Fluttershy was downstairs taking care of her animals and keeping her house tidy while Merry was upstairs sleeping. She had seen some kind of a huge picture on his back, and she wasn't quite sure what it was exactly. She would have to ask him when he woke up later. He has already been soundly asleep for the past 2 hours, and Fluttershy began to wonder if she was going to sleep on the couch. Or if he may just let her slip in next to him...

Cutting Fluttershy’s fantasy short Merry walks down the stairs in his torn and no longer stained clothes. “Hey did you wash my clothes while I was napping?”

Fluttershy just looked dumbfounded, he shouldn’t of been able to walk after only 2 hours of sleep. “Uh yes, I did...you should be resting, what about your leg?”

Merry just stomped his right foot on the ground “Good as new, I’m a fast healer” Merry just gave her a big grin.

“B-b-but that’s impossible! Your thigh bone was broken into several pieces!” She had her hooves up to her mouth as she flew over to inspect Merry’s leg. She gently prodded his leg in several areas and could only see the scars on his leg where the bone had popped out from.

“Yeah, it seems the impossible is possible for me, I just have a bunch of sexy scars now.” Merry just watched as she continued to prod his leg and look at all the scars along his neck, leg and arm.

After a few minutes she sighed “Well that’s good...” Fluttershy was a bit disappointed that he would probably be leaving now “um, I guess you’re going to leave now?”

Merry thought for a moment “Yeah, I’ve been under your care long enough, what time is it anyway?”

“It is 7PM, and It's starting to get dark out...” maybe he would stay the night, and now that he’s all better...

“Is that so? Well Thank you kindly Fluttershy,” Merry bowed to her with his left hand on his chest “Thanks for the food and care, perhaps we shall meet again.”

As Merry started to walk toward the door Fluttershy spoke up “You could stay the night...andsleepinmybedwithme ...”

Merry couldn’t hear the last part, but responded “Nonsense I have overstayed my welcome I’m sure. I’ll be fine, so don’t worry about me anymore.”

As Merry walked out the door he closed it behind him while Fluttershy just mumbled to herself about having to be more assertive when it came to stallions that would protect fillies they didn't even know.

After all, a strong and protecting father is what Fluttershy wants. It's a shame all the stallions she knew would always run away scared at the 1st sign of danger.

It's a shame Big Mac seemed to be just as shy as her, and he was last seen hanging out with Ms. Cheerilee recently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Well now, that was an interesting learning experience for my new body.” Merry sighed “Now where can I hang out until morning?’ Merry walked back to the town and began to wander around. Seeing as how he wasn’t following a bunch of fillies around he could get a good look at the town.

‘Hmm, I never noticed it before...But all the signs have pictures in place of letters. Am I going to have to learn to write a new language?’

'Eh, fuck it.'

'I’ll learn it if I need to learn it. Besides, it's easy to tell what’s what...Like that store over there looks like it sells feathers and couches? Or maybe it means the couches are as soft as feathers, or filled with them?’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Merry walked around trying to decipher what all the picture signs meant, and why a house would be made of gingerbread, he found himself in a little area with a fountain and some benches around it.

“What do you say ass of mine? Shall we have a seat?” Merry turned around to look at his ass

“Yes, yes we should.” Merry nodded in agreement and sat down on the nearest bench.

'Well for the sake of keeping boredom at bay, I guess I should go over what’s happened so far today.

1st I die and get sent to some office and the dude in the suit gives me a job to collect deeds for the higher ups. And in return I get boons of some kind. Not only that I have a regenerating undead body, that has limits apparently.

Le sigh.

These ponies and their giant eyes remind me of some Anime, huh... Something about those eyes makes me feel at peace. Why are they so big? Forgot the fact they can talk, I can cope with that. The eyes are so big and alluring it's what confounds me.

Oh yeah, I have a date tomorrow don’t I? What the fuck am I going to do about that?

Le sigh

Guess we can just go do something that doesn’t require money. But what exactly? Well, I guess I could just ask her...or we could just hang out in the park and talk...Shit, I was always bad at planning dates, I'm much more of a spontaneous planner...I’ll just do that then...Make shit up as I go, I’m good at that.

Wait a second... Naa she wouldn’t let it get that far after just one shitty date...But still she’s a pony, and I'm like 99.9% sure my human size is nothing near what a pony has...well Fuck. My odds of satisfying a pony just flew out the damn window...but then again I do have hands.

Guh, what the hell am I thinking about? It’s a damn pony when did I become a furry? Hmmm, so let's see, on one hand I become a serious horse lover...and on the other hand I rename it Rightina...or Leftina. Son of a cock mangling monkey, I’ll just worry about this shit later if it actually comes too. No point in wracking my brain over something that probably won't happen.

Now what else did I learn...oh yeah, breathing is really only needed so I can talk. And I’m only hungry when my body needs more materials so that it can regenerate. Now sleeping...for some reason I was tired after my little scuffle with the timber wolves.

That are made of wood oddly.

Anyway, maybe I only need to sleep so bones can heal? Or when I take severe damage. I’ll have to find some time to test that out. Also,I wonder if I can just eat normally even if I’m not hungry so that my regeneration can last longer?

As for the fact why I have a heartbeat. Maybe it's just so the building blocks can travel around easier? Through my blood stream maybe?

But why am I warm blooded still? I thought I was supposed to be cold like zombies and other undead are supposed to be. Is it because of some weird magic?

Am I really even undead? Or just some freak of nature now? Guuhh this is too complicated, it's making my brain hurt.

I need to stop thinking about all this complicated stuff...where’s my iPod’ Merry looks through his pockets and finds his iPod and puts his headphones in. ‘Time for some relaxation’ Merry zooms through the pages and selects Ed Alleyne Johnson, Because some epic violin music is always a great pick when it's dark out and you’re trying to pass the time.

Merry decided to lay down on the bench and watch the night sky. Merry watched as stars began to appear in the night sky. It was odd really, usually they come in from different spots, not appear in a wave. Merry shrugs it off as another crazy thing and closed his eyes to relax to the instrumental music.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A blank mind tends to wander, as Merry imagined himself performing the music in front of an audience. Only to get way into it and thrust his hand out knocking his iPod to the floor.

“Shit!” Merry scrambles to grab it but to no avail as the iPod smacks the ground, and for some reason the song changed. “Shitty iPod, good thing I have a case for it...wonder why the song changed...” The sound of a piano fills Merry’s ears ‘I know this song... (Mad World- Gary Jules)” Merry shrugged and decided to listen to it anyway, it was a soothing song as well.

Merry felt a tear roll down his cheek ‘Fucking Gary Jules, why do you have to sound so sad.’

Merry looked at his hands and down at the ground ‘My life is a rich full fucking waster, I couldn’t even find a job until after I died and I was pretty much forced into it. I wasted my life doing so many useless things, and I was such an asshole. My ex-girlfriend considers me a monster...' Merry sighs and looks up to the sky 'I wonder what my parents are doing now that I'm dead, Is my body still in that alley? I really wish I knew what happened.' Merry shook his head

Enough of this

Merry turns his iPod off and stands up wiping the tears from his eyes. ‘Enough with my shitty past, time to focus on the now... Right'

Merry takes a deep breath “I do what I want! Fuck what others think about me!”

And with that thought in his head, Merry got up off the bench and went back to walking around the town. Somehow he ended up at the school house. It looked kind of creepy, not sure why, maybe it was the weather vane on top creaking in the light breeze. ‘So let's see, if I remember correctly’ Merry points down the road ‘that direction is the apple farm, and the direction I came from being the town...So what’s down this road?’

Merry walks down the thin road and it eventually leads him into a park that’s connected to another road that leads him back to the fountain. ‘How boring, I was kinda hoping for an adventure down that road...might as well check out that park then’ So Merry walks back toward the park.

'I still wonder why everything looks black and white when it's dark out. Kind of reminds me of a black n’ white picture really. It's as clear as day, but black and white...kinda like dark vision. A perk to being undead? Best not question it as it might disappear.'

Merry walked over to a park bench in front of some bushes and trees on the outskirts of the park. 'I wonder how they do all this metal crafting with hooves. Well Bloom did say they have magic around here, I guess that would explain An awful LOT of the stuff around here. It's odd really, they are advanced in some areas, and in other’s its like from the stone age. But if they had magic to fill the technological gap then that can explain the inconsistencies I guess.'

While Merry thought about the craziness of this world. He thought he heard someone quietly crying nearby. The crying caused Merry to look up at the stars, then turn around.

‘Ok, so it's dark out, I can hear crying coming from some bushes in a park. Should I just walk away or investigate? Let me think...hmm, what else am I going to do until the sun comes up?’ Merry puts his fist to his chin to think

‘Crap, I have nothing better to do.’

Merry sighed and walked over to the bushes where the muffled crying was coming from. Between two bushes he saw a box on its side with a couple blankets inside. ‘A homeless pony? What the hell?’

“Hello? Is everything ok?” ‘please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.’ Merry heard some shuffling and saw a familiar face poke through the blankets.

Scootaloo wiped her face dry with a hoof “Merry is that you?” She was squinting in the dark to see who it was, after all Merry should still be at Fluttershy’s recovering.

‘SHIT! Why was she crying? wait, WHY IS SHE IN A BOX!? Damn my weakness for children’

“Ah you got me, yes it's me, And what are you doing all the way out here anyway?” Merry pondered it for a moment, 'after all, she couldn’t really be homeless or anything right? RIGHT?!'

“I’m uhh, just camping out, that’s all.” Scootaloo takes a deep breath to try and calm down.

“Mhmm, alright then, you’re camping in a park all by yourself then?” Sounds like a total lie, but I’ll go along with it for now.

“Yup, nothing out of the ordinary here.” Scootaloo brought out a lantern and shook it a few times to get some bugs inside of it to light up.

“A firefly lantern? That’s pretty cool. So anyway, I came out this way because I heard some crying, what’s with that hmm?” Merry just tilted his head as his eyes adjusted to the light.

“Crying? I wasn’t crying...” Scootaloo looked away “and what are you doing walking around? I thought your leg was all busted up...”

Merry just chuckled “Heh, turns out I’m a super fast healer. Though I think Fluttershy is pretty good at setting bones.”

Merry sighed “Look I’m gonna be straight with you, I know you were crying, and that this whole camping thing is just a cover, you don’t need to tell me everything, but I can't stand to see a kid cry.” Merry walked over to the box and sat down in front of it “now are you gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s all my fault...” Scootaloo just hung her head down

“Hmm? What’s all your fault?” Merry raised an eyebrow

“It's all my fault you got hurt! It was my idea to go bug hunting in the Everfree Forest!” She now had tears visibly forming in her eyes as she spoke “All because of me you almost died and...”

Merry moved over and picked her up in his arms “Now now, none of that now, I told you three before, It is NOT your fault. Even if it was your idea. It’s not like you called the wolves over or anything, and you know what Scoots?”

She just nuzzled into Merry’s chest and looked up with her tear stained face “What?”

“I would do it all again, just for you guys. Why? Because I had fun with you, and I would of hated to see you get hurt. Besides, look how fast I healed up anyway.” Merry set her down and posed a bit to flex, making her giggle a bit.

“Good good, now that you’re in a better mood, how about some music?” Scoots just looked at him

“But I don’t have anything to make music.” Merry just grinned at her.

“Don’t you worry about that Scoots, I got us covered.” Merry pulled out his iPod and separated the headphones as far as they could go. “Now scoot over Scoots, I'm going to hang out in your box with you.”

Merry crawled into the box, but it was far too small for him, his bottom half hung outside the box while his upper half was laying down inside the box, Lucky it was wide enough to accommodate his shoulders with some space left for Scoots to be inside as well. She promptly laid down next to Merry’s head.

“I don’t think my box or blanket is big enough Merry...” Scoots started dragging the blankets all around in an attempt to cover herself and as much of Merry as possible.

“Hehe, Don’t worry about keeping me warm Scoots, I’m a big boy, I’m not worried about the cold. Just keep yourself as warm as possible.” Merry started to tuck the blanket around Scoots in order to keep her warm.

“Now for the music, hold still for a sec,” Merry placed one of the earbuds in one of her ears and the other in his own. Then he turned the volume down a bit and played DragonForce - The Flame of Youth.

Scoots dropped her mouth at the sound coming from the iPod. “Such a little thing can make music?!” Merry just chuckled

“Yeah it can, at least from where I’m from anyway. The band is called DragonForce and this song is about how the young can never be kept down for long. At lest that’s what I think it's about.”

“What do you mean Merry?”

Merry just looked over to Scoots “The song is called The Flame of Youth, and it's about pushing yourself back up no matter what hardships you face, because you’re still young. Defending the flame of your youth as you fight through life, and it has a kick ass Beat.”

Scootaloo just laid there listening to the music with her eyes closed until the song came to an end and Merry paused his iPod. “I’m not quite sure I get it, but it sounds awesome and awe inspiring.”

Merry just smiled at Scoots “Good, at least you got the 1st half, now get to sleep. I’ll hang out with you tonight...” Scoot’s stomach grumbles loudly, and she gets a blush on her face while she smiles sheepishly. “...did you forget to bring food for your camping trip?”

“Uhh yeah, I kinda forgot to pack some food in my excitement...” Merry just pat’s Scoots on the head and opens up his backpack.

“Let me see what I got in here for you...” Merry rummages through his backpack and pulls out two beat up looking Granola bars. “...hmm, I don’t remember packing two of these, well they should be good anyway. Not like these things go bad.” Merry opened the 1st one labeled peanut butter and realized it was no longer in bar form.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Scoots just looks at the crumbled mess inside the package.

“Well, it's supposed to be a Peanut butter granola bar, but as you can see its no longer a bar as it got smashed at some point. It's still edible though, here have some.” Merry laid the opened up package down in front of her. Scoots sniffed it then took a small bite then smiled.

“This is good!” She wolfed down the granola mess in a few seconds, so Merry decided to open the second one and place it down in front of her as well.

Scoots just looks at it then back to Merry “Aren’t you hungry too?”

“Nope, I'm not hungry, besides you’re still growing, you should eat all you can.” Merry just smiled at her while she ate the other granola bar.

“That should hold you off, it's time for you to get to sleep now Scoots. I’ll sleep here as well to keep you company.” Scoots just shook her head up and down and curled up into a ball under the blanket.

‘I wonder how long until she goes to sleep...’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merry put his iPod on super low volume and put both earbuds in and just laid there looking at the top of the box for hours while sifting through his music play lists, at least until his iPod battery died...

‘FFFFFUUUUUUUU’

‘Wait they have magic here, maybe that purple pony can do something about this when I go to see her. She's supposed to be smart after all.’

Merry slowly got up and out of the box hoping not to disturb Scoots while she slept. ‘Well since my iPod is dead, I guess the first order of business is to find some breakfast, and I know just where to go.’

Merry made his way out of the bushes and walked down toward Sweet Apple Acres. On his way he noticed the horizon became an orange red color. ‘Sunrise is coming, I wonder when Scoots will wake up...’ He made it to the farm right when the sun stopped being orange and became yellow.

‘Now to just pick some apples and head back to Scoots.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Varmints, varmints stealing apples...Zzzz” Applejack tosses and turns in her sleep “Varmints!” Applejack sits upright in bed with a cold sweat.

“My Farmer sense is a tingling, and it tells me somethings a stealing mah apples!”

Applejack throws her hat on and rushes out the door to her field.

~~~~~~~~~

‘This should be enough apples for Scoots, better head back now.’ Merry begins to walk away with his arms full of apples when he hears shouting.

“Get back here ya apple thieving Varmint!” Merry stood his ground, surely this could have an interesting end.

By the time Applejack caught up with the apple thieving varmint she realized who it was. It was Merry and his arms were full of apples.

‘Time for some fun’ Merry smiled

“Hey Applejack! Did ya come out here to help me eat some of these tasty apples?” Merry just had a stupidly huge grin on his face.

“Give back those apples Merry! Those belong to the apple family!” Applejack snorts while some visible steam comes out. “Yall can't just go around stealing apples from us!”

“What? No free apples for friends? Such a cruel attitude Ms. Applejack.” Merry shakes his head in disappointment.

“A dishonest thief like yall ain't no friend of mine!” Applejack began scraping her front left hoof in the dirt like she was ready to charge.

“You wound me Ms. Applejack! Were all your sweet words in front of the barn just pillow talk?”

“WHAT SWEET WORDS?!” Now Applejack is pissed and confused

“So I really was nothing but another notch on your hat? I guess this is farewell fare Applejack.” Merry spun around and began to walk away.

“Huh? Wait, STOP! GIVE BACK THE APPLES YOU PIG BUCKING VARMINT!” Applejack started charging Merry.

“NEVER, I DO WHAT I WANT!!!!! Ok just one.” Merry threw one of the apples at Applejack knocking her hat off making Applejack stop charging to pick up her hat.

Merry took his chance to run through the trees and through a bunch of bush's back toward the park while Applejack was busy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Whew, I think I lost her. Now to get back to Scoots before she wakes up.’

Merry stumbled out of the shrubbery and into the park. He finally made his way back to the spot where Scoots was ‘camping’ and noticed she was frantically looking around the box and the nearby bushes.

'I hope she’s not looking for me...’

“Heya Scoots, what chu looking fur?” Scoots spun around and saw Merry, getting a big grin on her face.

“You’re back!” Scoots ran up to Merry and noticed all the apples he was carrying. “Where did you go, and why do you have apples?”

“Oh I just went to see Applejack. She likes to share you know, make sure you thank her for breakfast next time you see her.” Merry smiled at Scoots and placed the apples in front of the box.

“Aren’t you gonna have some?” Scoots looked up to Merry tilting her head a bit.

“No thanks, I ate while I was getting you some I’m full, thanks though. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go meet Twilight.”

“Alright then, thanks for breakfast Merry! I’ll be sure to find Applejack later and thank her as well!” Scoots waved Merry off as he walked away toward the library.

Author's Notes:

I herped the derp.