The first thing Twilight saw when she awakened from what she hoped was a bad dream was a starry sky, but the stars were dancing around in very odd ways that told her that had been no dream. She groaned and sat up as she rubbed her head, opening her bleary eyes to see the princess of the night, Lyra and Zecora all sitting on what looked like a deck while looking at her.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight asked in confusion as she looked around at where she was, gasping as she saw three massive balloons keeping a very advanced piece of technology afloat. Two of the balloons rested under the ship while the third was tethered to the ship above her head. A quick look around at the white metal and oak wood that formed the deck she now rested upon told her that she was on a very advanced sky ship. "W-where am I? Where's Discord? The last thing in remember was-"

"Do not worry Twilight, you are safe now," Luna said in a comforting tone as she outstretched a hoof for the shaken unicorn to grab hold of, helping her to her hooves while Twilight looked around the deck with some confusion in her face. "This is a secret skyship that was only known to my sister and myself, as it was only to be used in case of emergency. It is completely undetectable by magic, making it very useful against one like Discord. Here," Luna said as she offered Twilight her Element, Twilight taking it with growing confusion.

"How did you get it back?" Twilight asked Luna once she had looked it over carefully to make sure that all of the chaotic magic had been expelled from it. "Discord took control of me and the other Element's with our own power. How did you manage to get rid of the chaotic energy and free me from his control? Did you and Celestia do it?"

"You might think us full of baloney, but your savior wasn't a pony," Zecora said with her crypticness, giving Twilight a moment's pause as she tried to unravel who could have aided her. Her was light up with shock when she figured it out and Zecora confirmed her thoughts when she nodded as Twilight looked over at her.

"The human?" Twilight asked with sheer disbelief in her voice, unable to process what Zecora had told her. "The same human that beat up Rainbow Dash, used a number of odd items to escape us from both Ponyville and Canterlot and set fire to my library?! That same human?!"

"Wow, didn't expect you to remember anything about being under Discord's spell, but she remembers the library alright," Lyra said with a whistle.

"I doubt that even a mind wipe could get rid of that image from her mind," Luna said as she looked down at Twilight, who was still not sure she believed what Luna was telling her. "Twilight, I know that this must be hard to process right now, but if had not been for the human, who I promised not to name, I would be under Discord's spell as well and so would you. I do not know for certain why he has chosen to help us, but he says that he wants our world to be safe."

"But how can we trust him?! We know practically know nothing about him!" Twilight exclaimed as she paced back and forth fast enough to burn a hole in the deck. "I need to talk to him. Where is he?"

"He is below deck," Lyra said. "But he's asked none of us to see him. I think that he's getting his bones reset again or something along those lines. You kinda broke him with a pair of dictionaries." Twilight looked horrified at those words and she promised them to wait until the human came back up before she interrogated him.

"You suck at this!" Ryan roared with a growl as pain coursed through his body, a couple of broken ribs that had been set wrong being the perpetrators. The silver mare zapped him a bit but only got more of his complaining from him. "Seriously, can't you just use the same spell that you've used the past ten times to fix me up?!"

'Maybe if you would stop your bitching for five seconds I could heal you without getting satisfaction from breaking your bones to fix them,' the silver mare replied with heat as she tentatively used her magic to repair his bones, though she had to break a number of ones that had set wrong, which resulted in the hate she was getting now. 'And that magic was a quick heal, which resulted in a number of your bones setting the wrong way. This way might be more painful but it will help you in the long run.'

"Do you think if I whacked you with one of these batons it would expel the stupid from that statement?" The silver mare did her best not to chuckle as she broke another one of his ribs. After another ten minutes of pain and complaining, Ryan sat up and slid his dragon scale vest back on, grumbling to himself about shitty service while he slipped back on his coat. He did his best to make no sound as the silver mare healed up the incision she had made to get to his ribs, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing how much pain he was in. "Where the hell did you learn to be a doctor anyway? I thought that you weren't an all-powerful being?"

'You'd be surprised how little you know about me,' the silver mare replied with a hint of venom as she sat down with a sigh, breathing heavily as her form flickered slightly. 'I may be young, but I have spent most of my time in this form learning all sorts of skill that would be useful to me. From Tenebaum teaching me how to get a handle on my powers to Yoda showing me how to be at peace with what happened to me I have learned a lot. I believe the only thing you have on me is how to get your ass kicked.'

"Everyone always brings that up," Ryan growled bitterly before looking at the mare with a raised eyebrow. "You just said Yoda right, as in the little green guy with the kickass light saber skills?" He frowned a bit when she nodded before lowering his chin to his chest, thinking to himself what that meant. "And you also said something about the Hulk earlier, didn't you? Have you actually met these characters?"

'Just because they are characters in your world does not mean that they are any less real,' the silver mare said as she glided over to him in a stream of silver, getting an eye role from him at her showing off. 'One of my greatest abilities is my power to cross from reality to reality, though I will admit that this takes a great deal of power to do so.' She then gave off a glow that forced Ryan to shield his eyes, but when he could see again he realized that he was looking into a number of portals, each one having a different version of Equestria.

"So just how did you manage to do this?" Ryan asked her as he looked in amazement through the silver portals, seeing humans in some of them while strange beings that he had never seen before resided in others.

'Ironically, I had help from the same beings that gave you those batons,' the mare said as she closed the portals, Ryan looking into one of them for as long as he could, certain that the shadowy creature he had been observing had been looking at him. 'Apparently from what they have told me they are similar to me as they go from reality to reality aiding those who fight for the ponies. Though I never did figure out who they are.' Ryan had lowered his head again as he was lost in thought, before he looked at the mare with a serious expression.

"Just what are you anyway? You said yourself that you're not a god, yet your powers are far beyond anything that I have seen these ponies or even humans achieve," he pointed out, taking note that she hid her head a bit behind her hood as he said this. "Are you some kind of mutant? A force of nature in pony form? I can't figure you out."

'...I am the dead brought back to life,' she said in a near whisper, walking across the metal floor to the windows, which allowed her to gaze out at the dancing stars as memories began to flow through her. 'I died at a young age yet somepony brought me back by infusing my spirit with that of a sacred artifact from my world,' the mare said as she moved her cloak to the side, revealing a silver sphere that glowed with an ethereal power. 'This is the sphere of creation, sister to the sphere of destruction. With this powering me I have the power to create, to aid, at the tips of my hooves. This is what brought me back from the dead.'

"And now it's damaged," Ryan said, the mare nodding in response. 'And now I get what you were saying by your magic couldn't really hurt Twilight. That's the other sphere's job, isn't it?" Once again he got a nod from the mare. "So that sphere alone brought you back from the dead? The sphere of creation has the power to do that?"

'Yes, but the person or being that returns must have the resolve to do so. If not, then even it cannot do anything,' the mare said before lowering her hood, motioning for Ryan to get closer. When he had done so, she moved her mane to the side and allowed Ryan to see the back of her neck, where a single, tiny lightning bolt rested. 'But you are wrong in saying it was the sphere alone. Teth also used a small portion of his magic to bring me back from the dead, though I do not know if that was his intentions.'

"Teth? Don't know who that is," Ryan muttered as he sat down on the cold floor. The mare raised her hood again before looking to Ryan and creating an image out of silver that caused Ryan to back away. It was a man in a full black suit with a golden lightning bolt in the center of his chest, with golden gauntlets and grieves. "Wait...Black Adam?"

'Yes, but to me he will always be Teth,' the mare replied as she dispelled the image. 'He has hunted me ever since he had the same vision I had, the vision that my world will fall to darkness if six champions are not gathered to fight it. He believes me to be that darkness and will not stop till he has killed me. But despite my best efforts to keep him away, he inadvertently killed one of my champions. Now I fear for my home.'

"Wow, seems like an asshole," Ryan said with a smirk, but to his surprise the mare turned towards him with a fury in her normally empty eyes.

'He is a savior who has sacrificed everything to protect my home and a good man, despite what he thinks about me,' she said with a fire in her voice that only faded once Ryan had put up his hands. 'I am sorry about that,' she apologized, Ryan shrugging it off as he looked at her in a whole new light, not sure if he liked what he had learned about her. Having learned about her plight and her desperate gamble to save her world, he now felt guilty for being a dick to her.

"It's weird, I never thought that somepony like you would have so much depth to them," Ryan said with a shrug as he stood up again, looking out the window at the dancing stars. "I thought you were just a cryptic pain that enjoyed messing with me."

'And I must admit that I never thought of you as anything more than an ass,' she replied before turning towards him with what he believed was a smile under her hood. 'But despite you still being that, I see that you have a noble heart that beats within you. If only your mouth was as noble.'

"But then I wouldn't be perfect," Ryan said with a smirk as he headed towards the stairs that lead to the deck.

'Thank you.' Ryan turned back to look at the mare and for a brief moment he thought he could see a radiant smile on her face. 'With all of this mysterious being business it is nice to just...talk to someone again without having to worry about the mysterious mare image. Thank you for being...a friend, I guess.'

"You're welcome," Ryan said before he turned and headed up the stairs, coming out onto the deck to see Twilight waiting for him with a look that said he was in for a world of pain. "Oh do we have to do this now, I just got my bones set back into place," Ryan grumbled as he drew his batons, but Twilight held out a hoof to stop him before he could attack.

"Look, Luna gave me the run down on what happened earlier and...I wanted to thank you," Twilight said begrudgingly. Ryan looked at her with a hint of confusion before he slowly put his batons away. "But now that I've thanked you it's time to talk!" Twilight said with childlike glee as she pulled out a quill and parchment "Hold still!"

"No!" Ryan yelled as he ran for his life, Twilight chasing after him until the two of them were stopped by Luna, who was sitting with Zecora and Lyra at the front of the ship.

"Twilight, please stop with this foolishness," Luna said with a regal tone that caused Twilight to lower her items with a sad sigh while Ryan debated whether he should knock Twilight out now before she had the chance to interrogate him again. "We will need the humans help if we are to defeat the other Elements of Chaos and free my sister. Now look here," Luna said as she created a map with her magic that had six marked areas. "These are where the other Elements of Chaos have taken up refuge. The closest one is Fluttershy, who is now residing in the Forever Forest."

"So the kind, compassionate one is the one we have to go beat up next?" Ryan asked, Luna shaking her head with a bit of sadness.

"I know that it might be hard to fight somepony who is normally so caring, but with the power of chaos-"

"Are you kidding me? I'm an asshole, I have no problem with fighting her," Ryan said with a chuckle that got him looks of rage. "Besides, if the fight with Twilight taught me anything it's that she'll be anything but helpless. If anything, she'll be the most dangerous under the power of chaos. Now if you all excuse me I've had a long day and if I'm going to get beaten up by a peace activist tomorrow, I'm going to need rest." Ryan turned and left all the ponies as he headed below deck, Twilight spitting off the side of the deck once he was out of sight.

"What an egotistical asshole. He really doesn't care what others think." The other ponies were prone to agree but a chuckle from Zecora turned their attention towards her.

"Forgive me for my laugh, but he is nothing but chaff," Zecora said as she looked off towards where Ryan had gone with a more compassionate look than Twilight believe he deserved. "That human has lost so much in his life yet he still chooses to help us with our strife. It is not his battle to fight, but he does so due to him having experienced our blight."

"What do you mean by that Zecora?" Lyra asked. "What do mean experience our blight?"

"That is something he must tell you in his own time, but it is a mountain he has fought hard to climb," Zecora said in her usual cryptic way. "But this is what I will tell you since you have asked. That arrogant, smart ass way of his is nothing more than a mask. Behind that jerkish personality lies a man who is afraid, yet due to his empathy us will he aid. Let me ask you this Twilight. If you were far from home in a land filled with weird creatures that attack with all their might, if they asked you to aid them would you fight?" Twilight opened her mouth to answer before she closed it again slowly. She understood what Zecora was telling her, that the ponies had been less than receptive to him and yet Ryan still chose to fight for them. Yes he was a jerk...but Zecora was indicating that it was only an act.

"There is more to our human friend than meets the eye, huh Zecora?" Luna asked the zebra who was looking out over the land as the forest they were heading to became closer on the horizon.

"There is more to all of us than meets the eye," Zecora said with a wink. "But now we must turn our attentions to our friend who is no longer shy."

"Princess?" Twilight said to Luna softly, waving the princess over to another side of the airship as she rubbed on of her legs while looking at the ground. "What...was I like under Discords power? I want to know so I can get a better gauge of what Fluttershy will be like when we...face her." Luna closed her eyes and sighed softly.

"You were a control freak, forcing everypony in town to bend to your will as you made everything to be in order," Luna said bluntly, pursing her lip when she saw Twilight's horrified expression at her own actions. "But the town is now safe and thanks to...the human you are no longer under Discord's control. Everything will be fine Twilight; you just have to stay strong."

"I guess that we owe the human a lot, don't we?" Twilight bitterly said with a chuckle, not like being in his debt.

"Yes and if we get through this we will have to thank him," Luna said as she looked to the stairs that lead below deck where a solitary figure was adding a new page in his book while updating others, trying his best not to think about what was to come.