"R-Ryan?" DJ walked over to the burned woman.

     Ryan's eyes shot open. "Django!" She went to sit up, but moaned in pain, she lowered herself back to the bed.

     "You've had a rough day... just relax, okay?"

     Ryan's eyes had met DJ's. "Is it really you?"

     DJ smiled. "In the flesh."

     She frowned. "We thought.... we all thought different things.... some said you ran away, others said you were kidnapped... and others said..." a tear rolled down her cheek. "Some said you were dead..."

     DJ groaned. "Well, one of those is true." He turned to glare at the princesses, but they had teleported away once Ryan woke, and Cadence tried to make herself as small as possible.

     As DJ wiped the tear away, Ryan looked up at him. "Are we dead?"

     DJ sighed. "We aren't lucky enough to be dead, Ry. I should be. You don't deserve this."

     She looked around the room. "Is this one of those lucid dreams you talk about?"

     DJ shook his head. "No, and even if it was, you would have just collapsed it. You aren't supposed to mention dreams around DC's. They go crazy."

     "So... if we aren't dead... and this isn't a dream... were we...?"

     DJ nodded. "Yeah, we were kidnapped."

     Ryan's hand felt her hip, looking for the usually rough holster, holting her pistol. She was in shock when instead she was in a hospital gown, and felt bare skin. "Why are we in a hospital if we were kidnapped?"

     He grabbed a mirror from the side table, angling it so she could see the burns. "When you were kidnapped, you obtained some pretty bad burns."

     Ryan went to grab the mirror, but DJ pulled back, shaking his head. "So... where are we?"

     "Remember those people me, Brendan, and Mason all used to poke fun at?"

     Ryan racked her mind, then found the word. "The... bronies?"

     "Turns out, their world is real." DJ moved aside, allowing Ryan to see the pink alicorn in the bed. She gave a sheepish grin and wave.

     Ryan, however, wanted to kill the animal that lay across from her, for all the burns. She remembered, flying through the orb, shooting the creature, a wall of fire engulfing her, then blackness. She went to jump out of the bed, when DJ grabbed her shoulder, holding her down. "DJ, you better let me go..."

     DJ shook his head. "You're in no shape, just lay down. I'll wring her neck for you later." He shot a deadly glare at Cadence, who cowered under the blankets. Ryan let out a long breath of air, and leaned against the bed frame. "From the looks of it, your recovery is going to be much longer than mine."

     Ryan looked up at DJ. "What happened to you that night?"

     DJ pulled a chair up, and started telling his tale. The concussion, the deer, the portal, the hospital, the spa, at which she laughed and demanded a massage when she was all better, the concert, which DJ received a strong slap on the face, then finally the necklace. Her hand went to her throat, her own necklace missing.

     "Where is it? Where are they? Mine and yours?"

     DJ shrugged. "I honestly have no id...." he heard a jingling sound, and a weight in his pocket. He stuffed his hand in, whem he pulled it out, the two necklaces dangled in his fingers. "I guess they're right here..."

     She stuck her hand out, DJ placed her in her hand. She clenched it tight, never wanting it to leave her again.

     DJ groaned, and rubbed the back of his head, he heard a light pop, and Celestia stood behind him. "DJ, she needs another treatment..."

     DJ went to protest, but felt a soft hand on his shoulder, he turned, Ryam gave him a nod. "I'll be fine, she seems to know what she's doing. From what you said, she's the only one that hasn't done anything."

     DJ just stared at Ryan. "You sure about this?"

     She nodded. "Unlike you, I'm smart enough not to get thrown in the dungeons." She giggled and winked at DJ, who just rolled his eyes.

     "Alright, I got thrown in the dungeons, b..."

     "Twice." She added with a smile.

     "Fine, I got thrown in the dungeons twice, big deal." He sighed. "You sure you're alright with this?"

     She nodded. "I want back on my feet as fast as possible. Whatever it takes." At that, Celestia's horn ignited, sending Ryan into a deep sleep.

     DJ gave her a kiss on the forehead, before turning and leaving the room. Cadence looked at Celestia. "Even as bad as my idea was..... it has already shown a good side."

     Celestia turned to Cadence. "How?"

     Cadence smiled. "He didn't use one curse word."

      As she said that, a crashing noise sounded through the room from outside. "God, fucking, dick licking, son of a bitch, bastard shit, DAMMIT!

     Celestia looked at Cadence with a raised eyebrow. She just sheepishly grinned. "Well..... almost..."

__________________________

     The next day, thirty burn treatments later.

     Ryan sat in a wheelchair that was almost too small for her. She looked out onto the field, where DJ was doing his hundred yard sprints. She wanted on the field so bad, just to beat him. She knew she could, and he knew she could. That was his motivation. 'Beat Ryan.' Her train of thought was cut short at the sound of hooves behind her. She turned, to see a pink alicorn.

     "Listen, I know you most likely hate me right now, but I just wanted to apologize. For dragging you through, and your burns."

     Ryan smiled. "Apology accepted. I'm sorry for shooting you." She stuck out her hand. "We've never been introduced. I'm Ryan."

     Cadence just stared blankly at Ryan, she hadn't expected her to accept, AND apologize. She thought she would be like DJ, and do neither. She stuck out her hoof. "Cadence."

     Ryan turned back to the field. Cadence had so many questions to ask her, so she decided she would just start with a recent one. "Last night, you said your date was the worst ever...."

     Ryan started laughing. "Oh God, you have no idea! You see, DJ hadn't had a girlfriend for fifteen years when he asked me out."

     Cadence turned to Ryan. "How old was he? He's seventeen now, right?"

     Ryan nodded. "Yup, and when we started dating, he was fifteen."

     Cadence's eyes got wide. "So it was his first date? Ever?" Ryan gave a nod. "What happened?"

     Ryan smiled. "Well, first off, I was a couple months older than him, so I had to pick him up at his house. Then, when we went to the restaurant, it was just horrible." She smiled to herself. "He was all jittery, muttering things to himself, cursing Corben under his breath. Then, when the food came, it was all messed up. We gor some other table's order, which was twice as much as ours, and the owner refused and refused. So we finally ate it. But! DJ only brought enough to cover his meal, not this extravagant meal that was given to us. I had to help him pay for his food!" Ryan leaned back in her chair and started laughing, ignoring the pain of the burns. DJ on the field heard the laughter and looked up in the stands. He just shook his head and returned to his workout.

     Cadence turned to Ryan, a smile on her face aswell. "So you had to pick him up, and pay for his meal?"

     Ryan put out a hand. "Oh, I'm not finished!" She said. "Then, when we went to leave, the battery was dead." She got a blank stare. "We had to ask someone for help starting the Jeep. So we get a jump, and we're on the way to his house, and we almost run out of gas! We had to stop at the gas station to fill up. Now, at the time, I didn't know him that well, and had no idea of his Jeep phobia. The whole ride he looked like he was going to go nuts."

     Cadence shook her head. "How did you two end up here then?"

     Ryan just smiled. "When I dropped him off, he said 'I am so sorry for all this. The whole thing was a bet, and I know there's no way this could work out. Sorry for wasting your time.' And he shut the door. I just smiled to myself and said 'challenge accepted!'"

     "So that's what you think of it? A challenge?" Cadence asked.

     Ryan nodded. "It's easy to just push someone away, but the real challenge is finding what you two have in common, and using that as a foundation. When I told him abou the challenge, he laughed at me, saying that even if I tried, there was no way it would work out. So, I had to find something we had in common."

     "Which was?"

     "We both lacked motivation to get better. So our first few dates, weren't really dates. We would run. But we would run for hours on end, not wanting the other to go farther. We were are in the best shape of our lives." We were more along the lines of gym buddies than boy and girlfriend."

     Cadence was still confused. "So how did you get where you are now?"

     Ryan looked Cadence in the eyes. "My right ankle was shattered the same year we started 'dating.' We were having soccer practice, and someone went to slide tackle me, and just tore my ankle to pieces. DJ took it upon himself, to get me back on my feet as soon as possible. He pushed me to my limits." She smiled. "And I loved him for it. A similar thing happened when he broke his back. I pushed him to his limits, and he loved it. We started our relationship seriously after that, after we helped each other get our lives back, so we owed them to each other."

___________________________________

     DJ walked through the lockeroom towards his locker, holding all his clean clothes. As he opened it, he heard two others complaining about something, he decided to listen in.

     "This is bucking stupid!" The first said, slamming his locker

     "Trench, just calm down, alright?"

     "Calm down? CALM DOWN! I AM ALMOST A JUNIOR IN COLLEGE, AND STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT MY TALLENT IS!"

     "Trench, I know how you feel, but don't understand why you're just now flipping out about it."

     "Because, Willie, I could have swore jousting would have been it! You know, on the front lines? The trenches!"

     As the two left the room, all DJ could do was smile to himself as thoughts ran through his head. Phillydelphia Eagles, Canterlot Chargers, Ponyville Panthers. Next Chapter: Verbal warfare Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 18 Minutes