As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill. - Helen Keller

When I awoke the next morning, I gracefully rolled out of bed. And by that, I mean I groaned, flopped over, and fell off the bed onto the floor. But I thought it was more graceful than what I normally did, so good enough.

Getting up and stretching, I instinctively looked for my backpack to make sure it was still there. It was, and it wasn’t missing anything. Ihsoylr and my shield were there as well (the name stuck, okay?) and hadn’t been taken. I noticed that beside them was a small pile of clothes. Rarity must have made those overnight. I reminded myself to thank her later.

After a quick change, I piled the clothes into my backpack before pulling out my knives. I then grabbed Ihsoylr and the shield and put them on my back, intending to practice with them later. I held my knives in my hand so I could slip them into their usual spots after I put on my shoes. I left my backpack there, since I likely wouldn't need its other contents today. As I headed downstairs, I heard talking. Maybe the others came over?

Sure enough, when I got down into the main room I saw Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash talking with Rarity. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were nowhere to be seen, and in all honesty, I was kind of glad.

However, along with them were three fillies, about half their size and ostensibly half their age. Yeah, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apparently they either saw the whole scene yesterday, or they had been clued in on what happened, because they weren’t scared of me.

Instead, as soon as they saw me, they began circling around me, firing questions at me like bullets from a minigun. (Okay, maybe not the best example to use in a place that hasn’t had a war in a thousand years.) I flinched away from them, trying to avoid their onslaught of questions.

“Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo!” Applejack came to my rescue, calling the fillies away from me (as well as conveniently giving me their names for future reference). “Mighty sorry about that, Rylan. They’re rather excitable.”

“It’s fine,” I dismissed the topic. I never got along well with kids, so in all honesty right now I just wanted to get out of there. “Uh…I’m just going to head out and walk around town for a bit, okay?”

“Are you sure you don’t want something to eat first, dear?” Rarity asked.

I was about to say that I was fine when my stomach growled. I glared down at it for its treachery. “…Fine, I guess.”

“Yay! I spent a long time making breakfast!” Sweetie Belle cheered, charging into the kitchen. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed. I suddenly felt like my life was in danger.

“Er…maybe you shouldn’t eat here,” Rarity decided. Her horn glowed and she levitated a pouch of bits out of her saddlebags by the door. “Here, take these and go find a place.”

“Is her cooking that bad?” I asked as I took the pouch, already knowing the answer.

“More like ten times worse,” Rainbow shrugged. “If you want to save Equestria, save your stomach first by getting out of here.”

I smelled smoke. “…Probably a good idea. Thanks, Rarity!” I charged out the door as quickly as I could with a metal shield banging against my back, jumping into my shoes and slipping the knives in them as I left.

As I walked around town, I felt somewhat strange. It was like I was being watched. Looking around, I saw the ponies around me quickly turn their heads away. Apparently they were still bent on paying attention to me.

I shrugged it off. As long as they’re not outright worshipping me. That’s just annoying. I eventually stumbled across Sugarcube Corner, which I remembered the girls telling me about. Pinkie worked there, so I’d have to deal with her, but it was worth it for some food. I hadn’t eaten a thing yesterday, so even for a guy like me who doesn’t eat much, I was starving.

Walking into Sugarcube Corner, I was mildly surprised to see nopony else inside. Then again, it was pretty early in the morning, so maybe they just weren’t awake yet. The only pony in the room was Pinkie, standing at the counter playing with a baby alligator.

“Hey Pinkie,” I greeted as I walked up, pulling out the pouch of bits. She turned to me and smiled.

“Hey Rylan! What can I get you? Maybe cupcakes or muffins or cupcakes or doughnuts or cupcakes or danishes or OOH! Cupcakes?” She spoke so fast it made Busta Rhymes look like a turtle in comparison. I had to chuckle at her enthusiasm just to give someone food.

“Just a couple of doughnuts for now.” I was actually pretty surprised that these ponies ate sweets, but then again the point had kind of already been made that these ponies were almost exactly like humans. Aside from…well, being ponies, they weren’t really that different.

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie reached under the counter and pulled out two doughnuts, placing them in front of me. “Ten bits, please!”

I pulled out the ten bits and put them on the counter. “Thanks, Pinkie.”

“No problem! Have a great day, Rylan!” She excitedly deposited the bits into the cash register beside her, and I left while munching on the doughnuts I had gotten.

I need to figure out what to do today, I thought to myself as I ate, ignoring the looks I was getting. Trouble could hit at anytime, so I need to be prepared. But I’ve already got archery and my knives, so why do I need a sword and shield to go along with it?

Sitting on a bench, I pulled off Ihsoylr and my shield, placing them beside me. For the first time, I got a better look at both of them. Ihsoylr didn’t look too special; if anything, it looked like the Master Sword, but with silver instead of blue, a longer blade, and a small picture of the sun instead of the Triforce. (IIIIII am suuuuch a neeeeerd!)

The shield was rather interesting. It was silver as well, but it had a dark red…border. Outline. Thing. The design was rather amazing. It had a large golden R in the middle (the same letter as the start of my name…coincidence?) and gemstones placed carefully on the rest of the shield. Sparkling rubies adorned the top part, glittering sapphires made up the lower-left part, and shiny emeralds decorated the lower-right part. If the shield was held at the right angle, the light from the sun reflected off of it and into my eyes. So yeah, I stopped examining the shield after I realized that.

Maybe I’ll actually get some use out of these when I learn how to use them. Then again, what’s to learn about swish-swish-stab? It’s a freaking sword. It’s not a fighter jet. And the shield…well, you just hold it up to block stuff. People do that with their hands all the time on instinct. It’s like that, but with a big heavy slap of metal instead of a hand.

Finishing off the doughnuts, I stood up, strapped the stuff to my back, and headed off in a random direction. I seriously hope I’m not walking out of town or anything. Then I’d just look like an idiot.

Twenty minutes later, I finally found my way back to town. I then turned to you readers.

“You didn’t see that,” I instructed you. “Got that?”

“Who’re ya talkin’ to?” I turned and saw Applejack, staring at me like I was insane.

“…Inside joke,” I said quickly, using the same excuse as last night with my little geek moment. “What’re you up to, AJ?”

“Ah was just takin’ Apple Bloom to school.” The farmer gestured to the schoolhouse that actually wasn’t too far from where I was. “What about you?”

“Just wandering around,” I shrugged.

“Wanderin’? As in wanderin’ out of town?”

“You never saw that.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Okay…no offense Rylan, but are ya sure yer supposed to be a hero?”

“If I’m being honest, no. Either I have awesome powers that I’m not aware of, or Equestria’s doomed.” I shrugged again. “No pressure.”

Applejack chuckled. “Least ya got a sense of humour about this whole ordeal.”

“I’m adaptable. My family used to move around a lot. We never stayed in the same house for more than three years, and we switched towns four times. I got used to things changing.” I smiled. “Plus, once you’ve played as many video games as I have, a world of talking colourful ponies isn’t the weirdest thing you’ll see.” I was tempted to give examples, but after seeing how they reacted to my description of Halo: Reach, I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the smartest move.

“Does playin’ all those video games give you a snarky attitude too?” Applejack smirked.

“Nah, I’m just like that normally. At least I’m reasonable though, right? You could’ve gotten a jackass human who sees this whole world as girly and wants nothing more than to throw all its residents off a cliff.” I paused. “I think I read a story like that one time. It was surprisingly good.”

“How can a story like that be good?”

“If you’re not on the receiving end of it, anger can be funny.” I checked my watch. “It’s still early. Hey AJ, do you know a place where I can practice with Ihsoylr?”

Applejack gave me a weird look, and I pointed to the sword on my back. “Oh, that. Well, there’s definitely a lotta room at Sweet Apple Acres. Ya can practice with yer…Eee-soy-ler…there.”

“Just call it a sword,” I sighed. “And thanks. Can you lead the way? As you saw earlier, I’m not used to this place.”

“Ah thought ya told me Ah never saw that.” She put on her best trollface.

“You ponies are impossible.”

“We ain’t the only ones.” She gestured with her front hoof for me to follow and walked off. I tagged along, pulling out my sword and examining it. It wasn’t gem-studded and shiny like the shield, so I figured I could check it out without getting blinded.

Turns out I was wrong, and the sun just bounced off the metal blade into my eyes. I put the sword away and glared up at the sun, as if blaming it for my problems. Sun, you troooooll…

“Here we are! Sweet Apple Acres!”

I looked around as we walked onto the farm. There was a field of apple trees bigger than a major league football stadium (okay, maybe not really, but it was still damn big) and a barn, which I presumed doubled as Applejack’s home.

“It’s big,” I said simply. I was in awe at the sheer size of the field of trees.

“We make the best darn apple products in all of Equestria!” the farmer stated proudly.

“That’s a pretty big claim.”

“Dang right it is! And it’s true!”

“I’m just going to tell you now that I despise braggarts, so keep saying that and you will lose all respect I have for you,” I warned her. People who boast are my number-three enemy, beaten only by criminals and whatever evil I was supposed to fight in this world.

“Heh heh…sorry,” she apologized sheepishly.

“It’s fine. Just warning you now. On a related topic, I doubt I’ll be getting along well with Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack chuckled. “Ah’m sure you’ll get along just fine with everypony.”

I snorted. “Twilight’s a nerd, Rarity’s overdramatic, Fluttershy’s scared of me, Rainbow’s egotistical, Pinkie’s something that doesn’t even have a word for it, and I’m a dick. I’m sure we’ll be the best of friends.” I turned my head towards her. “You’re probably the only one of us who doesn’t have a defining character trait that clashes with the rest of us.”

“…what?” She raised an eyebrow, confused.

TL;DR… “You’re the sanest one of us seven.”

“Are ya insultin’ mah friends?” She pawed the ground aggressively and glared. Definitely not the reaction I was expecting from her, considering I basically just complimented her.

“Normally to avoid a beating, I would just say no…” I turned away from her and looked up at the sky. “…but if I’m being honest, then I have to say sort of. Everyone – everypony – has their flaws. I have mine, you have yours, they have theirs. It’s just theirs and mine are more obvious. You know what I mean?”

“…Ah guess,” she replied, sounding less angry and more curious.

“If I’ve learned anything from the few adventures the six of you told me about, then I can safely say you’re like characters from a television show. You all have one, maybe two defining traits that heavily affect your personality. You’re the exception to this rule, for some reason. Aside from your accent, I can’t really think of any major personality trait you have, except maybe being competitive like Rainbow.”

“Huh…Ah see. That’s pretty interestin’.”

“Ah guess – I guess it is. Now look, your accent’s rubbing off on me!” I playfully accused. She just grinned.

“Live with it, pardner. Now, ya wanted a place to practice?” I nodded, and she led me into the forest of trees. After a few minutes of walking, we came to a clearing. It was big enough for me to practice in, but secluded from town so I wouldn’t hurt anypony walking by (or be seen screwing up horribly).

“Thanks, AJ,” I nodded to her as she turned to go.

“No problem. When ya wanna come back, just follow the path.” She disappeared into the trees and left me to my sword swinging. I pulled Ihsoylr out.

“Alright buddy, let’s do this. LEEEEEROOOOOY…”

An hour later, I was struggling to pull Ihsoylr out of a tree it had gotten stuck in. It was a pretty funny moment, especially since I had no bloody clue how it got stuck in there.

“How are you doing, Rylan?” I turned and saw Twilight enter the clearing, the Cutie Mark Crusaders with her.

“Not too good. My sword got stuck in this tree about five minutes ago when I was practicing my stabs.” I gestured to the very obvious blade I was trying to free.

“Well, at least we know your stabbing is strong!”

“I was aiming for that tree.” I pointed across the clearing to a tree that my shield was leaning against.

“…How did-”

“I don’t know either.” I shook my head and pulled again, finally pulling my sword out. It was then I noticed the three fillies staring up at me. “Why did you bring them?”

“I didn’t. They followed me when they heard I was coming to get you.”

“I don’t do well with kids,” I said nervously, putting the sword away before any of them got hurt.

“Don’t worry, Rylan. They’re not going to annoy you. Right, girls?” Twilight aimed the question portion of that sentence directly at the fillies, who nodded in agreement. “See?”

“Assuming that ‘annoy me’ means ‘ask me questions’, why would they come if they couldn’t annoy me?” I was being snarky again, but like I said, I don’t do well with kids.

“We wanted to see you do some cool sword stuff!” Scootaloo cried, jumping in the air excitedly.

“Not a good idea. I’m not a genius, but even I can tell it’s never a good idea to swing a sharp object around when people – ponies – are nearby and could easily get their heads cut off.”

The smiles on their faces disappeared and they shuddered at the mental images I had just given them. “That’s pretty scary,” Apple Bloom remarked.

“Can you do anything that isn’t dangerous?” Sweetie Belle begged, giving me quivering puppy-dog eyes. However, I had grown immune to that trick long ago.

“Sorry, no can do. If you knew me, you’d realize that everything I do is either dangerous or stupid. Sometimes both.” I stalked over to the tree across the clearing, picked up my shield, and strapped it on. I noticed all three crusaders were giving me begging faces just like the one Sweetie Belle had on a second ago, complete with pouting and watering eyes. “That trick doesn’t work on me, girls. Cute stuff doesn’t faze me.”

They didn’t stop. Twilight giggled at their determination, and I sighed with a facepalm. Finally, Twilight intervened. “Girls, stop, okay? If he says he can’t do anything safe, then he can’t do anything safe.“

“Awwww,” the girls said in unison as they dropped their faces and walked back over to Twilight, their heads low. Most of you are probably thinking this is the point where I give up and show them something. Unfortunately, you’re wrong. I wasn’t kidding; everything I do is dangerous, stupid, or both.

“Twilight, you said you were coming to get me?” I realized.

“Oh, yes! The six of us talked, and we agreed we should send you to Zecora’s for a check-up.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sick.”

“Just in case. We don’t know much about your human world, but it probably has diseases, right?” I nodded. “Exactly. Even if you aren’t sick, you might still carry some diseases that could spread to the rest of us. It’d be best for Zecora to look you over.”

DING! Dirty mental image! “Who’s Zecora?”

“She’s a zebra friend of ours!” Apple Bloom shouted, suddenly no longer upset. Damn mood swings. “She lives in the Everfree Forest, but she’s really nice. She knows a lot about potions and herbs and medicine and stuff like that!”

“She’ll be able to tell if you’re carrying any illnesses,” Twilight added. I shrugged.

“Alright, why not. I’ll head over there now.” I prepared to leave, but Twilight stopped me.

“It’s in the Everfree Forest, Rylan. I doubt you can get there on your own.”

“Pfft. Oh, please. I don’t get lost easily.” Blatant lies!

“Then why are you walking in the exact opposite direction of the exit?”

I looked down and saw that, sure enough, I was walking on the path. Apparently I was walking the wrong way, though.

“…No reason.”

“Rylan, I’m not about to risk your safety. Somepony needs to guide you.”

“Ah’ll do it!” Apple Bloom jumped in the air, waving her front hooves about like she was insane. “Ah’ve been to Zecora’s lots of times! Ah can take him!”

Twilight hesitated, apparently not thinking it was a very good idea to send me with a filly. She looked at me and I gave her a thumbs-down. Obviously she either ignored it or misinterpreted it, because she looked back at Apple Bloom and nodded.

“Alright Apple Bloom, but be careful. You know how dangerous the forest is if you go too deep.”

“You bet, Twilight!” Apple Bloom jumped for joy. It warmed my heart somewhat to see her so excited.

“Can we come too?” Scootaloo asked, grinning widely.

“I don’t think so, Scootaloo. That place is scary,” Sweetie Belle shivered.

“Besides, if something bad happened, it’d be easier for Rylan to protect only one of you,” Twilight added. Oh, what, I’m a bodyguard now?

“Fine,” Scootaloo sighed. “Meet us back at the treehouse when you’re done, okay Apple Bloom?”

“You bet!” Apple Bloom agreed. Only slightly realizing what I was getting into, I sighed and reluctantly started walking back to the barn.

About an hour later, Apple Bloom and I were walking down the path in a dark forest. I kept my sword and shield in my hands, not wanting to risk putting them away in case something decided to leap out at us.

“I still think this is a bad idea,” I reminded her.

“Aw, don’t be scared! The Everfree Forest ain’t that scary!” How in the world she was braver than me, I’ll never know.

“Maybe not, but…” Before I could finish, my eyes fixed on a nearby bush. There were eyes in it. Glowing eyes…CRAP! “LOOK OUT!”

Apple Bloom jerked her head to the side just as the thing in the bush jumped out, accompanied by three other things. It looked like a wolf made out of wood. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were called Timberwolves…

“AHHH!” Apple Bloom screamed as the Timberwolves jumped on her and began clawing away at her. Their wooden bodies blocked my view, but I could hear the filly’s screams and knew whatever they were doing wasn’t pleasant.

“APPLE BLOOM!” I cried. Lifting my sword, I charged, slashing away at the Timberwolves. I drew their attention away from her and smashed one of them in the face with my shield. As it staggered, another two came up, but I stole a page from Link’s book and performed a quick spin attack, cutting their heads off. It would have been more gruesome if they had blood or anything, but apparently they were just enchanted sculptures of wood.

The last Timberwolf was smart and ran away. The wolf that was still dizzy from my shield blow received a stab through the chest, instantly killing it. I felt awful for killing three creatures, but didn’t bother mourning. I turned to Apple Bloom and my heart nearly stopped.

She was cut up in several placed. There was so much blood on the ground you wouldn’t have believed it came from a kid. It looked like she had a couple of broken bones as well, and from what I could see, she wasn’t breathing.

“Dammit dammit dammit dammit!” I yelled, putting Ihsoylr and my shield away faster than you could say ‘oops’. I picked her up and turned around, charging out of the forest.

Author's Notes: This was the hardest chapter to write yet. I couldn't think of anything to put in this chapter aside from the bit in the Everfree Forest. Thanks to TheMyth for giving me suggestions for this chapter and future ones!

Also, I made references to two other fanfics, both of which are on this website. Can you point them both out?

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"How is she?!"

"She's asleep right now. We've done all we could to relieve the pain-"

"Don't care about that! Is she gonna live?!"