A Colt Once Forgotten

Chapters

Prologue
First Encounters
Magic
Thin Ice
Silence Speaks
OnThe Rocks
Superficial Cleansing
That Awkward Moment
Honesty
Innocence Observed
Interpersonal Relations
Dead Men Do Tell Tales
Just Another Day
Generosity
What Was Once Lost
Fear of the Unknown
Credit When Credit is Due
Not a Walk in the Park
The Nightmare Goes On
Loyalty
'Tis the Season
What We Leave Behind
New Year's Resolution
Life in the Spotlight
Study Group
Laughter
Hanging Out?
What Is Love?
Certain Considerations
Cloud Nine
Kindness
All Together
Perilous Roads
Operation: Imminent Harkness
Advanced Methods
None Braver
A Colt Once Forgotten
Carry On, Wayward Son
Tying it Up
Where the Heart Is
A Colt Not Forgotten
A New Road

Prologue

New Chances“There are two types of pain in this world; the temporary pain of discipline, or the permanent pain of regret.” (Unknown)

The weightlessness was replaced by a bizarre feeling of being pressed back into the earth. The pressure was suffocating; Ryan could barely breathe. When he opened his eyes and looked down, he saw that the hole was still there. That explained the asphyxiation feeling. Under him, he felt no water, only hard dirt, nothing like the kind in the Vietnamese jungles. Were it not for the terrible pain, he would be questioning where the hell he was.

Above him, Discord hovered, looking down at the boy. He wasn’t able to fully heal the boy, but he was able to put most of his lost blood back in his body, at least giving him more time before he died. That time could be the save-all or the end-all right now. Discord looked around, hoping for the best. Around them was an orchard. Ryan lay on dirt road, apple trees surrounding his position. Discord recognized this place, eliciting a smile from him. Maybe there was a chance for the boy. He looked down at him, hope glistening in his eyes.

Ryan eventually looked up and saw Discord above him. He tried to speak, but instead of words, he spattered out blood and fell back, keeping his eyes on Discord. Discord went back to the ground. “Hello, Ryan.” he said. “I know that you can’t speak, so just listen.” Ryan’s hands covered his chest wound, and he tried to stay silent. “I’ve taken you from your world.” Discord began to explain. “I have my reasons, which I will share with you if I feel like it. I’ve put your blood back, but I couldn’t close up the hole. Luckily for you,” Discord shot a gust of wind at a nearby tree, which bent much more than any tree ought to, but didn’t snap. “the physics of this world will give you a bit more time. I’d say that you have about fifteen to twenty minutes, as opposed to the five to ten back in your world.” Ryan hacked up blood, unable to control himself. Discord flinched at the sudden noise.

Off in the distance, several voices could be heard. Discord looked in that direction, feeling good about what was to come. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat,” He jumped up and curled into a ball. “but I have a garden to tend to.” With a twirl in the air and a bright flash, Discord was gone, leaving Ryan on the ground to bleed all alone.

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The Cutie Mark Crusaders, or CMC, as is shorter, came to Sweet Apple Acres today looking for farming cutie marks. Applejack was away with her friends somewhere to the north, doing something for the princess, so the girls just bothered Big Macintosh about working.

“Come on!” Applebloom whined. “Ain’t there somethin’ we can do?” She looked at her older brother with big, puppy dog eyes, trying to force her older brother to give in. He was having no part of it, though. “Ah don’t rightly think so.” He walked past them, dragging along a huge, heavy kart of apples. “Could we carry stuff? Plant stuff? Anything at all!?” Sweetie Belle pleaded. She, too, joined in the puppy dog eye onslaught. “No. Now go play.” Mac just kept on walking. It was getting harder to resist, and he was close to cracking.

Then, Scootaloo completed the trio. “Pleeeeeease?” It was too much; the three fillies were overwhelmingly cute. Mac tried to look away, but they just moved to stay in his line of vision. He sighed. “Fine. Gimme a few minutes, Ah’ll try to think up somethin’.” The CMC jumped up to celebrate their glorious victory over Mount Macintosh. “YAY! CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, FARMERS!” they shouted in unison. Mac hid a smile under his usual stoic demeanor, always being feeling content when his little sister and her friends were enjoying themselves.

As they all walked back to the barn, Mac tried to think of something for them to do. They couldn’t buck apples off the trees, they were much too young. It wouldn’t go anywhere. Sure, it was the middle of the summer, but there wasn’t anything more to be planted; Applejack took care of that before leaving. They were much too little to drag carts of apples, and there was not a chance in this world that Mac would let them handle dangerous farm gear and tools. There wasn’t much. “Hmmm.” he said, chewing on the end of his signature piece of straw. He looked around, trying to think of something. All that was there was trees, the same as always. “I need to go on an adventure.” he thought.

A random gust of wind blew in from the east field, causing Mac to look that way. “Hmm.” he said again. The pegasi hadn’t warned them of inclement weather. Of course, if it came from the Everfree, that might explain it That forest was too creepy. His thoughts were put to another track when he looked to the field, though. “I suppose that you girls could water the trees out that way.” he said, pointing his muzzle at the east field. The girls all looked in that direction. “Jus’ let me get you a little wagon and some buckets of water.” The girls excitement exploded onto their faces like an exit wound. “YAY!!”

At the farmhouse, Mac got the buckets and and the wagon and brought them outside to the pump, where the CMC were waiting, bouncing up and down. “Maybe we’ll get our cutie marks from this!” Scootaloo expressed her excitement. “Yeah! I’ll get to be like my older sister!” Applebloom affirmed. Mac smiled; she really looked up to Applejack a lot. As he approached, Sweetie Belle was the first to notice him. “YAY!” she shouted. They shouted that a lot, it seemed. He couldn’t imagine the fun that Ms. Cheerilee had with them each day in the school year. Mac set the buckets down from his jaw and rolled it about a little bit. “Alright, now, Ah want you girls to fill these buckets with water.” he said, indicating the pump and buckets. “Then, get’em on the wagon and head into the fields. If you any trees that look weak or withered, give’em some water. Good?” They all nodded vigorously. “Great. Ah’ll see y’all later than.” He turned and walked off, ready to get back to work.

The girls immediately went to work, putting the buckets on the wagon, then filling them under the pump. They chatted away as they worked, thinking up more ways to get their marks if this didn’t work. “We could try to work with Pinkie when she gets back on party cutie marks!” Scootaloo said excitedly. “Ohh ohh!” Sweetie Belle had an idea. “Maybe we could help animals with Fluttershy!” Scootaloo looked at her with disinterest. “Come on, how much excitement could that bring?” she asked rhetorically. Sweetie Belle answered anyway. “We could help weird animals, or discover new ones.” she reasoned. The thought of discovering things changed Scootaloo’s attitude. “Aw, yeah, that would be cool!”

Applebloom mostly listened to them, seeing as she wanted to try to stay working on her family’s farm. She hoped that her talent would enable her to stay here. She would take what she got, but she wanted to find a way to stay at home. “Alright girls,” she said as the second bucket finished filling up. “Let’s get to those fields!” With big smiles on their faces, the girls pulled the wagon of water out in the direction of the fields, completely unknowing of what exactly was out there.

The girls looked around, but they couldn’t find a single tree that may have needed water. They all looked perfectly fine. It looked like Mac had sent them on a wild goose chase.

Applebloom sighed as she swept the area, left to right, right to left. Everything was in tip top shape. But then she noticed something that stood out. “Over there!” she shouted, pointing her foreleg toward something. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked over; there was a dry patch underneath a tree. Anxious to get their cutie marks, they sped over to the patch. Once there, Scootaloo got up onto the wagon and dumped an entire bucket of water out of the wagon and onto the ground, soaking the area. Instantly, the girls put their flanks together and looked, waiting for a mark to appear. Sadly, no such event occurred. “Aww.” they all whined in unison. Nothing. “Alright, let’s get moving. Put the bucket back and let’s see if there’s a spot where we can dump the other bucket.”

Before they got the bucket back into the wagon, there was a bright flash not too far down the path, maybe one hundred and fifty feet. “What was that!?” Sweetie Belle screamed, startled by the sudden visual intrusion. Scootaloo was in flight mode, ready to sprint away at any sign of trouble. Only Applebloom, who was trying to discern what the shape down the road was, could decide on a course of action. “Let’s go see!” she announced, getting back in front of the wagon and pulling it behind her. The others quickly followed suit. “I hope this isn’t a bad idea.” Sweetie Belle voiced, concern etched into her voice.

As the girls approached, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle noticed the shape. “What’s that!?” Sweetie Belle shouted, terrified by the unknown before them. The strange shape was making noise in front of them, like a gurgling noise, but with a hint of its voice. “Ah’m not sure.” Applebloom admitted. Whatever it was, it coughed violently on the ground. “Ah think it needs help!” Applebloom shouted. She surged forward, her friends having trouble keeping up. The bucket tipped in the wagon, spilling the water in it. As the girls slowed down before the thing, it was clearly a creature, the wagon pushed them from behind, pushing them closer than they were comfortable with. “Eeek!” They all froze when they found themselves not five feet from the creature. It was clutching a part of its chest with what appeared to be a hand, like spike had, but with five fingers. Its eyes were shut tight, and it looked like it was in pain. “Ummm, c-can we help you?” Scootaloo asked timidly. The creature didn’t open its eyes, but turned its head. Scootaloo hadn’t really expected a response anyway. “Get- *cough* - away... dying...”

The girls’ jaws dropped. The creature could speak! Come to think of it, it was wearing some weird clothes, too! They had discovered a new species! “AH!” Applebloom yelped. The creature didn’t speak again, just lay there, in pain. “Wait, what did it mean... by...” Alarms started to go off in Sweetie Belle’s mind. The creature was in pain. It said the word “dying”. It wanted the girls to leave. “I think it’s hurt!” Sweetie Belle moved forward, forgetting about her trepidations, and got a closer look. “Sweetie Belle!” The other girls ran over, shouting simultaneously. They all looked at the creature, right under them. Its hand was red. “How bad is it?” Sweetie Belle asked. No response, just coughing. That was enough answer though; blood came out of the creature’s mouth. Some of it landed on Applebloom’s leg, and she jumped back like it was acid. “W-what do we do?!” she queried. When neither of her friends could come up with an answer, Applebloom looked back to the wagon. “Ah’ve got it!” she announced. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched as Applebloom brought the wagon forward. “Get’em in here! We’ll get it to the hospital”

They were all satisfied with this solution, seeing as it was the only viable option as of yet. The girls all got to putting the creature in the wagon, which was no easy task. It weighed a lot. “Dang, this thing’s heavy!” Scootaloo commented. As they lifted up the creature, they noticed a pool of blood underneath it. Double-timing their pace, the girls were just able to get the creature into the wagon. Mostly. Its arms and legs stuck out and touched the ground. “Good enough.” Applebloom concluded. She and her friends got into the reins. “Let’s go!”

The girls pulled with all their might, and once they got the wagon moving, it wasn’t about to stop. Inertia at its best. They kept on going, not wanting to stop and risk the death of whatever their precious cargo was. Still, being tiny fillies, their energy reserves had to run dry eventually. They just weren’t expecting it to happen so soon. “I-*huff*- wasn’t expecting- *huff*- this- *huff*- to be so... hard.” Sweetie Belle said, she and her friends finally making it to the farmhouse. “Ah know- *huff*- what you mean.” Applebloom replied. They all stopped. There was no way that they were going to make it all the way to the hospital. They needed a new plan.

Enter, Big Macintosh, the tank of a stallion. He walked around the corner, hearing his sister responding to her friend about going to the hospital. None of them sounded hurt, but his concern forced him to check anyway. What he saw was unbelievable. “What’s goin’ on-” he wasn’t able to finish before his little sister cut him off. “Big Mac!” she shouted. “This thing’s dyin’!” She panted, clearly exhausted. Mac took a look at the creature in the wagon; it was not a pretty sight, now that he understood. “We- *huff*- we need to get to the hospital!” Without another word, Mac ran over and took the reins from the girls. “Eeyup.” Without giving any reassurance to the girls, he ran off towards the hospital, a dying animal in tow.

He ran through the town, uncaring of what other ponies around him might be thinking about this. He could hear something sloshing about in the wagon behind him; he hoped to Celestia that it was spilled water; as he ran. The creature’s hands and feet were dragging on the ground to either side of the wagon, scraping them up. At this point, though, that was probably irrelevant. The creature was injured enough that a scrape or seven wouldn’t make a difference.

As he ran, the other ponies in town looked on curiously at his cargo. They had no way of knowing that the creature was bleeding out in the wagon, so many tried to follow for a bit. It was only when some of the bloody water fell out that some of them decided not to keep following. “Come on. Come on!” Mac said to himself. The creature probably didn’t have much time left. He would have preferred to bring it to Fluttershy if she was available, but she wasn’t. Off in the distance, he could see his goal. “Just a little bit more.” he thought. He had to save the creature; he couldn’t bear to imagine his sister’s face if the creature that she found died.

Before long, Mac burst through the doors of the lobby, terrifying everypony inside. They all looked at him, then at his wagon, then back at him. “This thing needs serious help, now!” Mac announced. A doctor came out from behind the desk. “What’s the problem?” he asked, curious but urgent. Mad looked at the creature, then back at the doctor. The doctor looked horrified. “Doc-” Again, he was interrupted. “Get it to the operating room, now!” Using his magic, he was a unicorn, the doctor lifted the creature out of the wagon and onto a wheeled stretcher that was off to the side. “Move, move!” He and several nurses all rushed into the operating section of the hospital, leaving Mac alone with his ruined wagon and several spectators. They all looked at Mac expectantly, but when they got no answer, they all went back to their business. Mac just looked at his wagon. He hoped that the majority of the two inches of liquid in the wagon was water, but the color of it suggested otherwise. Satisfied that he did his duty, Mac left the hospital to clean the wagon and probably his sister. She would probably want to talk.

“I’ll come back tomorrow.” he concluded as he slowly made his way home, trying to make sense of what he just saw and did.

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

His eyes were closed. He breathed in slow and deep, but not by his own doing. his hands were strapped down, keeping him in his place. He was too weak to get up anyhow. He felt oddly dry, a sensation that seemed like it was brand new to his body. He could feel that there were no clothes on his body; just what felt like a hospital gown. The last time he wore one of these, he had been hit by a car.

He tried to open his eyes, and was met with success when he was able to get them half way there. Slowly, he blinked, blinded partially by the lights above him. How did he get here? He remembered hearing a little girl, speaking to him, asking him something. She spoke English, too. Strange. Wasn’t he in Vietnam? No, he couldn’t be. He had to be dead. Maybe this is what it would be like, dying? Just able to rest in a spot, no pain, just laying down. Though,Ryan was expecting something more like Hell, to be honest.

A number of wires were attached to his chest, especially around the spot that he would have sworn was a big hole. Focusing, he couldn’t feel anything missing, but then again, he couldn’t feel anything much at the moment. This hospital must have put him on fierce meds. He tried to raise his hands to get at the wires, but the straps kept them down. “Right.” he reminded himself. Deciding not to waste precious energy, Ryan just lay there, waiting for his doctor to return. The little heart monitor sped up with his consciousness, so he figured that the doctor would come back soon. To kill the time, he looked around the room. He noticed that all of his stuff, and Harris’ Automag, oddly, were sitting in the corner. His clothes hung on a hanger in an open closet before him, obviously having been cleaned, since there was no blood on them. He remembered that guy’s headless body had spilled a lot on him.

There was a series of knocks at his door. As much as Ryan wanted to answer, “Come in.”, he couldn’t. So, whoever it was just waited for a moment before coming in. When they did, Ryan’s mind came to a screeching halt at the sight.

Before him, there stood a horse. Though, it was maybe a bit short, so perhaps it was a pony. Even so, that didn’t match up to the fact that it had a horn. And a doctor’s outfit, stethoscope and all. It even held a clipboard. As it entered, it looked at Ryan, noticing that his eyes were open. It locked eyes with its patient, and slowly, it shut the door. “Hello.” it said in a masculine voice. So it was a he. “Please stay calm.” he pleaded. When Ryan made no move, he relaxed a bit and came closer. Ryan’s heart rate raised a bit, and the doctor tried to calm him down. “Relax, relax.” he said in a hushed tone. “I’m doctor Laym.” Oh the irony of the name. “I fixed you up. You’re fine now.” Ryan just kept looking at the doctor, eyes somewhat glazed over. He was tired, and would likely go back to sleep soon. “I just came in to check on you. I’m glad to see that you’re alright.” Ryan blinked twice, slow as a turtle. “I’ll stop by periodically to see you. And please, try to relax.” With those last words, the doctor left the room. Also with them, Ryan let his eyelids drift back down and slept.

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

Mac and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all sitting in the waiting room. Scootaloo was on her own, but Sweetie Belle was brought here by her father, Magnum, who was watching her while Rarity was away. They all sat quietly in the waiting area, nervous about what news they might get. It had only been less than twenty-four hours, but they were told that some of the best doctors and surgeons were there to work on the creature.

Sweetie Belle had apparently not told her father about the creature yt, as he was cradling her, saying that her friends would be alright. “Don’t worry.” he said. “I’m sure that the doctors will help her out. They’re some of the best.” After a time, though, Sweetie Belle decided to correct her father. “Actually, it’s not exactly my friend.” Magnum looked at her, confused. “It?” His main concern was apparently that this was an “it”. “Yeah. We found it over at Sweet Apple Acres.” she explained. “It was hurt really, really bad, so we brought it to the farmhouse, and Big Mac brought it here.” Magnum put his hoof to his chin. “What is it?” he asked, now just curious. Sweetie Belle shook her head. “We don’t know. But it could talk!” she exclaimed. “And it had hands, like Spike, Twilight’s assistant. And it had weird clothes and stuff with it.”

As she continued her explanation to her father, Mad remembered coming home the previous night. His sister was sitting in the center of the living room, being comforted by Granny Smith. When Mac walked in, he ran over to them. “Hey. You alright?” he had asked. Applebloom nodded. “Yeah.” She was clearly shaken by the encounter. I mean, come on, this thing nearly bled to death in their wagon. Granny Smith wasn’t believing that any more than Mac. “Now don’t you go lyin’ ta’ me, little missy!” she said. Mac smiled. “Ahhh, know that this is buggin’ ya’. Now, ya’ know what to do?” Applebloom looked up at her Granny. “Go’n take a shower, clean yerself up, an’ remember that you did a good job, gettin’ this thing to Macky boy here.” She looked to Big Mac. “Ah got it to the hospital. It’ll be fine.” And with that reassurance, Applebloom had felt much better.

And now, here they were, waiting to hear if Big Mac was right. The girls all had an invested interest in this, being the ones who found the creature, and Big Mac had an invested interest in their well being, so he wanted the creature to be alright too. He made that pretty obvious when the doctor came back from the room where the creature was being kept. “Well, doc?” he asked, getting up and walking over. “How is it?” The doctor put his clipboard in a pocket on his side and addressed the large work stallion before him. “He’s fine. And I can confirm that it’s a he.” The girls all giggled behind him. The doctor pulled the clipboard back out. “The wound was like nothing I’ve ever seen.” As soon as he said that, Magnum and the girls came right over. Other ponies in the room also became quite interested. “It was like something went straight through its back and chest, but exploded halfway through. The entry wound was about 5.7 millimeters wide, but the exit wound was close to 2.8 centimeters wide. And it progressed in size as it went through. I don’t know what could have done this, but if it weren’t for you, this creature would be long dead.”

When the girls behind him shouted their glee together, Big Mac fell back a little bit, letting them get in to talk to the doctor. “So is he gonna be okay?” Scootaloo asked. The doctor smiled a big, goofy smile, and replied, “All thanks to you girls.” The joy on their faces was enough to give somepony a heart attack, they were so adorable. They hopped around, celebrating. While they were busy doing that, the doctor came over to Mac and Magnum. “There are certain issues that we should probably discuss soon, in regards to all of this.” Mac understood; if a hospital didn’t get paid, it wouldn’t be there. But Magnum was to have no part of negotiations. “Name your price. I’ll pay it.” Both Big Mac and the doctor looked at him, surprised. The doctors expression quickly changed to happiness. “This will probably be around three thousand bits.” Magnum took out his wallet and checkbook. “Here.” he said, handing the doctor a check. “Now just make sure he leaves this hospital better off than when we first encountered him.” The doctor took the check and walked off, ready to attend to other patients.

Magnum and Big Mac just stood where they were, watching the overjoys little fillies bounce around the room, disturbing everyone else. They didn’t care; they just wanted them to be happy. “So, Mr. Macintosh.” Mangum began. Big Mac shook his head. “Just Big Mac is fine.” Magnum shrugged. “Alright. So, Big Mac, from what you’ve seen of this creature, what do think of it? I mean, what it looks like or what it even is.” Big Mac hadn’t been thinking of this, since it didn’t seem that important. he thought about it now. “Well, it reminds me of those monkeys that Ah learned about in school.” he replied. “Minus the tail, from what Ah saw.” Magnum seemed intrigued. “Interesting.” They left the conversation there, Big Mac deciding that he would ask Twilight Sparkle about this when she returned from her trip.

Soon, they were all told that the creature wouldn’t be able to see visitors until at least two days later, so they all left, proud of their efforts and curious as to what this new creature had in store for them.

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The Previous Day

Luna trudged up her stairs, her legs dragging behind her as she made her way up. They refused to be useful, just lagging behind, trying to keep her away from the surface world, where none would understand her sorrow. She had to go, though. She needed to address her subjects and she couldn’t bear to be near that world any more.

At the top of the stairs, she was finally able to quiet herself down. She didn’t want to disturb her guard with her problems, especially this one. Looking about, she confirmed that he was not in the library and exited the stairs, recreating the barrier behind her. She had no desire to go back down there. Quiet as a cat on the prowl, she tip-hoofed her way to her bed chambers. When she saw that Starstep was not there either, she ran to her bed and flopped down onto it. Into her pillow, she wailed, keeping it muffled and quiet so as to hide her sadness.

The pillow was not enough, though, to keep the sound from ultimately reaching her guard’s ears. He opened up the door and closed it quickly behind him in one fluid motion, remaining unnoticed by his princess. He saw her bawling into her pillow and immediately went over to her. “Luna!” he shouted, forgetting formalities. Clearly, she had not expected him, as she yelped when she heard him. “Are you alright?” She lifted her head from her pillow and looked away from her guard. “Yes, don’t concern yourself. Get back outside.” Starstep was somewhat hurt by her words. Couldn’t she share her troubles with him? He could shoulder the burden. “Princess, please. What’s going on? What happened?” He knew that this involved the human from the pool.

Luna looked away from him, doing her best to control herself and avoid bursting back into tears in front of her guard. She knew that the only way to do that was to either make him leave, which wasn;t going to happen, or calmly explain everything to him. “Th-the human...” she tried to begin. Starstep waited patiently for his princess to gain enough composure to speak. “he’s... he’s dead!” Before her cries could escape into the afternoon breeze. She cried into her pillow. So much for keeping her composure for her guard.

Starstep moved forward and put his head all the way forward onto the bed, just reaching Luna’s. Her face was buried in a pillow, her tears soaking through all the way. “Shhh.” he said. Luna’s sobs slowed, but were still quite powerful. “Stop crying.” he gently ordered. Luna stuck her front right hoof out and reached out for Starstep. In response, he climbed up onto the bed. She grabbed him and held him close as a child holds a stuffed bear in a thunderstorm. As tight as she held him, he could tell that she was weakened by her sorrow. “Tell me what happened.”

She walked Starstep through the entire chain of events, all the way from the beginning, but spent extra time on any significant points. The events which she spent the most time on were his capture, his being held, the rescue of his friend, his finding of the family in the burnt out house, and then straight into his final assault on the compound. This one, she spent the most time on, having witnessed everything that occurred. Starstep listened quietly as day soon became evening. At the end, she described how Ryan had been killed. “And I feel like it’s my fault.” she said guiltily. “If I had pushed him in another direction... if I hadn’t been so gullible, thinking that he was going to make Narendra face justice... maybe he would be alive and happy.” She was back on the verge of tears, and Starstep wasn’t going to let her cry any more. “It’s not your fault.” he said. She didn’t seem to register his words, and her chest bobbed up and down. He put his hoof under her chin and held her face up to look at his. “Listen. Please.” Taking his hoof away, he was happy to see her hold her gaze with him.

He put his hoof over hers. “It’s not your fault, princess. Please, understand that.” She bit her lower lip. “Everyone and every pony has his and her problems. And we all have to deal with them.” He scooted closer to her, wanting her to feel less alone. “We all have our friends, and friends are there to help us. You helped him as much as you could.” He looked out the window, remembering his old friends. “As much as our friends are able to help us, and we our friends, it is up to that individual to decide on what they will do. We can try to push them in the right direction, but we can’t control what they do or think, and we all have to accept that. Sure, you can be sad that this happened. But you shouldn’t feel guilty. Unless you intended for harm to come to an individual, you have no reason to feel guilty about what happens in their life. If you did what you could to help them, then you should only at least acknowledge that you did.” Luna strengthened her hold on Starstep’s hoof and leaned on him. “I guess. But... but what if I could have done more?” Starstep thought for a moment. “Could you have, truly?” Luna was silent, and then shook her head. “Then don’t ask those questions.”

Luna remained quiet after that, and Starstep just hummed a slow tune, eventually lulling his princess into sleep. The sky was ready to go to night, orange streaks all over the sky with purple clouds lazily moving in the breeze.. “I’m certain that Celestia will take care of it.” And she did, leaving Starstep to keep Luna company throughout that night.

First Encounters

First Encounters“One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” (Unknown)

Ryan’s eyes shot open and rapidly jumped around, checking the room. He forgot where he was for a moment and began to panic, only remembering that he was dying in a Vietnamese river. Then he remembered that he was in a hospital and relaxed. But wasn’t there something weird about this hospital? Something... off? Ah, yes. Ryan was either dead or crazy, because a unicorn had walked into his room and insisted that it was his doctor. By speaking to him. “What on Earth is going on?” he wondered. His head was much clearer now than it was earlier. He could actually coherently think, now.

He sat up, remembering that he had been restrained earlier. It seemed that whoever it was that was taking care of him was confident enough that he was well that they removed his restraints. “Just as well.” he said to himself. The wires on his chest were still attached to the machine, and he opted to remove them, drawing a steady beeeeeeeeeeeep from the machine. Clearly, it was not happy with his decision. “Alright, let’s see what we’ve got.” Ryan got off his bed and walked over to the corner with his stuff. Inspecting it, he found that everything was there; his gun, knife, hammer, clothes, Harris’ gun, and ammo were all present. His jacket and vest hung in the closet. “Looks like everything’s here.” he confirmed, not moving anything. He wasn’t about to leave the hospital, he was just checking to make sure he had his stuff. Happy that he did, he moved over to the window. Outside, the beautiful night sky stood in all its glory, even more stars present than in Vietnam. “Definitely not in ‘Nam any more.” he said, taking in the sight. It wasn’t quite Galileo’s sky, but the stars were incredible. They shimmered in the sky like little candles, flickering in the wind.

Son, he moved away from the window, intent on figuring out just where he was. He remembered seeing the unicorn, but he figured that had to be a hallucination. Unicorns don’t exist. And if he did see one, clearly, he was not in his world any more, alive or not. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Ryan walked over to the door. He opened the door slowly, like he was back in Narendra’s home, anticipating someone outside. No one, no unicorns. Concluding its safety, Ryan walked out into the hall and took a look down both halls and shut the door. If any nurses passed by, he didn’t want them hearing the heart monitor in “He’s dead!” mode. After looking down both ends, he decided to go right, since he guessed that way led to the back of the hospital. Being a hospital, there was a good chance that he would encounter visitors if he went went to the front. Being practically naked, he it thought better to go where no one would likely be.

As he walked through the halls, he thought about the possibility of the unicorn doctor. “I suppose it could happen.” he thought. “I mean, if Discord exists, then he could... have...” That cinched it. The unicorn doctor probably was real, as real as Discord. He remembered now; Discord had been floating over him before he was found, and disappeared before the little girls took him away. Wherever Discord had brought him, it was certainly far from home. “Let’s just confirm.” Ryan figured, looking at a door. He quietly approached it, putting his hand on the oddly shaped handle. It looked like it was meant for something without digits. Upon pushing the door open, Ryan’s suspicions were confirmed; there was a horse, pony, or whatever, in the hospital bed. And it was awake, looking at Ryan. As quickly as he opened the door, he closed it again, not wanting to be noticed. Maybe the pony would think it was a dream.

Rather than continue through the hospital, Ryan went back to his room. He had gone a considerable distance, and he needed to get back anyway. Not knowing the layout of the hospital wasn’t very helpful, either.

As he got to be about thirty feet from his door, he heard voices from the room to his left. Panicking, Ryan whipped his head around, looking for anywhere to hide. When he saw nothing, he sprinted forward, hoping to get into his room in time. At his door, just before opening it, the door down the hall opened up, and Ryan froze. Staring down the hall, Ryan had trouble comprehending the sight of a pony in a nurse’s outfit leaving the room with an empty food tray. She took her sweet time, saying goodnight to whoever she was tending to. When she finished, she shut the door and turned away. Ryan took the opportunity and tore his door open, shutting it just as fast and rushing back to his bed, jumping in. He out all the wires back on his chest and shifted them until the noise came back, though it was faster than he would have liked. Oh, well. Nothing to be done about that.

His door creaked open and Ryan closed his eyes to feign sleep. He couldn’t see anything, obviously, but he could hear as the nurse entered his room and walked up to him, her hooves clip-clopping on the tile floor as she approached. Breathing slowly, Ryan tried to calm himself to slow his heart rate. “Poor thing. Must be having a nightmare.” Ryan felt relief, but there were two things he found interesting about her statement. One; his life as of late was a nightmare. Two; that had to be one of the scarier moments of his recent life, being in a bizarre hospital and nearly being caught out of his room. After taking a couple of readings, the nurse left, allowing Ryan to let out a huge sigh of relief.

He opened his eyes again, checking if the door was closed. It was. Sitting back up and removing the wires, he moved back to the window. Looking outside, he noticed a big forest in the distance. That was something he knew. He also knew, now, that he was on the first floor. He took mental notes of everything. “Tomorrow, I’m getting out of here.” He would head to the forest. He could probably survive, and if not, oh well. He was supposed to be dead anyway.

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

Big Mac had gotten up early that morning. He didn;t know why, but something in the back of his head had awoken him. Or perhaps it was to the right of his head. “GAH!”

Applebloom was sitting right next to his head, her big eyes trained on his face, looking terribly excited. “Come on, big brother! Let’s get our work done now so we can see him!” Big Mac was a tad confused in his drowsy state. “Who?” he asked. Applebloom rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. “The creature of course!” Big Mac remembered the creature that had been found dying on their farm. He had to wash the wagon, then throw it away because the stains were so bad, find the area where the girls found it, clean that, then wash himself off. It was a lot of hassle, even if it may not have been the creature’s fault. “Alright, alright. Just let me get ready for the day, then we can get to work.” Applebloom squee’d and ran out of her brother’s room. He sighed. “It’s gonna be a long day.” he concluded.

The work went fast, much unlike Big Mac was expecting. He had been expecting his little sister to chatter nonstop about what she thought about the creature, and what she expected of it. Maybe what she didn’t know, or any fears she had about it. Nnnope. She just went through her chores, saying very little, intent on getting done as soon as possible. And when she continued after finishing her section of the chores, it became clear that she wanted Big Mac to be there for when they first interacted with the creature. Big Mac would go, of course; he had helped to save its life. But he didn’t share the enthusiasm of his sister.

Maybe the creature was dangerous. It could eat ponies. Or cows, like Bessie. His sister had said that it could talk, so it was clearly intelligent. What if it meant them harm? What sorts of things might it be able to come up with, in that area? Maybe it was nice, though. It could certainly be friendly, though with how they found it, it clearly hadn’t come from a nice place. Odds, were, the creature was not as friendly as they were.

He left those thoughts on the farm, though, as his sister dragged him away to go get her friends. “Good luck with yer new friend, little young’n!” Granny Smith yelled as they left. He hoped for the same.

His little sister finally started talking away about what she was expecting when they left. “Ah bet he’s got all kinds of stories and such from his home!” she started. “I wonder what the land he’s from his like? What if there aren’t any ponies there?” Big Mac actually started to think about that possibility for a moment. As far as he knew, no creature like this had ever been seen before, so it was a distinct possibility that this creature had never even laid eyes upon a pony before. How would it react to them if it had never seen them before? If Big Mac ever found himself in the custody of whatever this creature’s race was, he didn’t doubt that he would be freaking out. “Ah hope he don’t lash out.” As long as the creature hadn’t fully regained whatever potentially notable strength it had, they would be totally safe.

It didn’t take long to get to Carousel Boutique to get Sweetie Belle, who was just as excited as Applebloom to meet the human. On their walk, the two little fillies babbled away about the creature, throwing out all kinds of theories about it. Some were simple, like he was lost and hurt himself. Others were totally outlandish, like him being a spy in Equestria that was found out and attacked. Big Mac mostly just listened, all the while formulating his own theories and plans for the first encounter.

Soon, they were at the CMC clubhouse, where they retrieved Scootaloo. Big Mac would have sworn that she lived elsewhere, but he didn’t know enough about her to say so. When they got there, Scootaloo must have still been asleep. “SCOOTALOO!!” the girls both yelled. From inside the clubhouse, something that sounded like a skirmish could be heard from inside. “Coming!” the filly shouted back. After more noise was heard, Scootaloo finally came out, looking exhausted. “Y’all good to go now?” Sweetie Belle asked impatiently. Scootaloo nodded vigorously. “Yup! Let’s go!” And they went to the hospital.

As they walked through the town, the townsponies kept giving Big Mac funny looks, like he had some kind of disease. He hoped that he didn’t, because he had no idea what this creature may have had in its blood. But then again, they might just be reacting like they did when Zecora first showed up in town. “Mornin’.” he said to passersby. Some returned his gesture with a nod, others just kept on walking, even speeding up as they passed. Couldn’t say that he was shocked, but he couldn’t say that he was happy with this. “Ain’t like Ah did anything wrong.” he said to himself. The fillies were hopping about, being a little bit annoying to a few other ponies. “Unless you count not controlling them.” Other than that, the walk was uneventful.

They reached the hospital in a short time, Big Mac trailing behind a little bit as they went. He was less enthusiastic about the creature, as was already quite clear, and the only reason that he was going was because his little sister wanted him to. He wished that Applejack was there. “She’d be way more into this than me.” he thought, complaining to himself about going. Normally, he didn’t complain about anything, but when it was something strange like this, he let himself complain a little. “Maybe it won’t be awake. Maybe it’ll need more time to rest.” While he was lost in his mind, the girls were at the door of the hospital, urging Big Mac to hurry up.

They entered the waiting room, drawing looks from the only two other ponies who were there. Once they saw who had entered, they lost interest and went back to whatever it was that they had been doing. Just as well. Big Mac wasn’t the biggest fan of being the center of attention.

They all walked over to the front desk, where the nurse on duty had her head down on her desk, drooling. A light snore came from her. “Miss Redheart?” Sweetie Belle initiated the conversation. Nurse Redheart jumped up, eyes shooting out wide from the startling experience of a little filly’s voice sounding out unexpectedly. When she recovered, she put her head on her hoof and leaned her elbow joint on the table. “Yes, how can I-*yawn*- help you?” Big Mac hid his snicker at her disheveled appearance. The three little fillies all got up onto the desk and started to bounce up and down, drawing a groan from the nurse. “We’re here to see the creature!” they all yelled in unison. The nurse rubbed her temples. “What?” The girls stopped bouncing. “Y’know, that weird creature that came in before? Not exactly a pony?” Scootaloo tried to make it easier for the nurse. It didn’t work. “What?” Maybe she didn’t know who they were speaking of.

The doctor walked out of the hall and into the waiting room, instantly spotting the little filles. A big smile crossed his face, and he walked over. “Ah, yes. I assume you’re here for the creature?” The girls nodded so fast that Big Mac would have sworn that their little heads would fly off. “Well, from his readings, I can say that he’s about ready for a little visit.” The girls were elated. “YAY!” The doctor turned, signaling for them and Big Mac to follow.

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

Ryan hadn’t slept well that night. Of course, one can’t blame him for that. He had been tortured, cut, beaten, burned, shot, and killed. He thought. Still, after all of that, it wasn’t the easiest thing to get back to sleep.

He had awoken at around six in the morning, partly because of how much light there was outside. Summer tended to bring that. “Today, I leave.” He was preparing a plan as soon as he was fully conscious. He couldn’t just walk out the front door, seeing as he wasn’t exactly a local. He didn’t know what these ponies wanted, and he had no way to get out of the room without being seen. When the doctor came in just half an hour earlier, he had left a note. “Today, you will likely get a visit from three very hyper little girls. Just a fair warning.” Yeah. Only they weren’t going to get to meet him, since he wasn’t sticking around. He had searched the room for anything that he could use. Other than the one morphine syringe he had left, he had nothing to non-lethally take potential hostiles out of the game, and he might need it for himself later. As the sun peeked over the horizon, Ryan looked out the window.

The window, that was perfect. He was on the first floor, he remembered that from last night. As long as it wasn’t some kind of treated glass, he could just smash it and leave that way. Ryan moved his stuff over to the side of the bed and was about to don it when he heard a knock at his door. Rushing over to his bed, he jumped under the covers and lay still, pretending to sleep.

A nurse walked in, a light blue one with a lighter toned mane. No horn, so she was normal. Behind her she dragged a kart with several bits of food on it. She must have heard Ryan moving around, because she looked at him and said, “Come on, I can tell you aren’t asleep.” Ryan opened his eyes and looked at her, their eyes connecting. The nurse had gentle eyes, really big, like the others he had seen, and the held a lot of sympathy. As well as a nurse should have. To her, Ryan’s eyes just held mystery and confusion, drawing a little chuckle from her. “I have some food for you.” She pushed the cart forward. “What is this nonsense?” Ryan thought as he took in the sight of the food. Did they honestly think that he ate hay and grass? Looking on the underside shelf, he saw some veggies and oats. He grabbed them with fast hands, getting a startled yelp from the nurse. As he munched on them, she looked at him, awestruck. “Well, just buzz if you need anything.” Ryan pretended not to understand as she left.

A few seconds after his door closed, Ryan looked over to make sure that she was gone. No noise, good. He was definitely alone. Still munching and crunching on the oats, he looked to the window. “Maybe a little bit longer, to get up my energy.” He would eat all the food in front of him, then he would leave. Maybe. Probably not. After lunch, when his strength would be at one hundred percent again. Yeah.

He got out of the bed and walked around his room. It was a nice hospital room, he had to admit. A lot like the ones he had back home, only this was clearly meant for ponies. There were anatomical drawings of ponies, posters about pony health, and other non-human things. Still, this hospital room was probably better equipped than that one he had gone to before. And upon leaving, he doubted that he would be met by Luna, to whom he would have to... explain his actions...

Ryan froze completely. Remembering Luna, he thought about her compared to these other creatures around him. She was a horse. They were ponies. Her coloring was in a similar style to theirs, and she had a horn and wings. Could this be her realm? Did she have something to do with his being brought here? Maybe Discord knew her, though he never mentioned that he did. Ideas swirled around in Ryan’s head. Maybe they were like devil and angel, always at odds, trying to influence people to do the right or wrong thing? Nah, not likely. Maybe they were just generally enemies? Maybe. Ryan decided to think about it later, and decided that he would focus on his escape.

He noticed a mirror in the room, toward the corner. He walked over to it. He hadn’t taken a good look at himself in ages, and he couldn’t help but be curious about what the mirror held in store for him. When he got there, what he saw was hardly the Ryan that he remembered. He had lost weight, and non an insignificant amount. He still had muscle, more than before, even, but his body fat had dropped dramatically. On his face, he had a growing survivalist beard, the hairs being a quarter of an inch long. Removing his gown, Ryan looked at his body unhindered. His necklace still hung on his neck, he hadn’t even noticed. Under it, he could see a huge scar where the 5.56mm bullet tore through his chest. Tenderly, he put his fingers on the scar. The skin had hardly any feeling any more. His arms still looked like they had been melted and then poured back into place with the burn scars. He was bruised from his various encounters with people and nature. His right leg had a plethora of tiny scars from the mine that he had stepped on. Turning around, he looked at his back in the mirror. The letters, USA, were still there, forever carved into his skin. Under them, he saw a spot where it looked like a buzzsaw had attacked him, having been slashed over a dozen times in that spot. He took it all in soberingly.

He had never been invincible, he knew that. He went out there expecting to die. But he had also been expecting to gain something. What it was, he wasn’t even sure any more. Closure? Satisfaction? Redemption? No, he had nothing. Killing Narendra didn’t make him feel better, it didn’t make the problems go away, and his quest certainly didn’t redeem his decision on the boat and in the compound. For a second, Catherine and Joey flashed by in the mirror, prompting Ryan to spin around. No one. No one had ever been there for him, except for Harris. Ryan began to tremble, and fell against the mirror, cracking it. He had abandoned his best friend, the only one who could have helped him and tried to. Ryan had no redemption, he never would. Unsure of what to do with himself, Ryan went back to the bed and laid down. “I don’t even know what I’m doing.” he realized. He just lay there on the bed and waited for lunch to come.

Lunch came slowly, Ryan’s thoughts and memories haunting him the whole time. They threatened to make him do something. He was never sure what, but he had come close to doing it. The doctor walked in. “Hello, Mr...?” When Ryan didn’t respond, he nodded and brought the food over. This time, he had peanut butter, bread, and milk. “Here’s lunch.” Again, Ryan used fast hands to nab the food and scarfed it down. Unlike the nurse, the doctor just chuckled, non being startled. The nurse must have talked to him. “I’m sure that you got my note about visitors today.” he said. Ryan tore at his food and gulped down his milk. “Well, my guess is that they’ll be around soon, so be prepared. They’re going to be a bit excited.” Ryan looked up at the doctor, this time avoiding eye contact. The doctor took the hint and left the room.

Ryan wiped his mouth and looked around. If his “visitors” were coming soon, than now was the time to leave. He waltzed over to his things and donned everything. Keeping a check of everything, he donned the underwear, then the pants, then the shirt and jacket, then his vest and weapons and such. Once he had everything, he turned to leave. As he turned, he laid eyes on the mirror. He stared at it for a moment.

With a glacial expression, he pulled out Harris’ Automag and put a bullet in the mirror, aiming downward. The mirror exploded, bits crashing to the floor, spreading glass everywhere. He turned back around and looked to the window and got ready to run.

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

Big Mac and the girls were standing with the doctor just fifteen feet from the door to the creature’s room when an incredibly loud BOOM sounded throughout the hall. They all dropped and covered their ears. “What was that?” Sweetie Belle screamed. The doctor was just as confused as her, and he was looking around frantically. “Is everyone alright?” he yelled A chorus of “yes” and “Think so” was sang through the hall. The doctor stood up, panic seeming to strike his face like a mare’s hoof. “The creature!” he shouted. As he ran forward, Big Mac got up and ran after him.

They were at the door in a couple of seconds. Once there, they heard a loud crash from inside. Immediately, the doctor kicked the door open and rushed in. All that was there was an empty room, a shattered mirror, and a shattered window. Outside, they could see the creature running away from the hospital, towards the forest. “Stop it!” the doctor yelled. Big Mac took the initiative and leapt out the window, getting into a gallop to catch the creature. Behind him, he could hear the doctor yelling out orders at his employees to get ready to treat someone. Real confidence builder, him not knowing who to treat.

Big Mac was getting close to the creature. Clearly, it wasn’t a species that was built for running like ponies. For a two legged creature, it was running on two legs, it was fast, though. “Stop!” Big Mac yelled out. The creature looked back for a moment, then sped up just a little. Not enough though. When Big Mac got in range, he grabbed the creature’s clothes with his teeth and stopped. With both of their considerable momentums, they crashed into the ground.

Big Mac took a moment to recover from his fall. It had been a while since he fell down during a full sprint. He rolled over, catching his breath. “Well, that was-” He was cut off by a large weight tackling him to the ground. Looking up, he saw that the creature was pinning him down. Who would have guessed that it could recover so fast? “Ah don’t want to hurt you.” he said slowly, hoping that the creature would understand tone if not words. “Ah just want-” The creature leapt off of him and moved back, letting Big Mac stand up. He noticed that it was pointing a shiny thing at him. “Ah don’t know what that is,” Big Mac said. “but Ah’d appreciate it if you didn’t point it at me.” The creature kept its item trained on him, making him uncomfortable. “Just calm down.” he said.

The creature moved back, pointing the weapon down. “Stay away.” it said. Before Big Mac could register that it spoke to him, it turned around and fled into the forest.

Magic

Magic“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Big Mac just watched as the creature ran away. He couldn’t speak or even think. The girls were right; it was intelligent enough to be capable of speech. The really weird thing to Mac was the tone with which it spoke. It didn’t exactly sound like fear, or anger or aggression. It wasn’t sadness, either, like he needed to be alone. It was more of a calculated statement of his demands, like one would make in a business arrangement. It puzzled Big Mac.

He barely even registered that there were several ponies running his way, yelling, asking if he was alright. It didn’t seem that important, compared to what had just happened. “Mr. Macintosh!” the doctor yelled. Big Mac finally turned around to see what they wanted. “What?” he said nonchalantly. The doctor stopped right before him to catch his breath. “Are-*huff*- are you alright?” Big Mac just nodded curtly and turned back to face the forest. “Ah’m fine.” He stood up and took a step towards the treeline, which was a good twenty-five meters away. “Ah wonder what he thinks he’s doin’.” Surely, the creature must know how dangerous the Everfree forest is, right? Everypony knows that. Could the creature have come from it? Maybe, though it didn’t seem like it did.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to Big Mac and hugged his legs. “When we saw you tackle it, we thought that you had it, but when it knocked you down, we got so scared!” Scootaloo wailed. Sweetie Belle was silent, and Applebloom was doing her best not to cry. After hearing that incredibly loud noise and finding a shattered mirror and window, they had no idea what the creature might have done. “Ah was scared...” Applebloom muttered into Big Mac’s leg. Sensing her enormous distress, Big Mac took her and the other girls into an embrace in one fell swoop of his long leg. “Shh.” he said, trying to keep them calm. “Ah’m fine, no need to worry.” Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure about that. The creature had threatened him with some sort of item, telling to “stay away”. That item could have been the noise maker. But then again, something so small couldn’t really make a noise like that, now could it?

The doctor, having recovered from his exertion, came over to the group before him and spoke hurriedly. “We need to find the creature before it potentially caused damage.” he said. “Where did it go, Mr. Macintosh?” Big Mac responded by pointing to the forest. “Hold on there, doc.” he said, halting the doctor. “It don’t want to hurt us. It told me to ‘stay away’. Maybe it ain’t dangerous? Maybe we should leave it?” Much to Big Mac’s chagrin, the doctor energetically shook his head. “No. It might be dangerous, and I don’t know if I got to all of its infections.” Oh. Well, that could be a problem. “Plus, it’s a new species. If I don’t try to find it now, Miss Sparkle will likely tear up the forest looking for it.” Thinking about it, Big Mac realized that it would actually be safer for Miss Sparkle if the creature was found before she arrived the next day. She wouldn’t be obliged to enter the Everfree forest. “I’ll send in some of the hospital security to find him.” Like magic, several security officers that Big Mac never knew existed popped up and stood at attention. “Find the creature, and bring him back to finish treatment.” the doctor ordered. His security personnel fanned out and went into the forest.

Big Mac put the fillies on his back. “Well, doc, Ah’m afraid that we’ve got nothing to do here, so I guess we’ll just be leaving.” The doctor nodded, not really paying attention. “Alright. I’ll notify you if anything happens or develops.” With that, Big Mac left, carrying three very disappointed fillies on his back.

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

Discord found himself laughing hard, and even he didn’t really know why. Meh, he didn’t need to make sense.

The boy had just blasted out the hospital window and ran off, only to be chased by Big Mac, like a puppy chasing a rodent. Only that rodent was more like a tiger. Little dog syndrome, perhaps? Ah, well. Seeing Ryan tackle that behemoth of a pony to the ground like it was nothing made his day. Size really doesn’t always matter, does it?

Discord had told Ryan that he had a garden to attend, but he had lied. Plain and simple. Why on Equestria, thankfully he was back there, would Discord one; go back to being a statue, and two; give up a chance to see this story all the way through? Discord still felt guilty about what he had done before, but now that Ryan was in a much safer place, he could actually enjoy what he witnessed, rather than think of the deadly consequences. Those consequences no longer applied.

Discord had been weighing his options, though. He couldn’t make a fake statue to keep the royal sisters off his back. They would know that it was a fake. So that option was out the window. He could return to the garden, but he had already knocked that off. He would just have to try and find a way out again, and the way he got out before likely wasn’t goin to be available. But... if he PRETENDED to be a statue, then he could go back and the sisters would be none the wiser. They would be able to tell that he was, in fact, there, but not that he was fully conscious and influencing the world around them. He could send his mind out in small waves to check on the boy’s healing progress and maybe make it a little bit more fun along the way.

Discord thought of Harris when he thought of Ryan’s recovery. He truly did feel for the boy; all he had wanted was to bring his friend home and help him to get better. When he saw Harris sitting with Ryan as he died in that disgusting river, Discord himself almost cried. Unfortunately, while he was helping Ryan, he could only hope that Harris could deal with his own pain and suffering on his own, and only if he could escape Vietnam. To try to make up for it, Discord was taking on the challenge of helping Ryan to recover that which he lost in those jungles and cities. There was a lot to do; but the elements of harmony would no doubt be helpful for this.

Having decided on a course of action, and being satisfied with what he saw that day, Discord flew off towards the castle, where he would play statue and no one would ever know that he was helping a lost soul to find its way.

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

Starstep awoke before Luna, not shockingly. She had her forelegs curled up tight around his torso, holding him close. She was snoozing away, and what she was dreaming about, Starstep had no idea. Whatever it was, he only hoped that it was peaceful, after hearing about what had been going on.

Starstep was happy to be this close to her. They didn’t share moments like this very often, but when they did, he always wanted them to last forever. Of course, he would never tell her that. It could ruin their friendship.

There was a loud rapping at the door, and someone on the other side was yelling. “Princess Luna, please, come quick!” That voice, it was too familiar. Starstep groaned. “Blueblood..." he thought as he got up, making sure not to disturb Luna. The loud rapping kept up as he approached the door. “I’m coming already!” he loudly whispered. Looking back, he saw that Luna still slept. “Now,” he said as he opened the door, laying his eyes on a distressed Blueblood. “What?” Blueblood took a moment to compose himself. “There has been a... development, in the search for Discord.” Starstep blinked. Then he linked again. What? “What?” Blueblood nodded. “Yes. We need Auntie Luna right away.” Starstep looked at Blueblood, then at Luna, then back at Blueblood. “Right away.” With that, Blueblood nodded and ran off.

Closing the door gently, Starstep turned around to look at his princess. She was in no condition to be going around in public, but the nation needed her right now. She and her sister had to ensure that whatever this development was didn’t create any danger. He walked over to her and put his hoof on her side. “Princess.” he said flatly. She murmured and rolled over. Starstep jumped up stood with his front hooves on her side. “Luna!” She jolted awake from the sudden assault on her eardrums. Groggy and feeling sticky, she looked up at her guard. “What?” she asked. Starstep jumped off the bed. “You are needed.” He leaned in close and whispered. “There has been a development in the Discord situation.” Luna shot up and leapt off the bed. “Where am I needed?” she asked frantically. Thinking back, Blueblood hadn’t told him where Luna was needed. “I would guess that you need to head to the throne room.” She ran off, clearly panicking that something terrible had happened.

After she left, Starstep looked around and sighed. Life had been going fairly well for him. There was a little hiccup on the day of Discord’s escape, but other than that, not much happened. Then the boy died, a tragedy to be certain, from what Luna told him. Not only that, now, less than a week later, Discord was somehow involved with something. “Why must life be so hard at times?” But then, he already knew the answer to that.

Luna sprinted through the halls as fast as she could, drawing looks of concern from guards and staff who were out of the loop. They had no way of knowing what was going on for some time, but for those who did, they wore grim expression. Though, as she drew closer to the throne room, the expressions became more neutral. “I wonder what has happened?” she thought. The ones who knew didn’t seem like they were that concerned. Some just looked confused.

When she entered the throne room, she spotted her sister sitting on her throne, reading some papers. They looked terribly boring. “I have arrived, sister.” Luna announced. Celestia looked up and smiled. “Excellent. Come with me.” Luna followed as her sister got up and walked behind the throne. She normally had a tiny bit of small talk first, so this indicated to Luna that this development was something big. “Sister, what has happened?” she asked. Celestia chuckled. “Just wait. You’ll see.” Luna grumbled. She hated it when her sister did this.

They entered the garden, and upon inspection of the garden, Luna’s jaw dropped like a thousand pound bomb from a B-29. The noise that came from her maw was of confusion, like that of a community that was just unprovokedly bombed. There was zero coherence in her speech. “Is that..?” he finally managed to sak. Celestia nodded. “It is.”

Before them stood the statue of Discord, only this time, it was standing in a new position. Before, he had been standing with his hands outstretched and a look of terror on his face. Now, he sat on his hind end, with one leg over the other. His hand was under his chin, and he looked rather thoughtful. “How did he get here?” Luna asked, astonished. Celestia walked forward and looked up t the statue. “He just appeared here. After a groundskeeper alerted me to the statue’s presence, I came over and checked if it was him with my magic. And it is. He is back here, Luna, where he cannot cause chaos.” Celestia looked over at her sister. “One less thing to have on our minds, dear sister.”

Luna sat down, hardly able to stand up. If Discord was back, who put him there, and why? If it was the elements of harmony, they would have alerted the royal sisters to this. Of course, the bigger question was, where had he gone? Where did he spend so much time, only to wind up coming back to this garden where he had been imprisoned for so long? Questions swirled around Luna’s mind, like a cyclone over the pacific ocean. “I am glad.” she said, deciding to ponder upon it later. With Ryan still on her mind, she didn’t want to think about Discord right now. Two unrelated things needed to be pondered at different times, she always believed. Dedicate all your time to one thing, then another. “What shall we do?” Luna asked. Celestia looked back to the statue and sighed. “We just have to hope that whoever put him here this time did so in a way that won’t let him escape.” Not entirely satisfied, but still happy with this ending, Luna turned and left after giving a goodbye to her sister to go tell Starstep the good news.

The whole time, Discord had to do his absolute best not to laugh hysterically at the two regal sisters before him. Luna was just leaving, clearly she had fallen for it. Of course, she also looked like she was brooding on something. Discord noted that and would look into it later.

Celestia was still in the garden with Discord when her sister left. Discord silently ordered her to leave so that he could use his magic without being detected. Celestia’s presence made things hard because, while the spells to detect magic aren’t easy to do, if a powerful unicorn, or alicorn, is nearby, they can typically sense it. “Go away!” Discord mentally shouted at Celestia. he turned around for one last look. “Don’t cause more trouble.” she said menacingly, then walked away. If he could blink at the time, Discord would have done so several times right there. Did she know that he was able to just leave? He told himself not to cause trouble. “I’ll just influence Ryan’s life.” If he did anything to other ponies, Celestia would surely bring down her full wrath upon him.

Bored, but not feeling like watching Ryan at the moment, Discord just felt like entertaining himself by observing the lives of the Canterlot nobles. “Ah, yes. Rich pony problems.” None of them knew the pain and suffering that Ryan knew. And he hoped that they never would.

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

Ryan ran through the forest, trying to get as far in as possible to evade capture. These ponies wanted him? They would have to fight for him. “I’m not going back there.” Ryan told himself. He had no desire to be a part of civilization any more. He couldn’t properly function in society, not after everything He would always be looking over his shoulder, always be looking for bad guys to kill. At least out in nature, his behavior made more sense. Or he might die. Yeah.

Behind him, he could hear several of the ponies just entering the forest, calling out to him. “Creature!” they would yelled. Ha. He was the creature now, it seemed. Although, they were more right than they knew. Ryan had become a creature back in Sumatra. His mind wandered back to the island, then to continental Asia. “I should have just died out there.” he thought. “I should just die out here.” He had no goal any more. There was no reason for him to keep going. So, what drove him? Was he looking for something? He must have been, seeing as killing Narendra didn’t get him anything.

When the voices faded, Ryan figured that he had enough time to kill to stop and think. Why run? There was nothing to run to, nothing to go after. There wasn’t even anything to avoid, truthfully. He just knew that he would have nothing to gain from society, and nothing to gain from being alive. What did he have to lose from being dead? Nothing, really. Wherever he was, it was far from home. His family and friends would all think that he was dead by now. He had no one to return to, even if he wanted to. He couldn’t love people. Remembering his dream, he realized that he couldn’t be a SEAL any more. Even if he may have been a half decent one, he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t pass the psychological test. There was literally nothing for him to lose from dying.

He pulled out his M1911 and, seeing that it was empty, replaced the empty mag with one of his full ones, putting the empty one in his vest. He chambered the first round and looked down at his gun. “Why?” he asked. The one question he wanted an answer to, and it couldn’t be answered. He pulled the gun up and pointed it at his chin, aiming up. There, he stood for the better half of a minute He wanted to pull the trigger, but something wasn’t letting him. He thought about everything before he fired, especially Harris. They were best friends, maybe even brothers when you got down to it. Ryan put the gun down and holstered it again.

The voices were loud again, much closer than Ryan anticipated. He also hadn’t anticipated not shooting himself, though, so it evened out. “Stay away!” Ryan yelled, running further into the forest. There was a flurry of activity behind him as ponies yelled and gave chase, excitedly chattering about their pursuit. At one point, they were close enough for Ryan to hear. “I wonder what it is?” That was all that Ryan caught. “It’s not your fiend, that's for damn certain.” Ryan thought darkly to himself.

He ran deeper and deeper into the forest, carefully trying to listen to the ponies pursuing him. Eventually, he got his desired result. “I am not going in any further!” he heard. Another spoke up, this time sounding farther away. “Me neither, forget that!” It seemed that they were done following him. Until he heard the last one. “I’m gonna get him before he puts himself in danger!” one yelled, sounding dangerously close. Before Ryan knew what to do, he was on the ground.

The pony that was chasing him was male, and very large. He had Ryan under him, with his hooves to either side of Ryan’s body. “Now hang on!” he said. Ryan looked up at the stallion resentfully. “We just want to help you-” He was cut off when a fist connected with his exposed belly, followed by a harsh roundhouse kick to his side, knocking him to the ground. Ryan leaped up and got into fighting stance, twitchy and having trouble not pulling one of his guns. The stallion stood. “Look,” he said, rubbing his side and coughing lightly. “All we want is to help you. Please, don’t do this. You may get hurt.” Ryan’s hand went for his knife and he gripped the handle. The stallion had seen the gesture and backed off a little. “We don’t know if you have any infections.” he said. Ryan just stared at the stallion, not really listening. He was waiting for it to get up and attack. “And this forest is dangerous. You are in serious danger here.” In response, Ryan started to move back, where he knew there was some brush for him to run away through. “Please, let us help you...” Ryan put a foot into the bush behind him. “Leave me be.” he replied, spinning around and running away.

He was trying to keep the speech with these creatures to a minimum, in an effort to avoid letting his own guard down and avoid them letting theirs down. If neither side was in a mood for compromise, then e would be safe in this forest, never having to go back to society. He could live out his days in solitude here. That stallion had said that this place was dangerous, so none of them would go in any more to find him. Out here, he could live or die as he pleased.

After he escaped from the stallion, he just kept on walking through the forest, not even thinking about where his feet were taking him.

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

Big Mac was taking the girls to the Sugarcube Corner, where they could get a tasty treat in exchange for missing a chance to interact with the creature. They were exceedingly disappointed that they didn’t get to speak with him. The whole way over, none of them spoke. They mostly just pouted.

Big Mac, on the other hand, was still in shock. He had taken that creature down while they were at a full sprint, yet it just got up and countered instantly. If it had wanted to do so, Big Mac would be in the hospital right now. He considered himself lucky. “That could have been a whole lot worse.” he thought. While his sister and her friends might think that the creature was aggressive and dangerous, Big Mac thought otherwise. It had a chance to really hurt him, but it chose not to take it. He had no intent to harm Big Mac, his sole concern was escape. Maybe it was from the forest, and it was just trying to go home. Or maybe its home was from far beyond the forest, ad it didn’t want to be followed. Either way, Big Mac thought positively of it.

They arrived at Sugarcube corner, and when the girls saw it, their countenances instantly lighted up. “YAY!” they all yelled. Big Mac smiled. He loved it when they were like that.

They walked in through the door and drew the attention of Mr. Cake, setting some treats in the display case. “Ah, welcome!” he said. “What can get for you?” he asked. Big Mac looked at the girls. “Ah’ll have a chocolate cupcake!” Applebloom replied. “Can I have a... vanilla milkshake?” Sweetie Belle asked. Mr. Cake nodded. “And gimme a... big chocolate chip cookie!” Scootaloo finished it off. Mr. Cake nodded and got to work. “Anything for you, Mac?” he yelled back from the kitchen. “Naw, Ah’m good.” Big Mac replied. He took the girls over to a table and sat down. They all climbed off his back and took their seats.

While they were waiting, the girls were just staring at Big Mac, making him feel uncomfortable. He didn’t know why they were looking at him. “What?” he finally asked. Mistake. He was barraged with questions. “How did it get you down?” Sweetie Belle asked. She seemed really concerned about it. “He fell at the same time as me and just as hard. Ah don’t know how he managed to get back up so fast. Then, he just tackled me.” Scootaloo came next. “What was that thing in its hand?” Big Mac thought about that for a moment. Like the creature, he had never seen that item before. “Ah don’t know. Whatever it was, he held it pretty threateningly. So Ah’m gonna assume it’s something dangerous.” Applebloom, like lightning, leapt over the table and hugged her brother. “Are y’all alright?” she asked, mostly for herself. Big Mac patted her head. “Ah’m fine.” He took her off and put her back in her seat. “Did it talk to you?” Scootaloo asked, excited. Big Mac nodded. “What did it say?” she asked, impatient. Big Mac shrugged. “He said, ‘stay away’. That was all.” Scootaloo’s smile turned into a scowl when she didn’t get anything else.

Their treats came soon after that last question, something Big Mac wa grateful for. If the girls were eating their treats, they couldn’t ask questions. Only Pinkie Pie was capable of that. Big Mac shuddered at the thought of her and Twilight Sparkle’s likely-to-come questions, most of which he would not likely be able to answer. “There you go.” Mr. Cake said cheerfully. “Enjoy.” He gave a small bow as he left their table. Big Mac took the opportunity to rest while the girls ate and thought about what he knew. The creature could speak. He could certainly fight. He didn’t want to be found. All in all, he seemed like a lonely guy who wanted to stay that way. “Ah can relate to that.” Big Mac thought. He had never been that into making friends. He had a couple here and there, but he preferred being alone, most of the time.

When the girls finished, they paid Mr. Cake and exited Sugarcube Corner. Now on a sugar high, the girls were intent on running around trying to get their cutie marks. They left Big Mac, who opted to head home. “When they get back tomorrow, Ah’ll talk to them if they come to me.” Deciding on that, he went home and did his best to forget about the whole thing until his sister and her friends came back.

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

Ryan had been walking through the forest for a long while now. He had no idea where he was, although being in the forest was a strange comfort for him. At this point, he preferred it to any town or city.He may have been shot and killed, at least he thought that he died. It didn’t matter now, anyway. He just had to walk.

Why? That question kept on popping into his head. Why did he have to walk? What would he get from it? There was no happiness to be found out here. There was no evil to confront, none other than his own. And he had no desire to confront that, for it would destroy him. He pretty much just had to walk until he could walk no more. So he decided to do that.

Eventually, he started to notice strange bits and pieces of rock laying on the ground. They were all a dark shade of blue, something that didn’t match up with the other bits of stone and dirt in the area. He must have been approaching some different area of the forest, or have been leaving it. “Let’s see what this has in store for me.” Ryan thought. Hell, why not? It would at least be a start in some direction. And this direction seemed as good as any other.

He followed the blue stones as they became more common, having to retrace his steps several times when the trail got cold. It was frustrating at first, but eventually, Ryan came across the last thing he had been expecting to find; an old, medieval style castle, with what seemed to be a bottomless trench for a moat. Cautiously, he walked over to the edge and looked over. Fog, and lots of it. He shuddered. “I pity the one who falls down into the unknown abyss.” he said to himself. He looked around for something that he could use to cross the gap and check out the castle. Off to his left, he noticed an old, rickety rope bridge. “If it’ll get me across.” he decided. he tentatively walked over, thinking over what may await him on the other side. He had no way of knowing what there could be. There could be more of these ponies, doing archeological work. Or maybe just some old hermit, who wouldn’t be too happy about Ryan’s intrusion. Maybe there were loads of creatures in there. The stallion form earlier had said that the forest was a dangerous place. “I can handle whatever this place can throw at me.” Ryan thought. He had two guns, the Automag with a total of twelve rounds left and the M1911 with fourteen left. He also had his knife and hand to hand skills. Feeling overstocked in killing capability, Ryan began to cross the bridge.

Crossing the bridge wasn’t the worst experience of his life, but it was far from the best. Below him, he would swear that he heard the moans and groans of either suffering people or ghosts of people who had. Several voices in particular struck him. Joey was the loudest by far, like he was losing consciousness from heat exhaustion, while Nadine’s came next. Hers were relatively quiet screams and whimpers from only Ryan knew what. Hers were easily the worst, with Ryan knowing exactly what had happened. Then after her was the sound of Catherine, and the loud gunshot that took her life. Ryan did his best to ignore them, but they overpowered him, and he rushed to get across the bridge.

Once across, he gasped for air and fell to his knees, hands splayed out on the ground before him. Why were their voices down there? They couldn’t be here, only Harris had ever even seen Discord, other than Ryan. Discord didn’t bring anyone else here, and even if he did, he couldn’t have brought the others because Ryan had killed two of them and let the other die. They were gone forever, and no matter how hard anyone tried, they weren’t coming back. They couldn’t be in the gorge. Ryan turned around to look and took in a sharp breath from shock.

Before him stood the little girl from the house of the family that let them stay with them. Those kind people, who had been brutally murdered for helping some strangers. Ryan couldn’t look at the burned little girl before him. “It’s your fault you know.” The Girl said. Ryan shook his head. “Please, I’m sorry.” he replied. “I... I didn’t want that for you. Please, don’t...” The girl walked forward, getting Ryan to scurry back towards the castle on the ground. “You brought them there. You brought our deaths to us.” Ryan clapped his hands over his ears. “No, I-” “You did this to me!” The Girl screamed. Ryan’s eyes opened and looked at The Girl. He wanted to vomit. “Please, I’m sorry... I tried...” Ryan started to sob on the ground. The Girl shook her head. “You failed us. You failed your friends. You murdered all of them.” Ryan shook his head violently. “NO!” The Girl stood over him. “You caused so much suffering. Now you will know what it’s like to suffer for yourself.”

Ryan looked up, and The Girl was gone. Not wanting to encounter any more of the ghosts of his past, he turned tail and fled into the building.

Inside, it was pretty dark. he only lights came from suspicious candle-like things on the walls. When Ryan put his hand near one, there was no heat. Of course, with unicorns and such existing, magic probably existed here too. Other than the strange magical lights, the castle seemed like a regular old, abandoned ruin. Ryan could not determine that someone lived here, and he was fine with that. that meant that there was no one to potentially fight. The walls were mostly plain upon walking inside; he had come into a foyer. Inside it, there were several mildly decorated tables, with a few things adorning each one. On one, there were some cups. On another, there was a flower vase. Ryan walked over to the little table with the cups and dusted them off; silver. “Well, I could sell it later.” Ryan decided to take a couple, stuffing them onto the back of his vest so that they would hang there. Gotta support himself somehow.

He walked through the foyer and found himself approaching a four way intersection of hallways. Looking down each one, he thought about the other times he had found himself trying to decide on which hallway to choose. Bad memories. He went left, sticking to his usual, hoping that it would bring him somewhere. All it brought him to was an old storage room, which he promptly exited. Nothing was there, so nothing would stay. He went to the hall that was to the right of his original position. Down that hall was a number of doors. Each time he passed one, he was sure to check inside. Either something valuable might make it worth checking or someone dangerous might be sleeping. If there was, he would get the drop on them. None of the rooms held up, though. They were all empty, except for dusty old beds and broken nightstands. At the end of the hallway, there was a larger door.

Before approaching, Ryan observed the door. It had a number of markings on it, like ancient symbols of a forgotten language. As he crept closer to the door, Ryan listened for anything that might be on the other side. When he heard nothing, he threw caution to the wind and waltzed to the door. On it were more than just symbols, there were pictures. Pictures that depicted two large horses, one larger than the other, both with wings and horns, doing something. To either side of them the sun and the moon, seemingly in harmony. Upon closer inspection, Ryan saw that the smaller of the two seemed to be interacting with the moon, while the larger had the sun. The smaller had a mane that, even through the ravages of time that afflicted the wall, was detailed enough for Ryan to make out twinkling lights on it. And they were actually twinkling, too. More magic. “You must be Luna.” Ryan concluded. This cinched it; Luna lived in this world. Ryan got mixed emotions about this. Seeing as she had no way to contact him, she probably thought he was dead by now. If he were to find her, should he reveal himself? Would it be wise, considering how his actions may have affected her? He put those thoughts in mental storage. they were important, but at the moment, survival was more important.

Ryan opened up the door, slowly, and peered inside like a peeping tom. Nothing but a bunch of shelves. Ryan pushed the door all the way open and walked in. As he went towards the center of the room, he realized that this was a library of some kind. Books surrounded him on all sides, old tomes forgotten by those who abandoned them here. No longer were they forgotten, though. “Interesting.” Ryan said to himself removing his beret. he just remembered that he was wearing all of that stuff, he had been so preoccupied by his escape. He undid the scarf around his neck and wrapped it around the beret, then stuffed them under his vest where he wouldn’t lose them. “Let’s see what we have here.” Ryan went to a shelf and was stunned when the labels on it were in English. What the..? How? Ignoring that, Ryan picked out a book and, sure enough, it, too, was in English. he opened it up only to find dust coating every page. He blew on it, nearly choking when the dust flew toward him as well as away. When it all cleared, Ryan took a look at the first page of the book. Spells of the Ancient Dragons. He tossed it aside. He had no use for spells. He checked another book, going through the same process. This one was about spells made by some Starswirl the Bearded character. He tossed that aside as well. Noticing that this was clearly a magic section, Ryan moved onto another shelf. He needed history and bestiaries, not magical nonsense.

There was a movement behind him, and Ryan spun around, drawing his 1911. Nothing was there. Relieved, but still wary, Ryan holstered the weapon again and took a look through the books. This section was labeled history, so it likely had something, even if outdated. Ryan grabbed the first book off of the shelf. The Three Tribes. Interesting. He opened it up. “At first, there were three tribes of ponies...” He got about thirty pages in when he decided that he’d had enough of ancient history. All that he got from the book that was useful was that there were also pegasi in this land, which, ridiculously, was called Equestria. “Well, ain’t that just the damndest thing.” Ryan said, putting the book back. Upon blowing away the dust and inspecting the book spines, he learned that all of the books were about ancient Equestrian history, so he moved on.

He went to several other shelves, looking for anything that might list the creatures that lived in the forest. Being in the forest for so long, the castle must have some sort of comprehensive listing, right? Ryan blew the dust away and began inspecting the book.

Thunk. Ryan spun around again, drawing his 1911. There was another noise. Ryan refused to believe it a coincidence. He scanned the room, but found nothing. Not wanting whatever it was to get the drop on him, Ryan moved around, checking his corners and looking in and around things to find the source of the noise. When he found nothing, he grew concerned. “What’s going on in this place?” he asked no one. The noise wasn’t coming back, and Ryan couldn’t figure out where it came from. Keeping his weapon out, he opted to exit the library and go down the lsat hall at the intersection. As he left the library, shadows seemed to try to dance around him and get through the door. Ryan shut it quickly. “Nope.” he said, walking away from it. Behind him, the door grew darker.

Ryan went down the last hallway cautiously, letting his trepidations rule his actions for the time being. He was in an abandoned old castle, in a magical land, so it seemed like the way to go. To stay more prepared, Ryan drew his knife and held it in his left hand, under the gun, ready to go for a stab. Any time he passed a crevice in the wall or another set of halls, he took a look down to ensure that nothing was there. He never went down the halls; he figured that the most important room would be at the end of this long hall. Every time he heard a noise, he stopped and listened. More than once, it was just his feet on gravel or some little creature running past. Ryan swallowed hard. “I’ve always hated creepy places.” he thought to himself. This old castle was the king, too.

Eventually, Ryan reached the end of the hall and found a massive set of double doors. He stared at them for a moment, trying to discern the pictures on this door. They were more faded than those on the library door, and they also and more pictures of the larger pegasus-unicorn, thought this time, alone. She looked terribly sad in the pictures. “Did you lose someone close to you?” Ryan asked indifferently. “Cuz’ I lost everything.” He went and opened the doors, only to find a mostly empty room. Walking in, he observed everything around him. There were lots of pillars and stained glass windows in this room, as well as a throne at the end. So, this was the center of the castle, where all the magic happened? Looked terrible. Of course, it was abandoned. Ryan walked forward, wary of whatever may have been around him. Mostly, he just thought it was squirrels. Little buggers couldn’t be more annoying.

As Ryan proceeded to the throne, he looked at the stained glass windows. hey all depicted those two horses again, only now, they were in color. The smaller one was blue and had a starry mane. Luna, no doubt about it. She was nice enough at first, but as the glass went on, she looked less and less happy, eventually physically changing into something much larger. She seemed to be fighting her sister at one point, but lost, and something involving the moon happened. Ryan also took note of the white horse. This one was the sun one, and while also nice at first, seemed to grow cautious of the other. When she did something to Luna involving the moon, she looked forlorn and sad, like Luna had died or something. Perhaps she had, the way that Ryan did.

Gleaning everything he could from the glass was easy enough, so he moved onto the throne. It was tall and made of stone, like everything else he had seen as of yet. There were no notable features about it, except for one. Something was carved into the back of the throne, and Ryan took a closer look. “Evil lurks in every crevice.” Ryan read aloud. Something crashed behind him in the distance, eliciting Ryan to pull his weapons to the ready. Whatever was going on in the castle, he knew one thing.

He wasn’t alone.

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

The train pulled into Canterlot Station, screeching to a halt. The steam billowed from its front, and ponies were already piling out. Porters lugged the luggage out and set it down, receiving tips from the less stingy passengers and scowling at those who were too stingy to tip. The girls tipped their porters well.

Rainbow Dash was the first off the train, followed by Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, then Applejack, then Twilight Sparkle, then Rarity and Spike, who was carrying all of Rarity’s luggage. Who needs a porter when someone adores you? “Ah, it’s so good to be back where it’s nice and warm!” Rarity said, radiating in the sunlight. Spike just stared at her dumbly, getting Twilight to prod him with her horn. “Yeah, now my wings won’t freeze up in the wind! I mean, the Crystal Empire was alright and stuff, but you can’t beat Equestrian air!” Rainbow did several flips in the air as she spoke.

Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down. “I can’t wait to see Pound and Pumpkin again! Well have so much fun playing hide and seek, ball, tag, diaper change-” She went off listing other things that weren’t games, and when she finally finished, Applejack was the first to speak after. “Ah just can’t wait to get back to the farm. Ah’m sure Big Macintosh and Applebloom have had a lot to do without me.” Fluttershy nodded. “Oh, I bet it’s not a problem. Big Mac is big and strong, he can handle things. And Applebloom has lots of energy. They were probably able to do their chores without incident.” If only they knew.

“Yeah.” Twilight concurred. “But before we do anything, we need to see the princess. Tell her how it all went.” While she talked, Spike handed off the heavy luggage to a porter and leapt up onto Twilight’s back. “And how I saved the day, right?” he asked excitedly. Twilight nodded. “Yes Spike, that too.” He gave her a big, toothy smile, and they all went to the castle.

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

Ryan watched the area behind him with heedful eyes. That noise happened one too many times, there was clearly something else here, something that was well aware of Ryan’s presence. He scanned the room, moving about to get a look behind pillars, but found nothing. As far as physical evidence went, there was nothing else in the room.

Not taking chances, Ryan looked for a way out that wasn’t the way he came in. He found his way out behind the throne. “Please, take me somewhere good.” Ryan said as he moved to the archway. It was a large staircase that looked like it spiraled up into another room. Ryan began to scale it when he heard another noise, this one much closer. “Who’s there?” he finally asked. No answer. Crazy? Maybe, but Ryan wasn’t going to take chances. He ran up the stairs so that he would be able to ambush whatever it was that was following him. At the top of the stairs, he looked around. The only thing of notability in the room was a pedestal at the far end of the room from the staircase. “Hmm.” Ryan said. There was nowhere to hide in here. He got up against the wall just to the right of the staircase and waited. From the staircase, very small, step-like noises sounded. “Gotcha.” he thought. As soon as they sounded like they were really close, Ryan jumped around the corner-

Nothing. Nothing was there. The noises still sounded, right in front of him, yet there was nothing. Dumbfounded, Ryan followed the noise with his eyes as it moved on behind him and toward the pedestal. As it advanced, Ran followed, staying fairly close behind. He was mesmerized by this anomaly; what was making the noise? And how? He kept on following it all the way to the pedestal, where it stopped in the center. Ryan came out of his semi-trance and shook his head. “That was odd.” He turned around and looked back to the stairs. “This place is way too creepy.” He turned back around.

He gasped loudly and fell back. In the center of the pedestal, hanging from the ceiling, was a body. A human body. As soon as Ryan hit the floor, he scrambled back, trying to get away from the dead person. When he was fifteen feet away, he stopped and tried to regain his breath. “What the fuck?!” Ryan yelled. The body hung limply by its neck, slowly moving back and forth, as if it was a swing with a child on it. Ryan gulped and moved forward, pistol pointed at the body, and tried to see who it was. The site shook him; that was HIM hanging from the ceiling. Ryan was looking at Ryan, dead and apparently brutally beaten. Blood dripped from the body, coming out from what was likely various cuts and the mouth. There was also a big bloody patch on his shirt and jacket, where the hole had been. The arms looked freshly burned and there were bruises all over the exposed skin.

Ryan didn’t get less than ten feet from the body. It rocked his very foundations. What was this place? It tormented him in the worst possible ways. Ryan turned around to leave, to escape from this Hellish place.

“Where are you going?” a voice asked. Ryan spun around three hundred sixty degrees. Nothing. “Where are you!?” he demanded. The voice laughed. “I am in you.” it said. Ryan was about to shout at it, but it continued. “Though I certainly don’t wish to be.” Ryan pointed his gun forward, but at nothing. “WHO ARE YOU?!” he yelled. This only drew more laughter from the voice. “You are weak, Ryan. I have no intention of being a part of you. You are only half of what you once were.” Ryan ran toward the wall and took a defensive position at it. Suddenly, the rope supporting the body snapped, and the body crashed to the floor. Ryan’s attention was drawn to it. “WHERE ARE YOU!?” he demanded once again. The voice didn’t care about Ryan, though. “I know everything about you, Ryan.” It sounded from Ryan’s right, and he looked away from the body to find it. Still nothing. “I know what you’ve done.” It was behind him now. Ryan leapt away from the wall and turned to shoot, but there was still nothing. “You have no right to live. You are too weak to handle what you’ve done. Only the strong may survive.” Ryan moved back, then turned to aim at the stairs when he thought he heard something. He moved back. “I’LL KILL YOU!” he shouted, his fear and anger taking control. He stopped cold when he felt a dark presence just behind him. “No.” the voice said. “I will kill YOU.” Ryan spun around to fight the presence.

Something collided with his face as he turned, knocking Ryan unconscious. Ryan stood over him, looking down at him coldly. “But not today.”

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The girls left Canterlot, all of them happy about how the whole trip had gone. Spike was especially happy, he got a window in the castle with him on it! Overall, it was a good day.

They had an uneventful trip back to Ponyville, mostly just them sitting on the train, talking a bit or, in Rainbow’s case, taking a nap. All that they really wanted was to get home and enjoy some down time, time to relax. Rarity had said that she would spend the whole next day getting a spa treatment, and invited all of the girls to join. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie agreed, but Applejack had to get back to work, and spas weren’t really Rainbow’s thing. She was saying that she was going to use the trip for inspiration in making new aerial maneuvers. Anyhow, they were all happy to go back.

When they arrived in Ponyville, things seemed... off. Something was amiss, but the girls couldn’t quite place it. The townsponies were all going about their daily lives, but there was something in their expressions. Not fear, or nervousness. Though that was apparent in some. Mostly, they looked confused, thoughtful, or curious. Twilight was the first to notice. “Do you girls notice anything odd going on?” she asked. Rainbow yawned as she exited the train. “Nope. Nothing. Now, I’m gonna head home, take a nap. See you girls later.” Without another word, she flew off, leaving the other five to themselves. Applejack looked around. “Ya know what? Ah think you’re right.” She pointed to a small colt with a camera walking around. Little Pip, if she recalled correctly. “Hey!” she yelled. Little Pip spun around, hope gleaming in his eyes. The excitement fell a little at seeing Applejack, but remained a little bit. He ran over. “Yes?” he asked. “Is something goin’ on around here?” she asked. Little Pip vigorously nodded his head. “There sure is! There’s a new creature around! Never seen anything like it before!” Twilight’s interest was piqued. She walked over to listen. “I don’t know the details, you’ll have to ask the Cutie Mark Crusaders or Big Macintosh for more details. Well, gotta go, I want to get pictures of it!” With that, the little guy ran off.

Applejack looked to Twilight, who was deep in thought. She didn’t want to interrupt her thoughts, but then again, that’s what Pinkie is for. “Whatcha thinkin’ about!?” she yelled, getting right up on Twilight’s face. Twilight hardly even flinched. “I think I need to speak to your brother and sister, Applejack.” Applejack nodded. “Alright. Let’s head on over to the farm and find’em.” The group of five mares made their way to the farm.

Rarity had minor interest in whatever this creature was. She was all about fashion, and animals didn’t wear clothes, so they really held no interest to her. Pinkie Pie was continually explaining how she wanted to throw it a party, listing off hundreds of different reasons for it. Welcome, discovery, new-friend-making, the list went on. Fluttershy was an active part of Twilight’s and Applejack’s talk. “I wonder what kind of animal it might be?” she wondered, in awe at all the possibilities. “I can’t wait to find out so I can help it. Maybe it needs a home?” Twilight interjected. “I would agree, but we don’t know what it is yet. It could be dangerous.” Fluttershy shook her head. “No, no. That can’t be. If it was, the townsponies would be afraid of it, not out trying to find it.” Twilight silently agreed with that, while Applejack voiced her agreement. “Ah think Flutters’ right, sugarcube. Ain’t no sense in lookin’ for a dangerous animal that ain’t around.”

They were at the gate to the orchards before any of them realized it. Except Rarity. She wasn’t really a part of the conversation, so she pretty much led them all to the farm. “Well, I’d love to stay and learn about this creature, but I really should be going.” Twilight was about to tell Rarity that she could do what she wanted, but Pinkie kept her from speaking. “Come on, Rarity!” she almost shouted. “Don’t you have even a bit of curiosity about it? What if it...” Pinkie thought for a moment. “What if it... makes... clothes?” She gave a sheepish smile. Rarity sighed. “Fine, I suppose I can stay.” Pinkie Pie jumped up while putting Rarity in a bear hug. “Yayzees!” After a few moments of the others laughing at the scene, Pinkie let go and they all went to the house on the farm.

At the door, the sounds of three familiar little girls giggling went right through the door. Upon opening it, Applejack couldn’t do much to keep from laughing; her brother was tied up in the center of the room, with Granny Smith and the girls dancing around him. He was covered in all sorts of things, from makeup, which they assumed Sweetie Belle brought, to pie, which Granny Smith likely made. The other girls walked in, and Big Mac just looked at them. “Help.” he said. The girls and Granny Smith all turned to see their friends and sister/granddaughter return. “They’re back!” Scootaloo announced. Applebloom ran over to Applejack and hugged her leg nice and tight. Sweetie Belle was lifted over to her sister by magic and eld close. Scootaloo just walked over and jumped up on Fluttershy’s back. “So where’s Rainbow?” she asked. Fluttershy went to the couch and laid down on it. “She went home to sleep. It’s kind of late, after all.” It was around seven. Not exactly late for anyone over the age of four. Scootaloo’s wings drooped. “Oh. Okay.”

Big Mac was still sitting in the center of the room, embarrassed and indignant. Why had he agreed to play with the girls? And why did he let Granny make a vanilla cream pie? She only ever threw them at ponies. “A-hem.” he said. The girls all looked over and giggled, except Fluttershy, who came over and untied him. “Thanks, Miss Fluttershy.” he said, giving her a bow of his head. She went back to the couch. “No problem.” He got up and went into the kitchen, where he cleaned himself up to be presentable. While he was off doing that, Twilight figured that she would start with her questions. “So girls.” she began. They all went silent. “Would you all mind sitting down for a bit? I have some questions.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, than complied with Twilight’s request.

Twilight and her friends sat on the floor, facing the little fillies. “I heard that you girls were the ones to ask about some new creature?” she asked. Straight up, no bulling around. That’s how Twilight does it. “Yeah!” Scootaloo yelled. The others nodded. “It was really weird!” Sweetie Belle added. Rarity was suddenly interested. “You encountered it?” she asked disbelievingly. All three girls nodded. “We found it!” Applebloom shouted. “It was in the east field when we found it, and it wasn’t in the best shape...” She trailed off, something that set off an alarm in Fluttershy’s head. “Was it alright?” she asked hurriedly. “Was it injured?” The fillies looked at eachother, then nodded slowly. Fluttershy turned a little bit pale. “How bad?” Her voice was a bit shaky, causing Rarity to pull her close. Applebloom took in a deep breath. “He nearly died from a chest wound.” Fluttershy was about to faint. “But he survived! He’s alright now! We hope...” Fluttershy looked a little better, but still terrified. “Hope so..?” Applebloom shook her head. “We don’t know where he is now.”

Fluttershy looked even a little better, but Twilight wa still concerned. “I still have a lot of questions.” she said. The girls all looked to her. “First of all; how do you know it’s a he?” Rarity looked like she was about to turn pale when she saw Sweetie Belle getting ready to respond. “The doctor told us.” Rarity’s color (white, how could it have left in the first place?) returned, and she let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. “Alright. Second; what was the nature of the injury?” The crusaders shifted uncomfortably. “Well, it was bad.” Scootaloo said. “There was a... hole, in its chest. Back to front.” Fluttershy gasped and, again, almost fainted. “It was weird, though, is what the doctor said. It started really small on his back, then got huge in the front. As it went through, too, it got bigger, like a cone-shaped hole. We have no idea how it could have happened.”

Fluttershy leapt forward into the middle of the room. “What did you do when you found it?” she asked. Big Mac walked back into the room. “We put him in our wagon and brought him back to the house, where Big Mac,” Scootaloo gestured to the lumbering form of Big Mac just entering the room. “took the wagon and ran him to the hospital.” All the girls looked to Big Mac, making him shift in his place. Prying eyes. Except for Fluttershy, of course. “What?” he said. He didn’t like talking to large numbers of ponies; large numbers was anything above three little ones or two big ones. “Well, what happened next?” Twilight asked. Big Mac looked around, then walked over and sat near the couch. “Ah brought him to the hospital. He was bleeding pretty bad,” he paused to take in the assortment of reactions. Mostly all were shock, especially Pinkie and Rarity. “The wagon and mah coat were hard to wash after. But the trip was uneventful.” twilight wasn’t satisfied. “I’m sorry to pry, but... how bad was the bleeding?” She had to admit to herself, her questions were odd and slightly morbid, but any info she could garner was good. “The wagon started with an inch of water in it. It went to two inches of red water.” Everyone in the room shuddered, and Granny Smith stood. “Well, Ah’ve had enough of that. Ah’ll be heading’ to bed now. G’night, youngsters!” They all waved to Granny Smith as she left.

With the events of the discovery now known, Twilight was able to move onto lighter questions. “What can you tell us about the creature? Physically.” Big Mac thought for a moment. What had he seen of it? “Well, Ah saw that it had some clothes.” Rarity’s eyes trained on Big Mac at hearing this strange yet exciting news. “It had a hat, a jacket, a vest, pants, and weird items on it. Ah didn’t get a good enough look at it, though.” he paused again, waiting for another question. Instead of that, Twilight just urged him to go on. “He had hair on his head, but from what Ah could see, nowhere else in particular. He walked on two legs and didn’t have a tail, and he had hands and feet, like Spike.” Spike, who had been forgotten on Twilight’s back, jumped off and looked at his appendages. “Woah.” he said.

Twilight was still unsatisfied. There must be something else that Big Mac needed to tell her. “Did you interact with it after it awoke?” she asked. Big Mac nodded. “A bit. He broke a mirror and window in his room and ran off. Ah chased him and knocked him down, but both of us fell at full speed. He got up first and knocked me back down.” Applejack gasped. How could anypony manage to knock her brother down? “He told me to ‘stay away’ and pointed a little thing at me, which Ah assume is what he used to shatter the mirror. He used a stool to break the window.”

Twilight was about to ask about its speech when Pinkie beat her to it. “Ohmigosh what did it say? Does it want a PARTY!? Let’s throw a party! A ‘SPEECH IS GREAT PARTY’!” She bounced up and down, rambling on about a party. “Miss Pie, please, Granny is trying to sleep.” Big Mac requested. Pinkie stopped, but trembled from excitement. “It doesn’t want to be found, Ah can tell that much. It ran off into the forest, and Ah ain’t seen it since then.” Twilight’s head fell at hearing that. She had wanted a lot more, but that would have to do.

Rarity had been waiting patiently with her sister in her grasp, like she thought something might take Sweetie Belle from her. “So, tell me good Macintosh.” she began. “What kinds of things could you garner from what the creature was wearing?” Big Mac didn’t need to think. “All practical. No fashion. Sorry.” Rarity waved a dismissive hoof. “Oh, no, I think this is a lovely opportunity! If we locate the creature, I can introduce it to fashion proper! I could make it all new clothes. Ooh!” Her face brightened. “Maybe I could become famous for being the first to design for this kind of creature!” Big Mac smiled. At least somepony was excited, even if it wasn’t really him.

He left soon after that, saying goodnight to all the ponies. “Goodnight, Miss Fluttershy.” he finished. She nodded to him from the couch, and he went upstairs to get some rest.

Twilight was not going to sleep very much that night, though. She had too much to think about. “Tomorrow.” she thought. Tomorrow, she would search for this creature, even if she had to delve into the depths of the Everfree to find it.

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Ryan got up slowly, rubbing his face from where he felt it hit by something hard, like stony knuckles. Looking at his own, he remembered just how large they themselves were. Good weapons, they had served him well.

He looked around; nothing was there. There was no rope from the ceiling, no body, no signs of life other than him. On the left side of his face, he felt a nasty bruise poking at him, reminding him, “Hey! Getting smashed in the face sucks!” From the look of it, he may have hallucinated earlier and fallen, hitting himself on the edge of the pedestal. “No...” That had been too real, though. “I don’t know what’s going on,” He got up. “but I need to get out of here.” Achily, his whole body was reminded of the abuse it had been taking for so long, Ryan walked out of the large room. On his way out, he stepped on several stone fragments that he had missed earlier. “Meh.” He just kept going, not noticing the symbols on each one.

He took his time leaving the castle, listening for anything that might have been trouble. Not a sound came through the castle, not even the sound of wind. It was cold and ominous. Finally, Ryan got outside. “I’ll just sit for a minute.” he told himself. While on the ground, he decided to take inventory again. After removing everything, he checked off his mental list; jacket, check; knife, check; hammer, check; necklace, kept it on his neck; scarf, check (to stay warm in the night); Colt M1911 and .44 Automag, fourteen and twelve rounds respectively, check; beret, check; and lastly, his watch and vest, still with a syringe of morphine on the back. He donned them all and looked around, focusing on the “pit of doom” as he just named it. “Don’t bug me.” he silently ordered. He went over to the rope bridge and tentatively looked around it. The fog had really rolled in, and with the new darkness; it must have been around midnight; it was impossible to see. he just hoped that the bridge would hold.

He started to cross, and the bridge creaked angrily at him for disturbing it. The wood groaned and the ropes could be heard, there was so much tension. Ryan sped up about half way across. “A bit more-” The world didn’t want to give him a bit more. The bridge collapsed under him when he was just five feet from the end. He held tight to the rope as he fell, snapping into the rock face when he stopped. He groaned. “Dammit.” he muttered. Carefully, he climbed back up and over the ledge. He sighed, looking back at the gorge. “Well, that was anticlimactic.” Just then, a roar sounded out through the forest. “But that wasn’t.” Ryan immediately took off, hoping to avoid whatever creature had released such a verbal assault from its likely deadly maw.

Ryan got out of the forest unscathed. He had to be careful, in and out of it, though; on the one hand, he could die. On the other, the could live. Not his favorite options.

He looked around. Surrounding him were hundreds, nay, thousands, of apple trees. They were everywhere; It was like the forest just extended into the area and became shorter, food bearing trees. Ryan ran up to a tree and plucked an apple from it. “I hope it’s edible.” When he took a bite from it, he discovered that, yes, oh yes indeed, it was edible. He hadn’t been a fan of apples, really, but these were good. “Maybe I’ll just live here.” he decided. There was lots of food, in the form of apples, and he could probably hunt for his meat. He had learned long ago at school how to make a fire with two sticks, so he could cook meat. Yeah, maybe this place was good.

Of course, it could be a farm, so Ryan had to be sure. It wasn’t that stealing bothered him; he just didn’t want to be found. So, in an effort to clear that up, Ryan decided to take a walk.

He walked for what felt like an hour through endless apple trees. He had never heard of a forest of fruit trees exclusively, but given where he was, he couldn’t exclude the possibility. As he walked, he looked up into the sky. There were stars aplenty, just like the previous night, but also like the previous night, the moon was in its minimal glory. Just a sliver in the sky. “Hmm.” Ryan said. He had been hoping for plenty of light to guide him, but the stars would have to do. He looked back down, only to find darkness. “Freakin’...” he went on like that to himself for the better half of a minute, cursing the darkness and the pain it had brought upon him. What right did it have?

After an actual hour of walking, Ryan finally spotted that which he had been afraid of; a house with lights on. He scowled. “Why the Hell does life have to be this way?” he asked no one. He never got answers, so he never expected any. he moved forward toward the house, slowing down as he approached, as any sniper would approach their target. When you are a mile away, crouch. At half a mile, crawl. At a quarter of a mile, be a slug. ryan ignored the second and third, though, and just slowed down and crouched. As he got closer, he could hear laughter and general giddiness from inside the house, like the family was having lots of guests over. They were pretty loud, but given that no one lived that close, it was okay. “Let’s see what I’m dealing with.” Ryan told himself. He spent the next few minutes approaching the window nearest him. When he arrived, he looked inside.

What he saw didn’t shock him, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. Inside was the big red stallion, saying goodnight to a large group of clearly female ponies. Mares. “Good ratio, bro.” Ryan thought. He took a good look at all the ponies in the room; there were three little ones, whose voices he recognized as those of the ones who saved him from death (he used “saved” lightly). They seemed like they were having a blast. There was a yellow pegasus on the couch, with a long, pink mane. There was an orange pony with a blonde mane and a violet unicorn with a dark mane with a light stripe sitting next to each other. There was also a white unicorn, hugging a littler white unicorn close. “Sisters.” Ryan thought. Other than that, there was just a pink pony with a poofy pink mane that was bouncing around, super hyper. “What an eccentric little group.” Ryan thought. He decided to listen to them for a bit.

“So what are y’all gonna do, Twilight?” a small yellow pony with a red mane asked. “Well I plan on going into the forest to find this creature tomorrow.” Ryan frowned. “Hmmm.” he thought. He had no desire to be found, wouldn’t the red guy have told her that? “But Twilight!” the white unicorn shouted. “We were going to go to the spa tomorrow!” What? They had spas? “I’m sorry, Rarity, but I need to find this creature. Call it scholarly intrigue that requires full attention.” Okay, so this Twilight was a scholar. And this Rarity was a diva or something. “Oh, fine. I suppose that it is important.” So maybe not a diva, per say. “I wish you luck.”

Ryan listened to the rest of the conversations of the group until they all finally decided to leave. The first to go was the yellow pegasus, whom Ryan determined to be called Fluttershy. Next was Rarity, who took her little sister closely and waited at the door. The orange pony, Applejack, it seemed, lived here, and just went upstairs. Twilight exited with Rarity and the little one. “Options; scare them into staying away from me, or stay hidden.” Thinking back to Vietnam, Ryan remembered how well staying hidden had worked out. It didn’t. “Scaring it is.” He went over to the edge of the wall and watched as the trio of unicorns left the house. As they walked away, Ryan followed them in the darkest shadows he could find, keeping off the road and among the trees. When they were finally halfway from the house to the gate, as Ryan could see, he enacted his lack of a plan.

Briefly, but enough to be seen, Ryan stood halfway out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. The two larger unicorns, Rarity an Twilight, were talking and didn’t notice. The little one, though, saw Ryan fully and went bug-eyed. “AAHHHHHH!” she screamed, freaking out the other two. Ryan moved behind the tree. “What is it Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked. Oay, so she was Sweetie Belle. What was up with the names? “I-I-I-I saw it!” she said. It sounded like Ryan had scared her a bit too much with his creepy display. “The creature- he’s behind that tree!” Uh oh. “Time to high tail.” Ryan took off in a sprint to the next tre back from the road and got behind it. Just in time, too, since Twilight had just gotten to the tree. “Nothing’s here.” she announced. “You probably just saw a shadow.” twilight reasoned. Sweetie Belle must have been pretty upset. “No, I saw it! It was there, looking at us! It just... stared, like it wanted something. I-I just got startled.” She was sniffling. Dammit, even now, Ryan still hated seeing little kids cry. Now he felt like a REAL asshole.

While the other two were trying to comfort the little one, Ryan moved out from his new cover and, in the darkness, climbed a tree up ahead in the road. There he waited, hoping that this next move would have the full desired effect. The ponies finally got back on the move, in Ryan’s direction, and he once again enacted his lack of a plan.

He knocked an apple off the tree just when the mares and young one approached, eliciting a startled yelp from the older two. The white one looked at the apple, then picked it up and ate it. The other looked at her with a face of Meh. The one calle Twilight looked up at the tree to see where the apple fell from and froze. She found herself staring right at Ryan’s stone-cold face, looking down upon the girls. “Twilight?” Sweetie Belle said trepidatiously. Twilight looked away for a moment, then looked back. Ryan had already moved away and was coming down from the other side of the tree. “Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle.” Twilight reassured her. “It was nothing.” Ryan stood still, trying to listen to them leave, but they weren’t moving. “You girls go on ahead.” Twilight said. “I need to check something.” Well, it didn’t work out the way Ryan was hoping. But he could still get them to leave him alone, if he did the right things.

The two white unicorns walked off while Twilight walked over to the tree. Ryan was just on the other side, listening intently. “I don’t know what you are,” Twilight said, thinking that the creature was in the tree. “but we just want to help you. We mean you no harm.” When se received no response, she went on. “You aren’t dangerous, so we don’t want to do anything to you. Will you please come out, so we can be on good terms?” Ryan waited for a moment, but Twilight said nothing. “I’ll wait for a response all night.” Ryan sighed and climbed back up the tree quietly, getting above Twilight but still out of view. “Stay away.” he ordered, then immediately moved away. Rapidly, he made his way to the other side of the tree.

Twilight wasn’t making a move, though, like Ryan had expected. When he dropped from the tree, Twilight just looked up at the tree and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She walked away, and when she turned around, Ryan spun himself and sprinted away, with Twilight hearing each of his heavy footsteps as he ran off.

Ryan ran a good half mile before he stopped to look behind him. No, Twilight didn’t follow him. That was good; Ryan was growing weary, and he could use what little rest he would get. Looking around, Ryan found a suitable patch of soft dirt that he could sleep on. He laid down on it, eyes to the sky. “What did I get myself into?” he asked. After two hours of laying there, he finally fell asleep, only to be assaulted with memories of the past.

When Ryan awoke, it was probably close to six in the morning. He had fallen asleep somewhere around one in the morning, and now it was five til six. Not his best sleep ever, but far from his worst. His Black Belt testing had been twenty-four continuous hours of physical and mental stress and work.

He rolled around for a few minutes before getting up this morning. Beneath him, the dirt silently shifted to accommodate his weight, which had dropped since before his quest to kill Narendra. Slowly, he got up, looking around. Yeah, still in magic land. He stood, dusting himself off, and trudged over to an apple tree, picking an apple right off. Ripeness was irrelevant, as long as he survived eating it, it was good. He took a bite; ripe, certainly. He chowed down on the apple, getting the juices all over his face. Good apple.

Now that he had food in him, he could think more clearly. The previous night, he had encountered the violet unicorn. Her name was... Twilight? Yeah. He thought about what to do about his new situation. “She clearly has no intention of leaving me be.” Ryan figured. “I have lots of options here. I could fight; but they have no intention to harm me. If I attack, they’ll probably call in their military to kill me. I could run; viable. I could hide. No, no, they would find me. But,” Ryan looked around. “There is all this food.” Odds were, there were lots of tiny critters that Ryan could kill and eat, too. So, he could run and try to survive in an unknown world, or he could stay put and survive in something that he knew. He already knew where the first one would land him; the same place as last time. “I’ll just try to hide.”

Groggy and dirty, Ryan walked from his spot and explored the orchard, intent on knowing his new home like the back of his hand.

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Twilight got up slowly, yawning and stretching as she did so. She looked over to Spike; he had been asleep on her back the previous night, so he missed the whole exchange. Even when Sweetie Belle screamed, he stayed asleep. Biy, that dragon slept like the dead.

She wrote him a quick note to give him the day off; where she was going, he probably couldn’t help much. Today, she was going back to Sweet Apple Acres to find this creature.

After a short breakfast, she exited her library home and trotted on over to the farm. On er way, she encountered only a few ponies. The most notable was Pinkie, not surprisingly awake at seven thirty. “Heya Twily!” She shouted. Pinkie ran over to join Twilight on her walk. “So whatcha doin’?” she asked. Twilight was delighted to have the company of a friend. “I’m heading over to Sweet Apple Acres.” she explained. “I think that the creature may be there.” Pinkie Pie gasped loudly. “REALLY!?” she shouted. Twilight hushed her. “Are you gonna bring it here? Are you gonna experiment on it? ARE WE GONNA THROW IT A PARTY AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN AND BE BESTEST FRIENDS FOREVEEEEEER?” she whispered this as loudly as she could. Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. “Maybe. I can’t say for certain.” Pinkie gave a happy snort. “Well, I’d love to help, but I have to work at Sugarcube Corner. Sorry, Twi.” Twilight waved a hoof. “No worries. I can find it, I’m sure.” Pinkie smiled big, then hopped off to go to work. “You’ll be the first pony I bring him to!” she shouted. Pinkie exclaimed her excitement, but her words were lost in the distance. Turning around, Twilight thought about how she would go about this. “Guess I’ll just have to look around.” she figured.

She got to the farm in a small amount of time, only to find that the apples, minus Applebloom, were already up and at work. Farmers always get up early, Twilight knew that. “Applejack!” Twilight shouted. Big Mac and Applejack turned to see Twilight standing off in the distance. “Howdy Twi!” Applejack shouted back. Twilight trotted over to her friend. “What bring y’all here today?” Applejack asked, curious as to why her friend showed up out of the blue. Twilight looked around as if to make sure no ponies other than Mac were around. “I think the creature is on your farm.” she said. Applejack stopped in her tracks. “I came here to find it.” Applejack looked to her brother, who had heard the whole thing. He nodded. “Yeah, Ah think that would be a good idea.” Applejack replied. “If’n it’s here, it’ll be out in one of the fields. I’d check the north field first; it’s closest to the Everfree Forest.” Twilight thanked her friend and her friend’s brother and ran off to the north field.

In the north field, she had already spent almost an hour searching. Considering that this creature was probably moving around, this frustrated her; who knew where it could be? How did she know that it hadn’t left the farm already? Sh sighed to herself. “I don’t have any idea where to start.” she said to herself. She walked over to a tree and laid down in the shade, exhausted from the early morning summer heat and pondered. “I saw the creature here last night!” she told herself. “It spoke to me.” The shade was awfully welcoming. “I’ll sit here and plan.” she decided.

It was small and very quiet, but a noise came from behind Twilight’s tree. She froze; if this was a small critter, she would be mad. If it was the creature, she didn’t want to risk running it off. Using her magic to lift herself off the ground, Twilight got up and turned herself to face the tree. She dropped herself gently, and made her way around the tree.

What she saw was staggering, to say the least.

Before her stood the creature, in all its potentially-existent glory. It was incredibly dirty; it must have slept in the ground. On its head was a hat, some kind of beret, colored green with some small insignia on it. It had a nice scarf around its neck, and on its torso, was a large vest with all sorts of things hanging off of it. There was a hammer, a knife, a syringe, two strange metal instruments, and several long, rectangular metal things. It had a jacket on that concealed its arms, but short pants on. They looked like they had been cut up at one point. The creature was standing, looking the other way, eating an apple. Twilight was just a little bit peeved; stealing is wrong! He could at least try to repay the Apple family for eating their livelihood. Twilight quietly moved away from the cover of the tree, eyes trained on the creature. It was talking to itself. “Fucking Narendra and his little minions...” Narendra? Who was that? And why the vulgar language? Twilight swallowed hard.

“Hello..?” she said, terrified. The creature froze, dropping the apple. Slowly, its hand went to the strange metal instrument on its right side, pulling it from its place. He turned around and looked at Twilight, their eyes locking. Twilight tried to learn what she could from the fhort contact; his eyes held very little. But that told Twilight a lot. “My name is-” The creature cut her off. “Twilight.” Twilight blinked twice. The creature had spoken to her. How exciting! “Umm, yes.” She wasn’t sure what to say now. Why hadn’t she planned for this? “I, umm, came to find you.” she explained. The creature hacked a lugee and spat it away. “I figured.” Holy Celestia, a real conversation with another, undiscovered sentient species! Twilight would have squee’d if she wasn’t so nervous. “Ummmm... okay.” she replied. The creature slowly turned to face Twilight, weird thing still in its hand. “So what’re you gonna do now?” he asked. That was a good question. “I have no intent on going anywhere with bizarre strangers.” Twilight was slightly agawk. She was bizarre? Where was this guy from? “I hate to break it to you,” she began. “but YOU’RE the weird one here.” The creature smirked at the realization.

Twilight moved forward, prompting the creature to move back. “Please, I just want to help.” she pleaded. The creature kept moving back, even when she stopped. “I don’t want your help.” he replied. “I want to be left alone.” Twilight shook her head. “That’s no way to live.” Damn, he knew just how right she was, even if she didn’t. He stopped to think, but Twilight kept on going. “Please, trust me.” Ryan scowled. “Why?” he asked. Twilight stopped dead. He had a lot of good questions. “Just have faith, please. I mean you no harm.” Faith. That was something that Ryan hadn’t thought about in some time. He had been concerned with logic, with living to kill that man. He hadn’t given faith its time in a while. Logic screamed at him not to trust her, but the tiny voice of faith in the back of his mind said to. He tried to distract himself. “Why do you trust me? How do you know I won’t eat you?” Twilight was visibly disturbed, but pressed on. “Because I have faith that you won’t.”

Ryan’s M1911 was pointed at her by now, but he was lowering it. Maybe she meant him no harm. Maybe she really could be good. “...” He holstered his weapon, and Twilight walked up to him. “Please, come with me.” she said, nosing his hand. “I think you may like the town.” Everything Ryan had screamed at him to just run, but something about this mare kept him from doing so. It was like her presence forced him to have faith. “Fine.” he said gruffly. Twilight smiled massively; slightly disconcerting, to be truthful. She hopped around, going, “YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!” It was adorable, actually. She grabbed his hand with her hoof (How?) and dragged Ryan away to the farm house.

On the way, she kept trying to get Ryan to talk, but to little avail. Eventually, she just started asking simple questions. “I totally forgot!” she yelled. “What’s your name, if you have one?” Ryan hadn’t anticipated this. he was willing to give her enough faith to go with her, but not enough to give her his name. “Harkness.” Ryan replied without thinking. Harkness? What the hell? “Harkness.” she repeated. “Hmm.”

They walked together in silence after that, Twilight clearly getting that Ryan wasn’t in the mood to talk. She kept on looking at him, though. In her eyes, Ryan could see a sparkle of excitement, like she was going to become his friend. In response, Ryan locked eyes with her each time. He had figured out that it drove her eyes away from him. Maybe it was because there was nothing to look at.

They approached the farm house from the previous night, and Twilight looked around. No one was there. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked. Twilight trotted forward a couple of steps and then turned. “I’m looking for Applejack.” That was the orange pony, if Ryan remembered right. “Why?” he asked, unhappy with the implications. “So you can meet her!” she said happily. Her smile was balanced out by Ryan’s scowl. Nice and neutral. “I want to introduce you to all of my friends.” Ryan sighed. e should have seen this coming, but he hadn’t been thinking straight. “Fine.” Twilight squee’d and galloped towards the farmhouse, leaving Ryan in the dust. He jogged after her, trying to stall for as long as possible before going into an awkward social situation. he had been in plenty of those; they were terrible.

Twilight waited for him at the door. When Ryan finally got there, she looked like she had just graduated from Harvard Medical with a one hundred percent on everything she did. Suffice it to say, she was excited. She knocked hard on the door, perhaps too hard. She smiled sheepishly, as there was now a dent in the door from her hoof. “Just a minute!” an elderly voice called out. Ryan swallowed hard. Why, why did it have to be an elderly lady? He stood a bit farther back as the door opened. “Howdy there, Twilight!” the old mare announced. She spotted Ryan in an instant. “And who’s your... friend?” Twilight moved aside so the older mare could get a look at Ryan. “Granny Smith, this is the creature I the girls saw. His name’s Harkness.” Granny Smith moved toward Ryan surprisingly fast for one so old and scrutinized him. For a minute, all was silent. “WELL HOWDY!” she shouted. putting her hoof around Ryan’s hand and shaking hard. “Good to see you’re alive!” She let go, and Ryan nursed his aching hand. Twilight giggled. “AJ, Macky, Applebloom! Come out here!”

Ryan stood back as he heard the sound of lots of hooves hitting hardwood flooring. Suddenly, three ponies burst outside, looking to their Granny. “What is it granny?” Applejack asked. Granny Smith pointed at Ryan. All three of the ponies jaws collapsed to the ground. “This here’s Harkness. Twilight found him.” She went to go inside. “Ah’m sure y’all are gonna have a nice talk. He seems nice enough.” If only she knew.

When Granny Smith left, there was an awkward silence. Applejack stared in awe at Ryan, never having laid eyes on him before. The big red guy, “Macky”, he had been called, looked at him curiously while chewing at a piece of straw. He looked curious but generally uninterested. Ryan nodded to him, he nodded back. He was the kind of guy Ryan could relate to. The other, though, Applebloom, was wide-eyed and looked like she was about to burst. “Well?” she said, still excited. Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Can’t y’all talk?” Ryan scratched his head. “Yeah.”

Applebloom suddenly burst forward fast as a speeding bullet and ran around in circles around Ryan. “WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!” she shouted. Ryan wasn’t even trying to keep up, he would just fall over. “Ah can’t believe I finally get to talk to him!” it was like he wasn’t even there, the way she spoke. The other mare, Applejack, came forward and extended a nervous hoof. “Ah’m Applejack. It’s, umm, nice to meet you.” She avoided locking eyes, which was just fine with him. “That there’s Big Macintosh.” Again, they nodded to each other. Men of few words. Applejack moved back, but Applebloom kept on running. “Ah can’t wait to get the girls!” she shouted. “Oh God, there’s more?” Ryan dreaded.

Twilight saved his day, at least for the moment. “Well, while you go off to get them, I’ll show Harkness around, introduce him to the others. We’ll see you all later!” The Apple family waved their goodbyes and Ryan gave a salute as he left. One down, at least five to go. Fun.

The pair left the farm and went off toward a small town. From a distance, Ryan could see that there were lots more ponies there. “Are you sure I should just parade through there?” he asked, trepidatiously looking at the town. “Don’t worry, ever since Zecora, the ponies of Ponyville are much more accepting.” Ponyville? Really? And who was Zecora? “If you say so.” They were soon upon the town.

Around them, ponies stopped everything and looked at the pair in awe. This creature, wearing a strange set of clothes, just walked in with the resident genius like nothing was wrong. Well, not quite. When the townsponies looked closer, they saw the nervousness in the creature’s face. Being ever respectful, those who noticed looked away to try to make him more comfortable. Some had seen the events of days prior, so they didn’t want him to suffer more. Ryan was grateful for this.

Up above, there were several peasi in the clouds, seemingly moving them. Magic. Ryan looked back down only to find himself looking a the weirdest building; it was like something from Candyland. “Now you’ll meet Pinkie Pie!” Twilight announced. She sounded like an airport speaker. They approached the door, but as they neared it, it swung open for them. Instinctively, Ryan reached back for his knife, but when nothing flew out at him, he only drew it half way. Thankfully, Twilight didn’t notice. “..?” Ryan looked at Twilight, who looked back at him, then ushered for him to go in. He walked forward through the door.

Confetti assaulted his face, making him close his eyes. Loud noises sounded everywhere. “SURPRISE!” a girly voice called out. Ryan opened his eyes, only to find a world of pink. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” Ryan moved back and took a look at the pony who had attacked him with fun. She was happy, energetic, and looked a little bit crazy. “I figured as much.” Ryan replied. Twilight walked in. “Pinkie, this is Harkness.” Ryan tentatively extended his hand, which Pinkie grabbed and shook reasonably. “You must be that creature!” she shouted. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Now we can party and have lots of fun and play games and-” Ryan looked to Twilight for help, which she readily provided. “Pinkie, how about you give him one of your signature cupcakes?” Ryan turned to look at the pink ball of energy as she gasped loudly. “YOU’RE RIGHT!” She ran off, leaving a confused Ryan in her wake. When she returned moments later, she held a cupcake out to him. “Try it, you’ll love it!”

Not wanting to cause offense, Ryan took it. He hadn’t eaten anything like this in a while, but it couldn’t be that bad for him... right? he took a bite. It was one of the best cupcakes he had ever had. “Good.” he replied, stuffing the rest down his gullet. He hadn’t eaten that many calories in a sitting since Australia. Pinkie smiled at him so big, he thought that it would tear a hole in reality. “YAYZEES!” she yelled, putting him into a big hug. Ryan didn’t even bother resisting; affection probably wouldn’t kill him.

A stallion suddenly appeared behind the counter. He looked at Ryan, then at Pinkie on top of him, then back at Ryan. “I see you’ve met Pinkie.” he said. Ryan looked over. “I’m Mr. Cake. I and my wife own this shop.” Ryan nodded to the man, then turned his attention back to the pink globbus. “You can let go now.” he said. Pinkie let him go and ran back to Mr. Cake. “He’s really great!” No, he’s really not. Pinkie suddenly started telling Mr. Cake everything she knew about Ryan, which was a little bit more than he was expecting. When she finished, Mr. Cake looked to Ryan. “Well, I’m glad to see that you’re alright now.” Ryan nodded. “It’s good to not die.” he replied. Mr. Cake smiled nervously at him. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I think I may be driving your customers away.”” Mr. Cake took the hint. “Well, I’d hate to keep you anyhow. It was nice meeting you.” Ryan turned and nodded. “Likewise.” But not really.

He and Twilight left the place, Sugarcube Corner, the sign read, and moved on down the street. The pegasi were still in the air doing their thing, but now, there was one very distinctive one in the air. It was light blue, like the sky, but its wane was a rainbow. “Joyous times.” Ryan thought. He recognized it from the previous night. Twilight noticed his gazing to the sky and followed where his eyes were going. “Oh!” she said. “That’s Rainbow Dash!” Twilight took a few steps forward. “RAINBOW!” she shouted. The pegasus must have heard, for she swooped down and landed near them with quite a bit of gusto. “Twilight! How’s it-” She stopped when she saw Ryan. “Is that..?” She pointed at Ryan. Twilight nodded. “Yes.” she said, moving aside and pointing at Ryan. “His name’s Harkness.” Ryan nodded curtly. Rainbow moved forward. “Hmm.” she said as she circled him suspiciously.

Ryan was wishing that he hadn’t agreed to this by now. He should have stuck to being alone. He should have thrown faith out the window. “You’re not evil, are you?” Ryan shrugged. “Depends on how you define ‘evil’.” Twilight’s smile faltered for a moment, then came back in a force. Rainbow’s suspicious gaze turned into a scowl. “I have to go now.” Rainbow announced to Twilight. “But I’ll be watching you.” She took off, leaving Ryan to ponder their very brief encounter.

Twilight walked back over to Ryan and patted his arm. “Don’t worry, my philosophical new friend.” she said. “She’ll come around eventually.” With that bit of reassurance, Twilight grabbed Ryan’s arm and started dragging him away.

Before he knew where they were going, they stopped. Before him was a large, lavishly decorated building. Through the windows in the front, Ryan could see several mares sitting, reading magazines. “Why are we here?” he asked. “And where are we?” Twilight let go of Ryan’s arm and went to the door. “This is the Ponyville Day Spa.” she explained “Rarity and Fluttershy are here.” Oh, boy. Rarity would probably have some choice words for him, for terrifying her little sister. More awkwardness. “Alright.” he said as Twilight held the door open for her. Ryan walked inside.

All reading or writing ceased when Ryan came inside. All of the mares looked up from whatever they were doing and stared. He felt like someone was going to pull a gun and shoot at him. “Harkness?” Twilight said. Ryan was rigid as he stood, scanning the room. “You feel a bit tense.” she said, rubbing his arm. “Yeah.” he said, pulling his arm away. Twilight looked around, then got it. She immediately went to the desk. “Hello, are Rarity and Fluttershy in?” she asked. The desk mare looked at her, then at Ryan. “Y-yes, madame. You may head on in.” Twilight nodded her thanks as she went in, followed not so closely by Ryan.

Inside this area, Ryan felt even more out of place. There were so many frills and cushions and relaxation things that Ryan felt like he would end up being killed if he stayed. He couldn’t let his guard down, even if it was to relax. “Ah! Over there.” Twilight said, pointing to a couple of ud baths. The last time Ryan had any sort of mud bath was in a river in Vietnam. He shuddered at the memory as they approached the mares. “Rarity, Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed. The mares had cucumbers over their eyes, so they couldn’t see Ryan. “Darling, how wonderful to see you!” Rarity replied. “I’m so glad you could come. Go on, join one of us. It’s really relaxing.” Twilight happily rolled her eyes. “That’s not actually why I’m here.”

Rarity and Fluttershy both sat up a bit. “Really?” Fluttershy said. “Then what brings you here? If you don’t mind me asking.” She shrunk her form at the end of the statement like that would protect her from a monster. “I found the creature!” she said giddily. “His name’s Harkness and he’s here to meet you.” Both spa mares shot upright and removed their cucumbers. Rarity looked at Ryan with a combination of glee and disapproval. Fluttershy looked at him like he was dying again. “Dear, me, my manners have escaped me! I’m Rarity, darling, local clothing designer.” She put a hoof up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ryan nodded. “I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy said quickly. She moved over to the edge of her bath and got closer to Ryan. “Mr. Harkness, are you alright?” she asked. Ryan nodded wordlessly. “You’re sure? No infections leftover or anything?” Well, he hadn’t thought of that. No matter. “I’m sure I’m fine.” he said, causing Fluttershy to shrink back a bit and Rarity to look at him excitedly. “Ooh, this is magnificent!” she exclaimed. “I’ll have to make you all new clothes! Trust me, they will be the absolute best you will ever have.” Ryan nodded to her. He didn’t want to come off as an asshole; that would get him nowhere. “Thank you, Miss Rarity, and Miss Fluttershy.” He paced backwards a few steps. “It’s been a pleasure.”

Without waiting for Twilight, Ryan made his way outside while she stayed to chat with her friends. “Well, he seems like a gentlecolt.” Rarity beamed. Fluttershy concurred. “I do hope that he’s okay. It would be terrible if he wasn’t really okay.” Twilight waved a dismissive hoof. “No worries; I’m sure he’s alright.”

While they were talking, Ryan made his way outside. The spa mares looked at him again, prompting him to go faster. He opened the door and-

He was knocked to the ground by what felt like three cannonballs, all screaming and shouting something. As soon as he hit the ground, Ryan rolled back up, ready for a fight. He held himself, though, at seeing the three little ones from the previous night. “Sorry, mister- hey, it’s him!” The one who yelled that was Applebloom, and as soon as she did, the other two leapt up and ran over to Ryan, who towered over them. They circled him, asking him all kinds of questions. He answered one at a time. “What’s your name?” “Harkness.” “Where are you from?” “America.” “Where’s that?” “Far away.” He tried to keep nonspecific questions vaguely answered. Before he knew it, other little ones were coming around. “Wow, AB was telling the truth!” She apparently told them all that she met “the creature”. Ryan turned to see several little ones, one with a camera, staring at him as the three originals ran around him, shouting incoherently. “What if it’s a monster?” one asked. Another tried to reassure it. “Monsters only come out at night and in the Everfree, remember?”

Ryan didn’t want all this attention. “I came out of the Everfree.” he announced, causing their little jaws to go agape. He crouched and loudly whispered, “And the night is my domain.” The little ones looked like they wanted to run, but the three circling him must have convinced them not to. “Aww, he ain’t no danger! He’s real nice, just gotta get to know him.” Ryan sighed and gave up.

He sat down, and as he did so, the young one with the camera came up to him. “Do you mind if I, maybe, get a picture?” the tiny Brit asked. “For the news?” Ryan shrugged. “Why not?” The little Brit smiled as he brought up his camera. There was a bright flash, and the camera went back down. “Thanks, Mister!” he said as he retreated back to the group. Right as he did so, Twilight came back out. “You good... to... go?” She giggled as she looked at Ryan, still in a circle of fillies. “As ready as I could be.” He stood up and leapt away from the fillies.

They all said their goodbyes and Ryan left with Twilight, heading in God knows what direction. “Where to now?” he asked fearfully. Twilight pointed forward at a big tree. “The library. That’s where I work and live.” She started to trot forward. “Let’s go! I have lots of questions for you!” She ran off to her home, leaving Ryan in the dust once again. He ran after her. “I guess I should either be careful with my answers,” he thought. “Or I can be totally honest.”

He was at the door, meeting back up with Twilight, who seemed unable to comprehend that his species was not built for running like hers. “Here we go.” He walked inside when Twilight held the door open for him.

Thin Ice

Thin Ice“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” (Stephen King)

Ryan scanned the room as soon as he was inside. She was telling the truth; it was a library. Bookshelves were built into all the walls, with what else than books everywhere. If this mare lived here, then she was probably something of a bookworm.

Twilight followed him inside, shutting the door quietly as she entered. She didn’t want to scare Harkness; after all, he was still new here and probably still less than trusting of everypony. His injury didn’t exactly indicate an accident, though that couldn’t be ruled out. She mostly just wanted him to be comfortable. “My room is upstairs. I’ll get a pen and some paper, and I’ll meet you there.” Ryan nodded and made his way upstairs. He looked out a window; it was probably around eleven thirty or noon now. He sighed. “The night is darkest just before the dawn.” Only he had a feeling that the dawn wasn’t coming.

He walked up the stairs and found himself in a big open room. There was another small set of stairs leading to what looked like a bed and nightstand. Close to that, there was a little pet basket, from which Ryan could hear snoring. He had no idea that pets snored.

Twilight came up, levitating a pen, some paper, a chair, and a small desk. When Ryan turned and saw this, he only stared. Twilight fidgeted. “What?” she asked. “Is there something on me?” Ryan shook himself out of his stupor. “No, you’re good.” Confused, but still excited, Twilight set everything down and then ran up her stairs. Up there, she must have awoken her pet. “What!?” a young male voice shouted. Ryan did a double take; he hadn’t expected Twilight to make her little brother sleep in a pet basket. What kind of world was this? “It’s alive? And here!?” the voice shouted. Before Twilight could respond, the most peculiar sight to hit Ryan’s eyes yet came rushing down the stairs. It was a short purple lizard with green frills on its head. Ryan and the lizard stared at each other. After a moment, Ryan decided that it would be in his best interest to end the silence. “Sup?” he said. The lizard visibly calmed. “Yo.” he replied. Twilight came back down with a cushion floating above her. “I see you’ve met Harkness, Spike.” Spike, eh? Maybe he was a pet. “Yup.” he said. He walked over to Ryan, who cocked an eyebrow at him. “We’re already bros.” Spike struck a pose next to Ryan. Ryan stayed silent.

Giggling, either from excitement or finding her lizard hilarious, Twilight walked on over. “Spike, why don’t take notes for me?” She pulled the chair over and used what Ryan assumed to be magic to set him in it. Smiling wide, Spike took up the pen and got ready to start taking notes on his desk. Twilight pulled the cushion over and pushed it to Ryan. “You can have it.” Ryan said, putting his hand up. Twilight looked at him funny. “I prefer the wooden floor.” He wasn’t used to the feelings of cushions any more. It made him uncomfortable. Twilight took a moment, then shrugged, and put the cushion under herself. “Suit yourself.” she said. She looked to Spike, who was already taking notes. “Are you ready?” she asked, looking back to Ryan. Ryan nodded. “As ready as I can be.” Here he went.

Twilight looked contemplative as she decided what questions she was going to be asking. Looking at Ryan, she decided to start with easier questions. “What do YOU know about US, if I may ask?” she began. Ryan thought for a moment. It wasn’t much, but it was a little. “Well, I know that you have two rulers, sun-mare and moon-mare, who I assume to be Luna.” Twilight’s eyes widened a bit and she cocked an eyebrow. Ryan continued. “I also know that before they came around, there were three tribes, pegasi, unicorns, and ponies. Some dude named Starswirl the Bearded did lots of stuff with magic, your land is Equestria, there’s some weird guy named Discord, and then what you’ve told me as of yet. Nothing else, really.” Twilight looked dumbfounded. How did this guy know so much? “How do you know all of this?” she asked in disbelief. Spike had stopped his notes to look in awe. Thinking fast, Ryan thought to the only source of knowledge he had encountered as of yet. “The library in some old, rundown castle in the forest.” For a moment, Twilight looked like everything was clear. Then it looked like she had seen a pony with seven legs. “I thought that library was cleaned out!” she announced loudly. Ryan stuck a finger in his right ear. “Apparently not, and please don’t yell don’t loud.” Twilight blushed a bit, covering her mouth. “Sorry.” she said apologetically.

Now, it was on to the serious questions, the tougher ones for Ryan to answer. “What species are you?” Twilight asked. “Human.” came Ryan’s reply, monotone and unwelcoming. “Where are you from?” Ryan didn’t have to think about simple questions like these. “The United States of America.” From there, Twilight asked questions about Ryan’s homeland, which he answered truthfully. For the most part. They spent easily an hour and a half on the subject. “So, wait, you have a document that prevents the government from taking the rights of its own people? And it works?” Ryan nodded. The US Constitution in a nutshell, right there. “Wow. That’s gotta be some serious magic.” Ryan laughed. “What?” Twilight asked. Oh, this was gonna blow her bubble. “We don’t have magic.”

Her bubble didn’t just blow; it had a nuclear meltdown. Her face rapidly changed from fear, to relief, to confusion, to all out terror, then to contemplativeness, then back to fear. It cycled like this at least four times in ten seconds. “What?” she finally replied. “We have technology.” Ryan explained. “It’s like our version of magic, only not innate. We can do it, whereas apparently you can’t do it to our extent.” Twilight looked unhappy. “I resent that comment! We have steam powered trains!” Ryan laughed again, this time drawing a confused look from Twilight. “We’ve sent machines flying through the air at over eight thousand miles an hour. On gas.” Twilight’s jaw fell to the floor. Off to the side, Ryan could hear Spike trying to stammer out a response. “Oh.” was all she said. “I guess that you’re right.” Ryan laid down on the floor to stretch his back. “Thanks, NASA, for giving me something to impress these ponies with.” He sat back up, ready for another volley of questions. “More questions?” he asked. Twilight was still in a stupor. Ryan inched closer and waved a hand in front of her face, getting no response. He turned to Spike, who looked perfectly fine. “Is she gonna be alright?” he asked. Spike wordlessly got up and walked over to Twilight. Once there, he used his claw to poke her flank. “AH!” she shouted at the sudden pointy contact. “Spike!” she whined, getting him to chuckle. “Sorry, but you weren’t asking him any questions!” He ran back to the desk and picked up his pen. Twilight sheepishly smiled at Ryan. “Sorry, I guess it just distracted me. I just don’t see how it’s possible!” Ryan went back to his spot. “Well, we can go over that another time. Societal questions?”

She had lots of questions about that, like law and order, court systems, social scenes and fads, and lots of other stuff. She even shared some of her society’s social structure. The Princesses held courts during their respective times of the day to hear out cases not settled by lower courts. “Night court, then, for Luna.” Ryan figured. “That would be the time to visit.” He was still considering whether or not he should, but now he knew he could. Twilight’s questions eventually went to books and knowledge storage. “We have libraries, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Ryan said. Twilight shook her head. “I know, but with all that knowledge, especially with that technology of yours, you must need a lot of space to store it.” Ryan thought about how to answer this for a moment. This would require an explanation of some technology, and a lot of it, he would be unable to provide.

Ryan decided that he would just explain this as best he could, then call it a day. The sky was getting ready to turn orange, he could tell. “Well, we have this piece of technology called a computer. We have millions of these things back home. On each one, a person can store knowledge as coded data, which can be accessed and viewed again later. Every computer has a storage limit, and every piece of data has its own, umm...” Ryan thought. Bytes would make no sense to her. “I’ll call it Data Mass. It’s isn’t real, but it takes up memory storage.” Twilight looked confused, but still followed. “This mass isn’t real; it can’t be touched. But, when in a micro chip, SD card, disk, or some other means of storage, it floats in that item as a memory, like in our brains.” The analogy was perfect; Twilight shouted “Aha!” when she got it. “Now, like I said, there’s millions of computers. Now, different computers hold different amounts of ‘Data Mass’, but most can hold thousands of pages of text.” Twilight gasped. “That’s like, half of my library!” Ryan nodded. “Now, let me explain the Internet. The Internet is not a thing; it’s the connection between all these computers, meaning that if one is on the Internet, people using other computers can view what’s on it. Now, when you have all these computers connected...” He didn’t need to finish; the look on Twilight’s face said everything. “All collected knowledge could be viewed by anyone with a computer.” Ryan nodded; there was a much darker and much more illegal truth to that than she would ever understand. “And THAT is how we store all of our knowledge. Or at least most of it.”

After finishing his severely lacking explanation, Ryan stood up and stretched. “Well, I’m glad I could answer your questions, but I think that your mind will have trouble handling any more.” He cracked his knuckles. “So I guess I’ll just head on out.” Ryan moved for the way downstairs. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Twilight replied. Ryan put his hand up as he left.

Spike had taken so many notes that his writ was hurting. “That was crazy.” he commented. Twilight nodded. “I mean, no wonder his species was able to advance so quickly, if they store knowledge so well.” Twilight looked to the staircase. She couldn’t ear any footsteps; he must have hurried out. “I guess so.” She pondered exactly what implications this could have. Just how intelligent was this species, or more specifically, Ryan? “I’ll have to learn more about their history and technology tomorrow.” she thought. “This is too fascinating.” She went up her personal stairs and to her bed, where she laid down.

Spike got into his little basket not ten feet away when he had a startling realization. “Twilight, he’s got no place to stay!” he announced. Twilight shot up, a frantic frown on her face. “Oh, my! You’re right!” She rushed out of bed and galloped downstairs to her front door. Upon inspecting the area outside in the dusk, she saw no sign of her friend Harkness. “Ponyfeathers.” she cursed. She closed her front door and went back to Spike upstairs. “We’ll just have to figure something out tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll find him, not in this darkness.” Spike sighed, then went to bed, Twilight guiltily following suit.

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

Discord had been viewing the lives of various nobles for a while now. None of them were particularly interesting, but he needed something to do. Even though many called him evil, he wasn’t about to be spying on Ryan for every little moment of his life. He knew that the boy deserved at least a modicum of privacy.

Now, however, was his time to pry. He had designated two times of the day, one a little before noon, the other at night, to watch Ryan. He hadn’t looked earlier because Celestia sent a unicorn to check on him. She must have known about his fake imprisonment.

Using his magic, Discord turned a patch of air near Ryan into a pair of invisible eyes for himself. He had to look around for a moment before he located Ryan. The boy was wandering the town of Ponyville. “Well, now, this is new.” He hadn’t been expecting Ryan to let himself come back to an society. Maybe because this one was different, he had no connections to it? Or maybe he just had no other options to survive off of. Either way, here he was. “Where are you going?” Discord asked silently, moving his pair of eyes in the sky closer to Ryan. The boy wasn’t talking to himself like he had before, back in Cambodia. He just walked away in silence, no longer the boy he once was.

Ryan was glancing around, checking his six every so often. He had no desire to be followed, obviously. He wore his gross and worn clothes, with his weapons readily available at his side. Discord was surprised to see that he still had them. If the ponies of Ponyville knew what they were, Ryan would have been run out of town by now. “I wonder what’s happened?” Discord wished that he could tell what he been happening, but Celestia and her little pests had kept him from that.

At the edge of town, Ryan found himself in a little meadow, with a single tree nearby. Next to the tree was a ditch, about five and a half feet deep and four feet wide. After spotting it, Ryan walked over and jumped down into it. “What are you doing?” Discord wondered. Ran just laid down and stayed there in the ditch. He was going to sleep. “Ah.” Discord said, understanding. Ryan was trying to stay away from civilization, but also, he was now used to this. Sleeping anywhere else would be uncomfortable.

Seeing that this was not going to go anywhere, Discord figured that this would be a good time to do something. Ryan’s eyes were closed and he was deep in thought. To make him more comfortable, Discord softened the patch of dirt under him to be more like the water saturated grounds of Southeast Asia at the time in which he was there. Ryan’s mind didn’t notice, but his body seemed to. His muscles relaxed just a little bit, and he seemed like he would sleep less restlessly. Having done his job, Discord cancelled his spell and returned to himself.

He felt truly terrible for and about Ryan and his condition. Discord had so many chances to keep him from this fate, but he had allowed it to happen. He had considered bringing Ryan back to his home, but he knew that recovery would be impossible there. The only way that he was going to get better was if he did so far away from everything that he knew, so Discord provided that. He should have taken care of Narendra when he had the chance, but he didn’t. That was his greatest moral failure, something that Discord didn’t like to admit he had any of. Still, he had an opportunity here to make things right, so he was going to take it.

Ryan’s world and his world were going to remember that boy.

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

Ryan shot up yelling. He swung his head around, looking for anyone, everyone, who may be there. When he saw that there was no one there, he sighed and fell back.

The night sky was still in the sky, albeit not much. Ryan could tell that it was approaching six in the morning, with where the sun was. He forced himself to stand up and look around outside of the ditch. No one was there. He got out of the ditch and dusted himself off. No need to tell them all that he was sleeping in a World War One era trench. Thinking slowly, it dawned on Ryan that history may be a section of questioning from Twilight at some point. “I’ll just tell her.” he decided. “Not like I had anything to do with the wars.” No, he had his own demons to hide. He didn’t care about the crimes of ages past. He was sure that this world had its own of that.

Ryan’s stomach growled loudly as he exited the vicinity of the tree. He hadn’t eaten since that apple and cupcake the previous day. And worse, whatever was in tht cupcake messed Ryan up in the gut. “Too much sugar after too much time without any.” he lamented. This day was already sucking. He pressed on, though, and got all the way to the town before he had to stop. By then, the sun had risen and it was at least quarter past. No ponies were out, but if Ryan was too loud, they would awaken. He had to hide himself as much as possible while he threw up. “Ugh.” He shuddered when he was done. Barfing is hardly fun, especially when you’re running on fumes.

He spent a few minutes recovering from his bout when he heard the door to his right open up. The pony must have heard him vomit and came out to check. “Hello?” It was a mare. “Is anypony there?” Ryan was moaning from the pain in his gut. “Are you alright?” She hadn’t quite seen him yet. He came out from the other side of the wall and looked over at her. “Depends on how you define ‘okay’.” The mare looked like she would scream at seeing him, but she held her tongue well. After a moment of silence, she breathed out slowly and said, “Are you ill?” Ryan shook his head. “No.” Clenching his gut, he made his way past the mare. “Good day, ma’am.” He walked away, leaving a concerned pony behind. He didn’t need her sympathy.

He spotted a big, round building on his way back to the library that stood out quite a bit. Carousel Boutique, the big sign read. He wasn’t familiar with it, nor did he have any desire to be. He kept on walking. Also on the way, he saw Sugarcube Corner. In response, he took a longer route, trying to avoid sugary things like they were chemical weapons. For him, they might as well have been. Eventually, he made it to the library, where he spotted a bench. He just went over and sat on it, waiting for Twilight to awaken.

He pulled out his M1911 and took a good look at it. He wished that he knew how to do maintenance on it, but alas, he was unfamiliar with the intricacies of firearms management. Instead, he opted to remove the mag, unchamber the round, add the round back to the mag, then put the mag back in without chambering. He spent some time just pulling back the hammer and pulling the trigger. click. He thought about how he might explain these devices of his, especially if he had to explain the history. click. He could avoid going into detail about weapons. click. Or he could just lie and say that swords and crap like that were used. click. But then, how would he explain his knife? click. There was no easy way out of this. Maybe he should just wing it again? His life couldn’t get much worse.

He sat there for an hour contemplating, waiting for Twilight to awaken and come get him. She had given him no idea of where to go, nor had he told her where he was going. Now, he had a place to sleep, so he was good there. He would probably just keep stealing food or mooch off of Twilight and her friends. it was simple. He had to survive, so he stole to live. Not that he cared about the morality of it; he was Hell-bound for certain already. It was just a matter of convenience and survival.

He could hear the door to the library opening. “Alright, Spike. Let’s go find him.” Ryan stood up from his seat. He couldn’t see them form around the library and they couldn’t see him. “I’m here.” he announced, sitting back down, facing the area where Twilight would be coming from. He heard a startled yelp from that general direction, and soon after, Twilight and Spike came around the corner. “Oh. You’re here.” Ryan put his hands out to his sides. “It would seem so.” Twilight rolled her eyes and walked over. “Where did you stay last night? I’m sorry I hadn’t thought about that, I was just so distracted.” She looked at the ground. “No worries. I found a place.” Twilight’s ears perked up. “Oh. Where is it?” Ryan cocked an eyebrow. The last thing he wanted was an unwanted visitor, especially one who would try to make him stay in town. “You tryin’ to make a move on me, inviting me into your home so soon?” Ryan said. In an effort to make it was weird for Twilight as possible, Ryan gave her a coy smile. Her face turned red; mission accomplished. “No!” she shouted. Just then, Spike got it and burst into hysterics. He fell down onto his back, he was laughing so hard. “Spi~ike!” she whined, clearly flustered about Ryan’s words.

She turned back to Ryan, scowling at him. “Ha-ha. Not what I meant.” She turned around. “Now come on. I have more questions.” Mission accomplished: investigation into residency eliminated.

Twilight left Spike laughing on the ground, so Ryan picked him up and brought him inside. If he stayed outside like that, he would disturb the still sleeping neighbors. Once inside, he set Spike down on the ground. “Dude, that was too great.” Spike wiped away a tear. “I wish I could do that so fast.” Ryan shrugged; Twilight had gone upstairs, so they had time to chat. “Comes with lots of practice.” Spike put his fist out for a bump. Not wanting to come off as rude, Ryan bumped it. Though there was little there, Spike could hardly tell. “You gotta teach me, bro.” So they were bros now. Maybe trolling his sister was what made that to be. “Maybe later. Right now, I have to answer her questions.” He looked to the stairs. “And I think you may have to leave for this. These questions might get kinda heavy.”

Spike looked up, confused, as Twilight returned from upstairs. Not wanting to take any risks, Spike went over to the stairs. “I think I’ll sit this one out, Twilight.” he said, rushing up the stairs. Before Twilight could ask, he was up there and away from her and Ryan. She looked to Ryan. “I told him that there would maybe be things that he shouldn’t hear.” Twilight blinked. Alright, then, she could take her own notes. She moved forward and sat herself down at a table, probably where she checked out books. “Come.” she said. Ryan would have done something with that, but the connotation was likely not the same here. He complied and sat on the other side of the table. “I’ll keep my questions simpler today, I think.” Her excitement resumed, as if the exchange before never happened. “What are you going to ask me?” Ryan asked, wondering just how bad it could get. “Human history.” Damn. That was tough. Not so much because of unpleasantness, but because Ryan wasn’t a historian. He knew a lot, sure, but he couldn’t go into detail on almost anything. School courses are hardly ever specific, you have to study that kind of stuff in college.

Twilight started with an impossible one; the beginning of civilization. Ryan gave her the roughly twenty facts and details that he knew about the Fertile Crescent, which Twilight found fascinating. One region’s perfection for agriculture sparked the beginning of an incredible series of societies and civilizations. After that, Ryan moved onto the early empires, like the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Romans. After giving what little info he had about them, he moved onto other empires of the old world, like the Mongols, the Mughals, and the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans. He couldn’t remember exactly which came when, something Twilight wasn’t too happy about. “You don’t know your own species’ history?” she deadpanned. Ryan frowned. “You’re asking me for thousands of years of history for almost a dozen different empires. That’s well over twenty thousand years of history. Do you happen to know twenty thousand years of history on any level of detail?” Twilight looked at him, then sighed in defeat. “Alright.” she conceded.

“Please continue with what you do know.” she requested. Ryan thought about where to start. He would stay off of the topic of religion; that was just way too complex for even him to understand at times. Instead, he kept on going with the empires. He went into the Ottoman Empire, the British, French, and Spanish Empires, and ultimately to the beginning of the United States. “So you’re country was a colony that rebelled against its owner?” Twilight asked, looking a tad concerned. Ryan nodded. “Yeah. There were all kinds of reasons for it, from civil rights to government representation, and even down to economics. That last one was probably the more significant of the three.” Twilight nodded, scribbling on her little notepad. “And thus began a new era of the world.”

Twilight would have loved to continue, but Ryan’s stomach growled like a lion. He looked down at it, then back up at Twilight. “Are you hungry?” she asked. Ryan shrugged. “Well, I haven’t eaten since yesterday, and that cupcake messed me up pretty bad.” Twilight gasped. “What!?” she shouted. “I thought you said you had yourself taken care of.” She looked at him, worry spread out over her face. “I said I had a place to sleep. I never said I had access to food.” Twilight looked appalled by Ryan’s casual stating of his hunger. “Well, I guess that we’ll just break for lunch for now.” she said. Ryan stood up, stomach still angry at him for its emptiness. Twilight got up and grabbed a bag, slinging it over her shoulder. “Spike, I’m taking Harkness out for lunch!” Spike replied with a big, “OK!”, and the two left the library.

Ryan had no idea what to expect of these ponies for their food. He knew that horses back home eat grass and hay, among other things, but what about here? Was he going to be forced to eat grass? “So what kind of food do you have here?” Ryan asked. He scratched his arm through his sleeve, not wanting to reveal his arm. “Well, we have grass, hay, straw, assorted veggies, fruits, and lots of other stuff.” Ryan thought about the veggies. He had never been a big fruit guy, but he would eat whatever was put in front of him at this point. “Alright then.” he responded.

Twilight brought him to a nice looking restaurant, one with big bay windows in the front and tables outside. The ponies at the outside tables stopped eating for a moment to look at Ryan, the new town anomaly, but quickly went back to eating. Whether it was fear or disinterest, Ryan didn’t care. As long as they were looking at someone else. “This is one of my favorites.” Twilight commented, pointing to the restaurant. “They have awesome steamed vegetables and sandwiches.” That was an option; a good old fashioned PB and J. “Let’s head on in then.” Ryan said, voracious for some food. When they entered the restaurant, though, they got a big surprise.

The waiter didn’t even wait for them to walk more than a few steps inside before he tried to send them away. “No animals in the restaurant.” he said. Twilight looked unhappy; Ryan was looking close to mad. Who’s the jackass who thought he could stop RYan from eating. “I don’t know about here,” he said. “But back home, YOU would be called a racist bigot right about now.” The waiter flinched, not just at the words, but at Ryan’s speech. He had no idea that this thing could talk. “Sorry, sorry. I just didn’t know that...” The waiter couldn’t find the right words, obviously. “As long as I get some food, I don’t even care.” The waiter looked relieved. “Well, I know we have a couple of tables open. If you’ll follow me.” He picked up a couple of menus and led Twilight and Ryan to a table. He placed the menus on the table and bowed, letting the customers have time to decide on their food.

Ryan picked up his menu and started going through it. Steamed hay, veggie burgers, fruit cups, salads, tacos, assorted breads...

The whole time he was reading over the menu, he noticed that Twilight was staring at him. She wasn’t even glancing at her menu or trying to hide it. “Where I’m from, staring is considered a lot of things.” Ryan said suddenly, startling Twilight. “It can be aggression, intrigue, suspicion, simple rudeness... desire for passion...” He looked up from his menu on that last one, happy to see that, once again, he managed to fluster her. She looked around frantically. “No, no! Stop saying that!” she said. “I’m just curious about your eating habits.” Ryan stared back at her for a moment, sizing up the situation. In a quick movement, he pulled back his lips and showed Twilight his teeth. “There.” he said. Twilight took the moment to move closer and inspect. There were crushing teeth in the back, but canines in the front. She moved back to her seat quickly. “You eat meat.” she said, shuddering a bit. Ryan nodded. “Yeah. Mostly beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and fish, but fish isn’t meat for some reason.” Twilight looked away. “It doesn’t have to scare you; I have no intention of eating anything other than the kinds of things on this menu and the occasional small animal.” Twilight cringed. The truth can be unpleasant sometimes.

Soon, the waiter returned and took their orders. Salad and tea for Twilight, a simple peanut butter sandwich and water for Ryan. He would give anything for some of that Macallen right about now.

As they ate, Twilight got back to asking history questions. There was a lot that she was asking that Ryan simply couldn’t answer, like the histories of all of the colonies of the previously mentioned empires and of the empires themselves. Eventually, it just got down to US history. “So when would you say that you’re country really entered the global stage?” she asked. Ryan chewed on his food a moment. “Here we go.” he thought, partly with dread and partly with anticipation. He swallowed. “I’d say it happened when my country went into World War One.” Twilight stopped. Even around them, any pony who heard that phrase stopped all together. Everyone was looking at Ryan, who was just eating. Thankfully, he couldn’t see them. “W-World War ONE?” Twilight asked. Ryan nodded. “I-I don’t quite understand...” Ryan set his food down. “Well, those empires from before? They controlled most of the world at that time. And when they decided to duke it out, that meant that pretty much every corner of the world was involved in some way. Whether it was in fighting or providing for it, most people in the world were involved in some way shape or form.”

Twilight looked terrified, yet her curiosity seemed to override it. “What can you tell me about it?” she asked. Ryan took a sip of his water and looked her dead in the eye. “Are you sure you want to hear about this?” he asked. There was a reason that the real stuff like this wasn’t taught until later. Twilight nodded. Ryan sighed. “Alright. I guess I’ll start at the beginning.” He started with the spread of Nationalism and how that increased international tensions. Twilight didn’t seem to react much to the secret alliances made by various countries and how that decided who would fight against who. Mostly, Ryan was talking about the belligerents, not the fighting itself. When he finished his explanation, Twilight knew that there was more. “And what about the fighting?” she asked. Before he went on, Ryan had his own question. “Why so interested in that?” he asked. Twilight looked around; she just noticed that this conversation was not private. “We have war here too, you know. I just want to compare.” Ryan shrugged. “Alright. Here’s the stats; over sixteen million men died, over twenty million were horribly wounded. The war was primarily fought in trenches, and the deadliest weapons were machine guns and gas bombs.” Twilight took a moment to comprehend what she was hearing. She had no idea what a gun was, but gas? “What do you mean, ‘machine guns and gas bombs’?” Ryan looked around; now, he could see that they were being watched. “Machine guns, or MGs, send little metal things called bullets really fast through the air, slicing or smashing through what they hit. As for the gas, it was chlorine.” Twilight swallowed hard, and behind him, Ryan could hear several ponies gasp. “It was made with the intent of being ‘a weapon that no one would use because of its power’, but clearly, that man was misguided.”

Twilight looked like her face might turn green. “I think I’m done eating.” she said. Instantly, Ryan grabbed her plate. He had eaten his food already. “Alright. I’ll eat it.” She looked at him sadly and concerned as he ate. “This doesn’t bother you?” she asked. Ryan swallowed a bit of the salad. “Several things. One; it was almost a hundred years ago. I had nothing to do with it. Two; I grew up in this world, remember? This world of knowledge sharing? I know about lots of bad stuff. Three; If I let it get to me, then I would have probably lost my mind long ago.” He had lost his mind due to other things, not simple historical facts. “So I’m sorry if I sound like I don’t care, because I really don’t.” he finished the salad and stood up. “Well, I guess we should pay.” Ryan absentmindedly went for his wallet, which he remembered that he didn’t have. How did he forget that? It had been way too long. “Uhh...” He looked to Twilight. “Oh! Right, sorry.” She left a bunch of gold coins on the table, and they left the restaurant.

As they walked back to the library, Twilight kept looking back at Ryan. She wasn’t sure how to feel about him now; he had all this knowledge of such terrible things, but he didn’t care? “I guess that he was right, though.” she thought. “If he were to let it get to him, he would be ruined.” Thinking that, she actually had to admire him for his strength. Twilight wasn’t even a human, yet she was having trouble accepting the information he had provided.

“Darling!” a posh voice called out. Ryan turned to his right to see the white unicorn, Rarity, approaching. Twilight hadn’t noticed, so Ryan nudged her to alert her. “Oh, it’s good to see you again!” Okay, so she was talking to Ryan. “How are you?” she asked. Ryan put his hands in his pockets. “I’m doing well enough.” he replied. Rarity went over to Twilight, who was still a bit out of it. “Are you alright, dear?” she asked. Twilight shook herself out of it. “Yes, I’m fine. Just thinking about history.” Rarity could tell that it wasn’t pony history. “Well, what of it?” Ryan quickly interjected. “Unpleasant history.” Rarity took the hint. “Ah, well, there’s a time and place for that.” she said. “But I’m sure that there are some interesting things about your history, Harkness. May I come and join you?”

Ryan wanted to say no, but like with Twilight before, there was something going on here. He felt like he should give her this. He had tried fighting it before, but to no avail. He sighed. “Alright, but I’m not liable if you get messed up by what you hear.” Rarity waved her hoof. “Nonsense.” she said. “I assure you I can handle it.” She had no idea what to expect. Having gotten a new listener, they all went back to the library to continue with history.

At the library, Ryan was the first to approach the door. That was a mistake. “Rarity!” Spike came out yelling. When he opened the door flew open, the edge caught Ryan in the face, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Spike looked on with a pained expression. “Whoops.” he said. Ryan sat up; it looked like the mares were about to chastise the poor little guy. “I’m good.” he said, standing up and dusting himself off. “Let’s head in.” He led the way, the ponies and lizard behind him simply looking on. “Tough guy.” Spike commented, impressed. They all went in after Ryan.

Ryan found a nice place on the floor where he could sit and motioned for the others to sit around him. When they were all before him, Ryan cleared his throat. “I’d rather not rehash the information about World War One, so I’ll move onto World War Two.” Rarity and Spike blinked. “Did you say WORLD war?” Rarity asked, looking uneasy. Ryan nodded. “The first was almost a hundred years ago. The second ended a little over seventy years ago.” Spike was twiddling his fingers, clearly not very comfortable. “Anyone who doesn’t want to hear this doesn’t have to.” Surprisingly, none of the three before him moved. He shrugged. “Alright. The stats are as such; over sixty million people killed, more than half being civilians. This was from a rather unpleasant even which I will absolutely not be talking about in the presence of ANYONE who hasn’t been exposed to true evil. Luckily, though, that evil was defeated, and such atrocities were not committed on the same scale ever again. They happen, sure, but not like THAT one.” The two ponies and lizard were watching him intently. “But after hearing that, I have a question.” Ryan stated. “What do you think of humanity, after hearing that?” This would be interesting.

Rarity was the first to speak, being the only one seemingly capable. “I find that to be absolutely abominable. Humanity sounds barbaric, no offense intended. How could such things happen?” Ryan put his hands on his knees a she sat cross-legged. “Well, times were terrible for people. The world economy was essentially dead, so people were looking for a way out. One man and a few of his satanic little friends came forward offering a solution. At the point that the world was at, few of his country’s people opposed him, following this man because he was charismatic and offered them a way out. The rest of the world wasn’t able to stop him because they were in such bad shape economically that they didn’t have the ability or money to intervene. Most people aren’t bad, let me make that very clear. It’s the few who are truly evil and seek to control the world around them that are responsible. Humans on the whole are good; it’s this small number of truly terrible people who at first SEEM good who ruin it for everyone.” Ryan crossed his arms and scanned the expressions of his audience. “I guess that makes sense.” Twilight said. “It reminds me of the leader of the Southern Griffon Colonies when they went to war with Equestria.” Ryan nodded. “My point right there. Most of them aren’t bad, they just follow a bad man without realizing it.”

Having renewed humanity’s reputation after tearing it to shreds, Ryan felt like he was growing hot. He removed his beret and scarf and set them down next to him. “What is that?” Rarity asked, intrigued. Ryan looked at the items he just set down. “That’s a scarf, and that’s a green beret.” Rarity shook her head. “I know that. What’s the insignia?” She pointed at the beret. Ryan picked it up and looked at it; it was a blue, almost arrowhead-shaped backdrop with a yellow sword and lightning bolts. Above it was one word; “Airborne”. Narendra hadn’t been lying. “This is the signature piece of clothing worn by my country’s Army Special Forces.” Rarity looked even more interested. “Interesting. Does it have any special qualities?” Ryan shook his head.

Twilight, now recovered from her new stupor, looked at Ryan’s torso with interest equivalent to that of Rarity’s with the beret. “Why do you wear that?” she asked. Ryan looked down. “My tac-” he stopped. No need to require more explanations. “My survival vest?” he asked. Twilight looked enlightened, but kept on questioning him. “Yes. I guess you use it to survive?” Ryan nodded. Twilight, Rarity, and Spike were all looking at Ryan like they were trying to discern a puzzle. At first, he was confused. Then he got it. “My weapons.” he thought dreadfully. As if on cue, Spike pointed to the M1911 and asked, “What’s that?” Ryan had to think fast. If he told them that he was carrying two very large handguns, they would probably freak out. “I found it in the jungle some time ago.” Partial truth. “It looked cool (useful), so I kept it.” Spike pointed to the Automag, but before he could ask, Ryan repeated the answer for the 1911. “And I see you have a hammer.” Twilight said. It was like they were taking turns. Maybe they were. “But what’s that on your back?” She pointed to the KaBar. This one was gonna be tough. Ryan slowly drew the knife and held it out for his audience to see. Twilight and Rarity swallowed, whereas Spike looked on in awe. “Whoa.” he said.

Ryan put the knife back, saying, “I keep it for survival purposes. Cutting ropes, lines, vines, you know.” Complete lie. And he knew where this would go. “Any more questions?” he asked. Twilight looked uneasy, but held her hoof up. “Why did you need all of that?” she asked. Se new about his injury. Him needing all of this survival gear probably looked pretty sketchy. “I lived in the jungle for a time.” he explained. Partial truth. “With no home or shelter most of the time, I had to make due. So I got my hands on some gear, and I set out to live.” He had really set out to kill and die, but they had no need to know that. He had to be careful now; if he said one thing wrong, they might figure him out and demand the truth, to which he would lie again, likely unsuccessfully. He was walking on thin ice, where in some places, there were little holes that he would have to be fished out of.

But he had little to worry about, it turned out. They seemed like they were done questioning him. Ryan would not have to go into the conflicts of the second half of the twentieth century and later, but at the same time, that meant not talking about the best aspects of humanity. But he knew that he had to take his victories where he could.

“Well, now that we know more about you, should we maybe discuss your life here?” Rarity asked politely. Ryan paused. He hadn’t even considered living here permanently, now that he was stuck where he was. He didn’t want to go home, but he couldn’t stay here. He considered his options. “I could stay here, start over.” he shook his head. “But that won’t work.” He had no need to explain to himself why that was. “I could just leave.” He kept that one on the table. “Or I could wait, maybe get some money. I could get myself some kind of home in the forest, where none of these ponies will bother me.” That one. That was the most viable option. Not returning home, and not staying here. It was perfect. “I was planning on saving up some money, then continuing my travels. Maybe settle somewhere quiet.” He sat back, picturing it. He could be left to his own devices, no longer having to deal with emotions, losing friends, or any kind of trouble that wouldn’t just kill him.

Spike walked over and nudged Ryan. “You know, Ponyville is usually pretty quiet.” he commented. “As long as you don’t...” he looked to Twilight. “‘have fun’ too much, I’m sure you’ll love it here.” Twilight instantly went red and charged Spike, grabbing him and putting him in her lap back in her spot. arity initially didn’t understand, but at Twilight’s reaction, she started to laugh. “Well, I’m not sure I understand the situation, but I do believe that Harkness would be a welcome addition to the town.” Twilight was flustered again, and began to explain to Rarity the whole thing. At the end, it was short, she looked to Ryan. “Ah, I see we have a yanker of legs here.” she said, smiling. Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I’m sure that your place will be quite magnificent in the community.” Ryan narrowed his eyes. It was time to see if his skills were still up to par. “I can assure you, I will erect myself to the highest possible stature.” he replied. Rarity and Twilight both flushed red. “Of course, getting there will probably be hard, but with enough strength, I can probably push through any barrier that tries to get in the way.” Both girls turned completely red, drawing a smirk from Ryan. Spike was slowly beginning to get it. “Oh, so you mean-” Twilight put a hoof in his mouth. “Okay Spike, time to head on upstairs and start sorting my private collection!” she said. Spike groaned and complied. Ryan called out after him, “Just be careful of this ‘private collection’, kiddo!” Twilight turned to Ryan, mortified. Ryan just sat there, looking on victoriously. “Wow, Harkness. Wow.” He shrugged. “You should have seen me in my school days.” he said.

Any embarrassment was replaced with a look of curiosity in both mares. They looked at each other, then at Ryan, then back at each other. “How old are you, exactly?” they asked in unison. Ryan sat back up. “I’m seventeen.” Both girls looked a little surprised. “Oh.” Rarity said. “We didn’t know you were that young.” Ryan looked at them. “How old are the adults of your nation?” he asked, curious. “Sixteen.” Rarity replied. Inside himself, Ryan celebrated. At least he was an adult by age and not just experience any more. “And you two?” he asked. Rarity sat up tall. “I am Twenty-one.” she said. Twilight looked to her friend, then back to Ryan. “Nineteen.” Ryan would not have expected this. “I guess that they probably live as long as any human could.”

Twilight looked a bit relieved. “Well, since you’re an adult, you can be on your own.” she said. “If Spike were an adult dragon, he would be able to leave. I hope he doesn’t when the time comes, but if he does, I won’t be able to stop him.” Ryan stopped his mind for a few moments. He would have spit out his drink if he had one. “A dragon? You have freaking dragons here?” he said. Both girls looked at him like he had three heads. “Well, that’s different.”

“Well, getting back on topic, what should we do? I assume you have a place to stay, since you returned to us today smelling the same as yesterday.” Ryan sniffed himself; the jungles of Vietnam were not kind to his scent. “So what about money? You can’t possibly have any work.” Ryan shrugged. “I’m sure I can get by.” Rarity huffed at him. “I hope you don’t imply stealing. That simply won’t do. You will have a respectable job, and you will make honest money.” Ryan put his hands up. “Alright. Fine. But where will I work?” he asked.

Twilight was quick to respond. “I could let you work here.” she said. “I would love to learn more about you and your culture.” Ryan looked at her, then around at the rest of the library. “Seems reasonable.” he replied. Twilight wasn’t done, though. “But I can only pay you for about two days of work. Sorry.” Ryan shrugged. “I lived off of less.” Rarity hear this and made a sound like she was offended. “Well, I simply won’t let you live on the edge of poverty! No pony should. You may work at my boutique the rest of the time.” Ryan thought over his new jobs. They seemed alright, but if he was going to do something, he wanted to do some physical labor. To live in the forest, he would have to be fit. “That’s great, but are there any jobs that are a bit more... physical? I would do better as a laborer.” The mares thought and spoke for a moment, leaving Ryan to himself. When they returned, they both looked happy. “We can probably get Applejack to hire you at her family farm. They could always use a hand.” Farm work sounded like the kind of thing Ryan wanted; less talking and more movement. “Alright. If we can speak to her to arrange something, we can get you into a new lifestyle by tomorrow!” Twilight said. Ryan nodded, neutral about his current situation. he would get money, then leave. That was all.

“Let’s head to the farm and work something out with Applejack, then.” Rarity ordered. Ryan stood up and, followed by Twilight, the three made something resembling a convoy guarding a precious diplomat and headed on over to Sweet Apple Acres.

Silence Speaks

Silence Speaks“The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you’ve ever had.” (Unknown)

They made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, where, with any luck, Ryan would have a job. He hoped that the job would pay decently; odds were, he wouldn’t actually be paid that much for library work or whatever thing Rarity did. On the way, though, he found out what that was; clothing design. At the very least, he could get an employee discount for some clothes. If he asked for some.

On their way to the farm, the trio had some mild small talk. The mares had been trying to get Ryan to tell them more, but Ryan was interested in learning about this town that he would be staying in. They had lots to tell him. “Well, we have pretty much every service you could need.” Twilight said. It already sounded like a real estate advertisement. “We have restaurants, our own farm, books, various travel services, all kinds of fun activities, and relaxation activities.” Rarity jumped in on that last one. “Yes, those relaxation services are absolutely essential! Without the spa, I would be much too tense to do any work.” Ryan remembered that spa from the previous day. He had no interest in it; plus, it was all females there. “Anything else?” he asked. “Well, I don’t know what else you could want. Except the mane salon, the yoga and martial arts studios, or the bar if that kind of thing appeals to you.” Two things stood out to Ryan there; a bar and a martial arts studio. “Well, I think I may have to look into some of this.” Ryan wanted to maintain his fighting skills if he was to survive in the woods.

Ryan took his beret off again, wrapping the scarf around it to keep them together. It was much too hot for them at the moment. “If you’re hot, you should take off that jacket.” Twilight recommended. “I mean, it can’t be helpful to wear it.” Ryan waved his hand up. “No, I’m good.” Twilight was unconvinced. “Well, I think you should at least take off that vest. You’re wearing way too much to be comfortable.” Rarity joined in. “Or fashionable.” Again, Ryan waved his hand dismissively. “No, I prefer to wear it. And I’d prefer to keep my reasons to myself.” The mares looked at each other, but accepted Ryan’s reluctance. He wasn’t intent on showing them his scars and explaining the true nature of his survival gear. Besides, it wasn’t that bad. The average soldier called this kind of setup “battle rattle”. If they could handle it, Ryan figured that he should try to be able to.

Wearing his own battle rattle, Ryan simply soldiered on after the mares, who were talking to each other about whatever it was that these ponies talked about. From what Ryan could hear, he figured that it must be about famous ponies or political figures. “So, Fancy Pants said that he would love to have me up there and see my designs! It’s huge for me!” He guessed that this Fancy Pants character must be a designer too. Twilight smiled and congratulated her friend. “I’m so happy for you!” she said. Ryan decided to ignore the rest of their conversation.

Not too far up ahead, there was the farm that he was found on. He hoped that all was about to go well.

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

Discord watched on as Ryan walked with Rarity and Twilight Sparkle. He could determine now that Ryan was publicly in town, not hiding himself the way Discord had expected. He was also interacting with the ponies, something else totally new. Discord felt a bit of happiness, but also a bit of apprehension. This had the potential to explode in Ryan’s face, if he wasn’t careful. But still, Discord knew that he could always help out by giving Ryan a little push when necessary.

Discord let the pair of eyes fall lower and cast a hearing spell so that he could hear what the mares were saying without Ryan, who stood a bit behind them. Ryan clearly wasn’t paying attention. “So do you think she’ll be alright with him being around? I mean, she hardly knows him. We hardly even know him, really.” Rarity said. Twilight held her head up, looking to the coming farmhouse. “I’m not worried. I’m sure that she’ll find that Harkness is trustworthy.” If Discord could have blinked, he would have done so. In his mind, he laughed at the mares’ ignorance. “Oh, wow! He didn’t tell them his real name!” he thought. “They have no idea if they can trust him. Oh, this will be interesting to watch.”

And he kept on watching, seeing no particular need to intervene in anything at the moment.

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

They were at the farmhouse, and Ryan looked around. He couldn’t see the Apple family anywhere, not that he minded. They could take as much time as they needed. Off to either side, he saw hundreds of apple trees. They had passed the trees that Ryan had hidden in two nights before.

“Applejack!?” Twilight called out. The mares started to walk around, while Ryan opted to lean on the wall of the house and let them find his potential bosses. “Applejack, are you around here?” Rarity called, putting on a pair of fancy sunglasses. Inside the house, Ryan could hear movement. He decided to just wait and see who it was. “Big Macintosh?!” Twilight called. The sounds from inside were more clear; someone was approaching the door to his right. He got off the wall and waited. Meanwhile, Rarity and Twilight were still walking and calling.

The door opened, and Granny Smith walked out. “What’s all the ruckus?” she asked, looking for the sources of the yells. Ryan stepped out. “Good day, Ma’am.” Ryan greeted. Granny Smith gave him a big, toothy smile. “Well, howdy there pardner!” she said, walking forward and extending a hoof. Ruefully, Ryan extended his hand and got ready for a possible broken wrist. Sure enough, when Granny Smith got a hold of his hand, he was practically being lifted off of the ground. “How’re you today?” she asked. When she finished with her vigorous handshake, Ryan nursed his hand and tried his best to smile. It was fake, but he was pretty decent at that. “I’m doing fine.” Granny Smith’s smile faltered; she could see that Ryan was not fine. Not pressing him, though, she asked, “What brings y’all here, eh?” She walked over to a rocking chair on her porch. Ryan followed a bit and sat on the ground. “Well, Rarity and Twilight brought me here in the hopes that your family might hire me as a farm hand.”

Granny Smith exhaled as she sat in her chair. “Well, I think that would be a fine idea.” she said. “But you’ll need to talk to Macky an’ Applejack about that. They handle the farm costs and work and whatnot.” Ryan nodded. “Yes, Rarity and Twilight are looking for them now.” Granny Smith chuckled. “An’ they’re in that direction?” she asked, pointing to the southern fields. “Eeyup.” Ryan said. She chuckled again. “You talk just like Macky, you know that?” Ryan gave another smile, but looked away. He knew that she knew. “But he don’t talk much.” Ryan shrugged. “Well, I don’t really start conversations myself.” he said. Granny Smith kept on chuckling. “Back to what we were sayin’, Macky an’ AJ are in the north fields.” Ryan looked in that direction. “Well, then. I guess we’ll just wait for the mares to come back, then.” Granny Smith laughed, and they just sat in their place, waiting and talking a bit.

After about half an hour, the mares returned. “Well, we couldn’t find them. We’ll have to look in another field.” Ryan stood and stretched. “They’re in the north fields.” he said. Twilight and Rarity looked at him for a moment, then frowned in perfect sync. “What?” Ryan asked. “You could have found us and TOLD us that, you know.” Rarity reprimanded. Twilight looked frustrated. “Well, that wouldn’t have been nearly as funny.” Granny Smith laughed at this, which also reduced the frowns on Rarity and Twilight. He took a mental note. “Score one for me.” The more popular he was with these ponies, the more he could make, and the more he could make, the sooner he could become a hermit. He would have to be careful though; too popular, and he might find himself having to be social. He couldn’t risk that.

He nodded to Granny Smith, who seemed to like him enough to have him around, and he and the mares went off to the north fields to get him a working job. Ryan had always liked labor jobs; he was intelligent, sure, but he liked to do mindless labor a lot. It gave him a good respite from his thoughts. Throughout his childhood, he had always been considering difficult questions. He started his Karate before he turned four, and as such, he had been learning to fight from the development stages of his brain’s growth. Even at age ten, he knew that he had the techniques to kill. Now, he couldn’t have fought off most adults at the time, but he knew that he would be able to eventually. From an early age, he had considered the hardest of moral questions, and it took him years to come to certain conclusions about himself and morality, and acts that fit with either. Maybe that was part of what made it easier to do... some of what he did. Had he always been terrible then, or had he always been preparing himself for tragedy? He didn’t think about it much, nor did he wish to.

They approached the field, and already they could hear the sounds of trees being kicked and apples falling. Off in the distance, three little girls could be heard playing. “Oh, here we go again.” Ryan thought gloomily. He had no desire to be around children. Their innocence was heart shattering to him. Thankfully, though, they never came over. “Let’s go, they should be just over there.” Twilight said. Ryan and Rarity followed as Twilight led them into past the treeline and towards the sounds. Naturally, passing a treeline, Ryan grew tense and scanned the area. The memory of the landmine almost taking his leg off was still fresh in his mind. “Harkness, are you alright dear?” Rarity asked. Ryan looked around. He was visibly tense. “Yeah.” he said casually. “Just checking for- things.” he caught himself. Rarity was about to ask him about it when they heard, “Howdy, Twi! Rarity and... uh, Harkness?” Ryan looked forward. Applejack was looking at him uneasily. Ryan put his beret under his left arm and raised his right hand. “Hey.” Applejack hadn’t seen him with so little on, and took a moment to look at Ryan. “Y’all look real... dirty.” Ryan shrugged. “Applejack, please! Don’t be rude to our new friend.” Rarity responded. Applejack put her hoof to her hat. “Sorry.”

Ryan didn’t care, seeing as that wasn’t what he was here for. he was about to try to get a job on a farm; he would be dirty most of the time anyway. That was, if he even found a way to clean himself.

Ryan extended his hand out. “No worries.” he said. Applejack took his hand cautiously in her hoof. “Alrighty then.” They broke the contact. “So what brings y’all here?” Applejack asked. Ryan was going to respond, but Twilight beat him to it. “We were hoping that you might be willing to hire Harkness as a farmhand.” Ryan looked back at Twilight, then back to Applejack. It looked like she was taken off guard. “He doesn’t have a job, so he has no money. We’re trying to work something out for him.” Applejack looked at him, then down at the ground. She was thinking hard about this. “Well, shoot, Ah’d be glad to, but Ah don’t know about the farm funds. Y’all’re gonna have to ask Big Mac.” The mares looked delighted, but Ryan was watching Applejack’s face as she spoke. It spoke volumes. “But are you alright with having me around?” he asked suddenly, drawing looks from everypony there. “That’s the main question.” Applejack looked like she had been slapped and didn’t understand why, while Twilight and Rarity were looking at Ryan, surprised.

Applejack took a moment to respond. “Well, Ah don’t rightly know you. So honestly, not really.” Ryan nodded. Rarity and Twilight, though, were not happy. “Come now, Applejack! He’s trustworthy!” Rarity explained. “We’re already hiring him at the library and boutique. You won’t even have to hire him for that long.” Applejack’s expression changed from wary to contemplative in a moment after hearing that bit of news. “Well, Ah guess the y’all’re just here for a little.” she said, mainly to herself. “Ah suppose y’all could work here. Just go find Big Mac to talk about the terms.” Twilight and Rarity made little celebratory noises while Ryan watched Applejack. She still didn’t seem too excited. “Relax.” he told her. “I won’t cause trouble.” She looked up and into his eyes. Ryan could see mixed feelings in hers. “Ah know you’re bein’ honest.” she said. “Ah just don’t know what Ah should think.” Ryan nodded. “I understand, actually.” He turned around. “Guess I’ll see you around.”

Twilight and Rarity walked over to Ryan. “Well, I guess that we just need to find Big Macintosh now.” Twilight said. “Let’s go.”

While the group walked around, following the noises of applebucking, they talked about a work schedule for Ryan. “Well, I can hire you for two days.” Twilight explained. “And I’d love to learn more about you and your society.” Ryan looked at her funny. He hadn’t expected her to want to, but she seemed like she took Ryan’s words about humanity in general to heart. “Alright, I guess that I can work in the library for a couple day sa week.” he said. Twilight let out a big squee. “Wonderful!” she exclaimed. Ryan turned to Rarity, letting Twilight celebrate the moment. “And how about the boutique?” Ryan asked. Rarity put her hoof to her chin. “Well, if you work in the library for two days, and I assume the farm for two days, you could just do one day at the boutique.” She seemed not gleeful, but not terribly unhappy. “It may be just one day, but all that means is that it’ll take more time to make you all new clothes!”

Ryan sighed inwardly. He was never into fashion at all; put on a random grouping of clothes and wear it. “I don’t think that’s all that necessary.” he said. Rarity gasped, causing Twilight to turn to see what was wrong. “Not necessary?” she asked in what sounded like offense. “New clothes are exactly what you need! Just look at your clothes!” Ryan looked down at himself, as did Twilight. His clothes now were covered in dirt, stained by mud, torn, and smelled horrifying. He had to admit, if he was to not let himself die, he would have to avoid becoming a disease center. “...maybe.” he conceded. Twilight chuckled in front of them. “When Rarity offers you something, you won’t be able to refuse her generosity. She won’t let you not accept it.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow at Twilight, then looked at Rarity. “She’s right, you know.” Ryan sighed again. “So long as I don’t have to take off my current clothes.” The mares looked at each other, seemingly suspicious of their new friend. Again, they let it go, not wanting to press Ryan for information that he would not likely give up.

The sounds of the applebucking indicated that Big Mac was just a little bit further ahead. Ryan remembered him. They hadn’t spoken a word to each other when they first met. At least, when they first met on good terms. If only Ryan could have had it like that with all of these ponies. Then, everything would be so much easier.

They went around a tree and saw the looming form of Big Macintosh, leaning forward and getting ready to kick a tree behind him. When he released the massive amount of energy in his legs at the tree, his hooves shot out like cannonballs. Upon being struck, the tree vibrated more than any tree should be able to, and every apple fell out. It was an impressive display of power. “Big Macintosh?” Twilight said somewhat timidly. He turned and looked over at the group. Ryan stood behind the two mares and nodded to Big Mac, who nodded back silently. They would get along just fine. “We spoke to Granny Smith and Applejack about your family maybe hiring Harkness as a farmhand for a couple days a week.” Twilight explained. “Granny Smith said to talk to AJ, and AJ said to ask you, since you would know more about being able to hire him.” Big Mac looked at the mares, then at Ryan, then at them. He already knew that Harkness was a good enough guy. He had figured that from their previous interactions. “So, will you hire him?” Rarity asked, batting her eyelashes. Big Mac just looked at her flatly, making her blush. Her charms had never really worked on him. “Eeyup.” he said, moving to another tree to buck.

The mares shouted, “Hooray!” and ran back to hug Ryan from both his sides, something he hadn’t seen coming. It was a good thing that they hugged him really tight; his arms were kept from his weapons. After he realized his hands were trying to reach for his weapons, he made them relax. “Awesome.” he said, trying to squeeze out of the hug. Both mares suddenly let go and Ryan almost lost his balance. They walked over to Big Mac. “So, what days can he work?” Twilight asked. Big Mac kicked another tree, then looked up to the sky in thought. “Thursdays and Fridays.” he said. The mares looked to Ryan, who nodded his approval. “Can he start tomorrow?” Rarity asked. Apparently, it was Wednesday. Big Mac nodded. The mares both turned to Ryan, big smiles on their faces. “Well, I think we have a work schedule for you!” Rarity announced gleefully. “You can work at my boutique on Mondays, the library on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and here on Thursdays and Fridays.” Ryan nodded again. “Sound good.” he said.

The mares turned to Big Mac. “Thank you Big Mac. I think you’ll like having him around.” Twilight said. Big Mac looked at Ryan again. They looked at each other, sizing each other up. This Harkness character looked like he could be either strong or weak, Big Mac had nothing to compare him to. He already knew that he wasn’t going to hurt anypony, and he didn’t seem very talkative. He would be fine.

Big Mac was clearly a beast of a pony. If ponies didn’t only eat plants, RYan would think that this guy ate a pound of chicken a day. He was huge. Other than that, Ryan could tell that he wasn’t into talking, from how he spoke to the mares before him. He was willing to hire Ryan. That was good. He could tell from Mac’s eyes that he was a peaceful guy. Though from his expression when they looked at each other, he could tell that Big Mac could see something in Ryan that he wasn’t sure about. That was fine though. Ryan wasn’t sure about himself, either.

“Alright.” Ryan said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He turned and walked off, the two mares saying their goodbyes to Big Mac and trotting off to catch up to their human friend.

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

Luna hated having to hold her Lunar Court. Even after her angry tirade at the nobles for their petty squabbles, they came to her with the stupidest of problems. Right now, they were pestering Luna about what one of them was doing with his property. “What he is doing is abominable! It will ruin our home values!” the accusing one said. The other gave his rebuttal quickly. “My home is valuable to people like me, yours is valuable to people like you! One won’t affect the other!” Okay, Luna had to admit that he was wrong there, but the whole thing was ridiculous. She had had enough. “If I read the law right just before you came in here,” she said. “He may do what he wishes with his property, for that is his right. You are trying to infringe upon his right, and that is not to be allowed.” There was a groan and a “yay!” from before her. “And for wasting my time, you will also pay a fine of one hundred bits for harassing this stallion.” The accuser was about to protest, but Luna held up a hoof. “I care not for petty problems. And I am writing this into law as of now.”

She looked to the law keeper next to her, who already had a pen out and ready to go. “For any case that is petty or wastes the court’s time, the accuser shall pay a fine of one hundred and fifty bits.” As the law keeper wrote it down, Luna took in the expressions of her crowd. Most were shocked. A couple were outraged. All of the guards, though, wore triumphant smiles. Especially Starstep. “Consider yourself lucky that I am not giving you the full fine. Now, begone.” She waved them all out, expecting to see one or two stay for real cases that needed to be heard. None stayed. “Ugh.” she said disdainfully. She got up from her throne. “Let us depart.” She walked next to Starstep, two joined her as she went back to their shared quarters.

Once inside, Luna jumped over to her bed and groaned into her pillow. “Why must these nobles come to me with these pathetic problems of theirs?” she asked no one. “It’s ridiculous.” Starstep took a seat next to the bed and patted Luna’s head. “I’m sure it is.” he said. “But at least they aren’t having real problems. That much is a plus.” Luna looked up from her pillow at her guard. “I suppose so.” She hopped off of her bed and walked over to her window, looking into the night sky. Up there, she could clearly see the special star that she had made to remember Ryan by the previous night. “At least HIS problems aren’t here.”

Sensing her sadness, Starstep walked over and put his foreleg around his princess. “I’m sure he’s at peace now, Luna.” he said, forgetting about formalities for the moment. “You should try to move on.” He had been trying to encourage her to get away from this mindset since he learned about what happened. It wasn’t easy, and he wasn’t making notable progress. Luna shook her head. “I can’t.” she said. “It’s my fault for not helping him to get home, and not trying to stop him from his pursuit.” She leaned into him. “It was my greatest mistake, even greater than a thousand years ago.” Starstep listened to her with a heavy heart. She had never been proud of herself for that first trouble, to say the absolute least. That this was worse to her meant a lot.

Starstep hugged her tight. “You did what you thought was right.” he said. “When a pony does their best, what else is there?” Luna looked at the ground. “There’s living to continue doing their best.” Starstep was losing ground. “Not always.” he said. He looked up to the sky. There were no stars for his old teammates. “My team did its best, and I was the only one to come away from that battle. There was nothing else to it. They didn’t live to keep doing their best.” A single tear came down from his eye. It moved slow as molasses, and at his chin, it hung for just a moment. While it hung, the moonlight shone and glimmered in it, like the souls of the fallen were inside it. When it fell, it continued to shine, until it hit the ground and exploded outward, losing the light of the night sky. “We did our best. There was nothing else for us to do. And there was nothing else for you to do, there isn’t now, and there never will be. You have to accept the past and move on.”

Luna looked up at Starstep. She could see that, while he was totally still like a statue, tears were flowing from his eyes like a drainage pipe. He hadn’t let go of what had happened to him. He didn’t want to see Luna like that. “Please.” he pleaded. Luna put her foreleg around him and squeezed tight. “...I will try.” They sat like that for over an hour, until they finally went to sleep, still holding each other like a child holds a teddy bear during a thunderstorm.

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

Ryan awoke slowly in his trench. He let his eyelids open and close a little bit before getting up and stretching himself out. As he got up, his spine cracked over a dozen times, providing some much needed relief from sleeping on the ground two nights in a row. It wasn’t a problem, though. When he made his hidden home in the Everfree, he might even dig a ditch to sleep in. Beds are unnecessary.

He climbed out of the ditch and looked off towards Ponyville, sighing heavily. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” That’s how the phrase goes. Never before had Ryan thought it such an apt phrase for himself. Still cracking in various places on his body, Ryan donned his beret and scarf and made his way to the farm. He didn’t need Big Mac to tell him to be there early. It was a farm, after all. Of course, also being a farm, the work would be long and arduous, so Ryan might be forced to shed some of his outfit. Preemptively acting, he removed the beret and scarf and wrapped the beret in the scarf like the previous day. He stuffed them in the back of his vest and walked on, the large lump giving him a Hunchback of Notre Dame look.

It was a little before five thirty, if the light in the sky was anything to go by. The previous night, he had been looking at the stars, seeking one that he would deem as his favorite. One in particular caught his eye. It was the strangest star he had ever seen. The star twinkled brighter than any around it, but then, it would fade, and become so black that one might still see its shape in the dark blue sky. No natural star appeared that way, as far as Ryan knew, but this was a world of magic. Someone may have created the star, and it just happened to match up with Ryan.

The stars were hardly visible now, though, as the sun would soon be rising. Using what little light was available, Ryan walked through the town and went to his workplace for the next two days. Around him, he could make out the various landmarks in the town; there was the obvious Town Hall, a large well, a hospital in the distance, and then the library. A quaint little town, and he was going to a quaint little farm. “It shouldn’t be real.” Ryan said upon finishing his inspection. “How can a world without my atrocities even exist?” The concept was so alien to him, it didn’t even seem reasonable. These ponies had had their conflicts, to be certain, but it seemed very different from his home. They were much more peaceful.

Of course, Ryan had to think about the potential downsides to this. “Overcoming hardship is what makes humanity great.” he thought. “It is how we prove ourselves worthy to exist, how we know that we deserve to live.” These ponies, or at least the vast majority of them, had no such thing. Ryan knew the he didn’t deserve to live, but that was because he hadn’t overcome his difficulties. Harris deserved to live because he had maintained his morality against Narendra. He proved himself worthy of the life he had. What was it like, never knowing what you are really capable of, when there can’t be a way to prove it? Ryan actually felt a little sorry for the ponies, in a way.

He left his thoughts there, as he had done so much recently, and left the town, heading towards the farm. On his way, he spotted the farm early on, taking in its early morning appearance. It looked the same as it did during the day, only now, there were some lights on inside. They came from two rooms; presumably, they were Applejack’s and Big Mac’s rooms. “I guess that I’m late.” Ryan said, stepping onto the property. Though the lights were on, the barn door was closed, as if no one was there yet. “Though maybe not.” He walked on down the little road and all the way to the barn.

He approached the barn as quietly as he could. New habits that saved one’s life tended to go away with difficulty. He sat down in front of the barn door and listened. “Ah’m guessin’ that he’ll be here in a couple of hours.” a female voice said. Applejack. “He don’t exactly come off as a farmer, so Ah can’t think of any reason for him to be gettin’ up early.” If she knew, she would see why he couldn’t sleep. She continued. “Ah’ll tell him his duties when- AH!” She yelled loudly at the sight of Ryan crouched in front of the barn door. Big Mac ran around to see the ruckus; he relaxed when he saw it was just his new farmaid. “I’m here.” Ryan said. Applejack was catching her breath, while Big Mac was just smiling at her. She looked at him. “Y’all shut up.” Big Mac just chuckled and walked over to the barn. Ryan stood and got out of the way, letting Big Mac open the door.

Big Mac opened the door and entered, leaving Ryan with Applejack. “Well, I’m here. So, what’s my job?” he asked. Applejack looked at him, trying to size him up. “Well, Ah’m guessin’ that y’all don’t exactly buck trees.” she commented. Ryan shrugged. “Meh. I can do other stuff.” Applejack nudged him to head into the barn, going in ahead of him. He followed. “Ah guess that y’all can drag carts.” she said, pointing to a decent sized cart. Ryan looked at it, then deadpanned, “I’m not sure I can drag that if it’s full of apples.” She looked at him. “Ah don’t know, you might be pretty strong. Ah don’t have anything to compare you to, so we’ll just figure it out as y’all go along.” Ryan shrugged. If he died doing work, that was just what would happen. She slapped him on the back. “Ah’m sure y’all’re gonna do fine. Now, since you’re here, Ah’ll be headin’ back to bed and then into town for a day of fun with my friends.” She looked past him. “Big Mac, y’all be sure to help him if he needs it.” Big Mac nodded, and Applejack left.

Ryan and Big Mac were left alone in silence. At first, they just looked at each other. Big Mac then pointed his muzzle to the cart, which Ryan looked at, then went over to. He picked up the front, which would normally be attached to a yoke, and pushed forward. It was surprisingly easy. He turned to look at Big Mac and nodded, and the two set out to get to work.

They went out to the north fields first. Big Mac and his sister had been there the previous day, so Ryan just figured that they were going to finish what they had started. While they walked, Big Mac kept looking to Ryan, or Harkness, as he thought, who didn’t notice. From how easily he handled the empty cart, Big Mac figured that he must be strong enough for that, but not enough to buck trees. His body type didn’t seem suited for that anyway. The way his body was laid out, Harkness looked like he was meant to be able to travel in any environment and use all sorts of different items. This was on account of his hands, mostly, as they were like Spike’s, only they had five fingers. Harkness’ legs were clearly more flexible than any pony’s, as were his arms as compared to forelegs. The hair on his face and head indicated that he was mostly hairless, given its distribution.

The clothing was interesting. He had a vest on with several pieces of equipment, the only ones Big Mac recognized being the hammer and knife. He couldn’t see the blade in the sheath, but the size of the handle made it clear that it was a large blade. The hammer looked like it had been very used, having a couple of rusty spots on it. The spots were very dark red. The other pieces of equipment were very odd. They were both L-shaped, as far as he could tell. The one he could see had a wooden short length and a silvery long length. The silvery one was a tube with a little lip at the end on what Big Mac assumed to be the top. On the other end, there was a hammer-shaped piece. The items fascinated Big Mac; he would have to be sure to research them, if he ever got to the library.

Once they were at the fields, Ryan realized that Big Mac was looking at him, and more specifically, his torso. He could see from the wonder in Big Mac’s face that he was trying to figure out his weapons. When they stopped to get to work, Ryan dropped his beret and scarf on the wagon handle and moved over to a tree. Big Mac followed. “Hmm.” Ryan said, looking up at it. Big Mac came up next to him and pointed at a red apple and nodded. Then, he pointed at a nasty looking one and shook his head. Ryan responded by nodding and moved back. Big Mac looked at him curiously as Ryan seemed to take measurements or some such. Before Big Mac could ask what he was doing, Ryan ran up to the tree and ran up it, grabbing a branch. Once there, he started picking the apples that looked good and tossing them down. Big Mac smiled and nodded, and made his way to his own tree. He would have to knock off all the apples and then sort them with his mouth. Not very pleasant, but it had to be done.

Ryan looked over at Big Mac as he worked. He had already cleared his tree, but because he had to sort the apples and individually put them into the buckets, he was going to take a while on his own. Ryan looked at his hands. He was glad to have them.

After a while, Ryan managed to get all of the apples off of his tree. It only took about forty minutes, much faster than expected. On top of that, he had put the buckets under the tree so that he could drop the good apples into them. Once finished with the tree, he dropped down and started putting his buckets in his wagon. When he finished up doing that, he looked over to Big Mac, who was starting to put his own buckets in his cart. When Big Mac finished with his, he saw Ryan looking over at him. He looked surprised that Ryan was already good to go. He looked over to the barn and jerked his neck in that direction to say, “Bring’em to the barn.” Ryan nodded and made to drag his apples to the barn. The cart was much heavier, but he could handle it, at least for now. He looked at his watch, which he just remembered he was wearing. It was about seven thirty, and he would be here for a while longer. This was the kind of work he could do, and this was definitely the kind of guy he could work with.

The stallion and boy went to the barn in silence, already having said all that needed to be said.

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

Luna was already awake when Starstep got up. She had moved off of the bed and went into her library, it seemed. “Princess?” Starstep called. She called back. “I’m in the shower!” Starstep nodded to himself for a moment. Even a princess needed to clean herself up every so often.

While he waited for her, he decided to look through his old things, for memory’s sake. He walked over to his little pile of things in the corner. He hadn’t thought it necessary to give them an actual place, so long as they were out of everypony’s way. Luna had protested him, though. “Why don’t we get you a chest that you can put everything in? I’m sure there are spares around.” Starstep had shaken his head to that. “No, that’s not necessary. I’ll just leave it somewhere that’s out of the way.” She wasn’t pressing the issue, but Starstep could tell that Luna was looking for that spare chest. He appreciated the concern, really, but he didn’t think he deserved it.

He sat before the pile and started to rifle through it. He wasn’t looking for anything specific, just old things that caught his eye. The first of these things was his old weapon. It was a retractable blade that he wrapped around his leg, just above the hoof, that he would will to extend or retract. The weapon had served him very well. Back in Saddle Arabia and that general region, especially in “The Triangle”, he had taken down a lot of enemy combatants using that weapon. In the pile, he also found his old armor. That single piece of gear had saved his life more times than anything else. Other than that, he encountered his old spear, his helmet, and some documents, Nothing much other than that.

Except one thing that really stood out. It wasn’t a big thing, and it wasn’t heavy. It was an old picture. He pulled it out to get a look at it. As he looked down at it in his hooves, he felt his eyes growing warm and wet. It was a picture of his team back in The Triangle, before the Nighthawks. Meteor, Stratofortress, Falcon, Eagle, Blazer, and himself. They all got their call signs from different aspects about themselves, but since they were long gone, that wasn’t really important. Starstep held the picture close to his heart for a moment, like it would bring his fallen friends back to him. He hadn’t been there when Stratofortress kicked the bucket. He had been hit by an explosion and sent home. He was DOA. Meteor had been killed in battle, right alongside Starstep. He was a hardass at times, but he did care for his team. Falcon and Eagle appropriately died together, having been fireteam buddies. They were killed after Starstep and Blazer left the 35th battalion and joined up with the Nighthawks. And lastly, Blazer, who wasn’t yet confirmed KIA. He was still considered MIA. Starstep knew he was gone.

When he heard hoofsteps coming from the library area, he quickly stuffed the old photo back in the pile and wiped off his face. “Are you ready to face the day, your highness?” he asked, looking away. He heard her walk up behind him. “Only if you are.”

She knew what was wrong. She could always tell if he was feeling alright, and right now, he definitely was not. She put her hoof on his back and rubbed. “Are you?” she asked. Starstep looked up. “Yes.” he responded, barely able to hide his sorrow and loss. Luna felt truly terrible for him. She had lost her friend recently, but he had lost all of his friends. To top it off, the “nobles’ of Canterlot treated him horribly. “You are not.” she asserted. She moved up and sat next to him. “...Is it the past that bothers you?” Starstep just nodded, closing his eyes and trying to stay calm. “A wise guard told me to let go of the past. It’s something that I think you may need help with as much as me.” She stroked his neck with her hoof. “And we will always have each other.” Starstep actually smiled a little bit. “I know.” he said. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

They sat there for a while, their presences comforting each other in their troubled lives. Luan knew that there was nothing she could do about Ryan being gone; she just had to move on. Starstep, though, could have something. Luna knew that Blazer was alive and being held captive. She wanted to see Starstep happy and free of his guilt, and she knew that the only way for him to let go of the past was if she could release his guilt. And the best way to do that was to get Blazer.

She looked out the window, hoping that some miracle would come along to show her the way.

OnThe Rocks

On the Rocks“All the water in the world, however hard it tries, cannot sink the smallest ship unless it gets inside, and all the evil in the world, the blackest kind of sin, can never hurt you in the least, unless you let it in.” (Unknown)

Ryan was walking home to his trench at about half past six. The first day on the farm had been easy enough. He climbed trees, took the good apples, put them into a cart, and dragged the cart to the barn. It was mind numbing and repetitive; just what Ryan had hoped for. The day had gone uneventfully, just him and Big Mac doing their work. The second day was nice too, nothing happening. Now, Ryan was walking to his trench with a bag of seventy-five bits. He had no idea if that was the going rate for labor, but he trusted Mac to pay him what he was owed. And even if he didn’t, Ryan could just keep working. This job required absolutely minimal interaction with the ponies.

Ryan was wondering where exactly he would store his money. He would have to look for a bank over the weekend. For now, though, the bag of bits was getting heavy. His best bet was to spend it. His stomach growled. “I could always buy myself some dinner.” That would lighten the sack a bit. He looked around; there were only a few restaurants that served food he would eat in town. Deciding on which to attend wasn’t much of a problem. “I think I missed dinner yesterday.” he said to himself, thinking back. He still had to get into the swing of his plan.

Choosing to spend some of his money, he walked through town looking for a place to eat. Then he remembered that Rarity mentioned a bar. “The best way to forget is to be incapable of remembering things.” He looked around, eventually finding the booze house toward the end of the town. He looked at its sign. The Salt Lick: Whiskey, Rum, and More. It seemed good enough, so Ryan went up to the door. It was a classic, old west style push door that didn’t touch the ground. Before entering, Ryan listened inside to hear if anything was undesirable about this place. He heard nothing but the sounds of hooves on wood and mugs hitting tables. “Perfect.” he thought. He pushed through the door.

As soon as he entered, everypony in the room was staring at him silently. Most put their drinks down to get a look at him. Ryan tipped his beret to them and slowly walked in. WHen most of them went back to their drinks, he felt relieved. “Definitely perfect.” Around him, none of the stallions (there were no mares) seemed to care about his presence. They had probably already heard about him, anyway, so why should they care? There were a couple who were looking at him still, sure, but they were just curious. They wouldn’t approach him.

Ryan took a stool at the bar and sat himself down. The bartender, a unicorn, noticed him and immediately walked over. “What can I get you, stranger?” he asked, wiping off a glass with his magic. Ryan looked up at the rack, trying to decide on a drink. He had no idea what might be different about these compared to human drinks. “How much is a shot of each thing on the bottom shelf?” Ryan asked. The bartender turned around to check. “They’re all about two bits.” he said. As the bartender turned back around, Ryan looked past him to count the drinks; there were about twenty different bottles on the bottom shelf. Forty bits. “Give me one shot of everything on the bottom.” he said, pulling his bit bag. He gave the bartender forty bits. “Sampling, are we?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “I’m new.” The bartender nodded knowingly as he retrieved five shot glasses and filled them up with different straight drinks. “Ah.” He set the glasses in front of Ryan and moved away. “Drink slowly; you’ll be drinking a lot. And just call me over when you’re ready for the next five.” Ryan nodded, pulling up a glass and sniffing it. “Hmm...” It didn’t smell fantastic, but he had never exactly been a connoisseur of alcoholic beverages. He had never even liked them. He just wanted to know which drink was the least bad to get drunk on and forget his past.

\ He downed the first shot instantly, and regretted it faster than he drank it. The stuff was truly abysmal. He practically convulsed in his seat, it was so nasty. Setting the glass down, he looked to where he had seen this drink come from; Budyonny Light Lime. “Augh.” he said, pushing the glass away. He thought that he knew how to drink, taking time between shots. He decided to be more careful about how quickly he drinks each shot. “Next.” He looked at the drink warily. It was the same general color. Pulling the small glass up to his lips, he said, “Here we go.” He took a sip, and was less revolted than the first time. It was still bad, though. This one came from Budyonny Light Platinum. Somehow, this Budyonny group had figured out how to turn platinum into mercury. Ryan moved on, checking each one to avoid more Budyonny.

The next one came from a bottle labeled Kiger Mustang. “Sounds promising.” Ryan knew better than to trust advertisement promises. Or promises in general. He sipped the drink, and nearly spat it out. It was worse than Budyonny. He moved onto the next drink. Giara Lager, it was called. Ryan had never drank a lager before. “To new things.” He sipped the shot, expecting a terror of a drink. It was actually not that bad. “Hmm.” He would remember this, if he didn’t find himself liking a higher shelf drink better. Which was unlikely. Moving onto the last one, he looked at the label of its home bottle; Malopolski; Straight From Stalliongrad. He didn’t even touch that glass, except for pushing it away. He knew what to expect from a name like that; high alcohol content, and bottom shelf quality. It was on the bottom shelf, after all.

He called the bartender over. “Next round.” he said. The bartender looked at the drinks. “You gonna drink this one?” he asked. Ryan shook his head. Shrugging, the bartender took the glasses away to be cleaned. While he did that, Ryan took a look at the next round. They were all the same brands. “Yo, bartender.” Ryan called. he had just finished his cleaning of the glasses. “I still have thirty bits of drink left, right?” he asked. The bartender nodded. “Yeah. And call me Oktoberfest.” Ryan nodded. “Alright Oktoberfest. Mind if I move up a shelf?” Oktoberfest smiled. “Sure. What’ll you have? Each drink is three bits a shot.” Ryan thought. He could get ten shots. “What do you have?” he asked. Oktoberfest moved over. “We got Samolaco Adams, Fouta’s, Applejack Daniel’s, Orlov’s, and Friesian’s.” Ryan looked over at the bottles. There were several variants of each. “Give me two random shots of each.” he said. Oktoberfest nodded and filled up the five shot glasses. “Here you go. One of each now, another of each next.” Ryan nodded his thanks and looked down at his drinks. These looked more suited for human consumption.

After finishing each one, Ryan concluded that his favorite of them was Samolaco Adams, followed closely by Applejack Daniel’s. The others could go drain into a ditch. “Yo.” Ryan slurred a bit. Oktoberfest heard this and immediately came over. “You good?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “Yeah.” Oktoberfest could clearly see that Ryan was exiting the stage of being buzzed. “Next grouping.” Hesitantly, Oktoberfest got Ryan his next five shots, which Ryan finished quickly. Same conclusion as before.

Ryan sat on his barstool, silently trying to let his mind turn itself off. It wasn’t working too well, though. His thoughts kept on going to the past. The image of the burned little girl was carved into his mind. Catherine’s and Joey’s sobbing echoed in his ears like thunder in the mountains. Nadine’s screams pierced his heart like a bullet. “Gimme more.” Ryan said, pulling out more bits. He still had thirty-five left. Oktoberfest looked at him.”I think you’ve had enough.” Ryan looked up at the bartender.

Oktoberfest was no less than disturbed by what he saw in the human’s eyes. He had to take a step back to fully take it in. This colt had the eyes of someone who had lost everything. A lot like those soldiers who came back from the Southern Griffon Colonies. In his eyes, Oktoberfest saw nothing but pain, brought on by losing something dear to him. This colt had seen things that no pony should ever see. “Oh.” Oktoberfest admitted. This colt was trying to forget. Against his better judgment, he went and got two more shots. “Here you go. Ten bits.” These came from just under the top shelf. Ryan pulled out the coins and tossed them onto the bar. “Thanks, bfro.” he slurred. Oktoberfest walked away, keeping an eye on Ryan.

He downed the two shots in an instant, thus totally removing his coherence. He sat there for a minute to let it fully take effect.

Ryan tried to stand. When he got his feet on the ground, he had to use the stool to steady himself. Holding himself up on the stool, he blinked twice and looked to Oktoberfest. “Thhanks, Ahktahberfst.” he said. Oktoberfest looked at him, pity ruling over all his features. “What’s your name, colt?” he asked. Ryan thought about it. What was his name? “Hhhhhharknesh.” He turned around and moved away from the stool, teetering his way to the door. “Harkness. Right.” He was going to keep an eye on this guy. No doubt he would come back.

Ryan stumbled and fell his way out of the bar, only drawing a couple of looks from the other customers. They didn’t care; they all had their own problems. The only ones who were watching stopped caring as soon as Ryan was gone.

He looked around the street, trying to remember where exactly he was. He knew that he was in Ponyville. But in proximity to what? Ryan tried to get his bearings. “I shee that,” he said, pointing at a well. “And that.” He pointed at a normal looking home. “So I’ll go... this way.” He started to drag his feet and teeter on down the street. The whole way, he had to squint to keep the brightness of the street lamps from blinding him. “Damn lights.” He kept on going. The dust from the street was collecting on his boots, which were looking exceptionally dirty. Rarity would have his ass if she saw him like this. His hair was messy, as always, but his clothes smelled and looked like they were seven years old.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw movement in an alley to his left. He pulled his 1911. “Who’s thar?” he demanded. No one responded. Ryan stood in his spot for a moment, watching. When nothing happened, he started to move away, still watching. “Don’ follow me.” he ordered. Whatever may have been in the shadows obeyed, because Ryan didn’t see anything as he moved away. He calmed down. “Safe.” He kept walking. Not fifteen feet later, he heard scuffling feet behind him. Nothing in Ponyville that would be out this late had feet. He spun around, bringing up his gun again. “I said don’t follow me!” he shouted. Before he could look for the source of the noise, a light turned on in the house next to him. “Shit!” Ryan ran, not wanting to be caught drunk this late at night. About thirty feet away, he stopped and hid behind a crate, looking behind him. A mare came out of the house, looking around tiredly. After a short moment, she went back inside, and a few more moments later, the lights turned off.

Ryan got up and looked back in the area. Still nothing. He holstered his weapon. “I’m watching... you.” He turned and walked away, forgetting to watch behind him.

He soon forgot about whatever may have been stalking him and found himself approaching a large, circular building. He tried to read the sign. No good. “Mmm... Bou-tique?” He tried to remember something about this place. He recognized it, but from where, he couldn’t remember. Then it hit him. “Rarity.” he said. He took off, not wanting to risk her seeing him, but tripped on nothing and hit his face on the ground. “Ow!” he yelped. He sat up on his rear. Putting his hand to his nose, he felt hot blood flowing from it. “Damn.” he said. At least he didn’t have to go to work tomorrow.

He stood up, a little more alert after potentially breaking his nose, and looked around. Off in the distance, he could see a familiar tree. “Trench.” he said single-mindedly. he just needed to get to the trench. Then, he could sleep, and forget everything.

Before he even knew it, he was at his trench. There was the tree, the grass, the familiar sky, and the trench itself. He looked down. “How do I get down from here?” he asked. “Meh.” he stepped off his little ledge and into the trench, letting himself fall to the ground. It was farther than he thought, and when he hit, he landed hard on his side. “Ahgh.” It hurt a lot. But at least he was in his trench.

Not feeling up to anything else, Ryan let himself slip away into the torment that was his night’s sleep.

Ryan woke up with the worst headache. Sitting up, he went to rub his temples. He had never prided himself on being anything other than a lightweight.

Head throbbing and body aching, Ryan got up out of his trench. He fell back down. “Uhhgh.” he said. He moved to sit against the wall of his trench. “What did I drink last night?” he wondered. He could hardly remember. Something like Samolaco something or whatever. He would have to remember that. He hadn’t slept so long in a while. Six and a half hours of sleep was nice, even if brought on by comatose.

Ryan looked at his watch. It read seven o’ six. It was still early. “Maybe I’ll just sit here for a while.” And that he did.

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

Discord looked down on the boy with a heavy heart. It hurt him to see this kid like this. From what he had garnered before, he wasn’t a drinker in any sense of the word. Now, the boy was already deciding to get wasted, just to try to forget everything the had happened. Only a few ponies had ever suffered like that.

Discord sent his invisible eyes down to be next to Ryan and took in the sight before him. Ryan had dried drool on the side of his face, hidden only by all the dirt that was covering his face. His breathing seemed labored, not from sickness, but just from being tired. His clothes were somehow looking worse now than they had before. Out of nowhere, Ryan rolled up his sleeves. “Must be hot.” Discord thought. He looked at the boy’s arms. Yup, still scarred and horrible. Ryan was just looking down at them, silent and seemingly objectively.

The boy reached to his side for his 1911. He had one empty magazine for it and two full, one of the latter being loaded. Discord watched worriedly as Ryan pulled it from its worn out holster and looked down at it. For a minute, he just sat there, looking at it. “What are you doing?” Disord wondered. Ryan ran his fingers across the top of the gun. “I’ve done a lot of terrible things.” he said to himself. Tears rimmed his eyes. “There’s not a thing I can do to fix it.” He pulled the gun up and stared down the barrel. Discord panicked. “NO!” he mentally shouted. He wanted to move forward to stop him, but there were two things in the way; one, he couldn’t use too much magic, or he would be discovered. Two, he wasn’t actually present. He could only observe as the boy stared down the barrel of the .45. But he didn’t pull the trigger. “What?” Discord was relieved, but confused. The boy was pointing the gun at himself, but not pulling the trigger.

He wanted to. He wanted to so bad. Pulling that trigger would end his suffering, at least for the time being. A few moments of peace was worth an eternity of suffering to him in that moment. But he couldn’t pull the trigger. He tried to force his finger back, but it refused to go. There was something stopping him. “Promise me you won’t let yourself die.” That was what Harris made him promise, and he had given him that promise. He said to his best friend in their shared time of greatest need that he would never do it. But why was that stopping him? If he was dead, then his promise would be just as meaningless as it was now. Ryan cried in his trench, letting the gun and his hand fall to the ground. “Goddammit.” he said.

Discord was relieved. He was relieved to the point where he would have gone up to Celestia and bowed down to her for intervening, even though he knew that she hadn’t. He looked back at the boy. “Maybe there is hope.” With that, he ended his prying, letting Ryan have some time to himself.

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

The morning had been uneventful for Celestia. There were few nobles coming to her with their ridiculous cases, something she was grateful for. She had heard from her guards that Luna wrote up a law that fined ponies who brought forth petty cases. She would have to thank her for that later.

Still, though, now she was just sitting on her throne, waiting for something to come by. She had no political or international business today, so she was totally free. But she had to sit on her throne waiting for a case to be brought forth for at least one hour, unless something else important happened to come by. She sighed. “It’s times like these that I wish something interesting would happen.”

Like she had pressed a button, a scroll suddenly appeared before her. She recognized the seal; it was from her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Celestia looked at the room’s clock before opening the scroll. It was half past seven. “What are you doing up so early on a weekend?” she wondered. Maybe it was some kind of emergency? That would be exciting! Something urgent must have occurred, there could be no other reason for this. Celestia opened the letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Something interesting has occurred here in Ponyville. Celestia felt childish excitement in her veins. “Seems promising.” she said to herself. We have a new resident here. He’s really interesting. He’s not a pony, and when he told me his species, I couldn’t find any records of it. I would have sent you my notes on him, but they’re long and, at times, not easy to read. Wait. Was she referring to a male? I would love for you and Princess Luna to come down and met him. He’s pretty nice, kind of shy though. He’s reluctant to tell us about himself, though that will come with time. I already sent an invitation to Shining Armor and Cadance, and my parents. And no, before you ask yourself, it isn’t like that. Celestia smiled sheepishly to herself. She was thinking exactly that. So if you can come down Tuesday or Wednesday, that would be perfect. Any time is great, but I just thought it would be nice to have the whole family down together :). I think you would be interested in him.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

When Celestia finished the letter, she put her hoof to her chin. Tuesday wouldn’t work, she had an actual case planned to be heard that day. The next day would be fine, though. She pulled up a paper and quill and wrote up a letter. I would be happy to meet this new friend of yours. He sounds interesting. And yes, I did think exactly what you thought I was thinking. I can’t wait to meet him. Your teacher, Princess Celestia. She read over the short letter. “This will be interesting.” she said to herself. With a wave of her horn, she sent the letter away to be belched out by Spike.

Sine something significant had occurred, she could officially leave the throne room and be off to her chambers to do her own thing. What that thing was, she had yet to figure out. Maybe she could prank her guards or something. “I have nothing else to do.” it would be fun, so why not? She had to think hard about what to do. She could mess with their physical appearance, or have fun messing with their minds. “What would Luna do?” she wondered. She could always ask. Her sister was something of a prankster. “Yeah. I’ll go ask her.” Plus, she had to check her sister. She had been gloomy as of late.

Celestia went off to Luna’s chambers, taking her slow, flowing pace as usual. The guards would always salute when she passed, and he staff bowed to her. “I wish this place wasn’t so stuffy all the time.” she thought. Her sister had the right idea, and knew how to go about it. Her return had been good for the castle. “It’s good to have you back, Lulu.” She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest as she approached the doors to her sister’s chambers. “So very good.” There were no guards outside her doors. Odd. “Luna?” Celestia whispered. Putting her ears to the door, she could hear snoring from inside. She smiled to herself, using her magic to conjure up a camera. Luna was always flustered when Celestia got a picture of her sleeping. Slowly, Celestia opened the door.

When she saw her sister and her sister’s private guard sleeping on the bed together, she blinked twice and poofed the camera away. She wasn’t expecting this. “It seems Lulu has found somepony very special.” Starstep was certainly special to her, but not necessarily in THAT way. Still, Celestia felt more warmness and fuzziness. “They’re so cute.” she whispered. The guard was draped over Luna, like he was still protecting her from harm, even in his sleep. Celestia watched as Luna rolled over, putting the guard next to her. Then, Celestia got an idea. Smirking mischievously, she tip-hooved her way over to the bed. Using her magic, she lifted herself onto the bed, on the other side of Starstep, and laid down. Barely stifling her laughter, she poked Luna and Starstep firmly on their noses, waking them.

Luna wasn’t really conscious enough to register what was happening, but Starstep was already swiveling around to confront his enemy. He froze when he saw that it was his other princess. Mouth agape, he tried to make sense of what was happening. Before he could speak, Celestia pulled Luna, on the other side of him, really tight and close, jolting her awake. “Starstep, what are you-” She stopped when she saw her sister, looking at her with a devilish grin. Starstep, in between them, was trying to stammer out some sort of coherent response to his sandwich situation. Looking at him, then her sister, Luna also donned an evil grin. She pulled on Starstep, squeezing him between her and her sister. “But Tiaaa~!” she said. “He’s MY guard!” Starstep blushed furiously. “But I gave him to you! Can’t I have him back for just a bit?” Starstep frantically looked at his princesses, trying to figure out what was happening. “What’s going to happen to me?!” was his biggest fear. He felt the two princesses hug him tighter. “I know!” Luna announced. “Why don’t we share him? We have time.” Starstep’s jaw exploded open, not a sound escaping from his shocked maw. “Sounds great.” Celestia replied.

Starstep heard a bit of a barely stifled giggle fit from both princesses. He knew now. “Three can play at this game.” he thought, trying to think of something to say. He got it! “Well, I hope you two have serious stamina. Those years in the guard have made me really... stout.” The two princesses looked down at him, their faces turning read. They looked at each other. It was two on one; they should have this in the bag. “Well, let’s hope that your horn is as magical as either of ours.” Celestia responded. Luna blinked; she had to admit, she wouldn’t have thought of that. “Well, I do have this magic wand that I’ve been practicing with.” The implication alone turned both princesses a deep shade of red. “And I’d love to test out my skills. Maybe experiment-” Luna jumped up, followed shortly by her sister. Starstep laughed hard. “I think I win this round, your highnesses.” he victoriously proclaimed. The two princesses looked at each other. No, they weren’t about to lose.

Starstep got up and hopped off the bed. “I think I’ll go take a shower.” he said, still laughing. Luna hopped up next to him. “I’ll join you.” Celestia went to the other side. “Me too.” Hmm. Starstep wasn’t going to win without a fight, it seemed. “Well, so long as you don’t mind my ‘magazines’.” Celestia waved a dismissive hoof. “Oh, you won’t be needing those.” she said. “I heard about my sister’s little dance.” Luna blushed, and Starstep did a double take. How had she heard about that? “I’m sure we can do something... together.” Starstep felt himself go hot in the face, and, in a panic, ran for the bathroom. He shut the door behind him as he entered. No need for his bosses to see THIS.

Luna and Celestia were in hysterics on the ground in the library where Starstep left them. They had won the battle; now, the rest of the campaign could be under way. Luna got up and unsteadily approached the now locked bathroom door. “Would you really leave us hanging, Starstep?” she asked. “I mean, I guess that we aren’t the only ones left hanging, but still. We deserve just as much attention!” Inside, Luna could hear Starstep’s flustering about. At least, that’s what she told herself it was.

She walked back to her sister, who was just recovering from their shared bout of laughter. She sat before her sister, who was just getting up. “That was fun.” she said excitedly. “Do you do this often?” Luna nodded. “All the time. Sometimes, he wins, though.” Celestia nodded. “And are you two..?” she cocked her head sideways, smiling. Luna knew what she was implying. “No, we aren’t. He’s my best friend, and we’re comfortable with each other.” Celestia nodded knowingly. She could have some fun with her sister, this time. “Well, I think he would be wonderful anyhow. He’s sharp, witty, and can clearly hold out for quite a while.” She watched her little sister’s face slowly change as she realized what Celestia just said. It went from innocent thoughts, to dirty mind in no time at all. “Eww!” she said, squirming. Celestia chuckled. “And from the looks of it when he ran off, I’d say-” Luna cut her off. “I saw it too!” she said. “So you already know what he’s capable of!” Luna flailed her forelegs about. “NO!” she shouted, making Celestia laugh. “Besides, when we were on either side of him, one could clearly tell that he’s in good shape. In EVERY way.” Her little sister tried to become tiny, like that would save her from her elder sister’s torment. It didn’t work, though. “And he seemed eager enough.”

Luna was putting her hooves over her ears to escape her sister’s awkward words. Starstep was her guard and best friend. This was too weird for her to think about. “I assure you, Tia, I am not currently looking for that.” she said. “And he can... ‘take care’ of himself for now.” Celestia nodded. “For now.” she repeated. Luna realized what she said and buried herself in her legs again. Celestia patted her head. “We all have needs, little sister. Be they deep or... ‘deep’.” Her sister whimpered. “And you can deal with them now or later. Whenever.” Celestia got up to go to her own chambers. It would be fun to do that with a guard less experienced in it.

“Oh, before I leave.” she said, getting her sister to look up. “Twilight met a new friend in Ponyville, and she would like us to meet him. Her parents and Shining Armor and Cadance will be there. Are you free on Wednesday?” she asked. Luna thought. A normal question was a welcome respite. “I don’t believe so.” she said. “I need to take care of something the needs my full attention, and it will take some time. I wish I would go, but alas, I cannot.” Celestia nodded. “I understand.” She turned to walk away, but not before getting her sister to squirm one last time. “And remember: Guards are there to provide protection!” She took off, several pillows flying out of the room after her.

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

Ryan was still in his ditch at around nine when he heard several young girls’ voices just over the edge of his home. “Not now.” he whined to himself. “We can get our cutie marks digging for buried treasure!” one yelled. She had a distinct southern twang. “As opposed to what?” another asked. She sounded impatient and fast-paced. “Digging for non-buried treasure?” They argued for a minute after that, giving Ryan a few moments to figure out what to do.

He started to crawl away, hoping that he would get away from the children. It wasn’t that he hated kids. He just couldn’t handle them and had no desire to ever be around them on his own. “Hey, Harkness!” Applebloom shouted. Ryan winced at the sound of his fake name. He had been caught. “Heey.” he said slowly, turning around in fear. He thought they would cannonball him again. Instead, though, the three fillies hopped into the trench. “What’re y’all doin’ in here?” Applebloom asked. The other two looked at him curiously. “I was, umm...” He tried to think fast. “... looking for stuff to sell?” He remembered that he spent forty bits the previous night. “I only have thirty-five bits left for the weekend, so I was hoping to find something valuable.” He wore a perfect poker face as he spoke. He had the fillies fooled.

They each walked up to him, getting around him, inspecting him. He felt uncomfortable with this. “What do you want, exactly?” They all stared at him silently. The little white one spoke up. Sweetie Belle, he believed. “So, you’re, like, from really far away, right?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “So you know about a lot of stuff and... stuff.” Ryan thought about this for a moment. He did know plenty, but it was, perhaps, not all meant for ones so young. “Yeah.” he replied. His wariness quickly turned to terror as he watched the pupils of each of the fillies grow increasingly large. “So can you help us get our cutie marks?” Scootaloo asked excitedly. Ryan looked at them. “What’s a cutie mark?” he asked, not familiar with the term. The little fillies gasped. “They’re the marks on our flanks that show what our special talent is!” Scootaloo explained. “We’ve been trying to get ours for the longest time! Don’t you have one?” Ryan shook his head. “No. I just figured that they were brands.” He had seen the marks, but never questioned them. It wasn’t his place to question their culture. Applebloom looked at him, cocking her head to the side. “What’s a brand?”

Ryan changed the subject. “Well, I’d love to help you, but I have certain matters that I need to attend to.” As he got up and climbed out of the trench, the fillies followed him. “Can we come?” they asked. Ryan turned around. “No. I-” He stopped and looked down at them. They were all giving him massive puppy eyes, any sunlight touching their eyes being swallowed by the black of their pupils. They were pouting their lips, making them quiver ever so slightly. Ryan couldn’t tell if they would cry or not; he wasn’t about to risk it. He sighed loudly. “Fine.” The fillies leapt into the air. “YAY!”

Ryan walked off, three little fillies in tow, towards the town, hoping to find whatever he would look for. Rarity had mentioned Martial Arts. He could find something like that.

They got to the town in relative silence, something Ryan was thankful for. He was never very good at working with kids, unless there was an experienced person nearby to guide him a bit. These three were being respectful, though. “Now where is a dojo?” Ryan wondered. He wandered pretty much aimlessly, hoping to just stumble across what he was looking for. Eventually, the fillies grew bored with this. “What’re you looking for?” Applebloom asked. Ryan kept his reply short and curt. “A dojo.” Applebloom’s eyes widened, and she took on an awe filled expression. “You do Karate?” she asked.

Ryan stopped. “Yes.” he replied, surprised. He had never thought that this place would specifically have Karate; that seemed like the kind of thing that would just come from Humans and Okinawa. “I have for a while.” He walked on, causing the fillies to hurry to catch up. “How long have you been doing it?” Sweetie Belle asked. Ryan looked left and right; no dojo yet. “Around thirteen years.” He made it sound like nothing. “No way!” Scootaloo shouted disbelievingly. “That’s longer than we’ve been alive!” Ryan nodded. “Yah. I’m a dangerous fellow.” he said, looking back at the girls. They weren’t even fazed by his last sentence.

“There it is!” Scootaloo announced, getting Ryan to look forward. Sure enough, there was a classic, old style dojo before him. From inside, little could be heard, save for the sound of scuffling hooves on padded flooring. “Alright, I’m heading in to check it out.” he said, walking forward in an effort to leave the fillies behind.

It didn’t work, though, and they just followed him in. He stopped just after the door, noticing that there was a class going on. He didn’t want to interrupt, so he sat down and watched on from the side. “Let us begin.” the teacher in the front said. Ryan watched the class for a time. After about ten minutes, he stood back up. “Another less than legit dojo.” He had encountered them before. You can always tell if a dojo is really legitimate about its teaching of whatever Martial Art it does by watching a class. If there are kids under the age of ten who are black belts, the dojo isn’t legit. If there are weapons in the hands of little kids, the dojo isn’t legit. If the instructor has a terrible air of arrogance, the dojo, even if legit in its teaching of a style, should not be attended. This dojo had all of those things. “Nnope.” Ryan said, exiting the illegitimate dojo. The fillies followed, confused.

“Why did y’all leave?” Applebloom asked. “That’s the only Karate dojo we’ve got.” Ryan stopped at a bench and sat down, disappointed in his finding. “That wasn’t a legit dojo.” he began to explain. “That guy is more about money then the Art. Those little ones? They should not have had freakin’ BLADES in their hands. That’s some dangerous shi- stuff.” He barely caught himself. “The guy came off as a... jerk. And those kids weren’t studying long enough to have black belts. I studied for nine years before I earned mine. And I still had to pass my Test.” The fillies were about to explode from the number of questions they had. “And I’m not going to take the time to explain all of the to you. There isn’t enough time. And Black Belt Testing is secretive anyhow.”

“Secretive, huh?” a raspy voice suddenly said from behind. Ryan spun around; it was the rainbow-manes, cyan pegasus. “Rainbow Dash, right?” Ryan asked. She puffed her chest out. “The one and only.” She was way too confident. “Put that chest away; you don’t have anything to show on it.” Rainbow furrowed her brow at Ryan instantly, not really understanding what he was saying. “Well, you’re new. I’ll let that pass.” She floated over the bench and sat next to Ryan. “So, what’s this about your ‘Secret Black Belt Testing’?” she asked. Ryan closed his eyes and shook his head. “Not telling you.”

Scootaloo, and then her friends, also got up onto the bench, on the other side of Ryan. “Can’t you tell us a little?” they asked. They tried the faces again; not this time. “Nope. I’m not moving on this. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he stood up. “I need to figure out how to eat this weekend on thirty-five bits. Where’s the supermarket?” he asked. The mare and fillies looked at him strangely. “Supermarket? There’s a food mart, but supermarkets are usually only in big cities.” Ryan nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Good enough.” He turned around and walked away.

But not without being followed. “So, you’re from a city?” Rainbow asked, trotting up next to him. “No, actually. A suburb, not too far from... gosh, three cities? I don’t know. I know of two, though.” Rainbow nodded slowly. “Hmm.” They walked together in silence for a moment, the fillies just catching up. “So... have you ever heard of the wonderbolts?” Rainbow asked. Ryan shook his head. “Can’t say I have.” Behind him, Ryan heard the three fillies all gasp. Rainbow didn’t seem surprised though. “They’re the best fliers in Equestria!” she shouted, making Ryan cover his ear. “And I’m gonna be one of them!” Ryan looked at Rainbow Dash, trying to determine if it was arrogance or real potential. There was a little of both. “Well, that’s makes two of us hoping to be the best.” he said, drawing an interested look from all present. “And what do you want to be?” Rainbow asked.

Ryan looked at her, then to the fillies. That was a stupid mistake on his part. They were all looking at him expectantly, like he was going to share some earth shattering secret with them. Sure, it might be just that, but he wasn’t about to tell them. “I aim to be a guy who won’t tell you.” he said. The girls all blinked twice and stopped, letting Ryan have a moment to himself. That, however, was not worth what he got. “What d’ya mean, not tell us?” Rainbow asked, getting in front of him and up in his face. “What, you don’t trust us?” she asked. Ryan stopped and furrowed his own brow; this was not something he felt like dealing with. “My life, my choice. And honestly? Why should I?” Rainbow looked like she was hit with a brick; she floated down to the ground, angrily trying to respond. The fillies looked up at him; Sweetie Belle was on the verge of tears. “In my recent past, I have learned not to make attachments and not to trust strangers. That’s just it. And I aim to keep to those lessons.” He pushed his way past Rainbow, who was looking on from behind as he left.

The fillies encircled Rainbow. “Wait, what could have taught him that?” Sweetie Belle asked, her question getting Rainbow to calm down a bit. Applebloom put a hoof to her mouth. “Remember how we found him?” she asked. Rainbow seemed to be the only pony who didn’t get the implication. “What?” she asked. Scootaloo looked up at her idol. “We think he may have been ATTACKED, and that’s what hurt him.” Rainbow let the possibility sink in for a second. “If he was attacked...” She didn’t need to finish her thought. She turned around and flew down the road, looking for Ryan.

She saw him not a second after takeoff and flew towards him. “HARKNESS!” she shouted. Ryan turned; he knew the voice, but what surprised him was that she remembered his “name”. What surprised him more, though, was the body slam she did to him as soon as he turned around. He lay on the ground under her, groaning. “Ow.” he said. Rainbow looked down at him. “Were you attacked? Is that how you nearly died?” It took a moment for Ryan to register the question, but when he did, alarms started going off in his head. he didn’t want that information out there. “No?” he replied, trying to sound confused. It seemed like it was working. “Where did you get that idea? And please get off.” Ryan put his hands on either side of Rainbow and lifted her off of him, causing her to yelp as he did. She hadn’t expected him to be that strong.

Rainbow shrunk a little; she hated being handled. “Come on, you must know. And you’ve gotta admit, it makes sense.” Ryan gave her that, but that wouldn’t stop him from making them feel ridiculous about it. “Yeah, it does make sense, but it’s not what happened. I hurt myself by accident through means that you won’t get because you don’t have technology.” Rainbow frowned. “And now, I’m going to go. Please, leave me be.” He turned and walked off again, leaving a very curious Rainbow Dash behind in his wake.

Ryan went back to the bar that night. He had only a little money left, so he would just have to pick the highest content drink he could find.

Before heading over to the bar, he decided to stop and at least try to think. He went out to the park and searched for a bench or spot on the ground he could sit on. He found no bench to sit on, but he saw a little pond, which he sat beside. Before him, the small pond was still as death, perfectly reflecting the shining moon and twinkling stars in all their astonishing glory. The night sky was flawless in the reflection on the water, only the light from the stars and moon and the blackness of the eternity of space accompanied Ryan tonight. Around him, no creatures of the night frollicked and no wind whistled through the air. The cold grass tingled Ryan’s hands as he steadied himself to sit down in the wet ground near the water. He stared forlornly off in the distance, thinking.

“What am I doing?” he wondered. “Why am I staying here? I could just steal what I need and disappear forever.” He had the option, for sure. But why didn’t he do it? What was there to stop him? Maybe it was their innocence. He had failed to protect such innocence before, and he wouldn’t fail now. “Why did I do the things I did? What do I have now that I didn’t before?” He had nothing now, save for the instruments and symbols of his darkness and murderous past. He had gotten no closure from anything. He lost his best friend, told him, crying, to leave him to die in a shit-filled river in the middle of the jungle. He gave up his life. He had everything a guy could want, too. He had a loving family, great friends, a promising future. And he threw it all away. And for what, exactly? Nothing. The worst thing, though, was that he gave up his code. His moral code that every man and woman follows, because that is what they believe is right. A person’s code defines them, it explains who they are. And Ryan tossed it aside in favor of everything it stood against.

“You’re a bad guy, Ryan.” a male voice said from behind him. Ryan shot up into the air, hand going for his pistol. he didn’t know this voice, but it seemed to know him. And no pony knew him at all.

When he turned around, hand on the handle of his gun, he halted his movement and stared. Before him was him. Ryan was right there in front of him. He was wearing different clothes, though. He wore a black T-shirt, scars overwhelming on his arms. His pants were long and black cargo pants, with a pair of simple sneakers on his feet. The darkness of his outfit contrasted with the paleness of his skin. But the eyes were the most perturbing. They weren’t hazel like Ryan’s; no, they were a dark, steel gray. They looked cold and soulless on a serious looking, hard face. “You’re a very bad guy.” the other Ryan said.

Ryan stepped back and stepped right into the water. “What the..?” He could hardly believe it. He had thought that the events of the castle in the forest were hallucinations. “And I know that you know that.” Ryan pulled up his 1911 and pointed it at his clone. “What the hell?” he said, shaky. “Who are you?” The clone chuckled and stepped to the side, letting Ryan get back onto land. Ryan accepted the offer, keeping his weapon trained on the not-so-stranger while he moved. “You can call me the Wraith.” Ryan swallowed hard. This was not something he had been expecting, even in a world of magic. “And I think I’ll call you... Umbra.” Ryan furrowed his brow deep. “I’d rather be Harkness.” The Wraith laughed, his voice booming throughout the small park. “So that’s what you’re calling yourself now.” he said, sounding like it was the most entertaining thing in the world. “How cute.”

Ryan pulled the hammer back on his pistol. “I don’t care about cute. I care about getting out of here.” The Wraith walked around Ryan, hands behind his back, looking to the sky. “I know. But you know what?” he asked, turning his head to face Ryan. “You’ll never get away from this life. You’ll always be a killer of men, a taker of life. And they’ll find out. And when they do, hoo boy, will they be scared.” Ryan got his other hand on his Automag. “Then I’ll just have to leave.” The Wraith clicked his tongue and waved his finger, looking disappointed. “And what? You think they’ll just let you? No, you’ll be imprisoned. You’re best bet is to deal with them, and then leave.” Ryan really wanted to pull the trigger of his gun in that moment. “It’s not like you haven’t killed people who don’t deserve it before.”

“Shut up.” Ryan ordered. The Wraith chuckled some more. “Oh, did I strike a nerve there?” he asked smugly. “Shut up.” Ryan ordered again. “I didn’t choose to. I had no say in the-” “You had every say! Wasn’t your code to protect the innocent at any cost?” Ryan honestly couldn’t remember that; but it sounded like the old him. “And you just didn’t. You could have died and ended your suffering and prevented their deaths. But your hubris prevented that.” Ryan stepped back. “No.” he said distraught. He had to get away from himself. “No, I didn’t. I just-” “You chose your life over theirs, you coward!” the Wraith yelled. “You have no honor! You have no morals! YOU ARE ME!”

Ryan turned and ran away. “You can’t escape yourself Ryan! You will always be Ryan!” Ryan shut his eyes and holstered his weapon as he ran away, running hard to liberate himself from the shackles of the Wraith’s truths.

Ryan stopped and looked back; no Wraith. He was afraid that the Wraith would follow him. God only knew how it must have been following him so far without him noticing. It could have had him any time it wanted. Ryan shook his head. “I need a drink.” he said to himself. He stood tall and scanned the area. “Now where is the bar?” he thought, trying to get his bearings. He was close to Town Hall; that meant that the bar shouldn’t be too far.

He got his bearings and moved in the general direction of the bar, intent on forgetting the events of the night and the dark truth of his own history.

Superficial Cleansing

Superficial Cleansing“Great acts are made up of small deeds.” (Lao Tzu)

Ryan wasn’t looking forward to this day. He was actually hoping that something, anything, would keep this day from happening. Violence, injury, escape, opportunity, anything would have worked. He really didn’t want to work at Rarity’s boutique today.

His main concern was how she had said that she wanted to make him clothes. That would mean that he would have to remove what he was already wearing. “I can’t let her see the scars.” he thought as he got up out of his trench. Once he was out, he stretched his back, hearing several satisfying cracks and pops as he did so, and donned his beret and scarf. With his hand back there, he felt around for anything that may have fallen off. His knife was there on the back in its place. He was also surprised to feel the morphine syringe. He pulled it out and held it in front of himself. “Hmm...” He looked hard at it, trying to figure out what to do with it. He had no real need for it now, and neither did these ponies, with their magic. He twirled it around in his hands. “I’ll keep it.” You never know, after all.

He started towards the town. It was early in the morning, around half past five. The birds weren’t even chirping yet. Insects of the night still buzzed about in the remaining darkness of the night before, forcing Ryan to swat at them when they drew near. The wind had picked up a little in the night, and a gentle breeze was kissing the land as it went along its merry way. There were a few clouds up above, but only barely visible in the darkness. The sky was a calm shade of dark blue, slowing getting lighter as the day began to progress. Ryan stopped in the middle of the field between his trench and the town. “This is how the world should be.” he thought. His world would be like this soon enough; no people, or ponies, no conflict, nothing to remind him any more of his crimes then he already had. He could be left to his misery.

He started up for the town again, but at a slower pace. He might as well take his time since Rarity would still be asleep. Hopefully, her little sister, Sweetie Belle, wouldn’t bother him today like she had on Saturday.

Sunday had been alright for Ryan, though. he had managed to have about ten bits left on Saturday night, so he was able to buy cheap, edible snacks for himself. He had managed to avoid being found by any of the ponies with whom he had interacted with so far, though they had searched for him. He knew that because they had very nearly found him several times. Once, he was back in his trench, sitting quietly with his gun in his hand, when he heard several feminine voices approaching. Three were certainly of the little fillies, as they were called. Ryan just thought of them as little girls. The other two voices were clearly of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. The fillies must have told Twilight and Rainbow about where they had found Ryan the previous day, so they looked for him there. In order to escape, Ryan had to run down the trench as fast as he could and jump out and into a bush. Luckily, they hadn’t found him. This was in the morning, after Ryan woke up from a hangover that knocked him out for about six hours.

The next to escapes of his day were in close proximity to each other. Apparently, the girls had decided to keep looking for Ryan throughout the rest of the day, and they figured that they would search the outskirts of the town. That meant the whole line of the trench. Luckily for Ryan, they started by going in the opposite direction that he had, so he had time to run off. When he was far enough away, he decided to go into the town. Surely there would be no ponies there who would look for him; but there were. Pinkie, Ryan recalled her name with ease, was excited to see him. She had actually managed to get a clean look at him at one point. “HARKNESS!” she had yelled. Ryan’s face took on a frustrated scowl, and he ran. Pinkie followed for a time, getting right next to Ryan. “Whatcha doin’?” she had asked. Ryan stopped. “Trying to avoid ponies.” Before Pinkie could stop and turn, Ryan ran down an alley and turned left as soon as he was out. Pinkie must have lost interest or not noticed, because she didn’t follow him.

While Ryan ran, he tried to think of places where he could hide. He could always hide on the apple farm. “I’ll head there.” he told himself. But he wasn’t going to go there without some trouble; he nearly bowled over Rarity on the way. He had to leap into the air to avoid a collision, ruffling her hair as he shot over her. “Darling, do be careful!” she said, using her magic and a comb to fix her hair. “What’s got you in such a rush now?” She sounded half annoyed and half interested. “Umm...” Ryan had to think quickly of a response. before he could, though, he heard five familiar voices again. “Are y’all sure that he ain’t out there?” Applebloom asked someone. Ryan went into a mental panic. “I’m escaping from Pinkie!” he announced, then ran away in the direction of the farm. Rarity didn’t have time to respond.

Other than that, Ryan’s Sunday had been fine. He stayed on the farm mostly, careful to avoid the family that lived there, and just sat around. Once, he went out to buy cheap food. But now, he was going back to the ponies to get money. “Freakin’ lack of money.” he thought. He had no money left any more and if he was to leave any time soon, he would need money. Hopefully, Rarity would pay him well for whatever job she gave him.

He soon found himself in the town, and the sun was beginning to rise. It had taken him around forty minutes to get to town, so it was probably around quarter past six. The ponies would likely be getting up soon. Ryan already knew that the Apple family would be up. Though he wasn’t sure if anyone else would be. “Rarity’s probably still asleep.” he figured. She didn’t seem like an early bird, being less of a physical worker and more of an artist. In Ryan’s experience, artists tended to get however much sleep they could. He always just thought that they used their dreams as inspiration.

He went to Carousel Boutique and looked around. There was nothing particular, except for a small tree off to the side. Ryan went over and sat under it, not having any desire to be out when the sun came up. It was hot enough already.

He sat there for close to two hours before he decided to stand up. Sitting was fine, but lack of movement tends to lead to thoughts and memories, neither of which Ryan was particularly interested in. “I wonder if she’s up yet.” he said as he stood up. He walked over to the building and inspected it absentmindedly. He searched for any less than overt ways inside, but quickly corrected himself when he realized what he was planning. Instead, he looked around for anything that would let him view the inside. Off to his left was a window next to the door. “Good enough.” he thought. He walked over to the window and took a look inside.

Inside, he saw what must have been a dozen mannequins spaced about around the room, each with its own little outfit. Most looked like they were covered in fillies and tactically suicidal glam. “Ugh.” Ryan thought. He looked elsewhere in the room. There was a little stage off on one end of the room with mirrors surrounding it. On the other end was a pair of changing rooms where he assumed ponies would change. “Weird.” Ryan thought. Aren’t the ponies usually naked? Lastly, there was a staircase and an opening into a room that looked like a kitchen. Inside the kitchen, there was Rarity and Sweetie Belle, eating breakfast. Sweetie Belle had a backpack on. “I guess that school starts at around the same time here.” he said to himself.

Ryan decided to wait for Rarity to finish her meal and time with her sister before knocking, and so leaned up against the wall of the building while he waited. he tried to guess what Rarity would ask him once inside. “She’ll probably want to know about fashion and stuff.” he concluded rather quickly. She was a fashion designer after all; that was her trade. She would surely be interested in Ryan’s old homeworld. Wracking his brain, Ryan tried to think of anything fashionable from home. He remembered Uggs and rain boots for girls, yoga pants, Under Armor for guys, and nothing else. He at least had something to go off of.

The door opened, and Sweetie Belle came running out. “Later Rarity!” she yelled without looking back. She hadn’t even noticed Ryan as she ran off. He looked into the Boutique as she ran past; Rarity was still in the kitchen. Not wanting to miss a chance to enter quietly, Ryan snuck in through the rapidly closing door, just slipping past the hinge as it shut.

He maneuvered himself over to the stage and waited there for Rarity to walk through the door and see him. He could hear her doing the dishes in the kitchen. She was humming a little tune. As Ryan listened to it, he glanced around the room. Nothing was different from what he had seen from the outside, save that there were a couple more mannequins. He crossed his legs on the stage and watched the archway to the kitchen. “Any minute now.” he thought.

Rarity walked through the archway, still humming her tune to herself. Her eyes were closed and she was waving her hoof about as she walked along, not seeing Ryan on her little stage. he observed her as a hawk observes its prey. Her coat was clearly very clean, she probably washed it every morning and probably at night. The mark, her cutie mark, was three diamonds and nothing else. Ryan had no idea what that could mean exactly. “Weird.” he thought. The closest thing he had was the big USA carved into his back, and that wasn’t exactly obtained willingly. In fact, his cutie mark of sorts could just be all of his scars put together. His special talent was having the living shit kicked out of him. “And living.” he concluded. At least, slightly. He had died, as far as he was concerned. Discord just brought him back.

Rarity walked through the room and over to her door, flipping the closed sign to open. When she turned around, she had her eyes open and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Ryan covered his ears and let his eyelids close. When he opened them again, Rarity had her hoof over her heart and was gasping for air. “Not so loud, please.” Ryan requested. Rarity swallowed hard and tried to calm herself. It only worked a little. “W-w-why... how?” She couldn’t coherently speak. So Ryan waited for her to be ready. “What are you doing here?” she asked, now with all hooves on the ground and stepping forward toward Ryan. “Remember that I work here now on Mondays?” he reminded her. “I’m here to do whatever my job is.” Rarity was now in front of him. “Well, Harkness, I suppose that we can start.” She sniffed the air. “But not until you’re clean and decent.”

Ryan crossed his arms and looked at Rarity. “Rarity, men like me can never be clean OR decent. No reason to try.” She waved a dismissive hoof right in Ryan’s face. “Nonsense. All you need is a bath and for your clothes to be washed.” Ryan opened his mouth to speak. “And no, you can’t wear those in the bathtub. I will take them and wash them.” Ryan shut his mouth and scowled. “How am I to go about this?” he wondered. He swung his legs off of the stage and stood up. “Alright.” he said. “But here’s my rules; I take my clothes off in the bathroom and leave them outside the door. After you’ve cleaned them, you leave them right outside the door. When I come out, I’ll be wearing them again.” Rarity looked at him curiously. “Clear?” Ryan asked. Rarity nodded. “Sure, darling, sure. But if I may ask?” Ryan looked at her; he knew what question was coming. “Why are you so resistant to be in the nude? All of us are.” Ryan looked away for a moment, formulating a response. “Back home, nudity isn’t exactly welcome. Also, human parts tend to hang free.” Rarity blushed, realizing the implication. “So yeah.”

She nodded and began to lead Ryan over to the stairs. Before they got there, a cat came down and looked at them. “Opal, this is Harkness. Please, don’t bother him. He’s a friend.” The cat looked at Ryan with narrowed eyes as if to say, “I don’t trust you.” Ryan shrugged. “You shouldn’t.” he said with the motion. The cat stood up and walked away. “Sorry. Opal is just a cranky kitty sometimes.” Rarity explained. Ryan shrugged again. “Meh. I’ve dealt with worse.” he replied. Rarity gave him a weak smile and led him up the stairs.

Once upstairs, Rarity pointed down a small hallway to a room at the end. “That’s the bathroom. Inside there’s a bath. I trust that you can operate sinks and faucets.” Ryan nodded. Why would she have any reason to believe that he could? “Good! I’ll just wait outside for you to toss out your clothes.” Ryan walked down the hall to the bath. “Alright.” he said.

He cracked the door open and looked inside before entering. The bathroom was extremely lavish; the floor tiles were white marble with what looked like Amethyst encrusted into them in large, flower-like patterns. The walls had white marble tiling and what could have been blue sapphire or blue topaz squares in each tile. The towel racks were brilliantly shiny brass, and had swirling ends like funnel clouds. The sink was short and made of porcelain with patterns etched into the side deep enough that Ryan could see them from the door. They were vines with dragon’s tongue flowers on the ends. The sink faucet was brass like the towel racks. The bathtub was porcelain like the sink, but had no patterns etched into it. Its faucet, too, was brass. There was also a large mirror on the wall. “Whoa.” Ryan said. He had never seen a bathroom this ridiculous before. “Yes, it’s quite impressive, hmm?” Rarity replied from behind. Using her horn, she nudged Ryan on his behind to enter the room. “Rarity, I’m not exactly into having long and stiff instruments poking my rear.” Without waiting for a reply, Ryan entered the bathroom and shut the door.

“I assure you, Harkness, that I am not that kind of lady.” he heard Rarity reply from behind the door. Ryan started to take off his clothes. “Right.” he replied. Ashe took off his clothes, he remembered that he wouldn’t want her to have his weapons in case she got too curious. he removed his guns, knife, hammer, and morphine from the vest and set them off to the side. “Can’t let things like that into the hands of those who don’t understand.” he thought. He also removed his necklace and watch and set them with everything else.

He took his time removing his clothes, partly because they were sticking to him from all the sweat and grime that they had accumulated. Even he had to admit that that was perhaps not the healthiest way to live. “Even so.” Ryan said to himself. “It doesn’t matter.” he would probably be living like that in the future anyhow. Once he had all of his clothes off, he cracked the door open and tossed them out. “Ah!” He had startled Rarity, it seemed. He let his arm hang outside the door for a moment. “Just leave them here,” He pointed at the ground. “when you bring them back.” His arm retreated back behind the door and shut it.

Rarity used her magic to pick up the clothes. There was no chance under Celestia’s magnificent sun that she was going to actually touch them. Ryan had handed her a short-sleeved shirt, a jacket, a pair of shorts, a vest with lots of places to put things, a scarf, a beret, a pair of socks, worn boots, and underwear. It all smelled terrible. But that wasn’t what shocked Rarity when Ryan’s arm came out. “I wonder what happened to him...” she thought aloud, looking back at the bathroom door. What had surprised her when the arm came out was the skin on it. It looked like somepony had melted it and poured it back on. Rarity knew that this wasn’t exactly something that happened randomly. “I hope he’s okay.” She went downstairs to the washer, where she continued to contemplate the significance of this new development.

Ryan started the water in the tub and sat on the ground, the cold marble floor welcoming to him. It was actually the first time he had sat on something hard and stable in quite some time. He didn’t feel like thinking at the moment, so he just sat there in the room. Absentmindedly, he got up and went into the tub, letting the hot water embrace him in its fluid grasp. Then he started thinking. “This is Rarity’s tub...” He suddenly felt a little awkward using the tub, but he was already in it, so he might as well stay. If only she had a shower. “Eesh.” He was looking down into the water. It was turning green and brown around him as it carried away all the dirt and grime. There was also a lot of red. “Guess I did need a bath.” He didn’t care about the dirt, but he wasn’t fond of the idea of having dried blood on himself all the time. Deciding to let the tub do its work, Ryan leaned back and looked at the ceiling, trying not to let his mind wander to the river in Vietnam.

Rarity inspected each piece of clothing before she put it in the bucket for washing. She had to make sure there were no tears in each one, or she might make the damage worse. She started with the jacket. It had a lot of grime on it, but the most prominent of all was the amount of red stains on it. They were especially bad around a hole that Rarity quickly found in it. “Must be from when the girls found him.” she figured. Using her magic and sewing kit, she fixed up the hole in no time and set to washing the jacket. It wasn’t easy to get the blood stains out with the washboard. “Get out, filthy stains!” she commanded. Her horn began to glow, and she started using her magic to attempt to actually pry off the blood. It worked marvelously, and the jacket was nice and clean in just a few minutes. Rarity examined it. “This is actually quite nice.” she commented, taking in the jacket’s features. The material felt very comfortable, and the camouflage pattern was done perfectly. “I should make something like this for stallions.” She set the jacket down and moved on.

Next came the shorts. The only thing about these was that there was more dried blood on them. But that came off as odd to Rarity. “Why would there be blood on his pants if his chest was where he was wounded?” she wondered. She quickly dismissed the thought when she remembered how he had been transported when he was found. Next, she cleaned the underwear, which was in the same condition as the pants. She then moved onto the socks, which just had dirt on them, and the boots, which she shined and cleaned with great intensity. The shirt was in the same condition as the jacket; blood, dirt, and a hole all the way through. The last items were the beret, scarf, and vest. The beret was clean enough that she just soaked it in the soapy water and rinsed it. The scarf was harder. It was a very nice silk, so Rarity would have to use her magic to clean it. “What a lovely scarf.” It was really out of place, though.

When she finished with that, she moved onto the vest, which really piqued her interest. It was obviously not a “social” garment. It had a lot of pockets where things could be stored, and two things that looked like they sheathed very specific items. One would hold something shaped like an “L” and the other was a knife sheath. “Odd.” She couldn’t use the roller on this, so she just put it in the water and used her magic to clean it. She had been so busy watching the clothes that she hadn’t even noticed the change in the water; it was a dark reddish-brown now. When she looked down at it after removing the vest, she turned away and nearly threw up. “Oh my.” she reeled. She had forgotten where all the blood would go. She quickly took everything and rinsed each item in fresh water and hung them outside to dry.

Rarity looked at the blood filled bucket and wondered what she would do about it. She couldn’t just leave it there, her sister would be coming home in a few hours. It wasn’t sanitary. “Maybe Harkness will have an idea.” She turned and trotted out the washroom arch and up the stairs.

Ryan was sitting quietly in the tub when he heard several hard knocks at the door. “Harkness, I need your help.” he heard Rarity say. He looked over in the direction of the door. “What is it?” There was a moment of silence. “What should I do with the bucket of, umm, blood?” Ryan blinked. He had forgotten that there would be something like that when the clothes were washed. “Umm, I guess you can dump it outside or something?” he replied. “I’m not sure what you ponies do with medical waste here.” Another pause. “Alright. I just wasn’t sure what you would want to do. They’re your body fluids after all.” The sound of hooves clopping away told Ryan that Rarity was about to dispose of the blood.

While she was washing away, Ryan drained the tub and refilled it to have clean water to bathe in. It was amazing how much more freedom of movement he felt like he had now. With all the dried grime and whatnot, his skin tended to feel tight under it. He felt much better. “I should put my forest home next to a river.” he thought. When he moved somewhere else, he would have to be near a source of water for drinking and bathing.

He drained the tub again and walked over to the door. “Rarity, you out there?” he asked. He got no response. “Alright.” he said, putting his hand on the door handle. As he turned the knob, the door creaked open. He looked down; there were all of his clothes, clean and ready to go. He shot his hand out and grabbed ahold of them. When his arm came back inside, Ryan walked over to his other pile of things and sat down. He took his time putting everything on, taking in the feel of each item. It was all wonderful. “Also I need to have a washboard.” he concluded. Once his clothes were on, he donned his other items; his watch, necklace, guns, knife, hammer, and morphine, and left the bathroom.

He exited the bathroom and went downstairs. Down there, Rarity was waiting for him in the middle of the room. “Ah, good. How do you feel?” she asked. Inside, Ryan still felt dead. Outside, he was feeling nice. “It’s certainly better.” he replied. Rarity flashed a genuine smile. “Good. Now, let’s work on getting the rest of you back in shape.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow. “What?” he asked. She pointed at his head. “I will hardly believe that THAT’S your usual hairdo.” she said. Ryan felt his head. It was a little long for his liking. “And I’m sure there are other parts of you that need tending to.” Ryan put his hands in his pockets. “I can tend to my parts myself.” Rarity flushed. “As sure as I am that you can, I’m referencing cleanliness.” Ryan shrugged. “Alright.” Rarity grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the boutique.

She dragged him through the town, much to his displeasure. They were being looked at by every pony that they passed. “Rarity, how much farther is it?” he asked. “Just over there.” she responded excitedly. He looked; it was a salon. When they were right up to it, the sign read The Main Mane. Ryan deadpanned his gaze at it. “Clever.” he thought. Rarity tugged on his hand. “Come on, let’s go!” She practically kicked the door open and ran in, Ryan in tow behind her.

“This young... stallion, I guess? He needs to have his mane taken care of.” Ryan looked around. There were several mares attending to the manes of other mares. There were no stallions in the room. He leaned down to whisper to Rarity. “Why did you bring me to a mane place for mares and not stallions?” Rarity waved her hoof. “No worries. Stallions come here at other times.” Ryan took her word for it.

A green mare with a big mane walked up to them. “We would be happy to serve you, Mr...?” Ryan stood uncomfortably behind Rarity. “...Harkness.” The mare nodded. “Mr. Harkness. Please, come with me and have a seat.” He followed the mare, glancing back at Rarity. She was being led behind Ryan by another mare. “Here.” his mare said. Ryan at down, the chair sinking under his much greater weight. The mare got behind him. “So, how do you usually like it?” she asked. Ryan thought. “Well, I like it buzzed on the sides and back and just short on top.” The mare nodded. “One Air Guard cut, coming up.”

As she did her work, Rarity took the seat next to Ryan. “So, Harkness, what exactly did you do before you came to Ponyville?” she asked. The two mares doing their hair and mane silently worked along, listening to the conversation. Ryan hesitated before answering. “Mostly just survived. Found myself really far from home, in the wilderness and in countries that don’t speak my language. So I just kind of survived.” He shrugged like it was nothing. None of the mares around him thought that, though. “How? What did you do for food? Or water?” his mare asked. “I stole from people when I encountered them, mostly. Not like beating them up, though, I took from stores. Gotta live.” The mares were silent. “I suppose so.” Rarity’s mare replied. “But don’t they suffer from that?” Ran just shrugged again. “Either they lose a small sum of money or I die. I figure it’s the lesser- less evil of the two.” Him dying wasn’t bad enough for the metaphor.

Rarity looked at him. “So you committed crimes to live?” she asked seriously. Ryan shrugged. “Sure. But I don’t any more. No need to. I will only do illegal or immoral things if I think I need to.” It was true, but whether or not he needed to do those things was left to question. “Okay.” Rarity said, clearly relieved. “I wouldn’t want a kleptomaniac near my home.” Ryan nodded. “Me neither.” There was a moment of silence.

“How did you find yourself so far from home?” his mare asked. The question seemed to pique the interest of the other mares as well. They all looked at Ryan intently, waiting for an interesting story. He thought about it for a minute. “I don’t want to go into it.” He looked back at his mare. “A series of unfortunate circumstances.” he explained. When he didn’t go on, they let the subject drop. “So, what kinds of things did you do in your country?” Rarity asked. “It must be a lot different from here.” Ryan thought about how to answer her question. “Well, I was a student. You see, all kids are required to attend public school until they turn sixteen. Then, they can drop out, or finish high school. Then , if you’re smart, you go to college. I was still in high school when I found myself elsewhere.” Rarity wasn’t satisfied with his answer. “Sure, but what were your hobbies? What did you like to do?” Ryan was fine with questions like these, so long as they never pertained to his time in Asia. “I did Karate and SCUBA diving. Those were my favorite activities.” The salon mares “ooh’d” at him. “So you know how to fight?” one asked. Ryan nodded. “Have you ever used your skills?”

Ryan paused. Should he answer that? Sure, he had used them outside of Asia for fighting purposes, but this could lead to Asia if he wasn’t careful. He decided to answer. “Yes.” Rarity looked at him disapprovingly. “Really, Harkness? I thought you were a gentleman.” Ryan put his hands up defensively, though only mockingly. “I was defending my friends, who happen to have been a boy and a girl who was being harassed by some dude. I was trying to be chivalrous and defend the lady.” Rarity’s disapproving look became one of elated glee. “Oh! Well, that’s nice. It’s good to see that there are a few knights in shining armor still out there.” Ryan didn't respond. He was no “knight in shining armor”.

“All done.” his mare announced. Ryan looked in the mirror. His hair was just like the way he used to like it; crisp and clean cut, very much within SOP. “Thank you.” he replied. Before he got up, though, Rarity stared him right in the eyes. She wasn’t backing down, either. “What?” he asked. “You’re beard.” she said. “It has to go.” Ryan rubbed his chin. The hair was getting long and would be annoying to deal with. “Alright then.” He sat back into the chair again. “Could you shave off this facial hair for me?” he asked his mare. She nodded and pulled out an old razor kit. Ryan eyed it nervously. It wasn’t exactly a Bic razor; this was a straight up blade that you dragged across your skin. He turned to Rarity, concern playing itself out in his eyes. “Relax.” Rarity said. “She’s good at this.” Ryan sighed and sat back. “Just hold still.” the mare ordered.

They walked out of the salon with Ryan looking fresh and new. “Wow. I wouldn’t even guess that you’re Harkness if I hadn’t been here for this.” Rarity commented. Ryan snorted. “I’m not.” They walked on back to Rarity’s boutique. “So how much do I owe you for all this?” Ryan asked. Rarity waved her hoof right in his face. “Nothing, darling! I couldn’t bear to see you walk around so filthy and... umm... bloody.” She drawled out that last word. “Well, thanks I guess. It feels good to be clean.” Rarity smiled at him and they walked together in silence.

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

Discord was watching with great interest as Ryan left the salon. “I never figured him to be willing to do that.” he thought. And he also found it interesting that Ryan had let the mare close to his neck with a sharp blade. “I guess that no one tried to cut his throat with a blade, so he wasn’t too uncomfortable with it.” Ryan had certainly cut throats with his blade. The memory would have made Discord shudder if he was in his body. “No pony or human deserves to suffer such a fate.”

Ryan and Rarity were walking in silence while Discord watched. He quickly grew bored. “I wish they would do something.” He gave them another minute. Still nothing but walking. “I’ll come back later.” Discord returned to his body.

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

Ryan closed the door behind him as he walked back into Rarity’s home and store. He took a look at the clock up on the wall; it was about five past three. They had been out for a lot longer than Ryan thought. “Whoa.” It amazed him that he could so easily lose track of time. “Harkness, would you be a dear and help me fold my fabric in my studio?” Rarity called from the stairs. Ryan moved in that direction. “Sure.” He was being paid for just this, right?

They ascended the steps and went to her studio. It was a big studio, with lots of mannequins around and several shelves of fabric and sewing tools. There were a couple of sewing machines, and the room in general was a bit of a mess. “Where should I start?” Ryan asked. Rarity pointed to a corner where fabric lay in an unorganized heap. “Start by organizing that and putting it on a shelf.” Ryan nodded. “Yes ma’am.” He walked over and started separating the fabric into piles according to color. “You want it by color?” he asked. Behind him, a sewing machine started up. “Certainly.” she replied.

The doorbell rang. “I wonder who that could be?” Rarity wondered, stopping her machine. She got up and walked out of the room. “Probably Sweetie Belle.” Ryan thought aloud. He just kept on separating the fabrics.

Rarity trotted down her steps and looked to the door. Outside, three familiar looking ponies sat waiting at her door. She rushed over. “Hello!” she said to her friends as she opened the door. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had all showed up. “What brings you all here?” She eyed Rainbow Dash. “Finally going to be a more refined lady, I hope?” Rainbow blew a raspberry at Rarity. “As if! I’m here, for... I don’t know. I’m just here.” Rarity smiled and nodded. “Well, it’s good to see that you’ve all stopped by.”

She let her friends in and shut the door. “I can always take a minute to spend time with my friends, especially with Harkness doing some work upstairs.” Pinkie gasped and spun around to face Rarity. “You have him working here?!” she asked. “This is great! We can throw him a ‘Congrats-on-getting-a-job party’!” She was bouncing up and down excitedly at the prospect of throwing Harkness a party. “Now, now, settle down Pinkie. I’m sure that we’ll throw him a party soon enough.” She kept on bouncing.

Fluttershy walked timidly up to Rarity and got close to her ear. “Umm, is he doing alright? He’s not sick or hurt or anything, right?” Her voice picked up some urgency toward the end. Rarity put her hoof on her friends back. “He’s fine, dear. He can certainly take care of himself. In fact, I learned today that the boy knows how to fight, and has done so in the past to defend his friends.” Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk. “Relax, I’m sure that-” Rainbow jumped in and cut her off. “Whoa, he’s actually FOUGHT ponies before!?” she asked ecstatically. Rarity huffed at her. “Well, yes, but I don’t see how-” Again, she was cut off. “That’s awesome! So, what, he’s like, a hero or something?” Rarity thought back. Perhaps he was a hero of sorts. “Well, I suppose so.” she said. Rainbow’s head whipped back and forth. “Where is he?” Rarity used her magic to pull her friend closer. “Please, Rainbow Dash. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. Most ponies who have to fight or do things they wouldn’t otherwise do rarely ever want to talk about it. So please don’t bother him about it.” Rainbow looked to Fluttershy for help, but she had a stern gaze on Rainbow as well. “She’s right.” was all she said. Rainbow crossed her forelegs and sat on the ground, pouting.

Rarity looked to the stairs, and when she saw no sign of Harkness, she urged her friends to get close and huddle. “Just between us, I don’t think that his fights were exactly ‘willy-nilly’. I think they were serious.” Fluttershy was stunned by the idea, but Pinkie had the most severe reaction. Sort of. “Really? Why?” Her reaction was normal. Not exactly Pinkie Pie. Rainbow had gone silent, waiting for an explanation. “Well, when I saw his arm earlier...” She glanced back at the stairs. “The skin was... abnormal.” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. “How?” she asked. Rarity took in a deep breath; Fluttershy wouldn’t like hearing this. “Well, it looked like somepony... melted his skin, and then poured it back on.” All of the mares completely stopped moving. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I know it wasn’t normal, but I didn’t ask him about it. I figure that it isn’t a pleasant memory.” Rainbow looked over to the stairs. “I... wow. Just... wow. I wouldn’t have thought about that.” Rarity nodded. “Yes, so let’s try not to mention it to him.” They all nodded in agreement and went up the stairs.

Ryan had just finished organizing the fabrics onto the shelves when he heard several sets of hooves approaching the door from the hallway. “Ah, crap.” he thought. He had no desire to deal with the ponies. “I can’t wait ‘til I can make a home in the forest.” He just kept on working when somepony knocked on the door. he didn’t answer.

In came Rarity, followed by Fluttershy, who ran over to Ryan and stared at him, Rainbow, who looked curiously from afar, and Pinkie Pie, who bounced around the room for the moment. “Can I help?” Ryan asked Fluttershy, who was just a little too close for comfort. She poked his arm, causing him to recoil a bit. “Please don’t violate me.” Fluttershy flushed and moved away. In the background, Rarity giggled and put a hoof on her friend’s back when she was close enough. “Don’t worry; he’s gotten me several times already.” Fluttershy hid under her mane as if to hide.

Pinkie Pie bounced up to him, putting her hooves on either of his shoulders. “So when do you think we’ll have that welcome party?” she asked. Ryan looked at her eyes; they were filled with fun and excitement and blissful ignorance. “Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?” Ryan shook his head and put his hands around her waist. “Whenever you feel like surprising me is my best guess.” As he lifted her and placed her aside, she squirmed in his grasp, giggling uncontrollably. “That tickles!” she shouted. Ryan turned around and got back to work. “Now, is there anything I can do for you?” he asked curtly. At first, there was only silence. “Well, umm, I would like to get a... I don’t know what it’s called. I’d like to catalogue you, I guess? For the bestiary, with the sentient races, like Ponies and Griffons.” Fluttershy asked nervously. Ryan stopped himself for a moment. “Sure. When can we do this?” Fluttershy shifted behind him. “This weekend, maybe?” Ryan nodded. “Seems good.”

Rainbow floated up next to him, urged on by Rarity. It was her turn now to talk to the human. “So, umm... I don’t know. You ever flown before?” She sounded like she really wasn’t comfortable being next to Ryan. Of course, he wouldn’t be comfortable being next to a man who’s armed to the teeth either. “Yeah.” he replied. It took Rainbow, and the others, to register his response. “Wait, what?” Rainbow replied. “Really?” Ryan nodded again. “Yeah. A bunch of times.” Rainbow looked to her friends, who were just as shocked as her. “How?” she asked. “I usually found myself on either a Boeing 737 or 767. Planes.” Rainbow looked skeptical next to Ryan, who did his best to ignore her stare. “What’s a plane?” she asked. Ryan finished the last piece of fabric for this shelf and turned to her. “Tomorrow, I’ll be telling Twilight about my species’ technology. Feel free to drop by.” He walked past her and over to his next set of fabric. It was gone. “What?” he quietly asked himself. He looked around; there was a purple aura on everything. “No worries, Harkness. I can finish this. You may be done.” She floated over a sack of bits. “For your work.” Ryan took the bag; if she was going to be generous, he might as well let her. There were about thirty bits in the bag. “Thanks.” he said. He walked out of the room and went downstairs, leaving the mares to gossip about him as they likely would. “Women.”

When he got downstairs, three familiar little fillies were there to greet him. “Hey Harkness!” they shouted in unison. Ryan looked down at them. “Hey.” Scootaloo ran up to him and looked up. “Can you help us to get our cutie marks?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “Not today.” he said. He walked out, leaving three very disappointed fillies. “Maybe tomorrow?” Applebloom said hopefully. Ryan just kept on walking to his trench, where he could be alone and not have to worry about facing his past.

But little did he know, there was still one piece of his past that wasn’t about to leave him be.

That Awkward Moment

That Awkward Moment“You cut up a thing that’s alive and beautiful to find out how it’s alive and why it’s beautiful, and before you know it, it’s neither of those things, and you’re standing there with blood on your face and tears in your sight and only the terrible ache of guilt to show for it.” (Clive Berker)

Ryan was walking into town, towards the library. He had been under scrutiny the day before about his past, but hopefully today, the questions would be primarily about technology. Odds were, if Rainbow Dash showed up, he would go into planes and jets and other flying contraptions. Twilight would no doubt want to hear more about computers. He would likely tell her about communications equipment, like smartphones.

It was about half past six while he walked through the town. The previous night, he had mostly just laid in the dirt and stared at the sky, mesmerized by the one star. It took his mind off of everything that had been happening, made him feel like the world wasn’t real. The star turned his past into a wisp of smoke, one that he could clear away with a wave of his hand. But the trouble was, the source of that smoke was an inextinguishable fire beneath him, so the smoke just kept on coming back and choking him.

He found himself at the library by seven. Inside, he could hear Twilight moving about. “I thought she had Spike do stuff in the morning.” She was probably just doing it herself because she wanted to prepare for Ryan without waking Spike. He knocked on the door. Inside, something crashed, and there was a big clamor. The door swung open, barely missing Ryan’s nose. He cocked an eyebrow at Twilight in the doorway. “Hey!” she said, out of breath. “I wasn’t expecting you so early.” Ryan shrugged. “I’m an early riser.” Twilight swallowed and moved aside. “Please, come in.” He walked inside, and Twilight shut the door behind him.

He looked around. It looked like she had been setting up some sitting areas in the library itself, but looking in the kitchen, he saw what she was really doing. There was a big table with numerous spots around it for ponies to sit. “You having a party?” he asked, pointing at the kitchen. Twilight smiled suspiciously. “Promise you won’t be upset?” Ryan halted all movement. Whenever someone said that, they knew that the person wouldn’t be very happy. “... Okay. What?” Twilight walked around, inspecting the shelves. “My family will be visiting tomorrow, including those I’m related to due to my brother’s marriage. I told them about you, and they want to meet you.” Ryan turned around. In his mind, he was ablaze. But outside, he kept a cool demeanor. He calmed the raging seas in his head. “It’s fine.” he lied. “What did you tell them?” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “I told them about how you’re new here and you’re really interesting. I didn’t go into detail, since it was kind of short notice.” Ryan silently breathed hi sown sigh of relief. He didn’t want to have to deal with the spread of information about him. “Alright. I guess I can do it.” Twilight stood on her hind hooves and clopped her front hooves together. “Eeee! Oh, thank you!” Her smile was massive and excited; it actually made Ryan forgive her a little bit. He went and sat down in a chair in the corner.

After that, Twilight didn’t bother him for a while; she was too busy getting things ready for the next day. Ryan just watched as she did so. “Crazy girl.” he thought. She didn’t have to get up early the previous day to prepare. Of course, he didn’t know anything about her family or how she was raised. This could, in fact, be necessary. “I wonder who this family will be? What will they be like?” He just sat there, wondering.

About an hour and a half after Twilight broke the news, Spike came down, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “Morning, trooper.” Ryan greeted, not looking up. Spike yelped. “Harkness!” he shouted. “I wasn’t expecting you. Twilight said you wouldn’t likely be here ‘til later.” Ryan shrugged. “Well, clearly, she was incorrect.” Spike chuckled and came all the way down the stairs. “Yeah, well, she’s usually right, so I’ll let it pass this time.” Ryan scratched his knee. “You’re all heart.” Spike sat down next to him, joining in his observation of Twilight’s craziness. “She’s like my big sister. So yeah.” Ryan felt a little twitch in his cheek. He decided to remember that for later.

They sat in relative silence until about half past ten. Then, Spike’s stomach growled, like a cat that’s very annoyed about being poked that’s about to lash out. “You getting hungry?” Ryan asked, hoping it would prompt Spike to leave him. Spike nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go get some lunch.” He stood up and walked over to the kitchen. Sighing over his inability to risk being rude, Ryan got up and followed. While they moved, Twilight shot around the room, checking everything for the umpteenth time. “She always like this?” Ryan asked. Spike waved a dismissive hand. “Only when the Princess is coming.” Ryan blinked. Then he blinked again. “Princess?” he asked, all of a sudden very nervous. “Yeah. Her brother married Princess Cadance, who is the niece of Princess Celestia. Her parents, brother, and the princesses will all be here. Unfortunately, Princess Luna couldn’t make it.”

Ryan paused again, this time, not moving. So Luna did live here. He would definitely have to think over a visit. “Well then.” he said. He started moving again, catching up to Spike. “You two better not ruin my setup in there!” Twilight shouted. “We won’t!” Spike shouted back. “Speak for yourself.” Ryan said, loud enough for Twilight to hear. She suddenly burst into the kitchen, just behind Ryan. “Harkness!” she yelled. Ryan turned around. “Yes?” She looked up at his face. “...hmph.” She turned back around and walked off. Spike, meanwhile, was already at the counter. “What was that?” he asked. Ryan shrugged. “You know, I’m not sure. I say and do things that SHOULD get me slapped, yet no one ever does. I’m just not a slappable guy.” Spike snorted. “If only every guy was as lucky as you.” Ryan nodded. “Yeah, right. If only.”

Spike was pulling bread from the pantry. “So what’ll you have?” he asked. Ryan leaned on the counter next to the baby dragon. “Gimme a PB and J.” Simple, yet edible. Spike obliged and made him the sandwich. “Good stuff.” Ryan said, taking a bite. “Thanks. The stuff is made fresh every day.”

They exited the kitchen with their food and sat back down in their spots. Not a minute after they sat, there were several knocks on the door. “I got it!” Spike shouted, running to the door. Inwardly, Ryan groaned when he saw who was there. “Oh, hey Rainbow! And Pinkie, and Fluttershy... and Rarity!” He really seemed to lose his footing on Rarity. Ryan took a note of that. “Hello Spike.” Rarity replied. “Is Harkness around?” Spike pointed behind him, right at Ryan. “He’s in here.” The mares all thanked him and filed in. Behind them, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stumbled in in a little pony ball. “What..?” Ryan said to himself as he watched the girls get up. They were wearing a bunch of little capes. He shook his head; he didn’t care enough to ask. “Hello, Harkness.” Rarity started. Ryan nodded back, but didn’t speak.

The mares all sat around him, cornering him against the wall as if to prevent his escape. Twilight walked in and saw her friends surrounding the newcomer. “Oh! Hey girls! What brings you here?” Her urgency suddenly died. “We’re here to hear about his crazy technology!” Scootaloo answered. Twilight looked to Ryan. “Oh! Well, I think I’ll join you.” Twilight ran up the stairs for a moment, then came back with a notepad and quill with ink. Ryan scanned the audience before him. There were certainly quite a few ponies here. “Well, it’s hardly a complete crowd without Applejack, wouldn’t you say?” Ryan was trying to stall. Applebloom stood up. “She’ll be here in a minute, she just had to close up the stand.” Ryan cursed in his head.

Rainbow was quickly growing impatient. “Well, come on! Let’s hear it!” she demanded. Ryan cocked an eyebrow at her. “Hear what? Technology isn’t exactly a specific field. Where should I begin?” Suddenly, every mare and filly except Fluttershy was shouting and asking for something different. He couldn’t even tell who was saying what. “One at a time, please.” he requested. They all went quiet. He pointed all the way to the left, at little Sweetie Belle. “What do you want to hear?” he asked. She pondered it for a moment. “Music!” she announced. Ryan nodded, and looked to the next one in line, Applebloom. “Farm gear.” He went in order from there; Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and then to Spike. “Flying stuff!” “What she said!” “Fashion and transportation.” “Computers!” “Umm, medicine? If that’s okay?” “Cooking!” “Entertainment.” He decided to address them in order.

“For music, we have these things called MP3’s. You jack a pair of earbuds in them and then put the tiny speakers in your ears. The tiny speakers take data from the MP3 and play a song of your choosing. There’s also electronic music, like Dubstep and eighties synthesized. Those are popular for big events.” There was a knock at the door, and Applejack waltzed in and took a seat next to her sister. “He’s gonna tell us about farm gear.” Applejack nodded, sweating hard in her spot. Ryan cleared his throat. “For farm gear, we use combustion engines to power large machines that do the work for us, like ploughing and seeding. There’s also weather machines that tell us when the weather may be bad for crops.” He kept going into what little he knew about farm equipment for a while.

Eventually, he finished. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were elated. “Finally! Let’s hear about flying stuff!” Rainbow said. Ryan looked at them. “Sure.” They both leaned in close to hear. “We have a bunch of things for flying. The first of them was the airplane. Also using a combustion engine, the first planes would spin a rotor fast enough that it’s angled blades would carry it forward and into the air. Now, though, we have jet engines. These work by burning fuel and shooting the exhaust out the back with massive force. The plane is propelled forward incredibly fast.” Rainbow was vibrating in her seat. “How fast?” Ryan looked at her and smiled. “Well, the fastest plane that comes to mind for me is the F-22 Raptor. It could go up to Mach Three.” Rainbow stopped vibrating and looked forward, mouth agape. Looking around, Ryan saw that the others were also looking quite shocked. “Some unmanned aircraft have gone up to seven THOUSAND miles an hour.” If a cricket were there, it too, had been silenced. Rainow sat back. “Whoa.” Ryan nodded. “Whoa indeed.”

She stood up. “Why would a plane need to be that fast?” she asked. Ryan couldn’t answer that, and even if he could, he probably wouldn’t. “No idea. Experiments?” She stepped forward. “Have you ever flown in one of those fast ones before?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “Those are single seat fighter aircraft, so no. I fly in commercial aircraft, usually Boeing. They can get to around six hundred miles per hour.” Rainbow shook her head. “That’s crazy.” she said. Ryan shrugged. “That’s human ingenuity.”

He continued when Rainbow sat back down. “For transportation, we use planes, boats, and cars. All use some form of engine, but different kinds use different fuels. Navy ships use Nuclear power a lot to power aircraft carriers and destroyers.” Instantly, he regretted saying that. “What?” Rarity said. “Destroyers? Fighter Aircraft?” She looked suspicious. Ryan had to be fast in his thoughts. “Military technology. Easily the most advanced of all. A lot isn’t even known to the public, for obvious reasons.” Rarity looked unsatisfied, but compared to Applejack, she couldn’t care less. “Can y’all be honest with us? Are you a military boy?” Ryan thought hard about it. He had planned on joining the SEALs, but he certainly couldn’t now. “No.” he replied. “I’m not.” He continued, though Applejack wasn’t convinced. “We transport things on massive ships, sometimes referred to as ‘cities on the water’. Other times, we use massive planes, like the C5 Galaxy. Some of these planes can go up to Eight Thousand miles without having to refuel.” Rarity raised her eyebrows. “That’s quite impressive.” Ryan nodded. “Like I said, military tech is the most advanced.”

He quickly moved onto the computers. “Well, I already explained this to my best knowledge, but that was just one type. There are also systems that do other things. Some are for art, others are for making music, some are for entertainment, and there are thousands of others. I can’t possibly go into all of them. But the entertainment are some of the most popular. Using them, you can project images onto a screen. Using a controller, you can make the things in the image do what you command them to, whether it be flying a virtual plane or having a character run down a virtual hill. It’s like movies, but you control what happens. To an extent.” Spike was wide-eyed. “Wow.” he said. “That’s cool.” Ryan smiled a little bit; he had the same reaction to the Nintendo 64 when he first got it. “Yeah.” He kept on. “Other computers do math for you, while some are just for communicating. Using computers, you can talk to a person on the other side of the planet.” Twilight’s eyes went wide this time. “It’s the ultimate tool of sharing collected knowledge...” she said. Ryan nodded again. “Eeyup.”

“Our medicine is pretty astonishing. We can treat cancer, albeit not always successfully, we can cure diseases, and we have amazing injury healing practices.” Fluttershy seemed to lose some of her shyness and had a gleam in her eye. “What kinds of injury healing processes do you have?” she asked. “Well, we can cut someone open and fix them like that. Or, we can use tiny cameras and bots to deal with a problem. The most popular, though, is straight up meds. Using certain chemical formulas, we can make pills that speed up healing or reduce pain.” Fluttershy looked excited. “What else?” she asked. The others looked repulsed by how Ryan had worded surgery. “Well, we can make mechanical limbs for people who lost theirs. Those are really close to being ready for issuing. Someone is even close to making a bio-electric eye. It’s pretty astonishing.” Fluttershy nodded. “It certainly is.”

After going a little more into medicine, he finally turned to Pinkie Pie. “Well, we don’t exactly have super advanced cooking stuff. Mostly, thanks to knowledge sharing, we just have good recipes. Sorry.” Pinkie wasn’t disappointed though. “That’s awesome! You can share your recipes with people around the WORLD!? That’s amazing!!” She jumped up and ran around, much to Ryan’s disinterest. “Calm down.” Ryan said, grabbing her as she ran by and holding her up like a cat. She giggled. “That tickles!” He set her down. “I bet you enjoy that, don’t you?” he said. Pinkie Pie nodded. “It’s fun!” Ryan shook his head and sat back down.

They talked a little bit from then on, mostly about the ponies and their adventures. The ponies’ brains couldn’t handle much more tech talk anyhow. Eventually, they got to the Elements of Harmony. “The what?” Ryan asked. They all blinked. “Oh, right, you’re not from here.” Twilight reminded herself. “Well, the Elements of Harmony are represented and only usable by us. They are extremely powerful magical objects that are used to keep the land balanced and peaceful.” Ryan whistled. “Wow. I wish my world had something like that.” The girls smiled at him, but their eyes were clearly sorry for him. “Yes, it did sound like your world could use something like that.” Ryan nodded slowly, thoughtfully. It really could.

The talking brought them to late in the evening, almost to the darkened sky. “Whoa! Ah guess we’d better get goin’.” Applejack said. Her sister whined. “Now, now. Ah’m sure that y’all can talk to Harkness another time.” She looked to Ryan. “Sure, I suppose. Next time I’m free.” Applejack smiled half-heartedly and took her sister away. “I suppose we should go too. Sweetie Belle has school tomorrow.” Without waiting for a complaint, Rarity picked up her sister in her magic and left. “Yeah, I should get going too. Later!” Rainbow sped off. “Wait for me, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo yelled, getting on her scooter and speeding away.

Pinkie Pie was the next to leave. “Later!” she said. Suddenly, she disappeared. “What the..?” Ryan looked around; no sign of her. He looked to Twilight and Fluttershy. “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” they both said. Ryan scratched his head. “I guess that physics don’t apply here.” he said to himself. Twilight heard that comment, but let it go. Fluttershy walked up to Ryan and touched his hand. “I should go to. And remember; if you’re ever hurt, I’ll be able to help you.” She turned around and left, looking back at Ryan as she walked away. While he was questioning her demeanor, Twilight walked over. “She’s still worried about you.” she explained. “I’m sure it will pass.” Ryan put his hands in his pockets. “I guess.”

Ryan walked over to his spot from earlier and sat back down. “Well, that was an... interesting day. For you girls, I mean.” Twilight trotted over and sat before him, trailed by Spike, who Ryan had forgotten about. No need to tell him that. “It certainly was. Maybe it will be as interesting for my family tomorrow.” Ryan nodded thoughtfully. “What should I be expecting, questions or otherwise?” Twilight looked up at the ceiling in ponderance. “Well, my brother is a captain of the Royal Guard. He’ll be interested in your personal history, since you are unknown to him.” Ryan breathed in deep and let it out slow. “As for the others... they’ll just want to learn a little about you. My brother, though, will practically want to interrogate you.” Ryan looked at her. “Wow, it must be a nightmare for you to get a boyfriend.” Twilight blushed a little, and Spike chuckled. “No. I’m not looking for one anyhow.” Ryan put his hands up. “Alright.”

His goal was achieved; she wasn’t about to let it go. “What does that mean?” she asked. He looked at Spike; he got the cue. “Nothing.” he said, getting up. Twilight pushed him back down with her magic. “No, it means something. Now tell me.” She looked mad. “I didn’t consent to this!” Ryan shouted. “Twilight turned deep red, but kept him down. “Tell me!” She lifted him up into the air. Meanwhile, Spike was in hysterics behind her. He, too, found himself in the air. “Tell me!” Ryan flailed about in the air; there was no escape. “My bubble has been violated!” Twilight dropped both males to the ground. Spike just kept laughing. “He’s laughing! You must mean something!” She held Ryan down with a hoof. “So, you’re the kind who prefers to be dominant?” Ryan asked. Twilight tried to open her mouth to respond, but no words came. By now, she was totally flushed. “I’m more of a ‘go with the flow’ kind of guy myself. How about you, Spike?” Twilight’s eyes went wide and her head whipped around to look at Spike. “Well-” She cut him off. “Enough of this conversation!” she said. She clearly was not interested in hearing what was essentially her little brother’s “desires”.

Ryan looked at Spike, who was out of it, he was laughing so hard. He looked at Twilight; she had figured out what was happening. “You just did all of that to embarrass me, didn’t you?” Ryan nodded, with a small smile; he hadn’t particularly enjoyed it, but it was kind of fun. Mostly, it was about getting the ponies to like him enough to respect his privacy. His methods were unorthodox, sure, but they might work. “Yes.” His answer was short and to the point. Twilight shook her head. “Please just don’t do it tomorrow.” Ryan sat up, knocking Twilight back. “No promises.”

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

Luna walked back to her chambers after raising the moon in a neutral mood. She wasn’t happy, but she was on her way to getting over Ryan’s death. It wasn’t easy, and it was entirely possible for her to backtrack, but she was on the road to recovery. She only wished that Ryan was somehow alive; that way, she could apologize and try to make things right for him.

She entered her chambers, where Starstep was waiting for her. He had set up a chess table while she was gone. “Good evening, Starstep.” she greeted. He nodded. “Hello. I was thinking that we might play a round of chess.” She had figured that out, and rolled her eyes as she walked forward. She sat down at the small table. “Why not?” She took the white side, so she went first. “I could use something to distract myself.” Her guard nodded. “I know what you mean.” he replied. After Luna made her move, he went. “Sometimes, I just like to lose myself in the game.”

They played for over an hour, silently trying to outdo and outlast the other. Eventually, at the climax of the game, Starstep took Luna’s King. “Agh!” she cried out in mild frustration. It had been a good game. Starstep snickered across from her. “I win.” he said, earning a glare from his princess. “It was a good game.” Luna nodded and looked down at the board. Starstep’s pieces were much more abundant than hers. “You have certainly dominated me.” she said. She stood up and walked over to her fireplace and took a seat. “Quite a show of talent.” Starstep joined her. “Thank you.” He sat.

The two sat in relative silence for a time, simply content to be there. Starstep periodically looked over at Luna; her face had a worn appearance. “You look exhausted.” he commented, hoping to get something out of her. “Is everything alright?” Luna looked down for a moment, contemplating. She shook her head, her long, ethereal mane gently wafting about. “No, I’m afraid not.” Starstep frowned sadly, his brow lowering in sympathy. “I can’t get it out of my head.” Luna explained. “It’s like he’s still here somehow, not letting me forget. I know he wouldn’t do such a thing to me, but still. I feel like, maybe, I’m holding him here against his will.” She sniffed loudly. “I don’t know what to do. I keep having nightmares...”

Starstep got up and sat next to her, wrapping a foreleg around her and pulling her close. “Shh.” he said. “Come now... you must know how to move on. You need to move past it. If you don’t, you can never be happy. And neither can I.” He hugged her tightly. She leaned into him. “Remember, you’ll always have me and Princess Celestia, and any of your subjects. We’re all here to help you.” Luna sniveled, and a tear came from her eye onto Starstep’s chest. He held her close.

Eventually, she stood taller and looked away, out the window. “I wish I could have said goodbye to him. At least have extended that courtesy to him.” Starstep nodded, understanding perfectly. “Come on,” he said. “You should sleep.” Luna nodded, and the two walked back over to the bed and slept.

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

Ryan looked around at all the preparations that were made. Everything was spotless, reorganized, and in perfect order. Twilight had way overdone it.

He looked at the clock; it was about half past ten in the morning. The ponies that he was about to be questioned by would be there in about half an hour. Ryan ran through how he was going to dodge certain questions one more time. “Past; stick to my days in America. Martial Arts; my favorite activity. Dreams; navy career, no elaboration on it.” He went through the rest of it as fast as he could. He wasn’t even sure if he would need any of these, but he wasn’t about to take chances. He looked down at his leg; the scars from the land mine were mostly hidden by dirt. He had his sleeves down, even though it was really hot, so those were fine. The scarf and beret were on the coat rack by the door, so hopefully they would go unnoticed. Lastly, he had his vest on under his jacket, so nothing would seem particularly out of place besides him being a human. “Good to go.” he thought doubtfully.

Twilight was frantically running around, with a flustered Spike trying to keep up. Ryan just watched as they sprinted about, checking everything AGAIN. Whoever this princess was, she must be really into having places made perfect for her. “Seems like a real diva of a ruler.” Ryan thought. He was silently loathing having to meet such a being.

“Harkness, would you mind helping me?” Twilight asked. Ryan looked up. She had brought a little round table out with a bunch of sitting pillows and set it in the study area. “Would you go and get the tea and biscuits and dinnerware?” Ryan nodded and walked into the kitchen. There was a much larger table in there, but it wasn’t nearly as made up as the one in the library. “Must not be using this.” Ryan concluded quickly. He looked around for the dinnerware and food. There was an obvious pantry, but the only dinnerware was what looked like fine china. He shrugged and grabbed it. “China coming out, watch where you’re going.” he announced as he exited the kitchen. Twilight must have run upstairs, because she was missing. Ryan shrugged again and put everything on the table, then went back for the food.

When he came back out with the food, Twilight had returned from her excursion to the upstairs area. She had a long list; it went all the way up the stairs; and she was checking things off. “I didn’t think those even existed...” Ryan thought as he looked at the list. Twilight checked off one last thing and sighed contently. “There. Everything’s taken care of.” Ryan walked over to the table and set the food down. “Well, not EVERYTHING.” he said. Twilight looked at him, then shook her head, smirking. “Oh, Harkness. I know your game.” Ryan shrugged. She had forgotten something for him to sit on, but that wasn’t important.

He looked back at the clock. It was only five ‘til. “What the heck?” he thought. That didn’t really take that long, did it? “Oh, wow! We just made it! They should start arriving any minute.” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out nice and slow. This was going to be the ultimate moment of truth; if the leader felt one way or another about him, it would seal his fate in what would likely not be good regardless of how it was sealed. “Here we begin.” he said quietly to himself. He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a book to pretend to read. No reason to stand awkwardly in the middle of the room when someone entered.

Sure enough, at around nine after eleven, there was a series of knocks on the door. “Here they are!” Twilight announced. She looked at Ryan with a mock scowl. “Behave yourself.” she ordered half seriously. Ryan put his hands in the air, then put them back down. “When am I not?” he replied. Twilight didn’t hear and went and opened the door.

“Twilight!” a male voice sang out. “Dad!” Ryan peeked up from the book; a blue stallion was putting Twilight in a massive bear hug. A very light purple mare followed soon after. “Ooh, little Twilight! I’ve been waiting to see you! How are you?” Small talk ensued at the door. After a few minutes, Twilight invited what was likely her parents to come in. “Please, make yourselves at home.” Ryan looked at the ponies; they hadn’t even noticed Ryan yet. They may have thought he was a decoration, he was so still. Ryan shifted in his spot, ready but not ready. “So, where is this stallion you mentioned?” her father asked. Twilight looked, then pointed at Ryan. “Yo.”

Both ponies turned around and yelped at the sudden noise from what they hadn’t thought to be alive. Ryan took a hand off the book and gave them a small wave. The ponies were wide-eyed and agape of mouth. “What- what- huh?” the male one said. Ryan cocked an eyebrow. It must have intimidated them a bit. “Mom, dad, this is Harkness.” Ryan snorted., drawing strange looks. “He’s the new... stallion. He’s a human.” Ryan shut the book and stepped away from the wall, extending a hand. He was tentative, but had to appear not so. “Hi.” The stallion put his hoof in Ryan’s hand and shook. “Hello... I’m, uhh, Nightlight.” The mare walked up and extended a hoof. Ryan released Nightlight and took it. “I’m Twilight Velvet.” Ryan nodded. “Good to make your acquaintance.” He released Twilight Velvet’s hoof and stepped back a bit.

The two parties took in each other’s sights for a moment. The ponies were clearly Twilight Sparkle’s parents; there were too many similarities. The ponies, though, could determine nothing from Ryan’s physical appearance. They had never even heard of a human before. He had five fingers and body that looked like it was probably mostly hairless. He looked bulky under whatever clothes he was wearing. “You’re... not what we were expecting.” Nightlight said sheepishly. Ryan shrugged again; by the end of his stay, his shoulders would be massive. “I would imagine not.” Twilight Sparkle walked forward, sensing the awkwardness. “Well, I’m glad to see that you got here in peace. Why don’t we catch up while we wait for the others?” Ryan nodded to that; he didn’t want to say anything more than once. If he screwed up his story, he would be in serious trouble.

Ryan picked up the book again and actually started reading it while the family of ponies before him talked happily, occasionally looking his way. Nightlight seemed especially interested in him. “I wonder what he’s thinking?” Ryan met his Nightlight’s gaze and nodded. Nightlight smiled a bit and nodded back. Whatever Ryan just did for him, it was clearly good.

About fifteen minutes after Twilight Sparkle’s parents arrived, a carriage could be heard outside. Several ponies neighed and kicked at the ground, causing a massive ruckus. Ryan swallowed hard. “Sounds like a royal carriage.” This would be the toughest unwanted social moment of all.

Knock knock knock. Ryan kept the book in hand, his hands growing sweaty and trembling. He had no idea why he was so nervous; was it that he was meeting the leader of another nation who could do whatever she felt like to him? No, probably not. Maybe it was just the implications that this would mean for him in public from this moment on. Twilight answered the door. When she bowed, Ryan knew that he was about to jump into the fray. “Here we go.” he whispered. Twilight backed up after bowing followed by a large white horse with wings and a horn. Her mane was multihued and she had a cutie mark of the sun. This was Luna’s sister. “I’m glad to have come, Twilight.” Twilight’s parents bowed.

The large white alicorn looked around and spotted Ryan quickly. “Oh.” she said, raising her eyebrows and opening her eyes a bit wider. “I wasn’t aware that he wasn’t a stallion.” Twilight smiled sheepishly, almost nervously. “I might have forgotten to mention that.” Ryan walked forward to meet this princess. Her appearance immediately shot down his preconceived notion of her. “Hello.” he said, extending a hand. “I’m Harkness.” He could feel a bead of sweat on his forehead. The princess smiled and put her hoof in his sweaty hand. “Greetings. I’m Princess Celestia.” She put her hoof back on the ground. “And you have no need to be nervous.” Something about her tone made Ryan relax a bit. Just a bit.

She looked to the table. “I see Twilight has set up a nice table for us.” Her smile was incredibly disarming. When Ryan realized this, he put his guard up and decided to keep it up. “Yes, Princess. Would you like to sit down?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Celestia nodded. “I’m sure we would all love to sit while we wait for Shining Armor and Cadance.” Celestia started walking toward the table, followed by Twilight’s parents, Twilight, and then Ryan.

They all sat the the relatively small round table. Spike ran to the kitchen. “So, Harkness.” Princess Celestia began. “What is your species exactly?” Ryan sat down on the wooden floor, leaving the remaining two pillows for the final guests. “We’re called humans.” he answered simply. He crossed his legs under the table, bumping it and vibrating everything. “Ah. And might I ask where you are from?” Ryan leaned on the table in an effort to look more comfortable. Whether it worked or not, he could not say. “I’m from a country called the United States of America. But most people just call it either America or the US.” Princess Celestia nodded. “Interesting.” She studied the human for a moment. She was curious as to why the human looked to strangely bulky and misshapen, and why he averted his gaze when she tried to look at his eyes. “Well, as I’m sure you already know, this is Equestria. My sister Luna and I rule together. She moves the moon, and I move the sun. It’s too bad she couldn’t come here to meet you.”

Ryan’s mind raced as soon as she finished the statement. He did know her, and he could very easily tell them all that. But, what kinds of questions might follow? Would he be able to answer them safely? Or, more importantly, would they tell Luna about him? “It’s an unnecessary risk.” he concluded. Maybe some other time. “Interesting. I always just thought that the sun and moon moved on their own.” Celestia smiled again, clearly trying to disarm Ryan. Though he was having no part of it. “Nope. Me and my sister.” She went on. “Equestria is a large nation, with many races and species living in it. You’ve already encountered the different ponies, but we also have Zebras, Griffons, Dragons, and others.” Ryan widened his eyes in surprise. “Wow. We only have one sentient race back home; us. We pretty much own whatever place we live in because of that.” Celestia nodded, intrigued by the information. The other ponies were listening intently. “Interesting.” Celestia replied.

Spike came back, and as he did, there were more knocks on the door. He quickly set up everything at the table and went to answer the door. “Shining! Cadance! Great, you’ve arrived! Everyone else is at the table.” Ryan looked to the door and saw, first, a white stallion with a blue mane and a large chest walk in. He wore a casual uniform, definitely a guard. Behind him came his presumed wife, a pink mare like Celestia with wings and a horn who had a three-colored mane. Shining had a shield for his cutie mark and Cadance had a heart. “Great to be here Spike.” Shining replied. Cadance smiled. Spotting the group at the table, they walked over. “Hey every... one...” Shining’s and Cadance’s shared words slowed to a stop when they looked at Ryan sitting at the table. “Is that, uhh, Harkness?” Cadance asked. Ryan slid back and stood and walked over. “Indeed I am.” He extended a hand to the princess. She took it and shook. “Umm, hello.” She was clearly shocked to see this creature. Her husband was looking at him with his head cocked to the side. “It’s good to meet you.” Ryan extended his hand to Shining Armor, who took it firmly. They locked eyes. “Likewise.” Shining replied. There was a hint of malicious suspicion in his voice. A warrior can recognize another warrior from a mile away.

They all sat around the table, the ponies all interested in Ryan. “So, Harkness.” Nightlight started. “What, uhh, kinds of things do you like to do?” Ryan clasped his hands together on the table before him. “Well, I like to SCUBA dive and I practice Karate.” Nightlight’s and Shinging’s ears perked at the word Karate. “Interesting.” Shining muttered. Ryan kept an eye in his direction; he had no idea what to expect from this guy.

The mares, though, were more interested in the SCUBA diving. “Wow, SCUBA diving? Most ponies only dream of that, the sport is so expensive! What’s it like?” Twilight Velvet asked. Ryan was about to answer when more questions flew at him. “How deep have you gone?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Ryan waited just a moment, then answered. “Well, the deepest I’ve ever gone was about one hundred and sixteen feet down. It was dark and cold, but really cool. I’ve seen sharks, manta rays, skates, exotic fish, sea lions, and various crustaceans.” The mares eyes lit up, except for Celestia’s. She looked impressed, though. “So, what kinds of certifications do you have?” Shining asked out of nowhere. He was apparently more interested in Ryan’s skill set than anything else. Ryan answered honestly to this question. “Advanced open water, Nitrox, Dry suit, and Rescue Diver.” The last one raised Shining’s eyebrows. His father was looking very impressed. “So, do you rescue people when they’re under the water?” he asked. Ryan gave a small chuckle; it was only slightly genuine. “No, never had to. I’m still a student, so I don’t have a job in this field yet.” Nor would he, any more.

Twilight Sparkle looked like she was going to explode. “So you’re still a student.” she said. “What do you study?” Ryan shrugged. “In public school, we study a bunch of stuff. We do math, science, history, foreign language, literature, grammar, health, technology, finances, and tons of other stuff. It’s a lot, but we manage.” Twilight leaned back a bit. “Very nice.” Of course, he hadn’t told them that he was from a fairly privileged town; most don’t have so many options.

“So, if I may ask, what is Equestria like?” Ryan asked. He was trying to get the stopic off of him. It worked; the conversation went to the inner workings of Equestria for about two hours. Spike had joined them and sat next to Ryan, claiming that they were already “brothers from other mothers”. Ryan didn’t want to come off as an asshole, so he went with it. But, the whole time, Shining was scrutinizing him, trying to discern something about him. He was trying to puzzle something together about the human before him, Ryan could tell. Locking eyes with him had not gone over well.

Another thing Ryan noticed during the conversation was Shining’s wife, Cadance. At one point, she had looked straight at him, intensely. Her horn had a very light blue aura around it, barely visible. She seemed to be focusing hard on something. When Ryan saw that she noticed him looking at her, he cocked an eyebrow. Quickly and ashamedly, she released the aura and looked to whoever was talking. “So, that’s how we saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon.” Thankfully, Ryan had developed a way to pay attention to multiple things at once. Give one hundred percent to something for one moment, then quickly switch to something else the next. If you change rapidly enough, you catch just enough of each to fill in the blanks, and you can effectively have two, or if you’re good, three conversations at once. It’s not easy. “Very cool. I can’t say that I’m much of a hero back home.” So very true.

Shining had evidently been waiting long enough. “So, that’s our homeland. But, back to you.” he said. Ryan turned to face him. “You say you do Karate.” Ryan nodded. “For over thirteen years.” Shining nodded. The boy had been raised knowing how to fight. “Are you a warrior?” The room went silent for a moment, all eyes focusing on Ryan. Even Celestia looked at him, anxious for a response. “Yes, in a way, I suppose. I wasn’t a soldier, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Shining leaned forward. “But I can see it in your eyes. You’ve seen combat.” Everypony’s eyes went a little wider, except for Nightlight’s. Celestia seemed a bit surprised herself. “... Yes.”

Twilight’s mouth fell a little bit. He had not planned on her finding this out. Her brother had just single-handedly shredded his plan to keep his past hidden. “It wasn’t pleasant, and I would rather not talk about it.” Ryan looked down and took a sip of tea as he said it. The table was completely silent. “That’s fine.” Celestia broke the silence. Ryan looked back up; Shining was getting a scolding look from his wife, who looked back at Ryan with sad eyes. “Alright.” Shining said. “Sorry to bring it up.” Ryan shook his head. “You had no way of knowing.” With his acceptance of the apology, a collective breath wa let out at the table.

Small talk started breaking out at the table. Mostly, it was between Twilight and her family. They talked about a Crystal Empire, which apparently Shining Armor and Cadance ruled over together. Twilight talked about her experiments. Her parents talked about parent things, and trolled their kids with innuendos a couple of times.

While they spoke, and Celestia was looking at them, Ryan slipped away and into the kitchen with his dinnerware. He looked around; no dishwasher. He walked over to the sink and started cleaning. “Trying to take my job?” Spike asked mockingly from behind. Ryan wasn’t startled. “Of course. My current jobs aren’t paying me enough to get what I want soon enough, so I’ll be taking yours.” Spike laughed. “Well, I hope you’re ready to be abused by Twilight.” Ryan looked at Spike and cocked an eyebrow. “I’m sure she would LOVE to.” Spike got it in a moment of awkwardly putting the pieces together. “Eww!” Ryan shook his head and got back to washing. “Nasty, dude, she’s like my sister!” Ryan nodded. “Exactly.”

Ryan finished washing. “Alright, back into the fray.” Ryan said. He walked out of the kitchen. Celestia noticed him and stood. The others were busy being extremely into whatever conversation they were having, laughing and slapping the table, and didn’t notice. “Hello, Harkness.” Celestia greeted. Spike bowed, but Ryan stood tall. “Hello.” Celestia looked back to her family and extended family. “I’ve been hoping to talk to you one on one. Do you think that we might?” She smiled at him again, trying to get him to relax. No such thing would occur. “Sure.” Ryan patted Spike on the back to go to the table, and walked into the kitchen, followed by the princess.

“Soooo... what’s on your mind?” he asked, curious as to why the leader of a nation was taking interest in him. She sat at the table in the kitchen. “I was just hoping to get to know you a little more. When Twilight sent me a letter inviting me here, I thought she had met a very special somepony.” It took Ryan a moment to process that. “No, I can assure you, she has no such interest in me.” Celestia nodded. “She told me in her letter. But no more of that.” She gestured for Ryan to sit at the table with her. He did so. “I’ve noticed that you seem to be rather tense.” she said, her face looking more concerned now. “Are you alright?” Ryan shrugged. “Well, having a hole blown through my chest cavity couldn’t have helped. But to answer, yes, right now, I am alright.” Celestia must not have been satisfied with the answer. “I think you noticed that I’ve been trying to make you feel safer and trying to get you to relax.” Ryan nodded. “So why aren’t you?” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The last stranger that I met did some bad things to me and my friends. I’m sorry if I’m a bit apprehensive.”

Celestia looked at him, even more concerned. “Who is this stranger, if I may ask? I don’t want you to feel threatened.” Ryan chuckled. “Would you arrest him if you found him?” he asked. Celestia nodded. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. He’s dead.” Celestia blinked twice, then shook her head. “I’m sorry?” she asked. Ryan repeated himself. “How did he die?” she asked. Ryan shook his head. “Like I told Shining Armor, that’s not something I want to talk about.”

Celestia moved over and sat next to Ryan. Her disarming presence proved too much, and he allowed her to move. “I understand.” she said. Ryan had a feeling that she really did. Though not fully. “Are your friends alright?” she asked. Ryan shrugged. “As far as I know, one is still alive.” Celestia’s brow lowered sadly. She put a wing around Ryan. “I’m sorry.” Ryan used his hand to take her wing off. “Yeah, well. I was sorry too. That didn’t help.” He stood up and moved away, leaning against the counter. “They’re gone, and they aren’t coming back.” He had no idea why he was telling her any of this; then he realized that he was TELLING her these things. “I’m not going to say more.”

There was a short silence. Then, Celestia stood up and moved a little closer to Ryan. “Is Harkness your name?” she asked. Ryan looked up at the wall. “... No.” Behind him, she nodded. “Why wouldn’t you tell us your name?” Ryan turned around to face the princess. “Because I’m trying to leave it behind. Now, please, let’s not talk about that.” She nodded. “Okay. But remember, if you need help, you have friends here now who will give it to you.” Ryan nodded. He knew that they would try their damndest, but they wouldn’t get anywhere.

Celestia changed the subject. “So how are you liking Equestria so far?” she asked. “Good enough. It’s better then my world, I think. In some ways.” Celestia smiled. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” She looked back into the room, where the others were laughing away. “It’s good to have things and ponies you care about.” Ryan thought that over. He concluded that it was, in fact, good. “Did you have any family back home?” Ryan thought back on his home and smiled, despite himself. “Yeah. They were great. We did all sorts of fun stuff together.” His smile faltered. “I miss them.” He had been selfish in pursuing Narendra. His family was never going to see him again, and he wouldn’t see them either. Celestia sat in front of him. “I know how you feel. I have seen many friends leave me in my many years alive.” She stood. “But we cannot let the things we lose dominate our lives; we have to focus on what we have. Otherwise, we have nothing.” Ryan looked up at her; she was nice. “Let’s rejoin the others.” Ryan nodded, and they went back into the study area.

While they returned to the table, the other ponies noticed that they had been gone. “Where were you?” Cadance asked, curious. “We were just talking one on one.” She looked around, making sure Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle noticed that she was looking at their parents, and smiled. “He’s a fine young stallion.” That one sentence was enough to turn Twilight’s face red, raise one of Ryan’s eyebrows, stop the parents’ movements, and freeze Shining Armor in place. Cadance giggled. “Twilight, can we talk?” Twilight Velvet said. Still red and glaring at Ryan, not her teacher, Twilight went with her parents into the kitchen.

When they were gone, Celestia and Cadance shared a laugh, all while Shining Armor and Ryan stood there, confused. Then, they got it. “Not funny...” Shining Armor muttered to himself. He looked at Ryan. “You better not have any ideas.” his glare said. Ryan responded with a look of his own. “I don’t know what the hell is going on.” Shining Armor relaxed his gaze, then turned to his wife. “Nice.” he said. Ryan had a feeling that he was about to become the center of a very strange conversation. “Oh, come on, honey. You of all ponies should enjoy messing with your little sister.” Celestia smiled a trollish little smile. Shining Armor sighed. “It’s just because he can’t stand the idea of some stallion whisking his little sister away to romance and wonder.” Cadance commented. Ryan suddenly got it all. “Run! Run! Run!” his brain shouted. But he just sat there. “No. I just... I mean, I don’t...” He was caught.

Ryan tried to shrink away, but Shining walked over and poked his chest. He thought that he was about to be assaulted. “You know what I’m saying, right?” he asked. Ryan blinked. Not expected, but not bad. “I don’t have a little sister, but I can understand why you feel this way. It makes sense to me.” Shining grinned wide and put his foreleg around Ryan. “See?He gets it.” Celestia and Cadance just looked at each other. “Stallions.” they concluded simultaneously. “Psh.” Shining looked at Ryan. “Mares.” Ryan agreed.

Soon, a flustered looking Twilight Sparkle walked out with relieved looking parents. “Now that that is settled, I say we send the stallions away.” Cadance suggested. Ryan, Shining Armor, and Nightlight all looked at her with stunned expressions. “What?” they all asked. Spike came down. “What?” he asked. He was tossed by magic over to Ryan, who caught him with some difficulty. “Yeah. Mares night!” Twilight Velvet shouted. Twilight Sparkle smiled wide, excited to have a girls’ night, it seemed. The stallions, dragon, and man looked to Celestia. “You heard her.” she said, still trollishly smiling. Before they could respond, the combined magic of the mares sent them out the front door.

The stallions all stood up and dusted themselves off. “Well, that happened.” Ryan stated. They all looked at each other. “What now?” he asked. Nightlight looked off in the distance. “I say we hit a bar.” Shining Armor agreed, and as did Ryan. “Hey!” Spike yelled. he wore a mean looking scowl. “I’m not old enough.” Ryan thought for a moment. “We’ll drop you at Rarity’s.” His scowl disappeared, replaced with a look of childish excitement. “Let’s go!” he shouted. The stallions walked off to find a good bar.

In the library, the mares were telling stories about their respective stallions or stallions of the past. “And when Nightlight proposed, he knelt down to ask, but when he did, he slipped and fell right on his face!” They all laughed. Once they were calmed down, they all looked at the door. “Alright. So, what do you ladies think of Harkness?” Twilight Velvet asked. “He seems nice.” Celestia confirmed. “Yes. He’s had his share of troubles, but I think he is good deep down. Though I’m not sure about how happy he is.” Twilight Sparkle looked at her teacher. “I don’t think he is either.” They turned to Cadance, who was silent. “What do you think?”

She looked around, sadly recalling what her spell had told of him. “He’s definitely not happy. At all.” She paused. The other mares didn’t speak. “I used my magic to see if Celestia’s suspicions were correct about you and him.” Twilight blushed. “But the thing is... there was no love in him.”

The reactions varied. Celestia nodded knowingly, like she had already determined that. Twilight Velvet looked horrified at the prospect, and her daughter looked disbelieving. “Whatever he’s experienced, it took away whatever love he had. When I searched, the only things I found were anger, and hate, sadness, loss... the list goes on. I don’t think he was being truthful with us half the time he spoke, and probably for good reasons.” Twilight Sparkle looked at her step-sister displeasingly, but when she saw the genuine sadness in her eyes, she shared the feeling. “How? How could anything do that to someone?” Cadance shook her head. “I can partly answer that.” Celestia said suddenly. “I spoke to him privately in the kitchen. His experiences were quite bad. I got no detail, but he said that as far as he knows, ONE of his friends is still ALIVE.” The other mares let out a collective gasp. “Taken by a very bad being.” She didn’t mention how that being was dead.

The conversation had lost all of its giddiness. “I wish I knew how to help him.” Twilight Sparkle said. Cadance turned her head in her direction. “You did, actually. There was one thing that I found in him that might be a sign of that.” Twilight’s head shot to her step-sister. “He has some level of hope. For what, I’m not sure, but I know it’s there because of you. I don’t think he’s even aware of it; but it’s there. All you can do now is try to make that hope grow into more.” Twilight nodded determinedly. “Than that’s what I’ll do.”

And they left the topic at that and had a fun night of gossip while the stallions were out just drinking.

Honesty

Honesty“Every one of us lives life just once; if we are honest, to live once is enough.” (Greta Grabo)

Ryan was leaning against the wall of his trench, just trying his best to keep his mind clear. The previous night had been difficult. Shining Armor had been trying to get Ryan to drink more then he should, presumably because he knew it would mess up his inhibitions. Shining clearly knew that Ryan wasn’t telling the truth. It was especially highlighted when Shining questioned Ryan’s wartime history. The only reason he had to stop was because Nightlight had told him to. He was pretty cool, Nightlight. He didn’t press Ryan for information.

Ryan learned some interesting things about the two stallions he had to drink with. Shining Armor was a prince, thanks to his marriage to Cadance. He was previously a captain of the guard in Equestria and had fought the Changeling invasion. Ryan had to have it explained to him what a changeling was. It certainly explained why Shining Armor was so interested in Ryan’s secretive past; he naturally didn’t trust Ryan. Nightlight, too, had been a guard, though not as highly ranked as Shining Armor. He seemed more reserved, like he had seen more legitimate combat then Shining Armor.

All, in all, Ryan was just glad to have gotten out with his secrets intact.

From what he had determined from the way they acted and spoke, they would all be here for at least another day. Thankfully, Ryan had to work at Sweet Apple Acres today. They wouldn’t be able to question him so incessantly. “Unless they really want to pester me.” He remembered his conversation with Celestia; no doubt she had told the mares about what she learned. Ryan groaned. “This day is gonna suck.” He looked to either side of himself. He was all alone.

“Hey Ryan.” Or maybe not. Ryan looked up; it was him. “What the hell do you want?” he asked. The Wraith jumped down into the trench and took the opposite side of Ryan. “I just came to chat. Is that so wrong?” Ryan grunted, drawing a chuckle from the Wraith. “Yes.” The Wraith just kept on laughing and shook his head. “Come now, Harkness. You know, that was a terrible name choice. You know what I’m here for.” Ryan glared at him. “No. Enlighten me.” The Wraith stopped smiling for a moment, but it quickly came back. “I’m here to tell you that you have to leave this place. You can’t possibly stay any more.” Ryan sat up and put his hand to the Automag at his side. “What makes you say that?”

The Wraith walked around the trench. “They know that something is up with you. You can’t deny that. And by now, odds are, all of them know. Isn’t that just what you were avoiding?” Ryan stood. “They’re going to run you out of town. Now, if they tried to do that to me, I’d just shoot ’em. And you would too. But that’s the thing; isn’t that what you’re trying to escape from?” Ryan stood on his guard. “I won’t kill any of them unless I have to.” The Wraith laughed loudly. “And what defines ‘have to’?” Ryan could feel sweat on his brow, beading and dropping along his face in tiny droplets. “You can’t. And so you’ll just kill, like you always have.” Ryan pulled the Automag. “Shut up.” “Oh ho ho! Did I strike a nerve?” Ryan stepped forward. “I didn’t have a choice. I-” The Wraith took on a sinister tone. “YOU HAD EVERY CHOICE!” Ryan fell back. “You made your decisions because you’re a selfish pile of trash! You can’t accept that; but you know it to be true.”

Ryan pointed the gun forward. “Oh, what, are you going to shoot me?” The Wraith asked. “Please, by all means. I’ll at least be rid of you.” Ryan snarled. “Gladly.”

He fired the gun, an ear-cracking boom slamming its way through the landscape. The bullet slammed into the dirt behind the Wraith and exploded out of the ground behind him. The smoke from the gun trailed slowly into the air. Behind it, Ryan’s face contorted with anger and confusion. “Surprised?” the Wraith asked. Ryan fired again. “Please, don’t waste more ammo. You might need it.” the Wraith said with a smirk. “How- why- I shot you!” The Wraith bellowed out in laughter. “You honestly thought that would work?” he asked. Ryan scowled. “You can’t shoot me any more then you can shoot yourself. I’m unkillable.” Ryan spun around and leapt out of the trench. “You can’t run forever!” the Wraith shouted after him as he ran. “I will always find you!” Ryan just kept running, the sounds of evil laughter following him like an echo in the darkest cave.

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

Luna woke with a start. She had just had the strangest dream, almost real. She hadn’t been dream traveling that night; she saw no need. But something had awoken her.

She looked over at Starstep, who was snoring and drooling all over Luna’s nice pillows. She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Ah, Starstep.” she whispered. With the grace of a feline, Luna jumped off the bed silently and walked over to the window. Outside, the night was looking fantastic, even if getting ready to come to a close. She could still see her moon and stars all over the sky, especially the special one she made to commemorate her fallen friend. “I wish I could do more.” she thought solemnly. She sat her rump down on the ground and watched the sky.

“You’re up early.” she heard her guard say from behind. “I could say the same for you.” He chuckled. “I always wake up early. It’s just the tin here, I can go back to sleep.” He sat down next to Luna. “I can imagine why.” She leaned into him playfully. He leaned back. “So what got you up so early?” he asked. Luna looked down toward the ground. “I had an unusual dream.” Starstep looked at her, cocked eyebrow and widened eyes. “An unusual dream? For you?” He was honestly surprised. Luan nodded. “Yes. It was about Ryan.” Starstep deflated a bit inside. “But it wasn’t bad. I dreamed that he was here, in Equestria. And he was with several stallions, drinking happily.” She turned and looked up at her guard. “Does it mean something?” Starstep looked outside at the glory of the near dawn. “I think it does.”

They were silent for a moment, then Luna began to hum a gentle tune. “You know you’re killing that lullaby, right?” She used her magic to yank on his tail, earning a yelp from him. “Don’t ruin the moment.” Starstep chuckled, and they went back to looking out the window and into the eternal bounty that is the night sky.

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

Ryan looked back; the Wraith was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have gotten away. “Just what is he?” he wondered. He looked at the pistol in his hand; he had wasted two shots. “Dammit.” He thought back on how much he had left; that left a total of ten for the Automag and fourteen for the Colt. “Gotta conserve it better.” He holstered the gun and walked around the still dark town.

It was odd, really, to walk around a population center and have NOTHING happening. There were no ponies around in the dark, no fillies or colts playing. It was a pure, dead silence. He walked around tentatively, not wanting to risk waking any of the residents. “Probably already woke a bunch with the Automag.” Ryan said to himself. Silently, he cursed the extraordinary loudness of the .44 magnum round.

Ryan still had about two hours before he had to be at the orchards, so he walked around aimlessly. He looked around, saw what might be called the sights. There was town hall, dark and ominous in the black of the night. It stood tall, trying its best to block away the light of the moon. There was a bridge, over the river reflecting all the stars of the endless night. Even the special star shone brightly in it. There was the library, built into a tree, and there was also the boutique, the only other particularly notable building.

Ryan stopped at the boutique, seeing a bench on the other side of the road. He sat down and let out a long, exhausted breath. He hadn’t slept that night; without the alcohol totally taking him over, it only made it easier for him to think of the past. That was why he just sat in his trench, blankly staring into the dirt. “I have to figure things out.” he said to himself. He was buzzed; otherwise, he wouldn't have admitted that.

He heard a rustle of movement behind him. Time froze while he sat at the bench. It was four in the morning; no pony should be out. Ryan got his hand on his Automag. There was a tiny voice behind him. “You shouldn’t be up at this hour, kiddos.” Ryan holstered the gun. “Aww!”

Three little fillies came out from behind the bench and under a bush. “How’d you know we were there?” Applebloom asked in a very whiny little voice. Ryan turned and looked at the kids. “You aren’t that stealthy. Don’t try to get special forces cutie marks.” The fillies looked at him confused, but Ryan quickly dismissed them with more words. “Why are you up at this ungodly hour?” Still looking at him strangely, the girls replied, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Ninjas!” Ryan looked at them; they weren’t even wearing any outfits. “Alright, then.” He looked to the boutique. His guess was that they were having a sleepover there. “Now, get back inside and go to bed. You’ll need your energy for school.” They all looked up at him defiantly. “Not until you tell us why you’re here so early!” Ryan deadpanned at them. “I know you’re sisters and Rainbow Dash. I don’t think they’ll like you three being out so late.” The fillies looked at each other, then sighed in defeat. “Fine.” Applebloom said. “But we’re gonna bug you about this later.” Ryan waved them off, and they went inside the boutique.

Ryan sat on the bench for another hour before deciding to get up and walk to the orchards. He kept finding himself teetering through the streets, though. Twice, he had to stop himself and get his bearings and correct his course. He rubbed his eyes as he walked, trying to get the sand and dirt out of them so he could see. Before he even realized, he was walking into Sweet Apple Acres. “Well, I guess I’m here.” he said to himself. He dragged his feet along as he entered the farm property.

Ryan took his time walking to the barn house where he was to meet Macintosh to start working. His sister didn’t work when Ryan did, probably because she was either heading the stand or hanging out with her friends. Mac wasn’t into that stuff, Ryan could tell; and he was totally fine with that. “Speak of the devil.” he said as he approached the barn. Big Mac was standing there, waiting for Ryan. They nodded to each other before entering and beginning their work.

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

Shining Armor woke up slowly, taking in deep breaths as he got ready to move about. He had just woken up a few minutes before, as usual, next to his fantastic wife Cadance. Her chest rose slowly in her sleep, seemingly in perfect harmony with the chirping birds of the morning. The sunlight shone gloriously through the window of the guest room that Twilight had set aside for them. Inside, the room had a nice, rustic feel; much different from the palace of the Crystal Empire.

He got out of bed, careful not to wake his wife, and looked back. After the previous night, she was most definitely tired. “Such an angel.” he said. Unable to help himself, he walked over to her side of the bed and kissed her on the forehead. He would do anything to protect her.

That brought his thoughts to the human he had met the previous day, Harkness. At least, that was what he called himself. As Celestia had revealed, that was not even his real name. He had refused to share his reasons for the fake name, and had refused to elaborate on what was clearly a violent and complex past. With all this new information, Shining Armor wasn’t sure how he felt about him. He seemed good enough; not a troublemaker. But looks can be deceiving. “I’ll have to confront him today.” he concluded. Cadance would have his head for it, or more likely NOT, but he had to make sure the this family and home country were safe from any harm.

Shining left his room , having decided to talk to Harkness today, and went downstairs, yawning all the way. He, too, had been tired out by the last night, starting with the friendly drinking. That was where his suspicions about Harkness started; he had been evading questions about a specific segment of his past, specifically how he came to Equestria, and hadn’t drank much. Shining tried to loosen up his defenses, but Harkness had seen that very clearly. “He’s hiding something.” Shining said in a loud yawn. If anyone heard it, it was incomprehensible. “And I’m gonna find out what.”

He walked into the kitchen, expecting it to be empty, but instead walked in on Spike and Nightlight having a conversation. “Ah, Shining!” his father said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be awake. Please, join us.” Shining inwardly groaned; he had someone to speak to. But nonetheless, he sat down at the table with his male family members. “So, son, the trick to the heart of any mare is to be honest, kind, generous, but not too generous! Being funny, loyal, VERY important, and being there for them when they need you.” Shining Armor smirked, despite himself. “I remember this talk.” He had gotten it when he was just a colt too. “So, like, the elements of harmony?” Spike responded. Nightlight winked and clicked his tongue. “There you go kiddo.”

That conversation was apparently over, so they turned to Shining. “So, what got you up so early?” Spike asked. “I thought that you would enjoy sleeping in.” Shining looked at his father; he already seemed to know. “I was just thinking about the new guy.” Spike smiled. “He’s practically a brother from another mother. We’re tight.” Nightlight smiled; Shining didn’t. “I’m gonna try to get closer to him, you know? Talk to him.” Spike nodded. “Cool. I think you’ll like him.” Shining scratched his face. “I hope so.” He turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

“Son, you forgot your coffee!” Nightlight shouted after him. Shining turned around and took the coffee from his approaching father with his magic. “Thanks.” he said, grateful for his father’s reminder. Nightlight got up close, right to Shining’s ear. “Be careful where you tread, Shining.” he warned. “Sometimes, it’s best not to wake a sleeping bear.” Shining nodded, taking a sip of the coffee. “Don’t I know.” He walked out of the library and went into the town. It was only seven forty-five.

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

Cadance woke with a big yawn and reached over to put her hoof to her husband’s chest. To her surprise, he wasn’t there. “Shining?” she said, scanning the room. He had this thing he liked to do where he would hide if he woke up first, he would ambush her and they would wrestle on the bed. They never declared a winner, though.

She got up out of bed, not happy with her husband’s absence, but not unhappy for the obvious respite. She was exhausted; the previous night, she had been playing all sorts of games with her family members. “That was really fun.” They had played word games, gossipped about “noble ponies”, and reminisced on the old days. She had recounted how she met Shining Armor, his various blunders, and the great times they were having. Twilight Velvet had recalled her first time meeting Nightlight when he was a guard in the Royal Equestrian UniCorps. That had been a most interesting tale.

As she approached her door, she heard somepony leaving the library down below. She ignored it, and instead moved outside her door and looked around. She felt like she had rolled around in the dirt and mud, like it was clinging to her coat. She felt like a bubble bath. “Now where is the bathroom?” she wondered. She walked about the floor, looking for the bathroom, until she finally found it about as far from her room as it got. “Ah, finally!”

After finishing her shower, she looked at the bathroom clock. It read ten after eight. The extra sleep had been nice. “I love this life.” She had no idea what Harkness’ life had been like.

She went downstairs in the search for his husband. “Hello?” she said. She heard the voices of Spike and Nightlight from the stairs. “Is Shining Armor here?” she asked as she came to the bottom. Nightlight ran out of the kitchen. “No, he just left.” He smiled oddly, but in her tired state, it flew right over Cadance. “Where did he go?” She was curious; Shining never left without word unless it was important. “No idea. He just said good morning and went out.” Cadance looked to the door and shrugged. He would come back later anyway.

She went into the study area to read while she waited. For whatever reason, she felt like reading an epic about an anti hero this morning.

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

Ryan was hard at work with Big Mac in the orchard. Swea coated his brow and was already staining his clothes; luckily, though, he had forgotten his scarf and beret at Twilight’s library the previous night, so he wasn’t wearing those. Those would have made this especially hard.

Still, he would have to try to get them back in the least noticeable manner possible later. He had no desire to continue speaking to any of Twilight’s relatives, particularly Celestia. She could read him like an open book; it made him feel exposed and vulnerable. Twilight’s father, Nightlight, had been respectful of his privacy, but his son was certainly a contrary. He had been trying to get Ryan to divulge information all night. His wife seemed alright, but he had thankfully not had to speak with her.

It was about five after eight. Ryan and Macintosh had been working hard, trying to get as much done that day as possible. They never said a word, as it was neither’s prerogative to do so. They could both appreciate a good bout of silence. It’s good for the mind sometimes.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that an outside source can’t ruin the silence seemingly out of the blue. “Harkness!” A male voice called. Ryan turned; it was Shining Armor. He looked to Macintosh, who had also looked to the source of the voice. After a quick locking of eyes, Macintosh knew that he should probably leave. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation. “What?” Ryan replied, not looking back, but instead watching Macintosh leave. He was respectful; Ryan liked that.

Shining Armor walked over. His steps, while attempting to be gentle, were sinking into the ground under him from the force of his body. Ryan could see the tenseness in his neck, the veins and tendons ever so slightly bulging, like silver ore in a rock bed. His tail was swishing back and forth in short, quick motions. As he got closer, Ryan got a better look at his face. There was nothing friendly about it. His eyes were tensed up, slightly closed as if ready to have something flung at them. The muscles around his mouth twitched. His brow was furrowed. In his eyes, there was a single warning.

“Can I help you?” Ryan asked bluntly. He turned around and started working on the next tree, climbing up and putting distance between himself and the guard captain. “I came to be direct with you.” Ryan was up in the tree, and loosened the gun in the holster. “I’m listening if you feel like starting.” Shining Armor harumphed; few ponies had spoken to him disrespectfully. It wasn’t that it bothered him so much; it was the blatant disregard for common decency. “I want to ask you a few questions.” Ryan picked away at the apples, letting them fall down. One landed on Shining Armor’s horn, getting him to violently shake his head to extract it from his person. “I’m all ears.” Ryan was bounding through the tree. Shining Armor had to circle the tree to follow him. “ You have the eyes of a stallion who’s seen things he shouldn’t have had to.” Ryan tossed down an apple, missing Shining this time around. “And you have the eyes of a man who just got laid. But I don’t broadcast things that aren’t my business.” Shining frowned at the boy in the tree.

Ryan let himself fall from the tree, landing on his feet and sending a jarring sensation through him. He took a note not to do that again. “You’re not getting anything out of me. So please, just leave it.” Ryan started collecting the apples from around the tree. “I’m afraid I can’t.” Shining replied. “You said you were a part of a war.” he stated. “What war?” Ryan stood up. “I’m not talking to you about it. Not you or anyone.” Ryan was growing annoyed. This guy just wouldn’t leave him be. “I’m not asking for your side.” Shining explained, hoping that it would get Ryan to open up. “Just which war.” Ryan sighed. It was already probably public that he had been in a conflict; might as well say which one, if it would get this guy out of here. “The war on terror. Now no more.”

Shining Armor couldn’t leave it there, though. If this guy had been on the wrong side, he couldn’t just let him roam through Equestria. It was too risky. “Now I’m curious.” Shining commented, ready to keep questioning. Ryan scowled at him and out his hand to his side. “Curiosity killed the cat.” he said. “With a .44 magnum.” Shining Armor cocked an eyebrow. He was unfamiliar with the term, so he ignored it. “Sorry, but now I have to ask. Whose side were you on?” Ryan didn’t answer. He had finished picking up the apples, and was picking up the buckets. Shining put his hoof on the one Ryan was picking up. “Whose side were you on?” He was growing angry. Ryan frowned. “Mine. Now. Piss. Off.” Ryan lifted up the bucket, throwing Shining Armor off of it.

Tensions were tight. So tight that Pinkie could probably cut them with a butter knife. Shining Armor moved to intercept Ryan as he walked away. “And what did that side entail?” he asked aggressively. Ryan dropped the buckets and moved his hand behind his back. “My own goals.” Neither moved. “Shining, we can do this two ways.” He didn’t elaborate. When two warriors are about to go at it, words aren’t necessary. Shining knew that it was either leave him alone or fight it out. He moved aside; no need to get in trouble for beating up the new guy in town. “...” Ryan walked past him, keeping an eye on him. Neither spoke. Shining let him go for a moment, then followed.

He wasn’t going to let this go without a good risk assessment. It was just too dangerous. “You do understand that I can’t just let you walk away without some kind of all clear.” he said. Ryan stopped. He turned, eyes filled with the anger and sadness of before. It perturbed Shining Armor to see such eyes. “Shining Armor, if you truly believe me to be a threat to your country,” he began. He turned to face Shining all the way. “than you had better kill me now.”

Shining blinked and shook his head. Had he heard this guy right? “I have no intention of harming any of yours, loved ones or not. I have no reason. As soon as I can, I’ll be out of here forever, never to be seen again.” He stepped toward Shining Armor, eliciting a step back from the stallion. “But if you plan on coming after me after this day, for any reason, I promise you, I will see it coming. And I will take as many of you down with me as I can.” Shining looked into the eyes of the human now two feet in front of him. They were soulless, the eyes of a stallion who had seen bloodshed far beyond the comprehension of almost any pony in this world. “When I turn around, if you don’t snap my neck, we will be perfectly square. But if I detect any confrontation, any bit of a coming fight, you will be dead before you can utter a word.” His words carried more weight than any Shining had ever heard before. He swallowed hard; he was failing to stand his ground. “How many have you killed?” he asked. He didn’t really want to hear the answer. Ryan got less than an inch from Shining’s face. “I count forty.” He turned and walked away.

Shining Armor’s knees finally failed him, and he dropped to the ground like a brass shell casing, his head bobbing and bouncing while he tried to maintain some measure of control over his body. It was an encounter unlike any before. He watched as the human walked away. “I should be stopping him.” Shining Armor charged his horn and took aim. He pointed it and held it steady. And held it. And held it. And held it. He dropped his horn. He couldn’t do it. He wanted for nothing more than to take away this danger to society. But Harkness’ words rang in his ears like a gunshot through mountains. “You will be dead before you can utter a word.” Shining Armor wanted to vomit. He had actually been intimidated into submission by this unknown creature, something no guard is allowed to do. Harkness just kept on walking. “What the hell happened to him?” he wondered. Harkness was definitely not the guy he had met at dinner.

There was the sounds of hoofsteps from behind. Shining Armor half expected it to be Cadance, here to find him and chew him out for bothering Harkness. If she didn’t see any of that, he would have to explain it to her.

But when he turned around, there was not the sleek, beautiful form of his wife. Instead, he was greeted by a massive, barrel-chested, red pony wearing a yoke. The obvious workhorse was looking down at Shining Armor, a nearly blank, yet calculating, look in his eyes. Shining Armor looked up at him and rose himself. Ponies, he had no trouble maintaining his composure for. “Ah don’t think y’all can understand him very well.” That was all the workhorse said before he walked past Shining Armor carrying his own buckets of apples.

Shining Armor looked to the ground, thinking about what had just gone down. He felt strange; he had assumed bad things about Harkness. Albeit, they may have been true, but the farm pony’s words stuck in his mind like Harkness’ had. He looked up at the pony and human in the distance. If anypony clearly knew this guy, it was that one. Shining Armor decided to take the farm pony’s word for it, and he turned around and walked back to the library.

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

Cadance was reading a sad epic of a pony named Mustang who had fought in the last war against the griffons. It was a piece of historical fiction; as far as she could tell, there was no Nighthawk named Mustang who beat the baddies and got the mare in the end.

It was about eight thirty-five when she heard a series of knocks on the door. Nightlight had taken Spike out to teach him about mares, so that was Cadance’s first thought. “I told Spike that I was the one to ask.” She looked around; none of the others, even Celestia, were up yet. She stood and walked over to the door. “Who is it?” she called as she approached. The response surprised her. “It’s Shining.” She recognized her husband’s voice instantly and flung the door open, rushing through to give him a big hug.

“Oh, I didn’t know you would be back so soon!” she said. Shining returned the hug, though not as strongly as usual, and replied, “I didn’t think you would awaken so soon.” He sounded almost a little nervous. Cadance broke the embrace and studied her husband’s face. It looked like something had gotten to him. “Come on inside.” she said, not hiding the concern in her voice.

They walked in and sat in the study area, Shining looking away from Cadance or toward the ground. She put a hoof on his shoulder. “Is something bothering you?” she asked. Shining knew that there was no point in lying. “Well, I just went and had a talk with Harkness.” Cadance blinked. “What?” she asked. Shining lowered his head. “Why does that bother you? What did you two talk about?” Shining rubbed his foreleg guiltily and looked away from Cadance. “Well, I pressed him for information that... may not have what he was hoping to share.” Cadance frowned. She knew he would do this, she just knew. So she wasn’t as mad as she could have been. “You should’ve understood that there are reasons why he wouldn’t want to share.” she criticized. “Why would you-” “He’s killed.”

Cadance stopped. She had trouble realizing what she had just heard. “What?” Shining looked her in the eyes. “He’s taken lives, Cadance. He said that he fought in the War on Terror, or something. I couldn’t figure out what side he was on.” Cadance shook her head. “Why would-” “He killed forty.” Cadance swallowed hard. “I was going to... I don’t know. I’m not sure how to advance from here.” Cadance looked at her husband. This was the only time she had ever seen him in a position where he had no idea what to do. “Maybe you should let him be.” she suggested. “He won’t hurt anypony.” Shining chuckled, throwing Cadance off a bit. “Yeah. He said that he plans on leaving forever as soon as he can.” She listened to this unhappily. This man, Harkness, was suffering. He had done terrible things, obviously. He had seen terrible things, that had to be true. And he seemed to seek to separate himself from society. “That’s no way to live.” Both knew that Harkness would be leaving to live alone. “And I don’t think we should let him.” Shining looked to his wife. “Why not? He won’t be a risk to us.” Cadance deadpanned at her husband. “You never abandoned your own stallions. Don’t abandon this one.”

She stood up and stretched. “Are you going to talk to him?” Shining asked. Cadance looked to the door. “Well, somepony has to.” She walked out, grabbing a green beret and a nice scarf on her way.

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

Ryan was walking back to the fields with Mac when he saw the pink alicorn on the horizon. “Frickin’ dammit!” he thought. Why couldn’t they all just leave him alone?

Ryan looked at Macintosh, who nodded and walked away. Ryan turned around to face the oncoming pink alicorn. “Can I help you?” Ryan asked in his most polite possible voice. He did a piss poor job of it. “I have some things for you.” Cadance said on her approach. As she got closer, Ryan could see that she had his beret and scarf neatly tucked onto her back. She levitated them over to him. “Thank you.” Ryan said. Now, he didn’t have to go back to the library. “But you didn’t come here to do that.” He was looking straight at Cadance, and she shuffled her hooves under his unmoving gaze. “...No.”

She walked up next to Ryan, who moved away to grab his buckets to bring to the fields. “I came to apologize about my husband.” Ryan sighed. He had told her about the encounter, then. “You don’t need to.” Ryan replied. “I don’t require any apologies. I just want to be left alone.” He started walking towards the fields. Cadance followed. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’ll be happening either.” Ryan looked at her, a flash of anger present for just a single moment. That moment was enough to make Cadance take a step back. “Please, Harkness.” she pleaded. She stepped forward and reached out. “We can help you...” Ryan laughed, and Cadance pulled her hoof back. “If you really think you can help me, then you have more problems with your mind than I do with mine.” He walked away. Now, Cadance was offended.

She stormed on after him. “Why won’t you let anypony help you?” she asked. Ryan ignored her. “How can you just allow yourself to be this unhappy? This scarred? How-” “Because some of us deserve it.”

Cadance stopped. So did Ryan. “What?” she asked. Ryan turned around. “Some people deserve to be happy. You do. Your husband does.” He looked off toward the horizon on the mountain. “Some of us don’t. And you have to accept that.” Cadance shook her head. “Everypony deserves to be happy.” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out steadily, monotonously. He turned; his eyes were again soulless and gray, an eternal void of emotions. “Even those who take the lives of innocents?”

Cadance tried to respond, but her jaw was failing her. She wanted to give him a response, something that would get him to allow them to help, but nothing came to her. Neither in words nor in mind, she had nothing. Ryan’s eyes were boring into her, like drills going into a chunk of wood, tearing away and splintering. Cadance closed her mouth and tried to think of a response. “We can all at least try to be decent.” she said, half-heartedly. “You can become good again.” Ryan shook his head. “I can’t.” he replied. “Because I don’t want to be forgiven.” He walked away and left Cadance on her own.

She looked on as he walked away, toward the field. She couldn’t accept that he was evil; if he was, then he would be causing ungodly amounts of trouble right now. But here he was, explaining WHY he was evil. Cadance could only think of one reason to try to help him; he could still be saved. She turned around and trudged away, barely clinging to hope for this human who had been a part of so many terrible things.

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

Ryan walked away from Sweet Apple Acres with his sack of bits and his standard setup. The sack had about one hundred bits in it after having worked in other places this week, and Ryan would be getting a bit more tomorrow from Applejack for his farm work. He was doing well on the farm. He could pick faster than most, seeing as he could specify which apples he wanted, and didn’t have to sort them after they were on the ground. He was getting a good setup; as long as he could try not to spend too much on alcohol, he might be going into the forest sooner rather than later. He just had to scope out the forest to find a good enough spot.

It was beginning to grow dark out. Ryan had been doing mindless work ever since Cadance left him be, but he had been having trouble forgetting about his past for the day. It was stuck in his head. “I’ll go to the bar.” he decided.

He was walking through town when he looked up into the sky and saw something odd. There was a topless carriage flying toward the town, with two ponies on the front. “Must be getting someone.” Ryan figured. He just kept walking, but kept an eye on the carriage. It was coming slowly, like whoever had ordered it wasn’t in any particular rush.

“Harkness.” a motherly voice called out. Ryan groaned. He couldn’t seem to catch a break today. “Yes, princess?” he asked as he turned around. Sure enough, the tall form of Princess Celestia was standing before him. “I wish to speak to you.” Ryan sighed. “Seems like everyone does.” He looked to his right and saw a bench. He sat. “What is it that you want to know?” he asked, not inviting Celestia to sit with him. Celestia walked over to him. Off in the distance, the carriage landed. “I don’t wish to ask you anything.” she said. “Well, maybe I WISH to, but I will refrain from doing so.” Ryan breathed in and out steadily. “Thank you.” He actually did appreciate that. “So what is it that you came to me to talk about?” He still didn't like talking to her though; she made him feel exposed.

“I just want you to know that you will always be welcomed here.” she explained. “I care not for your past, though I would certainly like to know more about it. I know that you are not going to cause trouble here.” Ryan nodded. She already seemed much better than Shining Armor. “But please, understand. The ponies here are friendly, and they already consider you their friend. They wish to help you.” She leaned in. “And I know that you think you don’t deserve help. I can’t even say myself that you do. But these things are rarely ever for us to decide.” Ryan looked at her; she had soothing eyes, soft and kind. Ryan was disarmed. “Please let them help you, if not for yourself, for them. They couldn’t bear it if you were to suffer because they couldn’t help.”

Ryan sighed. “I get that.” he replied. “But why would they want to help me, if I tell them the truth? You already know part of it. With what I did, most places in my world would be screaming for me to get Capital Punishment.” Celestia raised her eyebrow. “Death sentence.” Her eyes widened for just a second, but she regained her control immediately. “And what do you think of that?” she asked. Ryan shrugged. “I think that there are some people who simply deserve to die.” He looked at her. “I’m not an exception to that.” Celestia inched closer. “I can’t say that another man who committed my crimes deserves to die, while I deserve to live. I had motives that were far from noble; I wanted revenge. Sure, they were bad people, but they were still human beings, with families and loved ones.” He looked into Celestia’s eyes; both sets were filled with sadness, though one also had sympathy. “How can I justify ending so many lives and potentially destroying hundreds of others?”

Celestia shook her head. “We cannot always justify such actions. We must learn from them, no matter what they are. I know that I have had such trouble.” She extended a wing to cover Ryan around his shoulders. “We must try to forgive ourselves and to redeem ourselves.” Ryan brushed the wing off. “There is no redemption for the devil.” he said. “He is the one that makes people need redemption.” He sat back and looked to the aging daylit sky. “Have you ever been forced to make a decision? One that no matter what you chose to do, you would be responsible for horrible crimes?” Celestia stared at him; his eyes were closed now, tears forming at the edges. “Have you ever been made to decide who lives and who dies? Who gets to see their child the next day or who gets to go home?” He opened his eyes, still aimed at the sky. They were red and bleary, with tears coming from them in droves now. “Have you ever been made to decide between your own life and the life of that child?” Celestia felt tears forming in her own eyes.

Two guards in Air Guard armor approached, but Celestia waved them off. “No, I can’t say that I have.” she responded. Ryan nodded; he knew that. “But I can say this; if you ever need to talk, or rant, or simply be with somepony, I or any of these humble ponies are readily available.” She stood up. “I will drop whatever I am doing, if you so need. My sister would even do so.” Ryan chuckled, looking to the princess. “Yeah. I know that she would.” Celestia’s brow went up; clearly, he knew Luna somehow. She would have to mention that to her sister. “Well, I must say goodbye for now. I wish you well, and please.” She leaned in. “At least let them try to help you.” He looked at her, but didn’t speak. Then, she turned around and got into her carriage and flew away.

Ryan got up and dredged to the bar, where he would have a good long drink with what was now one hundred bits.

Big Mac walked through the town, looking for his friend of no words. They had spoken ten words, if that, to each other, yet they had a mutual respect and understanding. But Big Mac was going to be going against his understanding. Celestia had asked him to check up on Harkness, so that was what he was going to do.

He had little trouble trying to find Harkness. The only trouble was finding out which bar stallions went to to forget their problems. That just meant the place with the strongest drinks. “The Salt Lick.” he repeated to himself again. He had never heard of this place but once when he was a colt. The hardest drinkers went there.

He stood before the building, taking in the sight. Whoever the owner was, he or she certainly didn’t care much about upkeep. Of course, the customers probably didn’t care either. So why bother? When he entered, Big Mac could see that the inside wasn’t much better. The tables were old, some with rotted legs. The stools were all cheap, metal chairs, some even rusted. The cushions for ponies were torn and taped together. Half of the lights didn't even work. The only part of it that looked even semi-decent was the bar itself.

Big Mac could clearly see Harkness at the bar, hunched over and clearly in a dangerously low state. He had a shot glass in his left hand with a dark liquid in it. Big Mac looked up at the bottles on the shelves; Harkness was drinking Applejack Daniel’s. This particular brew had an almost absurd percentage of alcohol. Big Mac walked forward through the bar to his coworker, careful to avoid bumping into ponies who might be a little too tipsy and depressed to be stable.

“Harkness.” he said. Harkness turned his head to look at the intruder; when he saw Big Mac, he just turned back around to tell him go away. Big Mac shook his head and took a cushion next to Harkness. T Both looked at each other when Big Mac sat down; neither moved. Ryan sighed in defeat, and simply tried to ignore Macintosh’s presence.

Oktoberfest came over, wiping a glass as usual. “What’ll you have, big fella?” he asked. Big Mac looked at the shelf. “Gimme a shot of Samaloco Adams.” Oktoberfest nodded and went to pour the shot. “Princess Celestia asked me to talk to ya.” Macintosh explained. Ryan stayed silent. “She said that y’all need somepony to help ya.” Big Mac waited for a moment while his shot was brought him, thanking the bartender. “But Ah don’t think she can get you.” Ryan looked over, surprised. “Ah don’t think any of us can. Ah will always be there to help, just like everypony else. But Ah ain’t gonna try to make you do anything.” He took a sip from his glass. Ryan did the same. They stayed silent for a time.

Oktoberfest returned, this time looking oddly at the two workers before him. “Anything else?” he asked. Ryan tossed him fifteen bits to pay for his drinks. Big Mac tossed him five. “No.” Ryan said. He looked to Big Mac. He knew what Macintosh was hoping he would do. “I think I’m good.” Together, Macintosh and Ryan walked out and went their separate ways, one to a comfortable home, the other to a roadside ditch.

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

Ryan went to the farm the following morning with a splitting headache. It didn’t come from drinking, though. It came from his own head. The whole night, he had been wrestling with whether or not he would tell anypony anything. No matter how much Celestia or Macintosh wanted, though, Ryan could not find any way to share his history without being ostracized and ultimately end up dead in the forest somewhere.

He eventually gave up and decided that telling the ponies anything was strictly not going to happen. Twilight would no doubt freak out and toss him away with her magic. Applejack could kick him to death. Pinkie could stab him with one of her no doubt hundreds of cooking knives. Rarity would strangle him. Rainbow Dash would probably grab him and drop him from a mile up. The worst, though, was Fluttershy. From what Ryan understood, she could sick a group of bears on him to tear him to shreds. None of it was very helpful for what he wanted to do.

On their way out the previous night, Macintosh saw fit to tell Ryan that he had stand duty, and he would be working with Applejack today. They hadn’t spoken another word after that, but Ryan could tell that he wanted Ryan to think that it would go well. Silently, Ryan had kept on insisting that it wouldn’t end well for him. When they parted ways, Ryan brooded on his luck, cursing Discord for not letting him die.

Discord hadn’t been happy about that. “Oh, so he’s going to be a jerk about being alive, eh?” he had thought. Discord evilly smirked. “Well, let’s see how he likes this.” Discord used his magic to knock over a tree on the way to Ryan’s ditch. “What the hell!?” Ryan shouted. Discord chuckled. He was trying to force him to go the other way. Ryan sighed and went. But what he didn't know was that Discord was forcing him to go toward the exiting parties of Twilight’s parents and Shining Armor and Cadance. When he passed by, there was the most awkward silence. Nightlight nodded curtly. Twilight Velvet smiled, but there was nothing but pity behind it. Cadance did the same, but she at least looked away. The worst was Shining Armor; he was glaring at Ryan with dagger eyes. He was promptly smacked by Twilight Sparkle, who then yelled at him. This prompted Cadance to smack him, and shortly thereafter, everyone was getting in on assaulting the Guard Captain and Prince. Ryan quickly ran away, eager to get out.

Of course, that wasn’t to be the end of Discord’s fun. He had already spent too much time not enjoying himself. “What else can I do?” he wondered. He watched Ryan as he walked. He was slightly buzzed, but not drunk enough to not notice massive changes in things. He gave it some thought. “That’s it!” He watched as Ryan walked over a bridge and slowed down on it to look at the passing water.

Discord created a small explosion in the water just below Ryan, totally soaking him and sending mud everywhere. Rather than freak out, though, Ryan just stood there. He wiped his eyes and looked around. Nothing could explain it. “Damn magic.” he grumbled as he walked away. Discord just laughed away in his mind and left Ryan be, content with what he had accomplished.

That was how his night had gone. Suffice to to say, he was not in a good mood.

Of course, he had no idea that Discord was behind it. So, he was just angry at this world in general. “Damn magic and its damn weirdness.” he kept grumbling. He hadn’t slept much, stupid thinking getting in the way. Even so, it was better than what he would have seen sleeping, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. “I should just stop spending money and get out of here as soon as possible.” he told himself. “Or just buy supplies with what I have now and leave. But then I’d have more trouble living...” He didn't want to live. He hated living at this point. He wanted nothing more than to die. But he had made a promise. “I won’t betray my last friend again.” he thought.

He walked onto the farm in the fading darkness, a stark contrast to his mind. The birds had been chirping a little bit, but seemed to lose interest in noise as Ryan passed. He looked up at each tree, glowering and envious of their easy lives.

“Harkness!” He looked over; Applejack was walking towards him, her older brother in tow behind her. “Y’all ready to work?” she asked. When Ryan nodded, she spun around and waved for him to follow. “Let’s go!” Ryan looked to Macintosh; he just shrugged and left Ryan to work with his little sister.

Ryan caught up to the mare and remained silent as a mouse the whole way to the farm. During the walk, Applejack was constantly looking back at him, as if to ensure that he wasn’t lost or dead, which bothered him. Each time she looked, he would lock eyes with her, getting her to turn away from him. As comfortable as her older brother was around him, she seemed almost ashamed to be close by.

“Alright!” she announced when they reached the barn. “Ah’m gonna plow the fields ‘n you’re gonna plant seeds.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow; it didn’t seem like the time to be planting seeds. “Come on in.” She pushed the door open and sauntered through, and Ryan simply followed, slouching like a neanderthal.

He looked around. “Where are the seeds?” he asked.

“Off to the side, by the rakes.” she said, pointing over to the wall. “They should be behind the barrels.” Ryan walked over, unsure of why there were barrels in the barn. He didn’t bother questioning it, though.

He walked over to the barrels with his hands in his pockets. When he walked around the barrels, his head collided with a very low-lying wooden board. “Ow!” The beret fell off his head, making a soft pomf when it hit the floor, which was covered in hay. He picked it up, rubbing his head, and continued onto where Applejack told him the seed was. “Ah.” The sacks of seeds were in a heap on the ground. Mindful of his head, Ryan bent over and picked up two sacks. They were shockingly light, though, so he picked up two more.

“Why exactly are we planting things when we’re approaching the end of summer?” he asked as he walked out. According to his watch, it was now August Third. He didn’t think about what the date probably should have been. It wouldn’t end well.

“Because,” Applejack began, getting a smaller yoke than Macintosh’s around her neck. It was already connected to the plough. “These particular plants ain’t gonna be comin’ out of the ground until next year. They’re special.” Ryan nodded. “Now, let’s head on out there.” Applejack left the barn, evidently struggling against the plough.

Ryan followed her out of the barn and to the empty field where they would be planting. At the edge, Applejack stopped and took a moment to breathe. Ryan walked up next to her and looked out at the field. “You know, if you’re having trouble, I’m sure Mac would be happy to take the plough.” Applejack waved a hoof, dismissing Ryan’s suggestion.

“Ain’t no problem.” she said, huffing and puffing with the yoke dragging her head down. “Ah’m just as capable as Mac is. Y’all’re gonna see.” She didn't tell him the real reason for her insistence on this. “Trust me.” Ryan put his hands up and went back behind the plough.

Applejack sat on her hind for a moment and thought about what she had been told of him. Harkness had seen war, from what Twilight said. What he did in that war, nopony knew, but war is war. He had apparently called it a “War on Terror”, but none of the girls knew what that meant. It sounded really bad, though. “Twi said that he needs help.” she thought, craning her neck to look back at the human, who was fiddling with an L-shaped metal instrument. He had clearly seen things he should not have, maybe done things he should not have. But Applejack wasn’t one to judge. “So Ah’m gonna try my best.” He was her new friend; it was her obligation.

She stood up. “Alright, time to get moving!” She pushed forward without waiting for a reply. The plough resisted movement, though. “You alright?” Harkness asked from way behind. Applejack strained against the plough. “Yeah, Ah’m good!” The veins in her neck and haunches bulged. Then she ran out of steam. “Dang.” she thought. She looked at the plough, the huge metal contraption refusing to even budge. “Well, Ah don’t think this is happenin’!” she yelled back to Harkness.

He walked forward. “Should we go get Macintosh?” he asked. Applejack shook her head furiously. “No!” she shouted, prompting Ryan to cover his ears. “We can get other things done today that ain’t so hard.” Ryan looked down at her. “Like?” He was growing impatient; he just wanted to work in silence. Applejack could sense it. “Painting and fixing the barn.” she said simply. Ryan breathed deep. “Alright.” He looked back at the plough. “Need help moving it?” A weary Applejack looked up at him, then to the plough, then back. “Sure.” Ryan nodded and went behind the plough. He wasn’t strong enough to move it or really lift it, but he could still reduce friction with the ground by lifting it ever so slightly.

They got the plough back in the barn and took a moment to rest. Ryan went over to the side of the barn where he put the seed sacks back and sat down back there. He plopped onto the sacks, not from exhaustion, but simply from disappointment that his day was no doubt going to involve tip-toeing his way around his past. He could already tell that that was why Applejack had opted to work with him. “Why?” He found himself asking himself that more and more often lately. And still, he never came to an answer.

“Harkness?” Applejack called. He sighed loudly, apparently loud enough for Applejack to hear. She came around the barrels. “Come on, lazy bum! We got work to do!” Ryan looked at her; she was way too happy. “Alright.” As he stood up, he noticed her mood deflate just a little bit at his nonchalance and she frowned. “What?” he asked. Applejack shook her head. “Nothing.” Ryan watched as she walked away, then followed.

She walked to the middle of the barn and stopped, turning around to get a look at Harkness as he approached. “Well, Harkness, there’s a couple of options here.” he stopped and listened. “We can either paint the outside of the barn, or we can fix up the inside.” He looked around; now that he was paying attention, he noticed that there were a lot of loose boards and damaged spots around. “Yeesh.” he commented. Applejack scowled. “Well, Ah guess we’ll be fixing up the inside.” Ryan looked at her, uncaring of whether or not he offended her. “I would say so as well.” He didn’t understand when she harmuphed at him and turned around, tail swishing about.

She grabbed a tool kit from a work area at one end of the room. “Here we go.” she said, the kit messing up her speech while it hung from her jaw. “We need to re-shingle the roof, which Ah can do. You, though, will have to stay inside and fix up the wooden structure of the barn.” Ryan nodded. “Y’all’re gonna take them boards,” she said, pointing at a pile of wooden boards at one end of the room. “and you’re gonna use them to replace old ones or cover up holes. Any questions?” Ryan shook his head. “Good. Ah won’t be long.” Applejack ran back to the work area, grabbed her own tools, and ran outside, leaving Ryan all alone in the barn.

Thankful for the respite, he immediately went about his work. But, rather than pull out a hammer from the toolbox, Ryan just pulled out his own. There were still bloodstains on the wooden handle from when he last used it. “Meh.” It wouldn’t affect his work.

He went and picked up a board and glanced around the barn. There were several holes in the walls, so he just figured he would start with those. One at a time.

He could hear Applejack up on the roof, moving about with heavy hooves. She stomped all over the place, the noise a constant strain on his concentration. When he got over to the wall, he set the board down and took a look at it. “Dammit.” He had forgotten nails. As he turned around, a shadow formed on a patch of light on the ground from a hole in the ceiling. “Y’all good?” Applejack asked. Ryan looked up at her and shouted, “Yeah.” He continued forward and retrieved the nails from the toolbox. The shadow came back. “What?” he asked loudly, frustration growing in his voice. He could sense the glowering stare coming from above. “Ah’ll be down shortly to help out in there.” Ryan grunted in response and went back to work.

Now with the nails, he was able to get to work. At the wall, Ryan bent over and picked up his tools, hammer in hand, board in hand, and nails in mouth. He pressed the board against eh hole and got it into a position where it would cover the entire hole. Once there, he used his elbow to keep it in place and pulled a nail from his mouth and raised the hammer. He started swinging away at the nail, getting it thoroughly into the wall. Before he realized what he was doing, he found himself completely engrossed in the task. He forgot about the blood on the hammer, the killing it had helped him to do. In that moment where he was lost in work, he was able to totally forget about the past.

He kept that up for almost half an hour, hammering away at the nails and mindlessly droning away. It was exactly what he had been hoping for that day. But then it was ruined. “Harkness!” Ryan was startled out of his stupor and dropped the hammer, which landed right on top of his foot. “Goddammit!” He shouted, picking up his foot and cradling it like a child. He fell over, and once recovered, glared at Applejack for startling him. “A little warning next time?” he said.

Applejack smiled sheepishly and trotted over. “Are y’all alright?” she asked. “Ah didn’t mean to startle you.” Ryan stood up and waved hi sarm about. “No, I’m fine. Now what did you come down for?” He picked up the hammer from its spot on the floor and tried to go back about working. “Well, Ah came in to help out with the inside of the barn.” She looked around. “Though Ah guess that you pretty much have it taken care of.” Ryan looked around as well; he had taken care of all of the low-laying damages. “Mostly.” he commented.

He took another board and more nails and went over to a ladder that led up into the rafters where there were more holes. “Be careful.” Applejack warned as he ascended. He shook his head, wishing she would just leave him be. “I’ve been in more dangerous places than this.” He couldn’t see, but below him, Applejack puckered her lips, as if in deep thought.

Once again, he took the hammer and started fixing up the barn, an innocent enough job. Even with that innocence, though, it was still dangerous. The hammer could fall from his hands, or the board might fall. But that didn't concern him, and he finished quickly and descended back to the earth.

Applejack walked over to him, admiring his work on fixing the holes. “Nice work.” she complimented. Ryan hung the hammer back on his vest and looked up. “Good enough. But these aren’t permanent fixes. You’ll need to get a pro in here to patch up the walls.” Applejack smiled at him; he seemed like he was totally absorbed by the work, like nothing could bother him. It seemed like an appropriate time.

“So, Harkness.” she began. He looked over at her, still not in grouch-mode. “Ah decided to work with you today because-” “Because you want to learn more about me.” Applejack blinked at Ryan completing her sentence. “Umm, yeah. So, let’s head on outside, since we still got time to work, and get some apples.” She smiled widely; Ryan did not return it. “Alright.” They walked out and went to the fields.

They had been silent on the way, Ryan in a state of Mushin and Applejack trying to establish how she would go about starting the conversation. They were taking apples from the trees when she finally decided to wing it. “So, where exactly were you surviving before y’all came here?” she asked, getting ready to buck a tree. Ryan was up in a tree, throwing good apples down. “Y’all have a lot of stuff from it, it looks like.” Ryan dropped from his tree, a stoic, cold expression on his face. “The jungle. Where things try to kill you.” Applejack faltered in her kick and missed the tree completely. “That’s about it, honestly.” Applejack looked at him. She knew that it was not “honestly”, but she let it go.

She decided a different approach. “So, what’s the purpose of each of them tools?” she asked. Ryan broke from picking up the apples and looked at his vest. “The hammer is for breaking things. The knife is for eating and cutting vines.” The lies were awful. Applejack looked at the L-shapes instruments. “How about them?” she asked, pointing at the guns. “Those are secret.” Ryan replied quickly, as if letting the question linger would result in some terrible catastrophe. Applejack could sense that she was to get nowhere with this.

Ryan decided to ask some questions in order to get the attention off of him. “So, Applebloom is your little sister, right?” he asked. He already knew that, of course. “Sure is!” Applejack beamed, evidently proud. “Ah love mah little sister, even if she and her friends are a bit prone to trouble.” She chuckled a bit. “What’s so funny?” Ryan asked. Applejack looked around. “If y’all wanna hear a fun little secret,” she began, approaching Ryan. “she and her friends were responsible for releasing Discord.”

Ryan would have spit if he was drinking, choked if he was eating, and run into something if he was walking. “What?” he asked. Applejack nodded. “So, you already know about him, huh?” she asked understandingly. Ryan sighed. “Better than I wish.” Her understanding vanished. “That must have been pretty bad.” Applejack nodded, then went back to bucking. “Yeah. Ain’t no other pony but Rarity that knows about that.” she commented. Ryan’s interest was suddenly piqued. “We don’t want the town to be mad at them or anything.”

Ryan started climbing a tree to get more apples. “If that’s the case, then why tell me?” he asked. “I’m new here. You have no reason to trust me, or think that I won’t judge. Why tell me?” Applejack bucked her tree hard, then turned around, sweaty and nastified. “Well, Ah trust you not to judge. Y’all don’t seem the type.” How’s that for guessing the truth? “And I got no reason not to trust you. Just because you’re a stranger don’t mean y’all can’t be good.”

Ryan stopped picking apples to digest her statement. She was right, at least partially. Not every stranger was evil or dangerous. Of course, with how many Ryan had encountered, he wasn’t willing to take risks. Still, though, it was something for him to think about.

Once he finished his tree, working in silence, he dropped down, only to be greeted from a foot away by Applejack. “GAH!” He fell back and landed on the trunk of the tree. “Don’t do that.” he demanded, Applejack snorting and chuckling the whole time. She stepped forward and extended a hoof, which Ryan took hesitantly. “You know, you can tell us things about yourself that you ain’t proud of. We won’t judge.” Ryan stood up, nearly pulling Applejack down on top of him. “You don’t know that. Trust me.” Applejack let it go, and they walked back to the barn.

They arrived at the barn in another bout of silence, Ryan not intent on talking, and Applejack feeling awkward about not having made the conversations last longer. They stopped outside the wall of the barn and looked at it. “Not too bad.” Applejack commented. “Ah think you could do pretty well with this.” A light bulb turned on in her head. “What’s your cutie mark?” she asked. Perfect conversation starter!

“Humans don’t have them.” Maybe it wasn’t. But she would be damned if she didn’t at least try to to keep this one going. “What?” she asked, poorly faking surprise. “How do you know you’re special talent?” Ryan shrugged. “We don’t. A lot of people never find what makes them happy.” Applejack’s jaw was agape from speaking, and did not close after she heard that. She blinked three times, trying to think of a response, but she was struck speechless. How could he be so nonchalant about that?

However, seeing that he thought of it as normal, she did not press the issue. It would probably just depress her, anyhow. She changed the subject, looking at Ryan’s tools for inspiration. “Nice hammer.” She mentally hoof-smacked herself for the stupid comment. Ryan looked down at his hammer.

It was a nice hammer, actually. The handle, minus the blood stains, was a polished hardwood, maybe Cocobolo. It was sleek in his hand, designed for extended use. The head was perfectly flat on the hammer side, and the wedge for removing nails was rounded just enough at the edges that it wouldn’t randomly pierce the skin, but wouldn’t have trouble getting under a nail. It was a good tool. But that wasn’t the primary detail that Ryan noticed. It was that it wasn’t this tool made for taking lives. Now, it was just this thing that people world-wide used for normal work, not the deadly weapon he had made it. It wasn’t some danger to society that he had to hold in order to prevent its evil from escaping. It was a hammer.

“Do you want it?” he asked, picking it out and holding it out to Applejack. She reeled back a little, surprised by the offer. “I have no use of it any more.”

Applejack looked at the hammer, then to Ryan, then back to the hammer. “Alright.” she said. She took the hammer in her mouth by the head. “Thanksh.” Ryan nodded. “Don’t mention it.” Once the hammer was out of his hand, he could feel the lack of its weight there, like a person had come and relieved him of some of the crap he had been carrying with him. He looked at his watch, then to the darkening, orange sky. “Guess work’s over.” he said. Without waiting for a response, he turned around and walked off, leaving Applejack alone and ponderous by that big red barn.

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It was Friday night, and all the ponies seemed to be out tonight. Little ones were over at friends’ homes, playing games, occasionally running through the streets, chased by adults. Older ponies were walking about in the moonlight, some on romantic dates, others just because it was a nice night. Other ponies, like Twilight Sparkle, were just outside reading in the dim moonlight, using magic or lamps to aid in their task. The night sky was gorgeous; the stars twinkled bright, the moon shone brilliantly, and the constellations were extraordinary. Everyone was enjoying themselves that night.

Except for those ponies, and one huan, at The Salt Lick. As per their norm, they were all just wallowing in the pools of their misery, even on such a beautiful night. If Luna saw them this way, she would no doubt have their heads. And there was one in particular that she would no doubt want to keep.

“Give me another Samolaco Adams.” Ryan ordered from the new waitress. Oktoberfest had hired her because he was growing old and tired, and needed some other pony to be walking around taking orders. The waitress jotted down Ryan’s order and nodded. “Yes sir, right away.” She walked off, swinging her hind like a human girl would who’s trying to show off. No doubt, the reason why she was hired was because all of the stallions in the bar were looking her way all the time. She had a light charcoal coat and a dark orange mane and tail, which she swished around any chance she got. Ryan still had yet to get her name. “Oh well.”

She wasn’t a bad waitress; she always got him his drinks to him quickly. Her attitude wasn’t too perky, but just barely fit in with the atmosphere of the place. She also kept referring to him as “sir”, which bothered him. He wasn’t worthy of that title; he was no one’s superior, and never would be. When he asked her about it, she said that she refers to all soldiers with “sir”. Twilight had apparently told everyone about what she unfortunately overheard.

He just sat in his booth, trying to stay out of sight in case anyone came looking for him this night. He had had a long day. Not because of ponies, mind. He had been having trouble with his past. The previous night, he was having more nightmares, which kept getting more aggressive and difficult to deal with. They haunted him for the whole day, and now, here he was, drinking away the night.

There was a series of clop clop clop noises coming from off to his behind, where the door was. He listened intently to them; they were much too heavy to be the new waitress’, and Oktoberfest wasn’t about to come out. They sounded like they were coming from a large body, one that could generate great power with little effort. After a few minutes, they approached Ryan from behind. “Hello Mac.”

Big Macintosh stopped behind Ryan, surprised that he could tell who was coming from behind him. Of course, with the few things that Mac did know about him, it wasn’t terribly surprising. Without speaking, Mac went to the other side of the booth and sat. Ryan, who was nursing his current drink, which was nearly gone, merely looked up with dying eyes for a moment, then let them fall back to the table. The waitress returned. “Oh.” She hadn’t expected company. “Umm, what will you have?” she asked. Big Mac pointed his muzzle at Ryan’s drink. The waitress nodded. “Alright, babe.” She winked. “Coming right up.” She walked away, with even more swagger and swishing than before.

Ryan took in a deep breath and looked up at Big Mac. His coworker was looking in the direction of the waitress, eyes just under being wide, his nostrils moving very slightly. Eventually, when he turned around to look back at Ryan, Ryan raised an eyebrow and tilted his head toward the bar. Big Mac shook his head and put his hooves on the table, a small smile crossing his lips. Ryan shrugged and raised his glass to down the remainder of his drink.

Soon, both workers had their full drinks, this one being Ryan’s third, and they sat in silence once again. For a time, neither seemed interested on any kind of actual contact with one another, but that changed fairly quickly. Big Mac stared at Ryan while he looked down, and Ryan could sense it on his scalp, like the tingle of an itch. He looked up; Big Mac looked serious. Ryan shook his head and sat back, drink in hand. The beer sloshed around in the glass, nearly spilling over, like angry waves attacking the shoreline. Big Mac motioned at the drink, than at Ryan. Ryan sighed, defeated, knowing that it was true. He downed the drink, then looked at his coworker, becoming somewhat resentful of his presence. He looked straight into Mac’s eyes, boring through them to find out why he had come. Big Mac stood his ground, only showing sympathy for Ryan in his state of misery.

Ryan gave up on his endeavor. “Waitress?” he said, shaky in voice, mind, and body. His troubles weren’t going to be hidden by alcohol; only forgotten in the morning. She came over. “What can I get you, hon?” she asked, a worried expression on her face. Ryan swallowed hard, trying to think of whether or not he wanted more or something stronger. “I’ll have another.” The waitress nodded, not hiding her worry in her face. Big Mac looked at her hard; when she noticed, she met his gaze, and he revealed his intentions for the human. “And my name is Cinny.” Cinny walked away to get more drinks.

Ryan glanced at Mac, who was quietly sipping away at his drink, looking innocent enough. Ryan knew that he was, too. His eyes said that he had never known anything but life in Ponyville. He never knew true suffering. He never saw the horrors that life had to offer. He had never been forced to make impossible decisions, watch his kind die... take the lives of his fellow ponies. He could never understand. But then again, he wasn’t trying to. He was just sitting in front of Ryan silently, a presence, not interfering with what Ryan was doing or trying to change how he was living. And Ryan was perfectly fine with that.

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Luna walked heavy-hoffedly to the throne room that night. She had no desire to be dealing with all the nobles and their pathetic problems; not one ever came to her with a real problem. Although, they might have; she couldn’t tell any more. She thought of almost all problems as petty now.

Starstep walked behind her, his usual guard’s stoic expression on his face. His armor clacked a bit as he walked. Each time it did, it struck a very quiet cord in Luna’s mind. The clacking was like the ticking of a stopwatch. Once it stopped, she knew that it meant that she would have to do something.

But she got lucky that night. “Lulu!” She turned around; her sister walked over to her, a soft smile on her face. Her aloof demeanor and happy attitude served to alleviate some of Luna’s foul mood. Her sister typically managed to do that. “Ah, Celestia. Good to see you.” Her sister came up next to her, and they walked together down the hall, followed by a now much larger contingent of guards. “I wish I could chat, but I must attend the Lunar Court.” She said it with evident disgust. Celestia giggled. “You know, I might be able to help.” Luna looked at her, brow raised. “Maybe you could join me for an important talk in my chambers?” Luna smiled wide and nodded. “Guards!” she shouted as she spun around, all but Starstep coming to attention. “Tell the court that it is dismissed. If there are any serious cases, they may return tomorrow night.” The guards saluted and marched off.

The two princesses and one guard walked away from the scene, the ladies giggling like they had done something naughty. Starstep had let a little smirk creep onto his face, and he chuckled just a bit. Once they were far enough from the court and nopony would hear, the princesses laughed loudly into the nighttime air, releasing their pent up humor.

By the time they had gotten to Celestia’s chambers, they had calmed down considerably and were quiet once more. Celestia opened the door tentatively, as if she thought there might be a sleeping stallion inside. Once the door was open, and they clearly saw that they were alone, the three ponies entered and shut the door.

Celestia went over to her little coffee table, followed by her sister, but not Starstep, who hung back. They both looked at him, curious, but when they saw his look of wariness, they simply chuckled and let him be. As much of a confession as one could get.

“So, how was your trip to Ponyville?” Luna asked. Celestia used her magic to lift up two cups of tea and the pot and poured them each a drink. “Very nice, though not at all what I was expecting.” Luna “ooh”d at this as she took her tea, her childish nature of curiosity and wonder taking over. “What was so interesting, if I may ask?” Both princesses took a sip of their tea, smacking their lips in satisfaction. “The new friend Twilight mentioned was... different than expected.” As soon as she said that, Starstep took interest in the conversation and stepped forward, trying to discern whatever he could about the conversation. “What was so interesting?” Luna asked.

Celestia took another sip of her tea. “Well, first thing is that her friend is male. That shocked me, but that was in the letter. At first, I thought she found a nice stallion for herself.” She looked at Luna’s expression, which looked doubtful, eliciting a chuckle from the ruler of the sun. “Well, when I saw that he isn’t a pony, I figured out why that wasn’t it.” Luna had been sipping her tea, but stopped when she heard that. “What?” she asked. Celestia nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid what exactly he is had escaped my memory, but it was interesting.” Her smile faltered, fading rapidly like a sped up sunset. “He has suffered, this much I can tell. He saw things that nopony should see, much like you, Starstep.” she said, switching to Starstep mid-speech. He looked sad at the comment. “I hope that my student and her friends can help him, but I do not know. But, back to a lighter note, he seems quite fine, not at all undesirable for a resident. Except for the potential for alcoholism.”

Luna took it all in, finding herself going back to her memories of Ryan. The description matched him well, except for the alcoholism. From what she had seen early on, he wasn’t that kind of person. Of course, he wasn’t the kind of person he had once been at all around the time he died anyway. “What is his name?” she asked, curious but hopeful. Her hopes were destined to be dashed for the time being. “He said his name is Harkness.” Luna’s ears fell flat, her face sagging like a sad old mare. “But he was certainly lying. I managed to get that out of him.” Luna’s ears remained down. She shouldn’t have let her hopes get up. Ryan died, and there was no getting away from that. “I see.” Her mood was ruined now, all thanks to her inability to keep the colt out of her head.

Celestia, sensing the change in mood but not questioning it, stood and stretched. “Well, I believe that it is time for us to go to bed now.” Luna stood up and turned around, hyper-extending her legs to pop the joints around. “Indeed.” She started to walk away, but her sister had one last thing to say. “Oh, I almost forgot!” Luna turned around. “He knows you personally.” Luna blinked. She had never met this stallion or whatever. How could he know her? Maybe it was a griffon-pony combo; those existed as far as she could tell. Or it could be something entirely different. “Interesting.” she said. Starstep walked up next to her and poked her side, sensing that Luna might start thinking about Ryan. “Well, good night.” Celestia returned the gesture and shut her doors once Luna left.

She walked down the hallway in a sullen, but not terribly unhappy silence. She hoped that she might get to meet this guy some time.

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

It was half past eight, Saturday morning. The birds were chirping head-bangingly, the grass was moist with glistening dew, and all the morning animals and ponies were on their little routines.

Ryan was walking to Fluttershy’s cottage to do that cataloguing thing with her. Being the only human, it was his job to let her get an idea of what humans are like physically. If he ever needed a nurse for a specific problem, she would end up being the one to go to.

He was on the trail to her cottage, a strange place built into a big, twisted tree on top of a hill. Animals were everywhere; in the tree, on the ground, in the air, in the water, in his face, clinging to his pants, looking up at him from underneath. “No view for you.” he said, kicking at the animals, which responded by angrily waving limbs at him. He cocked his brow at them; they were actually intelligent. “Great. This’ll be fun.” He walked past the animals to the cottage house.

On the way there, the door opened up and a familiar workhorse walked out. He had two empty baskets attached to his sides. “Thank you again, Big Mac.” Fluttershy said, coming out from behind the massive stallion. He nodded his head. “No problem.” he replied. They stood there for a moment, silent, awkwardly looking around. Fluttershy almost immediately saw Ryan. “Oh!” she announced, drawing Mac’s attention to Ryan. He would swear that he saw the stallion’s face go dark, but he couldn’t really tell. “I’m glad you made it, Harkness.” she said, turning around and waving her hoof. “Please, come in.” She walked inside. Ryan walked past Mac, giving him a sneer as he passed him. Mac grumped at him. Shut up. Ryan just chuckled and walked inside.

The inside was no better than the outside; it might have been worse. There were bird houses EVERYWHERE, hanging from the ceiling just high enough that RYan wasn’t banging into them. There were dozens of mouseholes in the walls, each one with a mouse looking out of it. Each one that saw Ryan ran inside and shut a tiny door. Looking around, Ran also noted some raccoon nests, squirrels, chipmunks, and a bear. “Is that a bear?” he asked, pointing to the behemoth in the corner. It growled at him. “Mr. Bear, you should be nicer to our guests!” she said, staring at Mr. Bear. He submitted much faster than any self-respecting bear should have. “So it is.” Ryan concluded thoughtfully. He would have to be careful; that bear, like all animals, could obviously see into Ryan like a clear lake.

Fluttershy pointed at a large, lush couch by the wall. “Please, lie down.” she said. Ryan walked over suspiciously. It looked like a therapy couch, but he wasn’t to judge their fashion. he laid down slowly, keeping an eye on that bear in the corner. “Great. I’m going to start by asking you questions about your anatomy, then we can move onto the next step.” Ryan breathed slowly; he would have to prevent that next stage.

She started with simple questions, like “What are your limbs called?” and “what major organs do you know you have?” He answered them with ease; there were only a few organs he couldn’t remember from health class. Bone and nerve structure were simple, as was the immune system. It got awkward around the reproductive system. “Umm...” She was pretty hesitant. “Where are your, umm, genitals?” she asked quietly. It was a good thing Ryan was listening; he wasn’t sure she would repeat that. “Between my legs.” Fluttershy grew red. “O-okay. And umm, how do they,umm...” Ryan took over to keep her from being too embarrassed. “They hang free, and they’re just like what I assume most of the stallions around here have. One, then two.” Fluttershy wasn’t spared the embarrassment, though. She hid behind her mane.

A thought popped into Ryan’s head, and he just couldn’t resist. “Is this about Big Mac?” he asked, giving her a “Oh, you!” kind of look. The mare’s pupils became almost microscopic; her face wasn’t even remotely yellow any more; she breathed so shallow, you couldn’t see it. “No!” she yelled, getting all of the animals to look at them. Ryan chuckled. He would stop there; he was still at least part gentleman when it came to shy girls. “Okay then.” Fluttershy stared at him, her pupils getting really big. Her timidness had disappeared without a moment’s notice, and she almost seemed mad. Ryan was confused. “I did not do that.” They locked eyes; in Fluttershy’s, he could see strength that he hadn’t thought to be there. There was an inferno of passion of the soul, born from a pilot light from her mind.

Fluttershy had trouble maintaining The Stare for long. She couldn’t bear what she was seeing in this human’s soul; pain, anguish, anger, hatred, suffering. She had never even heard of anything like it before, save for the veterans of the last war with the Griffons. She broke her gaze. “Please, don’t think that of me.” She looked less powerful now, but she still held unexpected confidence. Still perplexed, Ryan looked sideways at her. “Allllriiight, then?” He had no clue what had just happened. Of course, he did not know that no pony had ever resisted The Stare before.

They broke away from that little event and continued cataloguing. Ryan told her a little about the history of humans and their evolution, their dominance of the world, and their adaptations. But then, the tough part came.

“I need you to remove your clothes so I can get a good sketch of you.” Ryan gulped hard; he had to steer away from this. “Well, Fluttershy, like how you're not that kind of mare, I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t do pornos.” Fluttershy flushed a little, but did her best to maintain her composure. “It’s not that. And yes, I do understand about... that.” She pointed at Ryan’s crotch. “But I have to catalogue all animals that haven’t been catalogued. So I’m used to that, especially as a vet.” Ryan inched away, into the wall. “Well, I don’t want to do that. I’m not comfortable.”

Fluttershy moved closer, trying to make him more comfortable. Never, EVER move closer to a cornered animal if it’s scared. “Please, just do it. I promise I won’t laugh.” Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but just blinked when he realized what she said. He decided to get serious, since joking wasn’t working. “Sorry, Fluttershy, but I don’t want to. I think that you would be a little disturbed by what you saw.” Fluttershy frowned. “I don’t-” “And you probably won’t understand. If you saw, trust me, you would get it. But you won’t see. So that’s that.” He stood up and went for the exit. When Fluttershy followed, he turned around and looked down at her, being as tall as possible. “Please. It’s for your good, not mine.” That was so solidly true it would make a better weapon than a brick.

She stopped. She was a vet, but she was also compassionate about the animals’ and ponies’ problems. She wasn’t going to force him to do anything. “Alright. You can go.” Ryan nodded. “Thanks. And I was glad to help.” No, he wasn’t. Not at all.

He left and walked through town, looking for that tiny river so he could get a good look at himself. When he got there, he was indifferent about what he saw; he looked like hammered shit, with several distinct marks from each of the places where he had gone, namely Vietnam. His face looked like it was naturally dirty, coarse, and smelly. His clothes, while clean of blood, had once again become disgusting and smelled like garbage. Overall; not too bad.

Rarity would never say that, though. “Harkness!” she said, posh and proper. Ryan started, and nearly fell into the water. How had he allowed anypony to sneak up on him? “Hello, Rarity.” He turned. “And Applejack.”

The two mares were smiling and walking together, a stark contrast to one another. One was clean and and purple, walked with regal posture, wore a fashionable scarf. The other was dirty, a rusty orange, wearing no clothes at all and had a workers’ poise. “Howdy!” Applejack greeted giddily. “How are y’all today?” The two mares were way too happy; something was up. “I’m good enough. Just finished with Fluttershy.” The mares did not seem to care, except that it meant that Ryan was free to talk to them. “Well, since you’re done, why not join us for a walk?” Ryan considered the option. They wanted something, he could tell. But he would be taking a big risk if he said no. “Alright.”

He stood up and walked with the mares around town, not joining in on their conversation as they walked. They were talking about stallions. “Ah’d like a good, hard working stallion for me. Ain’t no other gonna work.” Rarity nodded. “I want a handsome, noble stallion. And one who’s of good stature, of course.” She gave Applejack a sly smile, drawing a frustrated look from the farm mare. “Well, Ah can’t say that Ah think Big Mac would.” Rarity looked around. “Well, who ever said I meant Big Mac?” she said in mock offense. “What if I meant Harkness?”

Ryan turned around at the sound of his fake name. “What?” he said in mild surprise. Rarity nodded. “Yes. I mean, just look at you!” He did; he saw very little. “I see a strong... human? Who works hard and is rather impressive.” She was trying to get to Ryan, but it was doomed to fail. “Well, I AM rather large.” He shrugged. “But I bet you already saw that while I was showering.” Applejack looked at her friend, barely containing her hysteric laughter. Rarity was turning red. “Well, I can assure you, that if I wanted such a thing, I would have taken it.” Ryan out his hands in the air. “Well, I guess that you would love to just take advantage of me, then.” Applejack couldn’t hold it any more, and she dropped, bellowing out her laughter. Passing ponies looked on with interest.

Rarity used her magic to toss dirt at Applejack. “Well, I suppose that you would be rather afraid to hear our plans for tomorrow.” she said in mock disappointment. Now he actually was afraid. “What are you planning?” Hi fear was evident in his voice, making Rarity wince at having actually scared him. “We’re taking you to the SPA!”

He blinked several times, unable to understand why he was going to a spa. “Spas aren’t really my thing...” he tried. Applejack looked at him, not happy with the response one bit. “We already told the gals that you would be there, Harkness.” Ryan actually felt like he had been slapped across the face. “Fluttershy said that it would be good for you, so we agreed and told ‘em.” Fluttershy, of course. She had gone around the rules to get this. He would have to keep an eye on her in the future. “Now, you’re gonna join us cuz’ it’ll be nice, and you’ll feel great.” Ryan looked between the two mares, trying to find a way out. Regrettably, thanks to Rarity’s dangerous, potential sexal-assault magic, there was no way. He sighed loudly. “Fine.” The mares smiled big and ran up to him and bear hugged him. “You’ll love it, we swear!” Ryan shook his head. Why was he letting these things happen to him?

When the mares let go, Ryan nodded to them and took his leave, feeling the taste of defeat manifesting itself in his mouth as he considered how to explain the distinct scars in a way that would fail to indicate what he had done to get them and everything after.

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

He walked around the town in the dark of the predawn, still wondering what to say. Nothing had come to mind during the night, which he had spent mostly drunk and barely conscious. That was the trouble with forgetting; he couldn’t think either.

He was stuck. He had agreed to go with them to the spa, but he had no story to go off of. “I’ll wing it.” he decided. He could probably come up with something pretty good on the spot. He had done it before; he could do it again.

Rarity had told him before he left to be at her home early, around eight, for a whole day at the spa. So, that was where Ryan headed. He found his bench from before, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders had tried to attack him, and simply sat for hours until well after the sun rose from its spot below the horizon. Ryan’s star still twinkled a little into the early morning, fading at times, but always coming back strong, until its light was blocked by the sun. It seemed like it had a connection to him, though he couldn’t see how. Even in a world of magic, he hadn’t earned his own star.

It was about quarter after seven when he came back. “Well, Ryan, I see that you’re in something of a tight spot.” The Wraith commented. Ryan grunted, putting his hand to the Automag. “You remember how that went last time, right?” Ryan looked at the pistol which had been so ineffective before and took his hand away from it. “Good.” The Wraith said.

The Wraith sat down beside Ryan on the bench and crossed his legs, whistling a little tune. “What do you want?” Ryan asked. He was looking angrily at The Wraith, his resentment for his past dominating his features. The Wraith put his hands up into the air. “What, I can’t spend time with my brother, whom I connect to so very much?” He struck a cord in Ryan with that one. “No, you can’t. Now piss off.” Ryan stood up and went to walk away, but was quickly stopped when he heard several noises from inside the boutique.

“Whoops. Can’t just ditch her, now can you? That’s what I’d do.” Ryan scowled. He only had a short wait until Rarity came out to get him, and there was no way that The Wraith was to leave him until that time came. So he might as well just wait. “Tell me something, Wraith.” He turned around and looked at The Wraith, who had his arms open and out wide. “All ears.” Ryan took several steps forward, trying to be intimidating. It didn’t work. “Why are you pestering me?” he asked. “What have you got to gain from this?”

The Wraith put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. “I suppose it makes for an interesting story.” he said. Ryan shook his head, confused. “What?” The Wraith suddenly pulled out a book with a strange binding to it and odd symbols on the front. “You see this book?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “This book is the story of your life. Everything that happens gets recorded in here, all thanks to the magic of this land.” He waved the book around, then flipped it open. “Says here that you went and got a dance back in Australia, had a good time.” He looked at Ryan, whose face revealed no reaction. The Wraith shrugged and put the book away.

“Unfortunately, it can’t see the future.” The Wraith smiled and lightly looked at Ryan. “But I don’t think I’ll need it to see your future.” Ryan sharply took in a deep breath and put his hand back on the gun. “Fuck yourself.” The Wraith stood up, cracking his joints as he did so and let out a long sigh. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid that I have to go. Things to do, places to go, ponies to see.” Ryan blinked, and The Wraith was gone. He sighed loudly, resentful of the being’s presence, and went and knocked on the door of the boutique.

He knocked three times, then heard a big clamor inside the store. Rather than go inside and investigate, though, he waited at the door, not eager to get involved in any of the potential craziness inside. After a few minutes, the door opened, revealing the tiny form of Sweetie Belle. “Harkness!” she shouted, a silly grin splaying out on her face. “You’re going to the spa today!” Ryan nodded, unsure of why she felt the need to announce that. Kids. “Yeah. Where’s Rarity?” Sweetie Belle waved him in and walked him to the stage of the room.

Upstairs, there was a ton of noise and the sound of a panic. “Is everything alright?” Ryan asked. Sweetie Belle dismissed it with a wave of her hoof and a shake of her head. “She’s just working on an order. She does this alot.” Ryan nodded, sitting down on the stage, and was ready to let his mind wander when Sweetie Belle wasn’t letting him do so. “Harkness?” she said. Ryan looked down; she wore a sad face for some reason. “What?” he asked, taken off guard. “Can I ask you to do something?” She pouted and blinked three times, looking tiny and weak on the floor. Ryan didn’t even try, sighing in defeat. “Sure.”

Her smile returned instantly, practically illuminating the room. “Next week we have to bring in somepony we know for a project at school!” she began. “Most kids are bringing family, but mine is too busy. Would you come with me?” She looked at him with such hope that even Ryan didn’t have the lack of heart to deny her. It was too much like Joey. “Depends.” he stalled. “What would I be doing?” He secretly wished that Rarity would hurry it up up there. “Well, we have to bring in somepony to tell us about their job and life, and answer questions for the class. That’s why most ponies are bringing family. Scootaloo’s bringing in Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, shit.” He had just basically agreed to revealing himself to a bunch of little children. At this point, he could hardly say no. But he could make excuses. “Well, I never had a job, I was just a student. I can’t-” “Then how did you get so badly hurt?”

Ryan didn’t continue with his sentence. Through the power of observation, something Ryan thought to generally be missing among the intelligent life he had spent the most time around, she had figured out that he did some very different things from most people. He had to think fast. “A series of events that I don’t think children should hear.” Sweetie Belle looked up at him in total awe. He was just digging his hole that much deeper every time he opened his mouth.

Then, his saving grace came. “Rarity!” he shouted in an attempt to get Sweetie Belle to look that way. It worked. “Ready to get going?” He smiled as big as possible to indicate that the little sister was pestering him ferociously. She took notice immediately. “Sure, darling, just let me get a few things in order. I will be but a moment.” That moment was all Sweetie Belle needed. “So, can you do it?” Straight forward, no way around it. Ryan clenched his teeth under his lips for a moment, then replied calmly, “Sure.” The tiny filly leapt into the air, legs splayed out wide and horn slightly aglow. “YAY!”

Rarity came back and looked hurriedly at the clock. “Oh, dear, we’ll be late!” She used her magic to grab a small bag and then Ryan by the neck of his jacket, dragging him along the floor to the door. It was a highly unpleasant experience for the human, who grunted loudly as he was pulled along. “Later Harkness!” Sweetie Belle shouted. Ryan saluted her as he was dragged away along the unpolished marble floor.

Once outside, Rarity released Ryan form her overly invasive magic and he fell like a boulder to the ground, creating a big thud. He just got back up. “Thanks for the save, but it was a little bit late.” Ryan said. Rarity nodded rapidly at him, prancing about. “Yes, yes, you’re welcome, but we must hurry!” She turned around and started running, and Ryan ran after her, much slower due to his lack of horse anatomy. Humans aren’t built for that kind of powerful running. “What time is it?” Ryan looked at his watch; it was quarter ‘til. They had plenty of time. Rarity just hated the idea of being late, it seemed.

Rarity arrived about twenty seconds before Ryan did, looking rather distasteful when she sniffed the air upon Ryan’s arrival. He was sweaty and gross already. “Egad, you really could use a spa treatment.” Ryan stopped before her, panting like a dog, and held up his index finger. Then, he said, “Well, if you weren’t trying to weaken me so much to the point of defenselessness, maybe I would be looking better.” They had run there incredibly fast; faster than Ryan had ever run before. Rarity turned mildly red, and flung her mane to the side with a whisk of her head. “Well, I assure you, I am strong enough already.” Ryan just glanced up at her, finally starting to recover from his exertion. “Well,” he said, standing up as tall as possible. “I think that you’ll find me to be more durable than you in the end. And at the climax of the battle, isn’t the ability to take it and give it back what really counts?” Rarity looked flustered, but let out a fit of giggles. “Oh, my. I can’t seem to win.” She then looked like she had some kind of revelation. “Oh, I nearly forgot!” She pulled out a pair of shorts that Ryan would wear from her small bag. “I made this for you for today.”

She gave Ryan a pair of swim trunks that would fit snugly over his waist. “Oh. Thanks.” he said. Once that was done, they went inside and looked around the waiting room. Sure enough, all of the mares, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were there. Rainbow, though, looked around like she had stolen something. “Yo.” Ryan greeted, taking the chance from Rarity to extend it and start more of a conversation. The mares all looked over at the pair as it entered. “Hey!” Pinkie yelled back. She bounced out of her seat and straight at Ryan.

“So, are you ready for your super relaxing awesome wonderful super duper day at the spa!?” Ryan blinked. “Yes?” Pinkie stood on her hind legs, like a human, and extended her forelegs out to the sides. Ryan rolled his eyes and picked her up, getting giggles from her and her friends. Except Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash; they looked nervous, both, and shameful, too.

Ryan walked over and took a seat that looked toward the door and the group of mares before him. To his right, Fluttershy was trying to hide behind her mane and Rainbow Dash, while Rainbow Dash was looking around like she had committed a crime. “What’s with you two?” Ryan asked. Fluttershy squeaked some response out, but it was incoherent, and Rainbow Dash said, “I’m not into this stuff. I’m just here because Fluttershy asked me.” Ryan looked around Rainbow at the timid pegasus, who gave her best effort to remain hidden. She knew that Ryan wasn’t happy with this.

A very foreign accent came from the desk. “The large appointment for Miss Rarity?” It sounded like a combo of Swedish and German accents to Ryan. “Yes, that’s us!” Rarity said back, going up to the desk. Ryan and the others all stood up and walked up to the desk behind Rarity. “Oh.” the desk mare said at Ryan’s unexpected form. “You’re tall.” Ryan raised an eyebrow and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Okay.”

While she was looking at Ryan, Rarity also turned to him to speak. “Harkness, you didn’t have to carry all of those things with you, you know.” Ryan didn’t respond quickly. “I do, actually.” Rarity gave him a mildly concerned look, then turned back to the desk mare. “Do you have anywhere that he can put his things?” The mare nodded. “Yes, we have lockers where you can store your things for the day. Please, follow me.” The desk mare came from the other side of the desk and walked over to a door at the side of the room. “You girls go ahead.” Ryan said, not intent on being followed. “I’ll be in there once I’ve stored my things.” The mraes all nodded and went to the spa area.

The desk mare led Ryan through a serie of halls that were lavishly decorated and very clean and white. Purple curtains hung from the windows and ceiling, and there were assorted potted plants and little statues around the hall. Eventually, they came upon a room that had a “Stallions” sign on it. “Here you are. Come out when you’re ready.” She left Ryan to enter the room, which he did as slowly as possible.

The room was small, as to be expected. Most stallions probably didn’t find themselves here very often. Looking around, Ryan picked a locker, number seven, and stored his things in it. They fit in very tightly, only barely fitting. HE then put on his new set of trunks, which fit excellently, if a bit snug at the waistline. He shut the locker and looked around. “There’s gotta be a towel in here somewhere.” he said to himself. When he spotted the basket, he grabbed a large one and put it around his chest and walked out.

He just followed the signs to the spa room, and found himself there rather quickly. Inside, there was a large inground hot tub that could easily fit two dozen, with six mares inside talking and laughing. His entrance would surely end that laughter. “Harkness!” Rarity poshed. “So glad to see you didn’t run off.” She looked smugly at Applejack, who grumbled something. hey seemed to have bet on his showing up. “Please, join us.” Ryan breathed in deep; now was the moment of truth, and he still had no story.

He removed the towel and hung it on the wall, the steam of the room preventing the mares from seeing his scars. He took a quick glance at them before proceeding; the hole in his chest, the chemical burns on his arms, the cuts on his leg, and the big USA and slash marks carved into his back. He would have trouble explaining these things.

He walked toward the pool, and as he got closer, close enough to be seen, he could hear at least two of the mares gasp. He looked to Fluttershy; she looked like she might faint. He might have to catch her if she did, seeing as it would be his fault. He stepped down into the hot water, about one hundred and two degrees, and eased himself in. It was certainly a hell of alot better than sixty degree water in Vietnam.

Next to him, he wasn’t sure when it happened, was Fluttershy when he was fully in. She had moved stealthily through the water and was taking a look at his back. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked, already knowing. “I’m checking for that... hole... wound...” She blinked several times when she saw the letters in his back. “W-what happened?” Ryan moved away. With no story, he would just have to refuse. “I prefer not to talk about it.”

The others suddenly took a great deal of interest in Ryan’s physique with that. Rainbow was the most aggressive. “What? Lemme see!” Before Ryan could react, he was yanked into the middle of the pool and thrown face down into the water. He could still hear, since his ears were above the water. “USA?” Rainbow said, confused. Ryan forced his way back up. “Yeah, my country of origin. United States of America. Now let me go.” He walked away from her, not happy with the sudden intrusion of his space.

When he sat down on one end of the group, the others were all looking at him. “What?” he asked. Again, he knew exactly what. “Harkness, Ah think it’s time for you to tell us the truth.” Applejack stated matter-of-factly. “Ah know you’ve been lying and trying to hide. But we can’t let you do that; it ain’t good for you.” Ryan was about to respond angrily when Twilight piped in. “She’s right, you know. You shouldn’t suffer alone.” Ryan sighed loudly, choking a bit on the spa water fumes. “Trust me. This won’t be good for anyone.”

The mares were suddenly much closer. “Please, tell us the truth. I don’t like seeing ponies unhappy.” Pinkie had big pupils and a pouty lip that quivered like a whimpering dog.

Ryan put his head down. There was no way out of it. “You want the truth?” he asked. The mares all nodded. He nodded as well. “Alright.”

“My name isn’t Harkness. It’s Ryan. That’s the first bit of news.” The reaction was minimal; it wouldn’t stay that way. “Let me start with how the whole thing started. I went to another country, Australia, to visit my friend. When he, I, and some others were driving to a city for a concert, we were attacked by men who aimed to kidnap us. They succeeded with everyone but Jackson.” Rainow was already confused, and made it well known to everyone. “Who’s Jackson, and why were you kidnapped?” Ryan addressed her question quickly and curtly. “Jackson was a friend of mine. And the men kidnapped us to sell us as slaves.”

Twilight swallowed hard. “So what happened to Jackson? Did he get away?” Ryan shook his head gravely. “Nope. Died in the initial attack. Shot twice in the head, several times in the body. His jaw hung like a broken branch from his face.” Ryan gauged the reactions; all looked sick, but Fluttershy was about to faint. Ryan moved forward and held her up. “And the rest of the story is a lot like that. So I’ll let you recover before I keep going.”

They spent the next few minutes in silence, Ryan trying to see what the mares all thought of him. Mostly, they looked like they pitied him, but there was something else. Some kind of fear of him, like he had been expecting from the start.

He was about to continue when the spa mare came in. “Ready for massages?” she asked in her foreign voice. Ryan stood up in the water. “Certainly.” He walked away, Fluttershy still getting better in his arms, and was followed closely by the mares. The spa mare looked at him funny, but made no mention of what she was seeing. She just led them to the massage room.

Ryan looked at the tables; they were pretty small. His arms and legs would be hanging off the sides. “Please, lay down. We shall begin shortly.” There were only two mares doing massages; the others were doing various other things in the room. Ryan got onto the table, joined by Rarity at the other, and waited. No one spoke. “I think you can keep going, Harkness.” Ryan cleared his throat. “Ryan.”

“After we were taken, save for Jackson, we were transported through various islands, all of which make up a country called Indonesia. We were kept in a series of shitty little compounds in the country.” He couldn’t see it, but everypony in the room winced at the use of his foul language. “That was where things went pretty bad.” Rarity blinked next to him. “How could it get worse?” she asked. Ryan grunted as the spa mare started rubbing his back. “Just wait. You’ll know.”

“On the boat on the way to one compound, I was given a choice. Shoot my best friend or this girl named Catherine. I shot Catherine.” The room went completely silent. “Yes, I killed an innocent. And yes, I know that I’m going to Hell. But this is what you wanted to hear, so this is what you got.” The spa mare on his back slowed down, clearly disturbed, but kept going. The silence was broken when Twilight finally spoke up. “What would have happened if you hadn’t done that?” she asked. “We all would have died. But that doesn’t make it any better.”

He continued. “After that, they brought us north to another compound. It was there that I made my escape. When I got away, though, I had to go and get my friend, Harris. So, I went to the next compound and I got him.”

Rarity, who had been perturbed, actually seemed almost fascinated by the story now. “How did you do it?” she asked. Ryan thought for a moment. “I killed about seven guards there. They... I don’t know what I was going to say. But I killed them because they had my friend.”

Pinkie Pie had a revelation over in the mud bath. “Wait, how did you get the scars?” she asked. Ryan hesitated. There was a reason he left that out. “I was given another decision. Shoot a kid in the head or everyone got Anthrax and was sent home. I shot the kid in the head. But right before that, I was tortured.” There was a collection of gasps. “The burned my arms with chemicals and cut up my back, the big USA and grouping under that. I don’t like to recall it.”

He decided that this was more than enough for the mares, so he left them with one more thing. “And because of what they did to me, I decided to hunt down the man responsible and kill him.” Rainbow Dash left her spot in her own mud bath and walked over to Ryan. “Did you?” she asked. Ryan nodded. “I killed them. Forty lives, I took, three of which did not deserve it. And those are the details of the story that you will be getting.”

There was no talking after that. The revelation of Ryan’s true history was too much for the mares to handle. They spent the next two hours in total silence, a concept very welcomed by Ryan. Once the visit was done, Ryan got his stuff and left and sat in his ditch for the rest of the day, tears silently streaming from his eyes and knowing that life was about to go off the road for him again.

Innocence Observed