. Can you really blame him for running, when it was his safety on the line?” he said. Catherine harrumphed. “Plus, he knew Paul would fight for you. He just didn’t want to get in the way.” Truthfully, Ryan only knew for certain that maybe half of this was true. Catherine sighed. “Men.” she said. Harris kept his eyes on the road.

Jackson and Ryan continued having small conversations, occasionally looking around to see what little there was to see out here. Then, he looked into the mirror. “Hey, Harris,” he said. “Has the truck been behind us since we left?” he asked. Harris looked, then gave a dismissing wave. “He’s probably just going the same route as us.” Ryan half-heartedly took his word for it. “I’ve had this feeling lots of times... and always been wrong.” he concluded. He shivered slightly. “I really need to deal with my paranoia.” he decided.

The truck sped up and passed them. This further made Ryan uneasy, as well as Catherine and Harris. Jackson wasn’t paying attention. “Why would he pass us? We’re going like 75 miles an hour.” Catherine commented. Ryan was feeling uneasy, but dismissed it as his irrational fear of random events.Jackson was still not paying attention.

Suddenly, Ryan’s irrational fear wasn’t so irrational. The back door of the truck opened up revealing a man with an AKM rifle with a drum magazine. It could hold seventy-five 7.62x39mm rounds. Harris and Catherine froze in terror. “Stop the car!” Ryan yelled. Jackson became aware of the alarm now prevalent in the car. Harris was too stunned to hear. The man in the back of the car chambered the first round and began to take aim at their car.unbuckling his seat belt, Ryan dove forward and placed a hand aggressively on the shoulder of Catherine and Harris. “GET DOWN!” he yelled. Being snapped out of their stupor, Harris and Catherine sank in their seat with the seat belts still on. Ryan dropped into the area between the front and back seats and looked up at Jackson.

The bullets began to fly. Ryan covered his head to avoid taking sharp debris to the eye. He could feel the stuffing of the seats above him raining down on him, the plastic of the seatback following close behind. Jackson’s legs were kicking violently at Ryan, who only avoided a concussion because his arms were already there. The car swerved in several directions as Harris lost control and tried to regain it. Ryan was thrown to and fro at the base of the seat. He smelled hot lead. And blood.

The car swerved way off road, to the left, and must have hit a ditch. losing all even footing, the car struggled to stay even. It failed; while it swerved, it turned too much too fast, and flipped. Ryan gripped the seat next to him as the car rolled on its side. It took all his arm strength to stay in place. Working out so much had finally had real rewards.

The car stopped, and Ryan could only hear a high pitched sound, like a TV as it turned on. He pulled himself up to get his bearings. In the background, shouts could be heard.

As he tried to pull himself up, he put his hand on Jackson’s knee. Realizing that Jackson was still in the car, he looked up to ask if he was alright. What he got was a confirmation of just the opposite. There were numerous holes in Jackson’s shirt, with blood pouring out of each one. Jackson’s arms were bent in ways that didn’t seem humanly possible; his left elbow was backwards, with broken glass littering his forearm, which stuck out of the window. Whether or not there was still a hand couldn’t be seen. He had been shot in the neck, leaving a big hole in his throat like he had had a Tracheostomy. The biggest wound was to his head; he only looked like he had maybe half of it left. A round had gone through his jaw, breaking it in half. Both halves hung loosely from his destroyed head. Another round had gone through just beneath his left eye, removing the eye and destroying the bones around it. His skin hung loose in a similar manner to Paul’s.

Being too shocked to fully grasp the gravity of all this, Ryan simply turned to look into the front seats. Harris was moving about, trying to get free of his seatbelt, but the airbag was having none of that. “You okay?” Ryan asked with a raspy voice. “Do I fucking look okay?” he responded. As the airbag receded, Ryan noticed a small piece of glass stuck in his friends shoulder. A minor wound.

He turned to Catherine, who was not moving. “Catherine?” he asked. She stirred. “Catherine!?” She moaned and turned to face Harris. “What happened?” she asked. Harris didn’t answer, as he was fidgeting with the airbag. “We got attacked. God knows why; we can only hope... they don’t check the car.” As he said this, the shouts in the background came closer. Ryan cursed himself. He got up to look out the broken window by his seat and was greeted by a man pointing a rifle in his face. “Make any sudden moves, and you die.” the man said with a heavy Aussie accent. Ryan raised his hands. “Out.” he ordered. Ryan obeyed. Two other men were doing the same with Harris and Catherine, while another looked at Jackson. “This one’s fried, mates.” he said, also Australian. A series of “meh”s followed. The men took the kids to the road where their truck was parked.

The back door opened, and another man came out. He was clearly not Australian; his skin was much darker. “Greetings.” he said. He had a distinctly Indian accent. The kids simply looked at him. “Good job, men.” he said to his men. “They will be worth a good sum. And the dead one will serve as a message to the world. Haqqani will get its demands, or we will continue to instill fear into the hearts of the people of the world.

“Haqqani?” Ryan thought. “Where have I heard that...” The men took the three remaining kids and threw them into the back of the truck. Their leader came forward. “We are not in the business of keeping prisoners.” he said. Catherine got teary eyed. “We will be handing you off to our associate groups. Why am I telling you this? I bet you’re wondering.” he said. “Haqqani... Haqqani...” Ryan continued to press his memories for details. “You cannot possibly hope to get away. That is why.” he said. With that, he closed the doors, leaving them with one armed guard toward the front. A door opened then slammed in the front of the large vehicle.

He remembered. He turned to the guard. “What are you doing out here? The Haqqani network is only in Afghanistan and Pakistan...” he said, trailing off. The guard laughed. He leaned toward Ryan. “They’re expanding. I’m just here for the money.” Typical mercenary. Doesn’t matter who he has to hurt and kill, as long as he’s paid, he doesn’t care. Bastard.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Luna watched all the events unfold with her jaw hanging all the way down. “What has just occurred?!?” she yelled out. The one called Jackson had been brutally murdered and the kids were being taken by the men who did it. Remembering Jackson’s body, she felt queasy. Standing up to move away, she was too slow, and vomited into the pool.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ryan’s head was hanging down, as were those of his friends. The guard was looking away. Suddenly, Ryan heard a splash. He looked up. One of his friends couldn’t seem to stomach what had just happened to them.

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After recovering, Luna looked back into the pool, hoping her view would not be obstructed. Instead, her view was perfectly clear; there was vomit on the floor of the car. “That’s it!” she yelled. All she would have to do to contact the beings of this world was to project her magic INTO the pool. Then she thought about this for a moment. “He will certainly not be answering any of my questions now.” she thought, still nauseous. She reconsidered her priorities. “But I could... yes! I can help him!” she exclaimed into her mind. Though she had some trepidations about entering this world, even if just as a apparition. “If he is still in this situation by the end of the night, I will intervene... somehow.” she concluded.

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The three kids were keeping their heads down. Any time one of them looked up, they would find themselves looking down the barrel of a rifle. “Ch’you looking at?” their guard would say. They would not respond, except by looking back down at the floor.

“That guy was clearly Indian...” Ryan thought. He turned to face the guard. “I have a question...” he asked. The guard looked up mildly irritated, but otherwise didn’t move. “Why is an Indian guy with Haqqani?” he asked. The guard sighed loudly and shifted. “If there’s one thing you should know about the world,” he started. “it’s that race and religion aren’t always going together the way people think. Not like I know.” Ryan looked back down. “Well, that wasn’t the response I was expecting.” He silently reprimanded himself for allowing such thoughts into his mind. He prided himself on not being prejudice or bias; he would have to think more carefully about people in the future.

The car ride had lasted for three hours, meaning it should be around 6:00. None of the kids knew where they were being taken. They were anxious about their coming location. Harris looked up at the guard. Before speaking, he waited for the guard to look at him. “Do you want, mate?” he asked. Harris responded, “Where are we going?” The guard didn’t answer. Harris looked at him expectantly. “Do I care about where you’re going?” That was answer enough; these guys were not in the need-to-know group. “All I know is that you’ll be taken to a dock. I don’t know anything further. Now, stop. Bothering. Me.” he said. Harris looked back down. Ryan closed his eyes. “We’re leaving Australia...”

He looked over to Catherine, who had been immobile for the whole ride. Not one movement, not one sound. She just sat there. Unfortunately, Ryan couldn’t check on her, as she was too far away. To get up meant to be shot.

They arrived at the dock of which the guard spoke of at around 8:00. The sky was dark, as it was winter. They were all lucky that it happened to be warm this time of year, and more so this year, or they would all be freezing. Of course, if it was cold, this wouldn’t have happened. The guard stood up. “Stand.” he ordered. The kids all stood up. There was muffled conversation outside the car. “Line up at the door.” They did so. The voices were just outside the door. It opened. “Out.”, they were ordered. They removed themselves from the large vehicle.

Off toward the water, there were two groups of men. One was the group that kidnapped the kids; the other was presumably Haqqani. The men who captured them were yelling while the Haqqani men simply stood calmly. They were shouting in some language that wasn’t English. The man he was yelling at turned to his men and was about to speak.

The three kids were paraded forward, Catherine in the front. The Haqqani man who was being yelled at looked over and smiled. With a smug grin, he stepped toward his new captives. He walked right up to Catherine and inspected her. He moved her jaw, her hair, he spun her around, and patted her down. He was sure to check every orifice he could find; EVERY orifice. saying something in a satisfactory tone, he moved onto Harris. Before he started, Harris backed away. “Screw you.” he said. His response was met with close to a dozen rifles being pointed at him. Noticing this, he stepped back forward with a frustrated grunt. The man did the same inspection to him as he did to Catherine, minus the pat down. Harris muttered under his breath the whole time. Then, it was Ryan’s turn. He refused to flinch. The man said something to him. “You display no fear, yet no resistance.” he commented. Ryan looked into his eyes. “I do not like it.” he said in a dark tone. Ryan grunted. The man did his check on Ryan. At the end, he gave a satisfactory nod. “You could make a good prisoner.” Ryan squinted. He spat at the man. “Kill yourself.” he ordered. The man wiped his face. Without any warning, a pistol butt whacked him on the side of the head. “You will do as I say. Understand?” he said. Ryan nodded. The man leaned in. “Yes. I will do as you say.” The man looked at him with sick amusement. “Excellent! Load them on with the others.” he said.

As the kids were marched to a boat at one end of the dock, Ryan looked back. The yelling match was becoming very hostile. Then, without a word, the Haqqani men opened fire on the mercenaries. They didn’t even have time to react; in a flash of light and noise, they were all gone. “Poor bastards.” Ryan thought. Even if they were such bad men, it was terrible to die, or see someone die, without any hint of warning.

With that, the kids were stuffed onto the boat with nearly a dozen strangers, and when their captors boarded, the boat drove off into the night.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Luna looked at the clock, which read 8:30. “Oh shoot!” she exclaimed. “The wedding party!” Running as fast as she could, she exited her sanctum and flew off her balcony. From the air, she spotted her sister and the element bearers. She landed down next to them. “Hello, everyone.” she said. “Did I miss anything?”

Innocence Lost pt. 1

Innocence Lost

Luna had waited a little long to go to the party, but no one had particularly noticed her absence from the celebrations. Given that she had still only recently come back, it wasn’t that surprising. Her subjects had displayed trepidation at approaching her, for risk of angering her. Some of those present had been present for her display of frustration at her nightly court. She had spoken to her niece and her new husband, wishing them well in their coming years. Naturally, she had to make embarrassing comments, but given that it was their special night, she left it to a minimum. There was also the issue of the young colt being taken by the strangers earlier.

After spending about an hour and a half at the party, Luna made her way back to her room. She was fidgety the whole way there. The only way to put how she felt was excited. “I wonder what is going to happen?” she wondered. Trotting into her chambers and down the secret staircase, she found herself in front of the pool again. Looking in, she could see the young colt sitting among more unfortunate souls of his kind.

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Ryan sat against the wall with his head in his legs. The people around him did the same; some sat quite, some sobbed, others looked around nervously. Everyone was terrified of whatever fate awaited them. It could not possibly be good.

Ryan looked to his left, where Harris and Catherine were bunched up next to him. “Harris...” he whispered. No response. “Harris!” he whispered louder. Harris turned and shushed him. “Do you want them to hear us?” he asked. Ryan ignored this response. “How is she?” Ryan asked, referring to Catherine. Harris shook his head. “No idea. She won’t answer to anything. I think she’s catatonic.” he said. Ryan leaned forward and looked. Catherine was just staring at nothing. Her eyes looked to the ground, but nothing could be discerned from her expression. It was devoid of all emotions but fear. “What’ll we do if she can’t respond by the time those guys want her to do something?” Harris shook his head and looked Ryan dead in the eyes. There was sorrow. “I don’t know. It looks like she’s gone.” With that, Ryan ceased his efforts to get communication with anyone. He may not have known her for long, but it was still sad to see a person in such a state. Trying not to think about their fates, Ryan closed his eyes and went to sleep. It had been a tiring day.

*************************************************************************************************

The colt she had been observing went to sleep. Seeing no more observational opportunity, Luna thought about her next move. “I could go into his dreams...” she thought. “But unless I have some way to help him, I will be dismissed as a dream. Unless I give him something to work with, I will go ignored.” She thought for a moment. “That’s it!” she announced. “I will spy on his captors and tell the colt what they say!” Deciding on that, the pool switched its focus to the men who had captured the group on the boat.

The leader of the men was sitting in a nice chair in the navigations room of the boat. He sat there with one of those strange devices of death that Luna had observed earlier. Next to him were several men of similar appearance. Some had different instruments, which she assumed had the same purpose, given their appearance. The pool focused on the leader of the group. Luna listened intently. “Kami akan menyerahkannya kepada rekan-rekan kita ketika kita sampai ke Kamboja.” he said. Not having any idea what this language was, Luna used a quick translation spell so that she would understand everything else that would be said. “There, we will hand them off to our associates.” he said. Luna did not know who these “associates” were. They must be just as bad as these guys, though. “Who will get them, sir? If I may ask,” the driver asked. “The highest bidder.” Luna was astonished. “These horrible beings would kill and sell their own kind?” she asked aloud. Even in the greatest of groups, there were always the few bad apples spoiling the batch. “I do hope that there are some who will come save these innocents...” Forgetting her disgust, she continued to listen. “We will hit land in Flores in approximately four hours. There, we can refuel and get ready to continue.” Bingo. That was what she was looking for.

Turning the pool back to the colt of her interest, she prepared to use her spell. The image in the pool was of the colt, sound asleep in his spot. Taking a deep breath, Luna laid down pointing her horn at the water. With a sigh, she sent an apparition of herself through the wall of reality.

*************************************************************************************************

Ryan was in a boxing ring. Here, there were no rules. The referee decided what was legal or not on the fly. Being controlled by people who were against him, the ring was not in his favor. Leaning on the ropes, he considered his options. He could turn and accept a defeat, which would mean death, or he could keep fighting until he died from exhaustion.

He chose the latter. Turning, he walked forward toward his opponent. He was a big guy; six foot four, at least two hundred ten lb. Rushing forward, Ryan went for the guy’s knee. Moving with inhuman speed, the guy moved out of the way and brought his forearm into Ryan’s face. Ryan went to the ground with a resounding thud.

The room was spinning. All sounds had been muffled. He could hardly get up. Looking forward, off the ring, he saw Harris and Catherine, being held by a group of armed men. They stared back at him. As he looked at them, he began to cry. He couldn’t possibly win. “Get up.” Harris mouthed. Catherine stood there doing nothing. “Get up.” he mouthed again. Their eyes met. Harris’ eyes told him, “It’s all on you. We’re counting on you.” Ryan felt a surge of power run through him. Pushing himself back up, he turned to face his opponent.

He put up his guard. “Come on,” he said. “let’s go.” his opponent came at him with a savage roar, rushing forward like a freight train. Right before he made contact, Ryan ducked low to the left. His opponent hadn’t expected this and went right into the ropes. Thinking he could use this to gain an upper hand, he spun around, his speed being multiplied by the release of tension from the rope. He got no such advantage; Ryan’s foot met with his face, twisting his head and breaking his neck.

Ryan didn’t look at the body before him. He closed his eyes and stooped his head down. The crowd ceased any and all noise. He was expecting to take a bullet to the brain. Instead, he got something very different. “Hello.” He turned around, flinching at the sudden voice. It was feminine; like a mother comforting a child. He thought that he would see his mother; instead, he saw something he never thought could have existed. It was a horse. It had a dark, navy coat, a unicorn horn, wings, jewelry, and a big brand on its flank. The brand was in the shape of a crescent moon. “You did not expect this, did you?”

Ryan was so stunned, he could only stare. He didn’t reply, even with a simple nod. Not knowing what to think, he turned to face Harris. He was gone. Everyone in the arena had disappeared. “What...” he started. Alarmed, he turned back to the thing before him. “What?” he asked. Apparently, that was enough for the creature to know what he wanted to know. “My name is Luna. I come from another world.” she said. He still stared. Ignoring this, she continued. “Right now, you are in a dream. As you noticed,” she said. “I removed all distractions from the dream.” Shaking himself out of his daze, Ryan felt vast confusion. “So then... what?” he asked. Luna sighed. “I am here to help you. You are currently still on a boat, going who knows where. Wherever the place you are going is, you will arrive at about 5:00. Your captors intend to take you to the land of Flores, where they refuel their boat. Later, in an unknown location, they will sell you to their associates.” she said. Ryan looked at her frustratedly. “I already know this.” Then he thought for a moment. “If this is a dream, and you’re a figment of my imagination, then you have no new information for me.” Luna felt sudden alarm. If she was dismissed in such a fashion, she would be unable to help him. “How could you have known where they would refuel?” she asked. To her relief, Ryan thought for a moment. “I suppose that’s true... I never have heard of Flores before.” Luna stepped forward and placed a hoof on Ryan’s shoulder. “Young colt, difficult trials lay ahead. I will help in any way I can.” Ryan sat back and fell onto a chair. Not expecting it, he floundered in it for a moment. This won a giggle from Luna.

“Now, how about you tell me about some things?” she said. “Okay,” Ryan replied. “I have been watching you for quite some time.” she told him. He looked shocked. “How long?” he asked. “Weeks.” came her reply. “So you saw..?” he asked. “Yes.” He sank into his chair. “And..?” She nodded her confirmation. “I used what I saw to harass my personal guard. So, some good came of it?” She gave him a sheepish smile. “That’s still embarrassing. Those were highly private... moments.” he said. Luna’s face seemed to darken a bit, almost turning somewhat purple. “That’s intensely creepy.” She stood up. “Okay, I’m sorry! Can I please get to my questions?” she asked, flustered. Ryan sat back up. “Shoot.” he said.

“I have heard you say that you want to be a seal. Why? If you speak of the animal, you have no way to do this.” she said. Ryan laughed at her question. “Not a seal. I want to be a SEAL; a United States Naval Special Warfare soldier.” he responded. Luna cocked her head. “They are soldiers?” she asked. “Yeah. They’re the toughest soldiers of the United States military; their training is considered the hardest in the world. Only about 20% of applicants, if that, complete the training.” Luna’s eyes widened. “They do special operations of many different sorts. Naval sabotage, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, and a whole bunch of other stuff.” Ryan continued on with his explanation of the Navy SEALs, and then went on to explain other aspects of the military to his alien mind-visitor. “Is that why you do Karate?” she asked. “No,” he replied. “I do that because I enjoy it. It has provided me with discipline that will help me in military training, though.”

They continued to talk about Ryan and his life. He told her about SCUBA diving, school, various businesses, and technology. By the end, she was most impressed. “You’re world, while unpleasant at times, certainly is impressive.” she commented. Ryan beamed at this comment. Then, he frowned. “Just who are you? And where are you from?” he asked. Luna stood tall. “I am Princess Luna!” she announced. Ryan looked around. No one else was there, so why was she shouting? “I come to aid you with my magic and wisdom in these dark times!” Ryan looked at her with a neutral expression. Then he smiled. “So, you’re a princess, huh?” he asked. She replied, “Indeed. I am also a most powerful magic user.” Ryan giggled. Luna looked at him, cocking her head to the side. Why was he giggling so? “So, do you service your subjects with your powerful magic?” he asked. “Of course!” she replied. Ryan laughed. Luna looked at him, confused, then, like a snail, understood why he was in such hysterics. “Not like that!” she shouted. Ryan tried to stifle his laughs, but to little avail. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t help myself.”

He got serious. “But, you can help me?” he asked. She nodded. “I still don’t know if this is ‘real’. I still doubt that it is.” Luna’s head dropped, displaying sadness at Ryan’s statement. “But,” he began. “I suppose I can still think about this.” Luna’s head shot back up. The world around them began to shimmer. “I must go!” Luna said. She unfurled her wings and flapped. “I shall assist you however I can!” she yelled as she flew away. Ryan couldn’t keep his footing, and fell to the floor. It shattered, and he fell right through it. As he fell, he saw a familiar boat below him on the water. As he came closer, everything got really bright, until he was blinded by a white light.

*************************************************************************************************

Luna breathed in slowly as she returned to her own body. Cracking her eyes open, it took time for them to adjust to the light and refocus. Standing, each of her joints cracked loudly, making her sound like a sheet of glass having pressure applied to it slowly. Once all the way up, she blinked several times to get accumulated dust off her eyelashes, and shook herself to get the dust off her coat. She wanted to stay and watch the colt, but she needed to sleep, Thankfully, she only needed a few hours of sleep, being the princess of the night. Reluctantly, she turned to walk up the steps to her chambers.

What she saw at the base of the stairs caused her to stumble. Her guard stood at the base of the stairs, waiting for her. “Up to some secret experiments, your highness?” he asked. She only looked up at him, unable to hide her secret. “You hadn’t played any pranks on me tonight,” he said with a hint of longing. “so I came to check up on you. You had disappeared; I looked around, and came across this staircase. Coming down, I saw you, with closed eyes, in front of that pool. I looked in, and saw some pretty weird stuff.” he explained. Luna leapt up. “You cannot tell anyone of this!” she told him. “My loyalty is to you, Princess. I merely wanted to make sure you were alright.” Luna sighed a sigh of relief. She began to explain her activities. “No! I don’t think I should know.” her guard interjected. “It’s your secret to keep, not mine. I must respect your privacy.” Luna smiled. “Thank you Starstep.” she said. He smiled back at her. “Think nothing of it.” He turned to walk away. “But, if you ever need help, or just someone to talk to,” he said. “I will gladly do either.” With that, he walked up the stairs and out of view. Luna waited for him to leave. “Thank you.” Luna walked up her stairs, remembering to hide the staircase once she reached the top.

*************************************************************************************************

Ryan awoke with a start. Sitting up, he whipped his head back and forth looking around. The big blue horse was gone. Around him was, once again, a group of downtrodden looking captives with no hope. He sighed. “It was just a dream.” he thought. Looking back up, he thought about what his dream had told him. “So, I guess that means that it was all just wishful thinking.” he thought with a rock in his stomach. Looking outside, it was still really dark.

Unable to determine the time, he looked at his watch. It read 4:45. A thought broke through his mind. “If that was true,then we should hit land in about fifteen minutes.” His thought was confirmed when one of their captors came into their general vicinity. “Listen!” he yelled. Most of the people turned to look at him. Only a few had actually gone to sleep. Catherine was one of them. “We will hit land in fifteen minutes! If anyone tried to escape, you will be shot. If you do anything we don’t tell you, we will grant you another fate.” With that, he left their presence.

Ryan could hardly believe his ears. had that man just told them they would make landfall at 5:00? That was what it sounded like. “So... the blue horse in my imagination was right...” He shrugged it off as coincidence. But the thought seemed to nag at him. “Was that my mind? I can’t even tell... this situation is barely registering as real overall...” He shook his head, ignoring it, and turned to Harris. “You awake?” he asked. Harris turned. “I am now.” he said. “Can I tell you something?” Ryan asked. He was about to tell Harris about the dream. Then he reconsidered. “Yeah, shoot.” Harris replied. Ryan was silent a moment. “Does he really need to know this? I don’t want to give him false hope...” he thought. He replied, “I’m not so sure that Catherine can handle this... she might not make it.” He had to make something up on the fly. He decided to make it about Catherine. Harris’ eyes shot wide open. “Don’t say that.” he said. Ryan leaned away. “She will make it. We are all going to make it.” he said. Ryan didn’t particularly care. He just needed to say something. “We’re gonna be okay...” Harris continued. Everything after that was incoherent mumbling.

The boat began to slow down. “We must be approaching the Marina, or whatever they’re called here.” Ryan commented. Catherine’s head came up slowly. “Marina?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “They’re refueling.” he explained. Catherine’s eyes opened more. The, she got a wild expression. “We can escape!” she announced. At this, several heads turned in alarm. “NO!” Harris said. “You cannot do that! They’ll shoot you! You cannot try to escape!” he told her. “What? And I would rather be sold like a slave!?” she asked. Ryan had to interject. “Catherine, you won’t make it past the docks alive.” he warned. “Live today, fight tomorrow.” he told her. With a defiant expression, Catherine dropped back onto her hind. Ryan looked at her, concern plastered across his face. “This can’t end well.” he thought.

The boat stopped suddenly. All of its unwilling passengers were jerked in whatever which way the boat was going. Ryan braced himself with his feet, Harris did the same. Catherine flew forward.

Harris and Ryan went to pick her up, but she bolted forward toward the door instead. “Catherine!” “No!” Harris and Ryan yelled at the same time. They rushed forward to catch up to her. She leapt out the door, bounding to the left. Harris and Ryan followed close behind, using the door hinges and rails to swing themselves around. Almost immediately after leaving the room, Harris tackled Catherine, Ryan following close. Ryan picked up his two friends, and he and Harris put their arms around Catherine’s elbows. “Let go of me!” she yelled. Harris put his hand over her mouth, but Ryan punched her in the gut. “Shut up!” he whispered. Harris looked startled. “We have to-” He stopped. Before them was a man with an FN FAL Battle Rifle pointing at the three kids. “Di mana Anda akan pergi?” he asked. Ryan and Harris raised their arms in surrender, Catherine fell to the floor. “Where… do... you... think... you... are going?” the man asked. Ryan took a knee, Harris following close behind in the surrender. “To, get, our, friend, back, inside.” he replied slowly. Taking a moment to understand, the man finally lowered his weapon, looking pleased. Saying something in another language, he pointed the barrel of his rifle into the room. “He wants us back in.” Harris said. Ryan walked forward with his hands on his head and went back into the room. Harris was next, then Catherine. The door shut behind them.

The three kids took their seats. Ryan was now in the middle. “What the HELL were you thinking?!” he yelled. “I don’t want to be a slave to anyone! I’d rather die!” she replied angrily. Harris was the next to be angry. “What about the rest of us, huh!? Did you even think about what might happen to us?” he asked. Catherine was taken aback by his anger. She shrunk. “You have to think about more than yourself.” he continued.

There was no more conversation for quite some time. The boat refueled, and left the harbor. Everyone sat in silence, many looking at the three kids, often angrily at Catherine. She was sitting low a mouse being hunted. The people around her were all starving cats.

Eventually, about three hours later at around 8:15, the door to their room creaked open. Everyone looked at it, expecting to have someone come in to tell them that they would be hitting land soon. A man walked in with two guards, one with an AKM assault rifle, the other with an FN FAL battle rifle. They took up positions on either side of him. “Hello. You must be wondering why I am addressing you right now.” he stated. No one moved an inch. He looked pleased with this. “It had come to my attention,” he said. “That one of you tried to escape, and that two of you ran out after her and brought her back. I thank the two of you who got her.” The guard with the FN FAL pointed at the kids with his index finger. “Ah, so it was you.” he said, walking over to them. “Stand.” he ordered. They did as they were told. “Come with me.” he ordered. He walked outside, the kids following close behind, but not so close as to arouse dangerous suspicion from the man’s guards.

The man led them to the front of the boat. Once there, he had Ryan and Harris stand together in the center of the small area. “You.” he said, pointing at Catherine. “Here.” She did as he said. He grabbed her hair and pulled it, forcing her into her new spot. “ We said we would shoot anyone who tried to escape. You were lucky. If they,” he said, pointing at Ryan and Harris. “hadn’t stopped you, you would be dead.” Catherine looked at him, terror spilling out from, her eyes. Harris could barely keep himself from rushing at the man. The man made a clicking sound. “Such a shame. So pretty.” He pulled out a gun. Harris tried to go forward, but a rifle butt hit the back of his knee. “Don’t try anything, now.” the man warned. He pointed the gun at the boys. “Eeny meeny miney...” he started. He ended on Ryan. “...mo.” Ryan froze. “So, I guess this is it...” he thought. Then, the man did somehting unexpected.

He released the mag, letting it drop to the deck. It bounced about. Throwing Catherine to the floor, he walked over to Ryan. “This, my friend, is a Guncrafter Industries Model No. 1. Essentially the famous M1911, only fifty caliber.” He brought Ryan’s arm up toward Catherine. He put the gun in Ryan’s hand. “Shoot her.” he ordered. Ryan turned and looked at the man. “What?” he asked. “Do it.” he ordered. Ryan snarled. “No.” The man made a motion to one of his men. “Hey!” Harris yelled. Ryan turned his head, still holding the very large firearm, and looked to Harris. One of the guards was standing on him, the barrel of his rifle pointed at the back of Harris’ head. “No!” Ryan yelled.

The man next to him leaned in very close. “Make your choice. Kill her.” he said. “Or let him live.” He was pointing at Harris. “Ryan... please...” Catherine begged. Harris was silent. He looked up at Ryan with an expression of defeat. “I... I...” Ryan said. “What can I do?” he thought. He remembered the horse from his dreams. “If you are real, I need you now.” he thought. No one was coming for him. Accepting this, he closed his eyes.

And he made his decision.

*************************************************************************************************

Luna awoke feeling refreshed and ready to tackle anything. She had made first contact with the colt last night, and she had gotten to know him. “He’s just like us.” she had concluded. Getting up, she got herself ready to face the day. Looking outside, she realized that she had missed the moon lowering. “Darn.” she said. There was a knock at her door. “You may enter.” she said. Her guard and her regal sister came in. “How are you, little sister?” she asked in a concerned tone. “I am fine.” Luna replied. “Just stayed up late last night reading. I am sorry that I missed the sun raising.” she said. She was very sincere in her apology, lowering her head. “It is okay.” Celestia replied. “As long as you are alright.” Then she leaned in close. “Just please try not to miss it in the future.” she asked. “I will not.” Luna replied. Celestia’s usual soft smile came back. “Good. I am glad that that was all straightened out.” She went to leave. “Oh, sister,” Luna said. Celestia turned around. “If you want to have fun with your guards,” she began. “you can alwyas have them give you a... ‘special dance’.” she said mischievously. Celestia’s smile broadened. “I think I might.” she said. With that, she left. Her guard closed his eyes, sighed, and said, “I’ll never understand.” Luna laughed. “You don’t have to, Starstep.” she said. “You just have to do it all.” With that last statement, her guard left.

Taking that as her cue, Luna walked to her secret staircase and descended. The whole way down, she was thinking, “I wonder if he is okay? I do hope so.” She thought about all the things that he had told her about his world. “It certainly is impressive.” she said to herself. “It is just unfortunate that resources are so much more scarce. If they weren’t, maybe they could live in peace.” Isn’t that the truth? Money makes the world go round, after all.

When she reached the bottom, she trotted over to the pool. Sitting, she decided to wait and see how everything was before entering.

What she was seeing was terrible. A man was pointing a death instrument at the colt and his friend.

*************************************************************************************************

A shot rang out through the air. It was loud. The sound echoed over the open waters around them, bouncing off the water like radiation off a block of lead. Ryan’s eyes were closed; he didn’t want to see how his decision had resulted in the death of his friend.

The man next to him walked away from him to look at the body. “An interesting choice. I didn’t think you would let THIS one go.” he said. He kicked the body onto its back. Someone close by threw up. “Right in the head. Half of it is gone.” He walked back to Ryan and grabbed his hair. With a massive pull, he yanked him forward. “Look at this.” he said. Ryan slowly opened his eyes, tears streaming out like the salto ángel waterfall.

Only half of Catherine’s face was still even present. Most of it was torn off by the fifty caliber bullet that slammed its way through her skull. “I want this image burned into your mind.” the man said. The top right half of her skull was in bits all over the deck, her brain spilling out onto the deck. Blood was coming out of every orifice on her head; her nose, her remaining eye, her mouth, even her ears. large veins, still pumping blood, hung loosely from the destroyed bones in her face. Her skin, at least what hadn’t been ripped off like tissue paper, was stretched back by the kinetic force of the bullet, revealing the white of her skull. The image was burned into Ryan’s eyes.

He was thrown back onto the deck, where he promptly threw up. He still held the gun; he threw it away, unable to believe what he just did. Off to the side, he could hear Harris crying. Harris was then thrown back onto the deck with Ryan. The man walked to his subordinates. “Melemparkan dia atas.” he said. Following this, the two armed men took Catherine’s body and tossed it overboard. There was a loud splash as it came into contact with the water.

The man walked over to Ryan and Harris. He stood tall over them. “Remember this day.” he told them. “Remember this day, how Agni Narendra showed you and the resistant one who had all the power.” He turned to his men. “Menempatkan mereka kembali ke dalam.” he said. His men took Ryan and Harris in their arms and brought them back to the room in which all the others were contained. They threw the boys in and shut the door.

The other prisoners all looked at the boys, who weren’t moving on the ground before them. Some turned to face each other; others actually talked. Eventually, one came forward. Then another. Then, a third and a fourth. They picked the boys up and carried them over to their original spots. Once the boys were up against the wall, the people who carried them stepped back. All but one, who stayed with them. “What happened? We heard a shot...” he said. “Where’s the girl?” he asked with worry. Ryan looked up at him and broke down.

Harris looked at him with a neutral expression. “She’s gone.” he said. It was in a monotone voice, as if he was the computerized voice from google translate. The man who helped them swallowed. Ryan continued to sob into his legs. “He shot her.” Harris said. “I’m sorry... I’m sorry...” Ryan said. He continued on with this. The man who helped them didn’t know what to do for the poor boys, so he went back to his seat.

*************************************************************************************************

Luna held herself back through the whole ordeal. She had just watched the colt use a death instrument on a filly he considered his friend. “Why?” she asked herself. She was stunned by what he did; for what reason could he convince himself to have done such a thing?

She took a deep breath. Having seen what happened to the one called Jackson earlier, she felt it better not to watch when she figured out that one of the kids was going to die. She could hardly handle such grotesque violence, as it had been a LONG time since she was exposed to such brutality. Releasing her breath, she opened her eyes again. Laying down, she focused her energy on the spell to project herself into the colt’s realm. She felt her mind slowly drift into the pool.

She found herself in the realm of the colt. She was in the middle of the room in which all the people were being held prisoner. Looking around, she searched for Ryan.

Her eyes landed on him, a sobbing, thrashed looking, sad little colt. His friend Harris was offering no condolences. The two simply sat in silence. Walking over Luna thought about what she would say. She could not understand why he had done what he did, only know that he seemed to have a choice between that and something else. “Ryan.” she said. He didn’t look up. “Ryan!” she said. Still no response. She looked around. It looked like her spell had worked; no one else could see her. Whether or not Ryan knew she was there couldn’t be determined.

Charging her horn, she shot a magic bolt at Ryan’s head. Upon contact, a small blue ray connected their heads. “Ryan!” she thought at him. His reaction was one of alarm, and in his mind, he gave an explicit response. “Ryan, I am here.” she told him. He still sat there, unmoving, but she could now hear his thoughts. “I’m sorry... I... I... didn’t want to... no choice... Harris...” His thoughts were barely recognizable as coherent thought, and Luna could not get him to respond. “Ryan, I am here. What has transpired?” she asked. She felt anger rise in his mind. “What happened?! I’ll tell you what happened! You weren’t there, you liar!” he shouted in his mind. “You aren’t real! You can’t be! You would have helped me! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” he shouted again in his mind. Luna flinched. “Calm yourself! I have seen all that has transpired.” she told him. He mildly calmed. “I want to know why you killed her, though. Why?” she asked. Ryan sobbed a bit harder. “It was her,” he began. He looked to his right at Harris. “Or him.” Luna continued to listen attentively. “She tried to get away. She would just end up dead later... so, I had to keep Harris alive. I’m sorry...” Rather than let him lose himself in his ‘I’m sorry’ tirade again, she kept talking to him. “Hush, now, little one. What you have done is not wrong.” she said. Ryan’s sobbing slowed down a bit. “You are a victim of circumstance.” she said to him. She had no idea how to console someone who was forced to murder their friend, so she gave him condolences for someone who’s down on their luck. “You will be fine. Eventually, your life will return to what it once was.” she said. “No... it’ll never be the same...” came Ryan’s response. Luna looked down on him with immense pity. “I promise you. I will guide you through this trial to the best of my extensive ability.” She had to make him believe in her. He finally moved, moving his head to look for his guardian. “Can you help me?” he asked. She nodded. “Please do.” She went out the door and to the navigation room of the boat.

She went into the room, where she laid eyes on the man who had forced Ryan to kill his friend, Catherine. The evil one, Agni Narenda, sat in a leather chair that swiveled about with a painful screech. It clearly needed to be oiled. “Heartless monster.” She approached and began to listen to what the monster was saying to his subordinate. Her translation spell was still active. “Ketika kita mendarat di Jakarta?” he asked. His driver looked at a watch on his wrist. “We should land in Jakarta in about two hours. If I may ask, sir...” he started. Agni waited. “You may ask.” he said impatiently. His driver fumbled with his words. “Why land in Jakarta?” he asked. Agni stood and paced, his shoed clicking on the floor while he stroked his small beard. “Because, we must not arouse suspicion by using one boat the whole way. We will store the prisoners in our Jakarta compound for a time, only sending out a few at a time. This will minimize risk of losing our product, and if we do lose some, we will still have more.” Luna gasped at the monster’s heinous lack of care for others of his kind. “Then, each moves to the compound in Sumatra, then to Cambodia, where we will sell them.” His driver had a fearful curiosity in his expression. Come on, out with it.” Agni ordered. “Where are the compounds?” he asked with a hint of awe for his superior.Agni smiled and chuckled. “I suppose there is no harm in telling you...” he said. He got in close. “Our Sumatra compound is directly west of Singapore, along one of the more inland rivers. Our Cambodia compound is Northeast of Kompong Chhnang, along another river.” He paused. “And my personal residence is in Vietnam, North of Buon Me Thuot. That is where I keep my favorite captives.” he finished. His driver sat with wide eyes. “I am honored that you would trust me with so much information, sir!” he exclaimed. Agni smiled. “It is because I believe that you can go far.” he replied. Luna huffed and left. How any being could be so terrible was beyond her.

She returned to the troom, Ryan still sitting still, but not sobbing. He was looking at the door, waiting for Luna’s return. When he spotted her, he tightened up a little. She noticed this as she approached, and so approached slowly. “I have information for you.” she told him. He nodded, indicating for her to tell him. “You are being brought to a compound in a place called Jakarta. From there, you and your fellow prisoners will be sent to a compound somewhere west of Singapore, along an inland river. After that, you will be transported to a land called Cambodia, to a compound somewhere to the Northeast of Kompong Chhnang. I do not know where these places are, unfortunately.” Ryan nodded. Luna couldn’t help but wonder if she should tell him the last bit of information. Figuring it would do him no harm, she did. “Their leader, Agni Narendra, has a home in the land of Vietnam, north of a place called Buon Me Thuot.” Ryan’s expression was of confusion. “Alright.” he thought. “So, now I know where we’ll be going. His home... that is useless information, it is.” Suddenly, Catherine appeared in his mind. “She deserves justice.” he thought.

Ryan looked up at Luna and tapped his head. It took a moment, but Luna figured out that he wanted her to come into his mind. She did. “How long?” he asked. “Two hours.” she said. Ryan looked between his legs at the floor with a stern expression. Luna stepped back. “I must leave for a small time.” she said. Ryan’s head shot back up like it was pulled by a car magnet. “I will be back soon.” With that, she left, and the colt she was trying to help looked back down, knowing that she couldn’t help him any more right now.

She took a breath in and exhaled quickly after. Opening her eyes, she looked back into the pool at the colt. He looked serious, contemplative. Luna felt sorry for him. He was in a situation totally unheard of in her world, and likely not common in his. As pleasant as these beings could be, they certainly had their terrible moments.

She remembered that in their first conversation, Ryan had called them ‘humans’. These humans had a most impressive society. Naturally, however, all societies have their outcasts, their bad sides, their living garbage. These evil men were just that. They would be rejected by society if they confessed their crimes, so they continue to commit them. And the colt, Ryan, was a victim of their crimes.

And in two hours, they would begin doing horrible things to him. In two hours, all innocence would be lost.

Innocence Lost pt. 2

Innocence Lost

The smell of harbor water was strong. It made Ryan gag; he never did like the smell of harbors. They always smelled like dead fish to him. Even as a diver, it was a tough thing to get used to.

The boat slowed down as it approached land. In the background, the yells of fisherman could be heard; some were angry, others didn’t seem so. They were just going about their daily lives, trying to make ends meet. Unbeknownst to them, there were people in a nearby boat whose lives were going in any direction other than normal.

Outside of their room, there was shouting. The men were directing the boat over to a dock. Ryan had no idea what was waiting for him outside. It could be any number of things. “Ryan.” Harris said. He turned his head to face his friend. “Whatever happens... we need to stay together.” Harris told him. Ryan nodded. “Agreed.” The two of them sat and waited for their unknown fates. The boat jerked to the side. “Land ho.” someone said dreadfully. It couldn’t be determined who had said it, only that it was a man. in that instant, another man burst into the room. “Out, two at a time.” he ordered. Starting at the front of the room, the prisoners began to leave the boat in pairs, a few minutes passing before the next pair in the order could leave. Eventually, it got to Ryan and Harris.

They stood up quietly. “Wait.” they were told. They did as they were told. Ryan stood there, but Harris listened intently. “A car is leaving.” he whispered to Ryan. “They’re moving us in multiple cars.” Ryan nodded. He hadn’t heard any of it, but he would have to trust his friend for a while. So he believed him.

There was the sound of an unmuffled engine on the dock. The car sounded like it could use a lot of oil; it squeaked incessantly as it approached, prompting the man in front of them to cover his ears. “Out.” he ordered. They left the room and walked off the boat onto the dock.

The car that would be transporting them was old. It was a beat up, white van that, in America, would be rolling probable cause. There was nothing inconspicuous about it or the men around it. They had presumably hidden their rifles and other guns to avoid rousing suspicion, but they were still clearly questionable. Some people were always looking their way. Still, most people didn’t look. Maybe they were afraid. The man had come up behind them. “Go over. Get in.” he ordered. Ryan refused to move. “Make me.” He heard a click, and a round object pushed into his lower back. “Go.” he said. Harris moved forward, pulling on Ryan to get him to move. Once at the car, they were aggressively shoved in. As of yet, no one else was in the car. Harris turned, clearly upset. “What was that?!” he asked. “I needed to check if they had concealed weapons. It would seem that they do.” Ryan responded. He thought for a moment. “In hindsight, that was probably a bad idea.” he said. Harris scoffed. “You think?”

There were words exchanged outside the car, and something slammed into the side. Yelling followed soon after. “Sounds like someone made a bigger mistake than me.” Ryan commented. Harris looked at the back door of the van. It swung open, and two people were literally thrown into the back of the van. Harris and Ryan didn’t go to help them. The door slammed shut, and the two people sat together in the van, huddled close.

Ryan looked at them and realized that he was looking at a mother and her young son. She looked distressed; who wouldn’t be, if they and their child were held by human trafficking terrorists? She couldn’t have been older than thirty years old. She was attractive. The woman had brown hair, striking green eyes, a decent figure, and clearly groomed herself well. Her son, who couldn’t be older than six, was in hysterics. He was crying loudly, babbling nonsense words. His mother tried to calm him down, but to no avail.

Ryan, and by now Harris, simply observed the mother and son before them. The mother clearly was not confident about the situation. Her son could sense this, and knew that all her condolences were hollow and filled with air. They were both terrified of the unknown fates which awaited them. Would they be separated? Would they be rescued? Or would they suffer the greatest fear of all; death?

Harris was visibly struggling to keep himself from yelling at the child to shut up. His hands gripped his knees until his knuckles were white. Crying won’t help anyone, he probably thought. They needed to stay calm, or they would all be killed. Noticing Harris’ frustration, Ryan spoke up. “Hey, kid.” he said. The boy kept on crying. “Kid!” he said louder. The boy and his mother looked at Ryan. The boy was bawling. His mother was looking terrified. She seemed to be expecting harsh words. “We’re gonna be alright.” he said. That was all he said. He turned his head away, not knowing what else he could say. He heard no more crying.

The boy’s mother held her son close to her, letting him cry much more quietly into her arms. She looked over at Harris and Ryan. Harris had calmed down, loosening his grip on himself, and Ryan had closed his eyes. Neither of them spoke. “Thank you.” she said. Ryan looked at her. “What’s your name?” she asked. “Ryan.” he replied. He pointed his arm at Harris. “And this is Harris.” The mother nodded, cleaning up the tears on her face with her sleeve. “I’m Nadine. My son is Joey.” she said. Ryan nodded. Harris didn’t move.

They were quiet for the rest of the ride. The only sounds that did come were grunts from hitting bumpy patches of road and landing hard on the floor. The little boy, Joey, had fallen into a mild sleep in his mother’s arms. Nadine held him tightly. Ryan and Harris sat in silence, staring into nothing.

The van screeched to a halt. Toward the front, doors opened and slammed shut. People spoke outside the van. They approached the back door and opened it casually. Their conversation halted. “Out.” one ordered. Nadine and Joey went out first, followed closely by Harris and Ryan. The men pointed their guns at the group, an AKM and an FN FAL. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of the weapons, the group did whatever the men said.

They stood in an orderly line behind the van. The two armed guards stood stock still. They were waiting. “What are we waiting for?” Ryan wondered. Deciding not to go into that trail of thought, he observed the building before him. It was two stories tall, few windows, mostly wood. It looked old, almost abandoned or condemned. No one would think to look here for criminals. It had one visible door, several holes in the ground in front, and a dozen armed men circling the area. “They don’t like visitors.” he thought grimly.

The front door swung open and a man walked out. “Greetings!” he said. Agni Narendra. “I already am familiar with you two.” he said, pulling out his pistol and pointing it nonchalantly at them. Ryan shook in his spot, trying to suppress the memory of his first encounter with this man. “You two, however, are new to me.” he said. He walked over to them. Joey ran and grabbed his mother’s leg. She put her arms around him as a shield. “No need to fear me.” he said. “As long as you do as I say.” Nadine looked at Agni coldly. “Good!” he said. “Now, it is my understanding that some of you have been frustrating to work with. Well, if you want to leave without pain, that ends now.” His voice took on a very dark tone. “You know what I mean quite well.” he said looking directly at Ryan. His breathing speeding up and his heart racing, Ryan replied, “Kill yourself.” He hadn’t thought before speaking. Big mistake.

One of the guards came up behind him and hit the back of Ryan’s knee with the butt of his gun. Collapsing, Ryan put up his arms to defend his head. It was a good thing, too. Agni came forward and kicked Ryan in his forearms. “What was that?” he asked. Ryan knew better than to respond. “I didn’t think so.” he said. The guard behind him yanked Ryan up by the hair and had him stand. Ryan put his arms at his sides, large bruises and welts beginning to appear. “We will keep you all here for a time. I cannot say what will happen here.” Agni announced. “After all, the only rule is that the merchandise is to remain alive.” The man was getting sick enjoyment from this. “Bawa mereka masuk!” he yelled. Ryan did not know what this meant, so he didn’t move. A rifle butt hit the back of his head lightly. “In.” he heard. He did as he was told.

The group was brought in and guided down a long hallway. The building was very long, and each time they passed a room, Ryan looked in. In each room, there was someone doing something. In the first, a man was flipping through a book. In another, a man was cleaning and oiling his AKM Assault Rifle. In others, men slept.

At the end of the hallway, there was a small staircase going down. The guards behind them pushed the barrels of their guns into Harris and Ryan’s backs. “Down.” they were told. Again, they did as they were told and went down the stairs. At the base of the stairs, there was a large metal door. As they approached, a man behind them spoke. “Buka pintu. Kami memiliki lebih.” With that, the door swung open, revealing two more guards. These two had handguns. “In.” they were ordered.

The group went in, Nadine and Joey first, into a large basement type room. It was big; at least ten feet tall, with light fixtures hanging a foot below the ceiling. They were all fluorescent, casting an unnatural, painful light all around. The guards were unphased; spending hours on end in a room like this could mess with your eyes to the point where you don’t notice. On one end of the room, there were more doors, these ones all made of wood. There were three, each one about seven feet tall, made of old wood.

Their guards led them to the one furthest to the right. One of them opened the door. “In.” he ordered. As per the norm, they did as they were told. Once inside, the door shut behind them. They were presumably out of earshot. “Dear God, I thought they would kill us!” she said. Her outburst startled her son. “What?” he asked, growing teary eyed. Before it could grow out of hand, Ryan interjected. “No need to worry about that. They need us, if they want their money and popularity to stay up. They aren’t going to kill us.” Seemingly satisfied, Nadine hugged Joey firmly and sat down.

Harris walked up to Ryan. “You’re right, they do need us. Do you think we could use that?” he asked. Ryan shook his head. “Probably not.” he whispered. “They still have the other prisoners. Truthfully, if we cause trouble, we’re expendable.” Harris swallowed hard. “Damn.” he said. Ryan concurred, and they sat down, silence engulfing their small group once again.

************************************************************************************************

Luna returned to her room after spending some time around the castle with her guards and subjects. They had provided her with fun victims to her pranks. But now it was time to get serious. She opened up her staircase and descended down to the pool. Without taking up her paper pad and quill, she laid down and cast her spell, sending her apparition into the world ofo Ryan.

She appeared in the room with him and Harris, and two new people. One was clearly a “woman”, the other her son. On the other side of the room sat Harris and Ryan, sitting together in silence. “Ryan.” she said. He looked up and tapped his head. “Glad to see you could make it.” he said. Luna nodded. “I told you I would be back. Tell me all that has transpired.” she requested. Ryan shared with her the men, the compound, and the two new people before her. At the end, she looked down. “I see.” she thought. “Do you know how long you will be here?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “No. We could be here for hours, days, or weeks for all I know.” he replied. Staring into her eyes, he made a request. “Can you get this information for me?” he asked. Luna looked down at him. “I shall get you the information you need. Anything else?” she asked. Ryan thought for a moment. “Can you find out how many guards there are, and their armaments? We can’t hope to fight them, but the more we know, the better.” Luna nodded, and turned to go through the wooden door.

Looking around, she saw several men with death instruments hanging around, smoking, playing cards, or doing other casual activities. Again, Luna couldn’t help but display her disgust. That there could be any being so casual about causing such suffering was forever beyond her. Deciding not to dwell on this, she searched the room for Agni Narendra. He would be the one to know these things. While she searched, she counted the guards; there were seven in this room. Including Agni Narendra. Luckily, Luna’s translation spell was active. “These people will likely get us quite the profit.” he said. The men around him at the cards table gave their approval with various “ha”s and “Ya”s. Luna approached and sat to listen. “The rest will be here within a few hours. Once they are here, I will arrange for transport to Sumatra.” This was met with even more approval. “They shall rue the day that they played games with the will of God!” he shouted. His men gave several variations of “hoorah”s. With that, he left the table and went up the stairs. Frustrated with his lack of giving information, she followed.

In the hall, she followed not less than five feet behind him. Not that it mattered. Being and apparition, no one could touch her, not even Ryan. She passed right through two guards as she made her way down the hall. “Nine guards.” she thought. Looking back at each guard she passed through, she looked at their weapons. “Large weapons. I must ask him for the specifics. Different ones may present different dangers.” She continued to follow Narendra all the way outside. Once there, she looked around. There were two guards outside waiting, one was in the large, white, wheeled contraption, and one was on the roof. “Thirteen guards, all with large death instruments.” she thought. These odds were not in the favor Ryan and his friend. Narendra spoke. “Welcome!” he said to the approaching pair of captives. “You are now-” he was cut off. “Shut it!” one of the captives yelled. “Do you know who I am?!” he yelled. Narendra cocked his head to the side. “I am the mayor’s son! Of Darwin! You can’t hurt me. Send me home!” he mayor’s son demanded. Narendra nodded to his guard who knocked the boy to the ground. Luna flinched at the sudden aggression. “Release me!” he yelled. Narendra walked to him and sat on his heels. “You know what?” he asked. “I will let you go back to your father.” The boy was ecstatic. The guard let him stand. “Thank you.” he said. He turned around.

Luna dove and covered her ears when she heard the loudest noise of her life. She hit the dirt with enough force to almost knock the breath out of her. Looking up, she saw a smaller death instrument in Narendra’s hand, smoke coming out of the end. Then she looked forward toward the boy. What she saw disturbed her immensely. The boy, who must have been around sixteen, was on the ground. Blood poured out of a large hole in his back. t came out rapidly, pooling beneath him in an even circle-like format. Blood flew from his mouth as he coughed. Looking back, still on his stomach, he tried to speak. Blood continued to come instead of words. “Prepare to meet your father.” Narendra said with sickening enjoyment. “Odd.” Luna thought. “He seems to do this for enjoyment. I cannot detect any dedication to some nonsensical cause.” Not realizing what was happening, Luna got a first row seat to the execution of the boy by a bullet to the brain. She flew back several feet. “Ahhh!” she yelled. No one could hear her. They were all looking at the boy, whose head was in pieces on the ground. Bits of skull were scattered on the ground around where his head once was. Pink matter was spread over a smaller area, and blood gushed from the neck with no head. Luna looked away, barely able to keep herself from vomiting.

The boy was very much dead. Narendra walked up to the other person. “How about you? Anything special about you?” he asked. The person shook their head. “I’ll do whatever you say.” they replied. Narendra gave a disturbing smile and walked back into the building. Luna followed, hesitant about going into the same building as this madman. Wouldn’t you be?

They made their way to one of the rooms along the hallway. Inside, it was noticeably larger than most of the other rooms. Narendra sat down. “That’s all of the items.” he said. Luna scrunched her face at him. “Now, let’s see...” He pulled out several papers, prompting Luna to move forward and read over his shoulder. They were written in a language she did not know, and her translation spell couldn’t change writing. Luckily, this didn’t matter. “We will be moving them in approximately ten days... a boat will stop by to pick them all up at the harbor.” This was the information Luna needed. But she didn’t leave just yet. “Wait,” Narendra said with confusion. Luna simply continued watching. “they’re only expecting five? We collected the others for nothing?” he said with a hint of anger. He threw the papers onto his desk and pinched his nose, closing his eyes. He heaved out a sigh. “I guess I better hope they’re willing to take more. Or that more representatives show up at the auction.” With that, he quickly turned around and walked at a brisk pace down the hallway.

Luna felt unsure. Of anything. The man had just discovered that many of his prisoners were likely expendable. “What will he do?” she wondered. She watched with severe anxiety as the man went down the stairs to the majority of his men. He stopped at the base of the stairs. Any noise in the room ceased. “I have new information.” he announced. Everyone listened intently. “As long as we have at least... seven or eight, people, we will have enough to send to auction. Any others are expendable.” he said. He was met with murmurs from some, cheers from others. He walked over to one of the doors. Luna quickly realized it was Ryan. Panicking, she stepped forward as if to interfere. Before she could get there, Narendra stopped. “The two older male prisoners in this cell are to remain alive. I don’t care what they do.” he said. Luna stopped, stunned to hear this, but was overcome with joy. “The other two are entirely expendable.” he said. Her heart sank like a rock.

She walked through Narendra, and through the door. There was an expectant Ryan awaiting her return. He tapped his head. “What did you learn?” he asked. Luna looked at him with a mixture of resignation and determination, if there is such a thing. “There are thirteen heavily armed guards, including their leader, Narendra.” she told him. She hesitated to tell him the rest. “Anything else?” he asked. She sat down before him, settling her hoof over his shoulder to make it seem more genuine. “You and Harris are not considered expendable. This I heard from their leader.” She looked deep into Ryan’s eyes. They were a dark shade of hazel, glassy looking and reddish in the whites. The next statement came with great difficulty. “Those two,” she said, looking to Nadine and Joey. “are expendable. As is anyone else not within the range of the seven... most valuable.” She shuddered at her last two words. To sell another intelligent being...

Ryan bit his lower lip. What made him and Harris so valuable? These men couldn’t know anything about them. Harris and Ryan weren’t strikingly anything, really. They looked like two average boys. Ryan didn’t know about Harris’ skillset, but he knew that he had a fairly impressive skillset. Again, though, these men couldn’t possibly know about that.

Ryan looked back up at Luna, tears of a lack of understanding beginning to form. “And, when will they move us?” he asked. Luna responded matter-of-factly. “In about ten days.” Ryan nodded his head lightly. He thought about his and Harris’ position. And the position of Nadine and Joey. “Okay. That’s all I’ll ask for for now. Thank you.” he said. Luna stood up and stepped back. “I will watch over you from my home. If it looks like you need help, I will come. You can also ask, and I shall appear before you.”

Ryan watched as the dark navy winged-horned horse before him began to dissipate into the air. She left his world most gracefully; it was as if she was made of silvery dust, being swished away by the wind, and carried up into the sky. Of course, he couldn’t see the sky, but he could imagine.

He turned to Harris. “I got a theory.” he said. Harris looked up at him without a word, expecting Ryan to say his piece. “We’re going to be moved again in ten days.” Harris nodded doubtfully and put his head back down. Joey snored peacefully with his mother off to the side.

************************************************************************************************

Luna wasted no time getting a move on. By now, it was after noon. She didn’t want to arouse her sister’s suspicion by staying in her room all day. She only hoped that Ryan didn’t need her.

She slowed her step. “I have taken his name to heart.” she said to herself. She couldn’t argue it; she acknowledged him as an intelligent, emotional life form. He was like her. This got her to thinking about the possibility of her being in this position. She shuddered violently at the thought. “I would never want to be in such a position.” she concluded. She looked to the sky out her window with resolute determination. “I will bring this colt home.”

She left her chambers, bringing her guard along with her. He seemed to have little on his mind, no real concerns. Luna preferred it when he felt awkward. She positioned herself in front of him. Initially, this received a confused look from Starstep, her guard. He paid it little mind at first, but after a few minutes of walking, he found his eyes wandering to her back end frequently. Luna was waiting for this. Even better, some of her sister’s guards were nearby. “Enjoying the view? she asked in a pretendedly indifferent tone. Starstep’s face became darker. He swallowed. “She won’t win this time!” he decided. “Ummm... yes?” He probably could have answered more assuredly. Luna was prepared for this, unfortunately. She made sure to walk close to her sister’s guards. “I am sure thou would surely enjoy so see me perform the dance which you so willingly performed for me.” she said. Looking to his right, Starstep’s face went extremely dark as he saw the day guards snickering at him for his lack of subtlety. He stammered, clueless of what to do next. Luna stuck her tongue out and made a licking motion, making her sister’s guards burst out laughing. Starstep stood stock still. “Come.” Luna ordered. Starstep was all too eager to escape this area.

Once outside, Luna went to her private garden with her guard. The whole way, he was silent. Not a single word. In the garden was a pond. Luna laid down next to it. Starstep stayed back a ways. Feeling cheery about her accomplishment, but also bad for the embarrassment she caused him, she invited Starstep over. “Come. Sit next to me.” He did so. He stayed silent. “Come now, dear Starstep, please do not be mad. It is all fun and games.” she told him. Starstep only slightly untensed. “Those two guards? They suffered the same fate. Celestia told me about it. They are just better at hiding it than you, I guess.” A scowl plastered itself on Starstep’s face. “You know I mean you no harm.” she said. Starstep sighed. “I know, princess. Sometimes, it just gets a bit rough with the other guys. We rarely let each other live this kind of stuff down.” he explained. “Words get exchanged, and when insults start, fights can break out. If you have ever noticed me with an injury, those would be why.” She felt terrible about this. Not only that she was an indirect cause of such injuries, but that she never asked him about them when she noticed them. She realized that she was never particularly concerned about Starstep’s well being. Feeling even worse, Luna sat on her hind end, the way he was sitting. “If it helps, I can reduce my antics.” she said sincerely. “It would not bother me.” Starstep sighed again. “No, no, those are fine. I can laugh about those later. And they’re a part of the routine. Missing them would be weird, and maybe even a little disappointing.” He turned to face her. “But, if you would please flaunt what you do to me less often, that would be helpful. Fewer fights among the guards, and, stuff.” He looked startled, like he made an interesting discovery. “Your highness.” No interesting discoveries here. Luna smiled, and unexpectedly pulled Starstep in for a hug. “Okay. So you forgive me?” she asked. Starstep decided to embrace the hug, since she wasn’t trying anything. Then he saw an opportunity. “Well, a ‘dance’ would be nice...” he said. Laughter could be heard echoing through the palace as the lunar princess stammered her response, not having expected such a statement from her guard.

************************************************************************************************

Ryan’s life wasn’t exactly consisting of pranks and forgiveness right now. He was in some guy’s basement, counting the days until he was sold to some random terrorist cell. It had been two days since he had contact with Luna, and he was feeling forlorn. None of them spoke much, but Harris had talked to Joey in order to keep him from panicking. He alway liked to ask questions. “What are those things those people are carrying?” was one such question. Harris had responded with great caution, not wanting to pannick the kid. “Those are guns. They are very dangerous when in the hands of those who don’t understand them.” Luckily, Joey accepted this answer, and left it at that.

Today, though, not a word had been uttered. It was around noon. Voices could be heard outside the door, sometimes laughing, other times angry, and then sometimes just casual. Right now, there were some angry voices, and they were right outside the door.

Hearing this, Nadine took Joey and brought him to the other side of the room. Harris and Ryan did likewise. A few minutes after they sat down, the door burst open. “Coem dengan saya wanita!” a man yelled. He was followed by two other men. Nadine put her arms around Joey in a tight grip as the men approached. Harris and Ryan just tensed as they approached. They grabbed Nadine. “NO!!” she screamed. Joey yelled out, “Let my mommy go!” One of the guards shoved Joey away. Harris quickly moved to catch the child.

Ryan moved forward to stop the men from grabbing Nadine. “Luna did say that I and Harris aren’t expendable.” he thought. “I hope to God she was right.” Before the man who yelled out could respond, Ryan sent a roundhouse kick flying in a small arc into the side of his knee. Collapsing the man, he followed it with a solid forward elbow strike to his throat. Clutching his crushed larynx, he crumbled to the ground, where he lay still.

The other two guards had not expected this. While they were still stunned, Ryan moved in quickly and crushed the next one’s larynx with a bear claw to the throat. He, too, collapsed, unable to yell out through his closed throat.

The last one yelled out to his comrades in the other room. “Datang ke sini dan membantu saya!” he yelled. There was loud movement and shouting outside the room, whose door was still open. Ryan could clearly see three men running towards the room. He had to make a choice; engage the last one, or move to defend Nadine. “Not very good odds either way.” he thought. He decided to move Nadine back.

Keeping himself between her and the man, Ryan pushed her back to the wall. Three men burst into the room. The one who was already here shouted some command. “Meraihnya!” he yelled. The men moved forward to grab Nadine. As much as Ryan wanted to defend her, he knew that he had no chance of stopping all of these men. When they came before him, one stepped up to him, close enough that their noses were touching. “Move.” he said. Ryan was resolute. “Make me.” This response was met with an unwelcome uppercut to his jaw, gnashing his teeth together. Dazed from the strike, he was thrown off to the side where Joey and Harris sat. Joey cried out. “Stop!” His mother screamed in her peril.

While the men pulled her out, Harris, still holding onto Joey, pulled Ryan up. The door slammed shut. Ryan’s ears were ringing, he couldn’t hear Harris speaking to him. His hearing eventually returned. “They took her away!” he yelled. Covering his left ear, Ryan responded, “I know.” he looked to the door. He could clearly hear a large struggle. He swallowed. “Cover his ears.” he ordered Harris. Understanding, Harris put his hands firmly over Joey’s ears. Joey tried to remove them. Ryan mouthed, “Don’t.” He stopped trying.

It was unbearable for Ryan and Harris to have to hear what was going on outside. There was immense laughter from a group of men; sick bastards. Crying could be heard, too. After close to twenty five minutes, the noise stopped. Harris looked to Ryan. “Are they sending her back?” he asked. He and Ryan flinched as a loud bang resounded throughout the basement. Shaking, with teary eyes, Ryan said, “They just did.” Harris fell back with a defeated look, releasing Joey. He had no idea what was happening. He looked up at Ryan, tears flowing freely, gasping for air as he cried. “I wan my mahhhmmy!!!!” he said. Ryan got on his knees and hugged the boy close. “Shhhh.” he said. The child continued to cry. Harris trembled against the wall. “They just sent her home. She’s alright now.” Managing to slightly stifle his cries, the boy looked up at Ryan. His dark blue eyes shimmered in the fluorescent lighting. “Really?” Ryan met his stare with his own. “Yes.” Looking down, staring into the mind and soul of the child before, he knew what the next question was. Worse, he knew the answer. “When do I *sniff* go home?” he asked. The question still stabbed Ryan through the heart. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes. “Soon, kid,” he told him. “soon.”

************************************************************************************************

Luna couldn’t really tell what was happening. She could hear the screams, and the laughter, but she was unsure of what was occurring. A loud bang resounded through the room. She watched with a tightly clenched jaw as Ryan and Harris did their best to keep the boy calm. “I must learn what has occurred.” she decided. Closing her eyes, she projected herself into the world of Ryan.

She stood before Ryan. While she came, he must have handed the boy off to Harris to take care of. She stood tall before the sunken figure of Ryan on the floor. “What has occurred?” she asked. Ryan made a startled noise that went unnoticed by his cellmates. He tapped his head. “They took Nadine.” he explained. “I know this. What did they do?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “I will not say. If you don’t already know, it’s best that you never know.” Luna became quickly frustrated by this answer. “What is so terrible that-” she didn’t get to finish before a thought roared its way through his head. “I’M NOT SAYING IT!” He mentally screamed. Luna fell back. “Fine. But, eventually, I want to know.” she said. Ryan grunted. Harris looked at him, confused, then looked back down at the child in his arms. “You’re not gonna.” he responded. She gave up on the endeavor. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked. She might as well offer. “No. You should leave while you have your innocence.” he said. Taking this to heart, she got up to leave. “One more thing,” he said. She looked at him. “don’t watch the events of the next few days.” he said. Luna gave him a perturbed look. “Just don’t.” reluctantly, she nodded her obedience, and disintegrated into the nonexistent winds of the basement.

Once back in her body, she went upstairs and sat on her bed. “Why wouldn’t he want me to watch the next few days?” she wondered. The question gnawed at her brain like a rat at wires. “A couple is two... so I’ll assume a few is three.” she concluded. There was a knock at her door. “Enter.” she commanded. Starstep walked in. “I thought I heard you come up early. May I inquire as to why?” he asked. Luna looked over to him. “My subject of study requested some private time.” she explained. Starstep gave a knowing nod. He had no idea. “Do you think he wants THAT kind of private time?” she asked. Starstep shrugged. “Sure, I mean, it is normal. Most guys like some ‘private time’ on occasion.” Luna cocked a half smile. “Your occasions are quite frequent, I would observe.” Starstep looked terrified. “I-I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She was genuinely surprised; she wasn’t being even remotely serious. There was a learning opportunity here! “Come here.” she ordered. With the trepidation of a mine sweeper, her guard walked forward and sat next to her on the bed. “Why do so many males do... that?” she asked. Starstep stammered his response. “I-i-it feels.... g-good?” he said. Luan looked at him innocently. “And?” she went on. He was in shock. “N-no other reason, really, your highness.” She was disappointed with this answer. “Well, I’m sure that your ‘highness’ needs some attending to, so you may take the rest of the day off.” A stupid smile came across Starstep’s face, which he quickly soused with some seriousness. “Thank you, your highness!” He sprinted out. Luna chuckled. “Always fun”

************************************************************************************************

It had been a day since Nadine was taken out of the cell. Ryan and Harris sat on either side of Joey, giving him the false sense of security that he needed. With his mother gone, he needed someone to take care of him. While he slept the previous night, Ryan and Harris discussed this. “I’ll keep him safe from physical harm.” Ryan had said. “I’ll try to keep him from emotional stress.” Harris responded. Concluding their roles, they went to sleep.

Now, at ten in the morning, they were all awake. The men could be heard talking outside. Who knew what they were planning.

Angi Narendra’s voice sounded out through the basement. Through the door, it couldn’t be determined what he was saying. Like it mattered. None of the prisoners spoke his language anyway. He yelled his orders at the men, who could be heard scrambling outside. Someone approached the door. Ryan got himself in front of Joey. “Get ready.” Harris said. The door opened, and in waltzed Narendra.

He could clearly see Ryan putting himself physically between him and the child. “Ambil dua.” he said. Two very large men approached Ryan and Joey. As one went to grab Ryan, he twisted away and went for a roundhouse punch, something not taught in Isshinryu, to the side of the man’s head. The other man intercepted. “No,no, no” he said. Ryan’s face quickly met with the man’s fist. His ears were ringing once again. Everything was muffled as he observed the man who punched him grabbing Joey and dragging him out of the room. It took Ryan a moment to realize that he was following close after.

Ryan couldn’t tell where Joey was taken. He was taken to a room with a single chair in the center, underneath an incandescent light fixture. He was thrown in the chair. Looking up, recovering from his daze, he saw Narendra standing before him. “I was going to have you killed.” he said. Ryan just looked at him. “But then I thought, ‘I have come to know this one. I should keep him, if for nothing but a keepsake.’” Ryan sat up and shot an angry stare at Narendra. “See, it’s those faces,” he began, moving towards Ryan. “that get you this.” he said. He uppercutted Ryan in the stomach, knocking his breath out. “You killed two of my men.” he said. He uppercutted Ryan in the face, just to the right of his nose. He made sure not to break the bones, though. “I like my men alive.” he said. Ryan spat at the floor in his direction. “I bet you do.” He was punched again. Narendra held his fist. “This is clearly ineffective. Brutality almost always is.” he said. Ryan was looking down at the floor; he couldn’t see what Narendra was doing. “I prefer ‘special tactics.’” Ryan felt a liquid splash across his right forearm. Soon after, an intense burning sensation coated it like oil. “Drain cleaner.” Narendra said matter-of-factly. Ryan yelled out in pain. Picking up another bottle, Narendra spilled something else on his arm. Instant relief. “Drain cleaner is a strong base.” he said. Ryan looked at his arm; chemical burns covered it like craters cover the moon. Patchy. “It must be counteracted with an acid. Still, this is not my favorite, either.” Ryan’s expression was one of both terror and determination. “I’ll deal with it, for the kid.” Narendra pulled out a knife. “Tempatkan dia di perutnya.” The other man took Ryan and threw him to the floor. Narendra sat on top of his lower back. “What country you from? Heh, one of my favorite lines ever.” he said. Ryan gritted his teeth and bared them. “America.” Narendra’s expression brightened like he just found buried treasure. Without a word, he dug the tip of the knife into Ryan’s upper back. Shocked, Ryan grunted, teeth still bared and gritting, at the sudden jolt of pain. It went on for ten minutes. “Done! Now, your back says, ‘USA’. I can probably sell you for twice as much now!” he said gleefully. “Screw you.” Ryan said. Narendra made a clicking noise with his teeth. Again without warning, he slashed across Ryan’s back nine times. Unable to hold it in, Ryan yelled out in pain. “Tempatkan dia di kursi.” he said. Ryan was thrown back on the chair and punched twice in the mouth. “Do you know why I am doing this?” Narendra asked. Ryan spat blood at him. “Cuz’ you’re sick?” he responded. Narendra sighed. “I am going to break you. I had hoped not to do this, but you’ve forced my hand.” He made a motion with his hand. Another man came in the room, gripping Joey by the hair. Narendra got behind Ryan and threw him onto his knees. Ryan closed his eyes, not wanting to see what was about to happen. He heard a sliding of metal, and something clacked to the floor. Someone held his arm up and pointed it forward. “You know this position.” Narendra said darkly. Ryan’s eyes shot open; a familiar handgun was in his hand. “Do it.” he was ordered. Ryan was frozen. “Or,” he started. “we will give your friend anthrax and send him home.” Ryan looked to his left at the person... no, the creature next to him. “You sick fuck.” he said. Narendra smiled sinisterly. “Make your choice.” he said. Joey looked to Ryan. “What’s happening, mister?” he asked. Ryan silently looked to the floor. “The boy will get it too.”

Rya began to cry. He was helpless. Joey was helpless. Harris was helpless. If they were sent home with anthrax, they could infect and kill dozens of people. “Joey,” Ryan said through sobs. Joey began to cry. “mommy is home.” he said. Joey ran forward, escaping his captor. He made no move to stop Joey. They embraced. “I’m sending you home.”

Never come back

Never Come Back

Blood and bone were scattered across Ryan’s face. SOme shards had embedded themselves in his cheek, making tiny incisions to lodge themselves into. His eyes were glazed, his expression devoid of all emotion except a terrible, cold sadness; his eyes were like the south pole.

He had tried to position the gun so that the bullet would hit the both of them. Unfortunately, Narendra leapt in at the last second and corrected the angle. Looking down, Ryan saw what he had done with his own two hands and a small, metal instrument. He began to shake violently. Before him was a child, six years of age, missing half his head. It was mostly the back half; blood and brain oozed out of the gaping hole. Bone was strewn across the floor with the blood and brain matter. His eyes were still intact, though. They stared back at him. “Why?” they asked. There was no answer anymore. Ryan broke down, and slumped to the floor, sobbing silently. In the back of his mind, he heard his voice play over his reasoning. “He’s dead anyway.” “The needs of the many...” “Harris...” Nothing made sense anymore. He was just weak; weak of mind, weak of body. He heard steps approach him. “This is why you shouldn’t resist. People die.”

A moment later, someone else picked him up and threw him over their shoulder. This person carried him to his cell. Once there, he dumped Ryan onto the floor. Harris scrambled across the floor over to him. “Ryan?” he asked. No response. “Ryan!” He only shook on the floor.

Harris pulled him up and leaned him against the wall. Ryan slumped forward, not able to hold himself up. “Ryan, what happened?” Ryan stared at the floor. “Answer me, dammit!” Ryan did not answer. Harris grabbed his chin and looked into his eyes. What he saw shook the very foundation of his being; behind the glazed eyes, underneath the sunken appearance of his face, was... nothing.

“Ryan...” he started. The door opened slowly, for once, behind them. Two armed men and a guy in a casual outfit came in. “They tell me that I have to treat your friend.” he said. Harris looked at them, then moved aside. The man, who must have been a doctor, moved forward and picked up Ryan’s arms. “Hmm.” he said. He motioned for the guards to give him something. One of them pulled out a large roll of bandage wrap, the other pulled out gauss. The doctor took them and dressed Ryan’s burned arms. He looked to Harris. “Could you help me turn him over?” he asked. Harris moved forward and helped flip Ryan over. He noticed that Ryan’s shirt was torn and bloody. “What the...” The doctor pulled up his shirt, and Harris gasped at what he saw. In big letters, “USA” was carved into his back. Under it was numerous slash marks. The doctor took out the gauss and spread it over the whole of Ryan’s back. Once finished, he had Harris hold Ryna up in a sitting position. “Could you hold him up?” he asked. Not wanting to further harm his friend, Harris did as he was asked. The doctor began wrapping the bandage around the whole of Ryan’s torso. This took roughly ten minutes.

Once finished, the doctor was abruptly escorted out of the room. The door slammed shut. Harris looked down at his friend. “What the hell did they do to you, Ryan?” he asked. He never expected a response. He expected Ryan to never come back.

And he didn’t.

********************************************************************************************

Luna got up from bed quickly that morning. She hurriedly helped her sister with the celestial bodies, having some basic small talk with her. They were both tired this morning, and so kept it to a minimum.

Luna sluggishly made her way to her chambers and down her stairs. Not entirely sure how many days Ryan wanted, she kept her pace slower, just in case.

Nonetheless, she soon found herself face to face with the pool. The pool that gave her a view into the workings of other worlds, with their fascinating life forms. And their horrible atrocities. “I never expected this to happen.” she thought solemnly. She took a look into the pool before casting herself in. In the room, Ryan was sitting with his head in his knees. He didn’t move or talk. He simply sat. The boy was missing. “Oh dear.” she said. That said, she launched her apparition into the pool.

She stood before Ryan once again. He didn’t seem to notice or register that she appeared before him. Of course, she didn’t exactly make noise when she arrived. She leaned forward. “Ryan,” she said. He was as a statue, still and incapable of change, it would seem. He was like the statues in the royal garden. One particular one she thought of was the statue of Discord, the spirit of chaos. “Ryan, what happened?” she asked. “Where is the boy?” He didn’t respond at all. Rather than become frustrated as she did before, though. Luna kept a calm tone. It was almost motherly. “What happened to the boy?” she asked. This time, he looked up.

His face had sunken in, as if he was stuck in a permanent state of frowning. There were large bags under his eyes, dark and heavy looking. His necklace hung over his chest, only now moving from the movement of his head. He didn’t tremble or shake; a statue. His eyes disturbed Luna. She stared hard into them. As much as she searched through them, she could find nothing.

Ryan finally broke his silence. “I killed him.” Luna’s eyes shot wide open and her mouth fell slightly ajar. “What?” she asked. Harris got up behind Luna. Running right through her, he went and leaned over Ryan. Luna had to move over to see Ryan’s face. “What? What do you mean, you killed him?” Harris asked. He placed his hands on Ryan’s shoulders, gripping them firmly. “I shot him.” Ryan replied. Harris stood up and moved back. He fell down to the ground and sat back on his hands. “He’s gone.” Ryan said. He then shook his head and looked back down. Immediately, he looked back up, right at Luna. “What can you do to help me now?” he asked. Harris looked at him, confused. “Who are you talking to?” he asked. Ryan ignored him. “What can I do at this point?” he asked. Luna looked at him hard. “I believe that you have two options.” She stood before him again. His eyes followed her movements, concerning Harris deeply. “You can give up. Be sold as a slave or die.” She had great difficulty saying that. “Or, you can do what is right. Bring these men to justice for their crimes.” Harris stepped forward and grabbed Ryan’s shoulders, shaking him. “Snap out of it! No one is there!” he yelled. Ryan looked at Harris, then back to Luna. “I can’t fight them.” he said. Harris ceased his shaking and went to the other side of the room. “I can only survive.”

Luna looked down at him, pity and tears welling up in her eyes. This was the first time she had ever encountered someone who truly had no hope left. Someone who had truly given up, lost faith in their chances. “Well, then.” she said. Ryan looked at her. “I suppose that all I can do is help you get through this.” Ryan looked back down, returning to his statue-like state.

Deciding that this was not the end of her visit, Luna exited the room through the door. She looked around; it seemed that all the guards were present in the room but two. Narendra was talking to the men. Luna approached with caution. “I have made it clear many times that senseless killing is not permitted. The woman you killed represented money, and lots of it.” he said. It was perfectly clear to Luna that the mother was dead. “So who did it?” he asked. The men before him tossed one of their own forward onto his knees. The one man looked up at Narendra, terror swirling in his eyes like a whirlpool. “So it was you.” Narendra stated. The man got to begging. “Yes, but-” he was cut off by a hidden knife in Narendra’s sleeve plunging into his throat. He fell back, gurgling the whole way as blood sprayed from the wound in his neck. Narendra turned his attention back to the group. “Don’t ruin the merchandise.”

One of his men was foolish enough to come forward. “You killed the child, sir. What about that?” he met an unexpected response; a matter-of-fact statement from his boss. “The child would not have been worth much. I killed his father, and you killed his mother, so very few others would be willing to put forward enough cash to make him worth keeping. He was more expensive to keep.” Luna shakily stepped forward to see Narendra. “And I am allowed to decide who lives,” he said. He pointed at the man still dying below him. “and who doesn’t.” His men all took a step backwards, trepidation evident in their postures. “We leave in four more days. Our boat will take us and the prisoners to Sumatra, where we will then begin transporting them to our compound there.” Luna scowled. Nothing was new or useful here.

Deciding not to waste time, she went back into the cell with Ryan. She sat beside him. “I do not think that I can get anything to help you at the moment.” she told him. His breathing was slow and deliberate. “But I promise you that I will help you however and whenever I can.” Ryan turned to look at her. “Don’t come back for four days.” he told her. She looked at him, sadness evident in both their expressions. “It’ll be more of the same.”

She took his word on this and made her mystical exit. “So beautiful.” he commented. Harris just looked at him, despair painted across his face like a painting from Picasso.

Luna got up easily from her position on the floor. She couldn’t help but be exorbitantly disappointed with the events of her visit. Not so much that little happened, but that she couldn’t help Ryan. She sighed and started up the stairs. “He really is just like us.” she thought. This made her despair; it was as if one of her close subjects was in this position, now. “It is my job to protect.” she thought. Her jaw quivered and her eyes grew watery. “Why can’t I do more?” she wondered. Was it reluctance? A lack of care? Or was she too afraid too?

She made her way over to her bed and laid down. The soft, fluffy mattress nearly swallowed her whole, as it always did. She liked her mattress that way, though. It was like being lightly hugged by a big, caring monster.Her door creaked open. “It is usually considered polite to knock first.” Luna said to her intruder. It was Starstep, her guard. “Your highness!” he yelped. He had clearly not expected her to be here. “I-I was just, umm...” he had no answer to her lack of questioning. “Why were you coming in?” she asked him nonchalantly. He rubbed one of his forelegs with the other. “Well, whenever you’re busy, I like to read books from your library. Please don’t be mad!” he finished his plea rapidly and with a sheepish look on his face. Luna looked at him. “I do not mind. All you needed to do was ask.” she said. Starstep’s face brightened and he trotted by, going to her library. “Oh, Starstep,” Luna called. He stopped and looked at her expectantly. “Could you get a specific book?” she asked. Still happy, Starstep asked, “What book, your highness?” Luna thought for a moment, putting her hoof to her chin. “Could you go get Fictional Tales for Little Fillies?” she asked. This generated a confused look from Starstep, but he went and got the book anyway. When he returned, He brought the book over to Luna.

“Would you read me one of the stories?” she asked. At first, Starstep thought she was joking; then, when he looked at her face, he saw that something was upsetting her. Not wanting to pry into potentially royal affairs, he flipped to a random story and began to read.

“Moon-bear loved the moon...”

A small smile crept onto her lips.

New Perspective

Discord uncoiled himself and observed his surroundings. He was not in the room he had seen in the pool. In fact, he was in an entirely different environment. Around him were bizarrely colored trees, details practically etched into their leaves and trunks. The dirt was like tiny granules, crunching when something landed on it. He felt slightly dismayed. “Well.” he said. “This is different.” He heard voices behind him.

Going past the treeline, he came across a most odd sight. It was a white building, made of stone. It clearly wasn’t well made, as there were folds and cracks all over the walls. There were plants growing out of the cracks, which was of course normal for a building in the wilderness. The voices sounded out from the top of the building. He launched himself up to investigate this most unusual of places.

At the top, he was met with a highly unanticipated sight. Before him, but not facing him, were two bipedal creatures. They resembled monkeys, but were much, much larger. They wore clothing, baggy and very concealing. Discord got closer to observe more. They had no tails, and from what exposed areas he could see, they definitely had less hair than monkeys. Over their clothes were vests with strange looking items in pouches. They were long and curved, and opened at the top. In the opening was a brass rod with a pointed end. They were boxes of some kind. In their hands were large, curiously shaped items. They were long, had parts that jutted out, and seemed cumbersome. Discord noticed that each of the devices had a box from the vests attached.

“Hello.” he said. The creatures before him made startled shouts of surprise. When they turned to look at Discord, they screamed. “Can you tell me-” he started. One of them pointed their device at him. “Non movent daemon!” He realized that he would need a translation spell. He cast it quickly. “What?” he asked. The two creatures looked at him, dread consuming their expressions. “Don’t move or we shoot!” one warned. Discord understood, now, that the devices were dangerous. He snapped his fingers. This got their attention. “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to know more about this world.” he explained. The two creatures just kept staring and pointing their weapons at him. “If you aren’t gonna answer me...” he began. Ge took a step forward. This prompted the creatures to back up. “I’ll just find someone else.” The men screamed, horrified, and their weapons made clicking noises. They looked down at them, even more terrified than before. Discord made a clicking noise with his tongue. “I was wondering if those were weapons. I guess I was right.” The creatures removed the boxes only to find them empty. “Looking for these?” Discord said balefully. The creatures looked truly terrified. One dropped to his knees. The other did so as well. “You tried to hurt me.” he said. One of the two spoke up. “We tried to kill you, but we know know that you are too powerful for us. Please, spare us.”

Discord was shocked at this revelation. “They tried to KILL me?” He thought to himself. “Not okay.” He looked at them, rage filling his eyes. “You know, there are only a few things that go outside order and law that I’m not okay with.” he began. The two before him trembled and shuffled backwards, still on their knees. They reached the edge. “One of them is the unwarranted taking of a life.” He snapped his fingers, and the vests, the weapons, and all their associated contents laid before Discord. The two men realized what was about to happen and tried to get up. Before they could, Discord blew a gust of wind at them, blowing them off the roof. As they fell, they refrained from screaming. “Strange.” Discord said to himself. When the two landed, one hit the ground head first. His neck made a loud crack as he hit. The other landed on his back, but on a rock. After an equally nasty crunch, he began to cry out. As several other creatures filed out of the building, his screams faded.

Looking down, Discord saw more men who were exactly like the first two. He snapped his fingers once again, and twirled his arm around. “Perhaps it would be best if they didn’t see me.” he thought. He became invisible and descended upon the group below him.

They were all gathered around the body of their compatriots. They all murmered their own comments, only intending for one or two to hear. “I never liked him anyway.” one said. Another commented on their lack of gear., but was thoroughly ignored. The others wished their condolences. Several went back into the building, but some stayed to move the bodies.

Discord made his way inside, careful not to hit anything. When he entered, he found himself in a long hall. As he floated down it, up by the ceiling, he looked into the various rooms he passed. Some had creatures, others had gear. Remembering the stuff he forgot, Discord snapped his fingers, and it appeared before him. Before any creatures could notice, he turned it invisible. He placed the gear on various parts of his body to prevent it from getting away from him and continued. At the end of the hall was a staircase going down. At the base, he went through a door with the aid of one of his spells.

Through the door was a bland looking room with many different little areas. One seemed to be for eating, as it had a fire. Another was for casual time, as it had chairs. The others were also casual, it seemed; what a monotone theme. “This place could certainly liven up.” Discord said. Nothing was around to hear him, so he knew he was safe. He walked over to some doors at the other end of the room. “I wonder...” He used a spell to poke his head through the door. Behind this door was a small room with maybe three more creatures. These ones, however, were different. They were dirty, ragged, and curled up in the corners of the room. He moved onto the next room; this one had five of them, equally as rough looking. Then it dawned on him. “They’re prisoners...” he thought. “those other ones are holding them captive.”

Having come to that conclusion, he decided to move onto the last room. None of these creatures were of his concern, though. He had no reason to think they deserved his help. He poked his head through the final door. What he saw gave him pause.

Before him was the two from the pool. They were on either side of the small room. Nothing else was present. They looked awful. The other creatures must have done something to them. He stepped inside to take a closer look. The one on the right sat with its legs out. It had dull blue eyes; they displayed a particular lack of any hope. His expression was blank. It simply stared forward at the other.

The other was folded into a fetal position, still on its hind. It had its head in its knees, not looking up. Discord sat and looked at it. He reached out with his mind. “Sit straight.” he ordered. It did just that. Taking a good look, he noted its features; heavy, hazel eyes; sunken face, like its cat died or something; a necklace dangled from its neck. It had bandages wrapped around its arms. He felt pity for the creature. “I will show myself to the two of you.” he explained to both of them. The sunken one looked up and around, not knowing where the voice came from. The other looked around in a panic. “Promise me you won’t freak out.” “Alright.” the sunken one said. The other seemed to calm down as its companions lack of fear. “Fine.” it thought.

Discord released his invisibility spell. The sunken one looked up, confusion spread over the whole of its face. The other stiffened at the sudden appearance of Discord. “Who’re you?” the sunken one asked. “My name id Discord.” he answered. There was pause. The sunken one took the cue. “I’m Ryan.” he replied. He pointed to his friend. “That’s Harris.” Discord turned and bowed. Harris was looking pretty scared. “What on Earth are you?” he asked. Discord floated into the air. “I am Discord, spirit of... well, discord. Might I ask what you are?” he answered. Harris got up slightly. “We’re just regular humans. Prisoners, at the moment.” he answered. Discord hmm’ed.

“Why are you here?” Ryan asked. Discord turned to face him. He had gotten all the way up. “Well, I’m on the run. Thought it would be fun to stop by.” He smiled mischievously. Ryan scowled and looked hard at him. “There is no fun here.” he said. Discord’s smile vanished. “Why not?” he asked seriously.

Ryan gave him the whole story, Harris jumping in at points where Ryan had trouble. At the end, and hour later, Discord considered where he was. “This is definitely an adventure.” he thought. He loved adventure, seeing new things, meeting new crazy, unusual situations. “Even if a bit dangerous. And I don’t want to be found, lest I become stone again.” He thought hard for several moments. “Alright! I think I’ll stick with you guys!” he announced. This caught both boys off guard. “What?!” Harris yelled. “Why would we let you, the ‘spirit of discord’, stay with us? And why would you want to stay?” he asked. Discord chuckled and looked at him. “What fun is there in making sense?” he asked. Unable to find a counter, Harris sat down, admitting instant defeat.

Ryan still stood. “Why should we trust you? If you are really the spirit of discord, why on earth would we let you stick with us?” he asked. Discord got up in his face. “As if you have any choice.” he said. Ryan scowled again. “Fine. I guess we have to let you stay.” he said. “Hoorah!” Discord said. Ryan simply looked at him. “Can anyone else see you?” he asked. Discord stopped his movement. He remembered what the other men did when they saw him. Others would likely react similarly. He clapped his hands, rubbed them together as if cold, and threw some sparkles into the air. “There.” he said. Ryan looked at him confused. “Now, only the two of you can see me.”

Ryan huffed. Harris groaned. Discord smiled stupidly. The three of them were in this together now. “So, before we do anything, I want to know more about this strange world of yours.” Discord said. Unhappy with their new companion, Ryan and Harris began to teach Discord all that they knew, all that was relevant at least, about the world they lived in.

**********************************************************************************

Luna had spent the last two days dealing with collateral from the Discord incident. There was no more chaos, but there were still castle staff members to reassure. This had not been the easiest task. “He nearly ate us!” one chef had complained. Luna had to spend an hour explaining to him that he was never in harms way. This had to be repeated for dozens of staff members. Starstep helped out, too, when he could. Being a guard, he came off as tougher than Luna, so his words were more reassuring. Luna had to agree; he always did have a way of making things seem alright.

She sat on her bed, exhausted from walking around so much and having to try and calm down so many of her subjects. She heaved a sigh. “Why did this have to happen?” she wondered. She had been so busy that she didn’t have time to check up on Ryan. How was he? “I do hope everything is alright.” she said to herself. There was a loud banging at her door. Someone shouted. “Sir, she is resting! Don’t disturb her!” she heard Starstep yell. “Out of my way, guard!” another voice sounded. “Ugh.” Luna thought. It was the voice of her nephew, Blueblood. “I must speak with her!” he yelled. Starstep raised his voice. “No. She is resting. Whatever petty problem you have this time, it can wait. Leave.” he ordered. Her door burst open. “Hey!” Starstep yelled. He got in a stance to attack. “You would dare attack the prince, you lowly guard?!” he yelled. Starstep growled and released his stance.

Luna stood and stepped off her bed. “You will not speak to him in such a disrespectful manner.” she ordered. Blueblood shrank down. “What could you possibly want that you must disturb me during my rest?” she asked. Blueblood stood up again. “I must know; is it true that Discord has returned? Is there any danger I should be aware off?” he asked Luna sighed. “Yes, he is free. No, there is no danger you need to be aware of. He has disappeared; no signs of him are evident anywhere.” she said. Blueblood looked twitchy. “That is not why you came.” she said matter-of-factly. Blueblood shuffled in place. She waved Starstep out of the room. “Why have you come to disturb me?” she asked. Blueblood raised his head. “I have heard rumors about you.” he said. Luna cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?” she asked. “What kinds of rumors?”

Blueblood shuffled his hooves. He was clearly not comfortable with what he was about to ask. “Is it true, that... you... um, fornicate, with one of the guards?” he asked.

Luna instantly fumed. Never had such a rumor been spread about her! The nerve! “No, nephew, I do not!” she yelled at him. Blueblood shrank down again. She was seriously pissed off. “The nerve that you have to ask me such a question! Is it not clear that I have no time for such ridiculous things?” she asked. Blueblood whimpered. “I have no interest in such scandalous activities! You, of everyone, should know that! That you would pay any mind to such rumors offends me in the greatest capacity!” she yelled. Starstep flew in, thinking there was a battle about to happen. Luna raised a hoof to stop him, and he floated in his place. “You should be ashamed. For anyone to accuse me of such activities... Get out.” she said. Blueblood wasted no time escaping his aunt.

Luna, still ablaze, grunted angrily and went into her library. Not having heard the whole exchange, Starstep followed. “What happened?” he asked. Luna turned to him. “It would seem that some of the guards believe me to be... ‘shameless’, in a manner of speaking.” Starstep did not understand. Luna sighed. It was about to get awkward. “They believe that I fornicate with a guard. Likely you.” Starstep stopped. His expression went blank. “What?” he asked. Luna only nodded. “Well, I’ll have to talk to them, then. Clear the air.” he said. Luna looked at him. “Do you know who would spread such a rumor?” she asked. Starstep put his hoof to his chin, thinking. “I can think of a couple, but I’ll need to do some investigating. Don’t worry; I’ll clear this up.” Luna smiled. “Thank you.” she said. Before turning to go down the steps, she had to ask one more thing. “You would ever say such a thing... would you?” she asked. It pained her physically to have to ask such a thing of her favorite guard and closest friend. Starstep shook his head. “No, ma’am. Wouldn’t bother thinking about it.” Luna looked relieved. “I’ll go talk to the other guards right now.” he said. With that, he turned and walked off.

Luna made her way down the stairs, thinking about what had just transpired. “Starstep would never spread such rumors. He cares too much.” The thought gave her pause. Shaking her head, she opted not to think about it. She turned her mind in Ryan’s direction. “He is likely still in that room.” she thought. If he was, than she would simply observe. If not, she would go in and help. “It had been two days.” she thought. “He should be transported today.” She stepped off the stairs and walked over to the pool. In it was an image of Ryan and Harris, being spoken to, in front of the building, by Narendra. “Let us see what is happening.” she said.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan was only slightly listening to Narendra as he spoke to the group before him. There were about ten prisoners. This was highly unfortunate, as these guys would only need five to seven.

Narendra had been talking to the group for a few minutes. Just above Ryan, Discord was growing bored with the monologue. “How much longer is this gonna be?” he asked. Ryan tapped his head three times to signify mental communications. Narendra noticed this and stopped talking. He walked up to Ryan. “You want to say something?” he asked darkly. Ryan shook his head. “No. I’m having trouble hearing today.” Narendra did not believe him one bit. He gripped Ryan’s arm hard over the bandage. Searing pain splashed up his arm as Narendra twisted his chemical-burned skin. “Can you hear me now?” he asked, releasing Ryan from the pain. Ryan nodded. “Good.” He turned around and walked over to some men, with whom he began to speak.

Discord looked down on Ryan with pity. He didn’t deserve that. “Are you alright?” he asked. Ryan didn’t look up. “Fine, just fine.” Ryan responded. With significant effort he stood back up. “To answer your question, no, I don’t know how much longer this will be. No one does, so don’t ask.” he was clearly frustrated with Discord. Without another word, Discord decided to just wait. The vests and equipment of the men from earlier dangled off of him heavily.

Ryan was looking around, taking in his surroundings. Off to the front a dirt road surrounded by trees. To the left or right was trees. Behind him was the white, nasty looking building. He turned to look at it. This place had been the site of the worst events of his life. “I will destroy this place, someday.” he thought. He turned back around.

Before him stood Luna. The wind caused her mane to slowly float above her head, obstructing Ryan’s view of his captors. He looked up at Discord. He was looking at Harris, seemingly talking to him. Ryan looked back and tapped his head. “Ryan.” Luna started. “Is everything alright?” she asked. Ryan just looked at her. She nodded. “Alright.” she said. Ryan spoke next. “We’re moving today. Off to Sumatra. No idea how long it’ll take.” Luna nodded again, slowly, in deep thought. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked. Ryan racked his brain for an answer. “No, it doesn’t look that way at the moment.” he responded. Luna let out a breath she had been holding. Why couldn’t she help? “There may be an opportunity later, though. We’re obviously gonna be on a boat, so not much there. But when we approach the next compound, there may be something.” Luna’s expression lit up at hearing this. She could finally help him in an actually productive way! “Good. I will stay for a while, then. In case something comes up.” Ryan nodded and looked forward.

Several cars drove up. “Line up!” one of the guards yelled. Already in a line, the prisoners stood frozen. “Into the cars!” Narendra yelled after. There were three white vans. Harris and Ryan got into the middle one with one other person. He was young, mid twenties, black hair, big build. He sat across from Ryan and Harris. When the doors shut, and they were alone, the new guy displayed his panic. “Where are we going?!” he asked. Ryan looked at Harris, who looked back at Ryan. “Sumatra.” Ryan answered. Harris looked startled; this information wasn’t made available to him. He figured Ran must have been told when he was taken from the room. “Really?” the guy asked. Ryan nodded, and the guy went silent.

*********************************************************************************

Discord watched from above as the prisoners were loaded into the cars. He felt enormous pity for them; to be owned by another of your own kind, have absolutely no freedom save that of the mind... a terrible fate. He took note of the types of vehicles they transported prisoners in. They were large, white, and had tinted windows. The backs all had two swing doors, and had the word Chrysler on them. “I wonder if they only use these Chrysler vans?” he thought. to himself.

The vehicles began to leave the compound. Discord floated on after them. The vests and gear dangled from his body. “Ugh!” he yelled. “These are getting way too annoying!” Contorting his body, he let the long instruments fall into the forest below, as well as all the boxes that went with them. He kept the vests, which had several smaller instruments. Deciding to hold onto them, he looked at whichever one he could gab. It was very small, compared to the others. It was yellow, light, and had some kind of designation on the side. “P22.” Discord read. Figuring it would be easy to carry, he put it back into its spot on its vest. He pulled the other. As much as he looked, there were no letters or numbers on this one. It was big, though, close to twice the size of P22. He put that one back.

The other vest also had two of the smaller instruments, but they were different. Pulling the smaller of the two, Discord read the side. “P99.” Discord put it back. “Must be the same manufacturer.” he thought. He pulled the other. This one had a designation on its side. “Automag.” he read. This one was at least twice the size of the previous one, and was easily twice as heavy. He put it back, clueless as to what exactly these devices were.

He continued to follow the vehicles. They drove through the forest for a time. Now, they were approaching some coastal town.

*********************************************************************************

Luna sat quietly in front of Ryan in the van. He had not communicated with her once during the ride. He just sat there, frown dominating his face, looking down at the floor. He was slouched over, seemingly read to fall asleep. Luna took the time to observe him. He had bandages wrapped around his arms. They were slightly red, indicating some bleeding from whatever wounds were beneath them. His face was bruised and had clearly gotten some small cuts on it, as there was dried blood on his forehead. Luna leaned forward. “What happened to you, exactly?” she asked. Ryan tapped his head. She plunged herself into his mind.

“I got the living hell beaten out of me.” he said. She waited for him to continue. He didn’t. “Would you mind giving me details? You don’t have to...” she said. speeding up toward the end. Ryan shook his head. “I don’t think you should hear it.” he responded. Saddened by his reluctance to share, she thought about other things she could do. The van hit a rock or something, and the three people inside flew into the air. They came crashing down. Ryan grunted. “I can take some of the pain away,” she began. Before she could continue, Ryan responded. “Please do.” Her horn glowed bright, and she “touched” it to Ryan’s forehead. His body lost a lot of tension, and he fell back. “Thanks.” he said. Luna smiled. “Think nothing of it.” She had helped him.

With a new lack of pain, Ryan took on a thinking position. Luna watched him intently as he processed something through his head. Eventually, he looked back up. “Luna, I need to ask something of you.” he said. Luna nodded, giving the go-ahead. “I have a plan to escape.” he said to her. Luna fell back slightly; he planned on escaping such dangerous people? “Ask, then. But if I believe that it is too dangerous, I will not be able to help.” she said back. Ryan nodded. “I need to know what the route to the next compound will look like when we hit land. Long roads, turns, how many cars, everything. Can you do that?” he asked. Luna nodded. “Good. At the docks, look for anything that will tell you these things. It’ll probably be in the boat we take.” Luna sat straight up. “I shall not let you down.” she told him.

********************************************************************************

Discord continued to watch from above as the vehicles entered the town. The road was bumpy. It couldn’t be pleasant for anyone in the vehicles. They continued through the town to a small marina, where there was only one large boat. The others all looked like dingies or small fishing vessels. Not wanting to pass up a chance to create confusion, Discord moved the water just enough to move the small vessels just out of reach of the docks. He chuckled, then turned his attention back to his new companions.

They filed out of the vehicles. Ryan and Harris got out of the middle one. Discord teleported down to them. Once there, he noticed that Ryan was staring at a spot in the air in front of him. Thinking that Ryan was just spacing out, he paid it no mind. He got just above Harris. “Well, I guess they’re moving you.” he said. Harris looked at him with his eyes only. “No shit.” he whispered. Discord frowned slightly. “No need for that language.” he said. Harris sighed quietly. “They’re sending us to somewhere in Sumatra. Not sure where. After, we’ll be heading straight to Cambodia to be sold.” Discord looked to the boat. “You know,” he started. “I only know of one guy who kept slaves. He ended up disappearing a long time ago.” Harris looked up. “So?” he asked. Discord looked back down at Harris. “His slaves disappeared with him.” Harris gulped. “But he had magic.” Discord added quickly. “These guys don’t.” Somewhat reassured, Harris looked back forward at the men who held him captive.

Discord looked over at Ryan. He was still focusing intently on something. What could it be? “Hey, Ryan.” he said. He was ignored. “Ryan!” Still no response. Giving up, Discord floated over to the boat and went up, happy to just wait for whatever was about to happen.

*******************************************************************************

“And that is my situation.” Luna finished. She had just told him about how rumors were spreading about her and her guard. She had told him about this because she wanted to get Ryan’s mind off of what was currently happening. In a situation this grim, the mind is one’s only solace. At the same time, the mind can be one’s worst enemy. Ryan nodded, chewing his lip. “I have no experience or particular insight to help you.” he said. Luna huffed. She had still hoped that he might be able to help. “Still,” he said. Luna’s ears perked up. “I can tell you that those guards ought to be disciplined. They can’t go spreading rumors like that about those who are technically their Commanding Officers.” he said. Luna listened carefully. “You want my opinion? Put them through the harshest physical training regimen you can think of. It should dissuade them from doing this in the future.” Ryan just thought of the punishments he had heard of men doing for breaking the rules in SEAL training. He had no desire to be mean. “Make them hard, but not impossible.” he said. Luna nodded.

Narendra walked forward from the boat to the group before him. Luckily for him and his outfit, there didn’t seem to be anybody at the marina right now. “Alright!” he announced. His men stood at the ready. “You will all board the boat. Once inside the room, which you will recognize,” he said malevolently. “you will sit and be quiet. The boat ride will be roughly 7 hours. Any resistance, and you will be thrown from the boat. To ensure that you get the message, you will be shot first. Any questions?” No one raised their hand. Narendra smiled. “Good! Onto the boat!”

Everyone boarded the boat quietly and quickly. Luna walked next to Ryan in order to avoid losing where he would be. Once Ryan was in the room with the other prisoners, she left him to look for the information he wanted.

The first place she looked was in the quarters of the crew of the boat. Not being familiar with the boat, it took some time to find it. When she did, she got nothing of use. There were only dirty magazines, weapons and ammo, and beds with sheets. She moved onto the next area, the navigation room. When she reached the door, she heard two people talking inside. “This route is shorter, sir. Would it not be better to use it?” some asked. Luna popped her head in. Narendra was looking down at a map. “Knocking a few hours off the trip won’t help us.” he said. “I don’t want to take unnecessary risks. Not with this cargo.” Luna stepped into the room. The two men before her continued their conversation, clueless that they were being watched.

She walked forward over to the table. On it, she saw a map of a large island. The top was labeled Sumatra. “There we go.” she said. She looked down at the map. There was a red ink line going from the coast to some spot inland. The line had many curves, and looked like it could take at least a couple of hours to drive. If one walked as the crow flies, it might be right around one hour, the curves were so severe. A number of rivers, small and large, covered the area, frequently intersecting with the roads. One was right up next to the end point. “Interesting.” Luna said. She left the room and went back to Ryan.

Upon entering the room, she noticed that Harris was intently looking at something in the air. Not knowing or caring what it was, Luna stepped forward to Ryan. He raised his head, tapping his temple with his fingers. “I’m glad you’re finally back. Now I can stop paying attention to his ridiculous tales.” he told her. Luna looked around. “Who’s tales?” she asked, confused. Ryan shook his head. “Never mind.” he said. “Anyway, what do you have for me?” he asked. Luna recounted all that she found. “The road is very curved, to the point where, if you walk as the crow flies, you could get there before the cars. There are many rivers on the way.” she told him. Ryan looked forward, deep in thought. “Alright.” he said. “I can work with this.”

*******************************************************************************

Discord had been floating above the boat for close to three hours. With nothing around him to look at but seawater, he quickly grew bored. He decided to go down to the boat.

He landed on the bow of the boat. Before him were two men, armed with the long instruments of death. “What were they called?” Discord wondered. “Aha! Guns!” he remembered. He went around the boat to get a good look around. He found more of the same; men with guns, walking around like nothing of significance was happening. Discord frowned. “I may be evil,” he thought. “but even I can’t approve of these acts.” He continued around, eventually finding the navigation room. He went through the door.

Inside, he was greeted by many strange looking machines, beeping and buzzing, flashing lights. Discord did a double take. “Well, this room is certainly different.” he said. He looked around. To his right was the man who had spoken to everyone earlier. Discord went over to him. He was talking to another man. “Sir, why are those two boys of such particular interest to you?” one asked. The one called Narendra looked out the window. “I have a much more personal connection with the. I know them better. So I want them to suffer more.” Discord almost dropped to the floor. This was highly unexpected. “What?!” he thought. He continued listening. “I forced the one with the necklace to kill his friend and a little boy. The other is clearly his close friend. I want to see them through to the end.” Narendra chuckled, then added, “And they’re Americans. They’ll be worth a lot more.”

Discord was beginning to grow angry at Narendra’s words. He enjoyed causing intense suffering of others. He sold his own kind for profit. He forced a boy to kill his friend, and even a toddler. Discord looked at him. He raised his hand to snap his fingers.

Then he stopped. He looked hard at Narendra. Lowering his hand, he got a malicious grin on his face. “No.” he thought. “I won’t kill you.” he floated away from Narendra to take his spot in the sky above the boat. “I’ll make sure that Ryan does.”

******************************************************************************

The boat came to a halt. It was about seven when they hit land. Nothing, thankfully, had happened on the boat ride. Ryan and Harris stepped off the boat. They were followed by the other eight prisoners, then the armed guards. No one ran because Narendra was already off the boat, and no one wanted to be shot by a fifty calibre pistol.

The prisoners all formed up in a line and awaited orders. They stood on a beach. The boat hadn’t gone to a Marina this time. The sand shifted under their feet, making it difficult for the exhausted people to stand. But they had to.

Narendra walked up to the group. “Alright.” he began. “Here’s how this is going to happen.” Ryan thought to himself, “I can already tell you, this is not how it’s gonna happen.” Narendra continued. “We have four cars, but we can only transport two of you in each car. So you two,” he said, pointing at Ryan and someone else. “will be transported last.” Harris displayed panic in his eyes. Ryan stayed calm. “Calm down, Harris.” he thought. “I got this.” Harris just swallowed hard and kept his mouth shut. Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. Narendra was still talking. “You will wait here for one of the cars to come back. The rest of you are getting in the cars when they get here.”

The cars arrived soon after Narendra finished his announcement. All the prisoners got into the cars quickly. Except Harris. “Move.” he was told. He looked back to Ryan. “Don’t worry.” Ryan mouthed. “We’ll be fine.” Harris nodded, an reluctantly got into the car. Getting into the last car with Narendra, the convoy left, leaving Ryan and his new partner with one armed guard.

They waited for what must have been five hours before the cars came back. “Wait, I thought only one would be coming back...” he thought. He began to panic; this could ruin his plan.

Two cars had come back. Out of the back one, Narendra and two guards came out. “Aku harus pergi ke depan.” he said to the guard who had stayed with Ryan and the other guy. “Membawa mereka ke kompleks.” The guard said comehting that sounded like a confirmation, and Narendra took his men to the boat. The guard grabbed Ryan by his bicep and dragged him forward. The other prisoner just followed. Ryan was thrown into the van. After the other prisoner got in, the guard climbed in and closed the door. As they drove off, Ryan could hear the whine of a boat’s engine as it started up.

“Ryan.” Luna said. He gasped in, being startled by the unexpected sound of her voice. He had completely forgotten that she was there. “What?” he asked. The guard just looked at him funny. “I am on top of the car right now. This is the road you wanted to know about.” she said. “Do you have any kind of lan?” she asked hopefully. “Yeah.” Ryan replied. “Soon.” he said.

After about an hour of driving, Ryan decided that it was time to enact his plan. He looked to his right; the guard had fallen asleep. While not expected, this made his plan that much easier.

Ryan slowly undid his necklace, loosening the adjustable leather strip that functioned as the chain. It now spanned the length of his forearm. The other prisoner noticed this and gulped. He looked afraid. Ryan looked in his direction and brought his finger to his lips. “Shh.” he said. The other prisoner stopped breathing to stay quiet.

Ryan slowly made his way over to the guard. He got one end of the leather strip in each of his hands and held it taut. Being painfully careful not to make noise, he got about a foot from his guards neck.

Murphy didn’t feel like letting anyone break his law, though. In that instant, the car hit a road bump, send the guard flying into Ryan. “Apa?!” he yelled. Ryan had to move fast.

He brought his fist around in an arc, slamming it into the side of the man’s head. He hadn’t generated enough force to do serious damage, though, and the man was only slightly dazed. Still, to take advantage of this, Ryan threw the man off of him. While he tried to get up, Ryan got around him, kicking the rifle he was holding out of his hand. Once behind him, Ryan brought the necklace around his neck. Pullin hard, Ryan garroted the guard. His eyes were bulging, drool dribbled out of his mouth, and after about five seconds, he stopped moving. Ryan dropped him to the floor.

He picked up the rifle from where it had landed. Before continuing with his plan, though, he had to make sure the guard was dead. He set him up so that he was sitting against the back door. Ryan opened the window, and the guards head hung out of it. With a swift sideblade kick, Ryan snapped his neck backwards. His head was bobbing up and down outside the car, his hair flowing in the breeze.

The other prisoner gasped loudly, but muffled, through his hands. Ryan looked at him for a second, then turned back. He went to the front area, right behind the driver. He couldn’t get to the driver because of the little wall, but that wasn’t a problem. He had an AKM Assault Rifle.

He knocked three times on the wall. “Apa?” he heard. It came from the left side. Pulling up the AKM, he opened fire on that side of the front of the car, releasing twenty rounds into it. As the car slowed down, Ryan fired the other ten into the other side. Can’t take unnecessary risks.

Luna must have heard all the noise. “What happened?!”” she asked. She was terrified that something had happened to Ryan. “Exactly what I wanted.” he replied. Luna’s relief could be felt through the connection. “If I come out of the back of the car, which direction to the compound?” he asked. Luna took a moment to answer. “Facing away from the car, you take a left, through the trees. After you pass another road, and find a river, head south. Another left.” she said. “Thanks.” Ryan said.

He kicked open the door, the guard with it, and hopped out of the car. The other prisoner came up behind him. “What are we supposed to do now?” he asked. Ryan turned. “You do whatever you want. I have to go get my friend.” he replied. “What?” the man said, flabbergasted. “No! I can’t survive out here alone!” he said. Ryan turned around and shrugged. “Sucks to suck, bro.”

********************************************************************************

Luna’s jaw dropped at hearing Ryan say this. “Hang on!” she said. Ryan looked over at her. “You’re just going to leave him alone out here?” she asked. Ryan dropped his shoulders and looked to the sky. “Yeah, I am. He’s not my problem, Harris is. I need to go get him.” The other prisoner looked around frantically. “Who are you talking to?” he asked. Ryan ignored him. “He needs help!” Luna yelled. “I don’t care!” Ryan responded, also yelling. He walked over to the driver’s seat of the car. Luna watched him as he interacted with the car.

A bloody body fell out. Luna fell back. “What the-!?” the yelled. Ryan didn’t seem to care. He just rummaged through the front area of the car. Luna remembered all the noise she had heard from the car earlier. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. “Did you,” she tried to ask. Ryan kept rummaging, seeming to have found something. “Did you... kill, that man?” she asked. She felt a tightness in her chest. Ryan turned away from the car, holding an instrument of death. “Yeah.” he replied. “So?”

The other prisoner had clearly had enough of hearing Ryan talk to something that wasn’t there. “Shit, you’re crazy!” he yelled, stumbling back. He fell on his butt. Turning to him, gun pointing at the ground, Ryan said, “Get lost.” The man wasted no time turning around to run. “Hey!” Ryan yelled. The man stopped. “It’ll be easier if you use the car, you know.” The man looked confused, but did as Ryan said. As he passed Ryan, he looked wary, but still quickly got in the car and drove off. Ryan turned to Luna. “Happy?” he asked sarcastically. He began to make his way into the trees.

“Hold on!” Luna ordered, weak-kneed. Ryan turned, sighing the whole way. “Why? Why did you kill these men?” she asked. “Because I had to!” he yelled. He walked over to Luna and got in her face. “They would have killed me just as readily! They deserved to die!” he yelled. Luna wouldn’t be intimidated. At least, that’s what she told herself. “Who are you to decide who lives and who dies?” she asked, angry. “What is your right to-” she was cut off. “AND WHY DO THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO ENSLAVE AND MURDER PEOPLE?” Ryan yelled. Luna backed off. “You have no idea what it’s like to have to kill your friend!” he ranted. He stayed in Luna's face. “They made me kill my friend! They made me kill a six year old boy! They fucking tortured me! Since when do you understand any of this?” Luna fell to her knees, jaw quivering. “You don’t get to criticize me. You don’t understand. You never will.”

He turned to go back to the forest. Luna tried to stand, but couldn’t. She called out. “So that’s it, huh? Become like them to get your worthless revenge?” Ryan stopped. “You would allow yourself to become a monster, like these wretches, just to get back at them?” Ryan turned, somber. “No.” he said. “I just want my friend back.” Luna stood up and wobbled over to him. “Killing isn’t the way. There is always a choice.” Ryan held the rifle by the butt, leaning it on his shoulder. “I don’t know what world you’re from,” Ryan said. “but here, in this one, there isn’t always a choice.” He turned and walked past the treeline.

Luna fell back down, eyes watery. She looked back. Two bodies were on the ground. One with two dozen massive holes ripped through his body, the other with a neck bending disturbingly far back. Tears flowed from her eyes. Not wanting to spend any more time here, she cast her spell and returned home.

None Left Behind

Luna returned to her body, still trembling from the events of just moments ago. Tears once again streamed down her face. She looked away from the pool; that was the last thing she wanted to think about right now.

She tried to get up and stand, but had trouble. Her knees were too weak at the moment to let her stand. She kept her eyes off the pool. “Why?” she asked. “Why? She felt sick, and knowing that the world of terror was before her on the ground, she managed to stand up and wobble over to the stairs. At the base, she stumbled, and fell to her knees. She looked up. Before her was the massive staircase that led to her private library. Pulling together her remaining strength, she forced her body up the stairs, tears flowing freely all the way.

At the top of the stairs, she looked back. The bookcase had appeared quickly, obstructing the view of the downward tunnel. Deciding not to dwell, she went into her bedroom. Once there, she flopped onto her bed and cried into her pillow.

Starstep, just outside the door, heard her come up. He had heard her walk into her room, her steps heavier than normal, and heard her drop heavily onto her bed. t sounded like he dropped a bowling ball on it.

When he heard the crying, he poked the door open. “Your highness?” he said. She was on her bed, her face buried into her pillow. “Umm, your highness?” he said. She still didn’t hear him. He heard muffled sobbing from the pillow. His heart felt like it was being yanked out of his chest. Walking over, he thought, “What happened?” Once he was next to the bed, he slowed his pace. He didn’t want to startle her. Slowly, he climbed onto Luna’s bed and crawled over to her. When he was close enough, he slowly put his foreleg around her. She didn’t react. “Luna?” he said. She looked up at him. Her eyes were red and glassy. Her nose was running, and her lips quivered. “S-Starstep?” she said. Before he could respond, she put her forelegs around his chest and hugged him tight. She cried into his shoulder.

Starstep patted her back gently. “Shh.” he said. “What happened?” he asked. Luna just continued to sob into his shoulder. He allowed her to do this for some time; she needed to just let it out for a while. After almost ten minutes, she recovered a little. “Starstep...” she said. He looked down at her. “I need help.” He continued to look at her. “Anything.” he responded. She sniffled.

She gave Starstep a brief summary of everything that had happened regarding Ryan. She told him about his society and some of the things that Ryan told her. She slowed down when she reached the point where Ryan was taken. Without much detail, she described Jackson’s fate, and the fates of Ryan, Catherine, and Harris. She told him about how she had seen some of the humans died, and the reason why. She described the men who had taken Ryan and his friends, and wat they did to their prisoners. When she was about to describe Ryan’s escape, she stopped.

Starstep could tell that it wasn’t the end of the story. “Luna, what happened next?” he asked. She bit her lip. “Come on, you can tell me.” She pressed herself into Starstep’s chest. “He... he killed two of his own kind... and acted like it was nothing.” Starstep blinked. “Hmm.” he said. “He told me that in his world, there... there isn’t always a choice!” She pushed herself into his shoulder and continued crying. Starstep lightly stroked her mane.

He had to think hard about this one. He had never encountered this kind of problem. “What can I tell her?” he wondered. “If I say the wrong thing, she’ll lose it.” He continued to think with the princess wetting his shoulder with her tears. Eventually, he came to a conclusion.

“Luna,” he said, pulling her away slightly. She looked up at him. Her blue eyes shimmered from the tears. “This world, it’s not like anything you or I have ever encountered.” he said. Luna nodded. “We don’t know about it, so we aren’t able to make judgement calls on it.” Luna began to speak, but Starstep cut her off. “We don’t know how their world works.” Luna spoke up. “But the colt... how could someone so nice do such a terrible thing?” she asked. Starstep thought hard and fast. “Just because he did something bad doesn’t necessarily make him a bad guy. This Narendra character? He does... what he does, for money, and as zero regard for his fellow man. Ryan? He is doing what he does because he wants to rescue his friend. His actions, while they may be evil, are meant for a good purpose.” Luna frowned a little. “So the ends justify the means?” she asked. Starstep shook his head. “No.” he responded. “I’m saying that his cause is just, even if his actions were not. This doesn’t make him a bad person.” Luna had stopped crying. “But what can I do?” she asked. “I’m afraid he will follow a road that cannot be justified.” Starstep shrugged and held Luna tight. “Than all we can do is try to point him in the right direction.

Luna snuggled into Starstep’s chest and thought. “He is getting close to a point where he cannot turn back.” she thought. “How can I keep him on the right path? Keep him from becoming like Them?” She tried to get up, but had become weak-kneed again. Sensing her attempt to get up, Starstep said, “Maybe you should just stay here for awhile.” Luna looked down and sighed. “Okay.” she said. Starstep stood up to leave. “Starstep,” Luna called. He looked back down at her. “stay?” she asked. Starstep laid back down next to his princess and held her close, and she soon drifted into sleep from such an exhausting day.

*******************************************************************************

Ryan was now at the river that would lead him to the compound where Harris was. He struggled a bit to get through the brush. He wasn’t carrying anything to cut it away with, but he was carrying an FN FAL Assault Rifle. He had picked it up from the driver he shot up in the van while Luna was talking. Ryan looked around. “I wonder where she ran off to?” Deciding it wasn’t important, he continued down the river.

He continued on for another twenty minutes before stopping. He had to stop to relieve himself, but also to check a couple of other things. His necklace was still around his neck; the leather was tough, and could withstand being used as a garrote. His watch was still where he left it on his wrist. It was nearing sundown. He looked at the FAL. It seemed to be in good condition. He removed the magazine and pulled the chamber mechanism, ejecting the round. Before it hit the ground, Ryan grabbed it and put it back into the magazine. Now, there were no rounds chambered, and no chance of accidental discharge.

Now that he was ready, he continued down the river. After a few minutes, he heard the sound of a generator. He got low, and kept moving forward. After another minute, he found exactly what he was looking for. The compound before him was one story, had a generator for power, and had several guards patrolling the perimeter. Ryan dropped as one came close to him. He stayed absolutely silent while he passed. “Okay.” he thought. “Let’s figure this out.”

Over the next couple of hours, into the night, Ryan scoped out the area. Moving very slowly, he got a good look at the building and the surrounding area. There were lots of bushes to hide behind outside the walls. The compound was small, and had two doors, one in front and one in back. Ryan would have to use one of them to get inside.There were four guards outside, two on the ground, two on the roof. They were never looking in the same areas at the same time. They had no flashlights or any such device, so they could hardly see at night.

It was about half past ten now. Ryan decided to make his move.

He looked up from his hiding spot. One of the guys on the roof was looking in his direction. Not wanting to make a fatal mistake, Ryan held off. “Come on, guy, look somewhere else!” he thought, frustrated. Eventually, the roof guy left and was replaced by a ground guy. “Thank you.” Ryan thought. The ground guy was walking from Ryan’s right to his left. He was also taking his time. Ryan held his necklace. “Actually,” he thought, dropping it back to his chest. “That’ll take too long.” He kept waiting. When the ground guy was halfway across the wall, Ryan saw his chance. Setting down the rifle, he silently stood up and went over the bushes using a branch above him. Stealthily, he crouch-walked over to the guard. He was right behind him. “Now.” Ryan thought. He kicked out the guards right knee and put one and on the guards chin, the other on the back of his head. With one quick twist of his body, the guards neck snapped like a twig, and he fell to the ground.

Ryan moved the body fast. He couldn’t let another guard see it, or he would be screwed. Going back to the spot he was in before, he dragged the body halfway into the bush, then left it. No one could see it, not in this dark. He picked up his rifle and looked back.

A roof guy was looking over the edge. He must have heard something, because he was looking around at the ground. Eventually, he must have figured it was nothing, because he just went back to circling the perimeter of the roof.

Seeing that he was safe, for now, Ryan took the opportunity to get back over to the wall, rifle slung on his back. He had observed the guards earlier; the next ground guy would be coming around the corner, the same way as the first. They never intersected paths. He sat there waiting. Footsteps could be heard from the other side of the corner. Setting the rifle back down, Ryan stood and cocked his hand straight back. When the guard came around the corner, Ryan shot his palm forward into the man’s larynx. Dropping the rifle, he clutched his neck and fell back, onto the ground. HE stopped moving soon after. This was all done without any noise.

Going around the corner, and staying close to the wall, Ryan made his way to the back door. With the large rifle in his right hand, he pointed it into the door as he opened it. “Shit.” he thought. Before him sat two guards, backs to him, facing the other door. “If I had used that door...” he thought. He quickly dismissed it; he had a goal to accomplish. He looked left and right for a weapon; to his left, there were a couple of beds. There was nothing there. To his right, though, was a kitchen. There was a knife and a fork there. Quietly, and making sure the rifle didn’t bounce off anything, he went over and took the fork and knife. It was a steak knife and a carving fork. Still nice and quiet, Ryan got behind the two guards.

Wasting no time, he plunged the knife into the back of the right one’s neck. It made a combination of schluk’s and crack’s as it severed the brain stem of the man. Blood sprayed out from the wound. Before the other man realized that his friend was dying, Ryan grabbed his neck the same way he did the earlier guard and twisted. He fell to the ground. “That’s that.” Ryan said in a whispered voice. He looked around; this room was nearly empty. There were no people, and there was almost no stuff. He grew angry; had he gone to the wrong place?

No. These men had weapons, so they must be them. Who else around here would have such items? This was how he reasoned he would continue.

Before looking around the room, Ryan thought it would be better to deal with the guards on the roof. With the carving fork now in his pocket, Ryan ditched his FAL for a pistol he saw in the belt of the man he stabbed. He lay on the ground on his front. As Ryan took the pistol, he observed the wound he caused. Blood still poured out of it, but beside that, no one would ever guess how serious it was. Ignoring the man he killed, he took the pistol from his belt and turned to go outside.

He had taken a Browning Hi-Power from the dead guard. 9x19mm parabellum, ten round magazine. It would be sufficient for his task. Outside, he looked for some way up to the roof. In the room, there had been no ladder or latch to get up to the roof. There had to be a way outside.

And there was. Off on the other side, there was a ladder that went up to the roof. Ryan climbed up the ten foot ladder, pistol in hand. Before reaching the top, he chambered a round. There had already been one in the chamber; a round ejected and fell to the ground. “Dammit.” Ryan thought. No matter. One round won’t make a difference. He kept going up very slowly. Toward the top, one of the roof guards started walking down Ryan’s section of wall. He froze; unless he had an absolutely clear shot, he couldn’t move. Otherwise, he was dead.

Ryan didn’t move an inch while the guard slowly approached the ladder, completely oblivious to Ryan’ presence. When he was close, Ryan whispered loud enough for him to hear. “Hey.” He looked down and was surprised by the kid pointing a pistol at him from the ladder. Before he could even speak, Ryan fired off three rounds. The first struck his chest, the second slammed into the man’s face, right through the nose. The third shot missed entirely. The man fell back, blood and bone falling in globs and shards from the front of his face. Some of the spray from the back of his head hit the second roof guard.

Ryan got up over the ladder and pointed his pistol toward the other guard, but he was already jumping off the roof, firing randomly with his AKM. Not wanting to eat a bullet, Ryan took cover behind the wall. After just a moment, Ryan climbed over and ran to the edge of the building. He looked down; the man was still recovering from his ten foot fall. His foot was facing the wrong way. Not intent on letting him get away, Ryan fired off five rounds. Three of them hit their mark, and the man went down. From the roof, Ryan could see the entry wounds. All three were on the man’s back. Blood seeped into his clothes.

Ryan hopped down, careful not to hurt himself the way the guard had. “Let’s see what you have.” he said. As he searched the guard for another pistol, he felt the guard gasp for air. He was still alive.

Not finding any other weapons on the man, Ryan turned and walked away. He looked back. “How sad.” he said. He walked back into the room.

In the room, there was little of interest. On his right was the kitchen area, left was the beds. He walked around. There had to be more to this room than meets the eye. There was no way that these guys weren’t the people he was looking for. If they weren’t... he didn’t think about it. He kept looking. He moved aside the beds, moved the table, threw around the chairs, nothing. Eventually, he grew and fell to his butt. When he landed, though, the ground made a strange noise. He looked down; he was sitting on a small rug. “How did I not..?” he wondered. He ripped away the rug, and, sure enough, there was a trap door. “Bingo.” he said. He put his hands on the handle and yanked it open.

********************************************************************************

Discord had been watching everything from high above. He had been thinking about the two boys he had decided to follow. It was obvious that Ryan was the one who had gone through much worse lately, but he preferred Harris to Ryan. Ryan seemed like he had the skills he might need for the job Discord planned to force him to take, but Harris was different. Ryan seemed like the kind of guy who could kill. Never in cold blood, mind, but nonetheless, he was entirely capable of this heinous act. The fact that the killings were justified didn’t change his opinion. Ryan should have displayed at least some care about the fact that he killed those two guys in the basement in Jakarta.

Discord watched only half-caring as Harris was forced into one of the cars, being separated from Ryan. He would follow Harris. He would clearly need more help.

As Harrs’ car drove away, Discord closed the distance between him and the car. He got right above it. “Harris!” he thought. Harris must have been startled. “Jeeze, dude. You freaked me out there.” Harris replied. Discord rolled his eyes. “SO sorry.” he said sarcastically. “I came here to help you out.” he said. He sensed excitement from Harris. “Great! If you could-” he was cut off. “Now, hold on, kiddo.” Discord said. Harris stopped. “I’m gonna help you how I think I should. It needs to be fun for me, or what’s the point?” He could sense Harris’ displeasement. “What? You think this is fun for me?” Discord shook his head and went through the roof of the van to be face-to-face with Harris “No. just think that SOMEONE should be able to enjoy himself when he’s giving up his time to help.” Harris ceased arguing.

“So. What’s happening?” he asked. Harris huffed. “We’re going to the next compound where they’ll be holding us. Not much else to say.” Discord floated before Harris. “There have to be other things you can tell me.” he thought. Harris shook his head.

They spent the majority of the car ride in relative silence, Discord going up to sit on the roof of the car. While the car rode along, Discord took in his surroundings. The vests and pistols still dangled from his body. “Maybe I should ditch these devices.” he thought. “They cause too much chaos, even for me. And they’re heavy.” He removed the vests, ready to throw them into the forest. No one would ever find them out here. Then he stopped. “If Ryan is going to kill Narendra,” he reasoned. “then he may need some weapons.” He shook his head. “Was that logical?” he wondered, shaking his head. “This world is messing with me.” He put the vests back where they were and just rode along on the roof of the van.

After a time, they reached the compound where they would all be held. It was small; one story, no windows. It had a ladder to the roof, which had a guy on it. The surrounding area was heavily vegetated. There were lots of bushes and trees around, almost covering the path that they took to get in. The cars parked off to the side, where one couldn’t see them. Everyone got out, and Discord floated above.

They were all lined up in front of one of the two entrances to the small building. Narendra came out. “You will get inside this building and do what my men say.” he explained. “Try anything, and you will be shot.” After finishing, Narendra had his prisoners manhandled into the building.

Upon entering, Harris looked around. To his left on the other side was a kitchen, to the right of that, some beds. Besides a couple of lawn chairs, the room was pretty barren. On the two lawn chairs sat a couple of nasty smelling, hairy guys. When they heard people enter, they snapped to attention. “Menempatkan mereka di ruang bawah tanah.” someone ordered. The two men saluted and opened some hatch on the ground. One held it open while the other ushered in the prisoners.

Harris was the first one to go down. The basement was shockingly large; bigger than the building itself. The basement had some cupboards filled with food, bottled water, a,d a little area where they had put seemingly random items. There was a pile of porno mags, newspapers, and other documents. Before he could keep looking, Harris was forced over to the other side of the room. There were cages here. Not private little rooms like in the first compound. These were actual cages, like from a zoo.

As Harris was locked into his cage, he was greeted by the semi-comforting and reassuring sound of the voice of the spirit of discord. “Well, this is certainly unpleasant, isn’t it?” he asked with a hint of amusement. “It would seem that you have been caged.” e even laughed a bit. “Stuff it.” Harris responded. Discord’s laughing lessened. “You’re not exactly about to be old like a pig, so just shut up.”

Discord sa this as his chance. “These men are something else, aren’t they?” e said. Harris detected a bit of malice in Discord’s voice. “Yeah. They are. What of it?” he asked. Discord smiled to himself. “Look at what they did to Ryan, your friend. They made him kill one of your other friends. They did unspeakable things to that woman and her child.” Discord had picked up a lot of that from Ryan’s mind. “What do you make of these men?” he asked. Harris shook his head. “They’re monsters.” he replied. Oh, this was too perfect. “They don’t even deserve the title of ‘human’, do they?” he asked. Harris continued shaking his head. “No. I suppose not.” Harris looked up at the strange being above him. “What are you getting at?” he asked. Discord threw his hands up and shrugged. “I’m just saying. What do you humans normally do with extremely dangerous wild animals, that kill people?” Harris wasted no time responding. “We kill them.” Discord’s mind-voice took on a dark tone. “So, wouldn’t that be the best way to deal with these animals? These animals who killed your fellow humans, are going to sell you to people just as bad as them?”

Harris went silent for a moment. “How would you propose I do that?” he asked. Too easy. “I can help you. You and Ryan can put an end to these guys. All you have to do is kill Narendra.” It hadn’t taken long to get Harris into the idea of going after Narendra. He really hated this guy; who wouldn’t? “I’ll be alongside you, the whole way.” Discord told him. “You won’t have to worry about anything. Anything but finding and killing the bucker.” Harris got up and stood before Discord, putting their faces close together. “Alright.” he said. “But we’ll need Ryan.” Discord smiled deviously and put his hand forward. “This is the beginning of a beautiful journey.” he said. Harris took his hand and shook. There was no turning back.

After getting Harris to go along with his plan, Discord decided to head outside and wait for Ryan. It had been a couple of hours, but he didn’t come. Not concerned, Disord went back down to Harris.

On his way down, he counted four guards outside and two in the room above the basement. In the basement, there was one more. He sat in the center of the room, smoking a cigar, not really paying attention to what was happening around him. Discord made a face at him as he passed on his way to Harris. He stood outside the cage. “I’m not seeing Ryan.” he told Harris. Harris looked at him with a scowl. “I can’t help but wonder if they killed him...” Discord wanted to make sure that Harris didn’t lose his desire to kill the bad guys. He clearly wasn’t about to lose it. “They didn’t. Ryan won’t be killed by these sleazes.” Discord backed off, not wanting to make Haris yell at him.

By now, it was getting pretty dark outside. By now, Ryan absolutely should have been here. Something was distinctly wrong. “Ryan should be here by now, Harris.” Discord said. Harris ignored him. “Do you think he’s alright?” he asked. Harris turned. He looked terribly worried. “He is. He has to be.” Just then, they heard a noise come from outside the hatch. The guard had fallen asleep, so he hadn’t noticed, but the sound was clearly loud, or they wouldn’t have heard it. It was followed by a cacophony of similar noises. “What was that?” Discord wondered. Harris shook his head. “I don’t know.” he responded. “Not sure I want to.”

Over the next few minutes, Harris tensely waited to find out what the noise was. Discord floated next to him, humming, not really worried. Harris stared at the hatch.

It opened. It made an incredibly painful screech as it opened, causing the guard to fall from his chair and his sleep. Once the hatch was open, someone jumped down. It was Ryan. “Ryan!” Harris yelled. Ryan turned to look at Harris, but was instead greeted by a guard with an automatic weapon. Ryan stepped toward the guard and swiped the weapon away to his left. The guard started firing, stray bullets flying around the basement. Pistol in his hand, Ryan brought his other hand around and pistol whipped the guard in his face. He fell back, holding his stinging face in his hands. Ryan ran up behind him to take him down, but was surprised by the guard quickly getting up and taking a swing at him. Ryan got his head out of the way, but his wrist was hit, sending the pistol flying. It landed in one of the prisoner’s cages. Ever resourceful, Ryan ripped out the fork from his pocket once he rolled away from the guard. Not to be outdone, the guard pulled out a KABAR Combat Knife. He clearly didn’t understand the finer points of knife fighting, though; he held it pointed forward next to his chest, leaving him exposed for a strike. If he went for a stab, it would be easy to block, as anyone could see it coming from a mile away. Seeing this, Ryan got into a Seisan fighting guard with his fork. The guard was intimidated; he knew he had picked the wrong fight.

Not willing to back down, though, he ran forward, going for a stab. Ryan parried the knife and arm with his left hand and followed by burying the fork into the man’s head, up through his jaw. The fork stuck in, going right through the bottom of his head. He fell down. When Harris looked closely, he could see the fork going up through the man’s mouth, and possibly farther. He convulsed on the ground. Harris started to feel sick; he wanted to kill these guys now, but he hadn’t pictured it as so gruesome. Ryan picked up the KABAR and made short work of the guard on the ground.

Ryan walked away from the body and over to Harris, who looked at him in shock. Discord looked at him in shock as well, but it was a happy kind of shock. “This is better than I could have hoped for!” he thought. Ryan stood before the cage. “Harris.” he said. Harris didn’t respond at first. “Harris!” he yelled. Harris came back into focus. “Ryan!” he responded. He put his hands on the cage door. “Am I glad to see you.” he said. Ryan nodded. “Likewise.”

Ryan tried to fiddle with the lock, but to no avail. He went back over to the body of the guard and searched him for a key. He found one and walked back over to Harris’ cage. “Let’s get you outta there.” he said. Harris nodded as Ryan opened the door and emancipated him. He then walked over to the other cages and released the others. He got a plethora of “thank you!”s and “God bless you!”s and all kinds of gratitudes. One woman even gave him a kiss. He disregarded all of it.

He went back over to Harris and Discord. He was about to start speaking when Discord commented, “Well, you have your freedom now, kiddos. But what’re you gonna do now?” Ryan scowled and turned to Harris. “Harris, only three cars came back to the docks where I was. That means that two are still here. We can use them to get outta here.” Harris grabbed his shoulder. “Hang on.” he said. Ryan was confused. Harris pulled him aside, away from the other people. “I don’t want to go home just yet.” he told Ryan. Ryan’s jaw dropped. “The hell you saying?” he asked. Harris shushed him. “These guys killed Jackson, and forced you to choose between me and Catherine. Now, she’s dead, alongside Joey and Nadine.” Ryan looked at Harris warily. “I’m not sure I like where you’re going with this...” he said. Harris looked him dead in the eyes. Ryan’s held close to nothing; Harris’ held grim determination. “I’m going after them, even if you’re not.”

Ryan held the stare. “That’s not a good idea.” he said. Harris grunted. “One or both us us will die, you know it.” Harris released Ryan’s shoulder, which he had been gripping hard the whole time. “We have families.” Harris turned to Ryan. “And the others didn’t? What about their families? Where’s the justice?” Harris asked. By now, the other people were looking at them. Ryan sighed. “If you’re so naive that you think there is such a thing as genuine justice in this world, you don’t have any understanding of how the world works.” Harris looked at him aghast. “How about the families of the eight men I’ve killed already?” Ryan asked, sorrow sewn into his voice. “Those men did horrible, unspeakable things. But the families did nothing. They have no one to support them now. I killed eight men. I could easily be ultimately responsible for the deaths of over twenty others. Do you understand what that’s like?” Harris was taken aback by the monologue. Discord was also surprised. “He really takes this seriously.” he thought. “Getting him to kill this guy will be harder than I thought.” Ryan continued. “Can you even begin to understand what it’s like to potentially be responsible for the deaths of over two dozen people?”

Harris stepped forward. “No. I can’t.” he said. “But I can say this; if we don’t stop these guys now, a HELL of alot more people than over two dozen are going to suffer and die. You’ve always been good at logical decisions when morality fails. Who’s going to be better for society? Any one of us,” he said, looking around and waving his hand. “or the people who kidnap, enslave, and murder other people and the families of those men?”

Ryan turned away. “That was before.” he said. “Now I know what it means to kill. I don’t like it, but I will do it if I have to.” He turned to face Harris again. “We’ll talk more later. Let’s just get out of this hellhole.” Harris nodded, and they turned to the group. “Listen!” Ryan announced. The miniscule amounts of conversation ceased. “There are still two cars out there. We can pile everyone into them and drive to the closest site of some civilization. From there, we’ll figure the rest out.” Someone from the group spoke out. “I heard that there’s a town, Pekanbaru, somewhere not far. When the guards were talking, I could understand them.” Ryan looked over at the man, happy surprise painted on his face. “I speak some Indonesian.” Ryan was very glad to hear this. “How do you speak Indonesian?” he asked. “I work here in Indonesia.” the man replied. “They took me from my company’s parking lot in Jakarta.”

Ryan clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Alright, that’s where we’re heading! Everyone, let’s get out of this crappy basement.” Cheers rang out. Discord looked at the boy before him, deep in thought. “He certainly seems capable of taking charge.” he thought. “Getting to him will definitely be a challenge.” He smiled. “I love challenges; I can approach them in so many different ways.” At that moment, a plan started to formulate in his head.

Everyone climbed out of the basement one by one, spitting on the dead guard as they passed. One of the prisoners held the pistol in his hand. As she passed, she fired the last round into the guard’s groin. “Fuck you.” she said. She was quickly ushered out of the basement.

Ryan and Harris were the last two in the basement. “You go ahead. I’ll be right there.” Harris frowned, but went anyway. When he was gone, it was just Ryan and Discord in the basement. “He was a pretty nasty guy, Ryan.” Discord told him. Ryan ignored him and walked over to the body. He leaned down over it. “He deserved what he got.” Ryan closed the man’s eyelids and removed the fork from his head, tossing it aside. “I know.” he said. He stood up and looked at Discord. “That doesn’t mean I enjoyed what I had to do.” Discord shook his head. “Never should you enjoy it. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m telling you is that if you had to, you shouldn’t dwell on it. Feel your guilt now, but move on. It’s okay as long as you don’t enjoy it, but still care.” Ryan laughed. “What’s so funny?” Discord asked. Ryan looked up toward the sky. “A wise woman once told me that ‘there’s always a choice’. You, the old man, I suppose, are telling me the opposite. It’s an interesting contrast of two very strange beings.” Discord didn’t understand, but didn’t ask for elaboration. Ryan left the basement, and Discord floated through the ceiling/floor.

Upon leaving the small building, Ryan looked around. Everyone disappeared. “Well, that sucks, bro.” Discord said, suddenly right behind Ryan. He made Ryan jump. “Don’t friggin do that! I almost turned to take you down.” He hadn’t. Discord went, “Pff. Right. Anyhow, it looks like you were-” He was cut off by the sound of a car coming around the treeline. Two vans stopped in front of the building and Ryan. Harris leaned out of the second one. “Come on, get in. We’re leaving.” Ryan happily got into the back of the van with Harris and they drove off.

Discord got up above them as they drove for Pekanbaru. He couldn’t see the town, even from this high up. It was going to take them a long time to get there. It meant that Discord would have plenty of time to think of his plan.

He looked up at the night sky, unable to help himself from marvelling at the beautiful, starstruck sky. With no ground light, to block it, the cosmos struck him in all its glory. He could see Millions of stars, many different colors, and purple streaks across the sky. It was an astonishing work of natural beauty.

Not one to allow things to be normal, he started moving some of them around. He moved some of the brighter stars into the shape of a penis. “Much better!” he said. He was sure that somewhere, this night, someone would look up and see a big male genital plastered onto the sky. Satisfied with his work, he went over his plan.

The first thing he would have to do would be to take away Ryan’s reluctance to stop these men. He wasn’t as concerned for those families as he thought; if he was, he wouldn’t have killed the men. Discord had to make him realize that his friends meant more to him than those people he didn’t know. He also had to drive him to want to kill Narendra.

Still, he had to follow some ground rules. Unnecessary killing was not going to be okay. While yes, he was going to kill Narendra, that was for justice in Discord’s eyes. Cold-blooded killing was a no-no. He couldn’t drop to the level of the men he was to fight. He couldn’t hurt innocent people. This could potentially mean the families of the men. That one should be easy. Other than that, there weren’t really any rules. Flexibility is best, after all.

With a plan ready in his head, and two boys ready to be the main catalysts, Discord howled his satisfaction into the night, and flew off after the vans carrying the two who would serve the justice he had cooked up.

Right Track, Wrong Train

It had been nearly a day since Luna left Ryan and his world. The entire time, she was staying in her room, having Starstep tell any visitors that she was ill, and not to disturb her. He was being as helpful as he could; bringing her food, comforting her, and generally trying to make her feel better. Celestia had visited once, but after realizing there was no physical ailment, she left Starstep to watch after her little sister. Blueblood tried to visit again, but this time, Starstep had the authorization to force him away. When Blueblood tried to get past, Starstep struck him on the snout, causing the coward to run away, tail tucked between his legs.

The whole time, Starstep had dutifully sat outside the room, not leaving once. He had grown worried; he hadn’t heard so much as a sound form Luna’s chambers. Whenever he opened the door to bring something in, it was levitated away from him and the door closed. He hadn’t gotten in to talk to Luna at all. He intended to put an end to that.

The server came by with a tray table of food. “Lunch, sir.” he said. Starstep saluted him and the server went on his way. The table was bigger than usual. Taking it in his teeth, he bumped the door open with his hind end and walked in backwards. “Lunshh ish here!” he said through his teeth. This time, the table wasn’t levitated away. The fact that his teeth were still on it, and Luna didn’t seem to want to speak, kept her from this. Starstep waited for her to tell him to do something. Eventually, she spoke up. “You may go.” she said. She sounded unhappy. Letting go of the table, Starstep turned around. Luna’s head was lowered and she looked forlorn. “Princess, what’s wrong?” he asked. She didn’t answer. “She must still be upset from this Ryan character...” Starstep thought.

He sat and waited. Looking around, he noticed all the food from her prior meals sitting in a corner. “Have you not eaten?” he asked, worried. “You may go.” Luna repeated, with more authority. Intimidated, Starstep sat right where he was. “Your highness, I can tell you’re not very happy.” he said. Luna turned, obvious frustration on her face. “You may go!” she barked. Starstep took two steps back. Seeing how she scared her guard, Luna buried her face into her pillow in shame. “Just let me be...” she said. Starstep looked around. “Princess, you have to eat.” A thought came to his mind, a thought that could get him into massive trouble. This thought could make her smile, though. “Princess, should I spoon feed you?” he asked. Luna pulled her head up. “I don’t think so.” she said resolutely. Starstep grinned, silently giggling at himself for his foolishness. “Should I spoon you?” he asked. He got ready. “I don’t- wait, what?” Luna responded.

Before she knew it, she was grabbed and hugged from behind by Starstep. He wrapped all his legs around her, and held on tight. Luna was shocked; it took her a moment to realize what was happening. “What are you doing!?” she yelled. She received no reply. She shook her guard off of herself and jumped up off the bed. Her face, though of a dark, navy coat, was turning a deep shade of red. “What are you- why- What?” she said, embarrassed. Starstep laughed. “What?” he said innocently. Luna knew what he was doing. “You know,” she started. A small smile crept across her face. “I think that was a little more like SPORKING than spooning...” she said. Now, it was Starstep’s turn to be embarrassed. As his face turned color, Luna giggled uncontrollably. Then she broke into all out laughter on the floor.

Starstep got up and walked over to her. When she finally recovered, he extended his hoof out to help her off the floor. Accepting it, she finally calmed herself. “I bet you didn’t see that coming.” she said. Starstep shook his head slowly. “Nope.” The two shared a laugh. Luna sighed. “You always know just what to do to make me feel better.” she said. Starstep sighed this time. “All I want is to see your smile. Nothing else.” He pulled her into a hug, which she kindly returned.

After close to ten minutes of standing there, they separated. “I still can’t figure out what to do about Ryan...” Luna mentioned. Starstep payed close attention. “It seems like he needs guidance, but how can I give him guidance if he is going to do... those things?” Starstep contemplated this a moment. “All you can do is try to keep him on the right path, really. You don’t have to give him any means; just try to keep him doing the right thing.” he said. Luna went wide-eyed at the revelation. “Yes!” she said. She started to bounce up and down. “I can do that!” she said.

With that, she ran into her library and down the stairs. Starstep sighed happily as she went. “I love to see a pretty girl so glad.” He turned to leave.

Before he got three paces, Luna shot back into the room, air whisking away from her as she flew in. “Starstep!” she yelled. He jumped. “AHH!” he yelled. His heart raced at the unexpected yell of his name behind him. “Yes?” he asked warily. Luna floated back to the floor. “Please, come with me.” she said. Starstep followed as she went to the pool.

At the base, Starstep took in the sight for a second time. He had known about the pool for a while, but never took the time to look around. There was a clock to the side and the pool in the center of the room. Not much else. “Your highness?” he asked. She sat before the pool and tapped the spot next to her. He obeyed and sat. “This is where I watch over the boy.” she said. Starstep looked into the pool; he could see Ryan lying in a bed. He was fidgeting with a necklace that hung around his neck. It was a silver image of two letter-like shapes with a dragon wrapping around them. The boy seemed deep in thought.

“So that’s him.” Starstep commented. “Not exactly what I expected.” Luna nodded. “He wants to be a soldier.” she said. Starstep looked back at the boy, surprised. “He wants to be a very special soldier, one that is always on call to help people. He is a good guy.” Starstep looked back up at Luna. “I don’t doubt that.” He looked away. “Why did you bring me down here?” he asked. Luna shifted. “I can’t bring you with me,” she said. “but I’d rather have someone close to me nearby.” Starstep smiled, happy to hear this.

“Okay.” Luna said. Starstep looked at her. “In I go.” He could only watch as she sent an apparition of herself into the pool. “Good Luck.” he said.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan was laying in bed, thinking hard about whatever was to come. “Harris wants to go after them.” he thought. “I sure as hell don’t.” He got out of his bed and walked over to the window.

They had gotten to Pekanbaru the previous night. After a long drive, at one in the morning, everyone thought it best to find a place to sleep. It wasn’t easy to find places; the large group of ex-prisoners had to split up and find individual households that would host them. Of course, flashing some money helped entice them a little bit.

Looking out the first floor window, Ryan thought about the plan that they had all worked on last night. From Pekanbaru, they would find a boat, or several boats, that would take them south, until they were back in Jakarta. From there, the guy’s company would be easy to find, and they would just go there to get ready to head home.

Harris had different plans. He and Discord had been discussing amongst themselves how they were going to make their way to Cambodia. Their plan also involved taking a boat, just heading into Thailand instead of going south. They would then go through Thailand up to Cambodia. Harris had been trying throughout the car ride to explain to Ryan why this all had to be done. His reasons were perfectly logical; kill the bad guys to save the good. By taking them out, the world would be a better, safer place. But Harris didn’t understand what he was saying; he hadn’t taken a life before. So far, Ryan had taken twelve; the seven guards in the previous compound, the two in the car, the one of the two who took Nadine, and Joey and Catherine.

He had nightmares about them. The innocent lives he took, and even the guards he killed. In the movies, they like to make the good guy look proud of what he did. The good guys never are; you’d have to be a cold-blooded killer for that. No, every good guy who takes a life gets really messed up by it.

He continued looking out the window. After only a few hours of sleep, from roughly half past three to half past seven, he barely registered what he was looking at. There were children playing in the streets. Cars meandered past. Every shadow seemed like a place of danger. It wasn’t just the nightmares that ruined his sleep; they just woke him. he had been thinking non-stop about what Harris was saying. And the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He wanted to get back at those guys.

Pushing himself off the window sill with what some would call great effort, he turned. Barely controlling himself, he tripped and fell as his eyes fell on the blue form of Luna before him. He just managed to not yell out. “Ryan.” she said. Recovering, Ryan stood up. “Luna. What brings you here? I didn’t think you’d come back...” he responded. Luna blinked. “Me neither.” she said. “But I chose to anyway.” She looked around sheepishly. “I may have needed some encouragement.” she said. Ryan paid it no mind. “Whatever. I’m glad you’re here.” He walked over to her and sat before her. “I need your help with something.” he said. He had no desire to beat around the bush. This was not the time.

Luna sat down. “What do you need, my friend?” she asked. Ryan blinked surprisedly; she considered him a friend? “I need to make a decision.” He went on. Luna listened intently. “Harris and I have a perfect opportunity to get out of this situation. If we leave with the rest of the group, then we get home soon and safe. We’ll be home by the end of a week. But, the thing is...” Ryan hesitated. Luna leaned in. “Harris wants to go after the guys who took us. He wants to take down their organization.” Luna nodded, signalling him to continue. “The reasons he gave me are perfectly logical; we need to stop them before they can keep doing this. I get that. But I don’t think he understands what this will entail.” He was finished; he kept the part about killing all the people of the organization to himself. “Well,” Luna started. “His goal is noble.” Only partly. “I can only tell you that I will support you however I can, whatever you choose to do. You can be a hero, and stop the evil men. I would be glad to help you in this. But I would be just as glad to see you home, safe and sound.” Ryan took this in. “Alright.” he said, standing up. “I’m gonna talk to Harris one more time. That’ll decide it for me.”

He walked out of the room he had been in and went down a small hall. Harris had been in the same home as him because they decided it was safer to go in pairs or groups. The family he was staying with was very nice; they only accepted the money after Ryan insisted, much to Harris’ chagrin. They fed the boys for free, and gave them clean places to sleep. The mother, they were a family of three, even washed their clothes.

At the end of the small hall was Harris’ room. Ryan knocked. He heard something moving around, then footsteps moving towards the door. It opened with a creak. “Hey, Ryan.” Harris yawned. “What’s up?” Ryan stepped in. “Let’s talk.”

Ryan entered the room and sat down against the wall. Harris sat on the floor across from him. “What’s to talk about?” Ryan still wasn’t feeling like beating around the bush. “About going to Cambodia.” Harris leaned back. “Well, then. Are you going to come with me, or not?” Ryan shifted his position slightly. “Why should we do this? We’ll be outgunned, outnumbered, and generally outclassed. We don’t have a chance if we start a war with these people.” Harris sighed. Luna stepped into the room behind him, causing Ryan to worry. She couldn’t find out about the real intentions, not after her reaction to Ryan killing the two other men. “True. But we have certain things that’ll boost our chances pretty big.” Discord entered the room suddenly, without a word. He and Luna stood close to each other. It was strange; they didn’t seem to notice each other. “We have surprise. Among other things.” Discord chuckled behind him, mouthing, “Darn right.” Ryan looked to the floor.

Harris was certainly right; their reasons were as just as they could be for going to kill a large number of people. They had certain advantages. Their chances weren’t all that bad. Ryan sighed. “Alright.” he said. “Let’s do this.” Harris smiled, Discord smiled, and Luna showed her resolute determination in her stern expression. This was happening. “Let’s right the wrongs.”

They were about to do a great thing for all the wrong reasons.

Justified

Ryan left the room to go tell his hosts that they would be leaving. He had decided that he would go with Harris to take down the Haqqani in this section of the world. The only way they would be able to do that would be to take down Narendra. If you cut off the head of the serpent, the rest will die. “That phrase makes no sense.” he thought. Isn’t that a universal rule?

Once at the door to their room, Ryan knocked three times. The people he and Harris had found had one family member, the father, who spoke some english. It wasn’t fantastic, you had to use a lot of hand symbols, but it was good enough for communication. Ryan had to avoid being used to this; in Thailand, there would be no communication. After a moment, the door opened, and the father smiled at Ryan. “Happy morning.” he said. Ryan smiled. “Happy morning.” he said. “My friend and I,” he said, pointing down the hall, then at himself. “need to go now.” He used his fingers to simulate walking away. “Thank you very much,” he said, putting his hands together and bowing. “for all that you have done.” He made a big circle with his hands, having them come together at the base. Ryan’s host nodded. “You are welcome.” he said. He bowed. “You are welcome back here any time.” They shook hands, and Ryan went back to get Harris.

He walked into the room. Luna, Harris, and Discord were all still there. “Alright, time to go.” he said. Harris stood. “Then let’s go out and find a boat.” He started to walk forward, but Ryan put his hand on his chest and stopped him. “Hang on.” he said. “First, we need to tell the others we won’t be coming with them.” Harris frowned. “Don’t you think they’ll ask what we’re doing?” he asked. “What’ll we tell them?” Ryan thought for a moment. “We’ll tell them that we have another friend to go get.” he said. Harris was unconvinced. “Wouldn’t some Special Forces or something come rescue our ‘friend’?” he asked. “We’ll tell them that there isn’t enough time for that.” Harris nodded lightly. “Alright.”

Before the two boys left the house, their hosts stopped them. The mother handed the boys six bottles of water. The child, a little girl of five, gave them both metal bands to wear on their wrists. They had intricate engravings on them; Ryan’s had a dragon encircling the length, and Harris’ was a Tiger. “What are these for?” Harris asked. The father spoke up. “They for your journey.” he said. “Water to drink. Gelang for luck.” He bowed. “Safe journey to you.” Ryan bowed back, and Harris followed suit. “Thank you.” Ryan said. They left the home.

Before splitting up, the group had agreed on what spot to meet at. There was no set time to arrive; people were told to show up as they awoke. Everyone had agreed that the best spot to meet would be the center of town; there were several landmarks that made it clear that you were there. Some statues, specific street signs, and other urban uniquities. Harris and Ryan were roughly a ten minute walk from there.

Luna walked next to Ryan, Discord floated next to Harris. Both pairs were having their own conversations. “How do you plan to get a boat?” Luna asked. Ryan shrugged. “First we need to get to the coast. From there, I don’t think it’ll be that hard to find a boat to illegally take us into Thailand.” Luna nodded. “Okay. But how will you get through Thailand?” she asked. Ryan thought for a moment. “You need to think about these things.” she told him. “I know, I know!” he thought. “Harris and I will think of something when we get that far. Right now, we just need to figure out how to get to Thailand.”

Luna stayed silent for a moment. “You say that you are going to put a stop to Narendra’s atrocities.” she said. Ryan nodded. “How?” This was the question Ryan had been dreading. He had to think fast; it was foolish of him not to think of an answer earlier. “We’re going to find him and take him down. From there, international authorities will have less trouble with his organization.” He was doing his best not to answer the question. It paid off well. “So you’ll get him and give him to the proper authorities?” she asked. Ryan didn’t respond; he was too nervous. “A good plan.” Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. He had kept their intentions a secret from her.

On the other side of him, Discord was planning things out with Harris.

“So you’ll get a boat to Thailand,” Discord recounted. “then you’ll hitch rides and steal to survive until you get to Cambodia. Do you know where the compound is?” he asked. Harris nodded. “I think Ryan said it’s near some town or whatever named Kompong Chhnang.” Discord flew up giddily. His plan was going to work out nicely; he was already seeing how it would turn out. The two boys would sneak into the compound, and take out the guards. They would rescue anyone there. After that, they would search the compound for Narendra. When they found him, they would burst into the room, taking out his guards. To end it all, they would tell Narendra his crimes, and put a single bullet in his brain.

One flaw; they had no guns. “But I do!” Discord remembered. He knew better than to hand them over now. He would do that later.

The two boys had their own planning sessions with their respective “guardians” the whole way to the meeting area. Ryan and Harris would have to convene later to establish what they would do. For now, they just had to get along with what they had planned. The two boys approached the center of town. Being a city of over nine hundred thousand people, the crowd was difficult to sift through. Eventually, they were able to find one of their compatriots. “Hey!” he yelled. It was the guy who spoke Indonesian. Ryan and Harris briskly walked over to him. “Some of the others decided to go get some food.” he said. Harris nodded. Ryan answered. “Alright.” he said. He got in closer. “Listen,” he started. The guy got a concerned look on his face. “we won’t be going with you.” he said. The guy’s eyes bulged. “What?!” he yelled. No one around them seemed to care. “We have another friend who needs to be rescued.” The guys shook his head frantically. “Can’t you just leave that to SEALs or something?” he asked. Ryan shook his head. “There isn’t enough time. It’ll take us some days to alert them, and by then, it’ll be too late.” He put his hand on the guy’s shoulder. “We have to go for him. Please understand.”

The guy bit his lip. “You saved us.” he said. He pulled Ryan into an unexpected hug. “Please be careful. And let us see you again.” Ryan hugged him back a bit, then pushed him off a little. The guy took the hint. “Stay safe.” he said. Ryan turned around, but looked back. “You too.”

They made their way back the way they came.

********************************************************************************

Discord had grown bored during the conversation, and decided to go back up into the air and fly around. This city was enormous; it made Canterlot look small. There had to be some fun to be had here.

He looked down on the city with disappointment. “Where’s all the crazy stuff?” he asked himself. He went back down to the ground. Around him, he heard thousands of people talking. Thankfully, he still had the translation spell, so he could listen to the meaningless conversation. “So did you see the stars? They changed!” one person said. “Yes, they look like a crudely drawn penis now.” Discord smiled to himself. Someone had noticed his work.

He continued about through the city, listening to random bits of conversation. Some people talked about work, others family life, and some just random facts, like the new constellation. He decided to leave the bustling area of the city after a while; there was too much noise. He flew back into the air and looked for the slightly less urban home that Ryan and Harris had stayed in.

He turned in the direction of the home and made his way there. These people just harbored escaped terrorists’ prisoners, so they must be talking about something interesting.

He made his way over to the home of the nice family that hosted the boys. What would they be talking about? Would they be talking about what they think the boys are doing, what they were doing? Maybe they’re speculating about the boy’s origins, and how they came to be in Sumatra. Discord was excited; regardless of what was happening, he would find a way to make it enjoyable for himself. He could move stuff around, plant thoughts in their heads, change things’ colors...

When he got to the house, he was shocked out of his thoughts by a van in front of the house. “Uh oh.” Discord said. He rushed over to the window.

Inside, he could see several men walking about. The family was in the corner, cowering. “Oh dear.” he thought. He was about to get up and go tell Ryan and Harris what he saw when one of the men started talking. “We know they were here.” he said. Discord stopped to listen. “Tell us where they are, and we’ll leave you be.” The father in the family shook his head. “We didn’t know, we swear! They just told us they needed a place to stay!” he yelled. “So, now they know what Ryan and Harris were doing.” Discord thought. Clearly, this Haqqani group had taken quite a bit of control over the area.

The man the father spoke to walked up and pulled out his pistol. Rearing back, he brought it across the father’s face, sending him to the floor. “Stop lying to me!” he said. He grabbed the father by the collar of his shirt. “I know they’re here somewhere! Where are you hiding them?!” The daughter began to cry; the mother shushed her and held her close. Angry, the man went over to them and pointed the gun at the mother’s head. “Where are they?” he asked. The father stammered. The man brought the butt of his pistol down on the mother’s head with great force. “Just tell me, and you will all be safe.” The father’s jaw quivered, and he whimpered. The man sighed. “You people. You never seem to know who owns you.”

Discord had seen enough; he had to get back and tell Ryan and Harris what was going on. If they acted quickly, they might be able to get these guys. He flew off as fast as he could.

When he got back to the boys, he stopped right in front of them. They had been heading in the opposite direction of the house. “Guys!” he yelled. Harris and Ryan spun around. Immediately after, Ryan turned to his left as if something was there. “You need to get back to the house!” Ryan continued to look to his left, but was clearly alarmed by Discord’s panic. Harris walked over to him. “Why?” he asked quietly. “Those men are at the home of the people who helped you! If you hurry, you can get back in time to stop them!” Harris’ eyes widened, and Ryan turned to face Discord. Without a word, Ryan started to sprint away to the house, Harris close behind.

About halfway there, Ryan saw smoke climbing into the sky. “No, no, no, no, no!” he said. He upped his speed, and Harris started to fall behind. All that running back home was really paying off right now.

In no time, Ryan came face to face with exactly what he was afraid of. The house was a smoldering pile of rubble. In what he guessed was the less than fifteen minutes it took for Discord to come to them to when they got there, the house was destroyed. Ryan ran to the ruins. He needed to make sure everyone was alright. But he silently doubted that they were.

The smallest glint of hope was what kept him looking. Maybe one of them was alright, just buried under the rubble. Any of them. Ryan picked up pieces of wood and rubble, throwing them away when he found nothing underneath. He searched frantically.

Luna arrived shortly. She ran up behind Ryan, him not paying her any mind. “Ryan!” she announced. Before she could continue, Ryan shouted back, “Look around! They might be somewhere under something!” Seeing his desperation, Luna turned tail and ran to the other end of the house to search. Ryan kept searching in his area, but to no avail.

Until he noticed a small movement to his right. It was tiny; most people in other situations wouldn’t have noticed it. But with his adrenaline pumping and fear rising, Ryan saw everything. He whipped around and went over to it. A large board of plywood was shaking about, like someone was trapped under. Ryan leaned in and listened; he heard sobbing. “I’m coming!” he yelled. He started to rip away at the rubble before him. He yanked off the wood and threw it sideways. Under it was a mess of blankets and pillows. he took them off and threw them aside. What he saw stupefied him.

It was the little girl. The sheets on top of her had provided absolutely no protection from the flames, and apparently explosions, that had annihilated the house. Her skin had been charred to the point where it was black and flaking off. Bone showed in a couple of areas, the burns were so deep. Ryan pulled her out. “LUNA!!” he shouted. Pulling her out was easier than anticipated; the blasts had taken her left leg from the knee down. Ryan’s breathing became short and rapid-fire. “Luna, help!” he shouted. He heard stampeding footsteps, or hoofsteps, I suppose, come up behind him. The girl was sobbing. Upon seeing her, Luna fell back. “What happened?” she asked. “We need to get her to a hospital, now!’ Ryan yelled. The girl in his arms sobbed still.

Luna shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid...” she began. “No!” Ryan responded, turning to yell at Luna. “I won’t allow this!” he turned to the girl in his arms. “Come on, you’ll be fine...” he said, standing. The girl’s sobbing ceased. “Girl?” Ryan said. She wasn’t breathing. Ryan’s jaw shook violently. “GIRL!?” he shouted. She didn’t respond. Luna walked up next to him, avoiding getting hear the body. “I’m sorry.” was all she said. Ryan pulled the girl in close and cried.

Harris and Discord arrived on the scene. They could hear someone yelling something earlier, but they just figured it was Ryan. When Harris saw the house, he stopped dead. “My God...” he said. He was struck speechless. Discord, though, was not. “Let’s get in there. It sounds like Ryan found something.” Harris nodded. “Yeah...” he said. They entered the house.

It wasn’t long before Harris and Discord laid eyes on Ryan. “Ryan!” Harris yelled out. No response. “Hey,” he said, walking over to Ryan. “Ryan!” He went left around him, and almost tripped onto a sharp shard of wood, he was so shocked by what he saw. In Ryan’s arms, were the charred remains of a little girl. It was awful; her leg had been blown apart, and her skin was charcoal black and flaking. “Ryan,” Harris began. Ryan dropped the body he was holding. It fell four feet to the floor, where the arms just broke off like toothpicks. “Let’s go.” Ryan said. He turned and left the ruins.

Harris followed him out. He was about to talk to Ryan when he had to stop. Ryan was facing left. “I’m going to get these people justice.” he said. Harris looked; nothing, not even Discord, was there. “It’s the only thing I can do now.” Harris figured it out quickly, or at least he thought he did. Ryan had gone off the reservation.He walked up and grabbed his shoulder; he couldn’t save Ryan now, not his mind, but the two of them could get their justice. “Ryan.” he said. Ryan turned around and looked him in the eye. Harris gulped; before, he would find nothing in his eyes. Now, there was a terrible anger. Not the fiery kind. It was a frozen anger, like an arctic wasteland. Nothing lived in those eyes anymore. The only thing that was there was an all-consuming cold, unsupporting of any life. “What?” Ryan asked. Harris tried to return the gaze, but couldn’t. His friend had been replaced by something... inhuman. “We can still get these guys. We can stop them from ever doing this again.” Harris now got what was so terrible about these people; his personal vendetta was almost gone. After seeing a flame-broiled little girl, losing the people he cared about to these bastards, and seeing Ryan so mentally distraught, he never wanted anyone to suffer this again. “Yeah.” Ryan responded nonchalantly. He shook Harris’ hand off. “Let’s.” He walked off, Harris following soon after.

The rules of the game had changed. And so had the players.

Fallen Angel

After leaving the site of what used to be the nice people who hosted them, Ryan and Harris made their way back to the center of town. Occasionally in the city, one could see taxis and such driving about. Ryan had decided that the easiest way to get to the coast would be to simply take a taxi.

On the way there, Ryan spoke to Luna, walking ahead of Harris and Discord. Harris walked nervously. Noticing this, Discord asked, “What’s going on with to you? Why so nervous?” Harris pointed forward to Ryan. “You see who he’s talking to?” he asked. Discord shook his head. “Exactly.” Doubling back, Discord realized that Harris was right. There was no one there he could see that Ryan could have been talking to. “Well.” he said. “This is a development.” That was what he said, though. In his mind, he was saying, “Yes, yes, yes! This is perfect! It’ll be no problem getting him to do what I want now. Could this have gone any better?” Yes. Yes, it certainly could have.

Ryan had lost any care of whether or not Harris kept up with him. He just wanted to find and kill someone. He never let Luna know that, though. She would most certainly leave him, were she to find out. “What will you do when you find these men, Ryan?” she asked. “How are you going to take down this organization?” Ryan raised his chin and scratched his neck. “We find them, bag their leader under cover of stealth, and we take him out of the picture of the group.” he responded. “Then, there’ll be lots of infighting, and other, legitimate groups of law enforcement can deal with it.” Luna smiled warmly. She was proud of Ryan coming up with such a plan. “Good. This man must be brought to justice.” she said. She was clueless as to Ryan’s real intentions.

The group reached the center of town. “Fly up and look for a taxi.” Ryan ordered. Luna and Discord both flew up to look around. When one of them came back, Ryan and Harris would be on their way.

Harris stepped forward. “Ryan,” he began. “if we’re going through Thailand, how are we going to travel? We can’t exactly walk all the way.” Ryan turned. “We steal cars and stuff.” He walked up to Harris and got in his face. “I think that saving lives is more important than a person’s car, don’t you?” he said in a mock tone. Harris stepped back. “Yeah, I guess.” he replied. Ryan nodded and sat down.

It wasn’t long before Discord returned. Harris walked over to him. “Did you find us some transportation?” he asked. “Nope.” Discord replied. Harris just looked at him. “I just came back because I remembered that I have something for you two.” He had been keeping the two vests on his tail for the majority of his time possessing them. “I got these off of a couple of guys in Jakarta, or whatever that place was. I think you’ll find them useful.” Ryan heard this and got up to investigate. “What are they?” he asked, still not having seen them. Discord chuckled proudly. “I have a couple of vests, and weapons.” Ryan flinched. He hadn’t expected this. “Nice!” he said. Discord pulled off the vests, with the guns in them, and handed each of the boys one.

Ryan couldn’t help but be somewhat disappointed. “When you said ‘vests’, I thought you meant armor...” he said. Discord cocked his head sideways. “These are makeshift tactical vests.” Discord puffed. “Well, that’s what they had.” he said annoyed. Ryan moved the vest around. “Good enough.” he said. He put the vest on his chest and sat back down. He would look at the weapons in a more private place. They were already receiving looks. Harris sat next to him. “I think we may want jackets. These vests aren’t exactly inconspicuous.” Ryan nodded in agreement. “I think that would be best.”

Pretty soon, Luna came back. As she landed in front of the boys, she slowed down, taking in their new outfits. “Where did you..?” she started. Ryan shook his head. “Don’t ask.” Harris looked at him funny, then moved away a bit. Looking at Ryan sideways, she said, “There should be a cab coming this way soon.” Ryan stood. “Alright then. I’m tired of sitting anyway.” He turned to Harris. “Let’s go out and find a cab.” Harris stood and followed. Ryan didn’t tell him that Luna found him a cab because he didn’t want Harris or Discord to know about Luna. That could be very problematic.

They weren’t fifty feet from their sitting positions when they saw a cab. Ryan ran forward. “Hey!” he shouted. The cab stopped, not wanting to risk hitting the guy who ran out into the street. Ryan walked to the passenger side. After knocking on the window, it rolled down to reveal a very angry man. He shouted at Ryan. Seeing that he couldn’t speak English, Ryan fumbled around the vest.

He found what he was looking for; pulling the pistol from its holster, Ryan pointed the muzzle straight at the man’s head. “Out.” he said. The man, wide-eyed and fearful, hurried out of the car. Harris came up next to Ryan. “Damn, dude.” Ryan waved into the car. “Just get in.” The two boys got into the car and started off to the coast.

Luna took in what just happened slowly. Rather than follow the boys, she just sat on the roof of the cab. “Did he just threaten to kill that man?” she wondered. One way to find out. “Were you about to kill that man?” she asked Ryan through her mental link. “No,” Ryan replied. Luna sighed, relieved. “I just needed him out of the cab. I wasn’t about to hurt him unless he fought back.” Not really thinking about his words carefully, Luna continued talking to Ryan. “I must go, now.” she said. She could feel Ryan’s trepidation at this. “Do not fear.” she reassured him. “I will be back.” With that, she left Earth for Equestria once again.

In the cab, Ryan was taking the time to look at his new weapons. The pistol he had pulled out was a Walther P22, a .22 cal. LR pistol. It’s magazines held ten rounds, and it was really light in his hands compared to the Browning HP from before. Ryan removed the magazine and cleared the chamber. Putting the round back into the magazine and slipping the magazine back in, he holstered the pistol again. He fumbled on other spots on his vest, as he could feel the presence of another, larger weapon. Eventually, he found it. The weapon was a Colt M1911 .45 ACP. This one had a seven round magazine, and was significantly heavier than the other pistol. Unlike most rounds, the .45 ACP and .22 LR rounds are subsonic, causing less signature and noise than others. Ryan removed the magazine, cleared the chamber, and put the magazine back into the weapon.

He looked over to his left. There, Harris was doing the same with his vest. He had two weapons that were both larger than his. The first he noticed was a P99, also Walther, chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum rounds. When Harris pulled the other, Ryan gasped. It was an Automag, one of the few .44 Magnum, magazine fed pistols you could find. Fewer than 3,000 were ever made, so the were pretty rare. Harris put them both on the seat between the two of them. “You should probably clear the chambers.” Ryan commented. Grunting, Harris did just that, albeit with some difficulty.

For the rest of the ride, the two boys rode along in silence.

**********************************************************************************

When Luna returned to her body, she felt an odd sensation against her side. Looking over, she noticed Starstep leaning on her. He was asleep and drooling. “Starstep,” she whispered. He snored loudly, and upon breathing out, he released a big ball of spit. “Starstep!” she yelled. Starstep shot upwards, yelling. “AHH!” Luna looked at him in a “seriously?” type of expression. “Did you sleep on me?” she asked. Starstep landed and nodded shamefully. “I only just fell asleep after you got on the vehicle...” he used as an excuse. Luna shook her head. “Fine. You’re getting off. For now.” Still in a sleepy, Starstep blabbed out, “I’ll get off later.” Luna blinked.

She just sat there silently for a moment. It was entirely too clear that Starstep had no idea what he just said. “Alright, then?” she said. Starstep looked quizzical, like he was solving a puzzle. “Let’s go up.”

The two made their way back to Luna’s room and sat around a table near the fireplace. Luna lit it. “So,” she began, but stopped. Starstep was swaying back and forth. She went over to her bed and, lifting one of the heavier pillows, flung it at Starstep. It nailed him square in the muzzle. “Oof!” He fell back. Sitting back up, he said, “I’m awake. Just nodded off for a minute.” Luna just looked at him. “How can someone not fall asleep when the Princess of the Night, the Ruler of Dreams, is their pillow?” Luna face-hoofed. “But it was so comfy...”

She sat before him in front of the fireplace, resuming her spot. “So what did you think?” she asked. Starstep took in a breath. “Of the colts, or their situation, what do you mean?” he asked. “Everything.” was Luna’s reply. “Well, I think the colts seem really nice. Or at least they were before this whole situation. The one, who held the weapon at the other one’s head? He seems really different from what you described.” Luna took it all in. “You weren’t there for it, but something happened when he found that,” he shuddered. “filly in the razed home.” Luna nodded. “Any of us would be disturbed by that.” Starstep shook his head. “No, I know that. I mean something else. He wasn’t just disturbed. He was so terrified, so sad. Then, he just drops her to the ground, where parts of her shatter, and doesn’t care. It’s like he’s not even there anymore at all.” he said. Luna jutted her head forward a bit. “I don’t see it, actually. When he was talking, he seemed fine. After all that he’s been through, he’s probably desensitized.” Starstep continued to shake his head. “No, it goes beyond that. I can’t explain it, since I’ve never seen it before, but... something is off with him now.”

Luna took it all into consideration. She would have to watch Ryan for a while. “How about the other things you got to see?” she asked. “The other colt, Harris, seemed alright. A little naive, maybe, given their plan, but a good enough person. Those other humans, the ones who helped the boys, were wonderful. Very kind. It’s terrible, what happened. I threw up into the pool. I think it hit someone.” Luna could not help but smirk. “The guys who did that are truly the most heinous creatures ever to walk in that world. I can’t imagine worse. They really do need to be taken to justice. Anything, really, to stop them.” Luna looked worried. “What?” Starstep asked. “Initially, they were going to kill the men.” Starstep took a step back in his words. “Let me rephrase. Anything that will keep the boys above the ‘men’ on a moral level and still stop them.” Luna nodded, satisfied.

Starstep had been wondering, though. “Are there more ‘men’ like this? Other instances of... this?” Luna looked away. “I believe so.” she said. “They live in a terrible world, a dangerous one. In many ways, it is far worse than ours.” she looked back. “But still, in many ways, it is superior. They treasure acts of good more than we ever can because of these types of atrocities. We take what we have for granted, while they often have to fight for it every day. These humans are strong, always willing to do what they must for what they believe is right. We must respect that about them.” Starstep thought about this for a moment. They really were strong, if they could live in such a world. They appreciated what they did have, more so than anyone in Equestria. While they will always have those who they wish to send away, to never hear of or see again, there were just as many, if not many more, who were better. They are more than just better, actually; they are good. “I see your point. Perhaps their world is great in the scope of things...”

He stood up. “Well, I should probably get outside for guard duty.” Luna stood. “I must raise the moon. I shall return soon.” Starstep went out first, quickly, and stood at post. As Luna left, she noticed two patrolling guards walking by. Unable to resist, she decided to brush her tail on Starstep’s face as she passed. Just enough to be an accident, but not necessarily enough to be on purpose. She yelped slightly as Starstep unexpectedly nipped her astral tail. Looking back at him, her deep red face was met only with the statue-like expression of her guard and two snickering patrol guards. She quickly made her way to the balcony, hearing laughter behind her as she trotted off.

When she got to the balcony, her sister was awaiting her. “Ah, glad to see you, sister.” she said. Luna walked up next to her sister, rigid as ice. “Hello sister.” she said. Celestia could sense her embarrassment. “Sister,” she began. Luna gulped. “did you try to play games with your guard? And lose?” Luna did not respond. Celestia chuckled. “I thought so.” She began to lower the sun. As it set, Luna thought about Ryan. He seemed much like the sun; bright, promising, warm, energy. And as with the sun, he was beginning to shed less light, less energy, becoming less bright. It seemed like it was almost his time to set.

Realizing that she was going down a path to abandon him, she decided to talk to her sister. “So, what has been going on in the day court? Any interesting cases?” she asked. Celestia laughed. “No, not a single one. They’re always ‘petty squabbles’, as you once said.” Luna smiled sheepishly. “Though I can’t say I’m not happy with this. It had been a long time since any real crime was committed that DIDN’T threaten the entire nation. Our people are quite peaceful.” Luna nodded. “Indeed.”

After the sun was lowered, Luna began to raise the moon. “You know, it’s thanks to you that this is true.” Celestia said. She turned to face her sister as she raised the moon. “How?” she asked. “You always intimidated our subjects a little.” Celestia answered. Luna huffed a little at this. “At first, that was what kept serious crimes from occurring. Later on, when you came up with special treatment for ‘special’ ponies, we had a much more peaceful society. And thanks to modern magic treatment, we can keep ponies with issues from being violent. You create peace.” Luna smiled. “Thank you, sister. This means much.” Celestia smiled and yawned. “I must go to sleep, now. I hope you have a good time this evening.”

It wasn’t until after Celestia left and Luna raised the moon that she thought about that last statement. “What does she mean?” she wondered. On her way back to her room, she concluded that she was to harass Starstep.

Upon returning, she saw Starstep reading a magazine. It read Stallion’s Salubrity. Luna knew this one; it was mildly sketchy in nature, but was generally okay. She snuck up on her guard, whose face was buried in the magazine. “BOO!” she shouted as she flew up, forelegs raised. Starstep shot backwards, dropping his magazine... magazine’s’? “AHH!” he shouted. Luna stepped forward and looked at the magazines on the floor. “This isn’t anything, y-your highness!” he said shakily. Luna looked at him. “Playcolt? Really?” she said. Starstep hung his head in shame. “Yes.” Luna shook her head. “You stallion guards. Always looking at mares on the job.” Starstep mocked offense. “If I wanted to look at a mare, I’d-” he stopped. He hadn’t really thought about how he would redirect, and it backfired in his face. Silently, Luna walked into her room, waving him in the whole way. Swallowing hard, Starstep followed.

He was going to say Celestia, but thought it was a quick way to get flung out the window. No, he let Luna think about what he was going to say. “She probably thinks I was gonna say her.” he thought about that a moment. “I would, though, honestly.” Luna had him sit down in front of the fire. “I’ll never get you stallions.” she said. “But I can at least try.” Starstep’s eyes went wide. He knew what line of questions was coming. “Why do you... ‘do such activities’?” Luna asked. “We, enjoy, it?” Luna was clearly not satisfied. “Why, though?” He never wanted to say this to her, it was just too awkward. But he had to. “It’s... physically pleasurable!” he blurted. His whole body was red. Luna just looked generally indifferent now. “Well, then. Now I know.” she pointed the way to her private bathroom. “Go take care of... that.” Knowing what she meant, Starstep ran off to take care of “that”.

He soon returned. “Umm, done?” he said, smiling sheepishly. Luna nodded. While he was gone, she had retrieved a book for herself. “As you were.” Starstep ran back outside and took his post.

With him gone, Luna was free to think about what they had spoken about. Starstep said that Ryan seemed different, to the point where Luna didn’t understand. “What could be so different that he could have noticed that I couldn’t have?” She thought about Starstep for a while. He had a long history of service. Initially, he was with the Solar guard, seeing as there weren’t any Lunar guards until Luna returned. While there, he had received some fame, though Luna did not know for what. She had actually never researched it. But, that was what the book she held was for. “The Strike Against the Griffon Coalition.” Luna read. Before she had come back, there had been a massive battle against the griffons to the south. They had tried to gain support from the griffons to the southeast, but failed. Even so, they had no chance of winning. Starstep had participated in this battle.

The book outlined all of the soldiers who had displayed exemplary service during the battle. Those who were lost, those who earned the Crest of Valor, and others who did amazing things. Celestia had told her that she would appoint a guard with “exemplary service” to be Luna’s private guard. That meant that Starstep had to be in this book.

The soldiers in the book were organized alphabetically. But when Luna reached “S”, Starstep was nowhere to be found. “What in the world?” Luna wondered. Why wasn’t he in here?

She continued flipping through the book. It was relatively small, so going through all of it wasn’t hard. Toward the back of the book, she found an interesting title page. Those in Her Majesty’s Special Service. Intrigued, Luna opened it up.

She was surprised to find Starstep on the second page after the title. In the book, his name was Mustang. He was in a very odd set of armor, and in his picture, he was standing with several other soldiers whose faces were covered with red X’s. Luna read the description. “This soldier, known as Mustang, was a member of the Nighthawks. He was one of Equestria’s best. During the battle, though details are sketchy, as he would not talk to anyone, he and his team went deep behind enemy lines and rescued several POW’s from the Griffon Army. As they escaped, they were found out, and had to fight to get out. When they got to the extraction point, Mustang and his team stayed behind to give the POW’s time to get away in the escape chariot. Mustang’s teammates went either MIA or died in the attack. When he was found later on, he was badly injured and clutching a picture of his team. He received the Crest of Valor, as did his teammates, all of whom are presumed KIA.” The description ended there.

Luna read the last sentence and paused. Her guard had been one of the elite soldiers, the best of the best. Who better to guard Luna? But what’s more, he had lost his entire team in the battle. Had he ever gotten over that? After all, he wasn’t still in the service...

“Starstep?!” she called. He rushed in. “Yes, your highness?” he asked. She waved him over. “You never told me about any of this.” she said, pointing to the book. He sighed. “I never felt like mentioning it.” he said quickly. She knew that meant he couldn’t talk about it. She stood up and walked over to him. “You know, we can talk about anything. You said that yourself.” He sighed again. “Yeah, just... not yet. I just don’t want to...” Luna nodded. She felt really sorry for him. To lose a teammate, or shipmate, or anything like that is incredibly hard.

She levitated the book away and laid on her bed. Not excused, Starstep stood where he was, doing his best not to think about the battle. Luna looked at him with sad eyes, and without a word, he walked over and laid his head on her side. There, he slowly drifted to sleep, small droplets of water crawling down his face as Luna stroked his side gently with her wing.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan and Harris were riding in silence. After clearing their weapons, neither of them had talked to each other. Harris worried about Ryan’s sanity, while Ryan thought about how they would find and kill Narendra. With some help from Luna, and lots from Discord, finding him wouldn’t be much of an issue. It was the killing that would be really hard.

Discord had taken a seat on top of the car not long ago. He was constantly asking Ryan and Harris copious, irrelevant questions. “What do they eat around here?” he asked once. Ryan replied “Dog.”, but Harris, living nearby, said that he “knew” the answer was massive ants. Discord gagged, but quickly realized that neither boy was right. Ryan eventually grew irritated by the questions. “Would you, PLEASE, shut up?” he asked. He heard a mental giggle. “No.” Ryan sighed and decided to try to ignore him.

Eventually, Discord started to ask relevant questions. “So, what exactly are the weapons you guys have now?” he asked once. Ryan explained the size, stopping power, ammo type, and other factors of each of their firearms. “Overall, though, they all work just as well, if you can hit a guy.” The following questions were all of similar nature.

After some time, after dark, the boys were brought to a coastal town, Dumai. The coastal town was very close to Malaysia. It seemed that they would have to go through there to get to Thailand, then to Cambodia.

At the town, Ryan exited the cab and walked away. Harris was left to pay the cab guy. Not easy, considering he didn’t speak English.

As Ryan walked around, Discord flew up next to him. “So.” he said. “I guess your not going to Thailand immediately.” Ryan responded without turning. “We have to get through Malaysia first. It shouldn’t be a problem, though. If we can get a ride, we can probably pass it in a day.” Discord nodded. “Good, good. The sooner you get this guy, the better.” He leaned in close to Ryan’s ear. “He killed your friends, and other innocents to boot. He needs to die.” Ryan waved his hand back unexpectedly, striking Discord on the snout. “I know. And I’m going to kill him, if it’s the last thing I do.” Discord stopped at the last sentence. Maybe this was bad. “Well, you want to live after, so you can gloat, right?” he asked. Ryan shook his head. “As long as he’s dead, nothing else matters.” he stopped. “Nothing.”

Harris caught back up to them. “Ryan, you could have waited, you know.” Ryan started moving again. “And you could have taken less time.” he said back. “Come on.” he said. “If we have money, we should find a place to stay.”

Harris and Ryan eventually found a place to sleep, and bedded down for the night.

Harris awoke slowly. When they found a place to sleep, it was probably around half past eight or something. After, sleeping wasn’t very easy, but it eventually found him.

Ryan had it slightly different. He had less trouble falling asleep, but his sleep wasn’t as restful. Throughout the night, he had numerous nightmares, but was never awoken by them. He had tossed and turned throughout the night, and when he awoke, he saw that his hand was trembling. “Meh.” he said. He threw off his blankets and walked to his door.

The two boys had found a small hotel like building this time. When Harris saw it, he suggested that they use it to avoid getting more people killed. Ryan had only shrugged and went along with it. Now, he was actually glad they had chosen it. It had clean beds, there was a small restaurant-like place next door, and best of all, they were near a marine. Lots of fishermen used the marina, some with small boats, others with boats large enough to get to Malaysia. It was absolutely perfect.

Ryan and Harris had decided not to share a room, in case they were attacked. That way, one could escape while the other was essentially screwed over. The deal was mutual, though, and they wouldn’t argue if it happened.

Ryan walked over to Harris’ door and knocked three times. They had decided that they would have a special knock, two with the knuckles, then one with the fingertips. Harris opened the door. “Glad to see your awake.”Ryan said. Harris grunted, still tired. “Let’s get some food.” Harris followed Ryan’s suggestion and they went next door.

The two boys went next door and were quickly welcomed and seated. Ryan took a seat watching the front door, Harris face the back. They were up against the wall, where few could see them. If bad stuff went down, they could probably get away or put up a fight if they had to. The waitress walked over. “Apa yang ingin Anda?” she asked. Ryan and Harris looked at each other and scowled. “Sorry ma’am, we don’t speak Indonesian.” The waitress made the same expression when she heard them speak. She had no idea what they were saying. Luckily, Ryan and Harris had Discord, who suddenly popped through the wall. “She wants to know what you’ll have.” Holding themselves back, Ryan and Harris looked as the menu, which Discord translated for them. After making their orders in broken Indonesian that they did not know, from Discord’s direction, the waitress left them to themselves. “You boys have a good shot, I think.” Discord voiced. Ryan looked up at him. Harris looked at the rest of the menu. “It should be pretty easy to do everything, since it’s so simple. And you guys seem smart.” Discord sat next to Harris and nudged his shoulder. “You are, right?” He continued nudging Harris until he just turned and looked at Discord. “Man, I’m tired. Don’t mess with me.” Discord pouted. “You’re no fun, it would seem.” Discord looked to Ryan. “Are you smart?” Ryan shrugged. “Smart enough.” Discord smiled big, and got up when the waitress approached with their food.

The food was not unlike any food one would find elsewhere. There were pancake-like biscuits, some meat, water, and coffee. The two boys ate, with Discord playing with the flavors of Harris’ food as he ate. “I’m not messing with YOU.” he said to Harris, who only grunted and kept eating.

The two boys soon finished and were getting ready to pay when some more customers entered the restaurant. They were sketchy looking; wearing concealing outfits, hands in pockets. Two came from the front, one from the back door. Ryan took a note of them. “Harris,” he warned. Harris looked up, still not fully aware of his surroundings. “Watch out for these guys in the hoodies. They look like trouble.” The two from the front talked to a server and were seated, with the third one following them. It couldn’t be determined why they entered the way they did. So Ryan stayed on guard.

The three men, they seemed to be, sat not too far from Ryan and Harris. Ryan put his hand to his side; he and Harris wore their vests under their shirts to conceal them from view. If push came to shove, he would at least have the element of surprise.

The three men were looking around suspiciously. They almost looked nervous. “Did they hear about our escape?” Ryan wondered. “Do they think, or know, I guess, that we’re armed?” The three men ordered their food and spoke in hushed tones to one another. One looked at Ryan, who was looking right at them. He quickly turned around and spoke in a hurried tone. “Shit.” Ryan thought. They must have known. All three of them looked over at him. Hoping to diffuse any suspicion, Ryan nodded at them as if saying, “Sup?” The three men actually calmed slightly. It seemed to have worked.

When the waitress came, Ryan and Harris paid for their meal and got ready to leave. They then got a taste of the fan after being hit.

Three heavily armed men burst into the restaurant. The three men next to them stood up and shouted. Harris suddenly became aware. “Just be cool.” Discord said, putting his hands on the boys’ shoulders. “Just be cool.” Not wanting to be shot, the boys stayed cool.

To Ryan’s right, the three men were shouting at the armed men. The armed men pointed their weapons at the three men. “Dissent?” Ryan thought. Nope. The three men opened fire, cutting down the three men. They unloaded their entire magazines into them, not caring about who might be in the line of fire. Behind the men, the waitress fell down, several holes punched into her torso. The three men were ripped to shreds; one’s hand fell to the floor, while the rest of him landed on a table. One was hit twice in the head, taking it almost completely off. The other had nothing left in his chest cavity.

Harris and Ryan hit the deck under their table to avoid the bullets. After the fire stopped, Ryan risked a look at Harris’ seat. It was absolutely riddled with bullets. “Dang...” he thought. They were nearly shredded.

The three men started shouting to the people around. Discord got low and translated. “He says, ‘Any who oppose us shall suffer a similar fate. Gerakan Aceh Merdeka will be heard.’ I don’t think they’re related to our guys.” he said. Ryan stayed low, scared as hell. ANyone who says they aren’t scared when they’re getting shot at is speaking nonsense. “We’ll just leave this alone.” Discord told the boys. They both nodded.

Two of the guys from the armed men left the restaurant, leaving one behind. He did not speak; he only stayed to survey what was left. And unfortunately, Ryan and Harris made it evident that they were left when they poked their heads out. “Kami memiliki orang-orang kulit putih!” he yelled. Discord translates. “We have white people!” Ryan was not intent on being taken prisoner.

Reaching for his left side, Ryan whipped out the P22 on his vest. Before the man could know what was happening, Ryan discharged two rounds at him, one in the lower abdomen, one in the neck. He had been aiming at his chest. “RUN!!” Ryan yelled to Harris. They both got up and bolted out the back door before the two other guys even came back.

They burst out the door in a sweat. It was mostly from fear. They had been captured before; it wasn’t happening again. Ryan figured it best to know what was in his gun, so he kept track of the bullets he fired. “Eight left.” he said, Harris shutting the door behind them. Thinking quick, Ryan got low to the immediate right of the door. “Left, now.” he ordered Harris. Harris obliged, copying Ryan by pulling out his Automag.

They waited some time for the two men to come out the door. After ten minutes, or so, Ryan looked at Harris and Discord. “Let’s go back in.” Harris choked. “What!?” he shouted. “Why- would we do that?” Ryan snarled at him. “They’re probably gonna chase us! Best to deal with it now than try and outrun automatic rifles!” He held up his pistol and got ready to enter. He had seen people do this before, albeit not really. He opened the door slowly, since he had no idea how to do a dynamic entry. No one greeted him. “I’m heading in.” He went in, and Harris followed soon after.

When the boys reentered, they came into a nasty scene of bodies, shell casings, holes, and the smell of guns and blood. Not the kind of rep you want for your business. People were attending to any wounded or dead that were around. The manager was walking around in a daze.

Ryan saw a man leaning on his elbows in a chair. He seemed okay. “Discord, translator.” Discord floated forward. “What are you gonna say?” he asked. “I want to ask, ‘Where did they go’?” Discord told him the phrase. Ryan walked over to the man in the chair and poked his shoulder a few times. When the man looked up at him, Ryan asked, “Kemana mereka pergi?” The man didn’t respond. Ryan repeated. “Kemana mereka pergi?!” he asked. The man came out of his daze. After he finished his response, Ryan looked to Discord. “He said, ‘They ran away. After hearing about two white men, then seeing their dead friend and no white men, they assumed it was risky to stay.” He looked up at Ryan and Harris, and his eyes went wide. He asked something, and Discord translated, “Are you..?” Ryan shook his head. “No.” He walked away from the man. Harris walked up next to him. “What did he say?” They started towards the front of the restaurant. “He thought we were special forces.” Harris blinked. “Umm... alright, then.” The two boys walked out the front.

The man Ryan had shot twice was out front now, having been dragged out there by angry customers and employees. It was clear now that Ryan hadn’t killed him; when he hit him, it was in the lower abdomen, and the second shot missed completely. “What do you think they’re doing?” Harris asked. He was immediately answered by the people throwing rocks at the dying man on the ground. “Jeeze!” he yelled. No one turned to look at him, not even Ryan. “This is excessive!” He turned to Ryan. “We shouldn’t allow this. It isn’t right.”

Ryan turned to face his friend. “Do I look like I care?” He then walked off towards the marine to find a boat, leaving a shocked Harris in his wake. “What the hell happened to you?” Harris followed, the screams of a man, bleeding and and being beaten, echoing through the air.

All's Fair...

All’s Fair...

Luna had woken earlier, but decided not to move. Starstep was still laying on her side in a deep slumber, and she didn’t want to disturb him. After learning about his history, she thought he deserved an easy life.

Using her magic, she gently lifted him up and removed her foreleg from underneath him. She flew up silently and got over to the floor. Looking back, she got a good look at Starstep’s face. She giggled. “You look ridiculous.” she said. His jaw was slack with drool pooling under his face, his legs were in a strange mess that on one could do when awake, and he looked like he had bedhead everywhere.

She began to make her way toward the balcony to lower the moon. As she exited her door, she looked around. No one was to be seen. Content not to have to talk to anyone, she trotted to the balcony. The whole way, she was thinking about everything of late. Starstep’s being a war hero, Ryan going after the bad guys... it was a lot. “Ryan has a big journey ahead of him.” she thought. “He and Harris are going to be fighting a small army at least. And that man, Narendra... something is off about him.” She had sensed it when she first saw him. “I have a feeling that he isn’t what he seems.” Deciding it was too early, she started thinking about Starstep. “I wonder where he keeps that Crest?” she wondered. “I never see him where it, and he doesn’t have a home to live in...” That last thought gave her pause. “Wow. He doesn’t live anywhere.” she realized. “He just keep on duty all the time.” He must keep all his stuff in storage. Luna thought for a moment. “I know! I’ll let him keep his stuff in my chambers!” She was proud of herself for thinking of him. “He practically lives there anyway.” she thought.

She was approaching the balcony, where she saw her sister. “Good morn, sister.” she said. Celestia yawned. “Morning.” she said. Luna looked at her closely; she was in the same state as Starstep. “You look...” Luna giggled. “good, this morning, sister.” Celestia looked over with one eye half lidded. “Yes...” Something had tired her immensely. :una began to lower the moon. “What has made you this way?” she asked. Celestia sighed, a long, exaggerated sigh. “The leader of the Southern Grifon Colonies came last night. He wouldn’t accept speaking to you, so I had to show up.” Luna nearly faltered with the moon. “What?” she nearly yelled. Celestia flinched, so Luna lowered her voice. “Why?” Celestia sighed again. “The old soldiers, of the previous government? They are causing trouble. Taking prisoners, ransoming them, ransacking villages... Being trouble.” Luna frowned. She finished the moon lowering. “Why would they tell us this?” Celestia began concentrating heavily on the sun, but she still spoke. “They believe it to be our fault. We deposed the old government, who seems to make up this insurgency. Therefore, it seems,” Celestia added a mocking voice. “that ‘we created the dangerous group in their territory, so we have to deal with it.’ Ugh.” She was finished. “And what did you tell him?” Luna asked, anxious to hear her sister’s words. “I told him,”: she began. “that he should get of his lazy rump and stop depending on us for everything.” Luna smiled and yelled out, “Ha!” Her sister once again flinched.

Seeing her trouble, Luna aided her sister with the sun. “Thank you. For the help and the support.” Celestia said. “I am just so tired of them, coming to us with all their problems. They’re their own nation, they can solve their own problems.” Luna nodded. After finishing the sun, Celestia turned to face her little sister. “I’m going to tell you something. But you cannot, CANNOT, tell Starstep.” Luna frowned, but nodded. “I believe that these insurgents may have some of Starstep’s old team.” Luna gasped loudly, then held her own mouth shut. “Really?” she asked. Celestia nodded. “We must go and rescue them!” she blurted. Celestia shook her head. “We can’t. These griffons are far too strong for any conventional soldiers, and...” Luna saw hesitation. She grew impatient quickly. “And..?” she asked. Celestia continued. “We have no soldiers to carry out these missions any more.”

Luna’s jaw practically hit the ground. “Why would we not have any?” she almost yelled, barely controlling herself. Celestia shook her head. “After the battle, when news of Starstep’s team got out, no one would sign up. Too dangerous. So, once most of the members retired, the rest were put back into conventional forces. Now, all of them are retired, as they clearly didn’t enjoy the life of conventional troops.” Luna looked down in disappointment. “So, there’s no one to save those stallions?” she asked. Celestia shook her head. “No. And I lost all my sleep last night to this.” She turned to go back to her chambers. “I’m sorry for all of them. I can’t help but think it’s my fault...” She walked back inside, leaving Luna sitting on the balcony.

Luna made her way back to her chambers, only to find an awake Starstep at her door. “Morning, your highness.” he said tiredly. Everyone was tired this morning, it seemed, even if it was early. “Good morning.” Luna replied. She remembered what she thought about earlier. “Please, come inside.” Saluting, Starstep followed Luna inside.

Luna sat down by the fireplace. “Please, sit.” Starstep sat across from her. The fire lit up suddenly by magic, causing their shadows to dance behind them. “Do you have anywhere that you live, away from the palace?” she asked. She pulled over a tea set from the corner, using her magic to heat it up. Pouring two cups, she floated one over to her guard. “No, ma’am.” he replied, almost proudly with a bit of shame, if that’s possible. “I just stay on duty.” Luna nodded and sipped her tea. “Where do you keep your things?” she asked. Starstep took a sip. “I don’t have much,” he said. “but I keep what I do have in Canterlot Storage.” Luna took all this in. “Does this cost you much?” she asked. Starstep shrugged and took another sip. “A decent amount, but I get a discount for being a Royal Guard. It’s not too much.” Luna set down her cup. “Well, since you basically live here, why don’t you just keep your things in my quarters?” she offered. Starstep’s eyes opened suddenly. This was unexpected for him. “Umm, alright.” he said, setting down his tea. “That sounds nice.” Luna stood and smiled. “Well, then. Let’s go get your things and bring them here.” Starstep stood up with her. “Okay.” he said, still a little surprised.

They left the palace and made their way through town to the storage facility. Occasionally, they would get strange looks, but by-and-by, no one seemed to care that much. “You know, ponies used to bow whenever royalty passed.” Starstep commented. “Nowadays, there are so many snobs up here.” Luna nodded. “I understand this well. Remember when I kicked them out of my court?” Starstep chuckled. “Yep.” They continued walking to the facility, making small talk all the while.

After some time walking, they found themselves at the base of a massive building. “Here it is.” Starstep announced. The front doors were moderately sized, and there were dozens of windows. There seemed to be at least eight floors. “Let’s get in there and retrieve your stuff.” Luna replied. They entered.

As they approached the front desk, the pony did not look up. “Can I help you?” she asked rudely. “We would like to retrieve Starstep’s things.” Luna replied. The desk clerk scrambled at hearing Luna’s voice. “Y-yes ma’am!” she said. hurriedly. She rushed over to a door and unlocked it with a key around her neck. “Starstep can show you the way.” she said. Luan and Starstep walked past her, giving “Thank you”s as they passed.

“What do you suppose that was about?” Luna asked. Starstep laughed. “She was there when you told off those snobs in court!” he yelled. Luna found herself laughing as well. “What are the odds?” she said. Starstep calmed himself.

After something like ten minutes of walking, they finally got to Starstep’s locker. It had a very small door compared to some of the others around it; its doors were sized normally, whereas others had huge double doors. “Here it is.” Starstep said nonchalantly, sticking his key in the door and pushing it open. Luna walked in first, eager to see what was inside.

There was very little. The room itself went maybe ten feet back, and was six feet wide. Luna stopped. “You don’t keep much, do you?” she commented. Starstep came in from behind her. “Naw, no reason to. I rarely come here, anyway. It’s all just old stuff.” Starstep went to the back and pressed a button on the wall. “A carriage should arrive soon. We’ll put the stuff in it, and I’ll bring it out.” Luna nodded and started to rummage around, neatly organizing things that she found.

In particular, she was looking for the Crest of Valor. In regard to Starstep’s history as a soldier, she found lots of other stuff. One thing was an unaltered photo of him and his team, the same one that was in the book. No faces were crossed off on this one. It didn’t really matter, though, as they were mostly wearing some form of cover on their faces. Starstep, or Mustang, in the photo, was one of the three that didn’t. The other two were labeled as Blazer and Warlander. The three of them were sitting together, smiling devilishly at the camerapony. After setting that into a special area, she found his old armor. It was badly damaged, completely unusable. There were multiple severe dents, and even several holes in the sides. Luna swallowed hard thinking about what that might have been. After that, she found several uninteresting items that he likely got more recently.

Then, something struck her eyes. It was a small piece of paper, neatly tucked away in a shelf. Luna looked over at Starstep, who was doing something else at the other wall. Unable to resist, Luna picked up the paper, unfolded it, and read it.

It was a letter.

Dear Mama,

Hey. I just thought I’d send you a letter, tell you I’m doing fine. I just finished my training- I’m a Nighthawk! I managed to complete the training, and I’m only twenty, one of the youngest ever! I hope you’re proud of me.

Unfortunately, I won’t get a chance to head home. The Griffons of the South are attacking, and we have to go down and help push them back. Don’t worry; I’ll be fine. I’ve been trained by the best to be the best. And the salary is pretty good, too. I can finally take us on one of those vacations those snobby higher-ups in Canterlot always talk about. Won’t Blueblood be surprised when a servant and her son show up on a float in the Royal Parade?

I wish I could write more, I’ve missed you a lot for the last year. Can you believe it’s only been a little over a year since we last saw each other? It feels like so much longer. It’ll be so nice to see you when we go home. Anyway, I can’t wait to see you. My teammate, Starstep, said he would deliver this to you. He’s a good STallion; with him by my side, nothing can go wrong!

I can’t wait to see you again for the first time!

Love,

Dusty

AKA: Blazer

After reading the letter, Luna thought for a moment. “Wait... this says that Starstep was to deliver this...” It settled in, and Luna muffled a gasp. “He still has it...”

Still looking down at it, she was startled out of her trance by a hoof poking her side. “Ahh!” she shouted. She looked to her left, laying her eyes on a very sad looking Starstep. “That goes with the other old things.” he said. Luna looked into his eyes. They were growing wet, and a single tear streamed down his left cheek. He turned around and picked up some other things.

Luna set the letter on top of everything else. She wasn’t about to ask him why he still had the letter. It looked too painful.

A few minutes later, the small carriage arrived. They must have known what Starstep had, because they only sent a little cart for him. Silently, the two loaded everything onto the cart and went off down the hall. It had become somewhat awkward between them. Starstep clearly did not want Luna to read that letter. He said nothing though, only acted like it never happened. By the time they reached the front desk, Starstep had regained his composure. “I won’t be needing your services any more.” he said to the desk clerk. She looked up indignantly, but quickly changed her countenance when she saw Luna. “Cancel my payments, remove my name from everything, and tell the other users to buck themselves.” he said with authority. The desk clerk stepped backwards, obvious offense having been committed. Not seeming to care, Starstep turned around and practically stomped out.

Not wanting to stick around, Luna trotted out after him. “What was that?” she asked perplexed. Starstep did not turn. “These people treat me like dirt. I get shoved aside and they always disrespect me, like I’m some grime that they want cleaned up. Well, buck them til’ their backs break, cuz’ I won’t give them my time to do it myself. I’d rather be doing my job, even if it gets me this.” Luna was fine until his last statement. “Your job gets you this?” she asked incredulously. “They think I enjoy hurting others, that I like fighting. They don’t KNOW this, yet this is what they believe.” Luna felt terrible for him. He must have been putting up with this for years, ever since the battle.

Then, she realized something. “I never found the Crest!” she thought. He wasn’t keeping it in storage. So where was it?

Luna kept thinking about this as she and her guard walked in silence back to the palace. Nothing she could think of came even close to making any sense. “Where would he possibly be able to keep it?” she wondered.

Before she knew it, they were back at the door to her chambers. With the cart still on him, Starstep went to open the door. “No, I’ll get it.” Luna said. Starstep said something incoherent with the cart being pulled with his mouth. Using her magic, Luna opened the doors and led Starstep in. “Put it anywhere for now. We’ll sort it out later.” Starstep dropped his stuff. “Sure thing, your highness.” He turned around. “I’ll be right outside, as always.” He left and closed the door.

Luna looked at his pile of stuff. Should she go through it, see if he may have gotten the crest? Sure. She trotted over and quickly glanced around the cart. Still no crest. “Where could he have it?” she wondered. Making a face, she turned around and thought about what she would do for the rest of the day.

Ryan! She had completely forgotten him!

Luna sprinted to her library and down her staircase. Once down there, she immediately went to the pool. Looking in, she saw an image of Ryan, twirling a big knife in his hands.

*************************************************************************earlier*******

Ryan and Harris had managed to find a guy who actually spoke some english shortly after leaving the restaurant. There are more of those people than one would think. After, they got him to help them charter a boat to take them to Malaysia. Only with the offer of some money did the two men agree to do it and be quiet about it.

So, here they were now, sitting inside an old, motor-powered fishing boat, heading off to Malaysia The boat ride was said to take roughly two hours with the boat they were in, so Harris felt like getting some extra sleep that Ryan “stole from him”, he had said. Ryan couldn’t sleep; the people just came right back at him. How many had he killed? Thirteen, or so? They all haunted him. Even if they were bad, Ryan couldn’t make them go away.

Discord was quite similar. No matter what Ryan said to him, Discord would just laugh and say, “What fun is there in making sense?” At times, saying that didn’t even make sense. Maybe that was the point?

He sat on the floor, trying to think about anything that would help him ignore Discord. He thought about home, about his friends and family. They probably missed him. “Do they even know I’m missing?” he wondered. Avoiding that path, Ryan took out his weapons and took a look at them. His P22 and M1911 were fine. But something seemed to be missing. Thinking back, Ryan thought about other weapons he had gotten his hands on. He used the fork to fight that one guy who had the knife...

“The knife!” Ryan exclaimed. Harris stirred. “The knife! Where is it?” Ryan wondered. After taking it off the guy, he forgot where he left it. For all he knew, it could have landed on the ground somewhere.

Ryan cursed at himself. He liked that knife; it looked like it could serve him well. While he cursed himself, Discord came back around. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, almost smugly. “I lost the knife that I took off that guy from the basement. Must have fallen out of my pocket.” Ryan sighed heavily and drooped his head between his knees. Discord chuckled. “Well, do I have a surprise for you?” he said. Ryan looked up. In his hand, Discord held the KaBar knife. “You have it!” he yelled. Harris stirred some more. Ryan lowered his voice. “When did you get it?” he asked. Discord puffed his chest pridefully. “I took it from you before you and Harris got into the van with the other prisoners. I figured you might lose it, so I took it. Now, I’m giving it back, since you remember it.” Actually, he just forgot that he had it. Ryan took it from Discord’s hand. “Thanks.” Ryan said gratefully.

Discord had taken a good look at the knife while he had it. It wasn’t exactly a kitchen knife; one side was a complete blade, the other had a sharp edge on the last two inches. It was a weapon used for fighting. “So, do you have any idea how to use that thing?” Discord asked. He had never seen a knife that big used for fighting. Ryan nodded. “Yeah. My Karate teacher’s sensei was a Marine in Vietnam. He learned Isshinryu while he was stationed in Okinawa, and learned knife fighting while he grew up in the Philippines. Everything I learned has come from his, directly or indirectly.” Discord didn’t know where these places were, but figured that a Marine had to be some kind of warrior. Rather than ask any questions, Discord accepted Ryan’s saying that he knew how to fight with the knife. “I learned knife fighting from his personally.” This kid seemed to have quite a battle oriented skill set. This would be most useful.

Discord had some other questions now that he wanted answered. Not sure of how to approach his questions, he just went with a direct approach. “Why do you seek these skills?” he asked. Ryan looked up. “What reason did you have initially for wanting to be capable of these things?” Ryan shrugged. “I’ve been a martial artist since I was less than four years old. Started in November, ‘99. Still a practicing student. I started because it looked like fun.” He shrugged again and looked at the knife in his hands. “But why continue, when you eventually understood exactly what you were learning?” Discord asked. Ryan looked back up. “I have always had fun at my Karate classes. But it’s more than that. I owe everything that I can be and am, mostly, now, to martial arts. It gave me discipline, patience, and control. If I hadn’t studied Karate for so long, I would have already made a reckless decision that would have gotten me killed. My entire life is from Isshinryu; it is part of what defines me.” Discord barely understood him. “So, learning to fight and even kill is part of you?” he asked disapprovingly. Ryan looked contemplative, then shrugged yet again. He put the knife in a compartment on the vest. “No. The discipline and control is a part of me. As for the skills, I learn them for self defense. I want to be able to protect myself and those around me.” He crossed his arms. “Isn’t that why we’re doing what we’re doing, Discord?” Discord frowned. Ryan had him cornered in this argument, as far as he could see. “I suppose it is.” he replied.

Discord grew bored soon after and left the boat without a word. Ryan just sat in his place, twirling the knife in his hands.

“Good afternoon, Ryan.” came a feminine voice from off to the side. “Took your sweet time, eh?” Ryan replied. He came off as annoyed, but wasn’t really. “Sorry. Problems at home and friends needing some help kept me today.” Luna explained. “Ah-eet.” Ryan said dismissively. Luna figured it meant something like ‘alright’, and chose that as the meaning. “I see you have a new tool.” she commented. Ryan held up the knife for her to see. “Yeah. KaBar knife. Useful for all sorts of things.” He put it back down. Luna walked over to him and sat. “Well, you are on a boat, now.” she observed unnecessarily. “I guess you’re off to Malaysia?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “Should be there pretty soon.” As if on cue, the boat driver used his boat whistle to signify that he could see land. “Very soon.”

Ryan stood up and walked past Luna onto the deck of the boat. He wasn’t worried about being stopped; with so many fishing vessels; one could see dozens on the water; no one would care about this one. Luna joined him. “So, here we are.” she said. “From here on, there will be no more boat travel. All by land.” she turned to him. “It isn’t going to be easy.” she said. Ryan shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. As long as my goal is attained, nothing else matters.” He said this with such resoluteness that it made Luna uneasy. “Yes,” she replied, looking at him sideways. “Nothing else.” Her voice was trailing away as she spoke.

Ryan was about to go back into the boat to get Harris when another boat honked its horn and came right at them. Ryan looked at it, alarmed, worried that they were the men he was looking for. If so, he was screwed. “No, no, no, no, no...” They approached.

There were three men on the front of the boat, all armed with what looked like Spectre M4 submachine guns. Odds are, they were some sort of customs guys. “Crap.” Ryan thought. Luna looked panicked. “Relax, they’re not gonna kill us.” Ryan said, heading straight for Harris to wake him. Once inside, he shook Harris into consciousness. “Harris!” he shouted. Harris’ eyes shot open. “C’mon, get up! We have customs guys coming to check us!” Harris looked scared. “Oh, no...” he said. Ryan turned and ran back onto the small deck. The other boat was right there.

“Hentikan bot anda dan tinggal di mana anda berada!” he shouted. Ryan threw his hands up. “Please, we’re just tourists! We mean no harm!” One of the agents seemed to know english. “Just stay there! We are coming to you!” He seemed like he was trying to reassure Ryan, but something was off about how he said that.

The other boat got right up next to them, and the three armed men got onto the deck where Ryan was. Two of them pointed their guns at him. “Turunkan senjata anda.” the english-speaking one ordered. The two men lowered their weapons. “What brings you here, traveler?” he asked. “Do you have a passport?”

Ryan had several options here. He could lie in a number of ways, which could backfire terribly. In that case, they would probably be sent home, and the Haqqani Network would get to keep doing what they were doing for a while, before international intervention. That could take a long time, enough that a lot of people would suffer. Or, he could tell the truth, and he and Harris would be taken to a station in Malaysia, where they would await a chance to be sent home. But they would also have much less security that way. It would mean they could escape. But then, they would be thought to be liars, and would be wanted by the Malaysian government for questioning. This could go horribly awry. Or, he could fight these guys, and probably be shot, leaving Harris to fend for himself.

Ryan opted to risk the truth. “My friend and I,” he said, pointing to Harris, who was coming onto the deck. “we just escaped from some human traffickers. They kept us in Sumatra, so we figured the best option of escape was Malaysia.” The guy before him looked stunned; his jaw hung down and his hands dropped to his sides. “Well.” he said. “This was unexpected.” He said something to his men, then yelled to the driver of Ryan’s boat, “Kami akan mengambil mereka sekarang!” The driver seemed quite happy.

Ryan and Harris were taken off their boat and loaded onto the Customs boat. Ryan just assumed it was customs, because that seemed appropriate. Luna followed close behind, and Discord just kept floating above them. The boat was pretty big, plenty of room. Harris sat down next to Ryan on a bench. “What’s going on?” he asked. Ryan leaned in and whispered. “Listen to the whole thing; I told them the truth. Once we’re wherever they take us, we’ll run away. Steal a car, bike, or just run, I don’t know or care. We just have to get away from them. Then, we make our way north to Cambodia through Thailand.” Harris took it all in without any noise. Once Ryan finished, he spoke up. “This is risky.” he said. Ryan shook his head. “I know, but it’s the best option we have. Just stick together, like we promised. It’ll go fine.” Harris silently hoped that it would.

Luna seemed optimistic about the plan. “I think that this should work fine.” she said with a smile. “You’re skilled. You’ll get away.” Mostly, she just wanted to make sure that Ryan truthfully believed it would work. “I hope my skills are enough.” He looked down at his vest. For whatever reason, these guys didn’t think they needed to take them. Two armed boys and they weren’t worried? It seemed off.

Once on land, it was a quick trip to the station where they would be staying. The Customs guys had a nice little office. A small living area, some desks, other things you would find in an office. On the way, Ryan had looked out the window of the car they were transported in. The places they passed weren’t the nicest of places. There were small craters all over. “What are those craters?” Ryan asked. The english speaking guy was driving. “Mines, left over from World War Two. They’re still active, and blow up randomly sometimes.” That anyone had to live in such dangerous conditions would have appalled Ryan. But that was before.

At the office, the english speaking guy led Ryan and Harris to another room, and left his men outside, almost like guards. Luna and Discord walked right past them, of course. They even stood next to each other. “Alright.” the Customs agent said. “I know that you’re lying to me.” Ryan swallowed hard. “Sir-” he was cut off. “You.” the man said to Harris. “Wait outside.” Harris quickly exited, glad to be out of there. Discord followed. “I know that you’re only telling me part of the truth.” He leaned back and put his feet on his desk. “Sir, please, I’m not-” he was cut off by a hand in the air. “You are going after these traffickers, no?” Ryan swallowed again. He had lots of cards to play, but chose to play the truth again. “Yes.” The man nodded slowly. “And where are you heading exactly?” he asked. Ryan answered, “Cambodia, and possibly Vietnam.” The truth was getting riskier and riskier. The man nodded again. “I think I know why.” He leaned forward and motioned with his finger for Ryan to lean it. Not wanting to miss out, Luna got close. “You’re American. You’re going after traffickers and terrorists. I know exactly what you are.” He leaned back again. “And I’m glad to have such men around.”

Ryan was caught completely off guard by this. Because he was American and fighting a group of terrorists, this guy was assuming that he was Special Forces. Just like the other guy from the restaurant. “Thank you.” Now was the time to lie. “So, what branch are you, exactly?” he asked. He still seemed to want proof of some sort. Ryan thought fast; SEAL Team Six would be too easy a choice. “First Special Forces Operational Detatchment-Delta, US Army, JSOC.” he said. He needed a high up unit. The man looked impressed. “Good.” he said. It didn’t seem like he entirely knew what it was. Maybe that was what he wanted?

Ryan breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He could hardly believe his luck. Karma worked nicely sometimes; it payed back its dues.

The man got up and walked over to a closet. “Is there anything you’ll need for your mission?” he asked. fate was favoring Ryan today. “We’ll need a car to head north. We have to go through Thailand. We’ll also need food and water.” The man nodded and opened the cabinet. It had plenty of supplies in it, and he pulled out some food and water. “Thanks.” Ryan said as the man handed it to him. This must have been why they didn’t take Ryan’s weapons away. This guy must have suspected this from early on.

The man handed him a pair of keys. “Take the van outside up to the border and leave it. I’ll need it back later.” Ryan nodded and took the keys. “Good luck.” the man said, extending his hand. Ryan took it and shook it firmly. “Thank you.” he replied. With that, he left the room and retrieved Harris.

Harris shot up as Ryan approached. “Let’s go.” he ordered authoritatively. Without a word, Harris followed. “So, what’s happening?” he asked. Ryan held up the keys for him to see. “We’re getting their car.” he said smugly. Harris could hardly believe his ears. “How did you do that?” he asked. Ryan chuckled a bit. “I got them to thinking that we’re from Delta Force.” he said. Harris’ jaw fell. “They were very accomodating. Even gave us supplies.” he said, referencing the food and water in his arms. “Now let’s go.”

Luna came up behind as Ryan and Harris approached the van. “Ryan.” she said. Ryan looked back, then turned to Harris. “Harris, get her started up. You have more driving experience than me.” He tossed Harris the keys and went behind the van, where no one could see him. “Yeah?” Ryan asked. Luna stepped forward. “What are you going to do when you reach the border? You won’t exactly have transportation when you cross it.” Ryan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “We aren’t going to leave it, Luna.” he said. “We’re keeping it.” Luna looked at him a moment. “But, you said-” she was cut off. “I lied. People have a tendency to do that here. Besides, I think that they can probably afford a new car, whereas the people we’re saving can’t exactly buy back their lives.” Luna couldn’t argue this point. “So, you’re just going to sue people until you accomplish your goal? Will you ever repay their kindness?” she asked.Harris smacked the side of the van. “yo, let’s go!” he shouted. Ryan pushed himself off the side of the van. “All’s fair in love and war.” he said. Ryan went around the side of the car and hopped in.

Luna immediately jumped up onto the top of the van. She could hardly believe that Ryan would just use people like that. He had changed so much, and so quickly. “All’s fair in love and war.” It echoed in her head. She kept thinking about the statement, trying to wrap her head around it. Eventually, she understood. It meant that only the winner decides what is fair; whatever they did was fair, whatever their opponent did was not. So, indeed, all really was fair in love and war.

“I must leave now.” she quickly told Ryan. Before he could reply, she disappeared from his world once again, bringing one piece of wisdom with her that she did not have before; History is determined by the winner.

Discord was still floating above the boys, who were now driving north to Thailand. Discord heard Ryan talking to the nonexistent person before getting in the van. He wasn’t going to return the car, and he really didn’t seem to care. Discord couldn’t help but maybe feel slightly uneasy at Ryan’s actions. “This is the first time I’ve ever been uncomfortable with not knowing the future.” he thought. “But I guess I’ll just go with it and hope for the best.”

Deciding to play it by ear, Discord floated silently after the two boys as they drove into the unknown.

No Turning Back

Luna took in a deep breath as she returned to her body. Cracking her eyes open, she looked back into the pool. Ryan and Harris were going North in what was essentially a stolen vehicle. She scrunched her face. “I do hope that they don’t lose themselves.” she said to herself. She exited the room up the stairs.

Once up top, she decided to turn her mind to other things. The first thing that came to mind was Starstep’s earning of the Crest of Valor. Deciding that would be unproductive, she instead went into her library and looked for a book. Scanning her shelves, she wasn’t looking for anything in particular. She saw one book; Mythical Creatures of the Everfree Forest. She didn’t feel like reading that one, but it sparked a thought.

Were there human-like creatures in Equestria? In old stories, she had certainly heard of things comparable to them, physically. None were ever similar to humans in respect to society, or intelligence. Even the ponies didn’t seem to quite compare there.

Luna decided that she would look around her library for a bestiary of all Equestria. She knew she had one, and it would have to be enormous. She looked around her shelves for a bit, but couldn’t find it. It wouldn’t be in the forbidden section of the library, would it? She had been gone a long time, so certain creatures may have been found that Celestia would want to remain unknown. “No, not today, at least. Maybe another time.”

She left her library and plopped herself onto her bed. Her mind went back to Starstep and the Crest. “He must have it somewhere.” she thought. “But where?” Her mind turned to his team, and the potential that some were still alive, captives of the previous government of the Southern Griffon Colonies. She felt like they should do something. Problem was, as her sister said, there was no one qualified. Starstep’s potentially alive teammates were pretty much on their own. A lump formed in Luna’s stomach. “Poor Starstep...” she said. She wanted him to be happy. He was her best friend, and before, she couldn’t see how much this still pained him. Now, she wanted to do whatever she could to make it right.

Before she could continue her thoughts, there was a knocking at her door. It was followed by shouting. “Get out of here! She’s busy!” she heard Starstep yell. The responding voice was all too familiar. “I must speak with her. Move aside, peasant.” It was Blueblood.

Upon hearing Blueblood call Starstep a peasant, Luna almost exploded. Directing herself at the door, she used the Royal Canterlot Voice even louder than she thought she could. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!!” she demanded. Using her magic, she blasted her doors open. “AND HOW DARE YOU SPEAK IN SUCH A MANNER TO HIM!” Starstep was a little to the side, surprised at Luna’s loudness. “A-a-auntie luna, Auntie Celestia requests your presence!” Blueblood yelled, terrified. Luna’s anger subsided a bit. Just a bit. “Fine. Starstep, you go on ahead. Tell her I’ll arrive shortly.” She turned to Blueblood. “I must speak with my nephew.” Blueblood gulped, and Starstep ran off to avoid the storm that was coming.

Luna sighed disappointedly. “You do not appreciate what you have at all, do you?” Blueblood was about to answer when Luna didn’t allow it. “You know that there are Ponies out there who have trouble getting by, who work a thousand times more than you, and yet you look down on them? These subjects of mine, NOT YOURS, have greater virtue than you seem capable of.” Blueblood shrank down. “You know, there are other places that are much worse that you could have been born.” she said. Blueblood trembled. “There are places where those who live there are subjected to violence and fear every day. Places where they die for no reason, where they suffer because someone hates them for no reason.” She was referencing a place that only she and her guard knew about. “You were lucky enough to be born into a world of peace, and even a position such as yours. Yet, you don’t appreciate it.” Luna turned around and began to walk away. “Do not ever treat my guard in such a way again,” she warned. “Or I will punish you.” She heard frantic hoof-steps behind her as she walked off.

While she walked to her sister, she noticed that everyone she passed was giving her nervous looks. Had she really been that loud?

Luna entered the throne room and walked to her sister, who sat seriously on her throne. Starstep was nearby. “Leave us.” Celestia ordered him. He nodded and trotted away. Luna locked eyes with him as he passed. He definitely had no idea what was going on.

The doors shut behind him, making a loud boom as they did so. Celestia got up. “Come with me.” she said. Luna followed.

The two regal sisters went out into the garden. Around them were statues, shrubs, small trees, and other natural decorations. Birds chirped, bees buzzed, and the wind blowed slowly in the garden. It was all peaceful. “I must discuss something important with you.” Celestia said suddenly. The sisters stopped next to an empty statue stand. Luna figured she knew what this was about. “Yes?” she asked. Celestia faced the empty space. “We cannot find Discord. There are still no leads.” She looked south. “At the same time, there is an increasing amount of uprisings in the Southern Griffon Colonies. Our subjects are increasingly in danger toward that region.” Luna realized the implication. “You think that Discord is the cause of this.” Celestia nodded. “I fear that he may be trying to take over the world again.” She tensed. “And that if he starts down there, he may succeed.”

Luna now looked to the south. “What can we do?” she asked. Celestia frowned as she responded. “I think that we may have to try to restart the Nighthawks and the Golden Eagles.” she said. Luna turned around. “How? It was ended because no one volunteered...” Celestia nodded. “We may have to take current guards and train them for it.” Luna looked at her sister, concern painted on her face. “What if there are no guards who want to join?” she asked. “We may have to not allow that.” Luna’s mouth fell wide open. “We can’t do that!” she said. Her sister winced. “We stopped that practice over twelve hundred years ago!” Celestia’s head fell. “I know.” It rose back up. “But if we don’t...” She looked up. “Equestria may fall.”

Luna felt like there was a two ton brick in her gut. She just wanted to fall onto her rump and take that all in. She did just that. “We should find out if he’s there first...” she suggested. Celestia nodded. “I already sent scouts there. They should return in a time, maybe two weeks. They will have all the information on what’s happening.” The two went silent.

Celestia started moving back toward the throne room. “If you have any ideas, please, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’ll listen to anyone at this point.” She left, leaving Luna alone in the garden.

Luna watched her sister as she exited the garden. That Discord could be causing such trouble was grave news. If he so wanted, he could easily start some rebellion down south to put the old government back into power. With his help, they could start another war with Equestria, and with so few soldiers, Equestria would be defenseless.

Deciding to let her sister think about that, as she had experience, Luna walked around the garden. She looked at the decorative foliage, the small animals in the trees. She also looked at the statues. There were statues of enemies her sister and the citizens had overcome. There were also statues of old heroes throughout the garden. As she walked through the garden, she thought about the potential that Starstep’s teammate was being held in the south. “There isn’t any chance of getting him...” she thought. With Discord causing trouble, no guard would ever be able to infiltrate the area and perform a rescue. “It will be up to the Elements, my sister, and I to solve this problem.” She shuddered at the thought. To fight a war with six ponies would be incredibly difficult.

Luna halted. To her right was a statue that she was unfamiliar with. Most of these statues she had been here for when they were built, and others were there before she went away for a thousand years. This one, though, she didn’t know. It was a guard statue, but he was wearing a different outfit from most. It looked lighter, exactly like Starstep’s old armor. The guard was clearly male, and had a face mask on to hide his features. Luna looked down at the plaque.

In commemoration of the brave Nighthawks who gave their lives to rescue their fellow stallions.

This statue was dedicated to Starstep’s old team, or at least the stallions who made up the Nighthawks. Luna felt a pang of sadness at it. “Such a loss of life...” Her eyes became teary. “If only we could fix past wrongs.” She left the statue and made her way back to her chambers, not noticing the unique glint from the chest piece on the statue as she quietly grieved the loss of such brave warriors.

******************************************************************************

Ryan had nodded off while Harris drove them north to the border. It wasn’t set to take very long for them to get there, since they were actually in a pretty nice van. Good milage, speed, and cargo space. During the ride, Ryan had put his vest back under his shirt to conceal it from the border guards that they may or may not encounter.

Harris started to nudge him. At first, Ryan only pushed back, not wanting to be woken up. Harris slapped him across the face. “Ow!” he yelled. He turned and looked grumpily at Harris. “Ryan,” he said. Ryan looked forward. “We have problems.”

Ahead of them was a border checkpoint. Ryan had really been hoping that there wouldn’t be any border guards here, but Murphy didn’t agree. “Damn.” Ryan thought. He had been trying to think of how he would get through a border station, but fell asleep and couldn’t plan. There was one guy who could probably think of what to do. “Discord!” Ryan thought. Discord happened to be always listening to them, and responded. “Yes?” He elongated the word playfully. “Not the time.” Ryan said. “We have a problem.” Discord laughed in his mind. “Oh, I’ve known about this for a while. i just didn’t tell you.” he said. Harris must have been hearing it too. “What!?” he yelled. Ryan scowled. “Why would you not tell us this, exactly?” he asked. Discord popped his head through the roof. “Because I thought it would be more interesting to see how you handle finding yourself in tough situations.” he said. Ryan snarled at him. “Oh, come now, don’t be so huffy!” Discord replied. Ryan ignored him and went to pull out his pistol, just in case. It wouldn’t budge. “Ah, ah, ah.” Discord said, wagging his finger. “There are rules that even I have to follow.” He had locked their weapons in their holsters.

Ryan gave up his attempt to take out his pistol and instead focussed on the task at hand. There were about ten cars ahead of the boys, and each one took its time getting past the checkpoint. “Harris, we need something.” Ryan said in a rushed tone. “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” he responded. Two more cars passed through the checkpoint. Ryan observed the gate. it was a flimsy looking wooden rod that extended off of the little room it was attatched to. Harris saw him looking. “You thinking what I am?” Harris asked. Ryan put his hand up. “Wait.”

The two boys waited in their position until there were only a couple of cars left in front of them. To avoid suspicion, Ryan got out and looked under the car to make it look like something was wrong with the van. When he saw some border guards approach, he got back inside.

There were no cars left in front of them. The gate was closed, and a guard approached them. He knocked on the window. Ryan kept his eye on his while he lowered the window. “Can I help you?” he asked. He hoped the guard didn’t speak english. “Why you in government car?” he asked in broken english. So he spoke some. “Alright.” Ryan said to the guard. He turned to Harris. “Punch it.” he said calmly. Harris slammed down the gas pedal, and they boys sped forward.

Unfortunately, the flimsy wooden rod was not wood. It was a long steel rod. When they hit it, The car jolted slower, sending Ryan forward into the dashboard. “Go *cough*, GO!” he yelled. Harris hit the gas again, and they sped forward past the checkpoint.

Still recovering from hitting the dashboard, Ryan could hear sirens behind the van. “They’re following us.” he said. Harris growled. “Yah, I know!” Ryan got up and proceeded to the back of the van. “What’re you doing?” Harris yelled back. Ryan looked around. “Trying to buy us some time!” he said back. Harris returned his eyes to the road before them.

Ryan looked around the back of the van. There were some zipties, old handcuffs, a fire extinguisher, and some clubs. There was also rifle ammo. “Too bad we don’t have a rifle.” Ryan thought. He would shoot at his pursuers if he could.

Ryan kicked open the back door of the van. Off to the rear was a group of maybe three cars pursuing his and Harris. Their sirens blared as they sped towards the much slower van. “Can’t this thing go any faster?!” Ryan yelled, still thinking of what to do. “This isn’t exactly a Porsche!” Harris yelled back. Harris grumbled something inaudible. “Think, think, think!” Ryan said rapidly. Discord wouldn’t allow any shooting, so bullets were useless. But there were some stray bullets in the back of the van. Ryan picked them all up in his hands, about forty-five 7.62x39mm rounds. The pursuing cars were fast approaching. “A little closer...” Ryan said to himself.

Discord was watching everything with interest. If necessary, he would step in and try to ensure Ryan and Harris’ escape, but he wanted to see what the boys would do. He watched closely as Ryan approached the back of the van with over four dozen bullets cradled in his arms. “I wonder what he’s doing?” he wondered out loud. The pursuing cars approached the van. “หยุดและหยุดยั้ง!” someone yelled from one of the loudspeakers. Discord heard it as, “Cease and desist!” Ryan was having no part of that. When the car wasn’t six feet behind, Ryan dropped all the rifle rounds. They acted as a hailstorm on the lead pursuing car, cracking the windshield and breaking it in spots. The passenger just kicked out the window and they kept going. “Stop!” Discord heard. Not having any part of it, Ryan went back into the van.

The car got closer to the van; now it was probably three feet away. The passenger in the pursuing car leaned forward out of the windshield. In his hands, he was holding a pistol, not unlike one of Ryan’s. When Ryan returned to the open door of the van, the man tried to point his gun at Ryan. He pulled the trigger, but shooting someone from a moving car is hard enough when the person they’re shooting at isn’t also moving. His shot went way off to the side, hitting a tree. Ryan must not have heard it, as he seemed unphased by it. In his hands, he had several sets of metal handcuffs. He grabbed the side of the van door and leaned back. Gripping the handcuffs, he whipped them around with a swing of his arm. It was just long enough to strike the man across the face. The man fell to his right and nearly fell out of the car. His driver slowed and fell behind the other cars, eventually coming to a halt.

The other two cars were gaining. One sped ahead of the other, coming up about four feet from the van. Seeing that they were too far away, Ryan threw the handcuffs at the windshield. Unlike the bullets, they were heavy enough to actually smash through the glass. They landed right in the drivers face, who veered to the right in his panic. He slammed into a tree.

Now, there was one car left. It came up behind, but did not approach. Instead, the passenger sat in the back seat and was performing some unknown activity. Ryan was uneasy about this. “This is so exciting!” Discord shouted, snapping his fingers and making some popcorn for himself.

Ryan’s uneasiness proved right when he saw the man lean out from the back half of the car, assault rifle in hand. It looked like an M16A3. Ryan shut his door and fell to the floor for cover. Above him, he could hear the bullets slam through the door and fly above him. “What the Hell is going on back there!?” Harris screamed. There was a bit of metal between him and the seat, thankfully, so he should be safe. “Just don’t poke your head out!” Ryan yelled back. Harris kept driving.

Ryan looked around the back of the van for anything that might be useful.The handcuffs and bullets were gone, and zip-ties were worthless. The clubs might work, but not at this distance. He did have a fire extinguisher, though. “Harris!” Ryan yelled. “WHAT!?” Harris yelled back in half fear, half anger. “Get ready for more bullets!” Ryan grabbed the extinguisher and reopened the door. Looking out, he could see that the man was back in his car, probably reloading. “Harris!” Ryan yelled. “Are we approaching any turns?” Harris yelled back, “Yeah, there’s a small one up ahead!” Ryan nodded to no one in particular and held the fire extinguisher tightly.

“Hang on!” Harris yelled. Even though the turn was small, it still managed to move Ryan a bit. But it was in the perfect direction; he was looking right out the door. Pointing the nozzle out the back, Ryan released a large spray from the extinguisher. The man had just started leaning back out of his door as he did this. With the extinguisher, Ryan coated the front windshield and sprayed the man leaning out of the window. The car swerved and started to slow, but it did not slow down enough. It went off road and landed in a four foot deep, five foot wide ditch. The man with the rifle had fallen out and rolled across the ground, also landing in the ditch.

Ryan shut the door again and released a sigh of relief. He had stopped their pursuers. “Bravo, bravo!” Discord said out of nowhere. Ryan responded angrily. “Why would you not let me use my weapons?” he yelled. “Why would you-” Discord cut him off. “Because I have a set of rules that YOU must follow, or you won’t get any of my help. My first rule; no killing people who don’t deserve it.” Ryan leaned against the wall and looked down. While Discord was right, killing innocents was bad, that wasn’t his concern right now. “That’s not my concern, demon.” Ryan replied. Discord flinched a bit. “I only want Narendra.” Discord shook his head. “You see chaos as evil.” Discord said. Ryan huffed. “But who’s the real demon?” Discord left through the roof, leaving a fuming Ryan.

He made his way back to the front seat. “What was that about, man?” Harris asked. Ryan gave a dismissive wave. “Just forget it.” Harris looked at his friend with concern, then chose to respect his wishes.

About an hour later, Harris drove up on some little village. It was small, but looked pretty well kept and fairly modern. There were solar panels, some satellite dishes, and other systems. Ryan looked out the window. “Must’ve been visited by the Peace Corps or something.” he commented. Harris only gave a curt nod. He stopped the car.

In the last hour, Ryan and Harris had decided that they would make a pit stop at the next sign of civilization. Everyone has to use the bathroom at some point.

The two boys stepped out of their vehicle and looked around. The villagers had gathered around quickly, looking at their visitors suspiciously. One approached. “คุณเป็นใคร?” he asked. Ryan looked at Harris. Rolling his eyes, Harris decided to be the one to speak. “Sorry, but we don’t understand.” he said. Discord flashed in from nowhere. Harris had difficulty controlling his reaction. But the villagers noticed when he tensed up. “He’s asking, ‘Who are you?’.” Now, Harris looked back at Ryan. He stepped forward. “We are aliens from Mars, come here to extract your pancreases for our calculators.” Harris’ jaw dropped, but the man did not react. “Well, we can’t talk to them.” Ryan turned to look at Harris. “If they understood us, they would have reacted.” Harris was about to argue when Ryan stepped forward to the man. He started making motions of removing his pants, squatting, and made a face. Harris face palmed.

When he removed his hand, he saw that Ryan was already being led away to a small hut. The man ushered him inside, and Ryan bowed to him, entering and closing the door. As Harris approached, the man ushered him inside too. “I’ll take this one, you take that one.” Ryan said to Harris without turning. Harris looked around. There were two makeshift stalls, made of wooden rods and sheets. Harris went behind one. There was a chair with the bottom cut out, and under it, a pipe at a downward angle with a hole. “Must be for catching stuff.” Harris thought. He removed his pants and sat.

“Harris, after this, when we head north, we’ll need to make stops for food and water.” Ryan announced. It took Harris by surprise. “Dude, don’t break the unspoken rules.” he said jokingly. Ryan was not in a joking mood. “Seriously.” he said. “We may have to ration our supplies until we get more, if we aren’t careful.” There was a pause. “I’m thinking ahead, Harris. Not on the head.” Harris grinned slightly, despite himself. He heard Ryan pull his pants up. Harris finished soon after and exited his little curtained area.

Ryan was looking intently out the door. “Harris... we got problems.” Ryan said. Harris stepped forward and looked outside. Out there was the first car that Ryan thought he had taken out. “I thought you dealt with them.” he said. Ryan shook his head slowly. “Guess not.” Ryan tried for his pistol; no dice. “There’s other ways around that.” he whispered. “What?” Harris asked. “Now’s as good a time as any for this.” Ryan said. He stood there, staring out the doorway.

The two men from the car were inspecting the stolen van. One was on the other side and couldn’t see Ryan’s area, but the other was looking right at them. Ryan waited. The guy seemed to be looking around. “A good time for what?” Harris asked. The man on the other side of the van yelled something, and Ryan’s guy turned around and went to the back door of the van. “This.” Ryan said.

When the guy turned his back, Ryan rushed forward, leaving a very abashed Harris in his wake. He ran as silently as he could toward the guy at the back of the van. When Ryan was halfway there, he opened the door and looked inside. He wouldn’t be there long. “Now or never.” Ryan thought. He ran right up behind the border patrol agent and kneed him in the tailbone. As he started to yell out, Ryan brought the van door back around, slamming it on the man’s head, sandwiching it between the two doors. He fell to the ground like a sack of stones. Ryan stepped into the van, using his fallen foe’s head as a step.

His buddy must have heard the scream and ran around the van. When he saw his friend on the ground, he pulled out a pistol and looked around frantically. “จะมีใคร!?” he yelled. He pointed the pistol all around, terrifying the villagers. “ฉันหมายความว่าคุณไม่มีอันตรายใด ๆ !” he yelled. “ที่ทำอย่างนี้?” he said in a questioning tone. Some of the villagers pointed at the van and screamed something. The border man pointed his gun at the door. “ออกมา!” he yelled. When nothing happened, he ran up and opened the door.

Not the best idea. He found himself meeting a beautiful fire extinguisher face to face. Ryan hadn’t had enough room to hit him hard, so the man just fell back onto the ground. Ryan hopped out of the van and advanced. The man tried to pull up his weapon, but it was knocked away by the half-empty extinguisher.

Ryan slammed the extinguisher down on his opponent’s head, generating a splitting whack upon contact. The man didn’t get back up. Ryan observed him. He had a massive wound on his head. The edge of the extinguisher had acted as a wedge, actually bashing the skull slightly open. It wasn’t enough to see inside, but the blood coming from the wound was a clear indication of a severe wound. Ryan stood there, observing the damage he had caused.

Harris came running up. “Ryan!” he yelled out panicked. Ryan didn’t respond. “Ryan!!” he yelled louder. Ryan looked over. “You alright?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “I am. He’s sure as hell not.” He pointed at the man on the ground. Harris gasped. “You... you actually...” He couldn’t finish his sentence. “Let’s go.” Ryan said. Harris just followed, for fear of what could happen if he didn’t.

“And just what the HELL do you think you’re doing?” a voice asked. The boys didn’t stop walking, didn’t turn around. “Leaving. We got what we needed. No reason to stay.” Ryan responded. Discord flew up in front of him, steam coming from his ears. “I told you that I have a set of rules!” he yelled. Harris nearly fell; Ryan didn’t move. “I told you that I wouldn’t tolerate you breaking those rules.” Ryan stepped past him. “I only know one of your ‘rules’. And besides, you don’t know he was innocent.” Ryan kicked aside the dead body and the unconscious body, leaving them on the side of the road. “I had to get rid of them.” he said. There was little or no remorse in his voice. “But there was no reason to KILL them!” Discord yelled. “Why would you do that?” he asked. Ryan turned to face him as he got into the van. “Because,” he said. “What fun is there in making sense?” He got back into the van, leaving a distressed Discord.

“He can’t mean that...” Discord said. “He can’t.” Harris walked up behind him and went over to the van. “He didn’t.” he said to Discord. Discord looked at him with hope. “He definitely didn’t.” Harris entered the van, and the two boys drove off.

Just Cause

Harris and Ryan drove along the road to the northern end of Thailand, where they planned to cross the border into Cambodia. They had decided this time to plan their way through. Trying to force their way into Thailand hadn’t worked very well.

Ryan had beaten and killed a border guard to get through, and something told him that wouldn’t fly again. “We can’t just keep doing that.” Harris had told him. “It won’t keep working.” It almost hadn’t the first time. They were shot at on the road. “I know.” Ryan replied. “I’m sure we can think of something.”

As they drove north, Ryan was keeping a close eye out for any government or shady looking cars. In their first day in Thailand, they had seen several. “Just keep cool.” Discord warned the boys. Ryan was doubtful. “They’re probably looking for a couple of white guys in a Malaysian van. Why would they not stop us?” he wondered. The car they passed didn’t stop them, but the driver eyed them suspiciously.

Ryan noticed this, as he was driving and Harris was sleeping in the back. He yelled back, “Wake up, Harris.” Harris jolted up from his place. “I think we may have company in a second.” Ryan looked in his mirror. Sure enough, the car had U-turned and was following close behind. Ryan slammed on the gas. The car did the same. He scowled. “Harris, I think you should get up here and drive.” Ryan announced. He heard frantic movement behind him and he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Just don’t kill anyone, this time.” Harris ordered. Ryan got up, and the car started to slow down. “I’ll do my best not to.” Harris gave him a disbelieving look and they switched places.

Ryan made his way to the back of the van. Out the small back window, he could see the car that was tailing them. “So, I can’t kill them, but I need to stop them.” He looked to his right. The fire extinguisher was still with him. “I think I know what to do.” He picked up the fire extinguisher and looked back out the door. The other driver was reading the licence plate on the van, while the other guy was loading a pistol. “Eat steel.” Ryan said. He kicked open the back door and tossed the extinguisher into the air. He didn’t see the expressions of the men as it came crashing into the windshield. Their car skidded to a halt. As the boys drove away, Ryan looked back hard. The two men were getting out of the car. “I told you I’d try.” Ryan yelled back to Harris as he closed the door. Harris sighed in relief. “I’m glad you were careful.” he said.

Ryan took a seat in the passenger side of the van. “Yeah, well, I just want Discord to stick with us.” he said. Harris looked over at him funny. “What?” he asked. Ryan shrugged. “Yeah. After that last guy, he said he wouldn’t help us if I did it on purpose.” He shrugged again. “We’ll be needing him.” Harris looked back to the road. Ryan hadn’t been careful because he cared. “He just wants Discord’s help.” he thought.

Ryan took a sip from his water. “Why the hell should I care about these guys?” he wondered. “I’m trying to do something important, and they’re getting in the way.” He swallowed. “I just got lucky that neither of them were killed. I wasn’t aiming... maybe I should next time. Just to be safe.” Concluding on that, he looked out his window. Outside, there was a beautiful countryside, with jungle visible in the distance and some mountains within them. “If only we weren’t here for what we’re here for.” Ryan commented. Harris looked over, puzzled. “Maybe I’ll come back here someday... for the scenery.” Harris’ mouth fell very slightly open. He hadn’t expected Ryan to say anything like that. It was the first really human trait he had exhibited in a while. “There may be hope for you yet.” he thought happily.

Discord had been listening to everything, including their thoughts. “There just might be hope for you, Ryan.” he said. “There just might be.” He had been growing bored with just flying above the van all the time, so he descended onto the roof of it. He stuck his head through. “Hellooooo!” he said in an exaggerated tone. Harris was startled and hit the acceleration a bit. The car lurched forward. “Don’t do that!” he yelled. Discord chuckled. “Sorry.” he said. Whether or not he was serious was hard to tell.

Ryan hadn’t seen him in a while, so he thought he would take advantage of the opportunity. “Hey, I’d like the use of my weapons back, thanks.” he said aggressively. Discord rolled his eyes. “Do you promise to ONLY use them on the bad guys?” he asked. It wasn’t much of a request; it was a demand. Ryan sighed. “Yes.” With a smile, Discord snapped his fingers. “There.” Ryan went to pull out the M1911, and felt immense satisfaction when it came out. “Good.” he said, putting it back.

Discord entered the van and sat in the back. In order to fit, he sized himself to be roughly equal to Ryan and Harris. “So, what’s the plan?” he asked. Harris clicked his tongue. “I got squat.” he said. Discord let his disappointment show. “Come on, Harris, I expect more of you!” Harris’ head drooped a bit at hearing this. Discord turned to Ryan. “How about you?” he asked. Ryan turned around to face the Spirit of Chaos. “First priority; get to Bangkok. It’s the only city I know in this country, so I see it as the only option.” Discord nodded. “Do go on.” he said. Ryan turned to face the road. “From there, we’ll ditch the van, since it’s being tracked. We’ll get a new set of wheels, and we’ll drive to Kompong Chnnang. From there, we head north to their compound, where we’ll kill our guy.” Discord smiled and nodded; it was simple, but very flexible. He thought about the end, but something was slipping his mind. “Who’s the target, again?” he asked. Harris was about to turn and answer when Ryan beat him to it. “Everyone.” he said darkly. Discord leaned back a bit, and Harris looked at his friend and swallowed. “Narendra and his little minions all have to go.” Ryan turned back to Discord. “Or they’ll keep doing what they’re doing.”

Discord thought about it for a moment. While killing everyone was a lot, certainly, it wasn’t exactly unreasonable to him. “Alright, then.” he said. This prompted Harris to turn and look at him. He shrugged. “Gotta do something to protect the innocent.” Harris turned and looked down the road.

The future wasn’t looking good to him.

**********************************************************************************

Luna had been spending the last couple of days doing nothing but work regarding the events to the south. As much as she wanted to get away from it and go see Ryan, she couldn’t afford to potentially let Discord cause trouble.

The reports she had been receiving were disturbing. But it wasn’t because they were showing that Discord was there. It was because they were showing that he wasn’t. She had withheld the information from her sister in part because she didn’t believe it, and also because she didn’t want to trouble Celestia. But today, she had had enough, and wanted to be done.

She made her way to the throne room at a deliberate pace, Starstep and two other guards accompanying her. It wasn’t so much for her protection as for that of what she was carrying; the information regarding the situation. She hadn’t been hesitant when Starstep requested more guards for this. “Of course,” she had said. “I understand.” Starstep personally selected the two who were there.

Luna approached the door, and the guards moved their spears out of the way for her. Once she passed, the spears closed again. “I’ll return soon.” she said. The three guards all saluted, and the two new ones departed. Starstep waited outside. “I hope it’s not too long.” Luna thought. She entered the throne room.

Luna looked around as she walked into the room. To her left and right, there were guards lined up, as if preparing for another invasion of the city. They sat on their haunches, stoic in expression and stone-like in body. “I wonder what they’re expecting?” she wondered. She walked forward to her sister. “What have your stallions found?” Celestia asked. Luna removed the folder from its place under her wing and floated it over to her sister. “Strange.” was all she said. Celestia opened the file. “What..?” she said. Luna opened her mouth to respond. “How could he not be there?” Celestia said, frustrated. “Where is he?” She dropped the reports on the ground before her and stood up. She paced around. “Where could he have gone?” she said to herself. Luna stepped forward, picking up the papers. “My scouts say that there is no sign of him there. Not even his magic.” She neatly placed the reports back under her wing. “Could he simply not want to make trouble?” Luna had to entertain the possibility. “No.” Celestia responded curtly. Luna stood where she was. “He’s evil. Evil beings don’t just stop doing evil. They need something else to stop them.” She looked back at Luna, whose face drooped.

Celestia realized that what she just did was out of line. She walked up to her sister. “I know he’s out there.” she said, trying to distract her sister. It worked; she looked up. “We just need to find him.” Luna nodded. “I’m certain we will, sister.” She turned and started walking away. “We will.”

Upon exiting, she met up with Starstep and started to walk back to what was now noth their chambers. Starstep had been sleeping on the floor near the fireplace, while Luna kept her bed. In the last couple of days, she and him hadn’t spoken much, except for official business regarding “the situation”. He had provided much valuable insight, and she was glad to have him around. He was valuable in more ways than just as a guard.

They walked back to their chambers at a slow, deliberate pace. There were few staffers around, given what was happening. They were given some time off. The few who were there always bowed when Luna approached. “Your highness.” they would say. She couldn’t care less about formalities right now.

The duo arrived at their chambers and Starstep went in first. His old training had been kicking in lately, and his priority was Luna’s safety. “Clear.” he announced from inside. Luna sauntered in.

The room was an absolute mess; books everywhere, papers, pens, ink canisters; it was like a tornado hit the room. Starstep was already cleaning up when Luna walked in. “Don’t.” she ordered. He stopped. “I can get it.” Her horn glowing a a dark navy blue, the same colored aura covered everything and organized it in no time. “I’m glad you can do that.” Starstep commented, sounding slightly exhausted. He plopped himself by the fireplace and laid down. “It means more time to just lay down.” Luna chuckled a bit inside, but maintained a simple smile. “It does.” She walked over and joined him.

Rather than sit in front of him, she sat beside him. It had been too long since she played her games with him. “What can I do from here?” she wondered. She could already see Starstep’s trepidations showing. Smiling, she knew just what to do.She yawned and extended her wing to cover her guard, letting it droop slowly back down onto him. Not to be outdone, Starstep yawned and leaned on her. Seeing that this wasn’t going to work, Luna thought about her next move. “Hmm. I wonder...” She adjusted herself to get her head underneath his, where she felt him leaning on her again. She nuzzled into his chest. “It’s nice to feel safe.” she said. Starstep didn’t react. She wasn’t about to lose this battle. “To have such a kind, brave... strong warrior...” She felt him shift a bit, as if to get more comfortable. She smiled to herself...

*snort* came from his mouth. Luna’s eyes shot open. “Blahb, *ahck, ahck, ahck*”. came next. Luna used her magic to move her head and look. He was asleep. “What, the..?” She scowled. He hadn’t heard a word of any of what she was saying! “You got off this time,” she warned the sleeping stallion. “but, next time, I will get you.” She floated a pillow over and rested her guard’s head upon it. Looking outside, she noticed that the sun was being pulled down to the horizon. Her heart skipped a beat, as she realized what she was supposed to be doing.

She was about to get up and sprint to the balcony when Celestia mentally contacted her. “You need not worry; you have worked hard lately as it is. I can do this for you.” Luna stopped and sighed. It was a happy sigh, though. “Thank you.” she thought to her sister. She got a glad feeling back from her sister, and walked over to her bed. She looked over at Starstep one more time; he had a stupid smile stretched across his face like a nylon sock. “I wonder what you’re dreaming...” she wondered. But she decided against going into his dreams; she was too tired herself.

As she went to bed, she had no idea that nylon socks were actually a part of her guard’s dream.

Luna awoke slowly the next morning; it was the best sleep she had gotten in days, and she was reluctant to let it go. Even as the ruler of the night, she was not very good about staying awake late at night.

She looked over at the fireplace; there was no one there. Starstep must have gotten up earlier and gone outside for his guard duty. She got up and went to the door. From the other side, she could hear light humming. Cracking it open, she took a look outside. Starstep stood there, eyes closed, humming a little tune. It sounded like “Hush, Now, Quiet Now”. He must have still been sleepy. Luna smiled mischievously. “I may have missed you last night, but I’ll get you now.” she thought. She creaked the door open a little bit more, silently creeping up behind the unsuspecting guard. She got into position to pounce.

Suddenly, Starstep turned around and jumped at her. Luna yelped, not foreseeing this turn of events. Before she could react, Starstep had her pinned to the ground under him. “Even as the ruler of the night,” he said, a playful smile across his face. “you can’t sneak very well.” Luna pouted. She could sneak pretty well, if she wanted to. “You just got lucky.” she said. Starstep laughed. Looking away from his face, Luna noticed a pair of guards walking down the hall, one pointing at her and Starstep. She got a big grin on her face; she could defeat her guard yet. “Well,” she said, putting her hoof to Starstep’s chest, who just looked down at her with a quizzical expression. “what’re you gonna do now, brave hero?” she purred. Starstep’s face instantly flushed red. He opened his mouth to speak when he heard from behind, “Nnnnnnnnnice.” He spun around, pupils dilated at the site of his fellow guards. As they passed, one looked at Starstep and nodded his approval.

With Starstep speechless, Luna giggled uncontrollably below him. She had won yet again. “Always.” Starstep said, still barely coherent. “Always, you manage it somehow.” He looked back down at the princess below him. She had her hooves at her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles; it was adorable. “I have a talent for it.” She booped his nose. “I also have you to practice on.”

Starstep was determined to turn this back around, even if he was the only one who would know about it. His mind raced, trying to think of something. “Lightbulb!” he shouted. Luna looked up at him, confusion evident in her countenance. He put his hooves around her, eliciting a response from his princess. “Hey!” she yelled. Starstep flew up into the air with her in tow. “Come, my princess!” he said. “Let us see what propositions the day has in store.” He flew Luna back into the room. She looked at him unjadedly. “I do wonder what the day will have in store.” Starstep flew over to the bed and landed on it. He put on his best Blueblood-creeper face. “Today is a day for spelunking, I think!” he shouted. Luna smiled; then she narrowed her eyes and started to speak. “Spelunkin-” She realized the double entendre. Her face turned to a dark purple, the red flush combining with the dark blue of her coat. Starstep, satisfied at his work, stepped off the bed and walked toward the library. “I assure you,” he began as he sauntered away. “my gear is some of the strongest in the world.” He smiled immensely to himself as he walked away, the sound of his princess trying to stammer out a response fading away with distance.

Luna just sat on her bed, unable to fully comprehend what just happened. She had tried to respond, but nothing coherent was able to come out. All she could manage was, “Huh?” It took her several minutes of sitting in disbelief to finally regain her composure. She took in several deep breaths and then let them out slowly. “Just breath in deep.” she told herself. Even if no one saw it, it was easily the most embarrassing moment she had ever suffered.

Unfortunately, Starstep was within earshot when she said it. “Deeper is better!” he shouted. Luna’s entire body changed hue this time. Unable to control herself, she launched herself from her bed. “You!” she shouted. She bounded into the library; no one was there. A door slammed shut on the other side. Running around, she saw that her bathroom door was closed. She shot over to it and knocked hard on the door. “Come on out here.” she said. Starstep replied, “I’d rather not.” Luna scowled. “Then I’m coming in.” She didn’t know what she was going to do when she got in there, but she did know that she wanted to get her hooves on her guard. “No, wait-!” he shouted as Luna used her magic to go through the door. She was about to start yelling when she noticed Starstep squatting. “What..?” she began. Before she could even formulate the idea of what he was doing, he said, “Takin’ a dump.” Luna’s expression went from embarrassed anger to pure embarrassment. She flew out of the room. “Augh!”

She ran back to her bed and got under the covers. Ten minutes later, Starstep returned and saw the mound. “Oh, I’ve got you now...” he said. He silently floated up in front of the mound. From inside, he heard mortified groaning. “I’m not giving up this chance.” he thought resolutely. He flew down and landed on the mound. “Ah-” he yelled. Sudden confusion came across him. “ha?” The covers weren’t collapsing the way he had expected. “My head is over here...”

Starstep froze. The whisper hadn’t come from a few feet in front of him; it was actually behind him. And under him. “Umm,” he said. Luna didn’t know what was going on and used her magic to go through the sheet. “What the-!” She found herself face to face with Starstep’s groin. “So this is what you wanted...” she said apprehensively. Starstep’s face went red and he shot right into the air. “S-s-s-sorry!” he said. “I-I thought, that... that you were p-positioned differently... and... umm...” he stopped talking. Both ponies sat and floated in an awkward silence.

Both looked at each other for a moment. Luna giggled; Starstep chuckled. The giggling and chuckling started to turn into them cracking up. Ultimately, both lost face and laughed uncontrollably. Starstep fell from the air.

Luna was the first to regain some of her composure. “Well, that... that was one way to start your day.” she said. Starstep stood. “Yeah. Yeah, it was.” Both continued their efforts to stifle their laughter. “It’s nice, after so much work.” Starstep commented. Luna nodded. “Yes. Maybe now we can return to our routines.” She looked to the library. “Speaking of.” Starstep looked over to the library and nodded. “It’s been a few days.” he said. “I wonder if anything has happened?”

Luna walked toward the library. “I guess we’ll know soon enough.” Starstep saluted and went back outside. Luna made her way downstairs and to the pool. “Let us see just how far you’ve gotten...” she said.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan got up slowly. His joints creaked and cracked from sleeping on a wooden floor all night. Well, all night might be exaggerating. His sleep was on and off throughout the night. Between the flashback dreams and the anticipation of what was to come, he hadn’t been sleeping much lately.

He and Harris had arrived in Bangkok the previous day. It had been a frustrating journey to get there. The van had run out of gas, so the boys had to walk the rest of the way to the city. The entire way, Discord had been making incessant comments on how nice it was to be able to fly. At one point, Ryan shouted up at Discord to make him stop talking, and there had been people on the other side of the road. They looked up, and when they saw nothing, they looked and Ryan and Harris nervously and walked away.

Still, though, losing the van was probably better, even if it made traveling more difficult. When the boys neared the city, there were several patrols going around. All the cars looked the same and had the same foreign letters, indicating some kind of authority. “Must be looking for us.” Harris had said. Ryan grunted his response, and the two boys entered the city carefully. When they arrived, they were stopped by a car and were only released because they didn’t speak Thai. Several close calls like this had occurred.

Now, Ryan and Harris were in the city and looking for a way to get themselves into Cambodia. Smashing their way through the gate seemed like it could end badly. It hadn’t worked so great last time. So that only left the option of sneaking across the border away from any checkpoints. Of course, they had to actually get to the border for that. That was what Ryan had been contemplating in his free time. Discord had been saying that he thought the boys should use disguises and just walk past the checkpoint. It took Ryan an hour of carefully explaining the nature of foreign policy to him to explain why that would fail miserably. Harris agreed with Ryan that they should just sneak across somewhere. But he then pointed out the need for supplies. “We won’t be able to survive in the wilderness if we don’t have something to eat and drink.” he had said. Ryan was growing more frustrated every hour.

He stood up and stretched himself a little bit. Almost immediately after arriving, DIscord had found them a place to stay. It was a little motel, cheap, and didn’t keep records of clients. It did not have real guest accommodations, though. They had to sleep on the floor, and the only bathroom was practically a war crime.

Ryan looked over to his left where Harris was sleeping. “Every frickin’ morning.” he said. He reached out to shake Harris and wake him. “Actually,” he thought. “I’ll do some stuff first... give him more time.” He sat over against the wall.

Removing his shirt, Ryan took a look down at his chest. He had never taken off the vest with his weapons since he got the van. Removing it, Ryan took a look at it. On the left, there was his P22, holstered on the side of the vest. In it, he knew he had eight rounds left, and he saw one spare magazine, full. “Weird.” he thought. “Would’ve sworn I had another...” He disregarded any thought on the subject. If he had had another, Discord probably took it. “That ass.” he thought. A mental sound of clearing one’s throat resounded through his head. “I heard that.” Discord said. Ryan shrugged. “Cool story, bro.” Discord mentally huffed and let Ryan get back to his business. Looking back at the vest, Ryan saw the M1911. It was holstered in a holster that was hanging down by where Ryan’s hip would be. With the full magazine in the gun, and the two full spares, Ryan had twenty-one rounds for it. “Nice.” he said. He flipped the vest over. On the back, he had found a secure way to carry the KaBar (with Discord’s help). He pulled it out and swung it through the air a few times. “Thank God for knife training.” he said. He sheathed the knife in the vest and set it down.

He took inventory on his other items next. He still had his Shen on the leather strap. It was usable as a garrote, which made it a weapon. Ryan still had his watch, which read seven thirty seven. His shoes were dirty, but in good condition. His bandages were another story, though.

The bandages on his chest were looking extremely dirty, and he could only imagine what the other side looked like. They felt somewhat crusty. “Dried blood.” Ryan reasoned. It wasn’t too concerning for him. An infection might kill him, but he was confident he could kill Narendra first. The bandages on his arms were turning yellow; there hadn’t been blood, but the chemical burns had taken their toll on his arms. Ryan figured he could remove them. Halfway through, Ryan was not happy with what he saw. “Damn...” he said. His arms looked nasty. They hadn’t been healing properly, seeing as they weren’t being cleaned. He removed the bandages completely, and to his relief, only part of his arms looked that way. “I should get cleaned up, or at least go to a doctor.” he thought. While he was mulling it over, Harris had awoken behind him.

Harris took a look at his friend’s back. The bandages were disgusting; the dried blood had made a crust on the bandage, making it crack whenever Ryan moved. Without thinking, Harris said, “You need new bandages, dude.” Ryan turned around to look at his friend. “Yeah.” he responded. “I was just contemplating that.” Harris nodded. “Discord!” he mentally shouted. “Mmmm, yes?” he responded. “Can you find a hospital near here? Ryan needs new bandages.” Discord confirmed and went on his way.

In the meantime, Harris looked over at Ryan, who was putting his stuff back on. “What were you doing?” he asked. Ryan grunted as he put his gear on. “Taking inventory, making sure that I have everything.” Harris nodded.

Before he had a chance to respond, Discord came back. “There’s a hospital about three blocks to the south of here. I’d try there.” he said. Ryan nodded and began to remove his gear again. “Hold onto this.” he said, handing it to Harris. “I’ll come back here, and we’ll start to figure out what we’re gonna do.” Harris took the gear. “What if you need this?” he asked, indicating the gear. Ryan opened the motel door and stepped out. “I can’t exactly enter a hospital, especially HERE, heavily armed. It wouldn’t go over too well.” Without waiting, Ryan left and turned south.

He walked down the street with a close eye out for any danger. He was in a foreign land, with a foreign language, unfamiliar with the customs, and being hunted by government and terrorists alike. It wasn’t an ideal situation.

He had made it down the street almost a block and a half when he encountered trouble. Ahead of him, there was a group of guys standing around, smoking something Ryan could only assume was tobacco. When he got closer, the smell hit him like a wall, and he closed his nose. Before he could pass, one of the guys stopped him. “ยึดมั่นในเพื่อน.” he said. Ryan shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t speak Thai.” The guy who stopped him looked back at his boys and smiled. He turned back, still smiling. “ที่นี่ในประเทศไทยเราต้องการให้แต่ละอื่น ๆ ทั้งหมดที่เรามี.” he said. He used his hands to indicate giving. Giving... paper? No, money. Ryan shook his head again. “Kill yourselves, I’m not giving you deadbeats any money.” He said it in the politest tone possible. They couldn’t understand words, only tone. “มือมากกว่าเงิน.” the guy said. He pulled a knife. “You reeeally don’t wanna do this.” Ryan said, stepping back to give himself room. He positioned his feet in a Sanchin dachi. “But if you really want to...” The guy decided he would give this kid one last chance to be smart. He stepped forward with the knife raised. “มอง-” he managed to get out. Ryan had seen the knife and decided that he had had enough. Using his left hand, he flicked his wrist and knocked the knife, pointing it elsewhere. He followed up with a speedy bearclaw to the guy’s throat. His boys all shouted behind him as they saw their man fall to the ground. Ryan whistled. They looked at him disbelievingly. “Let’s dance.” he said, smiling as ferociously as he could.

Three of the guys, there were four left, charged Ryan. Knowing that he couldn’t take all three head on, Ryan slid to his right into a Zenkutsu dachi, then shifted back into Sanchin, further putting himself to the right. Now, there was only one guy who could hit him. taking advantage of his temporary one-on-one match, Ryan got low and moved in on the guy nearest him. The guy tried to strike out, but Ryan blocked it upwards and kneed him in the solar plexus. He dropped to the ground, where Ryan proceeded to fall on his knee onto the guy’s head. A loud crunch was heard from the guy’s nose, and blood started to come out.

The other two guys disregarded their fallen friend and repositioned themselves to attack. Already learning from their fatal flaw, they got to either side of Ryan and tried to do a double flank. “When in doubt,” Ryan thought. Hi eyes locked onto the guy to his left. “do something unexpected.” He rushed the guy. The guy recoiled back, not having seen such a direct assault in his future. Before he could reel back far enough, though, Ryan was on him. Almost literally. Ryan put his leg in between the guy’s and behind the guy’s left leg and elbowed him hard in the chest. Unable to move his foot back, he fell down to the ground, smashing his head on a jutting sidewalk tile. He didn’t get up.

By this time, the last guy was ready to join in. He and the remaining one stood away from Ryan, unwilling to attack. Both of their previous strategies had failed, and they needed to think of a new one. Ryan wasn’t going to give them that much allowance.

He took one forceful step forward, and the two guys flinched hard. One covered his face. Ryan smiled. “Well.” he said, taking a calm stance. The two guys looked confused. “I think that’s the end of that.” He put his hands in his pockets. The two guys looked at each other and exchanged words. Ryan hoped that they were words of wisdom. “I’ll take my leave then.” And he continued on his walk to the hospital.

But he didn’t get far. As he passed the two guys, within a few feet of them, in fact, one had decided to pull a gun. Ryan had been watching and reacted quickly. Before the gun could be pointed at him, Ryan intercepted it and got the guy’s arm under his armpit. Putting his hands on the gun, which the guy still held firm, Ryan pointed it at the other guy. “ไม่!” he yelled. Ryan had no idea what he was saying, so he just pushed the gun forward. At the same time, he held the other guy’s hand in place. The combination had forced the trigger backwards, firing the gun. A bullet flew from the barrel of the gun and into the chest of the guy. “ไม่มี!” the guy holding the gun yelled. Ryan quickly elbowed him in the ribs several times, causing him to double over, releasing his vice grip on the gun.

The one who was shot was screaming, and writhing on the ground. Blood spurted from his mouth causing him to choke and cough. After a moment, there was only choking. He was drowning in his own blood. The guy on the ground before Ryan was yelling angrily at him. “You started this.” Ryan said coldly. The guy behind them stopped moving. “I’m ending it.” Ryan pointed the gun down at his foe and shot him once in the head. Pocketing the weapon, Ryan turned and left the scene, sirens blaring through the air in the distance.

Harris could hear sirens in the distance to the north. From their getting louder, he guessed that they were going south. He gulped. “I wonder what that’s all about?” Discord asked rhetorically. Harris shook his head. “I’d rather not know.” He sat down and put his head between his knees. Discord looked off to the south. “Don’t get yourself in trouble, Ryan.”

Ryan walked into the hospital lobby nonchalantly. The people around the lobby looked up at him as he entered, many looking curious as to why a white kid was there.Rather than pay them any mind, Ryan immediately walked up to the front desk. The clerk smiled at him pleasantly and asked, “ฉันสามารถช่วยคุณได้อย่างไร?” Ryan scowled just a bit. Still no English. “I don’t speak Thai,” he started. He rolled up his sleeves. “but I think this’ll tell you what I want.” The clerk gasped at Ryan’s chemically burned arms and immediately called someone over. They exchanged a flurried dialogue, and before he knew it, Ryan was being rushed to a room.

He was seated on a table, it could’ve been any dinner table with tissue paper on it, really, and was told by hand signals to wait. So he waited and closed his eyes for some small amount of rest.

“Alright, what happened?” he heard a feminine voice ask. It surprised him that the woman said it in English. What was more surprising was the lack of accent. “I’d rather not-” He stopped where he was, because the woman before him was Luna. “Where have you been?” he asked. “I’ve been looking for a dangerous enemy of the state in my home world.” Luna said. She seemed... giddy. “What about you?” she asked. Ryan frowned. “Me? I’ve been being hunted by government officials, stealing to survive, sleeping on the floor, nearly murdered and mugged, and spending my time trying to hunt down one of the most dangerous men in this half of the world!” he shouted. Luna recoiled. “Life hasn’t exactly been easy for me.” he growled. Luna gave a sad frown and quivered her lower lip. Ryan sighed. “Sorry.” he said. He didn’t want to see Luna sad; she was cute, in a pet kitten kind of way. “I’m just having trouble thinking of how I’m gonna get to Cambodia. It’s really frustrating.” There was a knock on his door. “Come in.” he said. A man in a doctor’s outfit entered. “Hello. I’m doctor Mark.” He had a British accent. “I’m just a visiting doctor, but they asked me to treat you.” He walked through Luna over to Ryan. “What are your troubles?” he asked. Ryan responded by holding out his arms. “I just need new bandages for my arms and back.” he said. The doctor looked at the injuries wide-eyed. “And how did you sustain such injuries?” he asked. Ryan shook his head dismissively. “Some guys attacked me on the street. Threw acid (it was actually a base), knocked me around, slashed me with a knife. I’m fine, though.” He said it so uncaringly that the doctor believed him. “Alright. I’ll just get out some new wraps for you, and you’ll be on your way, then.” Ryan smiled as warmly as he could; it was arctic.

The doctor turned around and started to rummage through a drawer for new bandages. Ryan looked to Luna and tapped his head. She entered his mind. “I’m getting some new bandages. The old ones were inadequate.” Ryan told Luna. She nodded. “Alright.” she said. “You said that you were having trouble coming up with a plan to get to ‘Cambodia’?” she asked. Ryan looked up at her. The doctor turned around. “Alright, here we are.” he said, holding a bunch of bandages. “I’ll just do this, and you’ll be on your way.” He started to wrap Ryan’s arms. The room was silent.

To try to lessen the odds of the doctor thinking about Ryan’s injuries, Ryan decided to try to make small talk. “So, doc. I noticed you have a British accent.” The doctor laughed. “Close.” he responded. “I’m Australian. I’m here to do some aid work for the locals.” Ryan nodded. “Nice.” he said. The doctor thanked him. “Yeah. It’s just tough, seeing people suffer like this. I came out here because I want to alleviate the suffering.” The doctor’s words struck Ryan in an odd way. In some manner, he was here to alleviate suffering too. “Yeah, that’s also brought me here. I came to do some civil service, help the local populace.” It was half true. “Just doing what I can.” The doctor nodded. He finished Ryan’s left arm. “Isn’t that what we all do?” he said. Ryan nodded.

They didn’t talk again until the doc finished. Luna, however, was eager to talk with Ryan. “I think that I can probably help you to get across the border, if you choose to do so at night. It is my element, after all.” The doc finished Ryan’s other arm and had him lift his arms up high. “That would be really great. I have a feeling that a lot of what we do may soon be during the darker hours of the night.” he said. Luna smiled warmly at him. ryan felt a pang of loss. “I’m glad to help.” she said. She was glad to help. It was the first real kindness Ryan had been shown since the whole fiasco began. Despite his situation, he actually felt somewhat happy.

The doctor was about halfway done wrapping the bandages around Ryan’s torso. He hadn’t looked, or maybe just asked, about the wounds on his back, but if he did see them, he’d know they were intentional. Ryan remembered the kindness of his parents back home, and his friends. He longed for some connection to that life. Looking at Luna, she was sitting toward the wall reading some chart about human anatomy. “Hey, Luna.” Ryan projected. She looked over, still smiling. “So how was your morning?” he asked. Luna’s smile widened hugely and she regaled him with the story of how her morning went. Ryan smiled inwardly. “She’s kinda like me...” he thought. She liked to have fun.She pushed the boundaries of what was “okay” according to those around her. She joked with her friends all the time.

But then Ryan thought about more recent events. Luna had nothing comparable to him anymore. He was a thief. She was an honest leader. He was a liar. She told the truth with conviction. He sought to take lives. She sought to save them. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt. Luna saw his expression changing. “Why does your countenance change so? she asked. The doctor slapped Ryan on the shoulder. “Well, you’re all done. I’ll go get some papers, and we’ll figure out how you’re gonna pay for this stuff. I’ll be back in probably half an hour, if I don’t have to treat someone else.” He left. Ryan turned his attention back to Luna. “I just thought about home, was all. My friends... my family.” he said. Luna stepped forward and sat in front of Ryan on the floor. “Do not worry, my young friend.” she said. Her tone was soothing to Ryan. “I’m sure that they are all fine. Worried, certainly, but fine.” Ryan shook his head dismissively. “It’s not that.” he said. Luna frowned. He didn’t care about how his life at home was? “What is it?” she asked, worried. “I...” he didn’t want to answer. he had lied about his thoughts, but now he was stuck. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Luna left the subject alone.

After about fifteen minutes, the doctor still hadn’t come back. Ryan looked around the room. He certainly had no way to pay for anything; Harris had the money. He had a gun, but that would be very unwise to pull here.

He decided that he wouldn’t pay. In fact, he got up to leave. “Wait, where are you going?” Luna asked, following him out the door. “I’m getting out of here.” he responded. Luna frowned again. “Are you going to pay for anything?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “Do I look like I have money?” he answered. Luna wasn’t happy, but she understood.

The two passed a number of rooms in the hallway. Most of them had people in them, others were closets, and some were just empty. But one of them caused Ryan to stop. Medical Supplies, it read. He looked around. “What are you doing?” Luna asked. Ryan opened the door and peeked inside. “Nice.” he said. He entered the room and closed the door. Luna followed through the door. “What are you doing, Ryan?” she repeated. He looked around. “I’m gonna grab some stuff. Just in case.” he said. He walked around. There were lots of boxes around him, many of which contained pills. But he had a specific thing in mind. “Luna, if you see a box with needles in it, tell me. I’m looking for morphine.” Luna scoffed. “No!” she said. Ryan turned to her. “I won’t help you rob a hospital!” she shouted. Ryan scowled. “Fine, then.” He continued his search. Luna left and waited outside.

Ryan soon emerged with a small bag of covered syringes. “I can’t believe you’re doing this.” she said. Ryan looked around. “Yeah, yeah.” he said. He his the bag in his pocket. “Let’s go.” Ryan turned and went down the hall. Luna followed close behind. “You know that those could save lives.” she said. “Stealing them could result in the deaths of innocent people.” Ryan sighed. “I’m not worried. I think that they’ll survive. Pain can’t kill.” Luna breathed heavily. “No... you can;t be doing this...” She spoke out. “You would create suffering so willingly?” she asked. It was a simple question; perhaps too simple. “I would.” He turned to her. “But by stopping Narendra, I can stop a helluva lot more.” He didn’t really care about that. He was out to kill the man. “And that suffering is much worse than this, believe me. I know.” Luna clamped her mouth shut. She couldn’t argue that.

The duo left the hospital without incident. Ryan didn’t seem worried, so the staff just assumed that he was all taken care of and that his problems were done. They had no idea that he hadn’t paid them, and that he was stealing from them. Blissful ignorance.

On the way back to the motel, Ryan walked along the same street as before. While walking, Luna noticed some cars up ahead, all around a taped off area. “What has happened here?” she asked. Ryan responded, “Some guys tried to mug me at knifepoint. One pulled a gun.” He said it uncaringly. Luna looked at him hard. “What did you do to them?” she asked. They went around the cars, crossing the street. While moving, Ryan pointed at the people within the taped off area. When Luna turned, time seemed to slow. What she saw made her freeze; there were massive pools of blood on the ground, and two bodies within them. One had his head blown open, with brain and bone all over, his face red from all the blood on it. The other looked pale in the face, but his clothes were a sanguine crimson. Blood had been pouring from his mouth, and everything below his chin was as red as the other one who was dead.

Luna looked back at Ryan, who wasn’t looking at the scene. “You... did that?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “No choice.” he said, peeking down at her through his eyelids. “That’s how this world works.” Luna’s eyes welled up with tears. Ryan just kept walking.

For the second time on this street, he didn’t get far. A police officer stopped him. “Hey.” he said. Finally someone who spoke english! “Witnesses say that there was white man here. Did this.” he said, pointing at the bodies. “You know anything?” Ryan shook his head. “Nope. I’m just a boy, not a man.” The officer took this reasoning, for some reason, and left. Luna looked at Ryan incredulously. “Your world is just getting worse and worse as the days pass...” she said. Ryan sighed. “No.” he said. “It’s always been this way.” The pair just kept on walking, as any other people would.

Harris and Discord were waiting at the motel impatiently. “He should be back by now!” Discord said. “I wanna get moving!” Harris snapped at him. He had been doing this for half an hour. “He’ll be back when he gets back! Shut up!” Discord snapped his fingers and a pair of binoculars appeared. “I’ll look for him.” he said. Suddenly, there were three knocks on the door. Harris approached, and Discord watched. “Who’s there?” Harris asked warily. “Open the damn door.” Came Ryan’s voice. Discord squee’d with joy. “Well, it’s good to have you back.” Harris said, opening the door. Ryan nodded as he entered.

“Well, I’m all bandaged up, and ready to think about the future.” Ryan announced. He sat on the ground, in the middle of the floor. Harris sat across from him, and Discord sat somewhere to the side. Luna stood behind Ryan. “Alright. So, what’re we gonna do?” Discord asked. Ryan paid him little mind. “We can’t use any checkpoints. Disguises won’t work, and traveling in Thailand during the day may prove foolish. We need to travel at night, across an unguarded section of the border.” He looked at Harris, who nodded to indicate that he was to continue. “We’ll need to get supplies, enough to get us to the border and then across it to Kompong Chhnang. There, we’ll restock and make our way to the compound, where we’ll likely find Narendra.” Harris nodded seriously. “Then we kill him and his little cronies.” he added.

Luna’s ears perked up, and she gasped a little. Knowing that she wouldn’t support him if she knew, Ryan quickly interjected. “My hope is to do a snatch and grab. We go in, grab him, then leave.” Luna sighed behind him. To avoid her hearing it, Ryan mouthed, “Then we kill him.” Harris nodded. Discord munched on some popcorn off on the side. “It’s good to have wiggle room, in case something goes wrong.” Harris leaned forward. “And that wiggle room is killing him if we can’t bag him?” Harris asked. Ryan nodded. “Eeyup.” Luna gasped again. “Odds are, we’ll be forced to kill him.” Ryan conceded. Luna looked at him from behind, her jaw quivering. “So you do plan to kill him.” she said. Ryan’s head fell just a bit. She swallowed hard.

“How can I support this? He wants to grab Narendra and make him face court justice, but he thinks that may be too difficult. He had a plan to kill him. Can I support this?” she asked herself. “Is this supporting murder?” She couldn’t think about it here. Not in a world where murder was so much more common. “I must go.” she announced. Without waiting for a response, she vanished from Ryan’s world.

As soon as she could feel her body again, Luna got up and walked up the stairs to her bedchambers. She plopped herself down onto her covers and rested her head on a pillow. It was soft and welcoming; unlike everything that had just occurred. She tried not to think about how Ryan had killed those two men, but it stayed in her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking about his plans. He intended to kill Narendra. But was it really murder? Were his actions justified to the point where they could be condoned?

The questions were nearly impossible to answer. They were making Luna’s head spin. Her entire moral compass was being questioned. Could killing ever truly be sanctioned? Was there really justice in his world, or was it just a continuous cycle of people wronging other people? Why should one person be allowed to decide who lives and who does not, who is well off and who is a slave?

Luna began to cry. It wasn’t a loud cry, but it certainly wasn’t quiet. It was like a child, who was afraid of the dark and couldn’t find the light. Or someone who lost everything, but had nothing to begin with. Luna felt like her world was upside down.

Starstep could hear it from outside. No other guard would have paid it any mind, but Starstep knew that it was his princess crying. He turned around and slowly opened the door. “Luna?” he said cautiously. She was crying into her pillow. Something had obviously happened in the colt’s world. He walked through the door. “Luna?” he asked. She still didn’t hear him. Not wanting to startle her, he slowly approached the bed and tapped Luna’s side. She noticed this. “Oh!” she said. “I-I-I, umm, d-don’t worry...” she could barely speak. Starstep looked deep into her eyes. In them, he saw confusion and fear. “What happened?” he asked. Luna knew better than to keep secrets from him. She told him the whole story and what was bothering her.

At the end, Starstep nodded and hugged Luna tightly. It was a difficult issue indeed. He had been forced to contemplate it some time ago, when he joined up with the Nighthawks. “You know, I had the same questions once.” he said. Luna looked up at him. “I came to a conclusion based on what my job was.” Luna sniffed. “And what was that?” she asked. Starstep shook his head. “That life makes us all think about these things. Albeit, not quite so severe or significant to us sometimes, but everyone does.” He leaned in close and pet Luna’s neck. “These questions, I found, don’t have a set answer. We all have different experiences that allow us to answer the question, and the question is based off of experience. On one hoof, I had to protect our nation from invaders. My values placed what I love above those things that I do not love. So I believe that my actions were justified. This colt, Ryan, believes that his actions are justified because he values what he is doing, which I think is protecting everyone else. He can justify his actions, whereas someone else cannot. Those guys who mugged him attacked him with a knife. Because he was the one in danger, Ryan justifies his actions with his experience and values. Others would say that he could have gotten out of that without bloodshed. Their experience might be that there is always a less violent way out, and they cannot justify Ryan’s actions. I cannot speak for him. Only he can justify his actions, and it is up to the rest of us to decide if it SOUNDS reasonable, not if it is. You don’t need to justify his actions, Luna. You need to decide if it seems reasonable to do what he did, and who he did it for.”

Luna took in the words of her guard intently. Her eyes were red from crying, and tears still streamed down her face, but Starstep flicked them away with the tip of his hoof. “Now, you just rest, and think about it all later.” Luna nodded and nuzzled Starstep’s chest. “You are wise beyond your years.” Starstep patted her head, happy that she wasn’t crying anymore. “Stay here.” she ordered softly. He happily remained where he was. “You know, no one else had ever been this nice to me.” She looked up at Starstep’s face. “No one.” He put his cheek to hers. “I’m just here because I want to see you happy.” Luna smiled. He really was the best thing to happen to her in the last... who knows how long. And she never wanted him to leave. “I’m glad you are here.” she said, and she fell into a light sleep.

Starstep looked down at Luna. She looked so peaceful below him. “I’m always glad to be here.” he said. He shifted to put his forelegs around her and just laid there, content to be so close to his princess.

Off the Beaten Path

Luna had departed from Ryan with a clear indication of dissatisfaction. “I’ll just have to talk to her next time she comes back.” Ryan thought. He was staring at the floor as he thought, prompting concern from Harris. “Yo, Ryan.” he said. Ryan flinched back to the world. “Yah?” he replied. Harris put his hands out to indicate that he wanted Ryan to keep talking. Ryan let out a large breath. “Well, that’s really all I have. Flexibility is important, after all.” he said. Harris frowned, but Discord grinned. “I like this plan!” he announced. “I find that life has always been more exciting when we don’t have any idea of what will happen next.” Ryan looked up at him. “With any luck, the next few days will have zero excitement.” Ryan explained. Discord made a face. “Look, excitement means danger, and right now, that could mean either death or deportation. Neither of those is a viable option.” He stood, Harris doing likewise. He walked over to Discord and put a hand on his shoulder. “The excitement will come later.” he said. Discord smiled mischievously. He put his... “hand”, on Ryan’s shoulder. “That’s how I like it.”

Ryan and Harris checked to make sure they had everything and had it hidden before they left. They had decided that it wouldn’t be wise to stay in one place too long. Ryan had his vest and weapons on under his shirt, as did Harris. “You know how ridiculous you look.” Discord told them. Looking down, Ryan realized how clear it was that he had something on under the shirt. He groaned. “We’ll have to get more clothes, jackets or something. We need to hide our stuff as much as we can.” Harris nodded, prodding at the protruding parts of his shirt. “Agreed.” he said. Discord stuck his head out the window. “There’s a store that looks like it has what you need!” he shouted. “Alright. We’ll head over there now.” Harris replied. He and Ryan quickly exited the sketchy motel and made their way across the street.

Discord stayed behind though, still with his head through the window. “I suppose I could just give them what they need,” he said to himself. He went all the way through and got in the middle of the street. “But where’s the fun in that?” He liked to see how the boys handled their situation on their own.

He popped his head through the door of the store and looked around. In it, there were lots of what looked like local clothes. They looked pretty traditional. One rack was labeled Tavaravadee. Another was Lopburee. There were several others with equally strange names, but there was also a lot of modern clothes. That was where Discord ran into Ryan. “So, whatcha lookin’ at?” he asked. Ryan pulled a dark blue hoodie off the rack. “Something dark.” he said, putting it back. He pulled a green one and made a noise of satisfaction. “This’ll be good for blending into the foliage.” he said. Discord chuckled. He could help him with just one thing. “Well, you’ll need it better than that.” he said. Ryan looked up at Discord suspiciously, who snapped his fingers. “Look now.” he said. Ryan looked down, and saw a now forest camo hoodie in his hands. “Sweet.” he said. Ryan slung it over his shoulder and said, “Maybe you should help Harris.”

He floated away from Ryan and searched for Harris. The shelves and racks went to the ceiling, so it wasn’t easy to see Harris. Eventually, he heard Harris talking. “No, really, I’m fine.” he said. Harris stuck his head through a display to get a look.

Harris was trying to send away a sales lady who seemed eager to sell to him. “Really, I’m fine.” he said. She just kept up her sale assault. Discord laughed. “You know she doesn’t speak english?” he said. Harris groaned. “Thought not.” he replied. Discord continued to laugh. “Just take what she’s offering. She’ll go away.” Harris took the jacket she handed to him and she bowed and left. “See?” he said. Harris looked at him with a ‘seriously?’ face. “This is bright yellow.” he said. Discord rolled his eyes. “Just buy it. Trust me.” Harris grumbled something and went over to where Ryan was.

The two boys met and glanced at each other’s clothing choice. Neither spoke for a minute. “Well, I’m sure that you won’t... die a prolonged death.” Ryan said awkwardly. Harris grumbled. “Let’s just pay and leave.” he said. Ryan nodded, and they paid for their new jackets.

After leaving, Discord turned to Harris. “Here.” he said, snapping his fingers. Harris’ jacket suddenly turned to a forest camo pattern. “Oh.” he said. Discord smiled.

They decided to just walk down the street toward the east, where they would be soon heading anyway. Discord immediately started talking. “I think that it would be best if we figured out what we plan to do BEFORE we start heading out.” he said. Ryan grunted. “That was the idea.” he said impatiently. They walked in silence for a moment. “Alright. I think that we may need to go get a map before we try anything.” Ryan said. Harris was about to disagree, but stopped his breath short. “Maybe that’s a good idea.” he said. Discord sighed loudly. “Why?” he asked. Neither boy turned around. “I can direct you guys, you know. You don’t need a map.” This time, both boys turned back. “Well, then. We just need supplies.”

Discord pouted as the boys went around the city looking for places to get food and water for travel. They had been easily able to find bottled water, but the food was harder to find. Most places in the city didn’t sell food that you could eat on the go; it just wasn’t a part of the culture here like it was in places like America. Eventually, they stopped. “Alright, Ryan, let’s go find some store that sells M&M’s or something. Healthy food is clearly not an option.” Ryan sighed and agreed. Quickly, they were able to find a convenience type store and bought plenty of cheap snack foods.

Now, they could finally start to figure out how they were going to get to the border. It was over three hundred sixty miles to Kompong Chnnang.

“How are we going to get to the border? We don’t have a car to take this time, and stealing one won’t go over too well in a city that seems to be on alert.” Harris commented. Ryan nodded vigorously. “I know.” he said. “I think that our best bet is to take a taxi.” Harris listened intently. “How much money do we have left?” Ryan asked. Harris removed his wallet from his pocket and counted the money. “About... forty-five Australian dollars.” he said. “Will that cover a cab fair to the border?’ Ryan asked. “I don’t know! I don’t live here. But I think that it should cover us pretty well, considering that these hoodies were only, like ten each.” Ryan raised his brow at hearing that. “Really? And how much was the food and water?” he asked. “A heck of a lot less.” Harris responded. Ryan whistled. “This stuff costs way more back home.” he said. Harris nodded in agreement.

Discord found himself interested in the comparisons between their homelands and this land. “It costs more where you guys are from?” he asked. Ryan nodded, and Harris said, “Yup.” It was a lot like Discord’s home world; things would cost different amounts depending on what region you were in, like the Griffon colonies. “What makes it so?” he asked. Ryan stopped. “Let’s sit for a bit.” he said. Harris happily obliged. “Well,” Ryan began. “there are a lot of factors to take into account. A lot of stuff is made here, so it’s naturally cheaper here because there aren’t nearly the costs of shipping it several thousand miles to where I’m from. There’s also the fact that our currencies, America and Australia, are worth different amounts than Thai currency. Because ours are more valuable, we don’t have to shell out as much of it.” Discord was interested; it was just like at home. “Wow. That sounds a lot like the world I’m from.” he commented. Harris looked up at him, a lightbulb going off in his head.

“And what world are you from?” he asked suspiciously. Ryan looked at him expectantly.

Discord was thrown off by the question. He hadn’t expected the boys to take interest in that, or even think about it. His thoughts raced. “I wonder if I should tell them? They probably won’t believe me, but they can’t deny at this point that I’m real.” He looked down at the boys and frowned. “Well, it can’t hurt.” He took in a deep breath. “Alright, fine. I’m from a world that is very different from yours. It has no humans, as far as I know. There are lots of ponies, thought, and other things that you would consider ‘animals’ or beasts. There aren’t democratic societies, like the ones you live in, but the monarchs are usually fair and just. except to me.” Harris raised and eyebrow and Ryan narrowed his eyes. “They kicked me out because I wanted to have some fun. Spread a bit of mayhem, just make life interesting.” The boys looked at him incredulously. “Alright, fine. I left, I wasn’t kicked out. But it was that, or be imprisoned forever.” Harris stood up, keeping his eyes on the Spirit of Chaos. “Are you going back after we get what we want?” he asked. Discord put his hand to his chin and pondered for a moment. “Well, I can’t rightly say. I can’t say that I love what I’ve seen of your world, but it’s still better than being a statue. I might, I might not.” He went and stood next to Harris, setting his hand on his shoulder. “It depends on whether or not you guys will let me stick around.” Harris brushed off his hand. “I can’t say if I’ll want you around, Discord.” Discord pouted. “It will depend entirely on how this all goes for us.” Discord looked to Ryan. “You?” he asked. Ryan shrugged. “You’re useful. I’d totally keep you around.” he said. Discord smiled. “Well, then, as long as Ryan’s around, I’ll stay with him. Just don’t lose me, Ryan; then I’ll have to leave.”

The trio left the area that they were sitting in and continued on their journey east. Discord had no idea what they were doing. Several cabs had passed by, and neither boy had flagged them down. “Why aren’t you guys calling the attention of the drivers?” Discord asked. A cab slowed down next to them. “See that?” Ryan said, pointing at the taxi. Discord saw a picture of the city on it. “We figure that means that they will only take people to places in the city. We need someone to take us to the border.” “Ahhh.” Discord replied. Ryan nodded and they continued on their way.

After about half an hour of walking, they found themselves approaching the outskirts of the city. Once there, Harris started to look around. “I guess that this is where we’ll find the driver that we’re looking for.” he said. Ryan nodded. “Yeah, probably. Keep an eye out, eh, Discord?” Discord saluted them and flew into the sky.

While Discord kept a bird’s-eye-view of the area, Ryan and Harris were stuck on the ground. “Alright, let’s look around, see if we can’t find someone.” Ryan ordered. “Sure thing.” Harris replied. They started to walk around, looking at all the cars around them. “Hey, there’s one.” Harris pointed at a yellow car parked at the end of a lot. Its driver was leaning against the car, smoking a cigar. “Let’s go.” Harris ordered. Ryan followed as Harris quickly made his way through the area to the driver. As they approached, the driver looked at them. “คุณต้องการที่จะไปที่ไหน?” he asked. Harris pulled out a ten and a five. The driver looked excited. “มาในมาใน!” he yelled. He ushered Harris and Ryan into the car. Before entering, Ryan heard a commotion somewhere to his rear. he looked back; something was definitely happening, but he paid it no mind. In the cab, Harris held up a map of the area and pointed to the place that looked like a border checkpoint, then followed a path to about four or five miles from it. “Can you take us here?” he asked. The driver nodded, understanding where he was being pointed to go.

Ryan looked out his window at the commotion. “Something isn’t right.” he said. Harris didn’t hear him.

Discord had taken notice of the trouble though. “Ryan, i think you’ve got trouble.” he warned. Ryan’s gut sank. “What kind of trouble?” he asked fearfully. Discord took a moment to respond. That moment felt interminable to Ryan. “Some guys are going around hitting people with sticks. It sounds like they’re saying, ‘We want the intruders.’” Discord took another pause. “That might mean you guys.”

The car suddenly jolted forward. “Whoah!” harris yelled. The driver laughed.

As the car began to pick up speed, it approached the crowd of people involved with the commotion. “No, no, no, no, no; Harris, get down!” Ryan dove down between the seats and yanked Harris down with him. The driver didn’t even notice as he went through the frenzying crowd. Harris looked up at the crowd from the floor of the cab. There were people screaming outside, trying to run from something. After a few tense moments, he saw what they were running from. Men with clubs and rifles were attacking people, yelling at them for something. “What do you think they want?” Harris asked. Ryan just looked him in the eye.

Harris gulped as he thought about what these mystery men would do to them if they were caught. With the clubs, they could beat them. With the rifles, they could shoot them. He could only hope that they wouldn’t be found. “Discord!” he reached out. “Yeah?” came the response. “Are they looking for us?” Harris asked. Discord took several moments to respond, during which time, the cab slowed to a stop. Harris’ heart was racing. “These guys are saying that they, ‘want the men who were attacking their interests.’ They want to find them and kill them.” Harris started to panic.

And he wasn’t the only one. Ryan was freaking out over the car stopping. “Why have we stopped?” he shouted at the cab driver. The driver was stunned though; peeking out the window, Ryan could see weapons being pointed at the cab. Someone approached. “Discord!” Ryan didn’t wait for a response. “Tell the cab driver to go when the passengers fight back!” Ryan received an emotion confirming that he would get his wish.

As the man approached the car, the driver of the cab opened his window. “Can I help you?” he asked the scary looking man with the pistol who had approached him. The man put his elbow on the car door. “Mind if we see your passengers?” he asked. The driver swallowed. On the one hand, he could hand over the kids he was driving, probably killing them. He didn’t know why these guys were looking for white kids, but he knew that it couldn’t possibly be good. “I... okay.” He rolled down the rear window.

As the scary man went to the rear window, the cab driver felt a presence in his head. “When the passengers of your car shoot, you need to haul it out of there.” The presence vanished, leaving a very scared cab driver behind. “What?” he thought.

Meanwhile, in the back of the cab, Ryan had just seen his window roll down. Seeing that he would have to fight, Ryan quickly pulled out his P22. It slipped out with ease.

He sat up in his seat as the man approached. The man leaned into the window, a pistol in his hand. “กรุณาก้าวออกจากรถ.” he said. Ryan looked at him. When he did, the man’s face brightened. “ผมคิดว่าเราได้พบพวกเขา!” he shouted. He turned back to the boys. Behind him, Ryan saw a number of other guys get out of a truck and come towards the car. “ออก.” the man ordered. Ryan sighed.

He pulled up his P22 and pushed the muzzle into the man’s forehead. “How ‘bout no?” he said. Before the man even had time to widen his eyes, Ryan put a bullet through his head. Right after, as his men yelled behind him, the car jolted and sped forward.

Ryan pointed the gun up at the roof of the car and thought about the soon to be transpiring events. The men that guy was with would no doubt chase them. “Seven left.” Ryan counted to himself. Harris just had his head under his arms. “Harris!” Ryan yelled. He looked up. “You gonna fight, or you gonna get us both killed?” Ryan shouted. Harris swallowed hard and went for his P99. It took him a minute to get it out. “Okay. What do I do?” he asked. Ryan rolled his eyes. “Ugh.” he said. “Chamber a round and be ready to shoot out the back window.” he ordered. Harris nodded, and did just what he was told.

Discord came back into contact with them. “Umm, guys? I have some bad news.” Ryan cursed under his breath. “Lay it on us.” he said. “They’re following you, and they’ve got some heavy looking stuff. They’re coming up behind you now.” Ryan took a quick look out the back window. Sure enough, they were there. And they seemed to have a fifty cal. MG. “You’ve gotta be kidding.” he said. “Yeah, and here’s some even worse news. They aren’t terrorists.” Ryan’s jaw fell. “You don’t mean...” he began. He felt a mental nod from Discord. “They’re local military. And they weren’t hunting you.”

Ryan’s chest heaved up and down. He had just provoked a fight with some very dangerous men, and he never even had to. “They were actually looking for some drug runners. Unfortunately, ‘white people’ run it. So they thought it was you.” Ryan shook his head. The MG Truck got a bit closer. “What were they going to do to us?” Ryan asked. “Probably question you. Aggressively.” Discord responded.

Ryan pulled up his pistol, and Harris did likewise. “Get ready, Harris. Fire on my go.” Harris nodded nervously. His greatest fear, as of recently, was being realized. “I hope I don’t die here.” he said. Ryan thought back to Discord. “Well, then. We’ll just have to make sure they don’t get an opportunity to nab us, won’t we?” He pointed his pistol out the back window. The car was bouncing a lot because of the speed it was moving at. “How are we going to hit anything like this?” Harris shouted. Ryan shook his head. “Just shoot- NOW!” He began to fire out of the back of the cab. The cab driver screamed.

Ryan fired off all seven of the remaining rounds in his P22. The .22 calibre rounds flew towards the pursuing car, but only a couple actually hit. They plinked off the side of the car ineffectively. “Harris!” Ryan yelled. He hadn’t been firing. As he began to do so, Ryan took the time to reload his pistol, which, because his vest was under his shirt, took a considerable amount of time. Harris, meanwhile, watched as three of his bullets smashed the windshield of the pursuing car. His gun clicked empty and the slide stayed back. “Gotta reload!” he announced. Ryan growled as he tried to fit his next magazine in the pistol.

The cab suddenly swerved right, sending both boys to the left side of the car. Harris landed on top of Ryan hard. Coughing, Ryan exclaimed, “What the hell?!” The driver was breathing hard as he changed his direction. “ฉันรู้วิธีที่จะหลบหนีจากพวกเขา!” he yelled. “I don’t know what you’re saying,” Ryan said getting back up. He looked out the back window and noted that they were getting away from the pursuing truck of hostile men. “but just keep driving us away from these guys!”

The driver punched it. As the cab flew forward, Harris took a look out the back window himself. The truck was far behind, but it was still coming after them. Suddenly, something raised up on the back of it. “Ryan,” Harris began, terror evident in his voice. “What’re they doing?” Ryan gulped and looked back. On the back of the truck, he saw a massive .50 MG being pointed at them. “Get us OUTTA HERE!” Ryan yelled. The driver looked in his rear view mirror and gasped. He knew what was about to happen.

He quickly surveyed the area in front of him for a way out. About fifty yards to his front, on the right, there was a small road that he could use to get to the main highway. “แขวนบน!” he yelled. He went left a bit, then swerved into the small road. Right as he went through, the .50 MG opened up on them. Bullets flew through the windows, but luckily, none went through any of the doors. The tires were also undamaged.

The MG Truck had to take some extra time to make the turn, as it was much bigger than the cab. By now, Ryan and Harris had reloaded their weapons. “I think we lost them.” Harris chimed. Ryan wasn’t so sure. “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch, Harris.” he warned. Harris looked at him, no longer having any hint of happiness in his expression. Unknown to him, the MG on the truck was a Browning M2. With an effective range of eighteen hundred meters, they were far from safe.

This proved true as the MG Truck opened fire again, from far behind.

Ryan dove back beneath the seats as he heard the massive gun firing behind them. Harris dove down as well, but the driver stayed up. “Get down!” Ryan shouted. Before he could get a response, a bullet slammed through the seat above him. No sound came from it afterwards, and the car began to slow. “No, no, no!” Ryan started. As the car slowed, the fire stopped. In response, Ryan got up and glanced out the window. The truck was fast approaching. The guys on it were looking quite satisfied that they had stopped the car. Ryan began to grow angry; he wasn’t about to be stopped by some scrappy group of what could barely be called soldiers. He pointed his P22 out the window. “One last stand?” Harris asked dejectedly. He, too, sat up and pointed out the window with his P99. “We’ll get outta this. Trust me.” Ryan told him. Harris groaned. The two boys took aim. “Three, two, one...” Ryan had taken aim at the MG Gunner, and Harris aimed at the driver. Each boy took two shots, hitting their intended targets, Harris on the first, Ryan on the second.

Discord watched everything from high above. He had seen the two guns point out the back window, but knew that, right now, neither boy would be able to hit his mark. So, he provided a bit of “aim assist”. “As much as I would like to avoid helping like this, I can’t help but do it.” he said. He floated down to the car and sat upon it. “Well, I guess that I’ll just have to not help them like that again. It takes away all the fun.” He sat there, wondering what the boys would do now. The guys in the truck were gearing up to lay waste to the cab.

Suddenly, the cab lurched forward and began to speed away. Discord nearly fell off.

Inside the car, Ryan and Harris were thrown against the back seat. “What the..?!” Harris shouted. From the front of the car, the boys could hear yelling. “ผมมีชีวิตอยู่! ผมมีชีวิตอยู่! ผมมีชีวิตอยู่!” the apparently not dead cab driver was yelling. Ryan gave a battle cry to signify his happiness that they would not have to stay and fight. Harris just sighed and fell down on the seat. “What’re you doing, man?” Ryan asked, pulling Harris back up. “They’re still gonna come after us!” As they sped away from the truck, the driver shouted back to them. “เรามีความปลอดภัยในขณะนี้เพื่อนของฉัน” he yelled back. Ryan looked up at the front of the car, bewilderment in his eyes. “พวกเขาเท่านั้นที่เคยฝึกขับรถ!” Ryan shook his head and fell back into an unexposed position. “Ryan, he’s saying, ‘We are safe now, my friends! They only ever train one driver!’ You guys are safe.” Ryan fell and laid down on the seat. Harris had heard it too, apparently, as he laid down as well.

The driver laughed loudly as he drove forward onto the main highway, with Harris and Ryan panting in the back. He kept on chattering away, with Discord translating everything. “That was the craziest drive I have ever had!” “What could they want these boys so much for?” “What should I tell my family when I get home?” Generally, he was just glad to be alive. As were Harris and Ryan. “Dude, we barely got out of there.” Harris commented. Ryan nodded tiredly in agreement. “Let’s try to avoid that kind of situation in the future. I can’t say that I liked having a Frickin’ fifty pointed at me.” Harris nodded this time.

Now it was Discord’s turn to share his thoughts. “Hoo, boy, that was something! I never would have thought that you guys would see that kinda action!” he thought to them. Ryan frowned heavily at his statement. “Oh, so you’re excited that we almost got killed? Or that we both just used up way too much ammo to kill those guys?” he reprimanded. “Oh, you two didn’t kill anyone.” Discord corrected. Harris sighed. “That’s a relief.” he said out loud. “So we didn’t even manage to kill them. It was just a huge waste of ammo.” He could practically see Discord shaking his head. “Tsk, tsk. You don’t get it, do you? As long as you get away, it really doesn’t matter if you used your ammo well. You won’t always be able to use your guns, and it’s important for you to be able to get along without them.” Ryan grumbled and sat against the seat back. Harris felt like talking, though. “Did you do something to help us get out of that?” he asked Discord. Discord scoffed. “Well, I didn’t exactly want to just sit off to the side and do nothing! I couldn’t let my new buddies get killed.” he replied in a chummy tone.

The unlikely group just continued along the highway, the driver humming a fine tune the whole way.

***********************************************************************************

Luna awoke from her little nap slowly. She yawned loudly, expanding her jaw to its maximum size to get out her breath. She drowsily looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her guard was still next to her, snoozing himself.

She looked outside to get an idea of what time it was. From where the sun was, she figured that she would soon have to get up and raise the moon. Joints creaking and muscles tensing, she got up from her spot, letting Starstep fall off her like a rag doll. He didn’t wake.

She hopped off the bed and began to make her way to the balcony. Outside her door, it was deathly quiet. Not even a mouse could be heard anywhere. Slugging down the hallway, she noticed that there were also very few guards. The only ones she encountered were around certain entrances, like those to the throne room and the armory. “I shall ask about that when I see her.” Luna thought. Celestia was the only one who could explain this. In such a situation, the one to the south, it could hardly be safe to have so few guards. She noticed a couple around the way to the balcony and stopped. “Where are all your comrades?” she asked. The one on the left spoke up. “They’re off getting some kind of special training.” he said. “Glad it’s them and not me. I wouldn’t be interested in that kind of job.” Luna shifted uncomfortably. “What kind of job?” she asked anxiously. The guard took in a deep breath. “Special missions.” Luna felt a tightness in her chest. “Were they selected or did they volunteer?” she asked. The guard shrugged. “Can’t say.” Luna nodded and went out onto the balcony.

Out there, she noticed that her sister was not yet present. Unwilling to think or search, she just sat herself down on the floor and waited. After a few minutes, her sister came. “Good evening, sister.” Celestia said. She seemed a bit exhausted. Luna picked up on this immediately. “Are you well, dear sister?” she asked, concerned. Celestia yawned, causing Luna to yawn as well. “I’m fine. Just tired from the events of today.” she replied. Luna looked up at her sister. “And what were those events?” she asked. She suspected that it was about selecting the stallions to make up the new unit. “I was selecting stallions to make up the new Nighthawks.” she confirmed. Luna nodded and looked down. “And I trust they were willing?” she asked. Celestia made a disappointed face at her sister. “I told them everything, first the good, then the bad. I even gave them a history lesson. Still, most decided to stay and try the training. How many will pass has yet to be seen.” She sat herself down next to Luna and began to move the sun below the horizon. “Why must life be difficult at times? I have always wondered that.” Luna watched as the sun went down. “No one wants it to be. Yet, it is. We have so much control over our lives; we control the sun, the moon, the weather, the progress of the nation. Yet there are always those things that we cannot avoid. I want to know why.” Celestia sounded very exhausted. It was evident in the way the sun moved very slowly toward the horizon line. Luna decided to assist. “Well, I find it interesting that you would bring this up now.” she said. The sun went below the horizon, and Celestia smiled. “Thank you.” she said.

Luna began to raise the moon. “What makes it so interesting?” she asked. Luna wouldn’t give too much detail. “I am studying a being who might have the answer you seek. He has always led a happy life. But, recently, it has taken a most unpleasant turn.” The moon came up somewhat quickly, already in the sky. The two regal sisters walked off the balcony and toward the throne room. “He is in a situation now where he must fight just to stay alive.” Celestia cut in. “Oh, my.” Luna nodded. “Yes. And, now, he has lost several friends who he held close to his heart.” Celestia looked absolutely heartsick for the boy. “He has lost who he once was, and now he is seeking to defeat the one who did it all to him. I cannot say for sure his reasons, but I know that his goal will help his kind in the end.” They entered the throne room and made their ways to their respective thrones. They sat. “He seems to have accepted the fact that he is where he is. He no longer questions why it happened; just how he will proceed.” Celestia nodded solemnly. “And what is his answer to my question?” she asked. Luna thought for a moment. “I believe that he would say, ‘Not everything can be controlled. Sometimes, we need to have our responses to situations tested, not our ability to avoid situations.’ And I think that he is right.” Celestia took in the words soberly. “And how would you say he has done on the test of his response?” Celestia asked. Luna looked up at her; she didn’t sound skeptical, just curious. “I cannot say, as his situation is one the likes of which I have never had the misfortune to encounter.” She thought for another moment. “Though, I imagine that he would not, ultimately, look favorably on his actions.”

The two regal sisters had a few more minutes of conversation before each departed to her personal quarters. On the way, Luna thought about the situation to the south. “If there truly is an old Nighthawk down there, he deserves to be rescued. But would I be willing to put several lives at risk to save just one?” This question and others pestered her until she reached her door, which she opened slowly. On her bed, Starstep still slept, drooling like a dog on her sheets. “Ugh.” she said, watching as her sheets were nastified by the currently unattractive form of Starstep. She giggled to herself. “Well, he is usually not unattractive.” She could use that to mess with him later. She looked at him, then back to her library. “Well, since I’m awake.” she reasoned. She floated past her guard and through her library and down her staircase, where she observed the pool for a moment. “It looks like something has happened.” she said. The colts were getting out of a vehicle, Harris handing the driver money as they did.

**************************************************************************************

“Thanks for the ride.” Ryan said, leaning through the cab drivers window. The driver waved at him and said something in Thai. Ryan returned the hand gesture, getting off the car and it sped away. He looked up at Discord and signaled for him to come down.

The boys were about four miles away from the border checkpoint. “So close, yet so far.” Harris said, walking to stand next to Ryan. He just grunted. “We have at least four days of stuff, if we ration properly.” He set his hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “We can make it. Just a little farther.” Ryan brushed his hand off aggressively. “I know that.” he responded harshly. “I just want to get there sooner, rather than later.” The boys got to the southern side of the highway, it wasn’t very busy, and started to walk east. Discord joined them soon after. “So, how do you guys plan on crossing the border?” he asked. Ryan pointed down the highway. “We’ll go about halfway, or until we see government boys, then we go into the foliage and head south. After a time, we head east again, where you will be there to tell us if we crossed yet.” Discord smiled. Harris nodded. “Sounds pretty good.” Harris commented. Discord agreed and the trio made its way east.

As Ryan walked, he looked about. The forest to his right was pretty thick, good for concealment. The highway on his left was nearly empty, with only one car passing him on the way east. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the moon shone brightly through the nighttime sky. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s rude to sneak up on people?” Ryan said quietly. Neither Harris nor Discord could hear him. He tapped his head. “I haven’t seen my mother in millenia.” Luna replied. Ryan suppressed a chuckle. “Well, then, I suppose she gave you no lasting lessons?” he said. Luna didn’t respond to this. “So, where are you going?” she asked. Ryan quietly pointed forward. “We’re going to go until we can just see the border checkpoint, then we’ll break right and go into the forest some ways. From there, we keep east until we’re in Cambodia.” Luna waited a moment. “You’re getting close.” she said. Ryan nodded. “Your journey is going to conclude soon. You’ll be able to go home.” She sounded rather hopeful, for some reason. “I really don’t think that I’m going home, Luna.” Ryan said grimly. Luna waited a moment to reply. “Why?” she asked. Ryan took in a deep breath and sighed. “My odds of coming out of this aren’t very high, Luna. I’ll try to get Harris home safe, but I don’t think that I’ll be able to go home. Too much danger to everyone else.” He looked ahead; he could swear that he could see a small building with a couple of cars. “Stop.” he ordered. Harris stood stock still, Discord floated in his place, and Luna walked up next to Ryan. “They are over there, Ryan.” Luna told him. Ryan nodded. “Is it time for us to get into the forest?” Harris asked. Ryan looked up at Discord. “Only if they haven’t seen us.” Discord squinted and looked ahead. “Doesn’t look like they’ve seen you.” Ryan nodded. Luna started to squint to see farther ahead. Right before she gave him the clear, Ryan announced, “Alright, time to get into the forest.” She looked at him confused as he made his way to the treeline.

Ryan and Harris had to climb past several strange bushes before they were out of sight of the road. They were very careful to avoid touching them, since they could have been poisonous plants. It took them a good fifteen minutes to get there. Once there, Harris looked around while Ryan checked his vest to make sure nothing came off. They were in a pretty densely forested area. Around them, Harris could hear all kinds of small animals, mostly birds, but a few others scurrying about. Ryan had checked his vest and found everything there. His pistols were in their places, his knife was there, and the morphine syringes were still on his back in a pocket Discord made for him. He counted about seven. He had some water and some little packets of high energy food in the rest of the pockets and compartments on the vest. “I’m good.” he said. He looked to Harris. “You?” Harris nodded. “Uh huh.” he replied. “Let’s get moving.”

The boys began to carefully make their way through the dense jungle that they had put themselves in. The only problem was that it was getting dark, and they wouldn’t be able to travel for much longer. They would be forced to make camp in an unknown forest in a foreign country, surrounded by enemies.After only half an hour, the light had faded far too much for them to keep going. Ryan, who was in the lead, looked back. He spotted Harris, but at some point, they lost Discord and Luna. Ryan put his hand up in a “stop” signal. Harris froze. “Yo, where’d you go?!” Ryan yelled. Harris turned to look back, and found that Discord was missing. He, too, yelled out. “Hey!” Discord flashed into the area, causing the boys to jump. “Where did you go?” Ryan asked. Discord smiled coltishly. “Just been watching you from above.” He pointed up. Upon inspection, Harris noticed that there was no way he could have seen them through the trees. “How?” He asked. Discord flashed to be coiled around Harris. “Does that really matter?” he asked rhetorically. Harris frowned. “I’ll never understand...” he said. Ryan shook his head off to the side. “Why bother trying?” he asked, also rhetorically.

Harris and Discord started to talk about some things that Ryan felt he could think about later. Right now, he just wanted to sit down. As he did just that, Luna walked into the area, not noticing Harris talking to air. “I’m glad I found you. I was beginning to think that I had lost you.” Ryan grunted and pulled out some of his water, taking a conservative sip. “No and yes.” Luna didn’t ask what he meant; she already knew. “You said that you weren’t going home.” she said. Ryan nodded. “That it would be too dangerous to everyone else.” Ryan nodded once more. “It is good to see that you care about them.” Luna was trying to drive home that Ryan had some of his old self left in him. He licked his lips. “Of course I do. They represent everything that was good in my life.” He cracked his back. “I won’t ever put that on the line.” Luna smiled to herself. “Good.” She sat before her human friend. “You know that they probably miss you. If you go back, it would make them so happy.” Ryan didn’t move for a minute. After a long pause, he responded, “I can go back, but it won’t make them as happy as you might imagine.” He looked her dead in the eyes. “They will want to see Ryan, but that’s not what they’ll get. And as said before, I won’t put them through something like that.” Luna tried to keep his gaze, but failed to do so. “It’s better for them to think that I am dead.”

Those words hit Luna hard. There was indeed a sad truth to them. Was it better for a person to have back the one they love, but have them be an entirely different person; or was it better to think that they died as the one you knew so well?

Luna looked back at Ryan, whose eyes were closed. “Ryan, what will you do if you don’t go back?” she asked. Ryan sighed heavily. “The same thing that I’m doing now.” His eyes remained closed. Luna scooched closer. “You plan to just hunt down evil men and take them down forever?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “Just until one of them kills me.” She gulped. “Your quest seems noble, but what of your reasons?” she asked. “What makes your quest good or bad?” Ryan opened his eyes; in them, Luna saw a disturbing calm. “My quest is not noble.” he replied. “It’s just what I think my best option is.” Luna looked at the boy sadly. He wasn’t doing this for anyone else. He wasn’t even doing it for himself, really. he was just... doing this. “I am sorry.” she said. Ryan didn’t move or respond. “I must go.” With those last words, she took her leave of the world that had been so cruel to the young boy before her.

Harris and Discord had still been talking the entire time that Ryan was exchanging words with Luna. They had spoken about the plan of what was going to happen in Cambodia. “So, have the two of you even began to discuss it yet?” Discord asked. “No.” Harris responded. “I still have no idea what he has planned.” He looked over to Ryan with concern. “I don’t think he has actually planned any of this so far. He just knows what needs to be done, not how to do it, and when it comes to the ‘how’, he just wings it.” He turned back to Discord, who said, “You know that could very easily get him, and you, killed.” Harris nodded. “I suppose I can talk to him about it in the morning. For now, we need to make camp.” Harris walked over to Ryan and they had a short exchange, then went to try to sleep.

Discord flew up into the air, where he wouldn’t disturb either of the boys. They would need their rest. He looked down at them. “I do hope that you can talk to him, Harris.” Discord said quietly. “If not, I fear for your safety as well as his.” Discord conjured up a hammock to lay down on and slept lightly until dawn.

Harris was the first to get up the next morning. He looked around, keeping in mind where he was. He was surrounded by morning lit foliage, with little space for laying down. Ryan was asleep, leaning against a tree. “Ryan.” Harris said. He stirred a little bit. Harris picked up a stick off the ground and tossed it at Ryan. “Get up.” The stick struck Ryan on the cheek, and he jolted into consciousness. “Huh- what!?” he shouted. Harris stood. “Come on, let’s go.” Ryan stood up groggily and stood up. “Alright.” The two boys stretched for a moment and then made their way east.

Above them, Discord was already awake, just watching the events below him. There had been two cars along the highway during the night, both of which were trucks with several people on them. He assumed that they were Thai soldiers, looking for Ryan and Harris. After the events of the previous day, the boys were definitely lucky that the forest was so thick. Discord had watched the boys sleep, ready to keep any curious animals at bay, should they have come too close. None of them got close, though. Having had an uneventful night, Discord was glad to fly down to his now awake compatriots. Upon landing near them, he announced, “Morning, gents.” The boys mumbled their greetings and just kept on walking. Discord was dissatisfied with their greetings. “What, no energy this morning?” he asked. Harris pulled out some water and took a sip, and Ryan pulled some food. “Haven’t eaten yet.” Ryan explained. He had pulled out a couple of crackers and started to munch on them. “Alright, then. Harris, what’s your reason?” Discord asked. Harris narrowed his eyes at Discord. “I’m not normally up at... what time is it?” Ryan looked at his watch. “About five past seven.” Harris groaned. “That time.” Discord grinned.

The trio started to make its way through the forest in the wee hours of the morning, Ryan taking the lead. To any side, they could hear insects buzzing and birds singing. It was actually quite serene. The morning rays of light shone through the occasional hole in the forest ceiling, creating pillars of light in spots and making small flying insects visible like dust. The trees towered over them, with branches jutting out all over. Under them, there was little grass or other plants; the small amount of sunlight would never allow that. The dirt crunched under their feet as the boys walked.

After about an hour of the same scenery, Ryan slowed down. Harris stopped behind him and Discord floated up next to him. “What’s up?” he asked. Ryan pointed to the left. Looking that way, Discord could only see dense jungle. “What are you..?” Ryan put his hand up and pointed at his ear. Taking the cue, Discod listened to their surroundings closely. Off in the direction Ryan pointed in, there were voices. “We must have peeled to the left.” Ryan whispered. He was trying to be as silent as possible. Behind him, Harris hadn’t figured it out. “What’s going on?” he asked in a normal level voice. Ryan spun around and shushed him. Harris got the cue this time, and quietly walked up to Ryan, listening closely. He heard the voices. “How far off course did we go?” he whispered. Ryan shook his head. “There was never a course.” he replied. “Just a guideline.” Ryan looked back in the direction they had been going in. “Let’s move. Quietly.” Harris nodded, and they went forward slowly.

After twenty minutes of painfully slow movement, they stopped again. Listening closely, Ryan heard that the voices were now behind them. “Alright. Let’s just keep moving forward.” he ordered. Harris complied without a word.

They had made it into Cambodia.

A Holiday in Cambodia

Ryan continued to lead the group further through the jungle until he couldn’t hear the voices. When the voices were gone, Harris spoke up. “I think we should leave the jungle now, Ryan.” Ryan shook his head. “No, no.” he said. “If we leave now, we’ll be in the direct line of sight of those border guards. If we leave the concealment of the treeline, we’ll be screwed. We have to keep going this way at least for several more hours.” Harris groaned and they kept walking.

On the walk, Harris let his mind slip to other things in an effort to ignore the uneventfulness of his trek through the jungle. He thought about home, his friends, his family, and about tasty food. It made his stomach growl, so he pulled out a candy bar and munched down on it. “I wonder what they’re thinking?” Harris wondered. Then it dawned on him; he hadn’t really thought about his family and other friends since this whole thing began. He lowered his head in silent shame. “I’ve been so caught up in this that I forgot about them...” he thought. He looked up at Ryan ahead of him. “I wonder if he’s thought of home?” It was hard to tell; Ryan hadn’t given any indication that he even cared. His parents must have been worried sick. He was supposed to be on a flight home some six days ago. His thoughts turned back to his home. “My family must be worried sick. My parents always trust me to go off on my own, but they must know about the car wreckage.” He thought about how his parents must have been feeling. Tears began to form in his eyes, and he quietly let them fall to the jungle floor. “My birthday is tomorrow...” he thought. His mind turned to the past, his birthday parties, all those great days.

Ryan was totally oblivious to the rapid loss of morale behind him. He was just focused on continuing ahead. The dense jungle was beginning to get to him. “Dammit, wish I had a machete...” he whispered angrily. He had to be careful not to let any branches fly back and hit Harris. “Stupid jungle, stupid plants...” He pushed a branch forward with great difficulty. When he got past it, it slipped from his hand and went right at Harris’ face. “Harris, watch-” It struck Ryan’s best friend right on the nose. Harris yelped and dropped like a rock. Ryan pulled out his P22 and shot the branch twice to break it, letting him get to Harris. Six shots left. “Harris, you okay?” Ryan asked frantically. Harris held his face tightly. “Yah, I’m fine.” he said nasally. Ryan pulled at his friend’s hands. “Let me see.” Harris’ hands came off, revealing a bloody, but not broken, nose. “Damn, sorry man.” Harris waved him off. “No need to worry.” He sniffed hard, not realizing that some of his prior tears were falling from his face. “I’ll live.” Ryan nodded and helped Harris to his feet. “Yeah, I know what that feels like. Then after, you can’t stop your eyes from watering.” Harris swallowed. “Yeah. Can’t stop them...” he trailed off a little toward the end. Ryan nodded, then turned to keep going.

Discord watched the minor event unfold from just over them. They seemed to have forgotten that he was there. “Ouch.” he said. Harris had taken quite the schnoz shot. Blood was coming out, but when Harris said that it was fine, Discord wasn’t worried. As long as they weren’t hindered, it was fine. “Well, Ryan, that was a decently quick reaction.” he commented, landing on the ground next to Ryan. Ryan grunted. “Whatever.” Discord ignored the response and went back to Harris. “You alright?” he asked. Harris nodded. “Yeah. I’m good.” Discord invaded Harris’ mind. “I’d hardly say that you’re doing alright.” he said. Harris was silent for a moment. “I will be.” Discord clicked his tongue several times. “You don’t have to stay with him, you know. You have family and friends back home who want you back.” Harris looked serious. “As true as that may be, Ryan needs me more right now. What kind of friends would I be if I abandoned him now?” he asked. Discord chuckled. “What’s so funny?” Harris asked. Discord waved his hand in the air. “You remind me of someone I met once back home. She was so different from you, though.” Harris disregarded Discord’s past. “Well, alright then.”

The next two hours were spent in total silence. The only sound that could be heard during that time was the sound of their shoes hitting the ground, crunching whatever dirt or unfortunate insects were underneath them. Ryan was always looking about, as if he expected to see someone come up on them, but Harris just kept his eyes forward. Discord was above them, humming an annoying tune.

After those two hours, Ryan stopped. “Let’s get moving north now.” Harris released a massive sigh of relief. “Finally!” Discord clapped. “Way to go.” he said. Ryan and Harris looked up. “You two just traveled much farther than necessary, wasting precious time and resources. Good job.” Harris looked up slack-jawed, and Ryan put his hand to his face. “Asshole.” was all he said. Discord laughed as they began to head north, toward the road.

After twenty more minutes of pushing through dense jungle, much longer than expected, they reached the road. It was much smaller than in Thailand, though. “Where are we?” Harris asked no one. Discord still felt like answering. “You guys are closest to a small city that I believe is called Pailin.” He sat down on the ground next to the boys. “Not too far from it, there’s a river and ferries. I’m sure you could use those to get to Kompong Chnnang.” Ryan looked at Discord, then Harris. “Sounds good to me.” he said. “It’s off to Pailin, then.” He started down the path to the nearby city. Harris ran up to join him. “You sure that’s safe?” he asked. Ryan put his hand on Harris’ shoulder. “No safer than traveling by land.” Harris couldn’t argue that point, and they just kept on going.

It had been noon when they left the jungle landscape and got onto the road. Now, it was approaching the sunset. “We’ll need to stop soon.” he announced. Harris took this as the cue to stop immediately. “I’m so gassed right now.” he said as he fell to the ground, inching his way off the street. Figuring that they might as well stop now, Ryan sat down next to Harris and laid down. “Tomorrow, we will keep going. Once we hit Pailin, we’ll catch a boat and be on our merry way.” Harris only nodded, already feeling sleep overtake him. He yawned. “Yeah.” he said. The sun dipped below the horizon. “G’night.” Ryan responded likewise, and the two boys slept.

Discord simply watched as the boys fell asleep. He shook his head slowly, sadly. “No one deserves to live a life such as this.” He moved the boys out of view of the road and curled up around them, letting sleep take him as well.

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Luna had been bored all day. She was told by her sister that she should go around Canterlot and be friendly, but all she met were snobby and annoying. She had cleverly told several of them off when they suggested that certain rumors about her were true, but a couple of times, Starstep just knocked them to the ground. “Hey! You ruffian, I ought to-” one had said. “You oughta what?” he snarled. The stallion he knocked over crawled away and Starstep looked at the crowd. “Anyone else?” he asked. None raised a hoof.

That was most of her day. Now, though, with the saving grace of needing to raise the moon, she was able to leave her subjects and spend time with her studies. Her studies of Ryan, at least. “Make sure no one enters.” she ordered to Starstep. He saluted and stood stoic outside her door.

Luna made her way down quickly and looked into the pool. Ryan and Harris seemed to be asleep. “Darn.” she pouted. He was asleep. “Wait, duh. Dreams!” She launched herself into the pool.

Once she was back in Ryan’s world, she took a moment to look around. She could clearly see that the boys had gotten rather far since she left the previous day. She looked down both directions of the road and saw no one. It was a pretty empty area. “What a lonely place.” she said. She looked back to the boys. Ryan was laying on his back, while Harris was curled up in a ball. Luna circled the boys. She stopped at Ryan’s head. “I wish to speak with you.” she said as she touched her horn to Ryan’s head.

Luna opened her eyes slowly, making sure to take in everything around her with care. She looked around slowly. Around her was a jungle, very similar to the one from the day before. She looked for Ryan, but saw no sign of him. “Ryan?” she shouted. Birds flew up from all around her. “Ryan?!” She got no response. She was concerned at first, but then remembered that it was a dream. She started walking through the jungle. “What is this place?” she asked. It was similar to the jungle from yesterday, but still different. Around her, there were all sorts of strange looking things on the trees. Eventually, she stopped to examine one. It looked like rope, almost, hanging from the treetop. Following it all the way, she gasped at what she saw. At the top of the tree was a body, blood trickling off various parts of its body. It looked like it had stepped in a rope trap, been yanked from the ground, and assaulted viscously. Luna stepped back from the tree and tripped on a rock. She fell to the ground and just laid there, trying to remove the image from her mind.

The sound of crunching dirt came from right in front of her face. Her eyes shot open, and she found herself staring at a pair of boots. Looking up slowly, she found herself staring down the barrel of one of the rifles she had been seeing. “Boss, we got something you may want to see over here.” She looked past the rifle at the source of the masculine voice; it was a human, dressed up in camouflage and carrying a large amount of equipment. Luna stood slowly, the human just watching her. “Please, I need to find-” the human cut her off. “Well, shit, it talks. Boss!” Luna huffed at being interrupted. “What is it?” came a serious voice. “Talking horse. Blue, wings, horn.” Movement could be heard from behind a tree. From behind it, Ryan came out. “What are you-” he stopped and stared at Luna. “Well, then.” Everything around them disappeared and Ryan and Luna stood in a blank room. “What do you want? I’m trying to sleep.” Luna walked over to him. “I just came by to check on things. Make sure you are alright.” Ryan nodded. “Well, I’m alive. I have that much going for me.” He sat down on the white ground.

Luna nodded and walked over to him. “What was that dream just now?” she asked, sitting down next to Ryan. “Who was that man?” Ryan laughed a bit. “You seriously didn’t recognize him?” he asked. Luna frowned a little. “That was Harris. My ideal second-in-command.” She thought back to the man who had pointed a weapon at her. “Oh.” Ryan chuckled. “And what were you two doing? Why were you dressed so?” Ryan sighed. “We were Special Forces, looking for Narendra and his cronies. Our job was to take them out.” Luna nodded. “By any means necessary?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “No. Just by killing them.” Luna looked down, staying dead silent for a long time. “Listen, Ryan.” Ryan looked at her. “I can’t condone you killing this man. At the same time, I can’t say that what you’re doing is strictly wrong.” She looked at Ryan. “I can’t discern your motives. Only you can do that. So I want you to promise me something.” Ryan listened close. “Just try to live honorably, and try not to do any evil. Promise me that.” Ryan put his hand on Luna’s shoulder. “I can’t promise that I won’t do evil.” he said. “But I promise that I’ll try not to.” Luna smiled. “Thank you. You’re much more pleasant in your dreams than in reality.” Ryan shook his head and grinned slightly at the remark as Luna disappeared, restoring Ryan’s previous dream.

Luna opened her eyes and looked around again. Nothing new; though everything was new. It was very dark. “I should probably go to sleep soon.” she concluded. Sparks were left in her place as her apparition faded from the world.

The following morning, Harris awoke first. He looked around, and was somewhat surprised to find Discord coiled around him and Ryan. He sat up, stretching and cracking his joints, which were stiffened by sleeping on the hard ground. He shoved Ryan’s side. “Get up.” he said. Ryan ungracefully rolled over and pushed himself from the ground. “What the, heck?” he said, finding himself face to foot with Discord. He turned to Harris. “I don’t know, man.” Harris shook his head slowly. “Let’s just get him up and get moving.” Ryan got up and looked over Discord’s side, right into the sun. “Ahgh!” He fell back down, covering his eyes. Harris smirked. “Ha!” he said. “Gotta watch where you’re going.” Ryan grumbled to himself as he got back up.

The boys spent the better half of thirty minutes trying to wake Discord. Unfortunately, they couldn’t actually touch him, so it wasn’t the easiest task in the world. Mostly, they just yelled at him. “Get up!” they yelled several times. At one point, Discord flashed into the air. “What?” he asked. He seemed tired. “We’re going.” Discord looked right at the sun. “It’s, like, seven thirty, guys.” He went back down to the ground. “Can’t we just wait a little bit longer?” Ryan stepped forward onto the road. “No, we can’t. Now quit your yapping and let’s get going.” The trio started down the road.

For three hours, they didn’t speak. No one wanted to, not with how early they had all gotten up. They all just thought to themselves. Discord found his mind wandering to what could be happening in Equestria at the moment. “I bet they’re still looking for me.” he thought. “Ha! They’re wasting so much energy. I don’t even need to be around to create chaos and mayhem in their world. It’s priceless.” He thought more specifically about the princesses. “It’s a shame that they think I’m so evil. They overestimate me. I just want to have fun; I don’t seek to ruin lives.” Then he remembered that guard whose mind he had violated. “I wonder how he’s doing? I was able to discern quite a bit about him right off the bat. I wish I could see how his life is advancing.” He remembered the Elements of Harmony, the various towns he had been to, and all sorts of other, simpler things that he had experienced. “You know, I’m starting to miss all that.” he thought. “This world seems fine enough, but this experience that I’m having here kind of makes me miss home. Ah, well, maybe I’ll head back someday.” He left his reminiscences at that.

Harris was trying his best not to remember his home, but was not succeeding in doing so. He thought nonstop about his friends, his family, and how much they were probably worrying about him. With his body and those of Catherine and Ryan not at the site of the crash, they would know that something was wrong. Especially with the state of Jackson’s body when they probably found it. “I wonder if they’re doing alright?” he wondered. “By now, school is probably back in session. How many of my classmates know I’m missing?” A darker thought came to his mind. “I wonder how many actually care?” He pushed it out of his head and kept walking beside Ryan. “These Haqqani guys can all go to Hell.” was his final thought.

Ryan walked next to Harris, his mind on other things than home. His primary focus at the moment was to decide how to go about killing Narendra at the compound that he was hopefully at. “First option; shoot him” It was pretty simple, but had a certain drawback; Ryan wasn’t the greatest shot, and his pistol was short range as it was. To ensure a hit, he would probably have to be in close range. “Then, I’d probably have to work a lot more, since that would be an all out assault type attack.” He thought about other potential methods. “If I can find a way to sneak into the compound, then I can kill him quietly, maybe hit him with some morphine. It sounds a lot easier, and safer until I actually kill him.” Being safe after didn’t matter. “Or I could wait until he leaves and try to kill him then.” He paused his thoughts for a moment. “No, that won’t work. He could easily escape.” He nudged Harris. “Stealth is the way to go.” Harris yawned. “What?” he asked. “When we get close to the compound, we’re gonna go for a silent approach, try to sneak in. It’s the best approach, I think.” Harris nodded. “And what will we do once we’re in there?” Ryan shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t know the inner workings of the building. We’ll figure it out when we get there.” harris nodded and they kept walking.

Not long after they finished their short exchange, Pailin came into view. It wasn’t really a city, more like a collection of farms and small market areas. As Harris and Ryan walked through, they were bombarded with people attempting to sell them things. They were all shouting, trying to thrust their wares at the boys. It was obvious that tourists tended to buy from these people a lot. “Sorry, we have no money.” Harris and Ryan put their hands up and tried to move through the crowd. As they went forward, the crowd would slightly part, allowing them to go forward. The boys made their way to the other end of the town in a relatively short time. “This is why I have trouble in foreign flea markets.” Ryan commented. “I can never find my way out of those swarms.” Harris agreed. “Well, at least we made it past. But why were we so intent on getting through?” he asked. Ryan couldn’t answer, so Discord did. “They have horse-drawn carts that can bring you to the river, where you can catch a boat.” Harris looked up at him. “How do you know this?” he asked. Discord pointed at a group of men around a cart and a horse. “Oh.”

The boys made their way over to the cart. “Howdy.” Ryan greeted. The men around the cart all gave friendly smiles and one stepped forward. He asked the boys a question. Discord translated. “Would you like to go somewhere?” Discord said. Ryan made the motions with his hands to pull out a map. The man did not have one, and called over one of his buddies who did. The man held it out for them, and ryan pointed at a point on the river. “Can you take us here?’ he asked. The man looked at the map, then nodded energetically. He had a big smile on his face. He said something, waving for Harris and Ryan to follow. They did. He pointed at the cart. “Let’s get going.” Ryan said.

The ride on the cart was surprisingly fast. The horse was able to pull the cart insanely fast, almost like a car with barely functioning brakes. The journey to the river was only an hour, making it about half past eleven.

The boys hopped off the cart at the river and thanked the man, handing him ten Australian dollars, which the man gratefully accepted. Cambodian currency wasn’t worth a ton. “Now to go find a raft.” Ryan said wearily. They started to move towards the water, where they saw a small dock. “Any of these should do.” Harris commented. Ryan nodded and they walked onto the dock. Once they were there, they were totally unnoticed. “Well, it’s not exactly the flea market.” Ryan said. Harris pointed at one of the boats. “These aren’t all for transport. A lot are fishing boats.” Ryan took notice of all the fishing lines. “We need a boat to take us long distance.” Ryan concurred. “Then let’s go find one.” They walked down the dock, which creaked underneath them. The two boys were both much bigger than most of the men around them, so the extra weight was a little unsettling to a lot of people around them.

The boys came all the way to the end of the dock where a diminutive man with a decent sized boat was sitting on a chair. He was smoking a cigar, watching as Ryan and Harris approached. He asked them a question, which they only assumed was, “What do you want?” Ryan looked around for a map, already assuming that the man was driving people on the river to various areas around the country. The rivers were a great way to travel. When Ryan found no map, he used his hands to try to indicate the need for one. The man did not understand. “Let me try.” Harris offered. Ryan stepped aside for Harris. He sat down on the ground in front of the small man and tried other hand motions, like pretending to flatten out a piece of paper on the ground. The man got it pretty quickly and pulled out a map from under his chair, handing it to Harris. “Tell him where we want to go. I need to find a spot to take a leak.” Harris left Ryan with the man.

Ryan held the map in front of him. As soon as he looked at it, he grew annoyed; it was all in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia. He had to take a moment to remember where Kompong Chnnang was before telling the man. “Alright.” he said, approaching the man. He tapped a spot next to a large lake, right on its shore. “Can you take us here?” he asked. The man looked at the map, then at Ryan, then again at the map. He didn’t speak. Ryan was afraid that he would reply in a negative tone. Luckily, the man nodded happily. He started talking, but Ryan did not understand. “I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “but I don’t understand.” The man looked at him confused, also not understanding the other language in the conversation. Eventually, he just shrugged and went to his boat, preparing for the journey. Ryan decided to sit on the edge of the dock and wait for Harris.

After a few more minutes, Harris returned with a slight hurry in his step. “Let’s go.” he said in a rushed tone. Ryan looked at him wonderingly, but let it go. They just had to get on the boat and be off. “Sounds good to me.” he responded nonchalantly. They ran over to the boat and hopped in, the driver looking somewhat startled at their sudden arrival. Ryan gave a thumbs up. “We’re good to go.” he said in the most positive tone possible. The driver got it and sat in his seat, Ryan and Harris taking their own seats in the back of the good sized boat. The engine behind them revved, and they were off down the river.

Discord flew over them, having to speed up a little in order to keep up with the boat. “Wow. Never thought boats could go that fast.” he said to himself. These humans and their technology are certainly impressive. He flew down to the boat and glided next to it. “What’s up guys?” he said casually. The boys didn’t hear him over the roar of the engine. Frustrated, Discord yelled, “What’s up guys?!” The boys turned and looked at him. They both tapped their heads. “We’re getting a ride to Kompong Chnnang. How long do you think it’ll take?” Ryan asked. Discord put his hand to his chin in thought. “I’d say about two hours, at this speed. You’re going insanely fast.” Ryan looked around him, and Harris shrugged. “Meh.” Harris projected, earning a chuckle from Ryan. “We’ve both been on faster.” Discord looked at them incredulously, but opted not to argue. “We’re nearly there, guys.” Ryan conveyed. “Not too much longer, and it’ll be over.” There was a dark, but sad hint in Ryan’s voice as he spoke. Harris looked at him, taking in Ryan’s countenance in detail. He looked a little bit out of it, like he was in a world he didn’t understand. He figured he would just leave it until another time.

The boat ride lasted just a little bit longer than Discord predicted. When they approached the dock, Ryan and Harris took in the sight of the city. It was very different from Pailin; this was an actual city. Small, but certainly a city. There were many homes and small offices and little manufacturing plants some ways from the water. At the dock, there were dozens of boats, mostly fishing vessels, and a gas station for the boats. People bustled about at the docks, fresh fish being sold and trinkets from the river that were found. Some trinkets were clearly not safe; there were a couple of old land mines, hopefully disarmed, sitting on a market shelf. The guy selling them had no idea, obviously, of what they did.

When Harris and Ryan stepped off the boat, Harris just handed his wallet over to the driver, since there wasn’t a ton left and the empty waller would just take up space. The driver gratefully accepted and ran off into the dock market. Ryan and Harris walked off in another direction. “Well, we’re here. The compound is north of here, somewhere along a river. What now?” Harris asked. Ryan was looking a bit glazed. “For now, we should find a place to rest. We’ll need our strength tomorrow.” Harris nodded. “Okay.” They went off toward the city to find somewhere to stay.

They walked slowly through the small city, trying their best to find someplace to stay, but with little luck. There were no motels or hotels around to speak of, that they could tell of. People were looking at them as they passed. “Ryan, I’m not too sure that we’re going to find something. We have no money left...” he patted his thigh to emphasize his point. “and we can’t speak their language.” Ryan kept walking at a deliberate pace. “We’ll figure something out.” Harris looked at him. “Hey man, you alright?” he asked, seriously concerned for his friend. Ryan didn’t turn. “Yeah.” he replied quickly. “I’m just eager.” Harris took his word for it and decided to take a closer look into the buildings around them. They were mostly small huts where small families were living, but some seemed to be selling things.

Discord saw the problem that the boys were having and decided to try to help out. He flew forward, scanning the area for anywhere that the boys could stay. Thanks to his translation spell, he could read the signs along the streets and paths. Some read, “Fish” and others read things like “baubles”, but none were labeled as places where people could stay if they needed someplace to do so. Discord went down to the street. He didn’t want to have the boys sleeping on the street, especially so close to where their enemy was. It had certain risks about it that Discord was uncomfortable with. With that thought, he thought about the boys potentially squatting or finding kind people who would take them in, like that one family. The only problem was that they could be involved with these Haqqani folks. It was interesting; Discord hadn’t actually seen them in quite some time. All of the boys’ problems were from other sources.

After a few more minutes of searching, Discord finally gave up and flew back to the air, grumpily insulting the small city underneath him. “Can’t find a stupid motel in this nasty city...” he said. Then he remembered that the boys could find a nice family that would let them stay in their home. “I suppose a bit of ‘encouragement’ could always be helpful.” he thought. He sped off to find the boys.

While Discord was away, Ryan and Harris were trying to figure out where they would go to sleep. They came up with nothing. “Well, we may be sleeping on the streets tonight.” Ryan finally said. Harris groaned. “Ugh.” was all he could say. Suddenly, Ryan froze. “Ryan?” Harris asked. “What’s-” Ryan grabbed Harris by the chin and forced him to look to his right. Harris saw a group of guys standing around, laughing. “What?” he asked. Ryan pointed at the one in the middle, still holding Harris by the jaw. “See that guy?” he asked. Harris nodded. Ryan yanked Harris with him to get them behind a wall. “That guy drove the boat that took us to Sumatra.” Harris looked at Ryan hard. “You’re sure?” he asked. Ryan peeked over the side of the wall. “Damn right, I’m sure.” He whipped his head back behind cover. “We gotta get out of here.” Harris nodded his agreement and they went off in another direction.

They walked fast away from the site where they had seen the boat driver and, once they were definitively out of sight, they bolted away. Ryan stayed slow so that he wouldn’t lose Harris behind him. He wouldn’t let his friend risk being taken alone by these bastards. Eventually, Ryan looked back. “I think we’re lost.” he said. The boys stopped, both catching their breath. Harris was coughing from the exertion. “We lost them?” he asked between pants. Ryan shook his head. “No. I said that we’re lost.” Harris groaned even louder than before. “So what now?” he asked. Ryan fell against a wall and slid down. “We sit.” Harris walked over and sat against the wall next to Ryan. “This is not how I planned on Spending my birthday this year.” he commented. Ryan didn’t look up. “How did you plan on spending it?” he asked.

Harris thought about it for a moment. He hadn’t really wanted anything for his birthday this year. If he were to ask for anything, it would be a laptop computer. Right now, though, it didn’t seem like much. What he really wanted was to spend time with the people he loved. “I would be spending time with my family. Having cake, just... being happy, y’know?” Ryan nodded. “I know what you mean.” The two boys spent a few minutes quietly looking at the people who passed by, who were also looking at them. “After all of this, what’re you gonna tell people when we get home?” Ryan asked out of the blue. Harris was a bit startled by the question. “What do you think they’re going to believe?” Harris tried to speak several times, but failed. On his fifth attempt, he managed a response. “Dunno. I’ll probably just say that I was held by terrorists for however long we’re out here.” Ryan nodded. Harris turned to him. “What’ll you say?” Ryan shook his head. “I’m not going home after this.” Harris swallowed and looked at his old friend. He didn’t need to ask why; he knew Ryan well enough that he could figure it out. “You know they’ll be worried.” Ryan looked down. Then, he looked at Harris. “I need a favor of you.” he stated flatly. Harris took in a deep breath. “Yeah?” Ryan scratched his chin. “I need you to tell people that I was taken away, sold. That they’ll probably never find me.” Harris listened with a heavy heart. “You need to make people think that I’m dead, but never say that you know it to be true. Make sure they can all move on.” Ryan stood up, looking off into the sky. Discord was fast approaching. “The world would be better off forgetting this boy.”

Discord slowed down as he neared the boys. On his way back, he had found a home where the boys would be safe for the night. The minds of the family were easy to penetrate and influence, making sure that they would accept Ryan and Harris into their home. The family was a father, mother, and two sons. The mother was actually the easiest to manipulate. “Hey, boys.” he said as he lowered himself down to Harris and Ryan. “I found a place for you to stay.” Harris looked up giddily. “Seriously!?” he asked. Discord nodded happily. “Just follow me.”

The trio went through the city and back to the docks, where there were lots of riverside huts everywhere. “They’re around here somewhere...” Discord said. Ryan and Harris silently followed behind. Discord lowered himself all the way down, now walking alongside the boys. “There it is!” he announced, pointing at a decent sized hut off towards the water. There was a woman spinning cloth and two boys running about outside the hut. “Let’s hope he’s right.” Harris muttered. Discord heard this and chuckled; they had no idea that he had manipulated the family. He could do almost anything he wanted and they would never be able to tell.

The boys approached the hut. “Hello.” Ryan said inas friendly a tone as possible. The mother looked up and positively beamed at the boys. She shouted something into the home, and a man came out. He smiled big at the sight of Ryan and Harris and pulled them into an embrace. As he held them, he spoke quickly in his language. The two children ran up and started to ask the boys questions that couldn’t be answered. Language barriers are Hell sometimes. “Ummm, we, don’t... understand.” The people all continued smiling and just pulled the boys into the house. The kept speaking in their tongue, and showed Harris and Ryan into a room with two mats and two pillows. The boys spoke excitedly, then left the room. Their parents just looked on, content about whatever their kids said. “Thank you.” Ryan said, giving a deep bow to show respect. The man and woman returned the bow and said one final thing before leaving. Ryan turned to Harris. “Well, that went well. I wonder how long it took Discord to orchestrate this?” Harris shrugged and sat on a mat. “I dunno. He’s magical, remember?” Ryan nodded and sat down on his mat.

“Well, I suppose that we can just start our rest for now.”

********************************************************************************

Luna had once again been told that she should interact with the various ponies under her and her sister’s rule. Luckily for her, today, she had some interesting ones to talk to. She had spoken to a good stallion named Fancy Pants, who seemed to enjoy messing with the snobby elites of Canterlot as much as her. They had fun sharing stories of their various antics and moves to humble the pompous ponies around them.

Before she knew it, it was long after noon. She had been thinking about Ryan all day, and even mentioned him to Fancy Pants. He seemed interested in him, asking about him as a pony, what he liked, what he wore, how he treated others. Luna was careful about what she said, but still enjoyed sharing her discovery with someone other than Starstep.

After she took her leave of his, she immediately made her way back to the palace, where she would dedicate some time to watching the colts in the pool. She wasn’t sure if she would go in today, but she really wanted to check up on them. If they looked like they needed help, then she would go in. If not, she would leave them be. As she thought about them, she kept thinking about how hard they were trying to attain their goal. “I wonder what this will mean for their futures?” she wondered. “After these experiences, will they be able to reintegrate? What if they can’t... or refuse?” The thought gave her some pause. She already knew that Ryan was not planning on going back. “These thoughts are for them, not me.” She shook herself out of it.

As she approached the door to her chambers and pushed it open, she heard the clatter of hooves trying to run away. Slowly, she peeked her head in and looked around. No one was there. “Starstep?” she called. He was in the library. “I’m in here!” he shouted. Luna entered, hearing more clatter. “What is going on in here?” she asked. When she got to her library, she paused. Books were all over the place, with Starstep at the shelf, looking guilty. “Hey.” he said, a nervous smile on his face. Luna stared at her guard. “What were you doing?” she demanded, stepping forward silently. “N-nothing...” he said. He was pushed aside by a bit of magic, and Luna quickly moved to his place and examined the shelf. SHe pulled out a magazine. “Really? Again?” she asked. Starstep smiled sheepishly. “Yeah...” he said, defeated. Luna sighed, giggling a bit. SHe tossed him the magazine. “Just go do your business in the bathroom.” Starstep smiled big as he ran to the bathroom with the magazine. Luna chuckled as he ran off. “What a silly stallion.” She turned and went down her staircase.

At the bottom, she slowed her pace to almost a crawl. She was happy throughout her day, but this is where she got nervous. She wasn’t sure how Ryan was doing, and she was always apprehensive about finding out. What if he had been found, or killed? Or he had been arrested, and taken away, never to finish his quest? The questions made her stomach feel queasy. She looked into the pool anxiously. Seeing the boys laying down on a couple of mats with pillows, she sighed with relief. They were fine; she wouldn’t need to go in. Determining that nothing would be gained from watching them, she went back up her stairs. Once there, she heard quite the commotion from the bathroom. She giggled at first, but upon thinking about it, was grossed out by the thoughts. She quickly retreated to her bed.

Starstep returned a few minutes later. “Hello, your highness.” he said like nothing happened. Luna nodded without looking over at him. “Hello.” He walked over. “I would’ve expected you to be in there longer.” Luna shrugged. “I don’t think he needs me right now.” Starstep nodded and sat in his place by the fire. “I wonder how much longer his quest will be?” Starstep wondered aloud. “And what’s he gonna do after?” Luna kept her thoughts away from it. “I don’t know,” she said. “but I hope he ends up alright.” She looked down at her hooves. A weight suddenly appeared next to her. “You know, it’s alright if you don’t want to be a part of this any more. Whatever happens, it wouldn’t be your fault.” Luna shook her head. “No, I’, not so sure about that. He has needed my help several times; were I to withdraw it now, he could end up in the worst possible outcome.” She looked at Starstep. “I have helped him get this far; whatever happens, I have at least some of the responsibility for it.” Starstep sighed. “I suppose so, but you must understand; they’re his decisions, and you can’t control that. Your help doesn’t change that; his decisions are not your fault.” He poked Luna in the side, making her jump. “Now come on, there’s still plenty of time in the day. Let’s do something.”

Luna looked at him coyly. “You wish to ‘do things’ with your princess?” she asked, giving him a playful look. Starstep returned it. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m all spent.” Luna blushed a little, causing Starstep to laugh. “Though I’m sure we can think of something less... taxing...” He soon found himself being shoved off the bed onto the ground. He was too busy laughing to notice Luna getting ready to pounce. Only when she was just over him did he notice. “Ha!” she yelled as she landed on her yelping guard. She tightened her grip on him. “I now have the upper hand!” she announced proudly. Starstep wasn’t about to let this pass up. “This is quite the frip you have me in.” he commented, causing Luna to look at him suspiciously. “I can see now that you like to be dominant-” Before he could finish, he was picked up and thrown toward the door, which he hit fairly hard. “Why don’t we just go for a walk?” Luna suggested, smirking at her now groaning guard. “As you wish.” he said between coughs. Luna laughed, and they went off.

*******************************************************************************

It was night time. The sky was an astonishing array of colors and stars. You couldn’t see anything like it anywhere near a big city. Ryan was staring at it from his mat, captivated by its majestic beauty. “If only I could see this every night.” he thought. “Maybe then, life would be worth living again.” He had been thinking about what he was going to do after he killed Narendra. Where would he go? He wasn’t going home, that was for certain. He could just keep traveling, though he was a wanted man in Thailand, so he couldn’t go there. He could probably keep doing what he was doing, hunting down bad guys, but without a friend to do it with, what kind of life was it? He looked at his M1911. “There’s always the last option...” he holstered it and put his hands under his head. “Or is there?” he whispered to himself.

Harris wasn’t asleep either. He was thinking about Ryan, and what he had seen of him earlier that day. “He doesn’t know what’s going to happen after.” he thought. “We’ve finally reached that point where, even with how shortly he looks into the future, that short view has massive uncertainties.” He looked over at Ryan, who was looking at his pistol. “He isn’t going home. But I am; he won’t have anyone with him. Well, Discord, I guess, but Discord is only half real.” He shifted and sat up, looking at Ryan. “The only other way out of this life is the way out of any life.” He didn’t want to imagine his friend doing that. How could he live with himself; he, Ryan’s best friend, allowed him to perform one last escape? Harris knew that Ryan was going to be an international criminal, with their various exploits, so he would have to travel carefully, if at all. He had nothing to live for any more after this. “Hey.” Harris said. He wasn’t even fully thinking at this point; he just wanted to make sure that Ryan was going to end up alright. “Yeah?” ryan replied faintly. “I know what I want for my birthday.” he said. Ryan turned and looked at him. “And what is that?” he asked, genuinely interested. Harris laid back down. “I want you to make me a promise.” he said. Ryan looked at him, curious. “I can give you that.” he replied.

Harris wasn’t sure how to word his request. Regardless of how he said it, Ryan would know what Harris was fearing. He wondered if Ryan would even be honest, or if he would care. He figured he would just spill it. “I want you to promise me that you won’t ever finish it.” Ryan looked at him confused. “What?” he asked. Harris tried to rephrase. “Don’t ever take your own life, Ryan.” The demand hit home; Ryan laid there, thinking hard. After a time, he sat up and put up his hand. “I will give you this, Harris. Though it’s not much of a gift.” He had just given Harris his life. Harris took his hand, then pulled him into a hug. “It’s more of a gift than you will ever know.” They broke the embrace, and sleep overtook Harris much more easily that night.

And he was going to need it; the next day was destined to be more than he had imagined.

Zero Dark Thirty

The boys had fallen asleep easily, perhaps too easily. Now, they were wide awake. They had fallen asleep at roughly five o’clock, so something like this was to be expected. It was now a few minutes past eleven. Ryan thought about it briefly; this was, perhaps, the better way to go. He took inventory of everything one last time. He had his knife, his two guns, three magazines for the M1911 and eight rounds left for the P22. Around his neck dangled his Shen. On his back were the syringes of Morphine. He had opted to remove the bandages from his body, as they wouldn’t likely be needed any more. When he looked at himself, he saw somewhat healed scars, but no residual bleeding or wounding. Afterwards, he redonned his vest.

Harris followed a similar routine, and once he finished, he turned to Ryan. “So, this is it.” Ryan looked out the window toward the water. “Yeah.” He turned back and moved towards the door. “Let’s end this.” Harris followed him out.

Discord watched the two boys silently make their way out of the hut. He floated quietly above. “Well, I guess this is the start of it.” He made his way down to them. “I hope they’re ready.” Once down with them, he waited for one of the boys to initiate communication with him. When neither did, he took the initiative. “Are you boys ready for this?” he asked. Ryan nodded as he walked. Harris nodded, but less assuredly. Discord got next to him. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you get killed.” Harris visibly relaxed at this, but was still pretty tense. Discord floated up next to Ryan. “How are you going to cross the lake?” he asked. Ryan pointed forward at the docks. “We’ll take a boat.” Discord didn’t answer. He really didn’t care if they had to steal a boat. “Good plan. I’ll give you guys directions from above.” Ryan nodded and they all went over to the boats.

There were dozens of boats to choose from. Some were large fishing boats, and other were tiny dinghies. There were a ton to choose from. “Which boat are we taking?” Harris asked from behind. Ryan thought about what they were about what actions they were about to undertake. “We need to get there relatively fast, but silently once we’re there. We’ll need a motor and oars.” Harris nodded behind Ryan and looked around. Once he saw what he was looking for, two oars, he ran over and grabbed them. Upon returning, he heard Ryan say, “Good.” He held the oars over his shoulder. “Now, which boat will be the best for this task...” He looked around. Toward the middle of the dock, there was a small boat with what looked like a big motor. “Bingo.” he said. he speed-walked his way over, Harris having trouble keeping up with the oars. Once there, Ryan looked over the boat. The motor was, indeed, big, and the boat would be easy to push with oars, if they ditched the motor. They wouldn’t need it at that point anyway. “Let’s take it.” The boys got into the boat and sat down. “You drive, Harris.” Harris got up and turned on the engine, and the boys sped off into the night.

After over an hour of driving, the boys reached the end of the lake that they were looking for; the mouth of a river. From up above, Discord had directed them to the correct river. It would be hard not to, since it was the only one that went into the lake. Harris cut the engine. “Let’s do this quietly. No need to alert anyone that we’re coming.” The boys picked up their oars and began to row their way down the river. It was flowing the other way, though, so they were really going upriver, not the easiest thing to do. Especially when you’ve been running nonstop on adrenaline for so long. “This, sucks, balls!” Harris whispered loudly. Ryan grunted in response. They had to row for another hour before they were able to head to shore. It was a little after one. “Alright. We’ll stop here for now. If we take too long, we camp here. Can’t go in there in the middle of the day. That would be suicide.” He honestly had no idea where they were in relation to this compound. Discord, however, should have the answer to that. “Discord!” Ryan mentally shouted. Discord poofed next to the boys. “Yeah?” he asked. “How much farther?” Discord blinked twice. “It’s not one mile up the river from here. I figured that you guys knew, since you stopped here.” Wasn’t that convenient. “Well, then, I guess we’ll just start trekking there now.” Harris groaned to himself and stretched his legs. “I guess that it’s almost time.” he commented. Ryan nodded silently. Discord looked over both boys. “I hope you guys are ready.” he thought. The boys, with no words, got up and made their way upriver.

After only around twenty minutes, it was half past one, the boys laid their eyes on a large, concrete building. It was probably three stories high in some parts, two toward the balconies. One looked over the river, with a straight drop into it. Below were several boats, some big, others very small. On the side of the compound, there were many decorations and thick vines running down the wall. From their spot in the densely forested area, they could see armed guards roaming the front area, but not the sides. They were clearly more concerned about frontal assaults. “I wasn’t expecting this...” Harris said, awestruck. They had been expecting to find some decent sized, run-down shack, not a big, professional looking building. They couldn’t even tell how far it went from them to the other end. “No kidding.” Ryan replied. He snapped himself out of his daze and put his hand on Harris’ left shoulder. “Alright, I think I know what we’ll do.” He pulled Harris down. Harris grunted as his butt hit the ground. “We’ll climb up those vines over there. From there, we split up and look for Narendra in the compound. If you find him,” He pulled out a morphine syringe. “and you have an opportunity to inject him, do it. Then you kill him.” Harris took the syringe genially. He looked directly at Ryan’s eyes. “Sure.” They nodded to each other and turned their heads back to the large compound.

The guards didn’t seem to be looking anywhere but toward what may have been a road, so Ryan wasn’t too concerned about being seen on approach. He slowly and quietly stood, masked by the black of the night shadows, and made his way to the wall. Once there, he grabbed a vine and tugged on it. When it held strong, he waved Harris over. Harris’ approach was less graceful, but much faster. Once he was there, Ryan pointed up the vine and started to climb. Harris followed close behind. As he approached the top of the wall, Discord came up behind him. “What should I do?!” he asked excitedly. Ryan tapped his head with the hand he went to pull his pistol out with. “I need you to translate anything you hear for us. No need for surprises.” Discord “sqee’d” and floated up to the top of the wall. Before he gave an “all clear”, Ryan came up, pistol drawn, quickly scanning his surroundings. When he saw that no one was there, he pulled himself over the wall. He took a kneeling stance next to the wall as Harris came over. Once Harris was over, Ryan observed the area. There were multiple entrances to the building in front of them in the form of doors. Ryan tapped Harris’ shoulder and pointed at the doors. They quickly, but quietly, made their way over. Ryan jiggled the knob of one of the doors; it was unlocked. It opened with a mild squeak, causing both boys to freeze. They stood there silently, waiting for someone to come by. When no one did, they entered through the door, shutting it behind them.

Now, they were in the belly of the beast, out of the frying pan. If they were found in here, they would either fight or die. They were in a hallway that went three ways; forward, left, and right. No one was in any of the halls. “Harris, you go left. I’ll go forward.” Ryan figured that going right would take him back outside soon, so he ignored that direction. “Alright.” He turned. Ryan grabbed his shirt. “Try not to die.” he said. Harris chuckled grimly. “I won’t.” Ryan smiled as his friend slowly made his way down the hall. Discord opted to go with Harris. “If you need me to translate, contact me.” Ryan nodded slowly. “Got it.” he whispered. Discord went down the hall with Harris.

Now, Ryan was on his own. If he was to stay alive, he was to remain hidden. He put his gun away and pulled out his knife. He looked at it. “Silent, but leaves so much evidence.” he thought. It wasn’t how he wanted to do it, but if he had to, he would. He began to make his way down his hall. After twenty feet, he began to encounter doors. Curiosity got the better of him on the very first one. Knife raised for a stab or block, he slowly opened the door. It didn’t make a sound. Inside, Ryan determined that there was a bunk with a person in it, a couple of boxes, and maybe a dresser. Ryan stealthily entered the room and closed the door. It made a small click as it closed, causing Ryan’s heart to jump. The man in the bed did not move. “Sorry, bro. Time to die.” The fewer guards there were, the better. He gingerly stepped over and just plunged the knife into the man’s throat. It went all the way through, cutting the brain stem. The man never even knew that he was killed. Ryan put the sheets over his bloody neck and face. “Evil shall know no rest.” he said.

He looked around the room. The dresser was, indeed, a dresser, but on top, there was an assault rifle, an AK-74, chambered for 5.45x39mm. Ryan left it where it was, not interested in lugging around some big weapon. His eyes landed on a pistol that was next to the rifle. It was a Walther P88, similar to Ryan’s P22. He lifted up the gun and took out the magazine; it was chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum. In it were eleven rounds. Ryan looked at his P22 and tossed it onto the body of the man. The P88 would serve him much better. He searched the dresser, but found little of consequence. There were some clothes, pictures of family, but nothing particularly interesting. Ryan searched the rest of the room, but came up empty. With his new pistol holstered, he left the room and began to make his way back down the hall. With each door he passed, he found nothing, not even more people. He began to grow nervous; where were all the people? He continued down the hall until he reached one last door. He cracked it open just a tad. Through it, he saw one guard in a chair.

He cracked it open a little bit more, trying to get a sense of what the room was. From the look of it, it was a kitchen of sorts. There was a gas stove, an oven, and even a large pantry. This place was set. Other than that, Ryan saw one other guard cleaning dished. The two guards were talking. “Discord, translate.” Discord, somewhere else, began to speak. “‘What’re you gonna do with your pay this month? Blow it on more prostitutes?’” The guard laughed. “‘No, no. Not this time. This time, I intend to be productive with my money.’” Ryan shook his head with relief; they had no idea. “That’s enough, Discord.” Discord ceased his translation and went dark again. Ryan pushed the door open just enough to slip inside. Once in, he walked almost casually, except that one couldn’t hear him, and readied his knife. He was just behind the man in the chair. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pulled back, then rammed the knife at an upward angle into the sitting man’s head. It went in with a tense schluck. Immediately, Ryan moved toward the cleaning man. Right as Ryan approached, the cleaning man turned to see what the noise was. Before he could let out a scream, Ryan punched his across the face, making him face the stove. He followed it up by kicking out the man’s knee and forcing his head down and forward. Unfortunately, it went too far, and his face just hit the searing stove. Right as he began to scream, Ryan reached up and grabbed whatever he could. Once he had a handle on something, he swung it down on the man’s head, ceasing his noise. The body crumpled to the floor with a mild dent in the back of its head.

Ryan took a look at his weapon; it was the classic frying pan. “Sorry Daffy, but I guess it’s duck season.” he said coldly. He dropped the pan onto the body, making less noise than if it had hit the floor. He went over the the man, still in the chair, and looked at his knife. “There’s no way I’m getting that out.” He left the knife in his head where it was, blood pouring down the handle and creating a large puddle on the floor. No time for cleanup, though, so Ryan just kept on going. He saw another door, and pulled out his P88. As he approached, he heard voices on the other side. He stopped in his tracks and pointed the gun at the door. “Discord, translate!” he thought. No answer. “Discord!” Nothing. Ryan swallowed hard as he approached the door, gun raised. The voices got closer to the door. Ryan stepped back again. The voices were still getting closer. “I hope to God that there’s another passage outside this door.” he whispered. The voices were right outside the door; one laughed. Ryan tensed hard. If he fired his gun, he would have to bolt back the way he came. “Don’t open, don’t open, don’t open..!” Alas, Murphy was not his friend today. The doorknob turned quickly and the door started to open. Ryan half pulled the trigger; it took all his discipline not to go the whole way.

The door opened. About a quarter of the way to the end, the person stopped. His friend was talking about something in a warning tone, it seemed. Ryan stared at the door, jaw clenched. His whole body was like a taut string, ready to snap at any moment. Sweat covered Ryan’s hands and head, and his knees shook. He could see half of the body of whoever was in front of him. The guy had a huge gun strapped to his side, a light machine gun, by the looks of it. It was fed by a belt, and had terrifying looking 7.62mm rounds in the belt chain. Ryan continued to stare. The man who was holding the door moved a bit, opening the door a bit more. He was about to come in. Suddenly, the other guy grabbed him and pulled him away. Their voices faded away from the other side of the door.

Ryan fell to the floor like a brick. That was the scariest moment of his life. “I almost got made, there.” he thought. “And I haven’t killed that guy yet.” The last thought gave him much needed resolve, and he stood back up. He shakily made his way to the door, opening it only a bit from the floor. Outside, there was no one. “Perfect.” he thought. Holstering his pistol, he stood back up and opened the door all the way.

He walked through and turned right; it had sounded like those two guys went left. He paused.

Directly in front of him, there was a man with a sandwich. It was a turkey sandwich, with lettuce and tomato. The turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomato fell to the ground as the man tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Ryan, though, already knew what he saw; someone was about to die. He lunged forward, spinning at the same time to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick. It connected with the man’s arm, only making a big thud. The man yelped a little at the sudden attack on his person and jumped back. He had no weapon to use. Ryan saw this and went for his gun. Before he realized it, the man was back on top of him. Ryan pulled his hand from his weapon as he saw a fist come barreling toward his face. He threw up a block and caught the strike in the air, deflecting it to the left. With the man’s side exposed, Ryan went to punch the man’s kidneys. The man jumped back, just out of range of Ryan’s strike. He put up a boxer guard. “He’s trained.” Ryan thought. He put up a Hindiandi guard for close in fighting. “So am I.” The two fighters remained still for a moment.

In a flash of movement, the man advanced on Ryan, being careful not to lean in to be struck in the face. The man threw a punch at Ryan’s face, who blocked it to the side with a swift turn of his hips, sending his hand to intercept the attack. In response, Ryan threw up his knee, which struck his opponent in the thigh. The man brought his arm back in the form of an attempted elbow to Ryan’s head. Ryan dropped himself a little, causing the strike to miss, and took the opportunity to strike the man’s throat with a tiger claw. The man stumbled back, unable to breath through his collapsed larynx. With so much room, Ryan couldn’t help but go for a complete takedown. He moved in, elbowing the man in the solar plexus, further hindering his breathing. With the man leaning down, Ryan brought up his knee into the man’s face, generating a loud snap as he struck the nose. The man’s head flew back, blood coming from the nose in large quantities. Ryan followed up with a powerful punch to the jaw, dislocating it, then ended with a following elbow with the same arm and one last punch with his left hand. The man’s head went straight into the wall, and a trail of blood followed it as it slid down. Ryan stopped. He could kill him definitively now, but why? He would probably drown from the bleeding in his nose or asphyxiate from his collapsed larynx. He walked past the likely already dead man and went down the hall.

Ryan went all the way down the hall, only to find it go into another one at the end. When he turned the corner, he was surprised by what he saw; it wasn’t that long of a hallway. Happy to see something else, he slowly made his way down the hall. At the end, there was a staircase that led downstairs. He went down, pistol raised, and found himself in yet another hall. “Damn this place.” he thought. As he entered the hallway, he looked to his left, then his right. To the left, there was actually only one door, and it went into an open closet. The other way led to a lighted room. From it, there was speaking. Ryan crept toward the light. Once there, he looked into the room. It was a big room, filled with people. There seemed to be something like a stage. Ryan began to enter the room.

He was in a little foyer. Just before him was a small wall with tinted glass allowing for him to see through to the lighted side. Someone put their hand on his shoulder. “You know you don’t have to do this.” a woman’s voice came. “You can still walk away.” Ryan shook his head. “You know I can’t do that. Not now.” The woman stood behind him. “It wasn’t your fault. None of it. Doing this won’t bring anyone back.” Tears began to fall down Ryan’s face. “I know.” The woman sighed sadly. “Then why? Why are you doing this?” Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know.” he said. The woman kneeled next to Ryan, who also kneeled. “You can’t blame yourself for Joey’s death. Or Catherine’s. Or anyone’s. Those choices weren’t yours...” Ryan shook the hand off his shoulder. “They were all my choices!” he said, angrily raising his voice. “And you! How can you forgive me?” He pointed at the woman. “I shot your son in the fucking head!” The woman sighed. “He forgives you. I forgive you.” She stood. “But only if you forgive yourself.” Ryan’s breathing was fast and deep. “I... I... can’t... not after everything. Not now.” He looked to the room. Now, on the stage, there stood a man. “Narendra.” Ryan said loathfully. The woman shook her head. “Goodbye, Ryan. I’d say it was a pleasure...” She was gone. Ryan was alone again. “However much you have tried, Nadine,” he pulled his P88. “it won’t change the past.”

Steps could be heard from the stairs that Ryan came down. He whipped around, heart racing at the sudden noise intrusion. Quick on his feet, Ryan got into the closet and waited. From the stairs, there came the man with his machine gun and his friend. As soon as they were facing the other way, Ryan stepped out from the closet and walked up behind both men. He shot them both in the head. Stealth was no longer necessary. After dispatching the two men, Ryan picked up the machine gun; it was an old M60. He lugged it on his side as he approached the entrance to the larger room. At the door, he stood. His breathing sped up, deep and rapid fire. He bared his teeth and stared angrily at Narendra.

Narendra was speaking to the group of roughly ten men in front of him. To his left, a girl in chains stood crying. "Unfortunately, because of an escape of others, the starting price is now raised to two hundred thousand rupees. Bidding is-" He stopped speaking, unable to believe his eyes. Before him stood one of the boys who had escaped, a machine gun in hand. The other men in the room noticed and turned, becoming equally as awestruck that the building was compromised. They had thought that an early morning auction would be the safest bet. Narendra took a step back. "NARENDRA!!!!!"

Harris started his way down the hall. Behind him, he could hear Ryan shift on his feet and go another way. Discord floated above him, watching carefully for any enemies. “I’ll need you to cover me, Discord.” Harris said. Discord nodded. “I’ll keep my eyes out.” His eyes suddenly came right out of his head. “Gah!” Harris almost yelled. Discord laughed for a moment. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” he apologized. Harris scowled. “Don’t mess around, man. This is serious.” Harris continued along the hall. “I could die.” Discord nodded, a smirk evident on his face. “I know, I know. I won’t let THAT happen.” Harris didn’t feel like asking why he emphasized “that”.

The hallway was bare for the vast majority of its length. The only room Harris encountered along the hall was a bedroom, from which he could hear snoring. He decided not to go into the room. “No need to wake them up now.” Harris whispered to himself. Discord decided to enter though. “There’s nothing particularly interesting in here.” he told Harris. Harris sighed in relief; he wasn’t really prepared to kill someone if he wasn’t in direct danger. He kept going down the hall. “Alright. Tell me if something catches your eye.” Discord affirmed.

At the end of the hall, there was a staircase going up. “This must be the way to the top floor and roof.” Harris concluded. He looked up the stairs. “Alright, then-” “Incoming from the stairs!” Discord warned. Harris went into panic mode and looked around frantically. The staircase also went down, so he went onto those stairs and stood, waiting. Two voices came from the upper steps. “Told you.” Discord said smugly. Harris ignored him and pulled his P99. Shakily, he pointed it forward, up the steps. The voices were now accompanied by footsteps, getting closer with each step. They were just above Harris. “Oh God, no, no, no, no..!” he thought. The two men came into view; one had a heavy looking machine gun, the other had no weapon to speak of. Harris didn’t move. The two men, heavily armed, were right in front of him. Were they to turn, they would be staring down the barrel of a 9mm. Though Harris wasn’t sure that the could pull the trigger once, let alone twice. The gun grew very heavy in his hand, like he was trying to hold up a ten pound weight. The two men were just standing in front of him, talking. “Don’t turn, don’t turn, don’t turn, don’t turn!”

Someone loved him that night, as the two men just went through the open door and went down the hallway. Harris swallowed hard and lowered his weapon. “Holy crap...” he said quietly. Discord poofed up next to him. “You alright?” he asked. Harris nodded. He turned to look at Discord, still shaking. “Where were you?” he asked. Discord huffed. “I had to put a translation spell in Ryan’s head. It only took a moment.” Discord looked to the door. “He’s probably still listening.” Harris stood up. He had to hold onto a rail next to the stairs not to fall. “Let’s go.” he said. He made his way up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, Harris paused. “Can you see if anyone is out there?” Harris requested. Discord obliged and looked around, poking his head outside the door. “All clear.” he said. Harris went through the door. On the other side, there was a large greenhouse and big glass windows, giving a glorious view of the night sky. “I never thought that I’d see a night sky like that.” he thought. He could see thousands of stars, and that big pinkish streak that you see sometimes in greeting cards. It was a sight to behold. “Ahem, in case you forgot...” Discord didn’t need to finish. He snapped Harris out of his trance and got him moving again. Harris moved through the garden. “Do you think this place is self-sustaining?” Harris asked. Discord scoffed. “Umm, duh. It’s not like they can order a pizza, now can they?” Harris frowned and just kept moving. At the end of the room, there was another door. reached for the knob.

It suddenly began to jiggle. Not quite thinking, Harris dove to the side, out of the way and view of the door, behind a plant. It was a big bush, berries were covering it. The door swung open, and a man walked in. He was wearing a long robe, like one you would wear in a spa. It was red and had gold lining around the waist. The man himself looked caucasian, and a real hardball. His hair was cut short, and he had a phone to his ear. “No, no, bloke, listen here. I know what I want to spend my money on. AndI want to buy some people.” A pause. “I don’t care how hard it is to get them back to South Africa! Just find a way!” The man was clearly British from the accent. Of course, South Africa had been a British colony. He could be South African, naturally born. He spun around and went back to the door, slamming it shut behind him as he went through. “That was close.” Discord commented. Harris stood up. “Nice job hiding.” Harris dusted himself off. “Thanks.” He realized that he had never put away his gun. He quickly holstered it, then went back to the door.

He opened it slowly, making sure that nobody was on the other side as he did so. When he confirmed that no one was there, he walked through the door and shut it behind him. He was on a balcony. To the front, there was a staircase going down. On his left, there was a rail overlooking some room. Harris went over and looked over the rail. There was a group of ten men on the floor beneath Harris. In front of them, there stood on a stage an Indian man and a girl in chains. “Narendra.” Harris realized. He wished that Ryan was there; he would figure out something to do. Harris looked around the small group of men. The man in the red robe was toward the back of the group. He was still on the phone, arguing with whoever was on the other end of the line in hushed tones. "Unfortunately, because of the escape of our other items, the starting price is now raised to two hundred thousand rupees each.” Narendra said in a somewhat happy tone, which was soured probably by the reminder that so many of his “items” had escaped. “Bidding is-"

He stopped. On his face was a look of absolute terror. He was staring at some point behind the group, at the back of the room. Harris went to the right so he could get a better sight of what he was looking at. As he made his way there, all the other men in the room, including the red-robed man, turned and looked, more confused than scared. Harris got a view of what they were looking at; it was Ryan. “Ryan?” Harris said to himself. He looked closely at Ryan; he seemed to be breathing hard. He had a massive machine gun in his hands. Harris looked more closely at Ryan’s face. His eyes were totally red. He raised up the gun, and Narendra dove sideways. “NARENDRA!”

Ryan just opened fire on the group in front of him. The gun made a loud chop-chop every time a bullet left its muzzle. The men in the group were all being cut down by the hail of lead. All of them screamed loudly, the superheated metal searing and slicing through their bodies. Haris watched in shock and horror. Ryan didn’t stop shooting. All of the menin the group were on the ground, but Ryan kept up the fire. Harris looked to the stage; The chains on the girl had come off her body, along with her hands and part of her face. She was dead. All the men in the room were gone. Blood coated the stone floor, bits of bones and organs joining it. Harris saw the red-robed man. He had fallen on his back, and the over inch-and-a-half exit wounds of the bullets were quite visible. Harris fell back and landed on his hind end. He threw up.

Discord watched the entire thing unfold with his jaw completely slack. Ryan had just indiscriminately fired on and killed everyone in front of him. Well, everyone except his target. Narendra had dived to the side, getting out of the storm of bullets. Discord heard Harris vomit behind him. He turned. “Harris, we need to leave.” Harris didn’t react. “Harris!” He got right in front of Harris’ face. “No, no. He couldn’t... there’s no way..” Discord released his ethereal spell for a moment so he could grab Harris’ shoulders. “Harris! You need to move!” Harris looked around, jerked out of his state of shock by the sudden motion. “What?” he managed. Discord looked around; getting Harris to move may be harder than he thought. “You have to get out of here!” Harris shook his head and jumped up. Looking around, he decided to double back into the greenhouse. Once inside, he stopped for a moment. “Harris, what are you doing?” Discord asked fearfully.

People could be heard on the other side of the door on the opposite side of the room. Harris couldn’t go that way. He certainly couldn’t go back the other way. He was stuck. “Dammit!” Harris yelled. The voices on the other side of the other door started to shout. Discord tried to think of a way out.

Three gunshots sang their songs from behind Discord. As he turned around to see what happened, he saw Harris stepping away from the glass. “Harris-” Harris wasn’t waiting. He ran forward and leapt through the glass of the greenhouse windows. Discord just watched, stunned. “Clever boy.” he said with a hint of pride. He flew out the window after Harris.

Down in the room by the stage, Ryan stepped out into the open. He dropped the large machine gun, having used up all the ammo for it. Ryan scanned the room. There were bodies everywhere, and the blood made squelching noises as he walked through it. After examining the bodies quickly, he determined that Narendra was not among them. Remembering that he had been on the stage, he went up there. As he approached, he noticed that there was only one body on the stage. It was the body of a girl, no more than Ryan’s own age. He grunted in frustration; Narendra had clearly escaped him.

A door behind the stage slammed shut. Ryan’s ears picked it up clearly and he jumped up onto the stage and ran to the back, stepping on the dead girl’s hand as he passed. It snapped under his weight.

Behind the stage, Ryan saw a door. It was the only one present, so he ran over to it, intent on catching Narendra. Seeing no handle, Ryan put his foot out and kicked the door open, drawing his P88. “Where are you!?” he yelled. He was in another hallway. To his right, he heard someone panting. he started to run in that direction, and suddenly, Narendra burst out into the open from a depression in the wall. He sprinted down the hall. “Narendra!” Ryan bellowed. He raised his gun and fired as he ran. His shots all went horribly off course. After emptying the clip, Ryan dropped the gun and sprinted after Narendra. The hall took a sharp turn to the right. As Ryan was about to turn, several shots rang out from that hall. Ryan hung back, not wanting to be the first one to die. After the shooting stopped, he turned the corner and ran. Narendra had managed to gain some ground, but not enough to get away.

Ryan chased Narendra through the building. They passed through several hallways and rooms, Narendra trying to set up obstacles each time, Ryan getting past them either through quick maneuvering or ploughing through. Narendra looked back. “How long is he going to keep this up?” he wondered. Ryan was still coming after Narendra, and he was gaining ground quickly. Narendra found himself in a new hallway. A the end, he saw a door that he knew led outside. He doubled his speed, terrified of whatever fate awaited him, should the boy behind him catch up. At the door, he tried to push it open; it was a pull door. Narendra quickly pulled the door open and went through.

Ryan tackled Narendra to the ground, both of them tumbling about across the roof. They were on the second story of the building, toward the back, where Ryan and Harris first infiltrated the building. Narendra tried to stand up after the impact, but was kicked hard in the chest. He couldn’t breath; it was like someone had stuck a vacuum down his throat and sucked the air out of his chest. The asphyxiating feeling caused Narendra to flail about on the ground, trying to breath. Something stabbed him in the leg, but the pain quickly subsided.

Narendra finally got his breath back and looked at his attacker, who loomed over him like a black thunderhead, assailing everything below with its furious lightning. He knew who the boy was. “So, this is what you’ve been doing.” he said. Ryan didn’t respond. “You killed my men. You fought tooth and nail to escape. And yet here you are, before me once again.” He waited for Ryan to respond, but still got nothing. “Why?” Ryan just pulled out his remaining pistol. Narendra’s breathing became short and rapid. “Well?” Nothing. “Answer me!” Ryan kicked Narendra across his face. “You took everything from me.” Narendra laughed; for some reason, the kick didn’t hurt. “Is that what this is about? Revenge?” Ryan didn’t answer again. “Killing me won’t bring them back.” Ryan laughed spitefully. “That’s what she told me right before I killed your cronies.” Narendra pushed himself backwards, right up against a wall. On the other side was the river. “Killing you won’t bring them back.” Ryan pulled back the hammer of his M1911. “But it’s sure as Hell gonna make me feel better.” Narendra felt tears come to his eyes. “Please, don’t...” Ryan stepped forward. “Please! I’ll give you whatever you want!” Ryan’s foot landed on Narendra’s left shoulder, popping it out of place. The lack of pain was beginning to concern Narendra. “I know what I want. I want you to know pain before you die.” Ryan stepped back. “But not the physical pain that I suffered. No, you’ll get another type of pain entirely.” Ryan pulled up the sleeves of his jacket. “THIS type of pain is nothing compared to what else you’ve done to me. So I want you to know that pain.” He put his sleeves back down. “I already put the morphine into you. You won’t feel physical pain; take comfort in that. However,” Ryan pointed the gun at Narendra’s gut. “I am going to shoot you. And you will watch, fully conscious and aware, as you bleed out and die. Your last moments will be spent knowing that you’re about to die and that you can’t do anything about it.” Ryan took note of Narendra’s face; it betrayed the confidence that he had displayed when he held Ryan in custody. “You will feel my pain.” His expression went dark, a sense of grim finality permeating his voice. “Goodbye, Agni Narendra.”

The boom of a single gunshot rang out through the jungle, followed by an eerie silence.

Ryan spun left at the sudden noise; Harris was pointing his P99 up at the balcony above them. Ryan saw a rifle barrel sticking up from behind the wall. Several men suddenly appeared beside it, heavily armed. “DITCH!!!” Harris screamed. Ryan ran to the wall and leapt over it as the automatic AKM fire chased after him.

Ryan landed in the water heavily. He had gone at least fifteen feet through the air into the water, then another five once he hit. It was like landing in a ball pit from twenty feet up. He resurfaced, gasping for air, gun clenched in his hand. “Go, Ryan, go!” Harris yelled as he swam for the shore at the end of the wall. Ryan began to make his way back with Harris; he hadn’t shot Narendra.

The boys quickly climber out of the water and onto land once they reached the shore. Ryan holstered his gun. “Up the vine!” he ordered. He bound over to the vine and scaled the wall as fast as he could manage. Harris followed soon after. At the top, Ryan looked over tentatively. Narendra was nowhere to be seen, and the guards had disappeared. “Dammit!” he yelled, vaulting over the wall. Without waiting for Harris, Ryan ran through the door. He looked down each hall, left, forward, then right. He saw no one. He was about to run left when he heard something off to the right, the way he had ignored earlier. “This is the night you die, Narendra.” Ryan uttered. He ran down the laconic hall, reaching the turn at the end in only seconds. He turned around and found himself face to face with the guards, who seemed to be carrying Narendra away down a flight of stairs. Before Ryan could draw, they pointed their guns up at him.

Ryan drew back behind the wall as 7.62mm bullets sliced through the air next to him. He could feel their heat radiating through the air as they passed. He didn’t risk pointing his gun around the corner, there were way too many bullets coming at him to expose any part of himself. Every time one let up, another shooter took his place. After a minute, the shooting stopped, and a door at the base of the stairs shut. Before he ran down, Harris came by, reloading his weapon. “Ryan-” Ryan cut him off by grabbing the P99 from Harris and running down the stairs. At the bottom, Ryan fired five times into the doorway, toward the bottom. From the other side, someone screamed. Ryan burst through the door, Harris immediately behind him. They were outside, in a makeshift driveway. Ryan looked around; no Narendra. The man who had been screaming was gasping for air. Harris took his rifle from the ground.

An engine rumbled into life somewhere to the right. Ryan pulled up the P99 and pointed it in that direction, Harris pointing his new AKM in the same direction. Time froze. Nothing seemed to happen after the noise sounded. Ryan’s senses were all heightened; he could see every detail on the pistol in his hand, from the scratch marks it had gained from travel to the powder residue from being fired several times in confined areas. The veins on Ryan’s hand seemed to be popping out, much larger than any normal person’s would be. The moonlight glistened on his sweaty hand, the cool nighttime breeze chilling it down after so much usage. The area around him was much more illustrated than it was before. Each blade of grass and leaf seemed so much more alive, like they were waving for Ryan to move.

A car exploded out of a small wooden shack. Ryan dove to the side, taking the advice from the plants to heart. As he recovered, he heard Harris shooting at the car with his automatic rifle. Ryan fired all of the remaining bullets of the P99 at the car. Nothing succeeded.

Ryan lowered the weapon and dropped it. When it hit the ground, the slide clicked back forward. Harris and Ryan just stood where they were, enthralled by what had just occurred.

Discord floated down to them, equally as shocked at the events that had just unfolded. Ryan had actually had Narendra, on the ground, in front of him, but hadn’t killed him. Then Narendra led them on a merry chase and escaped. Discord landed next to Ryan. “What just happened?” he asked, still stunned. Ryan shook his head. “He’s gone.” he said, disappointment slathering his words. “He got away.” Discord looked at him, then Harris, then him again. Harris looked like he had lost all hope. “What will you do now?” he asked. Ryan spun around, eyes landing on the injured man on the ground. “I’m going to Vietnam. Narendra’s personal home is north of Buon Me Thuot. That’s where he’ll be.” Discord found himself staring at Ryan, slack-jawed. Even after that, he was still going for it? “But first,” Ryan walked over to the injured man, who looked back up at him. “I need to get an idea of what I’ll be dealing with.” The man looked up at Ryan, his fear keeping him totally silent. Ryan, with no warning, grabbed the man by his hair and started to drag him back into the building.

Break

Discord watched as Ryan pulled the man by his hair into the building. He couldn’t help but fear what was about to happen, and even feel sorry for the poor soul being dragged.

He looked over to Harris, who, still looking in the direction that the car had gone, was totally clueless about the whole situation. He floated over to Harris. “Hey, Harris.” he said. Harris shook his head. “He got away. I can’t believe he got away.” Harris fell to the ground. “We were so close.” Discord sat before Harris cross-legged, and crossed his arms. “Look. You’ll have another chance.” Discord pointed at the building. “But there’s a little something going on in there that is kind of important. I’d suggest that you get in there and help out.” Harris looked at Discord, a horrified expression exploding onto his face. “Wait, did Ryan take that guy in there?” Discord nodded slowly. “I think I’ll let Ryan handle this.” Discord shot up into the air. “That’s exactly why I want you to go in there. You shouldn’t let him handle this.”

Harris stood up and paced, arms crossed and a frown all the way across his face. “Why not? He’s handled everything so far. As far as I can see, he’s done a pretty good job.” He pointed an accusing finger at the spirit of chaos. “What have you been doing, huh? How have you been handling any of this?” Discord puffed up his chest, but before he had a chance to respond, Harris kept ranting at him. “You don’t know what this all is. You’ve been just floating off to the side in your safety, while WE’VE been getting shot at! We’ve almost died on several occasions! And You suppose that you can tell ME what I should do? You, who have done NOTHING?!” Discord’s face scrunched in fury at the allegations. “Why the Hell should I trust you?!” Discord was about to release his full rage upon Harris, but ceased his thoughts for a moment. “No, yelling won’t help anyone.” he thought. He took a deep breath and let it out very slowly, like s summer breeze on a meadow. “Because I’ve been pulling strings from behind the scenes and you know that. You think that family would’ve let you stay with them if I hadn’t ‘encouraged’ them too?” Harris looked away, contemplating everything that was being said. Sure, Discord had been helping from the sidelines. He could control a lot of things, and he had.

Wait a minute. “So you can influence what happens, huh?” Harris asked flatly. Discord looked at him with narrow eyes, wondering what Harris was going towards. “Yes, I can.” Harris whipped around, a look of absolute rage superimposed on his face. His teeth were bared and his nostrils were wide, huffing angrily. “THEN WHY DID NARENDRA GET AWAY?! WHY HAVE WE HAD TO BE DOING ANY OF THIS?!” he howled. Discord stopped in his tracks. He had thought about doing that when he first arrived, but chose not to for reasons of personal satisfaction. Looking back, he realized that that may not have been the best course of action. “Because... because I have rules that I must follow.” Yeah, that was it. “I won’t kill him. It violates my rules.” Harris stomped toward Discord, no fear of Discord’s power evident. “So, you can’t kill him, but you can make us fight for our lives, kill dozens of other people, kill NARENDRA, and be tortured, but you can’t kill him yourself.” Harris threw his arms up. “Well, praise be to the great King of Morality! All hail his moral code of justice!” His voice was soaked with sarcasm. Discord scowled. “Now hold on-” “No, you hold on!” Harris shouted. Discord held his tongue. “You claim to be so useful. But really, you don’t do shit.” Harris walked to the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find my friend. He’s actually been doing shit.”

Discord watched Harris go through the door. He couldn’t tell what he was feeling. It was like a mix of anger, sadness, self pity, and confusion. All together, they forced Discord to just sit on the ground. “What have I been doing?” he wondered. “I started off by treating these boys like they were just tools in any shed. I thought that they would be just that, but it turned out that they weren’t.” He looked to the door. It looked blurry for some reason. “And I never stopped treating them like that, even though they’re-” He stopped for moment, choking on his breath. “they’re my friends.” Discord felt something fall down his face. Using his finger, he lifted it off and took a look at it. It was a droplet of water, glistening in the artificial light like morning dew. He flicked it away and got back up. “I know what I need to do.” He shot back up into the air. “I need to go to them and play by their rules, now. No more of my rules.” He went into the building in search of his friends.

Harris walked angrily into the building. His confrontation with Discord just now had set his mind off in a direction that he wasn’t too sure about. Nonetheless, he didn’t want to go back to him right now. He needed to cool off. “Where’s Ryan?” He walked up the staircase and through the hall. On the ground, he could see a trail of blood. “Ryan?” Harris said apprehensively. He didn’t know where Ryan had gone, nor what he was doing to that guy he had taken with him. It set him on edge. He could be doing anything to that guy.

Harris thought about everything that had happened leading up to this point. Ryan had been forced to shoot Catherine and Joey, and killed who knows how many people. Then there was the little girl he was holding in that burned out house. Put together, those events all had the ability to mess someone up pretty bad. He remembered how Ryan had been acting recently, too. He shuddered. “I need to find him.” Harris said to himself urgently. He started to run, following the blood trail on the ground. It brought him through a number of rooms and hallways. Apparently, Ryan had been dragging that guy through most of the building.

Harris thought about everything while he ran after the trail. Ryan had been talking to something while Harris he didn’t think Harris was looking before, but recently, he didn’t seem to care if Harris was there or not. He didn’t flinch at the idea, or the act itself, of killing people. His demeanor was becoming more uncaring, and less and less intense when it came to achieving his goal. He had been actually thinking about things, but his thoughts were clearly inconclusive. Harris saw the blood trail go under a door and stopped. “Should I go in there?” he thought. He heard speech from the other side of the door, then shouts. Ryan was probably torturing the guy for whatever information he wanted. Someone screamed from the other side of the door. Harris swallowed hard and approached the door. “He’s lost it...”

Ryan threw his prisoner into a chair, knocking both the chair and the man onto the ground. The man was yelling something, gripping his bloody leg like a vice. He rolled off the chair. Ryan set it back up. “Sit.” he ordered as he grabbed the man once again and dropped him onto the chair. The man looked up at him, seething with anger. Ryan pulled his M1911 and pointed it onto the man’s forehead. “You wanna try me?” he said coldly. The man looked down. “That’s what I thought.”

he paced around the room, looking at what he had at his disposal. He was in the kitchen again. Around him were dozens of knives, pots, pans, and other fun items. Looking around, he noticed that the two bodies from earlier. His knife was still sticking out from the head of the one. He walked over to the body and leaned next to it; the blood was still slick and wet around the wound. Gripping the knife in his right hand, Ryan tugged on it a little. It didn’t move. He moved the body in front of his prisoner and set it face down. “I’m guessing you knew this guy?” he asked, looking at his prisoner’s face. His face was one of loss and terror. “Don’t worry. I’m sure the two of you will have lots to talk about.” Ryan put his foot on the dead man’s neck and yanked his knife out. “In the meantime, we have lots to talk about ourselves.”

His prisoner looked sick, like he was about to vomit at the sight of a knife coming out of his friend’s neck. The schluck sound it made as the knife came out probably didn’t help. “Now,” Ryan said, approaching his prisoner, knife raised and parallel to the ground. He pressed it against his prisoner’s neck. “What can you tell me about Narendra’s home in Vietnam?” The prisoner’s jaw quivered; he was petrified. Ryan pressed the knife harder. “I won’t ask again.” The prisoner started to speak, but in a language far off from English. Ryan pulled the knife away. “Discord, translate.” He waited a moment. No response. “Bah.” Discord must have been doing something else. He would have to go without his help for now. The prisoner was still babbling in his language, a pleading tone dripping from his voice. He clearly wasn’t even saying anything that would be helpful if Ryan did understand.

“You know, he probably speaks English. He just won’t.” a woman’s voice said from behind. Ryan nodded, frustrated about the situation. “Yeah, I had a feeling about that.” The Woman came from behind Ryan and walked behind the prisoner. The prisoner looked confused, but kept talking, albeit slower. “He’s probably way in Narendra’s pocket. I would bet that he was lots of information, if you just press him a little...” Ryan contemplated his options. There were blunt objects, no good. Knives, pretty good. He got up and looked around the room. In the cabinets there was plenty of food. He took a note of that. It was all distinctly American, too; Goldfish crackers, Kraft Mac n’ Cheese, assorted cereals. It was an interesting array.

After searching all the cabinets, Ryan looked around in all the small closets. In the first, he found a steel brush and a broom. He pulled the brush. In the next one, he found assorted cleaning chemicals. That would probably serve as adequate for his purposes. “Alright.” he said, walking towards his prisoner with arms full of cleaning supplies. He dropped them onto the table. “Now, you can tell me what I want to know,” He picked up the steel brush. “or I can force the information.” The prisoner in the chair stared at Ryan, fearful determination in his eyes. “...So it’s the hard way, then.” Ryan stated. He looked over his supplies. “Let’s see, where to start...” He looked at a bottle of glass cleaner. “I think this should work.” Ryan walked back over to his prisoner and held the bottle up. “Say cheese.” He sprayed it into the man’s eyes, eliciting a loud scream of pain from him. The man let his head fall down in an effort to protect it. “How about now?”

A soft chuckle came from off to the side. Looking over, Ryan saw that The Woman was laughing and leaning on the table. “Just what is so funny, may I ask?” The Woman waved her hand through the air. “Your attempt. You honestly think that THAT will get you anything?” Ryan scowled. “I’m lowballing it.” The Woman shook her head, still chuckling. “You need to make him fear you, Ryan, like I did back on the boat.” Ryan’s breathing sped up a little. “I had to make a choice.” The Woman sighed knowingly. “And you did. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Ryan, perturbed by The Woman, turned back to his prisoner, who was clutching his eye. “You need to REALLY get on him.” Ryan tossed away the glass cleaner. “Fine, then.” Going back to the pile of supplied, he looked around it for a specific item. Eventually, he found it. “Ooooh, nice choice.” The Woman commented pridefully. “Thanks.” Ryan turned back around and went back to his prisoner. “Still not talking?” The prisoner peeked up at him, fury and terror permeating his countenance. “Well, alright then.”

Ryan took the bottle he was holding and set it down. He looked at his prisoner’s leg; the blood was coming from a spot on his outer right thigh. Without a word, Ryan pulled up the steel brush and scraped it as much as he could against the bullet wound. The prisoner screamed ear-splittingly. After a few seconds, Ryan looked at his work. Satisfied that his leg was exposed enough, he pulled up the bottle.

“I’m all too familiar with this stuff, you know. So a fair warning; it’s gonna hurt.” He pulled the cap off the bottle and began to pour it onto the man’s wounded leg. The man screamed loudly, any normal person would say it was blood curdling. Ryan didn’t care that much. “Drain cleaner hurts pretty bad, don’t it?” The screaming didn’t stop. As Ryan watched, The Woman came over and put her hand on his shoulder. “Nothing seems to be working, Ryan.” Ryan brushed her hand off. “I’m well aware of that.” He picked up the brush and slashed it across the man;s face, ending the screaming. The man still breathed heavily. “Maybe I’ll just end it now.” The Woman shrugged. “It’s your call. But, then, we BOTH know where your calls have landed you so far...” Ryan ignored the comment and went for his pistol.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Before Ryan could respond, Harris came waltzing in. He stopped at the sight before him. “Ryan... what the hell?” Ryan looked at Harris, ten the prisoner, then Harris. “Information gathering.” Harris swallowed hard. “Who were you talking to?” Ryan pointed at the man. “Who else?” Ryan looked at Harris confused. “Who else?” Ryan asked incredulously, like he thought that Harris could see The Woman. “Ryan, that guy doesn’t speak English.” Ryan looked back at his prisoner. “He does, Harris. He just refuses to.” Harris put his hands up and approached slowly. “Ryan, this is all really unnecessary.” Ryan looked back at him, an aggressive bearing knocking Harris back. “It’s all necessary.”

Ryan turned back to the man. “I was done anyway.” Ryan put his pistol back. No use wasting ammo, right? He went over to a knife rack and pulled a large knife. He would use his Ka-Bar, but he didn’t want it to get stuck again.

Harris watched him like a hawk as he moved about. “What’re you doing?” he asked, alarm defining his eyes. Ryan didn’t answer. “Ryan!” Without answering, Ryan went up to his prisoner and stabbed the knife up into his head through the bottom of his jaw. He put his full body weight into it, and the knife struck the top of the inside of the man’s skull. Harris’ jaw was practically on the ground. “What the fuck!?!?” he yelled. Ryan let the body drop to the ground. “He was going to die anyway, Harris.” Harris took several steps back. “Wha- wha-” He didn’t know what to say. He fell against the wall behind him and leaned on it, barely standing. “Ryan, we need to go home.”

Ryan spun around at him. “What?” he asked, shocked to hear that. “Ryan, we can’t keep this up. I can’t... you have to go home, Ryan.” Ryan looked at Harris disbelievingly. The Woman came back from the sidelines. “He wants you to go home?” She laughed. “After everything you’ve done to get this far?” Ryan pointed at her. “Shut up.” Harris beheld Ryan’s action with fear paramounting in his eyes. The Woman kept it up. “He wants to ruin everything, Ryan. He never wanted to see you succeed.” Ryan glanced at Harris, who was cowering against the wall, wide-eyed. “He wanted to see you die, so that he could get Discord to take him home.” Ryan shut his eyes. “Enough!” Harris walked over to him. “Ryan-” He was pushed away as Ryan moved apart from him. “He wouldn’t do that...” Ryan whispered. Harris stayed back. “Ryan-” Ryan wasn’t paying attention to him. “Of course he would! He thinks that YOU’RE the reason that I’m dead!” Ryan looked over at Harris, then back to The Woman. “I-I-I-” Harris ran to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Ryan, listen!” He still wasn’t listening. The Woman was the center of Ryan’s focus at the moment. “He’s trying to ruin you, Ryan!” Ryan shook his head. “NO!! NO, I WON’T ALLOW IT!” He put his hands on his ears. He still heard the woman. “He’s trying to-” “STOP!” Harris shook him “RYAN! LISTEN TO M-” Harris felt a knee hit him in the stomach and he fell to the ground. Ryan moved away. Harris groaned on the ground. He had landed in a pool of blood. “He... he would never...” Tears welled up in Ryan’s eyes. The Woman hugged Ryan wholly. “He would, Ryan. I’m the only friend you have.” The tears flowed freely from Ryan’s eyes as he stood.

“What can I do?” he asked The Woman. She released and looked into Ryan’s eyes. “I can’t do this alone...” She smiled genuinely and looked deep into Ryan’s eyes. “You have me.” Ryan looked back at Harris. “He’s been trying to stop me.” The Woman nodded. Ryan turned away from her and addressed Harris. “Harris, I have to do this. This is all that there is.” Harris stood back up, soaked in foreign blood. “No you don’t.” Ryan bared his teeth. “Yes, I do! You can’t understand Harris! You don’t know what it’s like!” It was Harris’ turn to yell. “What what’s like, huh? Watching people die and knowing you can’t do anything? I know that! Or how about watching my best friend die! What about that?” Ryan turned around, not wanting to face Harris. “How about being responsible for so many deaths, eh, you stupid bastard!?” Harris, wobbly in the legs, tired to approach Ryan. “Ryan, there is no pity, for either of us! We both need to just walk away!” Ryan started shaking, he was so infuriated. “No, I won’t walk away from this!” Harris clamped his hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “LET IT GO!”

Ryan pistol whipped Harris across his face, sending him flying back down to the ground. He ripped back the hammer, pointing the large firearm at the back of Harris’ head.

And he pulled the trigger.

******************************************************************************

Luna awoke suddenly. She didn’t know why, but something told her that a terrible crime had been committed. Somehow worse than the taking of a life, yet not as bad at the same time, if that made sense. She looked around her room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everything was in its place. Starstep slept cozily by the fire, his chest rising and falling like the waves from a pebble being tossed into a pond.

She got up and looked walked about her room. Whatever had woken her, it wasn’t about to let her sleep again. She paced frustratedly around her room. “What is this feeling?” She went to her window and looked outside. “Something very bad has happened.” She looked out her window for a moment more, then turned back, an angry grunt escaping her. She plopped herself by the fireplace and watched Starstep sleep. It was creepy, sure, but she didn’t care. Her mind calmed itself as she watched her personal guard sleeping soundly in front of her. She put her hoof on his face. “I do hope that we can remake the Nighthawks.” she said to herself. “I’m sure you would be happy to see your friend home again.” She stood up. “I’ll go for a walk through the garden. Clear my mind.” She exited her room silently and made her way to the gardens, careful not to disturb anyone.

In the garden, she released a pent up sigh that she didn’t know she was holding. What was it that had awoken her? Why had it done so? And why did it give her this feeling? These questions and more were swirling through her head as she made her way through the garden. At one point, she stopped. Before her was the statue of the Nighthawks in all its glory. The plate on the bottom was inscripted with the names, or aliases, at least, of the stallions who died in the battle. She looked up at the statue. As she admired it, a glint caught her eye. It was located on the chest of the statue of the Nighthawk “I wonder what that is?” she wondered aloud.

“That’s the Crest of Valor.” Luna jumped at the sudden intrusion. Whipping her head back, she saw her sister approaching from behind. “Sister, it is only you.” Celestia chuckled to herself. “Who were you expecting?” Luna looked back up. “No one.” Celestia walked over and stood by her sister. “Why is the Crest on the statue?” Luna asked. Celestia sighed sadly. “Starstep was awarded it, but he refused to accept it. The ceremony was very hushed, didn’t want his name getting out, but he still wouldn’t accept it. One morning, as I came here, he was leaving in a very solemn mood. When I came here, the Crest was on the statue.” Luna thought about her guard. “So, this is where you put it.” Celestia continued. “I asked him about it later. He said, ‘Those stallions gave everything they had to get those ponies to safety. They deserve the award, not me.’ I felt great pain and empathy for him, so I let the Crest stay there.” Luna looked up at the Crest, her heart heavy with sympathy. “Then, you returned to us and I decided that he should be with you.” Luna nodded, understanding the story. “That’s... so sad.” she said.

Celestia looked up at the statue, her eyes looking glassy. “Not as sad as what I must tell you, though.” Luna looked over at her sister, trepidation almost keeping her from asking. “What?” Celestia walked to the statue and put a hoof on it. “None of the candidates for the Nighthawks were able to pass the training. Not one.” It hit Luna like a hoof to the side. “What?” was all she could manage. Celestia let a single teardrop fall. The tear shone bright in the moonlight. “I am afraid that our stallion in the south will remain there, at least for a long while more.” Luna looked at the ground. “I had a feeling that something bad happened.” Celestia turned to her sister. “Did you awaken because of a feeling that something happened?” she asked, urgency in her voice. “Yes.” Celestia put her hoof to her chin. “Well, that’s odd. It was the same for me, though what I just told you happened several days ago.” Luna ignored the previous lack of news and pondered. Both of them had awoken because of a feeling.

She paused her thoughts. Could it have something to do with Ryan? “I’m sure it’s nothing, really.” she said dismissively. Celestia eyes her sister suspiciously, but let it go. “Yes, you’re probably right.” She turned and began to walk back to her own quarters. “Good night, sister.” Luna went the other way. “Good night.” The two regal sisters each went back to their respective chambers.

Luna quietly crawled back onto her bed. She felt like there was a heavy weight resting upon her side when she got under her covers. Starstep was laying peacefully by the fire. “I’m so sorry...” She went back to sleep, dysphoria making her want to just hug Starstep and never let go.

******************************************************************************

Ryan looked at his hand and trembled. The trembling grew to shaking, and the shaking grew so severe that he dropped the gun.

Click.

That was all he had heard. Click. He fell to the ground. He had pointed a gun at his friend’s head and pulled the trigger, and the only thing that saved his best friend’s life from him was the lack of a bullet in the chamber of the gun. Ryan held up his hands and looked at them. Who had he become? What had he become? He shook violently, looking back to Harris. Harris was clutching his jaw, muttering curses under his breath. He hadn’t heard the click.

Ryan sat on the ground, lost. He curled up into a ball. “What’s going on?” he asked himself. “What am I doing?” Harris sat back up and saw Ryan curled up. He had been intensely pissed off about being struck, but that changed when he looked at Ryan. He felt pity and empathy for Ryan now. He was curled up like a lost puppy, hungry and alone in a cruel, cruel world. “Ryan...” he started. Ryan crawled away and tried to stand. After a moment, he managed to. “You have to leave, Harris.” Harris stood up and looked at the shaking form of his old friend. He started to argue, but Ryan cut him off. “Go. Before you... before you die too.” Harris looked at his friend, sorrow filling dominating eyes. Ryan was right. He had to leave, but Ryan couldn’t. It’s just how it was. harris turned around. “You know I’ll always be your friend.” Ryan didn’t respond, and Harris left the room, never turning back to take one last look at what was once his old friend.

Discord had been floating through the halls for a while now, searching for the boys. He had to apologize, and offer to help them however he could. It took his quite some time to find the blood trail on the floor. When he did, he followed it. It brought him to a kitchen. Ryan was sitting in the center, surrounded by blood and bodies. “Ryan, what happened?” Ryan didn’t answer. He sat in front of Ryan, putting on a soft voice. “Ryan.” Ryan looked up. “What?” he asked, choking back sobs as he tried to speak. Discord knew that something had just happened. he didn’t ask, though. “Ryan, I’m... sorry. I should have just ended this from the start. It’s all my fault.” He hung his head shamefully. “I’ve been playing your game by my rules. But we’ll play by yours now.” Ryan looked at Discord distrustingly. upon laying his eyes on Discord’s face, though, he realized that he was telling the truth.

Ryan looked Discord in the eyes. “I have to do this, Discord. I won’t have you do it.” He pointed down the hall. “Harris is leaving.” Discord turned to look, and down the hall, he was barely able to make out the form of Harris. “Help him, Discord. Help him get to where he wants to be.” Discord looked at Ryan sadly. “I guess that this is it, then.” Ryan nodded. “This is how it’s gonna have to be.” Discord teared up. He had never lost friends before; he had never really had them. He put his hand forth. “Good luck, Ryan.” Ryan took his hand and shook it. “Take care of him, Discord.” They released their hands, and Discord flew off out of the room after Harris.

The Paths We Choose

Ryan sat in his spot for a long time. He didn’t want to move at the moment; he wasn’t sure he would ever really want to move again. His friend was gone, along with Discord, both at his request. He hated that he had done that, but he knew that it had to be done.

The Woman stood over by the table, shaking her head slowly. “Ryan, Ryan. You’re so foolish, you know that?” Ryan didn’t move, only sat on the ground sulking. “Harris doesn’t want you to kill Narendra. He doesn’t care that I’m gone. Can’t you see that?” Ryan stood slowly, glaring at The Woman. If looks could kill, his would have stabbed The Woman over and over until she fell to the ground and bled out. She didn’t seem to care that he was glaring at her. “He’s going to try to stop you.” Ryan shook his head. “No. He’s not. I know that.” He looked at her, a calm demeanor suddenly taking over. “I sent him home, with Discord to guide him there. He’s going to be safe. From this... from me. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” The Woman laughed. God, was that frustrating. “You naive young man.” Before she could continue, Ryan interrupted. “No, I am not.” He turned and started to walk out the other door, the one Harris didn’t leave through. It led back to the driveway.

As he walked down the hall, The Woman continued talking to him. He did his best to ignore her. “You’re making a mistake.” she said to him. Ryan laughed this time. The Woman glared at him. “I’ve already made lots of mistakes. Number one being listening to you.” He stopped, and she halted behind him. “I won’t pretend that I don’t regret a lot of what’s happened.” he explained. “But I sure as Hell won’t let it stop me now.” He turned and glanced at The Woman. She looked pretty angry. “Now. Piss. Off.” He turned back around and kept walking.

After a short time, he got outside to the driveway. Looking around, he could tell Harris hadn’t been here; he was probably going to get a boat. Discord could easily guide him back, then get him home to Australia. Ryan actually felt at ease about that. He knew that his friend would be alright, but he felt sorrow about not being able to send him off on a better note. All along, Ryan knew that they would wind up separating, but he had thought that it would be by... other methods, to say the least. He looked to where the car had burst out from earlier. There was a lot of debris from the garage door that was smashed open, spread about all over the driveway. He walked over to the garage.

On his way, The Woman appeared before him once again. Ryan sighed impatiently. “Didn’t I tell you to piss off?” The Woman shook her head vigorously. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.” Ryan sighed once again, this time, all patience gone. He passed right through her into the garage and scanned the room. Around him, there were a bunch of cars, presumably those which belonged to the dead guys inside. He had quite the selection, although he wasn’t that familiar with cars. He figured he would just avoid the huge ones. After a few minutes, he spotted one in particular that caught his eye. “That should work.” he said to himself. He walked over to it; it was a seriously tricked out Toyota Prius. It had custom paint, and on the inside, it was all very comfy looking. The key was even on the dashboard. He went to open the door, but The Woman put her hand on the top. “The only way that you’re going to be able to finish this game is by taking every piece off the board, Ryan. EVERY piece.” Ryan looked The Woman dead in the eye and held the gaze unwaveringly. “As long as the king piece is safe, I win.”

He yanked the car door open. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He turned to The Woman with his hand behind his back. “No one,” His hand shot out from behind his back, his knife clutched in it. It went straight into The Woman’s torso. She gasped in shock. “NO ONE, hurts my friends.” The Woman fell back and disappeared. Ryan looked at his knife; no blood. He looked back up. “And you weren’t my friend.” He sheathed his knife as he got into the car and drove off.

Harris trudged down the hall, leaving a trail of tears in his wake. He was being sent away, against his will, from that which he cared so greatly for. His best friend had to send him away to protect him. He felt like he’d had his sense of security ripped open and thrown up in. It stank, like rotting food. He just walked down the hall, trying to avoid thinking about everything.

Discord floated up next to him, but Harris didn’t notice at all. Rather than startle him, Discord figured that he would just wait for Harris to notice. He and Ryan always had before.

Harris turned around and yelped when he saw Discord behind him. Falling to the ground, he flailed his arms about, seeking something to grab onto. He hit the floor with a resounding thud. “Hi Harris.” Discord said. Harris looked up at Discord, mild annoyance in his eyes. He took in a deep breath and released a drawn out sigh. “What do you want?” he asked, getting back up and dusting himself off. Discord fidgeted his fingers. “Well, Ryan said to help you.” Harris looked up, sudden interest clear and present. He looked Discord over once, then again, and remained totally silent. “With what?” he asked, suspicious. Discord stood on the ground. “Well, with whatever you want to do.” Harris looked him over again. “Fine.” he turned around and walked back down the hall, Discord in tow.

At the end of the hall, they found themselves before the door to the greenhouse again. Harris walked through and looked around. After taking a quick scan, he walked about and took some of the edible plants in the room. Discord floated on in. “What are you doing?” he asked. Harris pocketed what he could and went to the broken window. “Food for the journey.” He stepped through. Discord followed.

Outside, Harris started to walk in the direction of the first area where they infiltrated the compound, around where the boats were. As he made his way there, he thought about what he was going to do. “I want to go home.” he knew. He looked in the direction that he came from. “But Ryan can’t possibly do this alone.” But then, how could Harris help his old friend? Ryan had killed over a dozen people in cold blood, something that would get him the death sentence in most legal systems. He no longer cared who he killed, as long as he got to Narendra. “He told me to leave before I died too.” he thought chillingly. Did he imply that he was a danger to Harris? No, no, that couldn’t be it. Ryan cared too much about his friends to be dangerous to them. What did he mean? Harris decided to ignore that and think about other factors.

Like his ability to help. Throughout the whole journey, Ryan had done the vast majority of the work. He had killed all the people, which no doubt screwed him up something fierce. He had thought up almost all of the plans, including how the attack on this compound. Ryan had done so much. Harris did save his life right before Narendra got away, but Ryan had saved him from slavery when he could have left for home. That was hardly an even trade. “I never provided him enough support.” he concluded. The thought made his stop in his tracks. “Harris?” Discord asked. Harris wasn’t listening. “Is it my fault that Ryan is this way now?” he wondered guiltily. “I... I could have done more to prevent this...” His jaw quivered. “Harris.” Discord said loudly. Harris turned around, eyes glassy and red. “This is my fault, Discord.” he said suddenly. Discord visibly flinched at hearing that, he was so shocked. “I... I could have done so much to help him... but I just didn’t. Ryan is lost now, and I could have shown him the way.”

Discord was flabbergasted by Harris’ words. He digested them for a moment. “I suppose that is slightly true.” he thought. “But it’s more my fault.” Discord looked down at Harris, who was now sniffling and sobbing. He crouched in front of Harris. “No, it’s not.” Harris looked at him, confused. “It’s mine. You’re in a situation where you have to make decisions on the spot because, if you don’t, you die.” He made Harris look into his eyes. “You aren’t at fault for not knowing what to do.” Discord let Harris’ head go, then turned away. “It’s my fault. I tried to force my ways onto the two of you, and it has cost you dearly. If I had just helped you from the beginning, this could all be over and you two could be home.” He turned back to Harris, who looked at Discord, astonished. The Spirit of Chaos, admitting fault? Well, guilt is one powerful force. “So I guess that everyone’s at fault here, eh?” He added a humorless laugh. Harris smirked. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Harris turned around to look in the direction of the river. “So what are you going to do now?” Discord asked. “Just tell me what you need to do, and I’ll help you out.” Harris opened his mouth to speak when he heard dialogue in the distance. Afraid, he started to run in that direction, hoping that there were no more enemies left around. As he ran to the driveway overlook, the voice he had heard became more clearly one voice. One person was talking to someone who wasn’t responding. And in English. “Is that Ryan’s voice?” Harris wondered aloud. When he got to the overlook, he peered over the edge. Sure enough, it was Ryan there. But there was no one nearby. “Didn’t I tell you to piss off?” Ryan said to the empty air in front of him. A moment of silence. Then, he sighed, and went on over to the garage. Harris looked on, sorrow befalling him. Discord floated up behind him. “Who’s there?” he asked. Harris shook his head sadly. “Only Ryan.” Discord looked confused, then muttered, “Oh.”

Ryan kept on talking once he was inside the garage, though what he said could not be discerned. A few minutes of silence came. “What do you think he’s doing?” Harris asked. Discord looked with narrowed eyes, then replied, “I think he’s getting a car.” An engine roared into life. “Yep.” Discord declared with a hint of pride. Harris got low behind the wall as a car came out of the garage and slowly drove off.

He looked on after it. He had done that a lot with Ryan lately, looking on from behind, not being actively engaged like him. He looked over to the garage, then down to the ground. It was probably about a fifteen foot drop. He could make it easy, if he rolled. He stood on the rail. “Harris, what’re you-” Harris hopped off the rail and fell to the ground, rolling as he landed to minimize the impact. Discord flew down after him in a fluster. “Harris! Why?” Harris dusted himself off and looked to Discord. “Minimize time consumption.” He went over to the garage, Discord following in with in conniption. “Calm down, man.” he ordered. Discord breathed in deep and stopped. “Why are we in here, Harris?” he asked leerily. Harris took a look around. There were plenty of cars. “We’re taking a car.” He walked over to a smallish one and opened the door. It was unlocked, and he hopped in. “Wouldn’t a boat be better?”

Harris chuckled a bit, surprised as himself for what he was about to say. “We can’t follow as easily by boat.”

The Longest Road

Luna sat up in her bed reluctantly. The previous night hadn’t yielded very much rest; she kept having dreams about the soldier who was being held captive by the griffons to the south. It disturbed her, thinking about what might have been going on for so long. Especially when Ryan’s experiences got into the mix.

As Luna got up, she looked over to STarstep, who still slept peacefully by the flames. “I wonder if he has any idea that his friend is still alive?” She felt a pang of guilt. “I wish I could tell him... but then he would probably try to go rescue his friend.” She hopped off her bed. “And I don’t want to lose him.” She walked over to her library, but as she passed Starstep, she looked down at him sadly. “I’m sorry, Starstep.” She nuzzled him in his sleep, causing him to stir. He made what sounded like a happy noise. “Truly, I am.” She walked away from him.

Initially, she planned on going right back to Ryan this morning, but she decided to clean herself up first. She brushed her teeth and took a shower. In the shower, she thought about what Ryan might be doing. “I wonder how much longer until he reaches Narendra?” she asked herself aloud. She asked herself this and many more questions, not even noticing the door open and Starstep walk through. He was in a state of half-sleep, and had no awareness of his surroundings. In this state, he used the toilet and, albeit unknowingly, flushed it. The flush generated a sudden surge of hot water in the shower. “AAHHH!” Luna yelled. She leapt out of the shower, right into Starstep, who was well into being awake after that scream. They fell to the ground.

Luna sat up and glowered at her guard. “Starstep.” she growled. Starstep looked up and swallowed, terrified at the prospect of what his princess might be about to do to him. “umm, y-yes your majesty?” She got up from him and went back to her shower, turning the temperature up. Before he knew what was happening, he was glowing navy blue and flew right into the shower. “HOT HOT HOT!” he yelled. Luna laughed maniacally. “Understand the burning sensation that you have put me through, dear guard!” Not willingly to let it go, Starstep yelled back, “Too much information, princess!” Luna’s laughed screeched to a stop, and she just stood there, unsure of how to respond. Starstep took the opportunity to get out. “I can see that you heard me.” Luna was turning purple, her blue coat combining with the red blush. She pushed him against a wall with her hof, which Starstep didn’t fight against. She got close to his face, then used her other hoof to hold him up. “Whoa, aren’t you supposed to take me to dinner first?” Starstep just kept on digging a deeper hole for himself to fall in. Luna smirked and pressed up against him. “Those are the old ways.”

Now it was Starstep’s mind’s turn to screech to a stop. He had no idea what to do; there was no way to respond. Luna let him go. “Hah!” she yelled. Starstep was still too stunned to speak. “I win!” She pranced out, leaving Starstep wet on the floor. He shook himself off. “For now.”

Luna hopped down the stairs, her day having started off nicely. Perhaps it was a good sign of things to come? At that thought, Luna dropped down the staircase , gliding to a stop at the bottom. When she arrived, she felt somehow cold. She looked over to the pool, a sudden lump forming in her gut, ruining her good mood. “Ryan...” she said, slowly walking over. Apprehensively, she peeked into the pool, unsure of what to expect. She felt enormous relief when she saw that Ryan was in a car, sleeping. Before entering the pool, she thought about that feeling she had gotten. “I hope that nothing happened...” After that thought, she lowered herself into the pool, nervous about what might happen in the other world.

**********************************************************************************

Ryan slept restlessly in the back of the car. In his dreams, he was tormented by the images of his journey, all the people he had killed. He couldn’t escape their burdensome presence, day or night. They were always there to be the scourge of his life.

He was now just laying in the back of the car, sleep deprived and thoughtful. He wondered how long it would take to get to Narendra’s compound north of Buon Me Thuot. In the glove compartment, he had found a map of Southeast Asia, and thankfully, it was in English. The car must have belonged to some South African guy or something. After looking over the map and his gas meter, Ryan determined that he could probably get most of the way to Buon Me Thuot, then just walk the rest. He still had some supplies to live off of, and they’d last him a while, if he rationed properly. The journey would only be a day or two, too, so he would have more than enough for this.

His thoughts turned to what he was going to do after he did this thing that he had been going for so much. What could he do? He couldn’t go home. He couldn’t stay in Asia, not with him having become an international criminal. He had killed a border agent! They probably thought that he was some kind of terrorist. The irony. He had no money, so travel wasn’t really an option. There was really only one thing he could do; off himself, or cause enough trouble to get someone else to. He had made a promise to Harris, but at this point, why would that matter? They were just words, in the end. They held no power over his actions. Yet, he couldn’t shake off the memory that he had made such a promise.

Something felt like it was exerting pressure against Ryan’s mind. Disregarding it as sleep deprivation, Ryan rolled over and tried to rest. When the pressure increased, Ryan sat up and rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t getting much rest anyway.

In front of him, on the hood of the car, lay Luna. Ryan let out a startled cry at the sudden introduction of dark blue in the predominantly green and brown landscape. After recovering, he looked forward at her. “You know, you could give me some advance warning next time.” he said loudly in an effort to get his voice through the glass. Luna floated forward, through the windshield, and sat next to Ryan the way a human would. Ryan looked at her oddly, then decided that it was just one of those things. “Good to see you too.” she replied. Luna glanced around the car, but seemed perplexed about something. “Something wrong?” Ryan asked. Luna turned back to him. “Where is Harris?” she asked.

Ryan looked at her for a brief moment, but perhaps that moment was too long. Luna saw a sadness in Ryan’s eyes as he tore them away from her gaze. “Ryan?” she asked. He looked out the windshield, trying to ignore her. “Where is Harris?” Her voice was laden with concern. If it were tangible, it could probably be used as a blanket.

“We attacked Narendra’s compound in Cambodia.” Ryan answered. He was still in Cambodia, but semantics weren’t terribly important at the moment. Luna’s eyes became like craters on the moon, deep and huge. “What?” she said. Ryan didn’t answer; instead, he turned on the car, the engine roaring into life. Luna kept watching Ryan, totally oblivious to the car. “Ryan, what happened to Harris?” Ryan set the car in gear and began to drive. “We attacked the compound. Inside, shit happened. He’s okay, but...” His eyes looked like dams; there could be a million gallons of water behind them. “he isn’t going to be joining me any more.” The car bumped up and down as Ryan drove it down the road. It was the longest road, but it wasn’t likely to have enemies, police, or distractions. Luna sounded like she didn’t believe Ryan. “Why not?” Ryan shook his head, tears beginning to flow. “I... he...” He started over again. “Luna, please understand...” He just couldn’t figure out how to say it. Shaking his head, his chest began to bob up and down. “Ryan,” Luna pleaded. “I promise I’ll listen to the whole thing.” Taking in a deep breath, Ryan let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “We attacked the compound. While I went through, I killed a bunch of guys.” That part was easy to say, and Luna could tell. She shifted uncomfortably. “Eventually, I found Narendra. He was on a stage. By that time, I had taken a big machine gun, and... I... I just lost it.” Luna put her hoof on Ryan’s shoulder. The car slowed to a stop. “I promised you I would try not to do any evil...” He let his head fall to the steering wheel. “But when I unloaded into that room... there was a girl, being auctioned on the stage.” Luna felt her chest tighten. “She... she was next to Narendra. She’s dead.” Ryan burst into tears.

Luna watched Ryan unfold himself before her. She was at a loss as to what she should feel; Ryan just told her that he killed an innocent girl. But she did say that she would listen. “At the time, I didn’t even realize. Only after I stopped, did I see what had happened.” He looked straight into Luna’s eyes and commanded her gaze. “Even then, I just walked past her bloodied body.” Ryan closed his eyes. “I... I don’t have any idea what I can do.” Luna looked pitifully at the boy. She had no idea what he was feeling. “What happened to Narendra?” She already knew the answer. “He got away.” Yep. Luna pondered this for a moment. “Had he been more careful, the girl might be alive, and Narendra might be dead.” But that wasn’t the only issue at hand. “But, his current mental state is, at most, partly his fault. None of this is his fault, but he has handled it ... well, I can’t rightly say how. I don’t know these feelings.” She stopped thinking on the last thought. “I can’t judge him at all... how can I?” Ryan still cried into the steering wheel. “He has tried to do good... even if he failed.” She removed her hoof from the boy.”And I suppose that’s all anyone can ever expect from anyone, isn’t it?”

Luna moved her head to be next to Ryan’s and hummed a faint lullaby. Surprisingly, it actually did serve to calm the boy down a bit. “Ssshhhhh.” she said. She didn’t even know what she was about to start saying, only that she was going to try to help Ryan. “You tried. Sometimes, we don’t get what we want just because we try.” She thought about a phrase Ryan had told her about the first time they met. “When we fall off the horse...” She wanted Ryan to finish it. He lifted his head; the tears had slowed. “... we get back on.” he finished. Luna smiled a little inside. “Now go forth and get your justice.” she said. Ryan turned the car back on and drove onward, Luna, feeling conflicted, by his side.

Harris was driving his car conservatively, trying to save gas and not go too fast. If he went too fast, then he would catch up to Ryan, which he didn’t want to do just yet. He was planning on staying behind him, just far enough so that he could jump in to save his old friend if necessary, but not so close as to be seen by him.

Discord was in the back seat, watching the scenery pass by. “Just keep following the road. It’s actually a straight shot to Buon Me Thuot, the road is just really long. As long as you keep your distance, you won’t need any further directions from me.” Discord had used a spell on Ryan so that he could always find him, and so he could give Harris any directions he might need in the future while he followed Ryan. It was extremely helpful, and now Harris could see why Ryan would be interested in keeping Discord around. “Alright.” he replied.

Harris was trying to think through what exactly he was trying to do by following Ryan. He knew that he was going to try to protect him, but what else was there that was making him do this? Why was he doing what he was doing? There truthfully wasn’t a lot he could do; he still had the Automag, but he wasn’t sure that he willing to use it. If he had to, he hoped he would, but the implications were enough to make his head hurt. Nothing was making sense any more; Harris was just doing what he thought seemed like the right thing. Some people spent an eternity trying to figure out what they wanted. It’s often times the longest road a person can follow. Rather than follow that road, though, Harris deviated off and tried to focus on the now. And now, he wanted to make sure Ryan was okay.

He had come to a close call when he was following Ryan. Being half an asshole, Discord decided not to tell Harris that Ryan’s car was just up ahead, and Harris actually came into view of it. He had stopped and could only hope that Ryan hadn’t seen it. Presumably, Ryan was parked and sleeping in the car, so the odds of him spotting Harris were low, especially after Harris parked off the road. It was a close one, though. While parked, Harris fell asleep, and when he awoke, Ryan had already driven off. “Discord...” Harris thought indignantly. He turned on his car and drove.

As he followed the road, he thought more about what he was doing, but rather than worry about the why’s, he worried about the what’s and the how’s. If Ryan was attacked, how would he help? The most reasonable option seemed to be to attack head on, since whoever would attack Ryan wouldn’t see it coming. He could distract them long enough, maybe even take them out, and Ryan would be able to get himself out of trouble. But how would Ryan react to Harris’ presence? He had sent him off to go home, but Harris wasn’t doing that. Would Ryan be angry? Happy? Or would he just send him off again, sadly unable, for whatever reason, to travel with his friend? Harris couldn’t help but think that, regardless of what happened, he wouldn’t be able to stay with Ryan.

Discord must have been listening to Harris’ thoughts, because he felt like chiming in on the issue. “Yea, Ryan probably won’t let you stick around him. Not sure how he would do it, but he would find a way.” Harris grunted, unhappy that someone else came to the same conclusion as he. “Oh? And what made you think about that?” Discord answered him straight up. “I listened to your thoughts.” he leaned forward. “You seemed troubled.” Harris sighed impatiently. “Personal space mean anything to you, guy?” Discord laughed. “No. Why in Equestria would it?” Harris was about to ask what the hell Equestria was, but Discord kept on talking. “When you’re as magical as me, rules need not apply for a position, because they aren’t welcome in the office.” Harris shook his head and just watched the road, the car becoming awkwardly silent. He kept on thinking about the possibilities of what could happen, and with each one, he grew more nervous.

Discord sat back in his seat, observing the boy in front of him. “He’s a good kid, if a little dull.” The things he was thinking about were pretty predictable. “Ryan. Now, there was an interesting kid. Clever and headstrong, for the most part.” Discord grew bored with his thoughts quite rapidly. “So what do you plan to do with Ryan after all this is said and done?” he asked. The car lurched forward with a moment of added speed; Harris was taken by surprise by the question. “He has no real plans for himself, but any plans that you might have for him will be unacceptable to him. So what’ll happen?” Harris was silent. “After this, is there any way you can keep helping him? I certainly could, but I’m not too sure that you can.” Harris’ breathing became deep and slow. His hands gripped the steering wheel hard enough that his hands turned white. “What will you-” “I don’t know!” Harris yelled. “I-I don’t know, okay?! All I want is to make sure Ryan isn’t killed by these bastards!” Discord let Harris fume in the front seat for a minute before speaking again. “But what will you do after?” he asked. Harris still fumed. “Will you just go home? Forget about him, everything that’s happened?” Harris began to calm down. “I think he’d like that.” Harris shook his head, a pained expression on his face that permeated the rest of his body. “I’ll never be able to forget about this, Discord. And neither will he.”

Discord took in his words and calculated their meaning. “You know, he might not want to live on after this. He’s your friend, so I can understand why you want him to live on, but do you really have the right to try to make him?” Harris kept his eyes forward. “He has suffered, more than even you can ever know. What right have we or anyone to make him live with what he’s seen, what he’s done?” Harris glanced back at Discord. “You make no sense.” Hah! One of the few times Discord tried to make sense, and it wasn’t working. “Me? I’m making perfect sense. You’re allowing what you want to overshadow your judgment. Believe me, I know what it’s like to live in a terrible state of being; I did it for over a thousand years, and after the first few months, I wanted to just end it. I know what Ryan’s going to feel like; and I know that it isn’t something that anyone should ever be subjected to.” Harris shook his head. “No, no. I can’t let him die. It wouldn’t be right.” Discord sighed. “Sometimes, there is no right decision. You’ll have to pick the lesser of two evils, and for that, there is no guideline, no set of rules to follow. You just have to decide and move on.”

Harris stopped talking to Discord after that. he didn’t want to; how could Discord, an evil spirit of chaos and mayhem, possibly know what was right or wrong? Harris felt a bit of anger boil up, but quickly doused it to control himself. Discord clearly knew suffering; but he had no idea of the suffering that Ryan and Harris had gone through. Harris knew that Ryan could be brought back, but only he could do it. Only someone else who knew could possibly help. That was what Harris decided to do; after all was said and done, he would bring Ryan home and help him become the way he used to be.

Harris had decided on the longest road to end the suffering; but he didn’t know how many potholes and detours would be there along the way.

**********************************************************************************

The car ride was spent mostly in silence, at first. Ryan had been thinking about how he would go about attacking Narendra’s new compound, in Vietnam. Narendra was obviously going to be aware that Ryan was alive and hunting him, and would likely have some kind of trap set for him. Ambushes, bombs, gundowns, all were possibilities.

As it turned out, Ryan was already in Vietnam; he had been driving for several hours. At the border, where there was mysteriously no checkpoint, Luna tried to lighten everything up abit with meaningless conversation. “So, umm...” she started. Ryan was done thinking a while before, and decided to actually listen, maybe make the car ride less interminable. Luna tried to keep the conversation away from potentially violent things. “Where did you learn to drive?” she asked. Ryan flexed his fingers, then wrapped them back around the steering wheel. “I learned back in New Jersey. Failed the first test, passed the second time.” Luna was relieved that she had found a normal topic of conversation. “What happened on the first one?” she asked. She was actually curious as to what his life had been like, and anything was good. “I missed a stop sign. It was bent over, and the other one that was SUPPOSED to be there was outright missing.” He shrugged. “Live and learn.”

Luna scoured her imagination for anything else to talk about. She could actually do anything, almost, but she wanted to ask something that seemed interesting. Then she remembered SCUBA Diving. “So what kinds of interesting things have you seen while you were SCUBA Diving?” she asked. She couldn’t quite tell, but she thought she saw a smile crack onto Ryan’s face. “Lots of things, actually. I saw a reef shark once, tons of little ray and skates, freakish looking fish, and even a Manta in Miami once.” Luna listened with interest. Ryan sounded like he had seen many interesting things in his life. He laughed. “Once, the divemaster found a pufferfish. Since he was wearing gloves, he decided to poke it, you know, make it puff up. Then, he decided to push it at us all!” He laughed, drawing Luna in a bit. “I was freaking out. And this other time, I saw this huge lobster, like a little bigger than my torso,” Luna looked at Ryan’s torso; that was a big lobster. “and the divemaster nearly swam right into it, ‘cuz she couldn’t see it.” Ryan was actually smiling by now. “Those were good days.”

Luna was happy to have gotten Ryan to feel something pleasant, after what he had been going through. As long as she was careful, she didn’t have to worry about him too much, it seemed.

The sun was beginning to dip over the horizon. “I think I may have to stop soon.” Ryan announced, slowing his car down. “Don’t want to risk traveling in the dark, maybe run into an ambush.” Luna nodded her agreement. “Very well. I should probably take my leave, head home. I need to raise the moon.” Ryan looked at her with a skeptic’s face. “Yeah. You go do that.” Luna rolled her eyes and started to disappear. “I will. If only you could see it.” She sighed, nearly gone. “Ahh, well. Maybe someday.” She was gone.

************************************************************************************

Luna didn’t hesitate to get up, and ran up her staircase to her room. While she was in the car, she had been thinking of things to do to her guard when she returned. All sorts of things came to mind; she could use magic for hundreds of things, she could put him in an awkward situation with other guards around, she could do almost anything. At the top of the stairs, she scanned the area. No one. She went to her room. No one. “Hmmm.” she muttered. She went over to her door and listened through it; no noise. Of course, he could still be out there. She burst through the door. “Ahah!” she shouted. Two guards just looked at her, wondering what she was doing. “Ahem.” she said, regaining her composure. She regally walked past the two guards, who snickered behind her. She turned around. “Where is Starstep?”she asked. Both guards suddenly got quiet. They looked at each other seriously, then turned back to Luna, who cocked her head at them. “He’s in the garden.” one said. Luna thanked them and walked off. Why would he be in the garden?

She made her way to the garden, deciding that she would go to the balcony to raise the moon after. Starstep had actually left his post. He didn’t just do that.

Luna entered the garden quietly. If Starstep was, in fact, out here, he would probably be wanting privacy. As much as Luna was ready to violate that privacy, she wanted a moment to observe him in his moment of privacy, to determine why Starstep was here. She scoured the area, going to all the most remote places in the garden first. Was he hiding? Maybe he had planned for Luna to come looking for him. She could not rule out that possibility. She looked high and low, but found nothing.

As she walked back to the door, what she saw made her feel ridiculous. Starstep was in front of the Nighthawks statue, just sitting there, looking up at it.

Luna quietly, like a mouse, approached from behind him, to see if he was saying anything to himself. It turned out, he was. “Nice piece of flank, she is. Personality’s a winner to boot, too. Wouldn’t mind stealing that royal treasure.” Luna’s face grew hot at the words. Was he talking about her, or maybe Celestia? “Yeah, that moon is nice and full.” Luna’s mouth opened, and she was dumbstruck. Clearly she was not meant to hear this. She turned to walk away. “Hey Luna.” Starstep blurted, causing Luna to leap ten feet into the air.

She recovered and looked at her guard, who smiled evilly at her. Oh, he was good. Looking around, Luna was glad that no one was there to hear it. “How did you know that I was here?” she asked. Starstep shook his head and brought his hoof to his face. “You walked right over there, Princess. I saw you come in.” Luna blushed a little, embarrassed that her stealth had totally failed. Starstep turned back to the statue. “Yeah, not the most situational awareness I ever saw.” Luna frowned at him and walked over, plopping herself down next to him. “Whatever.” she said. Starstep decided to mock her. “No witty response? Come on, I practically live for that.” Luna leaned on him. “None right now. I’m all dried up.” Starstep snickered. “I somehow doubt that.” Luna scrunched her face and pursed her lips at the sudden intrusion of words, deciding not to even respond to it. Starstep sighed and set his eyes on the Crest of Valor.

Luna looked at his face. She had learned, from watching Ryan, how to figure someone out by looking at their face. Starstep’s face betrayed little emotion; his jaw was steady, his brow was still, and his nostrils stayed calm. It was his eyes, though. In them, Luna could see the sadness with which she had lately become familiar. Starstep suffered from loss. He had lost his whole team to those griffons, and he wasn’t even aware that one was still alive. Though it was probably for the better that he didn’t know. His eyes displayed a longing for the friendship he once knew, but there was something more, something Luna couldn’t quite define. “Are you alright?” she asked. Starstep didn’t move, only said, “I’m fine.” Luna wasn’t letting him get away that easy. “You can talk to me, you know.” She put her wing around him. He wasn’t getting out of this. “I’ll listen.”

Starstep embraced the wing, letting it pull him into Luna’s side. He let his head fall down, and Luna put her head over his as if trying to protect him from some unknown danger. “I miss them.” he said. Luna nodded. “I understand.” She rubbed his side with her wing. “Would you like to talk about them? I’m sure they were great stallions.” Starstep scooched closer, glad to be in the presence of someone who actually cared about his team. “I loved those guys. Blazer and I were especially close. We did everything together; we drank, we worked, we were paired up in our team.” Luna remembered the name from the letter she had stolen a read from before, when she helped Starstep move in. “It’s... it’s just so hard to believe that they’re gone.” Oh, how Luna longed to tell him the truth, that one may yet be alive. But, at the same time, she couldn’t do that to him. She held him tightly, putting her foreleg around him nice and tight. “I understand.” she told him. Starstep buried his face in her shoulder. “But you must know that all they would want for you would be happiness. You can’t let this get you down.” Her coat grew wet where Starstep’s face was. “They would want you to be happy. I want you to be happy.” Starstep pressed himself into her. “Please, you must try to move on. For them. For me.” Starstep stopped crying and pushed himself back. When he raised his head, he looked like he had steeled himself for a fight. “I... I will try. For you.” Luna smiled warmly and pulled Starstep back in. She nuzzled his face. “Thank you.”

The two ponies sat in silence before the statue, content to be in each other’s presence.

**********************************************************************************

After Luna left, Ryan continued forward for a short time. He still had some daylight left, so he figured that he may as well use it. Soon, though, the sun fell, and Ryan had to stop. He shut off the car and stepped out of it for some fresh air.

He needed a good talk anyway.

“Please Ryan, don’t go through with this.” she pleaded. Ryan sighed, understanding her trepidation. “I’m sorry, Nadine.” He turned back to the car and opened up the glove compartment. Inside it earlier, he had found a lighter and cigarettes. He looked at them as he re-exited the car. “I’ve got to. If not for me or you or your son or Catherine, I have to.” The Woman stepped forward, setting her hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Even Luna doesn’t want you to do this, Ryan.” Ryan looked down at the cancerous little sticks in his hand. Shrugging, he pulled one out and lit it. He didn’t even get through his first puff before he coughed uncontrollably. “Goddam, why would someone start this crap?” he thought, tossing away the cigarettes. He looked at The Woman. “She doesn’t understand, and she knows that. Why do you think she isn’t stopping me?” The Woman bit her lower lip and quickly turned around. “Ryan,” she said, holding back tears. “I don’t want to see you die. No one does. Please, just go home. Get someone else to handle it.” Ryan took in a deep breath, releasing it with a sigh. “I can’t risk it. If I go now, Narendra may go underground and never be found. It has to be me, or no one will.” The Woman turned and ran to Ryan, stopping just in front of him. “No, you don’t know that!” She threw her arms around Ryan. “Why are you really doing this? Tell me; why?” Ryan removed her from himself as gently as he could, then looked into her eyes. They were overflowing with fear and sorrow. “Because I need to. I just have to kill him. There is no why. There is no what or when. There is only that I have to do it.”

The Woman stepped back, her jaw quivering from Ryan’s response. She looked into his eyes. In them, there was only anger and hate, sorrow and loss. Ryan wasn’t doing anything for anyone. Everything he had done, all that he desired, was for himself. Both of them knew it, but neither could say it. Ryan only cared for himself, but neither wanted to believe that. The Woman, shaky and almost bawling, looked woefully at Ryan. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Ryan opened the car door. “Well, then, I guess that it’s a good thing that my intentions aren’t good.” He got in the car and tried to allow sleep to take him once more.

Discord figured that it was probably better to allow Harris some time to himself as he drove along. There were a lot of things that he had to work out, and while Discord could help, Harris would ultimately be better off if he answered his moral questions on his own. Discord’s words probably wouldn’t hold much say to Harris anyway. Instead, Discord flew high above Harris, keeping a watch out for anything dangerous. Where he was in the sky, he could still see the sun, but on the ground, it was dark. The headlights on Harris’ car were on, something that looked odd to Discord, even though he knew why they were on.

He thought about deeply about his own role in the events that had transpired since he arrived. He couldn’t argue that it was hugely his fault that the boys were suffering the way they were. He had many chances to just end it, but never took them, because he wanted the satisfaction and social justice of the boys, whom the crimes were committed against, killing Narendra. The feeling made him want to throw up; guilt was not something he had ever experienced before, nor did he want to ever again.

His mind drifted to the subject of Ryan’s revenge, Narendra. Thinking about him, Discord actually discovered something rather interesting; he had only ever seen Narendra twice, heard him speak once, yet he hated him enough to want him dead. He didn’t know anything about the man, but he knew enough that he would gladly watch him die. It was a strange thought; how one can hate something with a burning passion, yet know little or nothing about it. It was similar to the boys, really, mostly Ryan. He had had maybe two days of interaction with the man, yet he was hunting him down to kill him. Humans here were quite different from the ponies back home; they were much more easily attached to a goal and seemed more ambitious in achieving it.

Of course, he couldn’t make such a generalization about humans. Like ponies, they were probably all different. They just lived in a much more volatile world, and responded to it accordingly. He couldn’t say for sure if the ponies back home would do the same as Ryan. He knew that many would be more like Harris; sticking to their friends, through thick and thin, and more judicious in their decisions. Ryan was the opposite of his world; Ryan made whatever decisions furthered his goal, not particularly caring about collateral damage. of course, that wasn’t his fault. His experiences were powerful enough to alter his mind and his world outlook, and he hadn’t been the cause of those experiences.

So, it all came back to Discord. Discord was the cause of the experiences, at least indirectly. Discord allowed those experiences to take place, and still was, truthfully. While Narendra had been the cause, but Discord never even considered using his power to prevent the effect. Now, over thirty people were dead because of his inaction. The thought made Discord’s stomach shrink, barely capable of holding in its contents (which was just snacks that he had poofed up). He was the spirit of chaos; that didn’t mean he was evil. Mostly, he just wanted to have fun, in his own way. He never wanted to hurt anyone, but here he was, responsible for what was essentially a mass killing. Unable to keep flying, he floated back to the car and laid down on top of it. He didn’t feel like talking to Harris, not now. He just wanted to try to forget everything that went through his mind.

Inside the car, Harris was having similar thoughts. What had he done to prevent any of this? There were certainly a couple of moments where he could have lessened the problems, even a couple of moments where he could have gotten Ryan to go home. He never took the initiative, though. He, too, felt like he was partially responsible for some of the death and violence that followed after Ryan. He felt sick, but instead of stopping, he vomited into the seat next to him, slowing down the car. It came to a stop.

Ryan had changed so much. Before, Ryan was this nice guy, caring for his friends and even strangers. He always wanted what was best for the whole, not the individual. He loved joking, conversation, being with his loved ones, and loved challenges. Ryan was dead. In his place, there was a boy who would kill over thirty people to get what he wanted. He didn’t think about anything but achieving his one goal. He decided not to go home, to let his loved ones think he was dead. Ryan was gone; but Harris thought he could bring him back.

He stopped the car. it was dark, and odds were, Ryan was stopping right about now. Harris contactedDiscord. “Hey, Discord, is Ryan much farther ahead?” he asked. It took a moment for him to get an answer. “Not much farther.” That was all the response he got, but that was good enough for Harris. He leaned his seat back and allowed blissful sleep to take him into its loving embrace.

A Colt To Forget

Luna returned to her body much earlier than she had been anticipating. She had not expected Ryan to send her away like that, especially with the coming moment being so important. She wanted to be able to support him, make sure he came out alright, but clearly this was not meant to be. Luna had her trepidations about leaving, of course. Her powers would have proven useful to Ryan in his last push to end Narendra’s reign of terror. But Ryan had weighed the goods and the evils of what he was about to do. He didn’t want to see another flame of innocence snuffed out by the cold, indifferent wind of life. Deep down, he did have a bit of nobility left in him. He wanted to protect all things clean and innocent, even if it made his life harder. Maybe that was a part of why he sent Luna away? Without her help, he could be killed. With his death, that would just be one more terrible thing removed from the world. Yet, how could he be terrible if he was trying to protect the things in his world worth preserving? How can a man be evil if his intentions are so noble? But then, Luna had to weigh that desire with his real goal; revenge. His goals conflicted in their humanitarianist values. His actions were far from noble, but because of them, he was going to make the world a better, safer place. Could he be neutral? Is it possible to be neutral, to be neither good nor evil, in a world that forces one to choose?

Luna looked down into the water of her pool longingly, yearning for Ryan to allow her to come back. Alas, he was not about to do that. He was taking in the river and the compound next to it, elaborating with himself on how he would proceed. “I’ll never abandon my friends, Ryan.” Luna whispered, going prone on the floor. “Never.”

And so she simply laid there, watching as her human friend began his advance into the river.

***********************************************************************************

Through the torrential downpour, Ryan could just see the compound sitting rigid against the riverside. It was coldly gray, uninviting of potential unwanted guests. This wasn’t about to stop Ryan. He briefly considered his options of approach. He was going to have to swim across the river, one way or another. He could go across and onto the other side, approaching from the land. But there probably wouldn’t be any conveniently placed vines like the previous attempt. To do that, it would likely mean going in through the front door. As much as they probably wouldn’t expect that, they would likely be able to cut him down with gunfire right after the doorway. This left him with the option of swimming over to the compound itself and trying to figure something out over there. At the base of the wall, he could see a large pipe leading into the river, oozing out some mildly brown sludge. “There.” Ryan said emotionlessly.

He pulled out his pistol and started to make his way into the water. He had to be careful; there could be any number of dangerous animals. Or he could find a sudden decline and fall right into the water, soaking his pistol. He held the M1911 up high, wanting to avoid letting it get wet. If the pistol were soaked and filled with water, it would no doubt mess up the firing mechanism or the magazine. Slowly, he trudged through the mud over to the water, his feet making loud sucking noises as they came out of the ground each time. You ever had to walk through knee-high mud? It ain’t easy. His shoes barely stayed on his feet throughout the walk. “Glad I double knotted.” he thought. The mud was filling any air filled crevices inside his shoes, making them heavier and heavier each time he stepped. When he finally reached the water, he let out a small sigh of relief. “Damn mud.” he said, almost indifferent about the mud really. He was waist high in the river now, holding the gun in his hand above his head.

He stopped in his tracks. Over on the compound, a light was shining around the area. It was a spotlight, and a bright one too. It swung left and right on its stand, bathing whatever it pointed at in bright light. After a moment, it passed over Ryan, temporarily blinding him, and causing him so shield his eyes. It stayed there for a moment, warming Ryan with its powerful rays. “Please don’t have seen me...” The light moved away, once again leaving Ryan in his cold darkness. “Phew.” He looked back forward at the light source, a scowl appearing on his face. “Guess I’ll need to be on the lookout too.” He waded forward into the water.

The freezing river and rain were sapping Ryan of his body heat, but he did his best to ignore it. Rightnow, he had a goal, and an important one at that. A little bit of cold for a few minutes wasn’t going to kill him, so it wasn’t a problem. Using his left hand and legs to propel himself forward while he held the gun up in his right, Ryan kept an eye on the light. “It probably didn’t see me from that distance.” he thought. “But as I close in, I’ll need to avoid it.” As if on cue, the light began to swing back Ryan’s way. “Shit!” he whispered loudly as it came closer. Clenching the pistol and keeping it just above the water, Ryan dunked the rest of himself under to avoid being seen. He was already soaking wet, so this didn’t really change anything. And with the water reflecting back most of the light, the odds of his pistol being seen weren’t very high. Painfully, he held his eyes open under the water as the light passed overhead, and he released his breath slowly to avoid making too many bubbles or float back up to the surface. The light passed over him without even taking a second glance. “Good.” he thought as he shot his head out of the water to catch his breath. He wasn’t worried about the noise; the rain would cover that up.

After the close encounter with the spotlight, Ryan made a beeline for the pipe at the base of the wall. The rain poured on his head as he made his way there, trying to shove him back under the water and keep him there. Not relenting to the weather, Ryan soldiered on, swimming for the pipe. Every time the spotlight went over him, he repeated his first set of actions, diving under except for his gun and continuing forward.

He reached the pipe, grateful for something to hold onto to avoid going back under the water. Swimming wasn’t his greatest attribute, and it tired him rather easily. “Wishing I had done more of that.” he said to himself, somewhat disappointed in his inability to swim that simple distance without difficulty. He observed the pipe. It was huge, at least four feet tall and wide, and was only about half submerged in the water. Though, if this rain kept up, the tunnel would likely not be available again after maybe twenty to thirty more minutes. “Gotta go fast.” Ryan said, carefully avoiding submerging his pistol as he got into the tunnel. It smelled awful. It was raw sewage, almost purely, and he was going upstream in it. Ryan did his best to hold in a gag as he started to make his way down the tunnel.

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Luna watched almost disbelievingly as Ryan swam across the river, avoiding the spotlight by dunking himself every time it came around. But she noticed something odd. “Before, it stopped on his for a moment.” She thought about the potential implications. “There’s no way they could have seen him, not at that distance in such massive rain.” she concluded. She kept watching. Ryan was at the wall soon after his first encounter with the light in the water. “Are you..?” He was. Luna watched as Ryan climbed into a sewage pipe and began to awkwardly walk his way down the tunnel. Luna gagged at the sight. “I suppose,” she started, holding in her gag reflex. “One must do what one must in order to move forward.” As disgusted as she was by this choice of travel methods, she was also a bit impressed. “He’s certainly not afraid to go through the worst to do this.” Little did she really know, he already had.

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Ryan was in a dark tunnel, the only light coming from the occasional dumping of waste from one of the many holes that lined the top of the pipe. Twice already, Ryan had been struck on the back of the head by falling waste. One time, it was a milk carton. The other, someone had bad diarrhea. Before letting more of it hit him, Ryan moved away from the diarrhea shute. He heard more of it plop into the water behind him. Not looking back, he continued forward, hoping that the tunnel would take him somewhere. There had to be a way out; otherwise, how would any problems down there be fixed, if they couldn’t access it?

He continued forward, not thinking about what he was crawling in. He thought about why. He thought about how. He thought about his next move, what he would do when he got out of the tunnel. He would once again find himself in the belly of the beast, a parasite that it had no idea it had contracted. He would slowly kill it from the inside.

A light shone from another corridor off to his front. It was much brighter than any of the lights that came from the ceiling above him that would always be followed by waste matter. No, this light illuminated the area around it much brighter, and it wasn’t stopping. From that area, Ryan could hear no drops being loosed. He doubled up his pace, intent on getting out of the hellishly smelly and likely bacteria-ridden tunnel. As he made his way forward, he could start to hear voices from the lighted area. “Khi bạn muốn khi một ngôi sao...” The voice was hard to make out, but Ryan could tell that it was a man, lightly singing some little tune to himself. He retarded his pace as he approached the lighted area. No need to alert him that something was on its way up the pipeline.

Ryan stopped just before he went into the light, eavesdropping on the man and his song. “Nếu trái tim của bạn là trong giấc mơ của bạn, không có yêu cầu là quá cực đoan...” Ryan peeked around the corner, ready to yank his head back if the man saw him. Luckily, the man didn’t see him. He was wearing overalls, denim, and had several tools on a belt around his waist and wrapped over his shoulder. He was facing away from the pipe, looking over some machine about seven feet from the pipe. A number of nails lay about the ground around him, a hammer there to complete the set. Ryan kept watching him for a bit longer, trying to discern just how focused he was on his current task. After he didn;t turn around, Ryan figured it was as good a time as any to get moving.

He slowly made his way out of the pipe, holstering his pistol and doing his best to avoid letting the water and waste that was dripping off of him make too much noise as it hit the ground. As he landed, his mud-filled shoes made a big squish as the mud tried to force its way out. Ryan looked forward, terrified that he may have alerted the plumber guy to his presence. He wasn’t turning around. Ryan wiped his forehead, glad that he wasn’t totally screwed. As he did so, he scanned the room, searching for his avenue of entrance to the rest of the building. The only way out was through a door that was just in front of the plumber and his machine. Ryan frowned. “If I must...” He walked forward, careful not to make too much noise, and looked at the ground. The nails and hammer were just below him. He picked up the hammer and held flipped it around. Holding the wedge end just before touching the man’s head, Ryan took aim. “I’m sorry.” The man started to react, but couldn’t finish as the wedge end of a hammer found its way through the right side of his skull with a resounding whack. He fell to the floor, the temple of his skull collapsed by the hammer. Ryan yanked it back out, pulling blood and brain matter out with it. It was a huge hammer.

Ryan gave a once-over to the hammer. It was big, a foot long from one end to the other, with an enlarged head. It was obviously meant for borderline industrial nails. He looked to the door and, hanging the hammer on a spot on his vest, continued on through.

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Luna watched and, though she did her best to steel herself from this, she felt herself vomit a little. She hadn’t expected Ryan to use an everyday tool like that to take a life so brutally and quickly. And then he walked away like it meant nothing.

Luna thought shortly about the implications of this one action brought. If a hammer could be used as a weapon, what other regular tools could be as well? Saws? Almost certainly, with those sharp teeth. Wrenches? They were quite heavy. “My word, hospitals hold some of the most dangerous potential weapons.” Scalpels, syringes, bone saws, and other medical tools could obviously be very dangerous. Luna shuddered. “I’ll just have to pretend I never saw that.”

Now she understood why Ryan sent her away.

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Harris looked across the river at the compound, which he could barely see through all the rain. It was big, with plenty of lights visible on its side. There seemed to be a pipe at the base of a wall on the river, but it was almost totally submerged under the water. It was clearly not an option for entry. Not that it mattered. With all the sludge coming from it, Harris wasn’t intent on going that way anyway.

Discord had forgotten to keep Harris dry, but that didn’t matter. Harris was going to have to swim across the river anyway. Carefully, he began to make his way to the water. The mud sucked off his shoes almost immediately, and he found himself traveling barefoot to the compound. “Note to self; steal some shoes once I’m inside.” He slipped into the cold river and started swimming for the other side.

Above him, Discord kept a close eye on the compound. The lights weren’t moving, save for one, so there only seemed to be one spotlight. As it moved, Discord would distort the light when it got too close to Harris. Whoever was pointing it around didn’t seem to notice, as the light just kept swinging in its regular intervals. He took a quick look down at Harris. He seemed to be doing fine, keeping his body except for his head below the water. It took him some time to get across the river and over to the other side. During that time, Discord was taking a note of all their surroundings. The river was flowing very slowly, and the water level was rapidly increasing. Now, the pipe was barely visible at all. Whoever was on the spotlight had opted to go inside, probably to get out of the rain. Discord knew that he certainly would.

Harris made it to the other side of the river. Slowly but surely, he was getting his footing on the shallow end of the river, pushing himself forward to the shore. He had to be careful, though, because the mud on the bottom had the ability to grab him and suck him into the murky brown depths. To avoid this, he grabbed anything he could to pull himself forward, mostly vines. Several just came loose and floated on into the river, but Harris was able to get enough that were stable to get himself to land. Once there, he put one foot in front of the other, like a baby taking its first steps, until he made it onto the land. He would constantly look back at the building to make sure that he wasn’t being seen or watched; that would put a quick end to his endeavor. Each time he confirmed that he was safe, he would increase his pace to avoid the risk of being seen. After several minutes, he was back on dry land.

Once on land, Harris took careful observations of his surroundings, looking for any way into the building that he could locate. He spotted vines hanging off the side, but Narendra and his goons must have figured out that that was how they got in last time, and they were all cut down. Off towards the front of the compound, away from the river about eighty feet, there was a makeshift driveway with several cars lined up in it. “Guess he’s entertaining guests.” Harris said to himself. Discord floated down to him. “Best watch yourself in there, Harris.” Harris nodded curtly and inched his way over to the wall, the pebbles beneath his feet stabbing at him and rolling under him like the spiked ball on a flail. Trying his best to zone out the pain, he started to crawl his way forward on his hands and knees. When this, too, proved painful, he just started to walk again. By the time he reached the wall, his feet felt like they had been lashed by an oiled whip. He stood against the wall. “Goddam, I got to get a pair of shoes in there.” he concluded once again.

Discord took his eyes off of Harris, who was leaning against the wall catching his breath, and looked around for an entrance that Harris may have missed. Yes, the vines were cut. Could Harris jump up to the remaining pieces? Probably not. He looked around again. There were no other areas where he could scale the wall, but there was one thing that stood out against the dull, gray wall; a window. “Harris,” he said, pointing at the window. Harris looked at Discord, then followed where his finger was pointing with his eyes. “There.” Harris saw the window, and if his eyes had glowed any more, he would have been spotted by Narendra’s men from a mile off in this storm. He watched as Harris quickly moved for the window, stepping carefully the whole way there. Human feet shouldn’t be so sensitive if they’re used all the time for walking.

Harris stopped just before the window, trying to listen for any sounds that might come from the other side. Try as he might, though, he couldn’t hear anything over the pouring rain. He decided to risk taking a look, unholstering his pistol the way he thought that Ryan would. As he pulled it out, Discord looked at it. “Can;t have a waterlogged weapon,” he said, using his magic to remove the water. “Now can we?” Harris didn’t hear him as he began to look through the window. Inside, there were no people in the room, but it was clearly a room of residence. People lived in this room, at least two, since there were two beds and dressers and such in the room. He put his hands on the window slowly and with great care. If there was someone under the window, this could be his last unlucky day. After pushing it for a second, he figured out that it was a window that opened outward, away from the wall. Getting a tiny, but still very strong, grip on the edge, Harris began to pull the window open. When it was an inch or two from the wall, he got his fingers under it and pulled harder, opening it all the way. No doubt, the sounds of the rain were now filling the room, so he had to move fast. He pulled the 3’x5’ window all the way open and dove in.

Apparently, today was not his last unlucky day; it was one of many very lucky days. No one was under the window, there wasn’t even a piece of furniture. Harris rolled in ungracefully, slamming into the floor with a loud thud. He recovered rapidly, though, and shot over to the window, shutting it once more. Automag raised, he stopped and listened for any potential threats from the open doorway that he noticed as he dove in. When he heard none, he shut the door and scanned the room. Shoes. He needed shoes. Like a cat on the prowl, Harris skulked about the room, searching under the beds first, then moving onto the dressers. In the bottom shelf of one, he was able to find a pair of boots. “Not my preference.” he said to himself. Discord entered the room through the wall. “But they’ll do just fine.” After slipping on the boots and taking a few experimental steps with them, he went back over to the door and pressed his ear against it. No noise. This was too strange. Nonetheless, he put his hand on the knob and began to turn it, cracking the door open. No one was in sight. “Discord, can you tell if anyone is actually in the building?” Harris whispered loudly. After several moments of silence, Discord responded. “There are a LOT of guys here, Harris. Tread lightly.”

Discord floated right behind Harris as he proceeded through the building. He couldn’t tell where all the hostiles were, just that there were plenty of them to go around. He could also sense that Ryan was somewhere in the building, but he couldn’t say where for him either. He just floated along behind Harris, keeping an eye on his six for him and listening for any noise that Harris might miss. Harris had gone right from the room, back towards the river. At the end of the hall, there was a staircase that winded up in a big, fancy looking spiral. As he got closer to the base, Harris abated his pace, keeping his eyes interminably glued on the staircase and its canopy. On it, there were no enemies.

Voices were heard from the hall behind Harris. Discord looked over there, but no one was in the hall. Whoever owned the voices must have been in another hall in the other direction. By the sound of it, they were getting much closer. “Harris, up the stairs, NOW!” Discord shouted, causing Harris to freak out a little bit. Still, Harris obeyed, and he sprinted to the stairs and ran up, skipping two steps every time he lifted his legs. By the time he was at the top, which was only less than four seconds, he was out of breath and listening hard. He couldn’t hear the voices. Discord, though, at the base of the stairs, could still hear them. But, they weren’t approaching Harris’ location. Rather, they were fading now, and sounded quite elated about something. With his translation spell, Discord only managed to catch, “Yeah, they can never stop us.” “We will always get away to fight another day.” Choosing to disregard this, Discord went up the stairs, not noticing what sounded like a struggle in the distance.

At the top of the stairs, Discord met back up with Harris, who had recovered nicely from his intense physical exertion. He was crouching, on his heels, waiting for Discord rather impatiently. “You’re good.” he told him. Harris looked like he had dropped six twenty pound sandbags at hearing this, and fell onto his rear. “Thank God.” he said, resting his forearms on his knees. After a moment of this, Discord was the impatient one. He stood up. “Let’s get moving Harris.” He didn’t even know where they were trying to go; neither did Harris, really. They were just trying to be around for in case Ryan found that which he had likely crawled through hitting the fan.

At the top of the stairs, there was only one way to go. There was a door, a big steel door, that probably led outside. As Harris got closer to it, he tried once again to listen for any noise on the other side. All he got was the staticky sound of rain water pounding the building. Discord’s guess was confirmed as Harris opened the door and water shot inside. The door led out onto the roof.

Harris slowly walked through the door and outside. The rain had let up only slightly, still making it hard to see, but the previous darkness was fading. Now, he could see the guy handling the spotlight which he had seen earlier, lazily sitting next to it, swiveling it about while smoking a big cigar. Harris scrunched his nose; even in this rain, he could still smell the big stick of cancer. Quietly, though not terribly so, because the rain covered up a lot of noise, Harris snuck past the guard and onto another area of the roof. He wasn’t going to kill anyone that he didn’t have to. As he walked past, Discord looked over to the guard. “No unnecessary risks.” he thought. As Harris turned a corner, Discord snapped his fingers, and an audible snap came from the man’s neck. He slumped over in his chair, the cigar falling from his open maw. Discord blinked twice. “That was easier than it should have been.” He made a mental note to never do that again.

Harris walked along the second story roof, along a wall that led into a second story set of rooms that he didn’t care about. Under his new boots, the gravel of the roof crunched and shifted around. Combined with the water running under his feet, this made it difficult for Harris to move about. He had to move slowly to avoid losing his footing to the ground beneath him. Over him, Discord chuckled silently to himself that he didn’t have to walk around. Maybe the timing was inappropriate, but a good laugh is always nice, isn’t it?

Harris made his way over to the end of the roof that was away from the water. Once there, he sat against the slightly raised wall, giving himself a moment to break from the tiring excursion which he was willfully undertaking. As he sat there, though, he heard more voices from below. Taking the chance, he looked over the edge, Discord taking a spot doing the same next to him. Below, Harris could easily make out a group of five men, with potentially more underneath the roof. He froze, now wanting to attract attention to himself. From underneath, four more men walked out. At the lead was a smug looking Narendra, saying something in a language that Harris didn’t know. What he saw next surprised him. “What the hell?”

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Ryan was about to leave through the door, but when his shoes proved to be quite heavy and noisy, he opted to ditch them first. He wouldn’t need shoes any more anyway.

Ryan began to make his way out of what seemed to be the septic room and took a left down the hall. With no idea as to where he was in relation to the rest of the building, he thought that he might as well just wing it. His knife was attached firmly to its place on his back, his pistol was in its holster, and his new hammer was in its place on his side. He had two morphine syringes left, thankfully capped and uncontaminated by the sewage water, and still had a bottle of water and a bag of Chex Mix. He dropped the Chex and down some of the water, dropping that right after. They would only slow him down, and if he needed more food, he could probably take it from this building.

Ryan pulled his knife silent as the black of night as he went left. He listened hard for any noises that would signify that an enemy was nearby. The only sound that greeted his ears was the steady, rapid tapping of rain from outside that came from the drain pipe. He moved slowly, leaving a water trail all over the floor when he moved about. He looked back at it. “I hope this doesn’t matter.” he thought. His jacket was dripping too much and making too much noise, so he pulled it off for a moment and wrung it dry for a minute or two. The muscles of his scarred forearms bulged at the effort, and eventually the jacket was dry enough to wear quietly. His pants were already relatively dry, being shorts, and his vest didn’t seem to absorb water. Before moving on, Ryan decided to put his vest on over his jacket for easy access. It took several precious minutes, but by the end, he was totally ready for whatever Narendra could throw at him.

Knife raised in a reinforced stabbing position, Ryan began to make his way through the hall. Now that he was much drier and more free to move, he sped up significantly, making as little noise as possible as he moved on. In this hall, he passed no rooms. Instead, there were lots of deep indents in the wall that held pumps or electronics. Whatever this place was, exactly, it was the kind of place that always had people living in it. “Guess that means I’ll find SOMEONE then.” He kept moving, hurriedly trying to get out of the area which he just assumed was the basement. This was the last place he wanted to get made; a dank corridor with no hiding spaces.

About three quarters of the way down the hall, Ryan found a doorway that led into a staircase. Knife ready to stab and slash, he opened the door a centimeter at a time, listening hard for any men that may be nearby. Even the sound of the rain was gone at this point; absolute, deathly silence. Ryan was making no noise. The door made no noise. The rain was no longer audible, and there were no men to be heard. It made Ryan uneasy.

Nevertheless, he went through the door once he had it all the way open. Sure enough, there was no one on the other side of the door, and Ryan shut it soundlessly. He faced the stairs, unease webbing in his mind. Obviously there wouldn’t be security down here, since this was the drainage area, and no one would suspect a person of entering the way Ryan had. But that didn’t help him. There should have been people down there, at least one more than the man he had hammered in the head. After all, Narendra had to know that Ryan was coming. Having chased him down from Indonesia through Thailand, Cambodia, and now Vietnam, how could he not expect Ryan to come after him? He should have beefed up his security, which maybe he had with the spotlight. But there was no way that he could have considered that to be enough. What else awaited Ryan in this building? Cameras? Extra guards, maybe even armored? Who could tell? Ryan shuddered, not enjoying the lack of knowledge of what to expect once he entered the main building. Still, he soldiered on, ignoring his own fears and escalating up the staircase.

At the top, he found another door, of course. He opened it a little bit more quickly this time, not wanting to create suspicion by opening the door so slowly. He wished he had thought of this before. “I could have been shot through the door, if there had been people.” He made a mental note to just be prepared when he opened doors from then on. As the door came open, just in front of Ryan, there was one man, armed with a Type 77A1 submachine gun, made in China. Before the man could turn around, Ryan held his knife in Icepick grip and brought it around into the side of the man’s neck. he moved back just a bit, causing it to slice into the man’s jugular and into his throat. To compensate for the miss, Ryan swung his other hand around and put it over the man’s mouth, keeping any loud noise from escaping it. He followed that up with a kick to the back of the man’s knee, dropping him to the ground. Before they even got all the way down, the man was quite dead. Ryan looked at his face to determine if this was true; with all the blood cascading from the massive gash in his neck, the man would not be going anywhere. Ryan dropped his body onto the ground and dragged him back into the staircase, leaving behind a dark trail of blood. From holding the back of the man’s neck, there was blood all over his hands that had trickled down, and he wiped them on the man’s shirt. Before leaving the dead man in the staircase, Ryan removed his shoes and socks and donned them himself. That took care of one thing.

He left the staircase, blood still all over his hands and arms, and took a right. As he went down this new hall, he found that there were residential rooms around. As he passed each one, he looked inside. The first, on the right, contained no one, nor did it have any particular items to speak of. He left it. The second, on the left, had two men inside. He decided that attacking them would not be wise, seeing as both had submachine guns under their pillows. This must have been how Narendra prepared for Ryan’s arrival; he didn’t exactly beef up his security, but he made sure that they were more prepared. That was a big mistake. Ryan kept moving, passing each room and finding nothing.

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Luna swallowed hard at the scene which just unfolded before her. She had to look away from it as Ryan cocked his arm back to swing the blade. She had seen him brutally kill the plumber before, she didn’t need to see a potentially much more bloody struggle. From the pool, she heard some movement, then something falling lightly to the floor. She dared a peek; the man was very dead. He had a large gash on his throat, with blood gushing from the wound. Luna turned away to vomit.

When she looked back, Ryan was taking the shoes and socks off of the man’s feet. How could he do that? Just kill a man and take his clothes? Was there no respect for the dead? For certain, there was. But maybe not for all the dead? This man was clearly a bad man, having been working for Narendra. At least, that’s what Luna told herself. She had no way to know; maybe he was like Ryan, neutral? She watched as Ryan donned his new clothes and walked away from the body like it was totally normal. It was, honestly, at this point. This was his thirty-seventh kill and counting. He was desensitized.

Luna was glad that she hadn’t stuck around for all of this. As much as she wanted to help Ryan, she couldn’t have been there for all of this. Just watching was too much. To actually be there, to experience it... she shuddered at the lack of any idea of how bad it would be to be there.

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Eventually, at the last room, he looked inside and found some interesting things inside. In it, there were numerous books, a TV, a radio, and a phone. There was also a dresser and a mirror. “Well, what have we here?” Ryan whispered to himself. He walked inside, looking straight at the dresser, sheathing his knife. He walked over, taking a note of the contents on top of it. There were family pictures, tiny mementos, and other things. But they were all Narendra’s. Ryan had found his room, and was looking at his pictures. He picked one up; it was of Narendra standing happily with his wife, presumably, and two little girls. They couldn’t be any older than Joey was. Questions blew through Ryan’s wall of self-assurance. “What will they do if I kill him?” “What will happen to them?” “Why do they deserve to suffer, after Narendra is gone?” He shook his head and tossed the picture at the wall. Now was not the time to be merciful, just because some weaker people that he didn’t know might suffer.

Opting to ignore the pictures and family oriented items, Ryan went through the dresser. In the left half, there must have been Narendra’s clothes, because they were all men’s, and he was the only man in the family. He was searching for something to keep warmer with, a scarf or something small like that. Finding nothing, he decided to look through the woman’s half, as he predicted it to be. He was right, too. In it, there were lots of adult women’s clothes. Underwear, blouses, traditional women’s outfits of the area. Only at the bottom, did Ryan find what he wanted. It was a scarf; a beautiful one, at that. It had an intricate design of a butterfly on both sides, the butterfly having astonishing blue wings and black and red lines across the wings. Outside of the picture, the scarf was a subdued shade of green. Picking it up, Ryan could feel that it was silk.

A loud gasp resounded from behind him. Clutching the scarf in his left hand and pulling his M1911 with the other, he spun around and guided his pistol to aim at the source.

It was a woman, laying in the bed, eyes agape with fear. Everything went deathly still. Ryan looked at the woman, weapon trained on her, ready to fire. She had long, black hair. Her figure was very dainty, like a hollow glass rod. She was clearly short, her legs didn’t go to the end of her small bed, and she definitely looked Vietnamese. The funny thing? She looked nothing like the woman in the photo.

The two stared at each other for a long time, neither wanting to be the first to make a move. The woman was clutching at her covers, like saying under them could stop a .45 calibre bullet from slamming into her chest. But that was not Ryan’s intent. He very slowly lowered the pistol. “Sshhhhh.” He brought his fingers up to his lips and began to move away, the scarf in his hand. The woman looked after him, terror stricken. Right as Ryan was about to put his hand on the door knob, a man could be heard outside. He was not talking to anyone, by the sound of it. Just to himself. The clinking of a machine gun belt was the most prominent noise from the other side of the door. “Shit.” Ryan said quietly to himself. He looked back at the woman, who looked like she was about to faint from panic. She looked at him. Then, when their eyes locked, Hell broke loose.

The woman did just the opposite of faint; she screamed something to the man outside the door. Frantic shuffling came from outside. Ryan scowled, rage splayed across his face. “Go to hell!” He yelled, pointing the gun at the woman. Before he could fire, the door slammed open, throwing Ryan onto the floor. He rolled on contact with the cold floor, rolling back up. He had dropped his pistol.

The man who burst through the door had two belts for an MG, but no MG to go with them. Odd. Anyhow, the man looked at the woman, then at Ryan, and his eyes widened to the size of baseballs. He grabbed something from his waist and took in a deep breath. “Like hell!” Ryan wasn’t going to let him alert his buddies about this. He lunged forward, whipping out his knife and hammer, and got to swinging. His attack missed the man, who rolled out of the way, but hit his hand on the dresser, knocking his device away. Ryan’s hammered buried itself in the wall. He grunted loudly as he yanked it back out. The man on the ground reached out for his device, but Ryan kicked it away and went to swing the hammer on the man’s head. The man rolled away, standing back up as he did so. Now, both men were standing, ready to go for the kill shot.

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Luna could hardly believe what she was seeing. Ryan had lowered his weapon, and to the lover of the man he was trying to kill!

She was distracted when, after a loud scream from the woman, a man burst through the door, knocking Ryan back. She observed the following brawl, less disturbed than before about the fighting. When Ryan just killed someone, it seemed much more evil. If he managed to kill this man, at least the man had a fighting chance, right?

The two men began to duke it out, one trying to call for backup, the other trying to simply get the kill. Luna watched in horror and fascination as it all played out before her.

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Ryan was not the first to make a move. The man dove forward with a ferocious roar, arms out, like he was going to try to maul Ryan like a bear would. Ryan took advantage of this and threw his weapons forward, still holding them, and both connected with the man’s chest, knocking him down. Before Ryan could follow up, the man rolled away, and stood back up in front of the bed.

Ryan moved forward as the man tried the same tactic as before. “The definition of insanity...” As the man went for the grab, or whatever he was going for, Ryan spun around three hundred-sixty degrees, swinging the hammer around with him, wedge side out. The hammer connected with the man’s armpit as Ryan gave his swing a bit more of an upward momentum, and went in a good two inches, stopping the man in his tracks. He bellowed angrily, the pain excruciating as the lymph nodes in his armpit were smashed to bits. Blood seeped from his wound, wetting the hammer, more blood trickling onto Ryan’s hands. Ryan followed the hammer strike with a stab to the man’s thigh, eliciting more screams of pain from him. The blood was getting all over Ryan now, landing on his arms and even torso as it almost spewed out of his leg and armpit. With one last surge of energy, Ryan ripped the hammer out of the man’s armpit, and, swinging his wrist to be positioned correctly, brought it in one more upward arc, going straight for the man’s face. It connected, the hammer being buried in the man’s eye socket. He went stiff as a statue for a moment, then, as he began to grow limp, Ryan pushed him back, holding tightly to his weapons. Both men fell to the bed.

As he lay on top of the body, Ryan realized something. “Where is she?”

The answer was that she was on the floor, by the comms device, speaking into it like she was having a gun pointed at her. Luckily for her, Ryan didn’t have it at the moment, or there would be one pointed at her. He shot off the bed, ripping his tools form the man’s head, and ran over to the woman, who was crouching on the floor. She tried to scream out as she saw Ryan approach, but was cut off by a swift shoes in the mouth. As she hit the floor, she groaned loudly from the new sense of pain from the kick. On all fours, she spit out two teeth onto the floor. Before she could looked at Ryan resentfully, as she wished she could, Ryan’s foot connected with the side of her head, knocking her coldly to the floor.

Ryan looked at his work. The woman was injured, but alive, while her lackey was bleeding from the thigh, armpit, and deeply from his eye socket. One could actually see where the bone of his skull was pierced, almost revealing brain matter. Not proud, but not ashamed, Ryan scanned the floor for his pistol. Upon seeing it, he picked it back up and looked one last time at the woman. “You got lucky today.” He re-sheathed his knife and hammer and left the room.

***********************************************************************************

Luna could hardly believe the brutality she had just bore witness to. Ryan just hammered and stabbed a man to death, puncturing his eye socket and skull with a tool that she saw her guards and builders use every day. He was about to shoot a woman when she interfered with him, and the only thing that saved her was another, much more dangerous interruption. After that, she watched him assault a defenseless woman, breaking her jaw.

Luna’s whole perception of Ryan was beginning to change, and she didn’t like it. She knew who he was; she had met him on the boat at the beginning. But she couldn’t stand to see what he was becoming, what he already was. It scared her. That someone could be good, yet do such evil things, was beyond her comprehension. No one is perfect, but such flaws were unheard of among any in Equestria, even the bad. This whole thing was changing how Luna saw the world around her.

Life’s not black and white; it’s almost exclusively shades of gray. Everything has a good effect and a bad effect. The thing that defines whether or not something is good is the severity of the darkness of that shade. The results, the motives, and the actions all decide what the shade is. And while Equestria tends to be on the lighter side, Ryan’s world seemed to have places that were extremely one or extremely the other.

It was a strange revelation to the old princess, who really should have known better.

***********************************************************************************

He didn’t look back as he left the room. His main concern was getting the hell out of the area before any more guards had the time to arrive. He decide to go right, maybe that way wouldn’t have anyone. He sprinted down the hall, trying to listen for enemies, but couldn’t hear anything besides his own rapid breathing. He reached the end of the hall in no time.

Turning right at an intersection in the hall, he froze. Also frozen before him was a group of four men, all holding rifles, crowded around a walkie-talkie. They looked at Ryan. Ryan looked at them. Without any extra noise, Ryan turned and ran back the way he came, angry yells coming from behind him.

Just after he turned the corner, bullets started to fly at the spot that he once stood in. The wall practically exploded, sending bits of concrete and lead based paint all over the floor. Ryan sprinted away as fast as he could. Already halfway down the hall, someone yelled out from all the way back. He ripped his pistol from its holster and blindly fired behind him, the gun right next to his ear. The shots were deafeningly loud, and after firing four, Ryan had a painful ring left in his ear. He couldn’t tell if he had hit someone, since he couldn’t really hear anyone yelling out. As he holstered his pistol, more shots rang out from behind, Ryan just barely being able to hear them. Around him, the walls were being torn to shreds. Thankfully, though, none of the rounds hit him.

At the end of the hall, Ryan found a door that led left. He leapt through it and shut it. He felt the door; it was at least a half inch of steel, if not more. There was also a slide lock on it, which Ryan turned gratefully, keeping out the men who just tried to crappily shoot at him. Sliding it closed, Ryan fell against the wall next to the door and sat down. Shortly after, there was banging and yelling at the door. This was proceeded by bullets slamming through the lower half of the door, then more yelling. It sounded like someone was angrily yelling at the men, but Ryan couldn’t tell. He just stood back up and got back on the move, wrapping the scarf around his neck to try to keep warmer in his dampened state.

He ran away from the door, fearing that the men may soon use explosives to open it up. He realized that he was in some kind of greenhouse, where the compound likely got all of its food. Ryan was impressed. “If I ever lived in a place so expensive,” he concluded. “I would make it self sufficient like this.” He looked around, noting all the items that looked useful, should he need them. There was a whole lot of fertilizer, a kind that he knew to be very flammable. There were various garden tools, even kamas for slicing the plants. He walked over to pick them up.

Before he got the chance, a man burst into the greenhouse from the other side of the room. Ryan’s gaze shifted quickly to assess his new opponent, and he got into a ready stance. As much as he would have loved to pick up the kamas, they were actually closer to the new guy than to Ryan. The new guy slowly and dramatically made his way toward Ryan. He was big, at least four inches taller than Ryan, and intensely muscle-bound. Slowly, he pulled out a large knife, probably a Bowie, and held it out in front of himself threateningly, a big, toothy smile splayed across his face. Ryan’s hands moved to his vest. “Alright, Tiny.” he said. His hand went for the pistol. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Tiny shot forward like a bullet, way faster than anyone would think a man of his size would be capable of. Before Ryan even got the gun out of the holster, the man was right on top of him, swinging away. Ryan had to fall backwards and roll out of the way, taking his hands from the gun and using them to get back up from the floor. To stay on the ground would be certain death.

His hands up, Ryan went for the first weapons they could reach, his knife and hammer. Yanking them from their places, he swung them in his hands for a moment, getting his wrists ready for the momentum of the added weight of the weapons. He got into ready position, waiting for his opponent to make a move. Tiny turned, looking at Ryan with savage delight. He raised his knife to be just in front of his face and said, “Tôi sẽ để thưởng thức giết chết bạn.” He bent his knees and got ready to pounce. Ryan did the same. “I don’t know what you just said,” he began, eying the area for anything useful. The kamas were now very much closer to him than before. “But I do know that I’m gonna kill you.” Tiny lunged, leading with his face, and stabbed forward with his borderline-sword. Ryan ducked and rolled to the side, swinging wildly with his hammer hand as he went. He connected, but rather than the desired effect of knocking the man down, the hammer flew out of Ryan’s hand upon contact. Trying to correct himself, his hand landed on top of the knife with his fingers underneath the handle. Instinctually, he let go of the knife to avoid cutting his fingers off.

He rolled back up, next to the table with the kamas. BeforeTiny could turn; it turned out the hammer did do something; Ryan shot to the table and picked up the kamas, one in each hand, like a dual-wielding Grim Reaper. He took his low stance and waited. As Tiny turned, his eyes drifted to the kamas in Ryan’s hands. At the dojo, his teacher had used them, but Ryan had only ever picked them up and held them. Ignoring his own sense of endangerment, he started to move around his opponent, ready for a potential attack. The man was more wise than he appeared, though, as he waited for Ryan to move, watching the razor-bladed kamas as they moved around him.

Eventually, he grew tired of waiting. He leapt forward, stabbing again with the small sword. Having already seen this once though, Ryan knew what to do. Instead of rolling away, he dropped at the last second and swung his left kama into the man’s calf, slicing it clean open. As the man howled, Ryan whipped it around and brought it into the front of the man’s throat, cutting half of his neck open. As one last move, Ryan brought the other kama around in a massive arc and severed the rest of the man’s neck. As the body crashed to the ground, the head rolled away, leaving a crimson trail of blood in its wake. Before the body hit the ground, it partly landed on Ryan, spilling several pints of blood on him, darkening his previously camo jacket. When it landed, blood continued to pour out for just a moment as it quickly began to coagulate, stopping most of the bleeding. He dropped the kamas, not wanting to continue handling such dangerous instruments while running around.

The noises on the other side of the door were growing more frantic. Not wanting to stick around for their entry, Ryan decided to run off in the other direction, through the only other door, scooping up his weapons and sticking them in their respective spots on his vest. As he approached it, he heard from the other door several men saying something in unison, like a countdown. Odds were that they were about to blow the door open. Ryan rushed away, kicking his door open.

He was promptly met with a brick to the face, knocking him clean off his feet. He was hit with a force that annexed his consciousness for a moment, robbing him of his ability to think. He didn’t even feel himself hit the ground, his head slamming onto the concrete floor. His hands hustled to his face out of instinct to protect what little was really left there. His face was absolutely wrecked by the hit; his nose was crooked and bleeding, he had a massive bruise on his right eyebrow, and the whole of his right cheek was scraped up fiercely. He was down.

Someone grabbed him by the feet as the door on the other side of the room blew open, sending tiny debris everywhere. Whoever had been holding Ryan let go and braced himself, allowing Ryan to take tiny shrapnel to his whole body, scratching him up, but not doing more damage. The man ran over to the dynamically entering intruders, yelling something at them in what was likely Vietnamese. Ryan didn’t get up; the floor was oddly appealing at the moment. The yelling just continued for a few minutes as Ryan lay there on the ground, broken and beaten.

***********************************************************************************

“No!” Luna yelled jumping up from her spot. “No, no, no, no!” She started an almost running pace around the pool. “This is bad, this is bad, this is bad...” Ryan had just beaten that enormous man and even taken his head off, which Luna hadn’t actually watched happen, but now he was on the ground, in a state that may as well have been sleep. “This can’t be happening...” She continued her pace, looking back at the pool every time she completed one full revolution, or maybe half a revolution, around it.

After five times, she forced herself to stop. “Calm down, Luna.” she said to herself, trying to avoid panicking. “Just sit down, and relax.” She lay down in front of the pool, back in her spot, and closed her eyes. She took several deep breaths. “He’ll get out of this, Luna.” she reasoned. “He always does.” In the back of her mind, logic was tearing away at her confidence in Ryan’s ability to get out of this.

***********************************************************************************

Ryan was coming back to the world, albeit slowly. He could feel something wrapped around his wrists, something soft. A hand! It was a hand! Each wrist had two on them. Ryan’s legs dragged behind him, the blood dripping off his jacket and smearing under him, leaving a grotesque trail on the floor.

Eventually, he was able to make himself look up. Sure enough, there were two men, dragging him along the floor. They looked happy; they had just gotten that which had caused them so very much trouble in the recent past. They were moving fast, like they were on a time limit to get Ryan somewhere. It was such that they hadn’t removed Ryan’s vest or any of its contents. Ryan could tell from where the weight was sitting on his vest. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in any kind of position to resist these men and pull his weapons. His mind was still muddled, and his body hurt all over. All he wanted at that moment was blissful sleep.

Not long after coming to, Ryan was dropped on the floor to the sound of a single man clapping slowly, sarcastically. “Thực hiện tốt.” he said. The voice belonged to Narendra. “Bạn có thể đứng lại.” The men walked away, taking positions on the other side of the room. Ryan got on his hands and knees, trying his best to get up. Narendra swiftly jumped from his spot and put his foot on Ryan’s back, stepping down on him. Ryan fell to the floor forcefully. “Ah, ah, ah, Ryan.” he said. “No need to go and do that-” Ryan heard a loud, metallic clink above his head. “Now is there?” Ryan growled, but didn’t move. “Still feisty, even after taking a brick to the face. I’m impressed.” Narendra took his foot off of Ryan and walked back to his spot. “You know, with all of the things I’ve heard you’ve, I would ordinarily offer you a place in my organization.” Ryan’s head shot up and glared at Narendra. “Kill yourself.” Narendra ignored the comment. “But with the amount of trouble you’ve caused me, I don’t particularly want you alive any more.” Narendra turned back around. “You’ll be coming with me.” He motioned for his guards to grab Ryan, which they did very aggressively, and then dragged him after Narendra as he walked through a hallway.

They were outside, in the cold rain again. It wasn’t so severe as before, but it was still coming down hard. Narendra had to yell to make sure he was heard. “You’ve had your fun with me, boy!” he shouted above the rain. “Now, it’s my turn to have fun with you!” He motioned over to a van, which was parked not far from the door, and the men holding Ryan dragged him over to it. At the van, Narendra climbed into the back. He looked maliciously at Ryan. “You’ll be riding with me.” Suddenly, from behind, Ryan’s hands were jerked back and cuffed. Shortly after, he was tossed into the back with Narendra, and the doors shut.

***********************************************************************************

Harris watched the display in absolute horror. He hadn’t expected Ryan to be nabbed, let alone taken away from the compound. He was expecting Ryan to pretty much do what he came for, then kill everyone else. From there, Harris was hoping to help out and bring him home. “If you want God to laugh, tell him your plans.” He looked on as Ryan was tossed into the van, thinking about his next moves.

Discord got down right next to Harris. “You’ll have to follow, Harris.” Harris sighed loudly. “How?” he asked incredulously. Discord looked at him, his expression saying, “Seriously?” “I can track them, y’know. They can’t get away from me, and as such, you. Now, let’s get moving.” Harris looked down as the van with Ryan in it started up and began to drive off. “Here I come, Ryan.”

***********************************************************************************

Ryan sat quietly against the side of the van initially. He had no desire to speak to the demon before him, nor be a part of the collaboration of two demons. There was naught but evil in the van at the moment.

Narendra had been quiet at first, but only because he was observing Ryan. He didn’t understand the boy before him. The boy had given up his morals, his friends, and his chance to go home just to come after him. He didn’t get it. He thought that maybe by observing the boy physically, he might get a glimpse into the complex mind before him. What had driven him to steal, murder, and lie, just to come for a single man? Eventually, he grew tired of trying to decipher it and just asked. “Why?” he asked. Ryan didn’t answer. Narendra pulled out his .50 pistol and pulled the hammer. “I’ll ask again. Why?” Ryan looked up at the demon. “Why what?” he asked back curtly. “Why come after me? Why didn’t you go home, back to the ones you love? You gave up everything, EVERYTHING, just to try to kill me. I want to understand why.” Ryan laughed. As he continued laughing, Narendra grew impatient. “You see, Narendra,” he began. “You and I are similar. We don’t let emotion tell us what to do. We don’t use moral codes to choose our paths. The difference, though-” He laughed again. “The difference is that I USED to have the emotions that neither of us have. But you- you took them from me. You made me do the most horrible things on this Earth. You killed me, and for my revenge, I aim to kill you.” Narendra pondered this for a moment. Then, he sighed and shrugged. “I suppose that I understand.”

Now it was Ryan’s turn to ask the questions. “And why do you do what you do?” Narendra looked at him, surprised at the question. “Why enslave and sell people, and murder the rest? I know the Haqqani; you’re an extremist group. But don’t you get that God doesn’t want people to be enslaved? He doesn’t exactly approve of murder, y’know.” Narendra looked at him sternly, then began to laugh. It was only fair; Ryan laughed at his question. “You-” he tried to control his laughter. “You really think I give a damn about what God wants?” he asked. Ryan’s eyes shot wide. “I don’t care about God, child. That’s just what I use to make these imbeciles do what I want them to.” He leaned forward, putting his hands together. “No, you see, child, there is great money to be had in this business. Religion is just what I, and my good friends, use to make these morons do our bidding. They aren’t literate; they are tools to use for our gain.” Ryan was looking so shocked that Narendra had to try to use reason. “Look back on every group like us that you have seen or heard of. The leaders have rarely believed in what they’re fighting for. Osama, rest his soul, didn’t really believe that extremist nonsense. He had multiple wives, and even pornography! The leaders of Scientology don’t believe in any of their principles, they’re just trying to make money off of the people under them. It’s all about the money, child; nothing else.” As Narendra sat back, Ryan tried to process what he had just heard. “So he’s just using all those people...” It disgusted Ryan, that anyone could do that, even though he had done terrible things himself. He looked at Narendra. “You’re a sick pile of shit, you know that?” Narendra shrugged. “Maybe, but I have money and power. And really,” He leaned back forward. “Isn’t that what we all want?”

The van began to slow down to stop. Narendra stood up and moved to the back of the van, kicking the doors open. Outside, two men stood guard, armed with AK variant assault rifles. “Chúng tôi đang ở đây.” one said. Narendra replied and began a small conversation with them. While they were off doing that, Ryan was thinking about where he found himself. “Here I am. About to be killed.” He looked down and shook his head. “I only wish that I could have killed that sonuvabitch before he got me.” Narendra hopped back into the van and held Ryan’s face up by the chin. “Let’s go.” he said, a vicious smile splayed out across his face. Ryan wanted for nothing more than to blast that smile off Narendra’s filthy face. He complied, though, and was pushed out of the van and onto the ground. The two armed guards trained their weapons on him, ready to kill if necessary. Ryan didn’t look up at them, just waited for someone to pick him up. “Tốt công việc.Thiên Chúa sẽ thưởng cho bạn.” Narendra’s voice sung. Looking to his right, Ryan could see the feet of the two men retreating back to the van, which then proceeded to drive away. “I sent them to go and get the others to be an audience.”

Ryan turned himself over and faced his oppressor. “Audience?” he asked rhetorically. “Yes, audience.” Narendra was now holding a large rifle of his own. It looked like an AK, but there were certain features about it that Ryan didn’t recognize. “An audience to watch as I kill you.” After waiting for a moment for more, Ryan figured that it was his turn to speak. “You really are a sick bastard, you know that?” He leaned forward and sat upright, his hands still cuffed behind his back. “You’re gonna bring your men to watch you shoot some kid to death with some crappy rifle?” Narendra’s foot came straight at Ryan’s face, but he was able to dodge it and roll to the side. He looked back at Narendra, who looked at Ryan frustratedly. “No. I’m inviting them over to watch the death of the one who killed their friends and assaulted my woman. Her mouth isn’t even usable any more.” Ryan looked at him, shaking his head. “One; she isn’t even your wife you lying sack of trash, so don’t pretend you like her at all. To you, she’s easily replaced. Two; you and your buddies did much worse to me and mine, so why would I care what any of you suffer through? If anything, you all deserve the fate that you’re about to give to me, if not more, than just as much as me.”

Narendra walked over and held his rifle in the air. “My rifle happens to be very nice, I’ll tell you. It’s an AN-94, custom. Heavy barrel, carbon fiber parts, pistol grip, and more. I like it very much, it’s been through alot with me. So, please, don’t try to say that it isn’t good. In fact,” Narendra pulled something out of his back pocket. “I used it to kill this guy.” He tossed the item over to Ryan. The item was a green beret, with a an insignia and the word Airborne on it. Ryan wasn’t happy with this turn of events. “You see, your special forces can’t always win.” He pursed his lips in thought for a moment. “Why don’t you wear that, while I hunt you down? Bring back the good old days in Iraq?” Not wanting to eat a bullet for refusing, Ryan donned the beret. He felt distinctly out of place wearing it. “There.” Narendra said. “Now, what had you said..? Ah, I remember.” He paced around Ryan. “That woman is easily replaced, yes. But that will take time, time that I could have spent with her. As for our suffering; If you refuse to care about our suffering, than how are you better than any of us?” He poked the back of Ryan’s head with the barrel of his rifle. “Eh?”

Ryan sighed loudly. The rain was still pounding him, but less so on his head thanks to the beret. “Because I’m killing bad people. When both sides do things for bad reasons, you have to look at what it is that they’re doing. You do terrible things to good people. That makes you bad.” He turned and looked down the barrel of Narendra’s gun. “I’m killing bad people. Do the math.” Narendra pointed his gun back at the ground, then let it fall to his side. He had a sling on it, apparently. “But are actions not defined by the motives behind them? Your motive is revenge. Mine is money. Yours is emotion. Mine is material. We are both terrible. We will both suffer.” Narendra started monkeying around with the cuffs. “There is no redemption for us, child. Only the cruelty of the world being thrown our way. It’s all about how we choose to handle it.”

The cuffs fell off and Narendra flew back, pulling up his gun. Ryan rubbed his wrists, confused. “What..?” He looked back at Narendra, who looked down the road. “They’ll get here eventually.” He pointed his gun at Ryan, who stood up to meet his killer head-on. “I’m going to give you a little bit of time to run away into the jungle, child. Then, I’ll chase you down.” He raised the rifle. “You have thirty seconds.”

As he counted down, Ryan turned tail and sprinted off past the treeline.

***********************************************************************************

Harris watched as the van left with several more men in tow, but not with Ryan or Narendra having returned. “What’s going on?” he wondered. At this point, he had gotten off the roof and made his way to the treeline next to the road, if it could be called that, and was travelling down the road. Discord had told him that it wasn’t too far to reach Ryan. The van drove past him, Harris dropped low to avoid detection.

Discord was right next to him, urging him to keep moving. “You gotta move Harris, or Ryan may not live through whatever ordeal he’s about to experience.” Harris walked out onto the road and dashed down it, intent on finding and saving his friend.

***********************************************************************************

Luna was biting her hooves as Ryan ran off into the forest. Narendra clearly had some kind of plan, or else he would never have let Ryan go. It was some kind of sick game to him. But Ryan now had a chance to get away. He was a runner; this was one of the things that he did. With this chance, he could surely escape.

Luna was fidgety all over, from her hind legs to her front hooves. Her eye twitched from the anticipation, and her neck was so tense that a brick could be smashed over it. She hadn’t blinked in several minutes, and her eyes were going bloodshot from the exertion. When she finally blinked, it stung like a wasp, but she ignored it. She didn’t want to risk missing anything.

She wanted to go in there, to pull Ryan away from that dangerous place, and bring him to somewhere that was safe. Alas, she was unable to. Were she to do that, she would have to go in as her full form, not just a spectre. She was too scared of the danger to do that, and she knew that Ryan would be angry if she did that. She had to just sit there and wait for everything to go well, something that she absolutely loathed at the moment. As much as she loathed it, though, all she could do was that. She looked down at the pool. “You can do this, Ryan.” Her confidence was renewed with this turn of events.

***********************************************************************************

Ryan ran through the forest, hoping to put some distance between him and Narendra before the shooting started. His feet slogged through the mud, slowing him down way too much for him to feel good about his chances. The scarf nearly caught on several branches, as did the jacket, forcing Ryan to be more aware of where he was going. His necklace bounced against his chest, and his vest shifted up and down as he ran, the heavy weight of the hammer, knife, and gun yanking it back down each time. Ryan couldn’t tell if the syringe of morphine was still there, or remember if he had one or two. That wasn’t important at the moment.

Suddenly, a loud series of gunshots rang out from behind. Ryan immediately fell and ducked behind a tree. As far as he could tell, none of the shots had come anywhere near him. Odds were, Narendra just did that to force Ryan to stop running. Angry that it worked, Ryan got up to get back on the move.

More shots rang out, this time, much closer. Ryan just got low this time, not wanting to lose more time. “I know you’re here, child!” Narendra shouted. Ryan couldn’t see him; it was dark and raining. More shots came, but in a much shorter burst. Ryan could see the muzzle flash, which revealed Narendra fairly well. “I’ll find you, and I’ll kill you! Just you wait!” Ryan wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass on. He pulled out his pistol and aimed at where he saw Narendra. “I’d rather not!” he shouted loudly, firing one shot. He waited for a moment, but when he heard no scream, he moved away from his spot, fearing that he had missed Narendra.

“THERE YOU ARE!!” Narendra had loaded in a new magazine and started laying waste to the area around Ryan. Ryan dove down, bullets flying past him above his head, slamming into the trees around him. The trees splintered, shooting tiny pieces of wood all over the place. As if Vietnam wasn’t already shot up enough. Ryan stood up and tried to feel his way through the darkness, which was slowly becoming less, crawling away from the source of the noise. Narendra was loading in another magazine. “You see, child, I was prepared for this.” Ryan looked back, but he didn’t see anything. Suddenly, a green flare blinded him temporarily. “And I have more, too.” Ryan barely heard that last part, seeing as he was too busy hauling ass out of the area. Narendra had seen him though, and was giving chase.

Ryan kept running, figuring that if he was always moving, Narendra would always be moving, and that he couldn’t shoot while moving. Most people can’t. The beret on Ryan’s head was good for keeping the rain out of his eyes, but it was getting heavy. Everything was. Normally, Ryan prided himself on travelling light. But he had clearly collected too many items, which were slowing him down. He kept them, though, thinking that they were causing more good than harm.

Looking back, Ryan saw another flare pop, but it was much farther away. Narendra was having trouble following, it seemed. This was good; it meant that Ryan would be able to regroup ahead and plan his way out of this, maybe even killing Narendra. That would be nice. Wanting to slow down Narendra, who still held the flare, Ryan pointed his gun at him one more time and fired off a shot. It must have landed near him, because the flare moved around frantically, like a terrified man was holding it. Satisfied, Ryan turned around and made his way forward, holding his gun in his left hand in a vice-like grip.

He slowed down his pace, figuring that he could afford to, since he had slowed Narendra down considerably. He was almost walking at a fast pace; jogging, really. The rain was picking up again, so Ryan tried his best to slog through all the mud. While he yanked his feet from the sucking ground, he thought he heard something behind him. He ignored it, deciding that it was probably just Narendra getting closer, something he had been expecting. He looked back; another green flare was lit up. “WHERE ARE YOU!?!?” Over the rain, Narendra could barely be heard, though, and Ryan knew that he was in a pretty good spot in the situation. He smirked to himself.

“Ah-ha!” More gunfire resounded from behind, and Ryan dropped back to the ground for cover. Looking back, he could see that Narendra was just blindly firing around himself. He was trying to convince Ryan that he knew where he was, but it wasn’t working too well. Ryan’s smirk grew into a smile of malicious delight. But that smile turned to confusion when Narendra stopped and looked around his feet, seemingly looking for something. When he found nothing, he started to look around, probably to find Ryan.

Not wanting to be seen, Ryan forgot about the little spectacle and started moving forward. With Narendra not terribly far off, he had to move faster. He put his arms around his scarf and on his vest to keep them from snagging on things and kept moving forward.

Abruptly, as Ryan stepped on a loose root, an explosion went off right next to him, knocking him off his feet. He screamed out as the pain of force and shrapnel assaulted his right. Dirt and debris flew all over the place, and Ryan fell into the mud, which was very nearly up to his head, which could have drowned him. He gasped for precious air, blundering about, trying to figure out what had happened. Narendra and his men had explosives, that much was known. Did they have grenades, and worse, did Narendra see him? Ryan dragged himself through the mud, in a daze, trying to figure it out. “Gotta move. Gotta move.” was all he could think. He grabbed onto the exposed roots of another tree and pulled himself up, examining his leg. He sighed with relief and nearly flopped to the ground when he confirmed that it was still there. The root that he had stepped on had taken most of the blast. There was a bit of shrapnel sticking out of his leg, but it wasn’t serious, just like a bunch of small cuts. When he tried to stand, though, he learned what the real damage was. His shin was broken, as was evident from the fact that it slightly bent where it wasn’t supposed to. Gritting his teeth, Ryan stood up on his good leg and hobbled off.

Behind him, he could hear more gunfire, likely firing at the spot he was just in. Every minute or so, there would be more fire, just a few shots, but they got closer each time. Ryan kept on moving, not really understanding why or where he was trying to go.

He came upon the overflowing banks of the river. He stood there and looked down; he was on a hill that led down to the river, a length of maybe twenty feet and a drop of at least thirty to the surface of the water. Sticking out of the water, were lots of large rocks that one could use to get across. Of course, that was only if one wasn’t being chased and had a broken leg.

Someone yelled out behind Ryan, and more gunfire sounded. Not seeing any other way out, Ryan went for the hill. He was thrown forward, head first, and rolled down the hill toward the water.

***********************************************************************************

Harris had seen the men stopped outside an area of the jungle and waited for them to move. When they hadn’t, he decided that he would go in. “He’s inside the jungle, Harris.” Discord told him. “And he needs help now more than ever before.” Harris went right into the jungle without a thought for his own safety. Except for the landmines. Those, he would watch out for.

***********************************************************************************

Luna was stunned at what she witnessed. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t even comprehend it. Ryan had just been blown up, basically.

She had been standing, not able to calmly sit and watch, but now, she fell to the floor, losing all the energy she needed to stand. Ryan was in a much worse bind now than before. It took everything she had to not just give up and bawl. Then, she remembered a bit of wisdom from her guard. “We all do the best with what we have.” What he said had multiple meanings, one of which ignited a small flame of hope. Ryan still had some things, even if he lost his ability to walk. He had done more with less as his disposal. He could get home.

Then, her heart sank when she saw him fly forward and roll down a hill, blood following from his jacket.

***********************************************************************************

Ryan landed at the bottom of the hill hard. His head was totally submerged in the water, and he had to push himself up with his left arm to keep from dying there. He tried to use his right arm, but a pain in his chest kept him from using it. As his head exploded out of the water, he shook it hard to get the water out of his eyes and leaned against one of the rocks he had seen. The beret stayed on his head, and the scarf on his neck. I his left hand, he still held his gun. Trying to breathe, but having trouble, Ryan corrected his grip on the pistol, ready to point and fire. He then investigated his chest.

What he saw didn’t shock him. It didn’t make him afraid; in fact, it sapped away his fears. It didn’t even hurt, really. He calmly accepted that there was a hole about an inch wide in the right side of his chest cavity.

Blood was coming out of the hole, but not at as fast a rate as Ryan would have thought. The hole was nearly submerged in the river water, the surface of the water just about an inch and a half or two below the bloody mess. Ryan was so distracted by the hole that he didn’t even see Narendra slide down the hill toward him. As Narendra approached, Ryan looked up slowly. His eyes looked beaten and tired, bags under them and very red. “How sad.” Narendra said. Ryan didn’t respond.

Narendra knelt down in the water in front of Ryan, putting his AN-94 behind his back. “How ironic, child.” He reached for a pistol holster and pulled out his .50 calibre pistol. “You tried to make me suffer the fate of knowing that I was about to die, and then make me watch myself do so. Now, you will suffer that fate.” Narendra pulled his pistol and pushed it against Ryan’s wound. He arched his back from the pain, but no noise was made. Blood came out as he coughed harshly, his lungs trying to expel the invading, unwelcome guest.

Narendra stood up. “I’m typically a patient man, Ryan. Even now, I resist the urge to put a bullet in your head, like you did to that girl on the boat.” He stepped back and turned around. Ryan was feeling dizzy. “You know why I picked this area, child?” He faced Ryanagain, elation evident on his face. “I knew about the land mines. This used to be a major VC and NVA travel route. So the French, in an effort to put a stop to this, set up lots of land mines throughout the area. There are hundreds, even thousands, in this area alone. And I knew that you would be too careless to watch your step. It was just a matter of how long it took.” Narendra leaned down and jerked Ryan’s leg out of the water, eliciting a groan of displeasure from him. “You’re lucky, you know. Most of the time, these mines take off legs.” He dropped it back below the water. Ryan was seeing things blurrily now.

“Alright, I’m tired of being patient.” Narendra chambered a round in his pistol and pointed it at Ryan. “Say goodbye kid.”

A loud boom echoed throughout the jungle.

Narendra ducked at the loud noise. He hadn’t fired his gun, so who had? His buddies must have gotten there already.

It was anything but. Another kid, some white boy with a massive gun in his hand, had fired at him. Narendra could hardly believe what he was seeing. Who was this kid? Where did he come from? He could have been with Ryan, but Narendra thought that Ryan was all on his own. Deciding that it didn’t matter, Narendra took aim at the boy at the top of the hill.

Ryan was barely registering that something was, in fact, happening at the moment. He had heard the gunshot, but when he wasn’t dead, he had no idea who it was. Managing to focus just enough to get out of the blur, he saw that Narendra was pointing his gun at someone new up on the hill. Whoever that person was, they were running down the hill. “RYAN!” Ryan barely understood, but this person clearly knew him. There was only one person who could possibly know him well enough to help him in this half of the world.

Narendra fired his gun, and Harris’ leg buckled under him, causing him to tumble all the way down the hill. Ryan’s focus began to return to him, the sudden danger that his old friend was in smacking him into consciousness. He looked up at Narendra, then to Harris, who was now at the bottom of the hill. He put all his effort into moving his left arm.

Narendra walked over to the boy who somehow had the stones to shoot at him. As he approached, the boy tried to get up, but was having trouble with all the water around him. He wasn’t in as deep water as Ryan, but it was enough to make him slip around and not take aim at Narendra. That was fine with him. He wanted to watch the boy’s eyes roll back into his head as a bullet slammed through it. As soon as he was in kicking distance, he raised his left leg out of the water, sending the tip of his shoe into Harris’ gut. Harris lost his breath and gasped, laying against the hill, the gun still in his hand. Before he had a chance to raise it, Harris’ right shoulder was stomped on, keeping the gun against the cold, muddy ground.

Harris looked up at Narendra. This was his first time really being close enough to discern his features. The man had the most soulless eyes he had ever seen. Behind them was nothing; no anger, no love, no real emotion of any kind. The man’s face was unscarred, with hardly a blemish to be found. His character flaws were well hidden by his charismatic demeanor as he pointed a gun at Harris’ forehead. “I don’t know who you are,” he said. Harris just looked up at him, terror defining how he was feeling at the moment. “But I don’t like people who hurt my plans.”

“Hey.” Narendra was surprised to hear anything from behind him, but it didn’t particularly matter. He had what he wanted. “What, child?” He didn’t turn. Not wanting to take his eyes off of the one who could hurt him, especially when he could hardly hear with all the rain. Behind him, Ryan coughed hard and loud, spitting up blood all the while. “I don’t like it when people hurt my friends.” Toward the end, his voice was very strained, and Narendra could tell he was dying. He turned to watch the boy die.

Ryan’s hand was lifted out of the water, his M1911 .45 calibre pistol in its grip. Before Narendra could react, Ryan fired off one last bullet, the slide locking back after the trigger was pulled. Narendra hadn’t even seen it coming; he was too full of himself to think of it. His neck blew out from the middle, sideways, whipping Narendra’s head to the side a little bit. Narendra put his hand around his neck, as if that would prevent the massive bleeding from the destruction of his jugular artery. In his last moment, he looked over at Ryan, then fell into the water, dead, and floated downstream to whatever hell he had earned.

Ryan’s hand fell back into the water, having done its job. Harris got up, after realizing that Narendra was gone, and sloshed over to Ryan to make sure he was okay. When he saw the hole in his chest, his heart sank. Blood was flowing from the hole freely into the river, the water running red from all of it. “No, no, no!” Harris yelled. He put his hands on top of Ryan’s chest. “No! You can’t die, Ryan! You can’t!” He pushed hard against Ryan’s chest. “You can’t...” Tears ran down Harris’ face as his pushing lost its force. “I... I was going to take you home. We were going to go home together, get help. We... we were going to stay friends...” Harris sobbed, his chest bobbing up and down. “I wanted to help you. I thought I could... I’m sorry. I’ve failed...” Ryan coughed up more blood. There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn’t have the time to say it. So he went with the first thing that came to mind. Raspily, he croaked out, “We’ll, always... be friends...” He coughed up more blood, this time, most of it landing on Harris’ arms. Harris opened his eyes and looked into Ryan’s. Their eyes locked, no more words needed be said. When two people are that close, they don’t need to exchange words. There’s this strange thing about friendship that gives us the ability to just know what the other is trying to say. Harris cried out, “I don’t want to leave you here!” Ryan looked him dead in the eye. “Go. Now.” He hacked up more blood. He was close to death. “Forget.. me...” Ryan lowered his head against the rock behind him and closed his eyes.

Harris knelt next to his oldest friend, his own gun still in his hand. He decided to leave it in Ryan’s lap. He didn’t want to see it ever again.

He stood over his still breathing friend. They had done so much together; they met back in the third grade. They went through middle school together. They would always hang out after school and do all sorts of nonsense and shenanigans. And here Harris was, leaving that old friend of his to die, cold and bloody, in a shitty river in Vietnam.

Harris turned around and went back up the hill. Through his mind went everything that the two boys had done together. Their lives leading up to Harris’ moving, their adventures in Australia, then to their recent shared past. He thought about how Ryan had changed. Ryan had always been the nicest kid around. He had always been a fun loving, easy going type of guy. He had noble goals and noble traits. Then all of that died. He freely killed people now, not caring about who they were or what they did. Anyone who got in his way died. Even Harris almost died. He knew that Ryan had gone to shoot him and it was only by the grace of his forgetfulness that a bullet wasn’t chambered. He had forgiven Ryan, though, even if Ryan hadn’t forgiven himself. Because he knew that Ryan needed the help. And even though he tried not to accept it, Harris gave it to him. Because he was his friend. And now, because they were such good friends, Harris was leaving Ryan here to die. But Ryan was gone, and their last memories together were anything but pleasant. Anything that reminded Harris of Ryan would just serve to remind him of everything that had happened here.

Harris was at the top of the hill when he looked back one last time. Ryan’s body was still there, probably dead by now. After taking one last look at his friend, Harris turned back around and went into the jungle, intent on leaving this terrible place, and forgetting about everything that had happened here. This was a place to forget. And Ryan was right.

He was a boy to forget.

***********************************************************************************

Ryan leaned his head back against the rock behind him, too tired to keep his eyes open much longer. His mind drifted in a sea of emptiness, just an inky blackness around his thoughts. There was nothing left to think about, really. He was about to die. That was a fact. Of course, he could think about his life, while he had it.

His accomplishments? He was a highly certified SCUBA Diver, with all sorts of trainings. He had earned his Black Belt in Karate and had been studying for over thirteen years. He always did well in school, and he was physically fit. He thought about his dreams. He had completely forgotten about his hopes of becoming a SEAL, of doing something honorable with his life. All of this, he threw away for some stupid revenge quest that got him killed. Thinking about it, he finally began to question his decision. “What am I gaining out of this?” he wondered. He was about to die; there was nothing he could possibly have gained. His revenge didn’t bring back any of the dead that Ryan had left in his own wake. His entire quest, his purpose of being, was all for nothing.

He opened his eyes, and before him, stood Nadine, Joey, and Catherine. They stood in two groups; Nadine and Joey, and a lone Catherine. Ryan looked over at Joey, who was hugging his mother’s leg, crying silently. He looked at Ryan, fear in his eyes, but also a childish sadness. Tears descended from his reddened eyes, adding to the rain which was falling heavily on Ryan, pressing down his chest and making it hard to breathe. Joey buried his face in his mother’s leg and stopped looking at Ryan. Ryan turned his gaze to Nadine, who just watched him bereaved. Their eyes met, Ryan’s making an impossible request. “Tell me I’ve done well.” he desired. “Tell me I haven’t wasted my life.” Nadine bit her lower lip and put her hand on her son’s shoulder, turning him around and walking off with him.

Ryan looked to Catherine, who was leaning on some invisible surface, smiling mischievously at Ryan. Ryan didn’t understand at first. She stood up and moved to her right. “Karma’s a bitch, huh?” she said, laughing. Ryan blinked, and she was gone, but her laughter remained, forever there to taunt him for his failure. His failure to do the right thing; to do the smart thing; to recognize what was really important; to get what he wanted. That was the greatest pain of all. Not the torture. Not the gunshot. Not even losing his friends. The greatest pain of all was that, even after overcoming all of this, all of these massive obstacles, he had still failed.

Ryan let his head fall back again, looking up to the sky. The rain was oddly not hitting his face any more, though it was landing all around him. In that last moment of consciousness, there was a blinding flash followed by a strange feeling of weightlessness.

***********************************************************************************

Luna’s breath was caught in her chest. She couldn’t breathe in or out. It was like someone had put a tourniquet on her throat, closing off the airway so that nothing could enter or escape.

She didn’t realize that she was crying. From her eyes flowed waterfalls more plentiful than the Santo Angel. Her nose ran, the liquid flowing just as quickly down her face from her nostrils as her eyes. Her eyes had gone bloodshot, unable to handle the hollowness she now felt in her heart. She tried to stand, but her legs trembled under her and gave out twice. Through the power of no more than her own will, she managed to get herself off of the floor.

She kept her eyes on the pool. Harris had walked away from his best friend, leaving him to die in the cold, draining river. Now, only Ryan was visible, bleeding out in the water that was steadily rising to overtake the hole in his chest. Blood from his chest made the river run red. His face grew paler with each passing moment, and his eyes were closed. He lolled his head back and forth a bit, indicating that he still clung to some bit of life. When his eyes opened once again, Luna noticed that he seemed to be looking at something. Whatever he saw, though, was not good. Luna couldn’t keep from gasping in a breath and letting out several sobs at watching Ryan’s expression go from barely conscious to great pain. She turned away from the pool, unable to watch any more.

As she walked away from the pool, tripping and stumbling the whole way to the stairs, she couldn’t see anything. The water in her eyes blurred everything, making her blink excessively in an attempt to get away from the pool.

At the stairs, she couldn’t hold anything in any more. She collapsed, like the mighty titans fell before the Greek Gods. On the stairs, she cried out her pain, her anguish, as if releasing it through noise would launch it away from her. It didn’t work; it was still there.

Her mind turned to the recent past, recounting the events which led to this terrible climax. She had first observed him when he was in his homeland, living happily and peacefully. She saw what Ryan used to be, and she thought that he was a good pony. “Person.” she silently reminded herself. He was good, and had skills, and family, and friends. He had everything that a person could want. She saw him being taken by bad ponies, and she was there for his time trying to get away. She was there to see the mighty hero fall to the old ways, to give up everything he once stood for for his own gain. She watched him fight, and she watched him die. All this time, as she watched, she could have done more. Luna buried her head in her forelegs. “I could have done more...” she said to no one. “If I had done more...” She didn’t need to finish. She knew that if she had done more, than Ryan would have survived, and not been brutally murdered in the middle of nowhere. She could have prevented him from losing himself, but didn’t. She could have gotten him home, but didn’t. All this she could have done, but didn’t.

The pain of it all was unbearable. She hadn’t known him for that long, but the two had become good friends. And now, because of her failure, he was dead. It was the pain of failure, the pain of failing one of the people who trusted her, who needed her the most, that killed. Luna tried to focus on moving up the stairs, but couldn’t. It was almost all her fault that Ryan was dead. The guilt dragged her to the floor, shackles holding her happiness down. The guilt wanted her to suffer, and suffer its wrath she would. It would hold her down forever, never letting her forget her greatest failure.

She knew that that was the only way that she would ever move on. It’s what Ryan would want. He told Harris to do it, no doubt he would say the same to Luna. She had to forget about Ryan, try to move on and learn from what had happened.

Ryan was a colt to forget.

Prologue

A Colt to Forget

The lunar goddess stepped into her chambers with an elongated sigh. She had been tending to the needs of her subjects in the nighttime court for hours with little rest. At the end, on her modicum on remaining energy, she lowered the moon to make way for the sun to be raised by her divine sister. The feat took great effort, and she couldn’t imagine what it was like for her sister to do it all on her own.

Rather than plop into her bed and rest her eyes, however, she went to her small private library in the back of her chambers. Unknown to anyone else, however, it was much more than that. She coolly walked to the circular bookcase in the center and looked up. This particular case had all her favorite books from her childhood; tales of dragons, previous alicorns, books of life lessons, and her favorite books of all; fantasy.

She loved fantasy. Even in a world of magic, there were still some who could think of things truly outlandish and impossible, and make them seem so real. What other place, then, could be more perfect to hide her little secret than the home of its very subject?

She positioned herself in a braced stance and pointed her horn at the round bookcase before her. Charging her horn, she closed her eyes and breathed slowly. Upon releasing her third breath, she fired off her spell at the bookcase. It shimmered like a mirage, and slowly disappeared. When it was gone, there was a small staircase; too small for her sister, but big enough for her. She had done this to keep the secret within exclusive to herself.

She stepped forward, taking one last glance back to ensure that none had potentially seen her secret. When she concluded that it was safe, she quietly made her way down the stairs. Halfway down, she looked up, and felt reassurance as the bookcase reappeared, as it always did. With that last little bit of business taken care of, she started thinking about what she would see today.

“I’ve almost figured out his routine,” she thought. “but I still don’t know that much about him.” She was referring to the subject of her secrecy; she had found a way to look into other worlds using a magic pool beneath her chambers. The one she had found herself enthralled with was the world of an Earth dominated by a race called “humans”. She had been studying it for quite a while; and concluded that there were many different humans, but that many were the same. There was one, however, who seemed... odd. A colt, in his later adolescent years. He lived in a fairly wealthy town, where being the same was the norm. He didn’t care, though. When kids broke the rules, and tried to get him to do it, he was steadfast in his beliefs. He believed that rules are meant to be followed. This colt never gave into pressure from his peers. He took correction well, a trait not common in his environment. His hobbies were uncommon among his kind; he did something called “SCUBA diving” (whatever that is), martial arts, and deeply enjoyed military related studies and events. Due to the last one, she suspected he would be a soldier one day, though he said he wanted to be a “SEAL”. Why would a human want to become a seal? They live in the cold, something clearly not suited for humans.

The colt fascinated her; even in this world, the trait of self assurance that was within this colt was less common than she wished. He cared little for the thoughts of people he didn’t know and respect, and had no desire for fame. His concerns, like hers, were for the people rather than himself, and this is what continues to draw her to study him.

Of course, if her sister found out about this, she would want to use it, which would mean less time for her own studies. Her sister could have all the books in the land; she could learn more from the pool, anyway.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she looked into the center of a fairly small room. There, dominating most of the floor, was the pool. It was about 1.5 meters wide and a circle. The lunar goddess smiled to herself as she stepped up her pace, eager to see what the boy was doing now. She grabbed a pad, pen, and ink from the ground next to the pool and held them up. She liked to take notes on this colt; he served as an interesting social commentary, both for his world and hers.

Before she began prying into his private life (of which there were certainly parts she wished she HADN’T seen) again, she looked over her notes. She looked at the list:

Name: Ryan

Age: 17

Health: excellent; very fit ------------ runs in the mornings before school, lifts every other day

Family: Mother, Father, Brother in advanced level schooling

Social status: respected by most, disliked by less few

Personality: enjoys raunchy humor (ALL people are subject to being part of his jokes), honest (brutally so, in some cases), steadfast in beliefs, apolitical, thinks logically in moral dilemmas, enjoys work, can’t stand discrimination/prejudice,...

This was what she had on him so far, profile-wise. She had learned interesting things from him, and wanted to learn more about this colt.

“Let’s see what you’re up to now, Ryan...”, she said as she looked into the pool.

He seemed to be getting up from bed.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ryan groaned as his alarm went off next to his head. It was a watch alarm, though, so it didn’t hurt his ears. He groggily turned to face the source of his anguish; “6:15...” he thought to himself. While he had grown accustomed to it, he still dreaded getting up this early just to force himself to do his run. “The SEALs do a helluva lot more than this, though...” he thought, yet again using that as a comparison to get going. Reluctantly, he got up, got into his running clothes, and went out his front door.

The humidity of this particular morning was hellish. It hit him like a brick to the jaw. His clothes, being wicking fabric, were already starting to stick to him. “It’s not like I can’t do this.” he thought. After all, doesn’t the average soldier have to deal with this all the time? He plugged his earbuds into his ears and went for his daily 3 mile run.

When he finished his run and was back in front of his home, another thing hit him like a brick that morning. “Dammit! Today is MONDAY!” he thought. The start of the week was always tough, because he had to get back into “academic mode”, as it were. His head drooped down as he walked back into his home.

His mother was at the kitchen table, fully able to see the front door open. “How was your run?” she asked. “Good, good...” he replied. She always asked that, and he usually responded the same way, sometimes including a small event that occurred on his run. After, he went upstairs, took a 2 minute shower, and got dressed for school. He never particularly cared about what he was wearing; he simply had no desire to please people with his outfit. If they didn’t like it, that was too bad.

He basically wore the same thing every day; a digital Casio watch, his silver Shen pendant, a shirt that was either from his dojo or dive shop, and a pair of light brown shorts. His hair hung whatever way he woke up with it, he wore long socks, and he always wore running shoes.

He was tall, right around 5 ft 11 in, had long arms (down to his knees), glasses, and rarely shaved, giving him a scruffy appearance.

After dressing himself, he went down for breakfast and the news. Every morning, he would either have yogurt or Cocao Puffs with milk, whatever he had time for.

He pulled a yogurt out of the fridge and sat at the kitchen table. NBC was on the TV, and they were talking about international crime and terrorist organizations. Ryan’s mother was watching intently, but Ryan was more focused on his yogurt. Matt Lauer was speaking. “According to a new report by the United Nations Security Council, terrorist activity is actually moving away from the Middle East, and moving towards Southeast Asia. The Philippines have requested military aid from the United States in fighting the new found threat to their national security. Crime rings like human and drug traffickers are also becoming more predominant in this area, likely funding the terror cells.” Ryan took that part in only half caring. “I can’t say that I’m particularly shocked that this is happening. With decreasing care about terror in the middle east, why would the terrorists want to stay there and be forgotten?” He rhetorically asked. His mother nodded, adding, “It’s a real shame.”

Ryan got to thinking about his friend Harris. He had moved to Cairns, Australia about a year ago. What could all this mean for him? “I’ll ask him later on Facebook.” he decided.

After an uneventful morning, he went off to school. Living within 2000 feet of the school, he could walk there in a few minutes. Not that it mattered now, though. It was June 13. School was nearly over. All that was left was finals. Even with that, he didn’t really care. He got mostly upper B’s and some A’s, so he wasn’t worried about grades. The University of Miami had accepted him already, so he just needed to avoid failing, basically.

These thoughts and more went through his head as he briskly walked to school with his earbuds in blasting Theory of a Dead Man. He always loved the raunchy and sexually implicative songs by them and other artists. They suited him well.

He reached the school with ten minutes before first block, so he went looking for his friends, who usually hung out around the main lobby bathroom.Upon approach, he could see several already there; Chris, Sean, Noah (aka “The Doctor”), and Kyle. Chris noticed Ryan approaching and shouted out, “Ryaaan!” Ryan threw his arms to the side, yelling, “Chriiiiis!” They chest bumped. “You getting psyched for this summer?” Chris asked. Ryan chuckled. “Helllll yea, man. I have absolutely nothing planned for this summer. Total freedom.” he said proudly. Truthfully, of this, he was not proud. He hated not having something to do.

They continued talking for a few minutes before the bell rang, making plans to get women that would never be enacted (they would never work anyway). When the bell rang, they went to their separate classes.

Ryan zoned out in all of his classes, thinking about what to do after school. During 5th block, he thought about Harris. “I wonder how he is?, if the trouble in southeast Asia is affecting his life?” he wondered. He paid attention to his teacher for a couple of minutes before thinking, “I wonder what Australia is like?”

Fifth block ended, and 6th block was study hall, letting him go home. When he got there, he immediately went to his computer to go on Facebook to talk to Harris. Then he stopped. “It’s...” he looked at his watch. “1:53 here. That means it’s the middle of the night there.” He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “How on earth did I not realize he would be asleep?” he reprimanded himself. After this bothersome realization, he decided to play Skyrim until 7:00 to pass the time.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The lunar goddess got up and stretched. She had enjoyed seeing how the colt followed his routine, and she wished to keep watching. Still, she needed to raise the moon and get some rest. She had nodded off a few times while observing the colt.

As she walked up her stairs, she thought about the colt. “These things, video games... they are most intriguing. An entire world, on a screen, being controlled by one being.” Then a thought occurred to her. “What if I could influence him? I can’t control him, but could I communicate, perhaps?” The thought made her giggle. “How interesting that would be!” she exclaimed.

As she approached the top of the stairs, the bookcase disappeared as it always did, allowing her to exit her hidden lair.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

It was now 8:15. Harris could be on, so Ryan logged into facebook and looked him up. Luck was with him tonight, and Harris was posting a picture. Ryan shot him a message. ‘Hey. What’s up? How’s your life?’ he asked. After a couple of minutes, he received a reply. ‘Our short break just started. 7 weeks. You?’

‘ Not much. School is almost over. I heard that there is problem in southeast asia with crime and terror rings. That affecting you?’

‘Not particularly. We are pretty safe here.’

‘Good good. I’m glad you’re safe. Wish I could go to Australia. Great Barrier Reef, Outback, lots of cool stuff.’ A good ten minutes passed before the next response.

‘Dude, if you want, I could have you over. Since my break is on for a while and your is starting you could totally take a trip over here.’ Ryan was surprised.

‘That sounds really cool.’ he replied.

Over the next half hour, the two friends discussed plans they could do. Nature trips, Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and other activities. When they concluded, they said their goodbyes and Ryan went to his parents. His father had just gotten home from work; he was head of HR at the company he worked for.

“Hey, i just talked to my buddy Harris on Facebook.” he informed them. “What did you talk about?” his father asked. “Harris was wondering if I wanted to go over to Australia and stay with him for 3 weeks during the summer.” he said. His father nodded and his mother turned around a bit quickly. “I was wondering if I could go?” he asked. His father spoke first. “Well, I won’t object. You can defend yourself from danger; 13 and a half years of martial arts gives you that.” He looked to his wife. “Honey, if you don’t object, I say he can go. He’s responsible and smart, and he’ll be with his good friend the whole time.” Ryan silently celebrated. He always thought his dad was reasonable.

His mother spoke. “What about the trouble in Asia? What we saw on the news?” she looked like she would continue, so Ryan jumped in. “I actually asked him about that. He said that it isn’t affecting Australia almost at all, and that the only trouble is illegal immigration to Darwin from Indonesia.” Upon hearing this, hi smother seemed less tense, which slightly surprised Ryan. “Well, I suppose it won’t hurt. We’ll send you there with money. As long as you let us know you’re alright with reasonable frequency, I’ll allow it.”

This time, Ryan let his glee show. “Awesome! Thank you so much.”, and he went off to tell his friend the good news, forgetting that they BOTH logged off.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The Lunar Goddess sighed openly on her throne. The two arguing before her were trying her patience. She sat up and spoke out, “For mine sake, what is this grievance even about?!” she demanded. One of the two before her spoke up. “He won’t give me the money he lost in our bet!” he yelled. She was visibly annoyed before; now, she was outright angry. She stood. “Why dost thou feel a need to come to me with thine petty grievances?!” she yelled. The two before her shrank back. “Take it up with the lower authorities before coming to the highest court!”

She turned to the case holder. “How many more cases are like this?” she asked. The case holder looked through and, with weak knees, squeaked, “All of them...” The Lunar Goddess turned back to her subjects. “This court is meant for the highest of offenses! Take you petty cases elsewhere.” she announced. All her subjects before her fled the courtroom, their grievances with them.

She turned to walk back to her chambers, and her personal guard followed in close suit. He snickered. “You finally got them to deal with their own problems, princess. I must congratulate you; these snotty jerks really get to me.” he said. The princess smiled. “I am just glad that I will no longer have to deal with them. That I helped my loyal guard is a nice bonus.”

They reached the door to her chambers. “Remember?” she asked him. He saluted and stood next to the door. “NONE SHALL PASS!” he announced. She chuckled. “Thank you.” She went in and climbed into bed, thinking about the boy and how he was doing.

She looked at the clock; 3:30. The boy was asleep and would be for a couple more hours. If she slept a little bit later, she wouldn’t miss too much, hopefully. Just another day at school.

She awoke at half past ten. As the princess got up, her joints cracked and she batted her eyelashes to get the accumulated gunk off of them. She had slept well; telling off nobles was a good achievement to go to sleep on.

There was a knocking at her door. Groggily, she got up and walked over. Couldn’t the visitor wait? She wanted to see what the boy was doing.

As she approached the door, she said, “Come in!” Her steps slowed as she took in what was about to potentially happen.

Her older and more powerful sister stepped through the door, thanking the guard as she stepped through. The Lunar Princess stood stock still; her solar sister had a smile on her face. “So, I heard you told off the nobles last night. Got out of court early.” the Solar Princess recounted. “Indeed, sister. Their cases were all petty and could easily be handled by leser courts.” she replied. Her sister sighed. “I wish I could do that; but our citizens view me as too kind for that, and I cannot destroy that image.” The Lunar Princess breathed a sigh of relief. Then her sister continued. “I have noticed that you are spending much time here in your chambers.” she said. The Lunar Princess froze up. “Any reason why?”

“Just reading.” she replied. A deep chuckle escaped the Solar Princess. “By now, you must have read everything. You’re not experimenting in dark magic?” she asked in a mock serious tone. “Welllllllll...” she replied in her own mock tone. Both sisters giggled. “No hidden stallions in here, I presume?” the Solar Princess asked. The Lunar Princess’ face became red, even through her blue tone. “No!” she responded promptly. “Fun!” the Solar Princess thought. “Come, now. Don’t keep them all to yourself! You should share!” she pretended to whine. The Lunar Princess became redder and stammered. At this, the Solar Princess couldn’t help but laugh. “I only jest, little sister. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I know your interests are not of romance, Luna.” Luna huffed.

“Anyhow, I do hope that your reading is giving you what you want.” the Solar princess said. Luna, still flustered by her sister’s teasing, replied, “Indeed, my studies have given me most helpful insight into how to handle life, and how the world has changed since I’ve been gone.” she said honestly. “They are what inspired me to cease addressing all the petty court cases brought before the Royal Court.”

“Ah, now that is productive studying! Good work; I do hope that you continue to learn from your studies.” her sister said, expressing her gladness for her sister. “Just be careful that they do not keep you in too often. I would love to see you interact with other ponies.” she said as she turned to leave. “A leader must have good communication with her subjects.”

After her sister left, Luna dropped to her knees. How nerve-racking that exchange was! It almost seemed that her sister would discover her secret. Her secret about watching that colt from another world...

She needed to see what the colt was doing!

She immediately made her way down to the pool, going quickly and nearly tripping on the stairs. At the bottom, she pulled up the notepad, pen, and ink, and listened to the conversation below her. The colt was telling his friends about his plans to go to Australia for three weeks.

“When did this happen?” she asked aloud.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

“So, yeah. In two weeks, I’m heading to Australia for three weeks. Should be pretty awesome.” Ryan shared. His short friend Kyle spoke. “Lucky. I get to spend the first half of my summer with my parents. They don’t trust me because my, ‘grades aren’t good enough’. I have a frickin’ 3.5 GPA!” he complained. “That trip sounds like it’ll be pretty sweet.” Ryan nodded to this. “Yep. It all happened last night.” he stated.

He and his friends continued to talk about their summer plans; camps, events, and trips. The lunch bell rang, and they went their separate ways.

Ryan went through the rest of his day at school as he would any other day. He thought about what he would do after school. “I need to work out, and then I have Karate later tonight...” he thought as he walked home. He loved Karate; It was why he had been practicing it for 13½ years. By now, he had become a Nidan, a second degree black belt. Getting his Shodan, first degree, had taken nine years of fairly intense study. “I wonder what we’ll do tonight?” he wondered.

When he got home, he tossed his backpack on the ground next to the front door as he walked in and immediately went upstairs. When he came back down, he was wearing a wicking fabric shirt and athletic shorts. His father was pretty into being healthy, and consequently, his family had many weights and gear for exercising. “Time to lift.” he said to no one in particular.

His routine was pretty standard; bench, incline, and decline press, bicep and forearm curls, tricep lifts, shrugs, sit-ups, chest flyes, and shoulder lifts. It typically took him around an hour and a half to finish it all since he liked to take his time. Upon finishing, he removed his shirt and flexed, looking at a large mirror next to the weights. “Not bad. Still coming along, but not bad.” he said to himself.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

As princess Luna watched him, she found herself interested the colt’s physique. He had little body fat, and significant muscle mass. Remembering what her sister said about her hiding stallions, she blushed. The brother of the Element of Honesty had invaded her mind. “You do not give yourself enough credit.” she said, also to no one in particular.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ryan went upstairs, showered, and got into his casual outfit again, then went back downstairs to his computer. Logging on, he went to the internet and opened up Google News. The first story that popped up was about a seized shipment that had over three dozen people on it to be sold as slaves. Ryan frowned and furrowed his brow. “Disgusting.” he said.

After scrolling through the news , he went down to his basement and turned on his Playstation 3 to play some Skyrim. “Is this more productive than the crap we do at school?” he asked himself. “Possibly.”

It was 6:00. Class was at 6:30, so Ryan and his parents were getting ready to go. “Everyone has a gi?” his mother asked. They would never want to be those guys who forgot their gis, so each checked their bag. “Got mine.” Ryan said. “Me too.” his father replied. With that confirmation, they loaded up the car and went off.

The dojo was not a traditional style place; the floor was padded, there were large mirrors on the wall, and it had an office for the owner, Mr. Whitely, plus changing rooms in the back. Ryan and his family always got changed at the dojo, as did most other black belts.

The number of black belts wasn’t particularly huge, because there was a long and arduous test to become one. The cloth around the waist is meaningless; it’s the trials battle through and the experience gained that makes a black belt, a Dan. Many who went to test did not realize this, and were unable to pass. There were a couple dozen Dans at the dojo out of over 120 who tested.

Ryan was waiting for the 5:30 class to end, so he decided to stretch himself. If he stretched, he could kick most people in the head with ease. But he did have to stretch.

“Ush!” Mr. Whitely announced. Class had ended. The students lined up and bowed to the picture of the founder of their shared style, Isshinryu; Tatsuo Shimabuku. With that, they were excused and allowed to leave. “Next class, bow on.” Mr. Whitely announced. Ryan and the other students bowed on, giving respect to Shimabuku and his teachers by doing so.

Before class started, the students (Kyus) and Black Belts were given some time to stretch out. Some did this; others practiced Kata; and others merely talked. Those ones didn’t often go in to test, and only two like that had passed. “Ush!” Mr. Whitely called. “Line up!” The Kyus lined up in the middle, facing the pictures of Tatsuo and his teachers on the wall. The Dans faced them. Mr. Whitely nodded to the highest ranking Kyus. “Rei!” he yelled. Respect! Everyone bowed. The Dans turned to the wall. “Rei!” Mr. Whitely yelled. They all bowed again. “We’re gonna do our Kata today.” Mr. Whitely instructed. During the course of the class, they performed and dissected all the hand Kata; Seisan, Seiunchin, Naihanchi, Wansu, Chinto, Kusanku, Sunsu, and Sanchin. By the end, at 7:27, they were all sweating.

Mr. Whitely lined them up and bowed them out. After shaking Mr. Whitely’s hand and thanking him for a good class, he went to change. “See you again at 8:30” he said. Mr. Whitely waved to him, and Ryan went into the changing room to get changed to get some pizza for dinner.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Luna knew that this was her best opportunity to raise the moon and hopefully not miss too much, so she ran up the stairs and made her way to the balcony where she would raise the moon. Once there, she saw her sister already lowering the sun from the sky. “You seem to be here a bit early.” she said. “And you’re all sweaty. Are you sure there’s no one hiding in your chambers?” she joked. Luna smiled, blushing again. Her sister loved to tease. “I assure you, no one is in my chambers... right now.” she responded. Her sister did a double take, causing Luna to laugh hard. The Solar Princess smiled warmly. “Well, you’ll be interested to know that Cadence has had a certain stallion in her chambers for some time now.”

Luna’s smile didn’t fade. “I had a feeling. It’s good for her; the Captain is a good catch. She really deserves him.” she said. She turned to face her sister. “My dear sister Celestia, does the time not fly?” she asked. “That it does, sister. That it does.” Celestia responded. Her face grew slightly more neutral. “Luna, I must ask you something.” she said. “Yes?” she asked, wondering what she would ask. “Do you want to come to the wedding in a few weeks? We, as in Cadence and I, will understand if you are uncomfortable.” she said. Luna thought for a moment. “Perhaps it would be best if I was there for the after party. Many ponies still fear me, and I would hate to ruin the ceremony. Though, I would love to be there that night.” she said. Celestia positively beamed at this. “Excellent!” she said.

With that, they moved the sun and moon through the sky, and made their separate ways, each to her own chambers. Luna, once out of sight of her sister, had upped her pace. She had not actually seen any of the colt’s “Black Belt Classes” yet, and she was excited to see what the elite fighters of this dojo did when in their own class.

She made it back to the pool just in time to see Ryan change back into his gi and get ready for class.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The Dans bowed onto the floor and took a short time to stretch. It was a good thing, too, because the first thing they did after bowing on was sparring. “If you’re good to spar, please get your equipment on.” Mr. Whitely requested. They all put on their gear; gloves and foot-gear. These were to prevent severe injury that results from large knuckles bashing the side of a person’s skull.

Ryan paired up with a boy about his age, but who was slightly bigger. He liked to do this, because it was more similar to what he could actually encounter. They bowed to each other and took their guard. When Mr. Whitely yelled, “Hajime!”, they went at it.

Ryan moved in first, starting low. He went for a roundhouse kick, but his opponent’s guard took the hit. While Ryan was open, his opponent moved in to go for a backfist to the face. In response, Ryan brought his arm up and blocked the strike with the meat of his forearm. He countered with a quick punch to his opponent’s uncovered gut, where he scored a hit.

This all occurred in the span of about two seconds, fairly normal for two long time martial artists.

They disconnected from each other, going from cold bore to heated barrel. Ryan stayed back for a moment and his opponent maneuvered quickly to get around his guard. In response, Ryan lightened his stance for his own quick maneuvering.

It proved to not be enough, though. His opponent got too close for comfort, and Ryan had to prance backwards. Taking advantage of Ryan’s flight, the boy threw non-stop punches and kicks, sending Ryan off balance. When Ryan was starting to tip backwards, his opponent threw a sideblade kick at him. Ryan’s guard caught it, and he went tumbling backwards.

Not to be taken out so easily, Ryan did a basic roll-up fall, only backwards. Back on his feet, he didn’t waste a moment catching his breath.

The boy he was sparring against fif not foresee this development. He stood in his spot a moment too long, appreciating the fall Ryan had just completed. Taking advantage of this, Ryan studied his guard as he advanced toward his opponent; he was keeping it high, and used his legs to block kicks. The only way that Ryan was going to succeed was if he moved his opponent’s guard and made an opening.

He subconsciously began to formulate a plan to do just this. When he had closed the distance, about a quarter of a second, he started throwing low techniques, going just above the Obi (Belt). Throwing them in rapid succession, he brought his opponent’s guard down to meet them, and took away any time he may have had to counter. He began to include kicks in his onslaught. His opponent was totally on the defense, and defending nice and low. This was what Ryan was hoping for. Throwing three powerful kicks, he forced his opponent back, giving him room for one last shot. He sent a roundhouse kick careening up toward his opponent’s head. With the emphasis on control in the dojo, Ryan stopped it on his opponent’s shoulder. The boy was shocked; not many people in the dojo were really capable of that.

Disconnecting once again, they reared up to go again. Instead they heard, “Ush!” With that call to stop from their teacher, the two bowed out and shook hands. “That kick was crazy.” the boy told Ryan. Ryan chuckled slightly. “Thanks. You were good, too; anyone without notable amounts of training would have been doomed from being taken to the ground like that. In a real fight, I would probably have lost then and there.” In all truthfulness, he wasn’t sure about that. But, he had made it a thing for himself to always be humble about his own abilities, and so liked to play down what he was capable of. He didn’t even go all out usually, now not being an exception.

The rest of the class went with weapons katas. While Karate literally means, “Empty Hand”, their founder had learned weapons, and Mr. Whitely’s teacher had learned knife fighting as a Marine serving in Vietnam, so they liked to learn weapons. Also, they liked to learn how to fight opponents who had weapons while they did not. There were some weapons, though, that they learned that you wouldn’t typically find on the street; Bo, Tuifa, Sai, Kama, Nunchaku, and Aku. Another, that can really be anything, was the Escrima, which is just a stick. Learning all of these things provided many disciplines and self defense applications, so they learned them well.

Before long, class ended, they bowed out, and everyone went home to go to sleep.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Luna stood up, cracking numerous joints as she did so. Nothing else would likely happen this night, so she decided to get some rest herself. Earlier, the colt had mentioned to his friends that until he went to the land of Australia, that nothing particularly interesting would be happening. “I hope he’s right.” she thought. “That would give me time to find a spell to communicate with him, or project myself into his world.” At this, she smiled and started trotting up the stairs faster. “I can’t wait!” she thought. Unknown to her or the colt of her studies, his trip to Australia would be quite eventful.

Over the next two weeks, nothing had been hugely groundbreaking, just as the colt had said. His routine was followed well, save for the end of school, but Luna knew enough about that from seeing the young ones leave school in her own world. She had spent those two weeks researching spells to project her mind or an image of her body into other places or beings, hoping she could do it to another world. She had also done as her sister asked, and tried to socialize with her subjects, She went to visit the home of Celestia’s star pupil and actually had a good time. She had even gotten some assistance in researching her spell. The girl had quite a talent and a thirst for knowledge. This was why Luna didn’t explain the pool; she would want to use it.

It was the day before the colt was to leave for the land of Australia, and Luna was quite excited. Tomorrow would be the day that everything changed, and she could see another culture of the colt’s world, thousands of miles from his own. It would provide a most helpful contrast.

It was 9:00 P.M. and Luna was anxious for the night to pass in the colt’s world. In his world, the sun and moon moved on their own, so she could not manipulate how long his night took. Even her own, actually, as her sister would become most suspicious. Deciding that too much thinking would not help, she decided to simply lie down and close her eyes. Then a thought came to her. “Guard!” she called. He burst in. “Yes, ma’am?” he asked, saluting. Luna put on a putty face and puppy eyes and said, “Will you tell me a bedtime story?” The Guard was slightly taken aback by this, but responded, “I... suppose... so?” He walked over to her. “Be my pillow?” she asked with the same expression. Not wanting to turn down such a face, the guard laid down on Luna’s pillows, and she rested her head on his side. He shifted, feeling like his personal space was being violated, and she responded by moving herself. He began, with a sigh, saying, “Once upon a time...”, and with that, she soon slept.

He extricated himself from under her head and went out. Looking back, he thought, “I feel sorry for anyone who gets all the attention of our princesses. Why they love to make us feel so awkward if simply beyond me.” He took back his post at her door and stood ever vigilant.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Ryan got up easily today. He didn’t need to run, as he was preparing to go on a flight and would need his energy. He was all packed, only a carry-on and a personal item, and just needed to eat. Before he went down to eat, he checked again to make sure he had everything.

Shen pendant, he always wore it. Digital watch, always wore it. Deck of cards, never know when the occasion may arise. Wallet with money and I.D., very important. Global Entry Pass and passport, very important as well. Some clothes, his Ipod, and dental items were all there, so he had everything. He went down for breakfast.

Already being 8:20, his mother was downstairs eating and watching TV. As he entered, she turned to greet him. “Morning, goob. You all set?” she asked. Ryan went and made himself a bowl of cereal. “Yep. Just checked before I came down. I have everything.” He sat down and started eating. “Just remember to message me every night. Or else I’ll have to come looking for you.” she said. “No worries, I’ll keep in touch.”

His flight was at 11:00, so they decided that they would go early to ensure that they had enough time. After breakfast, they went to the airport right away. Before leaving, Ryan said goodbye to his father, who was on a conference call and couldn’t go to the airport. Once there, they said their goodbyes, and Ryan went to get on his flight. It would be roughly 18 hours.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Luna’s jaw dropped. “I have to wait until tomorrow?!” She yelled. Her frustration flared; she had been so excited! No matter; she would simply go out and see her subjects today, and tomorrow, when the colt was waking up at his friend’s house, she would be there for it. As she ran up the stairs, she thought, giddily, “This will be quite the adventure!” Yes. Yes, it will be.

Hell Breaking Loose

It didn’t take long for Starstep to finish a number of fun little stories for his princess. When he finished, he looked over to her. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be lightly snoozing. A stupid grin came across his face; even the royalty looked funny when they slept. Not wanting to wake her, Starstep got up and went to put the book back in its shelf. When he came back to leave, he tip-toed past his princess to avoid waking her. She was, however, awake. “Starstep?” she said lightly. He turned to her, thinking he had woken her. “Sorry, your highness. I was just leaving.” He bowed low in apology. “Actually,” she began. “would you please stay?I do not feel particularly up to going out right now, but I would rather have company.” Mild concern sprouted on Starstep’s face. “Of course.” he said.

He walked over to her bed and sat beside it. Luna maneuvered herself, with absolutely no grace, to lay beside him. Her starry mane was all over her face, and she looked fairly sleepy, even if it was only five in the afternoon. She didn’t seem to care, though. Displaying his concern, which was now growing larger, Starstep brushed her mane off her face. “Is everything alright, your highness?” he asked. Luna sighed deeply. She looked into Starstep’s eyes and asked, “Am I a good ruler?” Starstep was dumbfounded; where did this question come from? “Of course, your highness. Your subjects love you, and you protect them from any harm that comes their way. You are a fine ruler.” he said. Luna rolled her jaw from side to side. “But I cannot provide my subjects with all the help they need. Is that not what I am required to do?” she asked. Starstep went to move his hoof away, but Luna rested her head on it. He looked at her, an icicle through his heart at seeing his princess feeling so lost. “That is not required of you.” he said. Luna looked at him, confusion drawn all over her face. “You are meant to help in what ways you can. You don’t have to help stop a fire; you don’t have to fight crime on the streets; you only have to do what you think is best. Be it rescuing your subjects from that fire, or simply talking to them.”

Starstep felt a wet spot begin to grow on his leg. “What if talking doesn’t work, but I can’t get directly involved? I can’t just abandon those who need me...” she said. The wet spot on Starstep’s leg grew larger. He moved his head by her ear. “You can always be indirectly involved. Pull strings, you know?” Luna wiped her eyes with her hoof and looked up at her guard. “There are hundreds of ways you can help. Little or big. And they all have different meanings for everyone.” he said. She sniffed. “I suppose.” Determined to get her smiling again, Starstep continued. “We all have our limits.” he said. “Even you and your sister. I have limits. We can all only do what is within those limits, and we have to accept it.” Luna’s eyes dried a little. “Yes... I suppose that we all have our limits.” she conceded.

She put her leg around him and pulled him into a tight hug. “You seem to know exactly how to make everything better.” she commented. “Well, it isn’t my special talent, but it’s usually within my limits.” he said. Luna held him tightly. “Ummm, princess,” Starstep began to say. She didn’t look up, just kept her grip on him. “could we adjust? I don’t know how long I can stand.” He felt a strange aura around him, and was lifted up onto the bed. The sensation was one of zero gravity, like he could float away forever. When she dropped him, he landed on the fluffy bed with a big pomf. Luna got in close and laid her head under his.

And they sat like this until Luna slipped into sleep.

Luna was awoken by a loud panic outside her door. As she got up, she, too, panicked; Starstep was no longer next to her. “Starstep!” she called out. There were sounds coming from her private library. They sounded like a scuffle. She ran over. “Starstep!?” she yelled. “I’m- hng- over here!” he yelled out. Luna turned to face him and confounded by what she saw; most of her books had joined together to make an enormous horse. This horse was attacking her guard. Starstep was knocked away by the monster right toward Luna.

Taking the opportunity, she blasted the book monster with a spell of elucidation, reducing the monster to a pile of books. “Are you alright?!” Luna asked, scared that STarstep was hurt. “I’m fine.” he replied. Luna got close to him. “What in Equestria has happened?” she asked. Why would her books come together to make a monster that would attack her guard? “I heard a noise,” Starstep said. “so I came to investigate. All the books were moving about. At first I thought it was a prank, but I figured out that it wasn’t when the books formed up like one of us and started towards me. I fought it briefly, and then you came in.” he finished. Luna was perplexed. “What caused this?” she asked. Starstep shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine, Princess.”

Luna went to sift through the books for an explanation. None of them had any lingering magic on them. “There is no magic left. I can’t trace them to whoever is responsible.” she said. Starstep huffed. Shouts came in from the hall. “We should probably go out there.” he said. Luna nodded in agreement, and they exited her chambers.

As they ran down the hall to Celestia’s throne room, they encountered numerous bizarre situations; several pegasus guards were trying to battle a rain-cloud monster that couldn’t hurt them. It could only spew water at them. Another group of guards were lying on the floor. When asked what was wrong, one responded, “Our armor is thirty times heavier than normal or something! And we can’t get it off!” The last group, just outside the throne room, that they saw was simply confused. “What’s wrong with you guys?” Starstep asked. One looked at him frantically. “He’s supposed to be the pegasus!” the pegasus yelled. “I’m not supposed to have a horn!” Luna looked about; there was no pegasus. “Where is he?” she asked. The response to her question came in the form of the guard crashing into the door in front of her, flinging it open.

She and Starstep ran through the door. Celestia stood in the center of the room, surrounded by her guards. They were battling pitch black, seemingly 2D versions of the guards. Celestia noticed Luna’s entry. “Luna!” she shouted. She and Starstep rammed their way past two of the silhouettes, knocking them to the floor. They dissipated into black dust as they struck the floor. “Are you alright?” Celestia asked her. “We are fine,” she replied. The guards around them charged the shadowy figures, realizing their weakness. “but we cannot help but ask what is going on! This is craziness!” The guards quickly dispatched the shadows. “I have an idea of what is going on. Come with me to the garden.” her sister told her. Luna turned to Starstep. “Go to my quarters. You will be safe there, and, suffice it to say, there are some sensitive ‘things’ that need guarding.” Starstep saluted and sprinted off to Lunas chambers.

Luna followed her elder sister to the garden. She was unsure of what to expect. After going through and seeing more bizarre situations, they reached the garden. Celestia walked to a specific spot. “What do you see here?” she asked. Luna looked closely at the spot; there was grass and some dirt. “I see nothing.” she replied. Celestia grunted her confirmation. “Exactly. You remember what was here?” she asked. Luna shook her head. “It is slipping my mind.” she said. She was growing impatient. “What is supposed to be here, sister?” she asked. Celestia’s voice took on a foreboding tone. “This was the statue that Discord was trapped in.” she said. Luna gasped, the gravity of the situation finally hitting her. “Discord has escaped?!” she yelled. Celestia nodded. “We need to find him and trap him so the elements can re-trap him.” she said. Luna nodded, scared of what insanity Discord could wes in the land. “We should split up.” Celestia said. “We will cover more ground. I shall take my chambers and the areas surrounding first.” she said. Luna was fairly certain already that Discord was not in her chambers. “I shall search the servants and guards quarters.” With a mildly confused look, Celestia went off to her chambers.

Luna took off toward the kitchen first. It was the closest section of the castle to where she was.

She ran into the kitchen to find screaming chefs and more guards. Dough was piled up into a gloppy creature that was trying to eat the chefs. Discord’s voice rang out from its mouth. “Rawr, I will eat you now!” It was followed by bellowing laughter. The chefs and kitchen aids continued trying to escape. One was grabbed. As the pile of dough tried to consume the royal chef, una blasted it with her magic. “Discord!” she yelled. The chefs, at hearing Luna yell out, cheered that their princess had come to save the day. “Well, well. Lulu! What a surprise. I thought you would be as helpful now as you were last time I returned.” Luna flushed from anger at his comment. “Come out!” she ordered. Discord laughed from an unknown location. “How ‘bout no?” With that, the pile of dough fell to the floor and ceased trying to eat the kitchen staff. Everyone present, save for Luna, cheered.

After receiving many quick thank-you’s, she ran off. Using her magic, she contacted her sister through a mental link. “Sister, I have found him! He was harassing the kitchen staff, but ran off when I came in!” she thought to her sister. “Good! Look for where there is the most chaos now. That is likely where he will be!” Luna agreed and went off to look for pure anarchy in the castle. Before the link to her sister was closed, however, Discord felt like jumping in. “I love mental links!” he said. “I especially love how now I can easily guess your most embarrassing moments from what I catch drifting about the surface of your mind.” A chuckle came from Discord, prompting concern from both Luna and Celestia. “So, Luna, DID you give Starstep that ‘dance’?” Laughing rang out through the halls. Luna’s face flushed, this time from embarrassment. “Luna, her sister began. “I didn’t think you were like that. We’ll talk about this another time.” Luna had no desire to have such a conversation with her older sister. “No! I never offered, and never gave such a thing!” she corrected. Celestia quickly apologized for believing Discord, and they broke the contact.

Luna went to the guards quarters. There as an intense battle going on; The armor of the guards had gotten up and was fighting its own bearers. Most of the armor had already been dealt with, dents, dings, and even tears all over the metal. They were going to need new armor. “This armor is not inexpensive.” Luna thought, disappointed that this had happened. With a blast from her horn, she dispatched the rest of the armor without destroying it. The guards cheered, and those whose armor wasn’t destroyed donned it once again. “Guards!” Luna bellowed. They stood at the ready. “Go and assist in locating Discord! If you find him, come find my sister and I, and we shall take care of the rest!” Her guards shouted their understanding and went off in different directions.

Luna spent a few minutes trying to see if Discord was present. When nothing came up visually, she used her magic to find him. Nothing. “Where has he gone?” Luna asked herself, frustrated. Giving up soon after, she made her way to the throne room.

She encountered no particular problems on the way there. A few flying, shaped pieces of paper, but nothing severe. Once there, she looked around. No Discord, and her sister was still checking the other areas of the castle, it seemed. She waited.

About twelve minutes later, her sister came into the throne room, coated in some strange blue goo. “What..?” Luna started to ask. She was cut off by her sister. “Don’t ask.” was her reply. The guards behind Celestia snickered. “Did you locate him? she asked. Luna shook her head. “No, I lost him. I am sorry.” she said, hanging her head. Celestia went to her little sister. “It is not your fault. No one could have expected this.” she said, providing some comfort to her little sister. Luna stood straight again. “We must find him. Where have we not looked?” Luna asked. “Did you check your quarters?” Celestia responded. Luna put her hoof on her face. “No, I did not.” she replied. Celestia reared up to run. “Let us not waste time!” she yelled. The two princesses and three guards ran off to Lunas chambers.

*************************************************************************************

Starstep couldn’t move an inch. The aura around his body wouldn’t allow it. He struggled to the best of his ability, but to no avail. Discord had him. “Now, now, don’t struggle! I’m just here to pry.” he said. Starstep shot him a cold look. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I promise,” Discord told him, putting his hand over his heart. “I won’t break anything.” Starstep spat at him. Discord looked down at it with a neutral expression. “Now, you’ve ruined the floor. Good job. I’m sure Luna loves having your saliva all over the place.” he said, twirling his fingers and spinning his arm, eyes pointed at the ceiling. Starstep blushed. “Why do all these comments always get pointed at me?!” he thought. Discord looked back at his captive, noting the blush on his face. “Oh! AHAHAHA! I get it! Double entendre!” He laughed hard, almost falling to the floor. Starstep was only more embarrassed.

“Ahh, anyhow, I don’t think you need to worry about me. I tried taking over the world before; we all know how that went.” Discord recounted. Starstep’s blush faded and he took on a quizzical look. “Now, I only aim to have fun.” Starstep growled. “Your kind of fun pesters everyone and makes life difficult. Your ‘fun’ is harmful to others; we don’t want it.” Discord made an expression of mock hurt. “Oh, well, if you don’t want my fun,” he said. “I’ll just have to find another world to bring it to.” He floated to where he was levitating Starstep. He put his hand under his chin, lifting up his face. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find one, would you?”

Starstep began to panic; Discord clearly knew, from his comment at that moment, about the pool. Starstep didn’t know any particular details, but he knew it viewed other worlds. Whether or not one could go into said worlds was unknown to him. “As a matter of fact, no.” he said defiantly. Discord chuckled. “You should know that you can’t hide anything from me. There are on secrets; of the castle, of the country... of you. I know everything that I want to.” Starstep’s face was looking more and more scared as Discord went on. “I know where you eat. Where you work. Where you sleep... where you want to sleep.” Starstep felt helpless; Discord and full control over him now, knew everything there was to know. How do you fight an enemy like that?

Discord laughed loudly. Not wanting to think of his situation, he listened to his surroundings. He heard muffled voices from by the door. He felt a grin of relief splash onto his face. “You know one thing that I know that you don’t?” he asked Discord. Discord stifled his laugh with great effort. “Okay, I’ll humor you. What?” The voices got a little louder. “I know how long until you lose.” Discord looked at him quizzically. “Oh? And how long would that be?”

“Right now.” Starstep replied. The doors burst open and in ran the princesses and three guards. “Discord!” Celestia yelled. Taken by surprise, Discord dropped Starstep, who high-tailed it to Luna’s side. She looked concerned. “Are you alright?” she asked. “Did he do anything to you?” Starstep shook his head. “No, I’m fine.” he said. Celestia had taken up a position in front of everyone. Luna joined her. “We won’t let you get away!” Luna yelled. “Ha!” Discord shouted out. “I’ll see you try.” he said.

Celestia fired a bolt of magic at Discord. Not one to be defeated by basic spells, Discord side-stepped the blast. “Come one!” he said. “You don’t really think you can get me with such tiny effort, do you?” he asked. Celestia huffed. Luna moved to the side to flank Discord. Seeing this coming, he made a clone of himself. Luna was face to face with this clone now. “It’s just not that simple.” he said. Luna fired two bolts of magic at the clone, one immediately after the other. It was the kind of attack that the unicorn guards use when they have to breach a wall, but there are enemies on the other side. The first bolt puts a hole in the wall, the second goes in the subdue any hostiles in the room.

Discord’s clone was unaware of this. He knocked away the first bolt nonchalantly, but the second caught him in the chest. The blast was powerful; the clone fell down, clutching his chest. DIscord and Celestia looked over. “M, my.” Discord said. “You certainly are intent on getting me, aren’t you?” He turned tail and ran into Luna’s library, leaving his clone on the floor.

Celestia shot the clone with a magic bolt. He disappeared. “After him!” she yelled. Starstep and the three guards ran in first followed soon after by the princesses. It was just as well that the guards went in first, too, as they were being held down by some strange glue. “What?” Luna asked. Starstep waved her off with his free hoof. “He went over there!” he yelled, pointing to the next room. It was the one with the staircase. “We’ll be fine! Just go stop him!” he ordered. Luna and Celestia sprinted to the room, wary of any traps that may be awaiting them. There were none.

When they entered the room, the first thing they saw was Discord, reading a book. “Catching up?” Luna asked. Discord looked up, little care showing in his eyes. “Indeed. I am. Say, did you know that royal guards, save for special ones, aren’t allowed to have relationships?” Luna stepped forward, and Celestia spoke. “That rule is as outdated as you.” she said. She stepped up next to Luna. “I’M outdated? I’m hurt!” Discord said sarcastically. “Maybe I should find somewhere new to spread my fun.” Luna panicked, realizing what he was referencing. She took up a stance to fight. “You aren’t going anywhere, monster!”

Before she could cast any kind of restraint spell, she found herself in an onslaught of book. She ducked her head; some of the books were quite heavy. A shield suddenly appeared around her. “I won’t have you attacking my little sister!” Celestia bellowed. Discord stopped launching his attack. Celestia’s eyes were glowing green. Green clouds came from her body and horn. “Uh oh.” Discord said. Celestia slowly stepped forward. Luna had never seen her so mad. “Now I’m pissed.” she said. She really was angry; never before did she speak so. Genuine fear came alive in Discord’s eyes, as if he was being born again. “I think I’ll leave now.” Before Celestia could attack, there was a flash of light, and Discord disappeared.

Seeing the threat as having gone, Celestia walked to her sister. “Are you alright?” she asked, the green shroud disappearing. Her voice took on a very motherly tone. “Indeed.” Luna replied. “Though I must say, I have never seen you that angry.” Celestia seemed to beam at the comment. “Well, I have become good at keeping my temper in check, what with having to deal with the ‘nobles’ of the court.” They both shared a short laugh at the comment. Luna looked to the previous room. “We should probably see the guards.” she suggested. Celestia nodded her agreement.

When they entered the room, they saw the same sight as before. The guards were held down by some strange glue. Walking up to them, Luna used her magic to make the eglue disappear. It didn’t. “Ah! What is this?” she yelled. Starstep spoke up. “I don’t think it will be able to go away until Discord is dealt with, your highness.” he said. Luna frowned; she never wanted to get him in such a situation. “I’m sorry.” she said. One of the other guards spoke up. “Don’t be.” he said. Lina looked at him. “It’s our job, ma’am.” Celestia walked over and prodded at the glue with her magic. “Starstep seems to be correct.” she said. Starstep stood tall at the comment. The other guards simply nodded. “You will be stuck here until Discord’s magic can no longer hold you.”

Luna plled her sister aside. “What is it, little sister?” she asked. Luna looked up at her, saying, “I want to hear what they say now.” she said. Confused, Celestia humored her little sister and they listened. One of Celestia’s guards spoke first. “Darn it all, why did he have to run away?” he asked. Another responded. “Did you not here how freakin’ pissed Celestia was? Would you stick around for that?” The third f Celestia’s guards grunted his afirmation. “You know what they say,” Starstep began. “‘Hell has no fury like a mare’s scorn’.” They all shared a short laugh, confirming the saying with various little anecdotes.

They had listened enough. Luna and Celestia walked back over to the guards. “Listen up, my royal protectors.” Celestia began. The guards all tried to salute, but couldn’t, since they were so stuck. “I think we need to-” she was cut off by the sudden disappearance of the glue. The guards all fell over. Except Starstep, who flew up immediately. He was a pegasus, after all. He landed by Luna’s side. “What?” Luna wondered. Starstep shrugged. He knew what had happened; he couldn’t say, though, unless he was alone with her.

“He must be gone.”

*******************************************************************************************

With a snap of his fingers, Discord teleported himself away from the crazy ruler of the lands. He found himself in a basement, at the base of a spiral staircase. Looking up, he could see that it was quite deep. Realizing that his time may be limited, he explored the room.

The only thing of interest was a pool in the middle of the room. “Is this a private bat?” he asked himself. He walked over and looked in. A ridiculous smile plastered itself onto his face. “No!” he yelled. “It certainly isn’t.” he looked in closer. The image in the pool was of a strange creature, sitting in a dark room with another of its kin. hey both seemed sad, or maybe hopeless. “I wonder what could be wrong with them?” he wondered. He searched the room for clues, but could find nothing. They were just sitting in a dark, dank room. “I suppose I would be sad, too, if I had to sit in a room like that.”

He walked around, not sure of how to proceed. He had found this portal to another dimension, but was it in fact a portal, or just a window? There was only one way to find out.

Curling up into a ball, Discord leapt into the air and plunged into the pool. As he escaped to this new world, he thought to himself, “This is gonna be interesting.”

*******************************************************************************************

For ten minutes, everyone in the room was discussing what to do. They knew that Discord was free; his magic dissipated from the room, and no noise came from the rest of the castle that they could hear. All was peaceful. Still, they had to figure out where Discord went and if he posed a still threat. Celestia was ready to take on the responsability fully. “I will do research into where he went. Luna, I will leave it to you to keep up the appearance that all is well. The castle staff knows not to tell anyone about this right now, so you needn’t worry of them.” Without another word, Celestia and her three guards left to find Discord.

Luna sighed and fell into a sitting position. Starstep sat next to her, trembling from his experience with Discord. “Are you alright?” Luna asked him. He waved it off. “He used some magic to make me cold. It’ll be fine soon.” He hated lying to her. Thankfully, she was too tired to notice his lie.

Luna’s eyes shot wide open and she sat stock still, straight up. Her breathing came in quick, short breaths. Starstep panicked. Was there some magic left unnoticed? “Princess?!” he yelled. She burst into the air and sprinted into her library. Starstep followed close behind. “Princess, what’s wrong?” he asked. She wasted no time, not even turning to look at her guard. “I must see if Discord has used it to escape!”

Starstep knew about the pool, and his fear that it could be used to enter other worlds was confirmed. He started to panic a little himself. “We need to check!” Luna yelled. When she finished removing the bookcase, Starstep shot in front of her. “I’ll take point. He may have left some magic down there.” Before Luna could argue, Starstep took wing and floated down the staircase. Luna followed suit.

They reached the bottom with no trouble. Still ever cautious, Starstep led the way to the pool. Once there, and it was clear that it was safe, he moved over so that Luna could look into the pool. She leaned over, searching frantically the room around Ryan for any signs of her foe. “I do not see him.” she said. Starstep gave a sigh of relief. “Then I would guess that he’s not there. He must have done this to throw us off, make us think he’s not around.” Luna grunted. “Of course,” Starstep said. “that would mean that he’s still here in Equestria.” Luna’s blood went cold hearing this. “Okay,” she began. Starstep stood still awaiting orders. “We have plenty of reason to believe that he is still with us. So, we can knock this off the list of places to search.” she said. Starstep still waited. Luna looked like she was contemplating something, and was growing frustrated with whatever conclusions she was reaching. She let loose an elongated sigh. Starstep craned his neck, confused. “I suppose we just have to let Celestia take care of it.”

Starstep was slightly taken back by this. He had expected her to send him into the pool to find Discord. “Your highness,” he said, concerned. “shouldn’t I check inside the realm of the pool? See if he’s there?” Luna’s response was fast coming, loud, and terrified. “No!” she yelled. Starstep moved back a step. “The world of the pool is far too dangerous for you. I’m not sure even Discord will ever come back if he went in there.” Hearing this, Starstep gulped. “No, I fear that you and I are stuck with no role in this matter any more.”

Starstep was disappointed, but refused to show it. He wanted to pursue Discord, try to get even for stealing his sense of security. He sighed. “Alright.” he said. “so what do we do right now?” he asked. Luna turned and began to walk at a brisk pace up the stairs. Starstep followed. “Now, we try to calm everyone down. We can’t risk havign any information regarding this get out. The citizens of Equestria will end up in a panic and we can’t have that. We must maintain order.” They exited the staircase and hid it once again, only them knowing of its existence.

Just Before the Dawn

Ryan sat up in his seat. As he sat up, he could feel the cracks that his spine made, each one providing slight relief to his aching joints. Sleeping in a car will mess your back up, that’s for sure. Especially after days of it. Of course, it couldn’t help that he hadn’t slept on a bed since he was taken. Thinking about it, he didn’t even know how much time had passed since then. It had all become one long, painful blur. He would give anything to make the pain go away.

Rubbing the grit from his eyes, Ryan took a look out the window. Judging from the color of the sky, it was probably getting close to sunrise, maybe around five thirty. The sky was a deep red shade, with storm clouds approaching in the distance. It was as the old saying goes; “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.” Since he wasn’t going to get back to sleep, Ryan figured that the best strategy would be to just get to Buon Me Thuot as soon as possible. If he beat the weather, he could get on with his campaign against Narendra and be done that much sooner, however little that prospect actually appealed to him.

Ryan started up the car and began to drive onward. By his calculations, he shouldn’t be too far, only about an hour or so out. “Getting so close.” he said quietly. The Woman, surveying the scenery outside the window, nodded. “You are, Ryan. You’re getting close.” She turned to him. “But why? Why get him now? You could go home, come after him when you’re more experienced in your years.” She leaned on the dashboard. “None of this needs to be done, least of all now.” Ryan sighed. “Look, we already talked about this. Yes, it needs to be done now. Yes, I need to do it. Don’t question it; just accept it.” The woman sat back in her chair, looking upon Ryan with an aching heart. “It’s about us, isn’t it?” Ryan didn’t answer. It was just his way now. “Ryan, we aren’t angry at you. It wasn’t your fault.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “You were made to do it.” Ryan shook his head, hands beginning to tremble. “I’ve always prided myself on my ability to do what others cannot. I should be dead, not you. Not Joey. Not Catherine. I should have just let them take my life...” The Woman watched as Ryan’s misery poured out. His guilt was overpowering; she couldn’t respond. Bleary-eyed and with a running nose, Ryan continued his monologue. “I’ve always been the voice of reason. I’ve always held myself to a higher standard, and so did everyone else. I let go of that standard; I was too weak. I can’t go back... I just can’t...” The Woman found herself tearing up. “We can only do the best we can, Ryan.” Ryan looked up ahead. The clouds were getting closer. “Screw the weather.” he thought. “I’ll just go anyway.” Without turning back to The Woman, Ryan gave his final assessment. “Sometimes, the best we can do isn’t enough.”

He looked to his right, toward the passenger seat, where the woman was no longer. Looking ahead again, he drove off into the storm.

**********************************************************************************

Discord could feel Ryan getting back on the move. Not wanting to fall behind, he dropped through the roof of the car and yelled. “HARRIS!” Harris yelled out and shot straight up. He looked up at Discord, furious. “What the hell, man?!” Discord couldn’t suppress a laugh at the boy. “Ryan is on the move. Start’er up and let’s get a move on!” As soon as Harris heard that Ryan was on the move, he turned on the engine and drove.

Harris was more nervous today than he had been any other day. he knew that, odds were, today was the day he would have to follow Ryan through the jungle to wherever Narendra’s home was. The idea terrified Harris. He was going to put himself way in harm’s way, in the deadly jungle, surrounded by dangerous people, to follow his friend. Why did he want to follow Ryan so badly? No matter how hard he searched, only one reason came up; he wouldn’t ever abandon his friend, whatever happened.

Discord had felt Harris trying to search his mind, and couldn’t understand the answer any more than Harris. In fact, he understood it less. He didn’t get why anyone would put their life on the line for anyone else. He didn’t get why Harris was following Ryan, or why he had stuck with him at all. He could have left several times, in any of the towns that they went through. Ryan would have understood. He wouldn’t have been mad at Harris. Yet, Harris kept on going along with everything, even now. All because it was his friend out there. Maybe that was the “magic of friendship”? though he had never encountered such a powerful notion before.

He looked forward, toward the storm. Off in the distance, it was already raining. One could actually see the rain fall. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” he mumbled, not really intending Harris to hear that. “‘Cuz I have a bad feeling about this.” He let himself fall through the roof of the car, into the passenger’s seat. Harris didn’t even flinch, he was so laser focused on the road. “The city, Buon Me Thuot, it’s just ahead, a little less than an hour at this speed. Ryan will probably get there in about half an hour.” Harris nodded, not even for a second letting his eyes leave the road. “Good. That should give us time to follow at a good distance, keep out of sight. By the time he leaves the town, we’ll have just arrived. No questions will be asked of him, so he’ll never know that we’re here.” Discord nodded. The plan was simple, and had a good chance. But something was missing. “Any accounting for weather?” Discord asked. Harris paused. “No.” Discord thought about this. “Well, I can just use some magic to keep you dry.” Harris nodded, approving of the plan of action.

He hadn’t really been thinking about how exactly he was going to follow Ryan. He had been using Discord to track him, but he didn’t really know how he was going to go about traveling through the jungle. It wasn’t going to be easy, of course, none of this had ever been. But he had to account for things that he had been ignoring before. He had to watch for any dangerous animals that the forest may hold. He had to make sure that he was careful of any plants that may harm him. The biggest threat, though, was old land mines. From Vietnam and before, there were still old, armed mines buried in the dirt that could go off any time. Some didn’t need to be triggered; others still had functioning firing mechanisms. That was the real danger of traveling through the jungles of Vietnam without a guide. “I wonder if Ryan knows that?” he thought worriedly.

He had reached the area where the rain was falling. It wasn’t exactly pouring buckets, but the rain was still problematic. It was coming down at a steady pace, not ruining the road, but still making it very muddy.

Discord was back on the roof of the car, enjoying every moment of the rain that he could. He had always liked the rain; it tended to make life inconvenient for ponies, which was always entertaining to watch, even from his stony prison. The rain made him think of freshness, of new things to come. Maybe this storm wasn’t a bad omen; maybe it was nature trying to tell Discord that something good was on the horizon. He smiled. “Life may yet be good.” he thought. Maybe Ryan would kill Narendra and decide to come home after all. Maybe he and Harris would stick together as they returned home. They might even become famous for taking down a dangerous terrorist cell! As his thoughts progressed, the silly smile on Discord’s face continued to stretch across. Life had thrown these boys randomly to the wolves; maybe it would pay them back.

He laughed into the rain, allowing it to pass through his spectral form as he rode along on top of the car.

*********************************************************************************

Ryan’s car was close to being empty on gas. It didn’t matter, though, because he had made it to Buon Me Thuot.

It was a beautiful city, actually, even in the rain. The streets were pleasant, with no homeless people in sight. The huts and hooches towards the edge of the city had been very well kept, almost just there to provide some historical landmarks for the culture of the area. In the city, a lot of the buildings were very modern, lights and satellite dishes everywhere. There were stores all over the place, some selling locally made crafts, others selling big name brands of clothing. Those were probably locally made too, though.

As Ryan walked through the city, he noticed something distinctly different from the rest of the places he had come through; there were many more tourists, predominantly white, walking around. Whenever Ryan passed a group of them, the people would look at him like he was some kind of alien. He understood, though. He probably looked like shit. His clothes must have smelled like death, there was definitely dirt on his face and hands, and he must have just generally looked completely haggard. Being early, there weren’t many of them around. “Remind you of anywhere?” Apparently, The Woman thought that made it a good time to talk. Ryan grunted. “Not now.” he whispered. “I’m busy.”

The Woman walked around him. “Busy with what, Ryan?” she asked, her feathers clearly being rustled. “Trying to find a store to rob? Or maybe some random tourists to mug?” Ryan sighed and walked on. “If you must know,” he said, walking right past her and looking about. “I’m looking for a store to steal food from. Now quit bugging me.” The Woman would not relent. “Ryan, you can’t do that.” Ryan looked back at her, an incredulous expression on his face. Behind her, there were some local kids, listening to music. “I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again.” He spun around on his heel and continued along his way.

The Woman ran to catch up to him. “It’s wrong, Ryan. All of this is. Just go home. It’ll be better for you than anything here.” Ryan looked up, closing his eyes to prevent the rain from stabbing at them. “This is here. This is now. I don’t care about ‘the long run’. All I want is to kill that man.” He looked back forward and opened his eyes, blinking to knock away the water droplets which attempted to invade his eyes. “You know nothing about what will make me ‘feel better’.” The Woman walked alongside Ryan, stepping carefully to avoid any mud puddles. “On the contrary, Ryan,” she began. She startled herself when she stepped in a puddle, making no motion whatsoever. “I know exactly what you need.” Ryan put his hand up as if to smack The Woman across the face. “No. You don’t. No one can tell me what’s best for me.” He spotted a store in the distance. Inside, he saw shelves like one would find in a convenience store. Bingo. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have food to steal.”

Ryan made his way through the rain and across the street to the store. Once outside the window, he peered in. Being so early and with the weather, there was no one but the clerk inside the store. As much as this made it more difficult, Ryan didn’t care. He wasn’t here to be nice.

He opened the door and walked in, not making a sound. It was odd; ordinarily, there would be some kind of bell telling the shopkeeper that someone came in. This store didn’t have that. The clerk just sat at his counter, facing the wall. Looking over, Ryan saw that he was on a computer, surfing the web for whatever he entertained himself with. Ryan couldn’t help but wonder what kinds of porn were looked at by the men of this city. Ignoring the potential distraction, Ryan quietly made his way through the store, scanning the shelves. He found a lot of food, some of which he would have loved to take, but they were in bags. We all know how frustrating those bags are when one is trying to be stealthy. He kept looking around, and found bottled water, which he gladly grabbed two bottles of. After looking around a bit longer, he came to the unfortunate conclusion that there were no snack foods that didn’t come in annoying plastic bags. He glanced over at the clerk, just peeking over the shelf; he wasn’t looking away from his computer. Ryan slowly grabbed several small protein bar-type looking things and a bag of what looked like Chex Mix. He moved like a crocodile stalking its prey, not a sound emanating from his person as he executed his escape. At the door, he looked at the clerk one last time, but this time, he looked at the computer monitor.

Ryan burst through the door and sprinted down the street. Whatever the hell was on that monitor could stay there. He didn’t want to know what it was. Stopping when he got to around one block away from the store, he looked back. The owner of the store had just burst out as Ryan turned. He ducked into a side alley, not wanting to be seen. Inside, he was met with a most unwelcome sight. “I’m not going to try to stop you any more.” Ryan flinched as he nearly ran into The Woman. Careening to the side, he crashed into the wall and ended up slamming face first into a dumpster and falling to the ground. After taking a moment to recover, Ryan looked up at her. “What?” He hadn’t really expected her to say that. His response was surprise more than an actual desire to understand or hear it again. “I won’t try to stop you.” She looked to the end of the alley, the rain coming down harder than before. She looked longingly to the road. Her long, blonde hair looked dirty and matted in the rain. Her demure figure looked vulnerable and shaky. Her eyes, green and half-lidded, didn’t seem to focus on anything. “I can see that you can’t stop. I can see what’s wrong with you. So I’m done.” Ryan stood up, wiping his mouth. There was no blood, though he could taste it in his mouth.

He looked at her, angry about what she had said. But, at the same time, he was sad about it, yet relieved that he was going to be able to work unopposed. He took in a deep breath, shutting his eyes. “I’m sorry, Nadine.” When he released his breath and lifted his eyelids, The Woman was gone.

********************************************************************************

Luna was in the Royal Canterlot Library with her guard, reading old tomes on spells while Starstep read about advanced flight maneuvers that had been developed since his retirement from active military duty. Luna would frequently look over at him so gauge his reactions to the ever-developing flight of pegasi, but each time she did, STarstep was looking at her. Every time, he averted his gaze.

She could tell that he was looking at her again. She had trouble understanding exactly why; was there something on her? Did he put something on her? This time, she decided to play games with him. “Admiring the view Starstep?’ she asked, smirking mirthfully. Behind her, Starstep took a moment to respond. “Well, the moon in the morning is an astonishing sight.” A book closed behind Luna. “I mean, look at that crater!” Luna’s face exploded into a shade of red. She spun around to take away the view only to see a Starstep in hysterics. He was rolling about on the floor, practically choking on his laughter. It was certainly better than the previous night; he had been sobbing in the garden, and still silently cried in Luna’s chambers. To comfort him, she had put her wing around him and held him close. Not long after that, he fell asleep.

She stepped over to him and leaned in closer. She had only lost a few of these games, and she wasn’t about to lose this one. “You know, while I was on the moon, I found that many of those craters had entire cave systems.” She put her mouth just behind Starstep’s ear, taking on a hushed, come-hither tone. “I had an interesting time exploring them, I’ll tell you.” Starstep looked up at his princess, at a total loss for words. She laid down on him, pinning his wings under her belly. “Maybe, someday, you’ll get to delve into one? Of course, that would only work if your spelunking gear was sturdy enough for lunar exploration!” She couldn’t help but almost shout that last part, she was so giggly. Under her, her guard couldn’t even stammer out a response. Falling onto her back, she exploded into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Starstep looked back at her, as red as she had been before responding to him. “I... I...” He sighed, resigning his attempt. “You win this round, your highness.” Luna recovered, still giggling, and patted Starstep’s side. “Better luck next time, little guy.” As she put her hoof back to the ground, Starstep looked right at her eyes. “One; I’m not little. I’m surprised you haven’t taken the liberty to check.” Luna smiled sheepishly, causing Starstep to lean back. “Second; by the sound of it, I’ll be much luckier next time.” Both ponies grinned playfully. As Luna spun around to exit the library, she brushed her ethereal tail against Starstep’s chin, dragging it quickly across his scruffy chin. He needed to shave, apparently. “You never know.” And she walked back to her chambers, leaving a chuckling Starstep to his books.

Once again, she found herself in a good mood at the start of her day. It was around eight thirty, probably a good time to go see Ryan. Instantly, her smile faded. “I hope he’s okay.” She couldn’t help but lose any mirth she had had when she thought about him. “I wonder how far he’s gotten?” He could easily be at that next city. What was it, Buon Me something? And he didn’t have Harris with him any more. That was concerning. “He’s all alone out there...” she said quietly to herself. She walked at a slowed pace in a subconscious effort to take longer to learn what was happening with him. “... that’s no way that anyone should have to live.”

She treaded through her door cautiously, as if the evil man Narendra could be in there himself. She still didn’t know how she felt about Ryan’s plans for him. Sure, she had no idea what was right and wrong in that world, or what she would do in that situation, but couldn’t she use her basic sense of right and wrong to tell what was what? These thoughts and more dashed about her mind as she walked through her personal library and down the secret staircase. “Should I help him any more?” The question irked her; she couldn’t just abandon him to his fate, but at the same time, wouldn’t it be better to avoid being involved with such a situation? “No.” she concluded. “No, friends don’t abandon friends.” She recalled the Elements of Harmony, and the ponies who bore them. “Friends are loyal. Friends are kind. Friends are generous. Friends are honest. Friends are fun, and friendship is magical. He is my friend; through thick and thin, through the darkest of waters and deepest of seas, I will stay with him.” She approached the pool, but didn’t look in this time. “Courage doesn’t see around corners.” she thought. She dove in head first. “But it goes around them anyway.”

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Ryan was trekking through the jungle already. It was only half past eight, but he had decided that he would travel sooner rather than later. Plus, if he traveled early, all of the most dangerous animals would probably be asleep.

The rain had bogged down his speed considerably. Mud on the ground was dragging at his already torn up shoes, his jacket was catching on branches, and the vest had nearly been torn off by another branch. In order to prevent anything from stopping him altogether, Ryan had to slow down and move at a slug’s pace through the dense jungle terrain. The mud was trying its best to yank his shoes off, but he had tied them tight enough that they wouldn’t budge. At one point, he actually laid eyes on an old land mine, revealed to the world by the soon-to-be torrential downpour. “Gotta watch for those.” he had said. Other than that, he had lost several syringes of morphine; only two remained. Besides that, he still had his M1911 and three full magazines and his knife. Those were the only tools that he would need anyway.

He looked up at the canopy of the jungle that he was growing continually more frustrated with and took in a deep breath. “Getting so close.” he said to himself, almost lost within the words. He had come so far. Gotten so close to the end. What was there for him after, if there was nothing he could think of? He shook off the thoughts and kept moving forward. Eventually, he had to reach that river, and once he did, he would be able to find the compound. Narendra seemed to like riverside homes. “Fucking brat.” Narendra could live away from such expensive compounds for a day, couldn’t he? No, probably not. Narendra was just one of those guys.

Ryan stopped for a short break, not wanting to overexert himself for the coming potential fight. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. “Ryan?” a feminine voice called. He opened his eyes. luna was looking at him, worry affixed upon her semblance. He licked his lips and responded, “Yeah?” They felt a bit dry.

Luna stepped forward and sat before Ryan. “Where are we?” she asked, looking over their surroundings. Trees, easily up to a hundred feet tall, surrounded them, along with dense foliage on the ground. “What are you doing here?” Ryan put his hand up to signal her to wait; he was oddly out of breath. “First question; this is the Jungle of Vietnam, baby, where looks don’t count. Second question; I’m heading to Narendra’s home, to the north. There aren’t exactly roads that lead there, so I have to take the annoying way.” He pushed himself off the tree. “Anything else?” Luna looked at him like he had three heads. “What?” She stepped forward and put a hoof to his face. He didn’t move away, though. “You look awful.” Ryan shrugged. “Like I said, where looks don’t count.” He stared into her eyes. She seemed fascinated with something. “Well, while you walk, we can talk. Maybe make the journey less boring?” She gave him a genuine smile, which he completely ignored. “Eh, sure.” He moved away and kept moving north.

While they walked, Ryan partly listened to what Luna was telling him. The other part of him was thinking about her as a being. “Staying here won’t be good for her.” he thought. He glanced over at her; she was happily blabbing away about something she had done with her guard. It sounded like simple trolling. “Not with what I’m about to be doing.” He thought over everything that he had learned about her during the course of his journey with her along his side. She clearly didn’t understand why he was doing what he was doing, or even exactly what he was doing. She hadn’t witnessed him take a life as of yet. “This kind of experience will mess her up something fierce.” She kept on talking about how embarrassing she was to her guard, and him to her. “Such innocence...” It reminded him of Nadine and Joey, the memory visibly making him flinch. Luckily, Luna wasn’t looking at that moment. “I won’t let that be destroyed.”

Having met that conclusion, he decided to start fully listening to his companion’s stories. Turns out, he came in at an interesting time. “So then I told him that he could only do lunar exploration if he had durable enough spelunking gear!” She laughed loudly, enabling Ryan to get the context almost immediately. Ryan smiled a little bit, not wanting to ruin her mood. As angry as he was, as sad as he was, as terrible as he had been feeling, he still wanted nothing more than to protect other people’s happiness. As long as they deserved it. “That’s... pretty good.” he commented, giving a hint of praise. “I must say, you can think quickly on your feet. Hooves. Whatever.” Luna’s chest puffed up a bit. “I need to be clever. I am a princess, after all.”

Ryan had forgotten about that, and so the two spent the next at least two hours talking about Luna, her job, and her homeland. It was called Equestria, clever wasn’t exactly the word he would use to describe whoever named it, and it sounded like paradise. Sure, it had its fair share of problems, some rather severe, but it was a helluva lot better than Ryan’s world. The ponies who lived and thrived there were, more often than not, happy with their lives, and did what they loved. There was conflict, to be certain, but there hadn’t exactly been any World Wars or genocides. That was the thing that stood out to Ryan. Still, as peaceful as their world sounded, that also meant that there was little to overcome, not like Ryan’s world. Hell, he was overcoming something huge right now. As terrible as certain things are, rather than fruitlessly try to wish them away, humans would learn from them and become better as a species. While there would always be those who didn’t, the vast majority did, and that was a source of pride for Ryan in humanity versus ponies. Humans had proven to be capable of overcoming challenges and hardship, and so they could always say, “We can overcome anything. We need only try, and we shall defeat the darkness of our own hearts.”

Before he knew it, Ryan was looking into the river. He nearly walked right in. He looked out over the river, to both sides. To his right, he saw his target. “Narendra’s home.” He turned to face it, and without turning to face his friend, said, “I think it would be best for you if you didn’t stay for this.” Behind him, he heard a very effeminate gasp. “What... what? Why?” She sounded like she had been stabbed in the back by her best friend. For all Ryan could tell, maybe she had. “You need to go home. This kind of thing isn’t meant for your eyes.”

Luna walked forward, tears rimming her eyes. Her good, human friend, who she had been helping throughout this entire trial, was asking, no, telling, her to leave. Why? “But... but I want to help you, Ryan. I can’t just leave you.” She sat herself down next to Ryan and leaned on him. As she began to fall through him, she pulled herself back up. “Why would you send me away?” Ryan stared off in the direction of the huge compound, which had a dock and even a boat garage. “The same reason I sent Harris away.” He faced Luna. “I don’t want to see you hurt.” Luna’s jaw shook. “But I can’t be hurt!” She waved her foreleg through his body. “See?!” Ryan sighed loudly and kneeled next to Luna. “That’s not what I mean, Luna.” He turned to face her, face coated with a glaze of rain water, streaming down his face. “You’re too innocent for this world. Just like Joey and Nadine.” Luna looked into his eyes; all she could find behind those dark hazel eyes was deep sorrow and longing. “I won’t let that be destroyed. Not again.” He put his hand on the spot where her hoof was. “Please, Luna.... don’t let the last bit of I’ll ever see be ripped apart.” He blinked three times. “Go home.”

In his eyes, Luna could see the fear and the sorrow, the loss and the anger, the determination and the uncertainty. She knew that he was right, too. Whatever was about to happen, it wouldn’t be the kind of thing she should be exposed to. People were about to die. Ryan was going to kill a man out of hatred. These would prove too much for Luna.

Luna sat straight up and looked at Ryan. His eyes were red; whether it was from exhaustion or crying, she could not tell. It was only now that she realized just how little of a husk he was of his former self. As she disappeared, she felt more tears stream down her face. “Ryan,” she said. One final note. He looked into her eyes one last time. “I will always be able to help you.” With that last word, she disappeared from Ryan’s world for the last time.

Ryan fell to his knees, salty water surged down his face, realizing that he had once again sent away his friend for their safety because of his anger. Now he was truly alone.

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Harris approached the treeline with trepidation. On the other side, he had no idea what may lay in wait for him. In the rain, he could probably see any geographic problems, but any animals that might be dangerous would be hidden in all the noise.

“You heading in or what?” Discord asked from behind. Harris looked back. “I mean, he isn’t even a mile in yet. You have time.” Harris looked back and forth between the spirit and the forest. “Let’s get some food first.” Discord nodded, and the two went into the town to find some food to steal.

Harris walked through the now torrential downpour and searched the area for any places that sold convenient food. He saw a little convenience store, but the owner had a pistol on the counter with his hand resting on it. “Someone already hit that store, apparently.” It was unfortunate; that was the perfect store.

Harris continued to walk around when he noticed something odd. All around him, there were way more white people than he would have thought. Most sounded American when he passed them. “Huh. Must be here to see the sights of Vietnam.” Of course, sights meant the battlefields and mountains. As he passed one group, the group stopped and looked at him. Harris topped too. They were studying him intently, which made him uncomfortable. He probably looked awful, but was that a reason to stare. His vest was under his shirt, so that couldn’t be it. “Can I have some money?” he asked. On the one hand, if they gave him some, he could buy food. On the other, they would probably leave him alone. He was surprised when they handed him a wad of about one hundred fifty dollars, US. “Umm, thanks.” he said, pocketing the cash. The American man who gave him the cash spoke up. “You’re that kid from the news.” Uh oh. “What?” Harris asked, shocked at the man’s sentence. The news? “Yeah. You and the other one are international celebrities. Kidnapped by terrorists, then escaped and freed the other people who were taken?” Those other people that Ryan had freed alongside Harris must have told their stories. “Man, you two are something. Anything we can do to help.” Harris was less concerned about help than about what the world knew. “Does the world know our names?” he asked. The man gained a gleam in his eyes as he shook his head. “What are your names?” he asked a bit too eagerly. No doubt, he wanted to get his fifteen minutes of fame by talking about his encounter with the boys. “Sorry, can’t say. Too dangerous to our families.” While he had come up with that on the spot, it didn’t make it any less true. The man looked at him, wonder evident in his eyes. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Well, listen, if you need any help, we’ll be here for the next few days.” Harris took a note of that as the man left, two kids in tow behind him. If he did try to get any help from him, it would be to get home. “I don’t want to drag them into this mess. Not now.” With the money in hand, Harris went over to the store that he had spotted before.

He walked inside, and the clerk looked at him suspiciously. When Harris pulled out some money, the clerk visibly relaxed and leaned back in his seat. “Glad to see that money still makes people see one way rather than the other.” Not really. He never liked how money did that. As Harris went through the store, Discord floated just over him, pointing at random bags and suggesting them. “Oooh! How about those?” he would say every time. He had suggested plenty of decent things, but some were ridiculous; he pointed at a canister of motor oil once. Clearly, he wasn’t reading the labels. “Discord,” Harris whispered. He floated in nice and close. “please pay attention to what you’re pointing at. Maybe you’ll make a good suggestion.” Discord saluted in a silly manner and ceased his assistance. Shaking his head, Harris pulled out a bottle of water from the coolers and some Chex Mix bags from the shelf. As he approached the counter, the clerk eyed him, seeming to size him up. After looking over the food, which Harris dropped on the counter, he said, “Two fifty.” Harris pulled out a ten and handed it to the man, scooping up his meal. Before the clerk could give him his change, Harris said, “Keep it.” The clerk looked happy about that and just stuck it right in the register. Harris had an idea of who had robbed his store anyway, and felt that he should compensate the man.

As Harris made his way across town in the rain, he devoured his first bag of Chex Mix, eating it as quickly as he could. Then, he downed half of his water.

As he made his way across the town, the few tourists who were around seemed to look at him, awestruck and yet afraid. Did they know everything? Did they know about the events of Thailand and Cambodia? How could they? No one knew that those were Harris and Ryan; they might have known that it was a couple of foreign kids, but no more. Nonetheless, it was enough to make Harris hurry across town, rather than risk being carted away by local authorities.

He quickly found himself looking back at the jungle again. Inside, it was dark, dark enough that it was hard to see the plants on the ground. The rain fell in fewer, but much larger, globs beyond the treeline. Birds and monkeys could just barely be heard making their calls above the rain. Harris looked back at the town. In that direction, he had safety, security. He would go home, be with the people he loved. In the jungle, he was leaving all that behind to follow his friend and ensure that he didn’t fall into the flaming depths of Hell on his own. This was his last chance to decide on his own fate.

He walked into the jungle with further hesitation, followed closely by a Draconicus snaking through the air just above.

A Better or Worse World

Discord found himself wondering why he allowed this to happen. Any of it. He had a chance to kill Narendra from the start. He never took it. He could have done it at any time during the whole endeavor, but didn’t. He had been sitting on the sidelines during all of the best opportunities to assist, but chose not to. What kind of guy was he, to allow so many to die, just because he wanted the satisfaction of influencing others to do his bidding? He had never thought of himself as truly evil, but what did this make him? He certainly couldn’t be good.

Ryan lay in the river before him, Harris slowly walking away in the other direction. Discord looked down at both boys with pity. Harris had lost his best friend to the jungles of Vietnam, and was obligated to leave his friend, who still lived, bleeding out in a disgusting river. As Discord watched the water around Ryan turn red, he felt queasy. Seeing this boy die here was too much for him.

The boy had changed much here. He went from being a nice, noble guy to being a cold-hearted killer of his fellow man. And it was all Discord’s fault. He had had so many chances to make everything right, but he acted too late. His failure to help initially resulted in the death of the young man before him.

Discord thought about his own world. Back home, there were no organizations that kidnapped ponies and sold them as slaves, at least as far as he knew. There were no organizations dedicated to the killing of innocents, to causing suffering to others based on ideology or race, or anything, really. There was peace, something sorely lacking in this world. Discord didn’t know much about the rest of this world, but what he had seen of it was Hellish at best. People killing and hurting each other for money and revenge. Anger. Hatred. Loss. No one deserved to live in a state of everlasting anger, or hatred, or loss. Discord looked down at Ryan, who was still just barely alive. Harris was gone, nowhere to be seen. “No one deserves to die like this.” he said, eyes not really focusing on anything. “No one deserves to die in a place such as this.”

With a snap of his fingers and a flash of light, Discord disappeared from this world, along with the body of the boy that he would do his best to remember.