The weightlessness was replaced by a bizarre feeling of being pressed back into the earth. The pressure was suffocating; Ryan could barely breathe. When he opened his eyes and looked down, he saw that the hole was still there. That explained the asphyxiation feeling. Under him, he felt no water, only hard dirt, nothing like the kind in the Vietnamese jungles. Were it not for the terrible pain, he would be questioning where the hell he was.

Above him, Discord hovered, looking down at the boy. He wasn’t able to fully heal the boy, but he was able to put most of his lost blood back in his body, at least giving him more time before he died. That time could be the save-all or the end-all right now. Discord looked around, hoping for the best. Around them was an orchard. Ryan lay on dirt road, apple trees surrounding his position. Discord recognized this place, eliciting a smile from him. Maybe there was a chance for the boy. He looked down at him, hope glistening in his eyes.

Ryan eventually looked up and saw Discord above him. He tried to speak, but instead of words, he spattered out blood and fell back, keeping his eyes on Discord. Discord went back to the ground. “Hello, Ryan.” he said. “I know that you can’t speak, so just listen.” Ryan’s hands covered his chest wound, and he tried to stay silent. “I’ve taken you from your world.” Discord began to explain. “I have my reasons, which I will share with you if I feel like it. I’ve put your blood back, but I couldn’t close up the hole. Luckily for you,” Discord shot a gust of wind at a nearby tree, which bent much more than any tree ought to, but didn’t snap. “the physics of this world will give you a bit more time. I’d say that you have about fifteen to twenty minutes, as opposed to the five to ten back in your world.” Ryan hacked up blood, unable to control himself. Discord flinched at the sudden noise.

Off in the distance, several voices could be heard. Discord looked in that direction, feeling good about what was to come. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat,” He jumped up and curled into a ball. “but I have a garden to tend to.” With a twirl in the air and a bright flash, Discord was gone, leaving Ryan on the ground to bleed all alone.

************************************************************************************

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, or CMC, as is shorter, came to Sweet Apple Acres today looking for farming cutie marks. Applejack was away with her friends somewhere to the north, doing something for the princess, so the girls just bothered Big Macintosh about working.

“Come on!” Applebloom whined. “Ain’t there somethin’ we can do?” She looked at her older brother with big, puppy dog eyes, trying to force her older brother to give in. He was having no part of it, though.

“Ah don’t rightly think so.” He walked past them, dragging along a huge, heavy kart of apples.

“Could we carry stuff? Plant stuff? Anything at all!?” Sweetie Belle pleaded. She, too, joined in the puppy dog eye onslaught.

“No. Now go play.” Mac just kept on walking. It was getting harder to resist, and he was close to cracking.

Then, Scootaloo completed the trio. “Pleeeeeease?” It was too much; the three fillies were overwhelmingly cute. Mac tried to look away, but they just moved to stay in his line of vision. He sighed.

“Fine. Gimme a few minutes, Ah’ll try to think up somethin’.” The CMC jumped up to celebrate their glorious victory over Mount Macintosh.

“YAY! CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, FARMERS!” they shouted in unison. Mac hid a smile under his usual stoic demeanor, always being feeling content when his little sister and her friends were enjoying themselves.

As they all walked back to the barn, Mac tried to think of something for them to do. They couldn’t buck apples off the trees, they were much too young. It wouldn’t go anywhere. Sure, it was the middle of the summer, but there wasn’t anything more to be planted; Applejack took care of that before leaving. They were much too little to drag carts of apples, and there was not a chance in this world that Mac would let them handle dangerous farm gear and tools. There wasn’t much. “Hmmm.” he said, chewing on the end of his signature piece of straw. He looked around, trying to think of something. All that was there was trees, the same as always.

“Ah need to go on an adventure.” he thought.

A random gust of wind blew in from the east field, causing Mac to look that way. “Hmm.” he said again. The pegasi hadn’t warned them of inclement weather. Of course, if it came from the Everfree, that might explain it That forest was too creepy. His thoughts were put to another track when he looked to the field, though. “Ah suppose that you girls could water the trees out that way.” he said, pointing his muzzle at the east field. The girls all looked in that direction. “Jus’ let me get you a little wagon and some buckets of water.” The girls excitement exploded onto their faces like an exit wound. “YAY!!”

At the farmhouse, Mac got the buckets and and the wagon and brought them outside to the pump, where the CMC were waiting, bouncing up and down. “Maybe we’ll get our cutie marks from this!” Scootaloo expressed her excitement.

“Yeah! I’ll get to be like my older sister!” Applebloom affirmed. Mac smiled; she really looked up to Applejack a lot.

As he approached, Sweetie Belle was the first to notice him. “YAY!” she shouted. They shouted that a lot, it seemed. He couldn’t imagine the fun that Ms. Cheerilee had with them each day in the school year. Mac set the buckets down from his jaw and rolled it about a little bit.

“Alright, now, Ah want you girls to fill these buckets with water.” he said, indicating the pump and buckets. “Then, get’em on the wagon and head into the fields. If you any trees that look weak or withered, give’em some water. Good?” They all nodded vigorously. “Great. Ah’ll see y’all later than.” He turned and walked off, ready to get back to work.

The girls immediately went to work, putting the buckets on the wagon, then filling them under the pump. They chatted away as they worked, thinking up more ways to get their marks if this didn’t work. “We could try to work with Pinkie when she gets back on party cutie marks!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

“Ohh ohh!” Sweetie Belle had an idea. “Maybe we could help animals with Fluttershy!” Scootaloo looked at her with disinterest.

“Come on, how much excitement could that bring?” she asked rhetorically. Sweetie Belle answered anyway.

“We could help weird animals, or discover new ones.” she reasoned. The thought of discovering things changed Scootaloo’s attitude.

“Aw, yeah, that would be cool!”

Applebloom mostly listened to them, seeing as she wanted to try to stay working on her family’s farm. She hoped that her talent would enable her to stay here. She would take what she got, but she wanted to find a way to stay at home. “Alright girls,” she said as the second bucket finished filling up. “Let’s get to those fields!” With big smiles on their faces, the girls pulled the wagon of water out in the direction of the fields, completely unknowing of what exactly was out there.

The girls looked around, but they couldn’t find a single tree that may have needed water. They all looked perfectly fine. It looked like Mac had sent them on a wild goose chase.

Applebloom sighed as she swept the area, left to right, right to left. Everything was in tip top shape. But then she noticed something that stood out. “Over there!” she shouted, pointing her foreleg toward something. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked over; there was a dry patch underneath a tree. Anxious to get their cutie marks, they sped over to the patch. Once there, Scootaloo got up onto the wagon and dumped an entire bucket of water out of the wagon and onto the ground, soaking the area. Instantly, the girls put their flanks together and looked, waiting for a mark to appear. Sadly, no such event occurred. “Aww.” they all whined in unison. Nothing. “Alright, let’s get moving. Put the bucket back and let’s see if there’s a spot where we can dump the other bucket.”

Before they got the bucket back into the wagon, there was a bright flash not too far down the path, maybe one hundred and fifty feet. “What was that!?” Sweetie Belle screamed, startled by the sudden visual intrusion. Scootaloo was in flight mode, ready to sprint away at any sign of trouble. Only Applebloom, who was trying to discern what the shape down the road was, could decide on a course of action. “Let’s go see!” she announced, getting back in front of the wagon and pulling it behind her. The others quickly followed suit.

“I hope this isn’t a bad idea.” Sweetie Belle voiced, concern etched into her voice.

As the girls approached, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle noticed the shape. “What’s that!?” Sweetie Belle shouted, terrified by the unknown before them. The strange shape was making noise in front of them, like a gurgling noise, but with a hint of its voice.

“Ah’m not sure.” Applebloom admitted. Whatever it was, it coughed violently on the ground. “Ah think it needs help!” Applebloom shouted. She surged forward, her friends having trouble keeping up. The bucket tipped in the wagon, spilling the water in it. As the girls slowed down before the thing, it was clearly a creature, the wagon pushed them from behind, pushing them closer than they were comfortable with.

“Eeek!” They all froze when they found themselves not five feet from the creature. It was clutching a part of its chest with what appeared to be a hand, like spike had, but with five fingers. Its eyes were shut tight, and it looked like it was in pain.

“Ummm, c-can we help you?” Scootaloo asked timidly. The creature didn’t open its eyes, but turned its head. Scootaloo hadn’t really expected a response anyway.

“Get- *cough* - away... dying...”

The girls’ jaws dropped. The creature could speak! Come to think of it, it was wearing some weird clothes, too! They had discovered a new species! “AH!” Applebloom yelped. The creature didn’t speak again, just lay there, in pain.

“Wait, what did it mean... by...” Alarms started to go off in Sweetie Belle’s mind. The creature was in pain. It said the word “dying”. It wanted the girls to leave. “I think it’s hurt!” Sweetie Belle moved forward, forgetting about her trepidations, and got a closer look.

“Sweetie Belle!” The other girls ran over, shouting simultaneously. They all looked at the creature, right under them. Its hand was red. “How bad is it?” Sweetie Belle asked. No response, just coughing. That was enough answer though; blood came out of the creature’s mouth. Some of it landed on Applebloom’s leg, and she jumped back like it was acid.

“W-what do we do?!” she queried. When neither of her friends could come up with an answer, Applebloom looked back to the wagon. “Ah’ve got it!” she announced. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched as Applebloom brought the wagon forward. “Get’em in here! We’ll get it to the hospital”

They were all satisfied with this solution, seeing as it was the only viable option as of yet. The girls all got to putting the creature in the wagon, which was no easy task. It weighed a lot. “Dang, this thing’s heavy!” Scootaloo commented. As they lifted up the creature, they noticed a pool of blood underneath it. Double-timing their pace, the girls were just able to get the creature into the wagon. Mostly. Its arms and legs stuck out and touched the ground.

“Good enough.” Applebloom concluded. She and her friends got into the reins. “Let’s go!”

The girls pulled with all their might, and once they got the wagon moving, it wasn’t about to stop. Inertia at its best. They kept on going, not wanting to stop and risk the death of whatever their precious cargo was. Still, being tiny fillies, their energy reserves had to run dry eventually. They just weren’t expecting it to happen so soon.

“I-*huff*- wasn’t expecting- *huff*- this- *huff*- to be so... hard.” Sweetie Belle said, she and her friends finally making it to the farmhouse.

“Ah know- *huff*- what you mean.” Applebloom replied. They all stopped. There was no way that they were going to make it all the way to the hospital. They needed a new plan.

Enter, Big Macintosh, the tank of a stallion. He walked around the corner, hearing his sister responding to her friend about going to the hospital. None of them sounded hurt, but his concern forced him to check anyway. What he saw was unbelievable. “What’s goin’ on-” he wasn’t able to finish before his little sister cut him off.

“Big Mac!” she shouted. “This thing’s dyin’!” She panted, clearly exhausted. Mac took a look at the creature in the wagon; it was not a pretty sight, now that he understood. “We- *huff*- we need to get to the hospital!” Without another word, Mac ran over and took the reins from the girls.

“Eeyup.” Without giving any reassurance to the girls, he ran off towards the hospital, a dying animal in tow.

He ran through the town, uncaring of what other ponies around him might be thinking about this. He could hear something sloshing about in the wagon behind him; he hoped to Celestia that it was spilled water; as he ran. The creature’s hands and feet were dragging on the ground to either side of the wagon, scraping them up. At this point, though, that was probably irrelevant. The creature was injured enough that a scrape or seven wouldn’t make a difference.

As he ran, the other ponies in town looked on curiously at his cargo. They had no way of knowing that the creature was bleeding out in the wagon, so many tried to follow for a bit. It was only when some of the bloody water fell out that some of them decided not to keep following.

“Come on. Come on!” Mac said to himself. The creature probably didn’t have much time left. He would have preferred to bring it to Fluttershy if she was available, but she wasn’t. Off in the distance, he could see his goal. “Just a little bit more.” He had to save the creature; he couldn’t bear to imagine his sister’s face if the creature that she found died.

Before long, Mac burst through the doors of the lobby, terrifying everypony inside. They all looked at him, then at his wagon, then back at him. “This thing needs serious help, now!” Mac announced. A doctor came out from behind the desk.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, curious but urgent. Mad looked at the creature, then back at the doctor. The doctor looked horrified.

“Doc-” Again, he was interrupted.

“Get it to the operating room, now!” Using his magic, he was a unicorn, the doctor lifted the creature out of the wagon and onto a wheeled stretcher that was off to the side. “Move, move!” He and several nurses all rushed into the operating section of the hospital, leaving Mac alone with his ruined wagon and several spectators. They all looked at Mac expectantly, but when they got no answer, they all went back to their business. Mac just looked at his wagon. He hoped that the majority of the two inches of liquid in the wagon was water, but the color of it suggested otherwise. Satisfied that he did his duty, Mac left the hospital to clean the wagon and probably his sister. She would probably want to talk.

“Ah’ll come back tomorrow.” he concluded as he slowly made his way home, trying to make sense of what he just saw and did.

************************************************************************************

His eyes were closed. He breathed in slow and deep, but not by his own doing. his hands were strapped down, keeping him in his place. He was too weak to get up anyhow. He felt oddly dry, a sensation that seemed like it was brand new to his body. He could feel that there were no clothes on his body; just what felt like a hospital gown. The last time he wore one of these, he had been hit by a car.

He tried to open his eyes, and was met with success when he was able to get them half way there. Slowly, he blinked, blinded partially by the lights above him. How did he get here? He remembered hearing a little girl, speaking to him, asking him something. She spoke English, too. Strange. Wasn’t he in Vietnam? No, he couldn’t be. He had to be dead. Maybe this is what it would be like, dying? Just able to rest in a spot, no pain, just laying down. Though,Ryan was expecting something more like Hell, to be honest.

A number of wires were attached to his chest, especially around the spot that he would have sworn was a big hole. Focusing, he couldn’t feel anything missing, but then again, he couldn’t feel anything much at the moment. This hospital must have put him on fierce meds. He tried to raise his hands to get at the wires, but the straps kept them down.

“Right.” he reminded himself. Deciding not to waste precious energy, Ryan just lay there, waiting for his doctor to return. The little heart monitor sped up with his consciousness, so he figured that the doctor would come back soon. To kill the time, he looked around the room. He noticed that all of his stuff, and Harris’ Automag, oddly, were sitting in the corner. His clothes hung on a hanger in an open closet before him, obviously having been cleaned, since there was no blood on them. He remembered that guy’s headless body had spilled a lot on him.

There was a series of knocks at his door. As much as Ryan wanted to answer, “Come in.”, he couldn’t. So, whoever it was just waited for a moment before coming in. When they did, Ryan’s mind came to a screeching halt at the sight.

Before him, there stood a horse. Though, it was maybe a bit short, so perhaps it was a pony. Even so, that didn’t match up to the fact that it had a horn. And a doctor’s outfit, stethoscope and all. It even held a clipboard. As it entered, it looked at Ryan, noticing that his eyes were open. It locked eyes with its patient, and slowly, it shut the door.

“Hello.” it said in a masculine voice. So it was a he. “Please stay calm.” he pleaded. When Ryan made no move, he relaxed a bit and came closer. Ryan’s heart rate raised a bit, and the doctor tried to calm him down. “Relax, relax.” he said in a hushed tone. “I’m doctor Laym.” Oh the irony of the name. “I fixed you up. You’re fine now.”

Ryan just kept looking at the doctor, eyes somewhat glazed over. He was tired, and would likely go back to sleep soon. “I just came in to check on you. I’m glad to see that you’re alright.” Ryan blinked twice, slow as a turtle. “I’ll stop by periodically to see you. And please, try to relax.” With those last words, the doctor left the room. Also with them, Ryan let his eyelids drift back down and slept.

************************************************************************************

Mac and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all sitting in the waiting room. Scootaloo was on her own, but Sweetie Belle was brought here by her father, Magnum, who was watching her while Rarity was away. They all sat quietly in the waiting area, nervous about what news they might get. It had only been less than twenty-four hours, but they were told that some of the best doctors and surgeons were there to work on the creature.

Sweetie Belle had apparently not told her father about the creature yt, as he was cradling her, saying that her friends would be alright. “Don’t worry.” he said. “I’m sure that the doctors will help her out. They’re some of the best.” After a time, though, Sweetie Belle decided to correct her father.

“Actually, it’s not exactly my friend.” Magnum looked at her, confused.

“It?” His main concern was apparently that this was an “it”.

“Yeah. We found it over at Sweet Apple Acres.” she explained. “It was hurt really, really bad, so we brought it to the farmhouse, and Big Mac brought it here.”

Magnum put his hoof to his chin. “What is it?” he asked, now just curious. Sweetie Belle shook her head.

“We don’t know. But it could talk!” she exclaimed. “And it had hands, like Spike, Twilight’s assistant. And it had weird clothes and stuff with it.”

As she continued her explanation to her father, Mad remembered coming home the previous night. His sister was sitting in the center of the living room, being comforted by Granny Smith. When Mac walked in, he ran over to them. “Hey. You alright?” he had asked. Applebloom nodded.

“Yeah.” She was clearly shaken by the encounter. I mean, come on, this thing nearly bled to death in their wagon. Granny Smith wasn’t believing that any more than Mac.

“Now don’t you go lyin’ ta’ me, little missy!” she said. Mac smiled. “Ahhh, know that this is buggin’ ya’. Now, ya’ know what to do?” Applebloom looked up at her Granny. “Go’n take a shower, clean yerself up, an’ remember that you did a good job, gettin’ this thing to Macky boy here.” She looked to Big Mac.

“Ah got it to the hospital. It’ll be fine.” And with that reassurance, Applebloom had felt much better.

And now, here they were, waiting to hear if Big Mac was right. The girls all had an invested interest in this, being the ones who found the creature, and Big Mac had an invested interest in their well being, so he wanted the creature to be alright too. He made that pretty obvious when the doctor came back from the room where the creature was being kept.

“Well, doc?” he asked, getting up and walking over. “How is it?” The doctor put his clipboard in a pocket on his side and addressed the large work stallion before him.

“He’s fine. And I can confirm that it’s a he.” The girls all giggled behind him. The doctor pulled the clipboard back out. “The wound was like nothing I’ve ever seen.” As soon as he said that, Magnum and the girls came right over. Other ponies in the room also became quite interested. “It was like something went straight through its back and chest, but exploded halfway through. The entry wound was about 5.7 millimeters wide, but the exit wound was close to 2.8 centimeters wide. And it progressed in size as it went through. I don’t know what could have done this, but if it weren’t for you, this creature would be long dead.”

When the girls behind him shouted their glee together, Big Mac fell back a little bit, letting them get in to talk to the doctor. “So is he gonna be okay?” Scootaloo asked.

The doctor smiled a big, goofy smile, and replied, “All thanks to you girls.” The joy on their faces was enough to give somepony a heart attack, they were so adorable. They hopped around, celebrating. While they were busy doing that, the doctor came over to Mac and Magnum. “There are certain issues that we should probably discuss soon, in regards to all of this.” Mac understood; if a hospital didn’t get paid, it wouldn’t be there. But Magnum was to have no part of negotiations.

“Name your price. I’ll pay it.” Both Big Mac and the doctor looked at him, surprised. The doctors expression quickly changed to happiness.

“This will probably be around three thousand bits.” Magnum took out his wallet and checkbook.

“Here.” he said, handing the doctor a check. “Now just make sure he leaves this hospital better off than when we first encountered him.” The doctor took the check and walked off, ready to attend to other patients.

Magnum and Big Mac just stood where they were, watching the overjoys little fillies bounce around the room, disturbing everyone else. They didn’t care; they just wanted them to be happy. “So, Mr. Macintosh.” Mangum began. Big Mac shook his head.

“Just Big Mac is fine.” Magnum shrugged.

“Alright. So, Big Mac, from what you’ve seen of this creature, what do think of it? I mean, what it looks like or what it even is.” Big Mac hadn’t been thinking of this, since it didn’t seem that important. he thought about it now.

“Well, it reminds me of those monkeys that Ah learned about in school.” he replied. “Minus the tail, from what Ah saw.” Magnum seemed intrigued.

“Interesting.” They left the conversation there, Big Mac deciding that he would ask Twilight Sparkle about this when she returned from her trip.

Soon, they were all told that the creature wouldn’t be able to see visitors until at least two days later, so they all left, proud of their efforts and curious as to what this new creature had in store for them.

************************************************************************************

Luna trudged up her stairs, her legs dragging behind her as she made her way up. They refused to be useful, just lagging behind, trying to keep her away from the surface world, where none would understand her sorrow. She had to go, though. She needed to address her subjects and she couldn’t bear to be near that world any more.

At the top of the stairs, she was finally able to quiet herself down. She didn’t want to disturb her guard with her problems, especially this one. Looking about, she confirmed that he was not in the library and exited the stairs, recreating the barrier behind her. She had no desire to go back down there. Quiet as a cat on the prowl, she tip-hoofed her way to her bed chambers. When she saw that Starstep was not there either, she ran to her bed and flopped down onto it. Into her pillow, she wailed, keeping it muffled and quiet so as to hide her sadness.

The pillow was not enough, though, to keep the sound from ultimately reaching her guard’s ears. He opened up the door and closed it quickly behind him in one fluid motion, remaining unnoticed by his princess. He saw her bawling into her pillow and immediately went over to her.

“Luna!” he shouted, forgetting formalities. Clearly, she had not expected him, as she yelped when she heard him. “Are you alright?” She lifted her head from her pillow and looked away from her guard.

“Yes, don’t concern yourself. Get back outside.” Starstep was somewhat hurt by her words. Couldn’t she share her troubles with him? He could shoulder the burden.

“Princess, please. What’s going on? What happened?” He knew that this involved the human from the pool.

Luna looked away from him, doing her best to control herself and avoid bursting back into tears in front of her guard. She knew that the only way to do that was to either make him leave, which wasn;t going to happen, or calmly explain everything to him. “Th-the human...” she tried to begin. Starstep waited patiently for his princess to gain enough composure to speak. “He’s... he’s dead!” Before her cries could escape into the afternoon breeze. She cried into her pillow. So much for keeping her composure for her guard.

Starstep moved forward and put his head all the way forward onto the bed, just reaching Luna’s. Her face was buried in a pillow, her tears soaking through all the way. “Shhh.” he said. Luna’s sobs slowed, but were still quite powerful. “Stop crying.” he gently ordered. Luna stuck her front right hoof out and reached out for Starstep. In response, he climbed up onto the bed. She grabbed him and held him close as a child holds a stuffed bear in a thunderstorm. As tight as she held him, he could tell that she was weakened by her sorrow. “Tell me what happened.”

She walked Starstep through the entire chain of events, all the way from the beginning, but spent extra time on any significant points. The events which she spent the most time on were his capture, his being held, the rescue of his friend, his finding of the family in the burnt out house, and then straight into his final assault on the compound. This one, she spent the most time on, having witnessed everything that occurred. Starstep listened quietly as day soon became evening. At the end, she described how Ryan had been killed.

“And I feel like it’s my fault.” she said guiltily. “If I had pushed him in another direction... if I hadn’t been so gullible, thinking that he was going to make Narendra face justice... maybe he would be alive and happy.” She was back on the verge of tears, and Starstep wasn’t going to let her cry any more.

“It’s not your fault.” he said. She didn’t seem to register his words, and her chest bobbed up and down. He put his hoof under her chin and held her face up to look at his. “Listen. Please.” Taking his hoof away, he was happy to see her hold her gaze with him.

He put his hoof over hers. “It’s not your fault, princess. Please, understand that.” She bit her lower lip. “Everyone and every pony has his and her problems. And we all have to deal with them.” He scooted closer to her, wanting her to feel less alone. “We all have our friends, and friends are there to help us. You helped him as much as you could.” He looked out the window, remembering his old friends. “As much as our friends are able to help us, and we our friends, it is up to that individual to decide on what they will do. We can try to push them in the right direction, but we can’t control what they do or think, and we all have to accept that. Sure, you can be sad that this happened. But you shouldn’t feel guilty. Unless you intended for harm to come to an individual, you have no reason to feel guilty about what happens in their life. If you did what you could to help them, then you should only at least acknowledge that you did.”

Luna strengthened her hold on Starstep’s hoof and leaned on him. “I guess. But... but what if I could have done more?” Starstep thought for a moment.

“Could you have, truly?” Luna was silent, and then shook her head. “Then don’t ask those questions.”

Luna remained quiet after that, and Starstep just hummed a slow tune, eventually lulling his princess into sleep. The sky was ready to go to night, orange streaks all over the sky with purple clouds lazily moving in the breeze.

“I’m certain that Celestia will take care of it.” And she did, leaving Starstep to keep Luna company throughout that night.