“Hold – Ryan, hold up!”

“I heard ya the first time,” he waved her off flippantly, wiping the burning sweat from his brow and trudging down the endless road in misery. “Maybe you should pick up the fucking pace.”

“Ryan, this is ridiculous,” Twilight seethed, tramping after him as the sun beat down on their backs. “We have no idea where we are, and if we don’t find some kind of shelter and water soon, we’re both going to die of the heat!”

“Well?” Ryan whirled on the spot, glaring angrily down at her. “Why don’t you use your precious fuckin’ magic to whip some water out of the air?”

“One,” Twilight glowered back at him. “That’s not how magic works. And two, I already told you, I don’t even have access to magic. It must have been because of something that Discord did. Why won’t you listen to me for once?”

But he was already back to stomping further down the road, muttering foul curses under his breath. Twilight sighed heavily, the pressure headache growing from the stress. Why couldn’t she have been stranded with Rainbow Dash, or Applejack? To be honest, Twilight almost would have preferred the mad draconequus’s company compared to the foul mouthed human’s, but these were the cards she was dealt.

But it wasn’t as if something like that had ever stopped her before. Twilight wasn’t some pony to just roll over for the effects of chance, she was going to do something about it. Or at least, she swore as much as she bitterly tramped after Ryan over the cracked desert highway. She hated being deprived of magic; it was like missing one of her most important appendages, and it left her feeling horribly helpless and exposed to the elements.

They must have traveled for what felt like hours, occasionally stopping to catch their breath. It wasn’t until Ryan suddenly picked up the pace that Twilight was groggily drawn back to reality, and she gradually realized that she really might die out here.

“H-hang on,” she croaked through her parched throat, stumbling after him. “Slow down!”

“Kid!” Ryan pointed out gleefully at something in the distance, just off to the left of the road. “Look; gas station!”

“What?”

“Shelter!” Ryan huffed gleefully, his eyes bloodshot. “Meaning that there’s water – probably food and air conditioning, too!”

“Whoa whoa whoa!” she snagged at the ripped hem of his shirt, only for him to jerk excitedly away from her and power on faster. “Ryan – Ryan, stop. It’s probably just a mirage, you’re going – hey, I see it, too!”

“Fucking told you!” he cheered, cackling maniacally as they drew closer. And it proved that he was right; there was a dirty red brick building not too far ahead with bizarre containers outside it and beneath a large overhanging wooden structure that cast a short patch of shade. A couple of tumbleweeds bounced across the road, and Ryan kicked one of them halfheartedly as they finally drew closer.

His manic grin slowly began to fade, and he thought quickly.

“… What?” Twilight suddenly grew wary, looking around nervously as he was. “What is it?”

“Shit,” he breathed heavily, running a hand through his sweat drenched black hair. “I just thought – kid, you’re gonna have to stay here for a second.”

“What?” Twilight blinked, offended. “And stay out in the heat when there might be water nearby?”

Ryan cringed, and said “Think about it, kid,” he peered around to see through the gas station’s dirty windows. “You remember what happened when I first saw ya?”

The unicorn nodded thoughtfully, and shrugged. “I don’t suppose that causing a panic would be anything good. Please just be quick, I think I’m going to die out here.”

He pointed out a spot beside the wall to the side of the building where a small blue worn down pickup truck sat. Twilight ogled it for a few seconds as he pointed where she could stake out, and within moments Ryan was inside the shop.

He was awash with a breath of cool air the second he trundled inside, and he embraced it with a short lived grin. It looked more like a small tourist shop than anything, but with a handful of expensive concessions. The tiny bell that tinkled surprisingly loudly whenever he entered drew the attention of a wizened old clerk from the back, who beamed friendlily at him as he entered.

“Mornin’!” he nodded to the sweat drenched Ryan. “Didn’t even hear you pull up. New to the local climate, aren’t you?” the old man gave him a toothy smirk, hobbling over to the cash register.

“Y-yeah,” Ryan nodded absentmindedly, thinking quickly. It had been so long since he’d had actual human companionship that for a split second, he wasn’t quite certain of how to respond. However, it did suddenly occur to him that he had absolutely no money, because his wallet was probably somewhere back in Equestria. Not like he had much money in it, anyway.

“Uh,” Ryan blurted. “You got a phone? Mine’s...”

Dead from being in another world for too long?

“Oh, sure, sure!” the geezer nodded amicably, tottering off behind the counter to a back room.

Ryan was careful to watch him go, taking careful inventory of the place. The moment the wooden door snapped shut behind the old man as he went for a phone, Ryan’s first move was to disable the security camera in the corner. He made a quick grab for one of the paper bags, swiftly and carefully jamming it over the plastic device and slipping away from it. Without stopping, Ryan began rifling behind the counter for something, anything he could find; money, keys, something. He thought that he bumped something cool and hard, but couldn't get a proper grip on it in time. He scowled when he found nothing of use, jerking away fast when he heard the old man returning.

“Here you go!” he happily handed Ryan the worn corded telephone. “Go right ahead, sonny.”

Ryan nodded wordlessly, jabbing the dials with slightly shaking hands. So long as he could manage to find some way to distract the aging man again, he could-

The old man’s eyes flickered over to the security camera in the corner, and Ryan froze just as the phone began ringing.

… Shit.

“Ryan?”

The back of his neck prickled when he heard Twilight’s voice, and he dropped the phone immediately.

“What in the hell…?” the shopkeeper balked at the uncertain unicorn, and Ryan swore angrily.

“Dammit, I said stay outside!” he shouted, but froze again when he heard the familiar click.

“Now, you jus’ stay right where you are,” the old man breathed heavily, the shotgun bumping lightly against the back of Ryan’s head. “No funny business, nobody makes no moves here-”

Ryan dropped and kicked back hard at the same time, the deafening blast of the shotgun roaring. Twilight screamed, but it was lost in the roar of the weapon. In the same swift motion, Ryan grappled for the sawed off shotgun, twisting it around and ignoring the incomprehensible shouting coming from the assailant. He yanked and twisted again, heart pounding loudly in his ears as he forcefully jammed the barrel away from himself and up toward the shopkeeper –

Another loud bang filled the air as the second shot was released, and the whole place fell silent.

Twilight stood in stunned silence as Ryan finally stood, wiping the blood off of himself.

“… Oh, Celestia,” she breathed finally, staring in shock and outright horror.

“Check the register.”

Twilight gaped at him, the sudden urge to vomit rising as she tried not to look at the mess of the unmoving shopkeeper.

“I – I don’t – what? Just, what? Oh my Celestia, Ryan, what the buck?!”

“Self-defense,” he shrugged remorselessly, smearing some of the blood from his face with his elbow. “Get what you can from the register. I’ll see if he has some keys on him, we’ll take his truck and get out while we can. We need to make sure that we get th’ security tape, too.”

Ryan moved with a practiced stride, but Twilight simply stood there in revulsion.

“Today, kid,” Ryan rolled a bloodied hand through the air, as if he were discussing the weather. She noticed that his hands were shaking, but not nearly as badly as she was.

“You killed him!” she cringed, desperately trying not to look at the body. “You – oh, Celestia, oh Celestia you killed him!”

“Yeah, I got that part,” Ryan nodded, and swallowed. He carefully picked the man’s pockets clean, taking a wallet and the keys he was looking for. “Grab some food an’ shit, we gotta go.”

Ryan wasted no time in digging around the store for a box of matches, and Twilight watched him take off for the back room again. He returned within the minute, finding the unicorn still unmoving.

“Kid!” he barked. “Quit standin’ around, I said we gotta go!”

She was yanked back to the situation, forcefully shaking herself. The stench of sulfur was beginning to tickle her nose, and she followed Ryan outside with one last glance backward.

Twilight wanted desperately to go back in time, now more than ever.

It was her fault.

It was all her fault that the old man had died, her fault that the slowly billowing smoke behind them was filling the air.

There might as well have been blood on her hooves. She trudged along behind Ryan in a stupor, as if it were happening to somepony else, or it were just a dream. The rumble of the odd vehicle and the growl of its engine distracted her, although she barely registered it as they peeled away.