THE HUMAN'S DESTINY INTERLUDE 2: ENTER MELODY

Ryan was sad. In all the hype of coming to Equestria, he had forgotten what had happened prior. Overcome with a combination of grief and the realization he wouldn't see his remaining family members ever again, the teen had shut himself out to the rest of Ponyville. Twilight and her friends were worried, so they came to Ryan's room, and knocked. "Go away." the teen called when he heard the knocking.

"Please Ryan, come on out and talk to us." Twilight pleaded calmly.

"No!" Ryan called. "Can't a guy grieve over his dead parents in peace?" Ryan had forgotten he hadn't told his friends about his loss. The ponies all gasped. Applejack hung her head, her hat over her heart. Fluttershy simply cried.

"Oh Ryan, Im so sorry..." Twilight said consolingly.

"Don't be!" Ryan called back to the alicorn. "Just leave me please!" he thought of something. "And Pinkie?" he added.

"Yeah Ryan?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"That goes for you as well." Ryan said. "Not in the mood for parties at the moment."

"Ok..." Pinkie Pie turned around and walked away with her head teen knew he had upset his friends, Pinkie in particular, but he needed time to grieve. "Can't even get advice from Mels anymore." Ryan lamented, referring to his cousin. Deciding to nap, Ryan took off his glasses, put them on his bedside table, and curled up. He was snoring away a little bit later. Little did the teen know, the bracelet had big plans for him. it glowed brightly, and Mels teleported into the room! She was asleep in her own bed, so she didn't have any idea of where she was yet.

"Mmmph." Ryan groaned a few hours later, finished with his nap. He poked a hand out of the covers and groping for his glasses. Putting them on, the teen got up. as he started towards the door, he stubbed his toe on the wall. "OUCH!" he yelled, hobbling on one foot, and clutching the foot with the hurt toe. his yell was enough to wake up his cousin.

"Ryan!" Mels exclaimed. "You're alright! Where have you been all this time?!"

"Mels!?" Ryan cried in disbelief. He shook his head. "I've been here in Equestria!" the teen replied, hugging his cousin.

Mels had tears in her eyes. "I missed you so much!" she told him. "I-" she paused, the full impact of Ryan's words having finally sunk in. "Equestria?" she asked skeptically, As if to confirm, Twilight walked in, intending to check on Ryan.

"Good morning Ryan!" Twilight opened her eyes and gasped, her jaw dropping at the sight of the newest human.

"Melody, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle, Melody." Ryan quickly introduced the two to each other, and then stepped back to watch Mels's reaction.

"TWILIGHT!" Melody shouted, tackling the alicorn into a hug, giving her no chance to escape. "Your my favorite pony!" Ryan rolled his eyes, smirking. he made a 'cut it out' motion across his throat to signal Mels, hopefully calming her down. "Oops!" Melody blushed, backing away from the lavender alicorn.

"Anyway, how did you get here like this?" Ryan asked his cousin, a bit envious. "I had to get struck by lightning." Melody shrugged.

"I don't know actually." she replied.

"Oh...No...No it didn't." Ryan said, and Idea forming in his head, and a smirk forming on his face.

"What?" Melody asked, confused.

"This!" Ryan said, holding up the wrist with the bracelet. "It teleported you here!" Mels smirked, skeptical.

"That's a bracelet, darling." she said.

"Twilight, care to explain?" Ryan asked, bowing to the alicorn and letting her go into 'lecture mode'.

"This isn't just any old bracelet, its a magical bracelet." Twilight explained with a smile. Ryan nodded.

"I've used it to, in no particular order, create trampolines, shatter glass containing my friends cutie marks, travel through time, create and destroy shields, encase myself in a bouncy bubble, and now this." he finished, gesturing to Mels.

"Wow!" Mels said awestruck.

"I had the idea that I was meant to come here." Ryan added. "What for is a mystery, but it seems to be the truth." he shrugged. "Good news to everyone!" The teen shouted, running out of his room. "I'm better! Pinkie, throw the biggest party you can think of and invite everyone in town! I'm READY!" the teen was so ecstatic about having his cousin back, he felt a party was the only way to celebrate it. Ryan turned to his cousin, and held out his arms, wanting her to hug him. Melody attacked Ryan around the waist with a hug. Later on, the two siblings were enjoying themselves with the festivities. "I assume everyone thought I also died?" Ryan questioned Mels as they sat and drank some punch.

"Yeah." Melody said with a frown. Ryan snorted.

"Oh man if we ever find a way home, I can't WAIT to see the looks on their faces."

"Mhm." Melody nodded with a smile.

"Sorry." Ryan added. "Probably shouldn't laugh at that." Melody shrugged. BONK! an apple dropped on Ryan's head...at least he THOUGHT it was an apple, until he saw the familiar face shining on it instead of his reflection. "Discord, stop doing stuff like that." the teen said, tossing the 'apple' far away.

"Oh Discord, what are we gonna do with you?" Melody said with a smile.

Ryan shook his head, also smiling. "I guess that's his way of joining in." he said.

"Yeah." Melody giggled. Little did they know, a nightmare of a night was ahead. It was during the night when IT happened. A blue-ish smoke billowed through the open window of Ryan and Mels's room, and entered his mouth. FLASH! Ryan suddenly had visions of horrible things. His bullies, the terrible dream of rejection, and the death of his parents. suddenly, Ryan's eyes snapped open. But instead of their normal brown, they were dark blue! "At last, I have a new body." the creature possessing Ryan said in the teen's voice. "May not be a pony, but its close to those who foiled me long ago." It was Nightmare Moon! "Now." she said a smile of seething anger on her face. "To take my revenge!" Mels stirred, waking up to find who she thought was her cousin.

"Ryan? What are you doing up so late?" Mels asked.

"Just a bit of a night walk." Nightmare Moon said quickly. "I can't sleep."

"Fool." Nightmare Moon said once she was out of Mels's hearing range. Recognizing the cutie mark imbedded on the door, Nightmare pushed it, and found it was Twilight's room. "Perfect." she whispered. Nightmare crept slowly towards Twilight, intending to use her human hands to snap her neck. Luckily for the violet mare, she woke up just before Nightmare Moon could carry out this plan, and the evil tyrant was left in a state where she was reaching towards the mare. "Uh..."

"Ryan, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, a bit angered.

"Don't worry, I was just joking." Nightmare said in an attempt to cover her plan. "In fact, i wanted to hug you!" Twilight narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

"Twilight! Help!" Ryan shouted.

"Shut it you tramp!" Nightmare Moon shouted, now back to her old voice. Before, she had sounded like Ryan. Now that the human was partly back in control, she now had her old voice.

"Ryan...?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"I'm possessed by-." Ryan started but was interrupted.

"My dear Twilight." Nightmare said. "don't you recognize my voice?"

Twilight gasped. "Nightmare Moon!" she shouted.

"Finally!" Nightmare relished in the fear in the alicorn's voice. It was at that moment the tyrant noticed Twilight's wings. "I see you're an alicorn now." she said. "Pathetic."

"Hey!" Ryan shouted, offended on Twilight's behalf. "Twilight, help!" he cried.

"Uh... Uh!" Twilight panicked, not knowing what to do. It was then Melody came into the room.

"What is going on in here?" she asked. Ryan's eyes flashed blue, as a dark aura surrounded his hand. "Mels, run!" he cried, knowing Nightmare was going to preform a spell. too late. WHAM! Nightmare Moon had used a spell to throw Mels across the room, knocking her out. Ryan was enraged!

"NO ONE HURTS MY COUSIN!" he cried. at this pronouncement, the bracelet shone brightly. "NIGHTMARE!" the teen shouted. the power in the bracelet revved up more. "GET OUT OF MY BODY!" FWASH! a bright white light radiated off of Ryan, pulsing every few seconds.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted Nightmare Moon. When it was all over, Nightmare Moon was out of Ryan. She now had her own body, a complete replica of her old one, except for the small difference being she wasn't as tall, coming up to Ryan's waist.

"MELS!?" Ryan cried, running over to his cousin's side. Mels moved her hands away from her face, revealing her tear filled eyes. "Just know it wasn't really me." Ryan whispered, hugging his cousin. When he ran his hands down Mels's back, he gasped. "Now I have the power to sense injuries." the teen said, rolling his eyes. "Don't freak out Mels, but you have a fractured spine and ribcage, and you're internally bleeding." After tying up Nightmare Moon, as well as inhibiting her magic, Ryan picked up his cousin, holding her bridal style. "Twilight, get us to the hospital!" he cried. FLASH! Twilight teleported them all to the hospital. "My cousin's injured!" the teen yelled at the reception pony.

"What happened?" The reception pony asked.

"A...fight." Ryan said quickly. "She's got a fractured spine and ribcage. And she's internally bleeding. Help her!"

When one of the hospital staff, Nurse RedHeart if Ryan wasn't mistaken, came for Mels, the brunette teen carried his cousin into the room, laying her down at last. Abandoning pretense, Ryan plopped down next to Mels's bed, head in his hands and crying. Twilight came in a few minutes later.

"How is she?" the alicorn asked.

"They've barely started the recovery process." Ryan said, waving to Nurse RedHeart, who was strapping a heart monitor to one of Mels's arms and injecting some bagged healing liquid to the other. "Twilight, I'm scared." the human admitted.

"Don't worry." Twilight put an assuring hoof on Ryan's arm. "She'll be alright, I promise."

"She's supported me all my life, and now I'm not sure whether I'm going to lose her as well as my parents." Ryan replied, more tears dripping down his face. "I can get over losing my parents, but I don't think I'd ever get over the fact that I let her die when I could save her." Later, the hospital started to close. Ryan, despite Nurse RedHeart's protests, refused to leave Mels's side. He was on the verge of nodding off when Fluttershy walked in. "I suppose you got worried when I didn't show up at the castle." Ryan inferred to the Pegasus. Fluttershy nodded. "Don't worry, I just want to stay with Mels." he frowned. "I could use some comfort though."

"Okay." Fluttershy said, sitting next to the human.

"I'm just afraid of losing her, like I did my parents." Ryan said sadly.

"I understand." Fluttershy said, nodding. "It's like losing a pet when he or she dies." Ryan said. "You've grown so attached, you can't believe their gone." After a while, Fluttershy left. The next day, Ryan, having dosed off while in the hospital, woke up to the most awesome surprise. Mels was okay! "MELS!" Ryan cried, happy tears welding up in his eyes, and leaking onto his face

"Huh?" Mels sat up and looked around.

"You're okay." Ryan said between shuddering breaths, tears still falling down his face. "I thought it was going to be my parents all over again." Mels smiled. Later, when Mels was discharged from the hospital, the humans and their pony friends had a small celebration at the castle, not wanting to draw attention.

"Mels, I'm glad you came through." Ryan said. all the ponies nodded in agreement.

"Im glad too." Mels said with a smile. The cousins hugged...then Ryan felt some weight on his back.

"Pinkie?" Looking back, he saw the party pony had latched to his back.

"Oops!" The pink pony blushed, backing away with the others.

"Nah, go ahead everypony." the teen said, shaking his head and smirking. The ponies latched onto the cousins

They then all moved into a group hug.

THE END!