Alone...

He was alone...rather, he had always been alone. He didn't know why, and nobody had ever felt the need to explain it to him, then again, he doubted that there was anybody able to explain it.

His existence had been like this for as long as he could remember, and he could remember everything. He had been there since the beginning, and he expected to be there long after the end, cursed to be only an observer.

Forever forced to watch the world for all time, unable to walk through its soft grass or feel the warmth of the sun upon his head.

Forced to hear every dark accusation against him, to hear all the pain and anguish of those he visited, to hear their wracking sobs as they collapsed to the ground, but forbidden from ever speaking back.

Forced to be a part of everybody's life, young or old, rich or poor, great or small, he would always be there in the end.

But he would never be allowed to understand them...

Understanding...that concept has never occurred to him, until so recently. The world he watched over had fallen under attack by powerful creatures, three times in less than two years. Nightmare Moon, the God of Chaos, Discord, and the Queen of the Changelings. He had watched them, expecting so much to happen because of them, expect so much...work. But then...they were all stopped, by the simplest and oddest, of things.

The first two were brought down by six average ponies, using what they called The Magic of Friendship. How something so...silly, could take the form of a multicolored magical blast was another thing he wouldn't understand. The changelings had be defeated by two older ponies, by their power of 'love.' Something he so often heard when collecting others, but to him, it was simply words.

Why had so much power come from such simple concepts?

He found himself following those six strange ponies as they lived their lives. He was surprised at how...normal they seemed on their own. True, they all had their own eccentricities, but compared to all the ponies that had come before them, it was nothing special. It was when they were together, helping each other, or just talking, that he noticed...something. Between all of them was something special.

He started hanging off of their every word, trying to find some hint, some clue, that would help this mystery make sense. But no matter what he did, the answer refused to appear.

He didn't understand.

He couldn't understand, not like this, not from simply watching. He had to see them with true eyes, to talk with them personally. That was his only chance, his only hope to...be...

But that was an impossible wish, he was stuck behind the veil.

Just cross over.

A thought...his, it had to be, there was no one else. But...cross over? He couldn't, that was...

Impossible? When had that ever been decided?

Never...it had never been decided, the thought to try had never crossed his mind before. Curious, he reached out with his essence, feeling the veil, like the surface of a pool of cold water.

All his questions, the question of why, the need to understand had somehow affected him. Now he questioned his own boundaries, what was there, really, to stop him from passing through? The veil began to feel so flimsy in his grip, like paper.

There is nothing left to stop me

In an instant, the veil was torn, and he was pulled through. It was all so simple, he couldn't but imagine himself chuckling. His dream had been realized, and his questions would be answered.

Death was coming to Equestria, but the ponies would have nothing to fear from him.

Or so he thought...

He found himself lying on the ground, something soft tickling his nose. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and was rewarded with a view of the city of Ponyville. He had appeared on a large hill overlooking the town, and luckily, there were no other ponies around him.

Shifting his legs, he forced himself to stand, a new experience, one of many as he realized just what having a body meant.

He could feel the beating of a heart in his chest, so loud, like an endless drumbeat. He could feel the body as it labored for breath, understood how quickly it could fail when cut off from such a simple supply.

So weak, but underneath it all, so complex, so...unique and confusing.

Pausing his thoughts, he took a moment to observe his own body. It appeared he was a gray stallion with a black mane, of average height and build with no wings or horn, perfect for blending into the crowd, but there was something else. On his flank there was a small picture of something. Looking closer, he recognized it as a scythe.

A scythe for the reaper stallion, how...appropriate

He focused his mind back to the task at hand, heading down the hill towards the town, when he noticed something else.

The grass brushing against his hooves was soft, softer than anything he'd ever felt before, and the sun on his head was warm...gentle.

But it was nothing like how he'd imagined it to be.

In his own realm, he had watched ponies run and roll through the grass laughing and smiling like nothing could be greater. He had watched as ponies simply sit and let the sun shine on them, content to spend the whole day with its warmth as their only company.

Watching them, he expected those two things to be so much...more. Experiencing them now, they simply 'were.' Just a side effect of nature, nothing more.

But he didn't have time to be distracted by his failed expectations, he had far more important things to discover.

He kept up a brisk pace as he entered the town, hoping that no other ponies would try to talk to him. He wanted to go directly to the pony called Twilight Sparkle, she had the information he needed.

He just needed to get there without-

"Hellooooooo!" a sing-song voice called out to him as a bouncing pink pony seemed to materialize in front of him. He recognized her, she was one of those six special ponies. Her name was-

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" she gleefully introduced herself. "And I've never seen you around before!"

"Not a surprise...though I have been here before," he found himself replying, surprising himself with the sound of his own voice. It was low and gravely, like he suffered from a constant sore throat.

"What? I don't think so, because if you had been I'd know who you were, and then I would've thrown you a party and you would'a been my new friend! And if there's one thing Pinkie never forgets, it's her new friends, and parties...oh wait, I guess that was two things! Haha!" She collapsed in a fit of giggles.

A party...he had noticed a few of Pinkie Pie's parties, rather, he couldn't help but notice them. Their scope and energy were truly a sight to behold, and the last thing he wanted right now.

"But I do know you, Pinkamina Diane Pie," Pinkie's full name brought her attention back. "You grew up on a sad little rock farm, two sisters, a father and a mother, always so gloomy. Also, a grandmother who taught you how to laugh...all still alive." He started listing off facts of her family robotically, hoping to convince her that he did actually know her and thus remove the need for a party.

He knew so much about her, he couldn't help it. He remembered everything after all.

"Huh, that's weird...almost nopony knows my full name...except...hum," she placed one hoof on her chin, thinking. "Okay, I'm gonna go check something, don't move!" She rushed off in an instant, but not before giving him a dark glare, just daring him to move.

Alone now, he immediately moved, heading for the library, where he knew Twilight Sparkle would be.

The library was unmistakable, a massive tree near the center of town that housed every book, and then some, the studious unicorn could get her hooves on. He quickly walked through the open doorway, intent on finding her.

He wandered through the empty rooms, peering curiously at the many book titles, wondering in the back of his mind if any of the stories would be worth reading to something like himself.

Finally he found her curled up in the corner of the back room, her nose completely buried in a massive novel. He walked up next to her, but she still failed to notice him.

"Greetings," he finally announced, startling Twilight who quickly dropped her book and jumped up to face him

"Oh, hello! I'm sorry, I thought I would just take one little peek at my new book that came in today, but it was so good that I figured one more chapter wouldn't hurt and then..." she paused, realizing she was rambling. "Sorry, that probably doesn't matter to you. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and you are..." she trailed off, waiting for him to fill in his name. He stood stumped for a few moments, it had never occurred to him to think of a name, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Sunny," he blurted, remembering the feel of it's warmth on his face. But he still needed a last name, he would be suspicious without it. He quickly thought one up, thinking about the mark on his flank. "Harvest, I'm Sunny Harvest."

"Nice to meet you Sunny Harvest," she looked to the side and noticed his cutie mark. "Oh, are you a farmer? Do you know my friend Applejack? She lives over at Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight asked curiously.

"She lives with her older brother, younger sister and grandmother. No parents, they're both gone," the words seemed to spill from his mouth, surprising him. He hadn't meant to say so much, it was almost like he'd been...forced to.

"Oh, I guess you do know her then," Twilight replied after a few awkward moments of silence. "Did you meet at one of the Ponyville rodeos?"

"Yes," he answered quickly, then quickly decided to change the topic, "but I didn't come here to talk about Applejack. I understand that you're doing research for the alicorn Celestia?"

"You mean Princess Celestia?" he nodded, in the grand scheme of things, such titles were meaningless to him. "Yes, she has me sending in reports on friendship...how'd did you know about that?"

"I've...been doing research on it, on how you used its power to stop Discord when he almost took over Equestria." a partial truth to help mask his terrible ability to lie.

"You're a farmer with the spare time to research the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked, a twinge of suspicion sneaking into her voice.

"I'm very good at multitasking," another partial truth.

"Well, what exactly did you want to know?" Twilight grudgingly accepted his answer.

"Well, I would like to know about friendship itself really, how it was powerful enough to give six ponies the power to drive back a god of chaos. What about friendship makes it so strong?" he asked, unsure of himself. He wasn't if that was the question that would bring the answers he wanted. From Twilight's expression, it looked like it wasn't.

"Well...I don't really know how to answer that. I mean, you could look up 'friendship' in the dictionary, but that's not really gonna tell you anything. You can really only learn about it by experiencing it, just like I did," she explained, trying to be helpful.

"So you don't know? You don't understand it at all?" he didn't believe her, how could she not know?

"I do know! It's just, not something you can put down in words. I write the Princess reports on it, but in the end they're only reports, and they can never match up to the actual experience of friendship," she said, trying to make him understand.

He didn't.

"Thank you for your help Miss Sparkle," he said to her before turning and quickly trotting out of the library. Outside, he shook shook head, so confused. How could she not know? How could she not understand? If she didn't understand, how could he ever hope to understand what friendship was?

Was this whole trip, finally learning how to pass through the veil, pointless?

Suddenly, he realized that he had started walking without realizing it while his mind was occupied. Looking around, it seemed like he had reached the edge of the town. He was standing at the bottom of a large hill, but it seemed he wasn't alone.

Looking up, he spied a orange colored pony at the top of the hill. Her neck was bent downwards and he thought he heard her saying something. He strained his ears, straining to do something, now that was a new experience for him, trying to hear her.

"...Bloom is still doing fine, long as I can prevent her from tryin' to get a timber wolf tamer cutie mark. Granny Smith is still goin' strong, sometimes I think she's gonna outlast all of us!" the pony, Applejack he finally recognized, paused for a moment. "I still miss you yah know. I'll always miss yah..." She stepped back from what she had been looking at, and managed to catch sight of him at the bottom of the hill.

"Oh, howdy stranger, what brings you out here?" Applejack said friendly, heading downhill towards him.

"Just got lost in my thoughts," he nodded towards where Applejack had just been. "I heard you talking, your parents?" He asked, hoping to learn something from her, she was one of the six after all.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's a memorial for them, for helpin' to protect the town. Have you heard of 'em?"

Two ponies, a strong stallion and a gentle mare, lay together in the grass. Their forelegs were wrapped around each other, together til the last. The alicorn Celestia stood next to them, putting all of her magic towards helping them, but it was too late.

He already carried their souls.

Small, yet so very bright and strong. they had been content at the very end, he could feel it. But like so many other things, he didn't understand it.

"Something like that," he told her, still gazing up at the hill. "...why do you talk to them?" He asked her bluntly. That was something he had observed countless times, living things talking to those that had no chance of hearing their words.

"What'cha mean?" Applejack replied, confused.

"They can't hear you, what's the point?" Applejack shrugged at his question.

"Point, why does there haf'ta be a point? Sometimes it just nice to talk to them, helps me remember them, and who says they can't hear? You ever been to where they went?" he opened his mouth to answer, but stopped. She was right...he had never been...there.

He was only a shepherd, helping the souls go...beyond, forever stuck in the middle.

"No...you're right. Thank you," he bowed his head towards her and walked away.

"Thanks fer what?" Applejack called after him, but he didn't answer, thought already swirling in his mind.

Perhaps, it seemed, he could learn something from these ponies after all...

"I just can't believed he moved!" Pinkie Pie complained, stomping through the library. "After I specifically told him not to!"

"Well you could hardly expect him to wait there for you, most ponies have other things to do," Twilight said, shelving her new book, very satisfied at its ending.

"Well I guess you may have a point, but it looked like he was heading to your library and I hoped to see him here." she grumbled, shaking her head. Twilight paused, turning to face her.

"What did this pony look like?" she asked.

"Oh! He was a gray stallion with black mane, and he had one of those silly gravely voices 'like this,'" Pinkie explained deepening her voice into a decent copy.

"Did he have a scythe mark on his flank?" Twilight pressed.

"Yup! I didn't get the chance to ask him about it before I had to run off," she replied.

"Right, and why did you run off?" Twilight asked rather guiltily, she hadn't been listening too intently to the first part of Pinkie's story.

"Silly willy, I told you! He said that he had been to Ponyville before, which I said was impossible because then I would have known who he was, but then he started saying things that he could only know if he had been here before so I needed to go back home to get my collection of party photos!" she unceremoniously pulled out a massive stack of photos that proceeded to cascade over the floor of the library. "I looked through every single picture, but he doesn't show up in any of them! And everypony who's ever been to Ponyville had been to at least one of my parties." She nodded happily at her own explanation.

"Huh...Pinkie, can you give me a moment? I need to write a letter to the Princess," Twilight said.

"Okie dokie lokie! I think I'll look through some of these photos, those were some pretty great parties," she immediately began scrounging through the photos, making an even larger mess. Twilight headed upstairs and grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen with her magic.

"Dear Princess Celestia," she started. "There's a new pony in town, Sunny Harvest, but he claims to have been here before, and he knows...strange information. He knew about my friendship reports, and odd information on Applejack's family. Pinkie Pie says she's never seen him before, and you know that she knows everypony who's ever shown up in Ponyville. I don't know what to think about this, but after the changeling attack you told me report any suspicious behavior, and he certainly is suspicious. I will send another report if anything changes. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." She rolled up the parchment and went looking for Spike.

She found the dragon resting in his bed, he'd apparently decided to go to sleep a little early today, but she needed his fire to send the message. A small grin grew on her face as she got an idea.

She held the scroll in front of his mouth and began tickling his nose with the feather on the pen, the results were spontaneous.

"Ah, ah-choo!" a burst of flame shot from his mouth,engulfing the letter and sending it flying away through an open window into the outside air. Spike merely grumbled and rolled over in his bed.

Twilight watched the smoke drift away, wondering what, if anything, would come from this strange pony.

Later...she was sorry she asked.