Chapter 3:

The night was chilly, and everypony huddled around Nate, finding his presence to be the least disturbing. Evan was presumably asleep in his own room, and the Captain was probably thinking over things alone. Fluttershy was nuzzled up against Nate’s side, and the rest of the ponies grouped around her. She was terrifically warm and sleepy because of this. She currently ran the risk of tipping onto someone, because she was so dozy. She tried to make conversation to stay awake. “So... Uhm... Nate... Um... Is the rocket finished?”

“No. No not even close. We need so many more parts. Pieces like the motor are impossible to build right now, and we have almost no fuel. We might be able to..” Nate was cut off by Rarity screaming.

“You mean we can’t build the ship? And then we can’t get off of this rock! We are going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives! Oh we’ll never see our families again!”

“No Rarity that’s not what I mean. All I’m saying is that...” Nate tried to explain but chaos interrupted. The rest of the ponies burst into cries and tears for their loved ones. Twilight went a wailing rampage about her baby dragon, Spike. Applejack took it to heart about poor little Apple Bloom. Rainbow Dash looked saddened, her dreams of joining the Wonderbolts crushed. Pinkie Pie turned dangerously desperate for some cupcakes, her hair straightening slowly.

“E-everypony please calm down. I... I’m sure Nate has a solution.” Fluttershy was on Nate’s side attempting to calm everypony down. But what she had said was false, Nate didn’t have a solution yet. They had no means of constructing anything at the moment. He was about to tell Fluttershy that she was wrong, but then realized the ramifications of doing that. If he let loose the information that he had no idea what to do, even more chaos would ensue. Instead he did the smart thing. He calmly clapped his hands together, alerting everypony more than a yell would have and once he had everypony’s attention he called them into a circle. It was time for some therapy. Nate started with Fluttershy. Her story would probably be the least exciting but still interesting. That might get everypony to calm down.

“Fluttershy what do you do at home? Back in Equestria?”

“Oh I um... I take care of all the little animals in the town. All the tiny bunnies and birds,” Fluttershy told her whole story. It was rather relaxing to everyone present and Rarity finally stopped bawling her eyes out. Nate asked all of them about their stories and the whole of it took about an hour and a half.

“You all have such nice lives back home. Which is why I am not going to stop working on this rocket to get us home. You will be the first stop on our travels. I promise.” Nate turned the whole chaotic scene into a calm, serene, and hopeful one. The ponies and Nate went to bed shortly after.

The next day went by like any other and the night was almost the same. A light was set in the middle of everypony. Everypony, even the captain, crowded around in a circle and allowed each other to keep warm. Despite the captain being there, Evan sat on the opposite side of everyone in the shelter. He stared at the pairs of people and ponies. Nate was cuddling with both Fluttershy and Twilight, one under each arm. Bromley was talking with Rainbow Dash, as usual. But instead of her normal blushing that she did whenever she was near the man, she was laughing right along with his jokes. His sense of humor was dry and raunchy, but Rainbow Dash loved it.

“Oh just pork already. It's going to happen at one point in time or another. So do it before we’re all dead,” Evan thought spitefully. The rest of the ponies; Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, were all huddled as close to the shelter as they could be. Evan was bored out of his mind so he got up silently, for he had learned how to ghost about just for the fun of it. The same reason he learned how to skate or how to throw a magnificent punch even with his significant lack of weight, and therefore momentum. Only Bromley noticed, but the only thing he did was raise an eyebrow at him. He looked at him in concern for a moment, before going back to chatting, finding his pilot’s actions somewhat ignorable. No one else even looked up. Nate was double flirting and Bromley was doing just as well so why should Evan miss out on the fun? He would get some, just maybe a different brand of it. Instead of heading towards the group, he headed out into the barren wasteland. He had stuffed a few bits of material in his pocket and he set it down on the ground about half a mile away from base camp. It glowed green just as the first fire they had lit did, and just as before; zombies rose up.

Evan put a smile on his face, and took one deep breath before drifting into a quiet chuckle. The first of the brutes came at him, and he countered with one long sweep with his leg through its torso. The first death of their comrades slowed them down, as if they still had feelings or were actually apprehensive towards the single figure standing in front of them, but it didn’t even phase Evan as he took a chance to look awesome. Striking a pose, he kept his balance on his single foot and hoisted his other foot above his head, creating a straight line between them.

“Come at me bro,” He said quietly but still out loud. Another one came close with several coming behind it. Evan brought his raised foot down on the closest one and instead of tearing through it as he did before, he launched himself up. While in the air, he took a graceful flip and landed with his fists down and arms straight into the shoulders of one of the ghouls in the middle, intentionally surrounding himself with moving dead flesh. The undead he had landed on flattened as much as it could before springing back into shape awkwardly and off to the side. Evan took the small amount of time that he was on his hands to spin like his favorite character from an anime he used to watch. He recollected that it was a show about pirates. The lone fighter had made a small clearing and stood up. In the small second it took for the zombies to close back around him he wondered how far back his fighting ways dated. Granted that one move was only from a show about pirates, but he had taught himself to use Persian scimitars, Medieval claymores, and oriental halberds. All he had learned was how to strike without hurting himself, but that seemed enough. The horde had grown significantly larger but Evan still just stood, lost in his thoughts. That was until he was thrown into a demonic mosh pit. His eyes went from staring thoughtfully into the ground, to the sky, and into the face of one zombie to the crotch of another. The first shift was from a hard swing from the arm of a zombie into Evan’s gut, sending his head up, but the rest of him down to the floor.

The second shift was from an accidental but still detrimental knee to the face forcing him to stand up and spin. One of the zombies headbutted him, and sent his face towards the crotch of another. By the sixth or seven hit Evan was tired of being thrown around, and pushed as hard as he could with his legs and ankles, tackling the zombie he was now facing. “I’m done with that, and I’m done with you. All of you!” he still spoke out loud, even if it was to no one. On the last words, he spun, and landed his fist on the side of the closest head. The head flew off and hit another, toppling the body it was attached to. The body was crushed and killed as the zombies came closer to their target. As he killed, Evan’s smile grew back, for he had lost it as he was thrown around. The side of his face hurt, and the smile did not help at all. “Time for some fun,” he thought to himself.

Back at camp, everyone was doing great. Bromley ignored the sinking feeling he had, and kept his attention focused on Rainbow Dash. God, this damn pony was so interesting and cute. Applejack however had begun to worry about the poor lonely boy on the other side of the small occupied area she stood up and walked over to where she thought he used to be sitting. There was nothing there, but she hadn’t noticed because for most of the walk over there she was looking expectantly at her friends, pleading them with her eyes to give her the lines that would cause the boy to come over. Unfortunately for her, they just smirked, and watched her in action; Rainbow Dash even winked at her. Evan was not there but nonetheless, she began talking to the nothing and invited it over to their small group. She then saw that no one was there. He had gone somewhere.

She felt stupid. How had she not seen him disappear? She had been keeping such a close watch on him. Her friends laughed and rolled along the floor, but she ignored the unworried ponies. She knew that lonely people and ponies could be dangerous and do stupid things. Her misery was then interrupted by a scream. It didn't sound angry or terrified though. More like one of Pinkie Pie's screams, giddy and joyful. Bromley jumped to his feet, eyes narrowing dangerously. He didn't pick up on the joyous tone and began to worry about all of his comrades.

“Where in the name of Zeus's thundering butt hole did Evan run off to?” Before he could ask a follow up question another yell pierced the air, letting everyone know which direction it was coming from, and where Evan hopefully was. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh ha ha ha ha” The scream turned into laughing in the middle, confusing everyone. Without even stopping to question the noise, everyone just began loading up on weapons and ran towards the sound.

When they finally reached the source of the laughter and screaming, they encountered a mass of zombies, who were only interested in one thing which was at the center. Bromley took aim with one of the rifles knowing that even if they ran away, this horde would find them. The battlefield would be less cataclysmic if it wasn't at their base. He was just about to pull the trigger. 1....2....3... -gasp- he held his breath. “Head shots only,” he told himself. His finger pulled back, but he stopped. “Fuck... I know that laugh...” he continued aiming, but he took his finger off the trigger.  “Ha ha ha ha ha! Rrrrraaaaaaaahhhhh! Die! Bwa ha ha ha,” the screams rang out again. The whole group knew who was in the middle. It was Evan. Bromley sighed, knowing of his friend’s psychotic tendencies.

“This human blows the other one out the water. Insanity levels anyways,” Twilight said to herself. “Better go help him. Although I would love to see if humans are really powerful enough to take on this many. Wait has he been... LAUGHING? Why isn’t Bromley helping him?!”

“This is what boredom gets you, amazing fun and a horde of zombies,” thought Evan as he splintered the showing ribs of a zombie. “How many have I killed?” he launched himself onto the head of a crawling zombie, instantly splattering what was left of the decayed skin over the ground. “Oh probably ten or twenty already. I should start counting! That might be fun! I wont include those other ones so that was one” he scissor kicked another in the face sending the head flying. “Learning parkour was apparently a good thing. Two” He landed crouched from the high jump and limited time to bring his legs back to a standing position. He forced his hand down hard onto the ground and broke ankles of zombies by spinning. “Skateboarding was nice too I guess” he brought down his foot from above his head onto a skull. “Three. That wasn't as wasted of an hour as I thought. All of this has been so...” his thoughts were cut off by the sound of flapping wings. He saw Rainbow Dash shoot into the sky just as he ripped the head off of the last remaining zombie that he had broken the ankles of, letting it roll along the ground and trip a few of its comrades.

“Evan! What are you doing? We have to get you out of here,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She shoved her front hoofs under his arms and began to try to take off, but Evan yanked down and swung her forward into a zombie, dazing her and the target.

“Get yourself out of here! And tell those idiots out there that this is my fight. I want all of them! Now go!” He turned around to find the closest zombie was upon him. He shoved his hand into the deteriorating ribcage and grabbed it solidly by the collarbone with his other hand. He flipped it over and rammed its head into the ground but instead of sticking in, it broke off and rolled towards Rainbow Dash. She screamed and flew away, eager to be away from the horrible fight. She didn't know what was worse; the suicide of the boy or the way zombies crumpled in his hands.

“Everyone stop firing!” she shouted into the crowd of humans and ponies below them. The ponies were in charge of reloading the guns when they were out of ammo. The humans meanwhile shot the rifles.

“What do you mean? He’s obviously getting overpowered,” Nathaniel called back while taking the next gun from Applejack.

“He doesn't want to be saved and I don't think he would need it,” she said looking back at the mass of zombies.

“Fine,” Bromley put his gun down completely and Nate followed suit. “If he wants to die, so be it. I knew he was in the mood for killing, but this is ridiculous.”

“He really thinks he can take on all of them?” Twilight was beginning to wonder why the man next to her was captain and not the subject at hand.

“If you get killed I swear to god I will kill you,” thought Bromley, well aware of the redundancy.

“Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Oh counting is no fun!” One of the more agile zombies swung at him and he shot his torso towards the ground backwards and rammed his palms into the hard rock, shooting him upwards and into the zombie. The fight had picked up pace rapidly as the swarm grew larger. It fell to its back and onto the green fire, snuffing it out.

“Well that means not too many more will be coming. Oh well. Fun can't last forever.” He dropped to his knees and hands and shot his legs out in back of him knocking a whole row back.

“That's new,” he thought. It was somewhat reminiscent of what Applejack had told him about her job at the farm. The row of zombie went six deep revealing the end of the circle of death and his comrades. He waved and smiled.

“He’s nuts! Completely bonkers!” Twilight thought to herself as she sat, stunned at the beast in the center. She returned her gaze to the other ponies and humans and was taken aback. The ponies were all scared to death, which she expected. Nate wasn’t really scared, but he was biting his cheek to keep from yelling, and gripping his rifle tightly to keep from flipping out. But Bromley, was what surprised her. He was still, perfectly calm and unreadable, eyes calculating the situation. “And.. This is why he’s our leader. He can keep calm... under anything...”

The gap closed around Evan and the smile grew bigger. He ripped an arm off of a zombie and used it to beat it to death. “Oh the irony! That was so fun” Too much fun was a bad thing however. A zombie finally touched him. He spun at the sensation of the dead flesh on his skin. He turned to face his adversary and was jumped on by another zombie. “They can jump? This is getting to be so much fun!” He leaped and landed on his back, crushing the zombie. But before he could get up, another and another piled onto him. Eventually all but a few zombies were on top of him. He almost had his legs under him and he could see his friends. Nate raised his gun and Evan questioned whether he was trying to put him out of his “misery” or if he was going to try and help. Bromley shook his head at Nate and he let the gun rest again. He saw Bromley's mouth form the words “not yet”. The last zombie piled on and Evan’s small frail legs struggled an slipped as they tried to get under him.

“I'm dead. Oh well this was fun. Maybe I can do this again.” A voice in the back of his head said, “Your dying Evan. There will be no more fun after this.” No more fun? Unacceptable. He looked through the pile of dead flesh on top of him to try and see a place where he could squirm up to. Someplace he could stand up in. If he could stand he could live and destroy them all. An opening appeared in the mass of dead flesh. The leg he had managed to get under himself extended faster than he had ever attempted before and the barrier between him and fresh air broke with an explosion of limbs and one head. Evan brought his arms up sending more of the pile flying.

The ones that were still whole when they hit the ground receded back into their holes and cracks. Evan turned and struck with every limb he had, including his head, at every thing that he could reach. The mountain was torn to shreds in just a few minutes and it seemed hollow without the laughing. He wasn’t screaming either. His face was completely emotionless as he destroyed the mass below him. Bits and pieces were strewn about and once the unholy deed was done only one figure was left standing. The watchers had a hard time telling if it was a zombie or Evan. The thing standing in the middle of the wreckage threw its head back and laughed. A collective sigh was heard and Evan began walking towards the small troupe that stared at him, most of them scared. He slowed down as he looked confusedly at Bromley’s left eye twitching. Evan smiled a bit at him, glad he was taking it so well.

“Did you guys see that?! I took out all of them on my own!” he turned to see Bromley still staring at him stoically. His hand clenched into a fist. Evan had no time to react.

“Oh sh-” The last thing he saw was Bromley’s fist flying toward his face. The carrier of the fist grabbed the foot of the now unconscious Evan and began walking, dragging the unmoving figure behind him. The still conscious party followed him tentatively, most of the ponies terrified of the captain. He just disabled the most powerful thing they had ever seen. Everyone and everypony thought that it was a probably bad idea, what if they were attacked again? They would need this thing that the captain was dragging behind him. But they all remembered that the captain had not yet shown his full potential. The captain turned to face them, swinging the unconscious body with him. The head of Evan collided with a rock and Bromley dropped him carelessly.

“This idiot is not the most powerful asset to our team. If anything he is the least powerful. You all witnessed what he could have done to us. That group of undead could have easily marched into our camp and overpowered everyone while we were sleeping. This is not okay. Do not give him any thanks or admiration.” At the words he kicked Evan in the side, rolling him over onto his stomach. “He is stupid and reckless and we need to teach him to be more careful.” The captain made a point by sending his finger flying backwards and pointing towards the unconscious Evan several times throughout the speech. Even though the speech was made to make Evan seem like a bad person, Bromley felt the pride and adulation swell in his chest. He had always thought of this thing as his little brother. This damn little reckless bastard. He was pissed at the boy, but even still he had shown how strong he had become. Bromley picked back up the boy’s leg and dragged him along again, his back grinding against the ground. If the ground wasn’t already red it would have been in seconds.

“The captain likes this kid. No matter what goes on he is always going to trust him and rely on him. He faltered when saying that he was and idiot. It was slight but still visible, at least to me. He might not rely on the guy, but the Captain is going to want him around for a long time to come. What did this person do to deserve such respect from Bromley?” Twilight was lost in her thoughts again and was bringing up the back of the pack. Another thought nagged at her. “The least powerful? THAT was the least powerful? It might have just been because he was stupid but still... What the hay are they hiding from us... Or is the Captain... A lot more then he already looks to be?”

“Twilight are you OK? Do you need to take a breather?” Nate fell back from the front of the herd, and stared down at the silent, seemingly dazed pony.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I mean no. I’m fine. Just thinking haha.” Twilight smiled up at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Ah, I understand. What are you thinking about?” Nate asked, curious about what was bothering the small pony. Twilight looked down, knowing she wasn’t going to win this fight with so much on her mind.

“... Why did Evan do that?” Her voice was guarded, almost as if she was afraid of offending him.

“You mean kamikaze into like 400 zombies?” He grinned, trying to be a little humorous.

“Yeah, it’s stupid that he would even think about doing that.” Her judgemental tone didn’t really anger him, it was a common tone used by people who were ignorant of the outside world, or in the case of Twilight, had never lived in a disgusting place.

“He doesn’t like to be bored. He was stuck in a basement for most of his life with nothing to do but punch walls. And think very hard about the world and himself. It was his choice. There wasn’t much else to do on the surface, mainly because he had a very poor family. But when you think too long, without another person’s reasoning on the matter... to say the least it did some damage. We were busy talking away, and he was all alone over there. His version of fun is screwy.” He attempted to explain. She accepted it, and soon another question flew from her mouth.

“I see... Well what about the captain? How is he so... Well, unreadable? And... why is he that vigilant? He notices everything. I think he even saw Evan get up. He just didn’t do anything...” Nate winced at the question, the Captain might be a bit... confusing to someone like her.

“The captain... Well.. What are the worst living conditions you have seen where you come from?” He started off with a question, probing her for what she truly knew about hardship.

“Um... There was this one family that hardly had any bits. They only had two meals a day between the entire family!” Apparently nothing.

“... Bromley had meals. All three. But he had no one to share them with. His mother died of a disease, and his father killed himself weeks later. He ran to one of the nastiest and run down places there is and survived there. Every day he saw people get murdered, raped, or even tortured. He only had all of his meals because he did nasty things in exchange for them. He’s had his own share of things done to him, and he has to carry around that weight. He has to live with the pain, and the agony of losing everything he loved.”

“W-wow... That’s... So scary...” Twilight shuddered mid step, but continued walking, her eyes now looking sympathetically toward the man leading them. “But it doesn’t explain why the Captain is so observant.”

“In order to survive, he had to learn to become hyper vigilant. It’s second nature to him now. He killed a man when he was 15 years old. He taught himself how to be a weapon, and to preserve his sanity he began looking differently at the world. Most of the time he locks away his dark and evil side.”

“Evil?”

“Of course. He lost everything. Something died within him when everything around him vanished. How can you not become a little... Evil and screwed up after all that?”

“I guess I can see that... But you were saying?” Twilight nodded, then returned her attention to Nate.

“Bromley is... Just as insane as Evan. In every way. He just hides it behind a mask that he has developed in order to still be liked. Evan has a mask too but his is different. He went though a depression stage for most of his good life, but no one likes people like that. He needed friends so he made a happy funny mask. Bromley met him a little while before the creation of that mask. During that time Evan fluctuated between cycles of enjoying life and being brutally tortured by it. Bromley met him on a good day and they became friends. Probably the last time he showed any real emotion is when he heard Evan tried to commit suicide. Evan should have gotten a massive beat down but Bromley just told him off.That was probably right around when Evan started wearing the mask. He finally got it that he didn’t have any friends because no one wants to hang out with a depressing kid. That probably answers your questions about the connection between them.”

“Yeah... yeah it does...” Twilight was about to drift back into thought but then

Nathaniel asked a very interesting question.

“What did you think of us when the zombies woke us up? When Bromley punched that zombie?”

“Uh.. Well.. uh... I was very intrigued I guess. It took a lot of power and I know that. You all seemed so heartless when you didn’t break down afterwards though. You all can do more than all six of us can physically, but I’m sure our magic can overpower your physical attributes.”

“Oh you would be very surprised. After those two got to be good friends and Evan finally realized someone cared about him, they started training together. Evan had this waterfall near where he lived and he took Bromley to it. They practically lived there after that but that wasn’t what was surprising. What ended up happening was they stopped the waterfall. Not with a dam but with their arms. Eventually the two got to a point of training and strength that they could put their hands against the rock behind the water and give a large enough seismic force that the water would stop for a second or two. I witnessed this when I was bringing Evan some soup for his parents. And if they can stop a waterfall...” Nate paused and looked at the stupefied Twilight, her mouth agape at the news. “I’m sure they can do anything.”

“But even the force to keep your arms in a waterfall! That had to be hundreds of pounds pressing down! And seismic force? Like an earthquake? That stops waterfalls? Thats...” Nate cut her off. He was getting annoyed with her astonishment at the powers that humans could aquire.

“I know. I didn’t believe it either. But those two...” Evan’s head clonked against a rock. “They are something else.” Twilight was stunned. She had no more questions, or at least none she didn’t want to try and figure out for herself.

“My follow up question is what do you think of humans now?” Nate asked

“Oh you aliens are crazy. You have all the power in the world but you can’t build a rocket,” Twilight joked. Nate chuckled.

“OK. You need some clarification. They have all the power. I have all the brains they would ever need. Not to say they aren’t smart, but I usually plan most of what goes on. I get down to business right away and I solve most of the difficult problems they don’t want to work on. If anything, I’m the secret to their success,” Nate boasted, winking at Twilight. It was totally justified though. All of what he said was true. Bromley and Evan would still be at the waterfall if it wasn’t for Nate.

He was done telling stories for the night but he remembered the day they had stopped the waterfall. Nate had happened to run by the hide out right as the two placed their hands on the rock. He was awestruck as he saw them push and the rock shudder against their hands before the water slowed to a trickle, before finally ending. Shaking his head in disbelief he had approached and the two collapsed onto the ground. They both began laughing loudly as water poured down onto them, the exhilaration of what they just did getting to them. Nate knew an opportunity when he saw it. He was ecstatic. He obstinately ordered them to go and put those skills on the streets. Evan agreed but Bromley was not happy to go back into the darkness of his former life. The only reason he went was because of the money involved, and Evan.

Nate knew people. He had a nice life, a good place, but it was uninteresting. Life didn’t challenge his mental capacities. He hung out in the back alleys, content with his shadowy existence. People could get him what he wanted for cheaper than buying it on the Internet, and he could get almost anything, even illegal things. The hint of danger involved excited him, and he admitted he got a bit of a high off of it. That day he had taken Evan and Bromley to an underground fight club. He had been their before, and knew that both of his friend’s potentials were absolutely ridiculous.

The matches were wagered. No one bet on Bromley when it was his first round. Who would? He was just a sixteen year old. He was the first fight of the night and laughs emerged from the crowd as soon as he stepped onto the concrete floor. He didn’t react at all, as usual. A tall brawny guy with a cocky smirk on his face had come out and told him to go home. Bromley had cracked a knowing smile at that, and called out that the guy’s balls were too small to take him on. Such an easy and low jibe, but very effective on a fighting floor. The bald man had charged him with a roar of annoyance. It didn’t end well for him though, as a couple of seconds later Bromley dumped him on the ground with a closed windpipe and a broken arm. He hadn’t even moved an inch. The audience stopped laughing. The gasping man was dumped outside, but Bromley didn’t like that and called an ambulance after carrying his body out of the area.

Evan happened to be the second fight of the night. He waved and blew kisses at the crowd, as if he were some celebrity. The crowd had sobered up, but still didn’t place any bets on him.  Evan’s trademark, the insane laughing began there. He had never had so much fun! Actual fun. Evan dodged and weaved all of his opponent’s furious punches as bets were shouted out and placed. Evan was smart and let the bets rise until he earned over $300 dollars. When it was time, he let the opposition get close to him. Evan tripped him and took the chance to spin and land a heavy blow on the falling mans lower back, crippling his legs for the rest of his life. Bromley recognized the movement style and later mentioned to Nate that he was using “Chaos style.” Bromley picked up on the betting trick and placed the collective $310 on himself.

He knew he would win, and even if he didn’t; it wasn’t like they lost anything. Bromley let the bets rise and took the man down once it was well over $1000. All it took was a foot to the face. Evan and Bromley made it to the finals, together. They would face each other. Nate was long gone by then. He had taken the money he was entitled to. He knew either way one of them would win and the other would survive. The next day when he tried to get a new illegal software program and some cigs he heard the story of how these two boys battled to the death last night. Nate asked who won but the man wouldn’t give a good enough description. He had run to Evan’s house to see them both bandaged and bruised badly. Evan was nursing a split elbow and recently relocated knee, while Bromley was hiding his shattered ankle and four broken fingers. Neither would give away who won. Nate was snapped out of his recollection by Bromley ordering him to help him lay Evan down on some blankets.

“Do you have a clue why this piece of shit took on all those beasts?” Bromley was clearly angry. He had been given some time to ruminate but it was clear that had only made him more furious.

“I thought you would have that figured out by now. We were neglecting him. He wanted something to do but we had nothing to offer him.” Nate was explaining as carefully as he could, trying to not place blame on the already furious captain.

“So why didn’t he go over and start talking with Applejack and them? We know he likes Applejack.” The captain’s rage was dieing down slowly. It was replaced by confusion. Usually he could figure out things on his own, but an unfamiliar concept was presented to him at the moment.

“You really have never seen how he reacts to girls have you? He is not your average baller, who just runs up to girls and shows them his dick. No, he leaves them alone and when he finally realizes that he might have a chance, he goes for it. And when there isn’t a girl present who he likes, or if there is a group of girls, he avoids them. He is also very very aware that he interrupts and destroys conversations when he enters them. Have you ever noticed that every time he comes into a conversation that he needs explaining of everything that has already happened, and when your done with that you forgot what you were going to say. He hates being out of the loop. Sometimes he even just comes in silently and you forget what you were saying because you had to address him. Thus he didn’t come over to either of our small groups.” Bromley leaned back a little, thinking. Had he really never looked into Evan’s romance life? Or seen how he obliterated conversation?

He had. But it had never effected him. He realized that he might be the only person who enjoyed the guy’s actually talking outside of his jokes.

“So why didn’t he just go to b...” Bromley was cut off by the unconscious boy laying beneath the two waking and sitting up very quickly.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhh!” Evan screamed as soon as he sat up. A terrified scream. Bromley reacted quickly and sent him to bed again with another hit without looking.

“Why didn’t he just go to bed?”

“Probably pent up energy. Or he was just in the mood. It’s also very cold sleeping on stone. He could have been avoiding that. Do you know he’s the only one without a real bed? I tried offering one to him but he said that it was fun to sleep on a rock.” Nate didn’t react at all to the punch really, he just continued patiently explaining to his friend. Bromley looked down at Evan. To himself he thought,

“Why do you torture yourself friend? It doesn’t make you tougher...” Bromley stood up and left. Nate followed suit shortly afterwards. Bromley had plans for Evan. Waking up was not going to be pleasant experience for the boy.