“Look, all I’m sayin’ is, if he hadn’t caught me by surprise, I’d have fucked him up.” Ryan said conversationally as they walked. “I mean, Fluttershy stared him down. Fuckin’ Fluttershy.”

“Yes, Ryan, I know,” Twilight said blandly for the fourth time. “I was there.” She was beginning to regret telling him what happened to the dragon, as he still seemed to have some level of disbelief. Or, rather, he was just in denial that a little yellow pony had accomplished with words what he couldn’t through sheer muscle. Spike sat atop her back, bored out of his mind. He was busying himself with trying to fall asleep without falling over.

With her help, Ryan had slowly begun walking again. It was more of a jagged limp at first, but he grew stronger with each passing day. Twilight noted that he was healing at a miraculous rate on several occasions, and caught him talking wildly into the air several times when he was by himself. Also, she kept walking in on him struggling with his new clothes that Rarity had made for him, as if they weren’t made properly.

They weren’t, coincidentally. Rarity wasn’t all too pleased at her rather rude awakening.

“So, the next time some dragon comes along, I’m gonna have the upper hand, see? I mean, Boy-Scout type preparation. See how he likes takin’ a couple of hand grenades to the nuts.” Ryan cracked his knuckles menacingly.

Twilight sighed as they continued down the road. He really was hopeless. They passed a deep blue pegasus, walking swiftly by with his head down.

“Hail, Dawnbreaker.” He muttered as he passed, and Ryan instantly recognized him as the exact same pony he’d seen making scribbled notes in the 8-Bits.

“There!” Ryan yelled loudly, whirling on the spot. Twilight jumped, but when she looked, there was nothing there.

“What? What is it?” she asked curiously, looking about.

Ryan was pensive for a moment. “… Nothing.”

“Why did you waste-“

“Hey, look at all the nothin’.” He cut her off, pointing around.

And it was true; Ponyville was all but deserted, aside from a single hooded pony digging for something in the middle of the street.

“Psssst!”

“Pinkie Pie? What – whoa!” Twilight yelled as she was jerked inside the building, and Ryan quickly followed suit. The door shut quickly behind them, and it took Ryan’s eyes a moment to adjust to the dark. Just in time for him to remember the Zippo in his pocket, which flickered into life moments afterwards. The faces of several ponies leapt out at him, but Pinkie Pie’s was most prominent. From the looks of it, Twilight’s friends had gathered in the building for some kind of impromptu meeting.

“Shhh!”

“Pinkie, just what is-“

“Shhh!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Ryan groaned, facepalming. “If I don’t get an explanation in the next ten seconds, somebody’s gettin’ kicked in the balls.”

“It’s-it’s…!” Pinkie gasped loudly.

“Who?” Twilight asked.

“Is it…. zombies!?” Spike gasped.

Ryan peered out of the boarded up window at the hooded figure. “I think it’s just-“

“-And she’ll gobble you up, in a big tasty stew!”

“Shut up, Pinkie! I think it’s just some pony,” Ryan said flippantly. Pinkie’s eyes narrowed dangerously at him for interrupting.

“…. Watch out.” She whispered darkly. She caught Rainbow Dash staring at her oddly, and as quickly as she could blink, Pinkie was back to her old cheerful self again.

“Oh, come on. Haven’t any of you ever seen a zebra before?” Twilight asked, deadpanning. “I think I heard somepony say she lives in the Everfree Forest. She’s probably harmless!”

“Don’ listen to ‘em, Applebloom, it don’t matter jus’ how scared you are!” Applejack said, quivering. She was practically hiding behind her younger sister Applebloom as it was, who, from the bored and frustrated expression on her face, had been dragged in against her will. “What pony in their right mind would go livin’ in the Everfree Forest?”

“Ah ain’t scared o’ nopony!” Applebloom insisted, putting her hoof down. “Ahm the bravest filly ah know!”

“What about Scootaloo?” Ryan heard another obnoxiously high-pitched voice squeak, and Sweetie Belle poked her head around from her sister Rarity, who was busy shooting looks out the window cracks nervously.

“Even braver!” Applebloom announced proudly, and Applejack shushed her.

“Keep it down, now, young ‘un. The grownups are talkin’.”

“Will you jus’ quit treatin’ me like ahm a little filly?” Applebloom demanded, only to be cut off by her sister once again.

“You know, I think that zebra’s goin’ away.” Ryan said, although nopony listened to him.

“SHE’S AN EVIL ENCHANTRESS, AND SHE DOES EVIL DANCES-!”

“Ah jus’ don’t think ponies like that oughta be ‘llowed to go ‘round scarin’ innocent folk!”

“AND SHE’LL GOBBLE YOU UP, IN A BIG TASTY STEW!”

“Applejack, just because nopony really knows her doesn’t necessarily mean she’s bad – have you even tried talking to her yet?!”

“BOMB THE RUSSIANS – LIKE A BOSS!”

“Pinkie, I swear I will do unspeakable things to you with a crowbar if you don’t shut up!”

Every mouth in the room fell open, and it grew so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

Mainly because it had been Fluttershy who had said it.

Everyone’s heads turned slowly, staring in shock at the yellow Pegasus.

“… Um… if-if… um… that’s… okay with you, I mean…” she nearly whispered, steadily shrinking behind Ryan.

Ryan gave a very slow, loud clap.

“… Not bad, kid. Couldn’t have said it better myself!” he grinned, and Fluttershy’s face turned a light tinge of pink.

“… I think somepony’s been spending too much time around a certain macho-jerk,” Rainbow Dash said with a poisonous glare.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Ryan said defensively. “the bitch was psycho way before I got here.”

Of all the stupid things Ryan had ever done…

With as much time as he’d spent around the ponies, one would assume that Ryan would eventually realize that a Pegasus moves very, very quickly. And if there was one pony in particular that was the very embodiment of speed, it was Rainbow Dash.

She struck like a viper, launching herself off the ground before he could so much as blink.

The last thing Ryan thought as the cyan hoof connected with his face was something along the lines of Huh, I can’t even feel pain anymore.

Moments after barreling through several panels of wood, glass and plaster later, a much more up-to-date thought followed.

Oh, wait. There it is.

“No way, leggo!”

“Dash, that’s enough!” Twilight yelled, pinning her to the ground by tackling her hind legs. Dash flapped wildly, trying to regain enough momentum, but Rarity (quickly followed by Spike) and Applejack held her down.

“I’m so sick of this guy! Just lemme at him; just one more punch, I swear!”

Ryan gradually picked himself up off the ground, pushing off the rubble. The dust took a while to clear, and it tickled his nose.

That punch to the face, however, did not tickle.

Neither did being shoved through a window.

He seemed to be thoroughly unharmed, aside from a couple of scrapes on his arms and the large bruise welling up on his cheek. He was winded, though he tried hard not to show it.

“Heh,” he chuckled weakly, wiping the blood off his chin. “Is… huff… is that all you got?”

It was no wonder to Ryan as to why Rainbow Dash had been chosen as the Element of Loyalty; she was even more fiercely protective than Fluttershy.

“I’ll kick him, I’ll punch him, I’ll break him in half!” she roared in anger, straining desperately against her friends.

“Go, Dashie!” Pinkie cheered her on. “Hit him in the nads! With a crowbar, ideally!”

“That’s not helping anypony, Pinkie!” Twilight said through clenched teeth. Dash was a lot stronger than she looked.

“Sure it is! It’ll make me feel better!” she said cheerfully. Oddly, she’d found the time to style her mane within the span of a few seconds; gone was the usual bouncy, bubblegum colored twirl of hair that sprang around her head, only to be replaced with a flat, almost metallic colored hair that fell down around her face.

“Please, stop…” Fluttershy squeaked quietly, but nopony heard her. She shrank in despair – it was her fault this was happening, at least partially.

“Ya know, Skittles,” Ryan said mockingly as he kneeled down in front of her, just out of her swinging reach. He looked much braver about approaching Rainbow Dash since the majority of her friends were holding her back. “you really should find some way ta’ channel all that hate you got for me. It’s unhealthy, don’tcha know.” That twisted smile of his certainly wasn’t helping matters, and Dash only swiped at him harder.

“Um, please, everypony… just… please stop…!”

He stayed infuriatingly out of her reach, leaning in just close enough so that she could hear very clearly when he decidedly made matters worse.

Much, much worse.

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up just because girls can’t handle shit.”

It was an antagonistic statement; one that was specifically designed to strike a nerve.

It did its job well.

“SHUT UP!”

The shout echoed throughout Ponyville, and the sheer force of the yell nearly knocked Ryan off his feet. Surprisingly enough, the forceful shout had come from none other than Fluttershy. It took him a second to catch his breath.

“Kid, this is none of-“

“I SAID, SHUT UP!”

The ferocity with which she said it was so unexpected, that Ryan really did snap his jaw shut. The little yellow Pegasus marched past her friends, and right up to Ryan. She motioned for him to lean down, and he obeyed without thinking.

For a moment, he thought she was going to hit him, too. In hindsight, perhaps he would have preferred it. Instead, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and brought them face to face.

“… I am ashamed that I trusted you.”

For a moment, Ryan… really didn’t know how to respond. He blinked, and all traces of emotion left his face. He hadn’t expected her to look so… disappointed. He’d only been trying to aggravate Rainbow Dash, regardless of whatever it caused.

Ryan did not often have a problem with guilt. If something made him feel guilty, he either fixed the problem in whatever way he could, or pushed it to the back of his mind to deal with / ignore later. He kept waiting for her to release him, hoping that the strangely growing sense of remorse would go away.

She didn’t let go, however. She just kept… staring.

Ryan suddenly found that his shoes had suddenly become of great interest to him.

Dash’s breathing slowed as she attempted to restrain herself, and her friends cautiously released her.

After a couple awkward moments of Ryan staring at his large and tattered sneakers, the rest of them began shuffling uncomfortably. Except for Pinkie, who had somehow managed to find the time to restyle her mane once again into the poofy pink puff that the pony practiced presenting.

“… You know, those fillies have been gone for, like, five minutes now.” Ryan remarked slowly, refusing to raise his eyes from his feet. They certainly weren’t inside the empty building; he’d seen them slip out earlier.

“What fillies are we talkin’ ‘bou – APPLE BLOOM!” Applejack shouted in shock, whirling on the spot in search of her younger sister. However, the small pony was nowhere to be seen.

“Sweetie Belle is gone as well!” Rarity exclaimed, eyes widening.

“How did nopony notice?” Applejack growled, glaring around.

“I dunno,” Ryan said dismissively. “they probably ran off after Skittles punched me in the face.”

“My name is Rainbow Dash!”

“And you hit like a girl.” He stated, drawing the last word out contemptuously.

Her right eye began twitching furiously, but she stood her ground. “Anypony else notice that Zecora character leave?” Rainbow Dash was correct; Zecora had been missing for about the same length of time that the children had.

“Ah’ll bet they foller’d her inta’ –“ she gasped. “the Everfree Forest!”

“You know, that doesn’t sound very ‘gasp’ inspirin’.” Ryan said conversationally as he brushed himself off. He was glad to have found his voice again. “If you want somebody to actually look surprised and shit when you name something, give it a name like ‘Deathtrees’, or ‘The Doom Woods,’ or shit like that.”

“Ryan, do you have any idea what’s in those woods?” Twilight Sparkle asked him nervously. Her eyes darted toward the direction of the trees in the distance, and she looked very uncomfortable when she did so.

“Those kids, evidently.”

“Apple Bloom! Where are ya’, darlin’?”

“Sweetie Belle, are you in there, dear?”

“Here, kiddie kiddie kiddie kiddie!”

“That’s not funny, Ryan!”

They’d been searching for hours now, and even though they had Rainbow Dash scouring the forest overhead and Fluttershy stopped to ask every single animal she spotted if they’d seen any fillies, the children were nowhere to be found.

“Look, they’re probably dead already,” Ryan said offhandedly. “I say the best we can do is go home, get some food, then have a small burial for the little shits with a shoebox.”

“Ooh, we could have a super-sad ‘sorry we couldn’t find you’ funeral party wi-“

“That’s not helping, Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, and Ryan could tell that she was more than a little worried. She looked like a nervous wreck. Her eyes were darting about frantically, and her hair was out of place in many spots.

“Chill, Purple.” Ryan pronounced slowly, hoping for once not to aggravate matters. “You know we’re kiddin’.”

“We are?”

“Yes, Pink.” He waved her off, trying to keep his distance from the pink puff of obnoxious noise. “We’ll find the kids; we just gotta keep lookin’, is all.”

“How do we even know we’re going in the right direction?” Twilight asked, trying to keep her mane out of her face with her hoof as she leaned against a gnarled tree.

“Yeah,” Spike agreed, still sitting atop Twilight. “All this searching is hard enough. Don’t tell me we have to search the whole Everfree Forest!”

“Yes, you must be positively exhausted,” Twilight snapped sarcastically.

Just then, the search party heard a rather loud, very Sweetie Belle-esque scream.

“… Hey, Purple. I’d hazard a wild-ass guess that they went in that direction.” He drawled with a raised eyebrow, pointing slightly to their right.

“I’m on the way, Sweetie Belle!” her sister Rarity cried out, dashing into the forest without a moment’s notice. The woods were growing thicker, and closer together the further in that they traveled. Twilight seemed to grow more anxious as they ran. He couldn’t see what the big deal was; Ryan sort of liked trees. He never got to spend much time around them in the city.

Applejack and Fluttershy quickly followed Rarity, and Ryan guessed that the flash of rainbow light overhead was none other than Dash. Even Twilight and Spike took off after them, leaving Ryan behind to slowly walk at the back of the group.

“… I don’t get paid enough for this shit,” he said with a sigh, dragging himself forward.

It came out of nowhere; a small, quick little shiver of the shadows. Right in the corner of Ryan’s eye, he saw it. The tall, dark and imposing figure. Impossibly tall, even taller than him. And so thin…!

When Ryan’s head whipped around trying to catch it, there was nothing there.

A trick of the light?

Just my imagination?

He doubted it was either. Ryan suddenly became decidedly nervous. He began fingering the Zippo lighter in his pocket gently, although it wouldn’t be much help if he were dragged into an outright brawl. He knew something was there, too; he hadn’t just seen it.

He’d felt it.

Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d seen something vanish with little to no explanation, his mind going back to the 8-Bits, Dan, and the incident with that skittish blue Pegasus.

No, if there was one thing Ryan was assured of as he sped toward the ponies, it was that the tall and slender man would be back.

“Sweetie Belle, there you are!” Rarity shrieked with a cry of relief, wrapping herself around her younger sister.

“Rarity, it’s – great to – you’re sort of – can’t breath!” she gasped, straining to pry herself out of her elder’s grasp.

“There ya’ are, y- wait, where’s Apple Bloom?” the orange earth pony looked even more worried than she did before, hair falling out in odd places beneath the brim of her Stetson hat.

Ryan could clearly see the reason Sweetie Belle had screamed; her hair (mane?) had become tangled in the branches of a low tree, keeping her tightly ensnared. Rarity was working furiously at it, trying to free her without too much pulling.

“She was still following Zecora, I think…” Sweetie Belle said while trying not to look guilty about running off. “If you hadn’t come along when you did, I-“

“Would probably be fuckin' bald tryin’ to fight a tree over ownership of your head.” Ryan said bluntly, crossing his arms. He’d hoped that they could find both of them at once.

"Language around the children, dear!"

He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but he’d become much more eager to hurry up. He guessed it had something to do with that figure that had appeared in the corner of his eye.

Quit jumpin’ at shadows, asshole! He chided himself angrily. It’s probably the same as Dan. Just have some drinks with it, and it’ll go away.

He immediately considered just how very stupid that sounded, which was quickly followed by wonderful thoughts of magnificent, marvelous beer.

Hell, if he really had to chase down a faceless tall dude for some beer, he’d probably do it. Maybe he had steak, too… nothing went better with beer than steak. And after all, he hadn’t had any real meat in such a long time…

Oh, how meat made him smile. He felt a joyous grin developing on his face, the thoughts of his teeth sinking into fresh, hot, tender, juicy meat. Nearly raw, cooked to perfection. The anticipation brought about by the smell wafting through the air was almost unbearable enough, but the divine first bite-

“Unless you’d rather do it. Er, Ryan? Hello?” Twilight asked, standing on her hind legs to wave her hoof in front of his face.

“Whuzzat?” he jerked, just now noticing that he’d been staring absentmindedly directly at Sweetie Belle the entire time. She looked a little put off, and it was understandable why.

You’d be a little freaked out, too, if a hairless being many times your size were towering over you with a manic grin on its face, goblets of drool dripping out between large, sharp teeth.

He wiped his chin on his arm, feeling stupid. “Sorry,” he groaned. “just… hungry, is all.”

“Didn’t you have a dandelion sandwich before we left?” Twilight asked.

“No. No, I did not. I can’t fuckin’ live on dandelions,” Ryan proclaimed, clenching his teeth and fists. “Besides, Spike ate it.”

Spike merely shrugged. It was true; Ryan didn’t look like he was going to eat it, so Spike ‘helped’.

“Can we go home now?” Sweetie Belle asked, peering around at the group as she hid behind her sister. Ryan scared her, just a little. He was too loud, too hungry looking.

“Fuck, I dunno.” Ryan said, leaning against a tree.

Twilight sighed in agitation, saying “If you’d been paying attention, you’d know that Spike was going to walk Sweetie Belle home while the rest of us search for Apple Bloom.”

“Wait, I am?” Spike asked. He glared at Sweetie Belle, not looking forward to the long walk. She talked too much, and he’d much rather stay by Rarity’s side.

“Doesn’t anypony listen to me?” Twilight groaned loudly.

“Sorry, did you say somethin’, princess?” Ryan queried innocently, cupping his hand around his ear.

Twilight’s nostrils flared, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Spike, get Sweetie Belle home.”

“Hey, everypony!” Rainbow Dash cried out as she shot down from above through the trees. She landed deftly, flapping her wings a couple of times before tucking them tightly against her sides. “I think I saw Zecora up ahead, but the trees are too thick to see through.”

“Good,” Twilight said with a small amount of relief as Spike led Sweetie Belle in the direction that they’d entered the forest from. “just point the way, Dash.”

As they followed Rainbow’s instructions, Ryan couldn’t help but notice that the air had developed a sort of… pungent aroma. It smelled a little familiar, somehow…

“And she’ll gobble you up, in a big tasty stew!”

“Christ, Pink, are you still singin’?” he sighed, rubbing his temples. The sun was going down, and fast, and the fact that he couldn’t quite name that familiar scent only bothered him more. Thankfully, however, Ryan spotted the zebra about the same time Twilight did.

“Hold it right there, Zecora!” Twilight demanded.

“Easy there, partner!” Applejack yelped. “She’s likely ta’ throw some mumbo jumbo curse on ya’!”

The zebra slowly turned her head, letting the hood drop. The grey and white Mohawk stood out clearly against the quickly darkening sky, and Ryan could see the glint of thick golden hoop rings hanging from her ears. She was likely the first pony he’d even seen with piercings at all. The golden hoops around her neck and front leg looked like something he’d seen in a National Geographic magazine, and the strange grey burst of cutie mark on her side looked almost tribal.

Her eyes widened with shock as she turned, and when she spoke, it was in a poetic and melodic, hypnotically rhythmic tone.

“Beware!” she yelled out across a small field of blue flowers. “Beware, little ponies and monster, too, should you dare to cross the flowers blue!”

“Is that a threat?” Rainbow Dash challenged, trotting forward. The rest of her friends quickly followed suit, steadily closing in on Zecora through the flowers. Ryan stood his ground, though. He’d been a little put off at being called a monster.

Not the first time, he thought wryly, but pushed it away.

Zecora was slowly backing away from the group, her eyes wide as she began to reach behind her for something Ryan couldn’t see. “You cannot say I did not plead; for warned you ponies against the weed!”

That got Ryan’s attention. He stared at the blue flowers in newfound awe as he nearly screamed in delight.

“You guys got weed?!”

The group (including Zecora) gazed in shock at Ryan, who had thrown himself into the field of blue, yanking up as much of the plant as he could. “Oh, I am gonna smoke the shit out of this!” he cried gleefully, and he was nearly in tears from joy. It had been bad enough showing up in Equestra without cigarettes; and this time, he even had a lighter!

“Warned you I have, you should not smoke; beware, beware! On you is the Joke!” Zecora rhymed, hurling a small white sphere at the ground in front of her. She vanished in a puff of white smoke, and Twilight coughed as she tried to wave it away.

Pinkie gasped, and said “Ohmigosh, did you see that! She totally stole that trick from Deadpool!”

“Are you tellin’ me she still got away?” Dash yelled angrily, stomping the blue flowers flat.

“Now how are we supposed ter find mah sister?” Applejack breathed, glaring at the spot Zecora had vanished from.

“… Has anypony else noticed that it’s gotten very dark out?” Fluttershy asked quietly. The only light they had was coming from Ryan’s lighter, which he was currently using to…

Smoke the weed.

Ryan had rolled up as much of the plants he could into a makeshift cigar, wrapping it in the leaves to keep it together. He lit the end, and inhaled with the mightiest breath he could manage.

Which was promptly followed by much coughing, wheezing and hacking as he dropped the makeshift blunt to the ground and stomped the fire out of it. Tears were gathering in his eyes from the overpowering stench, and he couldn’t seem to breath properly. Apparently, Fluttershy must have fainted from the smoke, because she dropped heavily to the ground.

It was clear that Fluttershy wasn’t the only one affected, because every single one of the ponies quickly followed suit.

After nearly a minute straight of stomping and trying to catch his breath, Ryan stuck the lighter back in his pocket.

“… Turns out, it ain’t that kind of weed.” He wheezed disappointedly.

And then he passed out.

“We had a deal, Carlos!”

“And you should have upheld your end of the bargain.”

“I did! I swear to God, I did! We had a deal! We had a deal, Carlos! You swore! You swore to me, no kids!”

“And you should have anticipated betrayal.”

There was a deafening silence, followed by the gunshot.

“Whuzzat?” Ryan jerked, blearily yanking open his bloodshot eyes. He’d fallen at some point, but he couldn’t remember. Around him, he could see the rest of the ponies slowly dragging themselves out of their stupor in the dim morning light.

He slowly pushed himself up off the ground, and he groaned. Must’a fallen asleep on somethin’, he thought to himself as he checked his arms. For some reason, his top half felt heavier than usual.

“Ugh…” Rainbow Dash slurred as she pushed herself off the ground with her two front hooves. “Did I get wasted again?” she stretched herself out like a cat, flapping her wings tentatively. At least, before her eyes widened in shock, discovering that she could no longer fly properly.

Backward wings tend to do that.

“Rainbow, your wings!” Twilight gasped as she tried rubbing the sleep from her eyes, hoping she was still dreaming. “What happened?”

“I-pfft- I don’t know, darling, but- pffft!- I can’t seem to- hmmf!- oh, for goodness’ sake!” Rarity cried out in despair, failing to keep the massive amounts of violet and blue spotted hair out of her eyes and mouth.

“Hey, watch where yer spittin’ all that hair!” a tiny voice proclaimed from the ground, and Twilight saw that she had almost stepped on a very tiny Applejack.

“What the-?”

“Ohmothmkotpsth ftoth figh tith!” Pinkie Pie spluttered in confusion to a silent Fluttershy as she awoke, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. It, too, had been spotted with multiple dashes of blue.

Twilight tried to summon magic with her horn in order to restore Applejack to her proper size, only for it to give a slight pooft! and flop around uselessly.

Ryan watched Twilight’s failure with satisfaction, guffawing hysterically when she couldn’t do anything.

“Mare, you need Viagra!” he laughed, before his hand flew up to his throat.

It wasn’t his voice… not even remotely close.

… I said mare. I said mare. He thought to himself in confusion. I meant to say bi-… Bi-…. What the buck?!

His normally deep, boisterous voice had been replaced with a lilting, feminine tone. “Holy buck, I sound like my aunt!” he cried out, feeling his face as if he could somehow determine that it had been-

The weed.

It would appear that inhaling large quantities of the blue weed had resulted in a dual-effect upon Ryan. Not only changing his vocal features, but even what he was best at; swearing like a drunken sailor.

“Okay, that’s it!” Ryan yelled. “I am never smokin’ again!” he vowed, but kept the lighter safely in his pocket in case he decided to rescind that promise later. He brushed his long black hair out of his eyes, running over his head.

… When the buck did I get bangs?

His fingers slowly danced over his scalp, down his now silky smooth chin and running his hands over his previously muscled arms.

It was then that he noticed the breasts.

The high pitched, bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the Everfree Forest woke quite a few more than a couple of its denizens.