It had about a week since Ryan told the mares the truth about himself. They had reacted exactly as he had been expecting; shock and a bit of terror, maybe some disgust. They had been doing their best not to show it, but it was still quite certainly there. He could see it in their eyes, though only in the couple of glances he got at them. They did their best not to look into his; they were too scared of what they would see.

They hadn’t spoken to him almost at all in that time, either. The only communication he got from any of them was a quick sentence or request at work. Twilight had him moving books around, and had refrained from asking him any questions since the spa. Rarity had him moving fabric around, and Applejack had left Ryan to work with her older brother. When he passed any of them on the street, except for Rainbow Dash, they would look at him with the most disgusting pity in their eyes.

Rainbow Dash, though, had no pity for Ryan. When she passed him, she gave him a look of aggression, anger flashing across her face with each passing. She had been keeping an eye on him in her spare time, Ryan could tell; she wasn’t very good at hiding. Her shadow would dominate the ground whenever she flew overhead. “Have you nothing better to do?” he had asked her once.

As soon as he finished his question, though, she flew down and landed right in front of him. “I’m watching you.” Then she just flew off, a rainbow that, to Ryan, looked anything but beautiful.

Other than that, he had done a few things in the last few days that would make his life more livable. He had found that carrying all his bits around was getting tiresome, so he went and found a bank that he could keep his money in for the time being. He had been forced to take Twilight there, though, to get the bank teller to take him seriously, which was terribly awkward.

“Twilight,” Ryan had said as he entered the library. “I need some help establishing a bank account for myself.”

Twilight had been taking out various books and flipping through them, evidently trying to distract herself from something. “Oh, Har- Ryan. I wasn’t, umm, expecting you.” She tossed the books to the ground uncharacteristically. “Sure, let’s go.”

On the way to the bank, she had tried to start a conversation with Ryan and failed. She told him about how she sent a letter to Celestia regarding what Ryan had told her, about his real name and the various other things he had explained. Silently, Ryan reprimanded himself for revealing such information, but was glad that he didn’t explain how Luna had been involved in ALL of it. That could have ended very negatively for her.

But now, he had about three hundred-forty-one bits in the bank. He was actually getting along, as far as he knew, and would, with any luck, be able to get out of this world and into a solitary one. Having a bank account would make everything easier.

He also found a gym where he could work out like he used to. After all, wouldn’t physical fitness be helpful for living in the deadliest forest around? The membership had cost him fifteen bits to start, and would be another ten every month he had it. But it was fine, since he could use it however much he wanted. The machines were all wrong, but the free weights would work fine. It was lucky that they were shaped right for him to hold, since most of the stallions there used them to work out their neck muscles by holding them in their mouths.

Now, though, he was getting up on a damp Monday morning, dreading having to go to Rarity’s boutique for another awkward day of moving fabrics around and taking short, curt orders. “I hate life.” Ryan said to himself as he climbed out of his muddy trench. He looked around, noting how the countryside was shrouded in mist and everything was nearly invisible within it. “I really do.” He stood up and cracked his joints, and walked off into town at half past six.

As he approached the boutique, he started thinking about what he should do about living in the forest. He couldn’t well just walk in there one day, to do so would be fatal. He had to go in there first to check which areas would be the best for settling. He would have to map out the forest as best he could, if he couldn’t obtain a map, and take into account what he might encounter. He had promised Harris that he wouldn’t allow himself to die, a promise that he regretted almost as much as everything he had done. It would be awhile before he could actually go in and not come out, and he would unfortunately have to live around here in order to get enough money to be able to set himself up to move on.

It was six forty-five when he knocked on the door three times as firmly as he could. After a minute of nothing, he knocked three more times and waited. This time, the door swung open, but nopony was there.

“Hey Ryan!” a small voice called from below. Ryan looked down; it was Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister. “Are you ready for today?” she asked.

Ryan cocked an eyebrow and looked down at her, confused. “For work?” he asked.

She cocked her head sideways. “No, for school! Today is the day I get to bring you in to talk to my class!”

As she spoke those words, Ryan’s blood ran cold. He had both forgotten that he would have to do that, and he also never found out what day it would be. “Oh.” he replied. “I didn’t know that was today.” He looked past her into the boutique, looking for Rarity, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Is Rarity here?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “She’s busy working upstairs. I already told her that I was taking you today, so you don’t have to work. She has a really big order to fill out, so she probably won’t come down.” She turned around and went back inside. “Come on in! I made breakfast!” Ryan sighed and obliged.

They went into the kitchen and sat at the small table, which Ryan’s legs barely made it under without flipping it over. He looked down at the plate before him; there was strange looking oatmeal in front of him and a glass of milk on the side. “Thanks.” he said, picking up a spoon and beginning to eat. As soon as the substance hit his lips, he felt like there was a super-magnet trying to remove it from his mouth, but he was able to fight it and swallow. “Ugh, umm, wow.” he said, on the verge of retching. “What is it?” he asked, trying to be polite.

Sweetie Belle didn’t sense his disgust, thankfully. “It’s applesauce!” she shouted excitedly, a big, toothy smile on her face. Ryan blinked twice, and then looked down. Sure enough, there were chunks of SOMETHING in the bowl before him. “Do you like it?”

Ryan took a swig of the milk, which was a great savior from the horrible apple sauce. “Sure.” he lied, though not very well. “It’s far from the worst thing I’ve had in my mouth.” Blood will always taste worse than anything else, especially your own.

Sweetie Belle smiled and ate her own breakfast, a bowl of cereal and milk and a glass of juice. They ate in silence, no longer having anything in particular to say. But Sweetie Belle would have none of that.

“So what exactly did you do before you came here?” she asked. “You said you were a student. What did you study?”

Ryan took a big swig of his milk and answered, “I was a student at a public school, so I didn’t study anything specific. We did science, history, literature, foreign language, math, various other optional subjects, and did physical education. We didn’t do a ton.” He shrugged with his last statement and pushed the bowl of breakfast slop away. “Just the standard stuff with higher level courses sometimes.”

Sweetie Belle finished her food and put her dishes in the sink, something Ryan doubted Rarity appreciated. She left the kitchen for a minute, leaving Ryan to take care of his own dishes quickly before she saw that he wasn’t going to eat what she made. While at the sink, Ryan decided to wash the dishes in the short time he had. “Ready to go?!” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly. Ryan turned and saw her, backpack on and full of energy. “Let’s go!” She ran off, Ryan sighing and walking after her.

The journey to the schoolhouse was short and mildly irritating. Ryan had caught up to Sweetie Belle and had her slow down, which she did, only it meant more questions. “What kinds of things did you learn in school? Why can’t you tell me about other parts of your life? Where are you from? What brought you here?” Ryan didn’t answer any of the questions, partly out of a lack of desire to answer, and partly because they came so fast, he couldn’t answer. When he saw the schoolhouse, he felt like he had been saved by the devil, who would no doubt make him pay for it soon.

They approached casually, although Ryan kept his eyes darting around to see what there was to see. The little fillies and colts, the same size as Sweetie Belle, were all talking to their friends, their adult companions having their own conversations. None had noticed Ryan yet. “Let’s go find the girls!” Sweetie Belle ordered, running off into the crowd of ponies. Ryan sighed and followed.

When he was close enough that he was noticed, a lot of conversation stopped or became extremely hushed. All adult eyes were on him, scrutinizing him, judging whether or not it was safe for him to be near their kids. He passed one in particular wearing a tie and suit-like vest. “Morning.” he greeted, not waiting for a response. As soon as he was past, the conversations gained volume again. It seemed that he did something right.

“Ryan!” Sweetie Belle called. He looked forward; before him, there were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash.

“For the love of God...” Ryan thought. He had no desire to see Rainbow Dash right now. “Hello.” he said as he approached. “I trust everything is going good?” He tried to seem like he cared, but the Element of Honesty wasn’t one to lie to.

“Good, good.” she answered. “Umm, how’re you?”

Ryan shrugged. “Good enough. I’m alive.” He had made that his standard, and yet, he only barely met it. “Got a bank account and a gym membership. Not much else happened.” He turned to Rainbow Dash. “And how are you?” He barely hid the suspicion in his voice, and the two mares could tell that he was using an accusing tone. “Seen anything interesting lately?” he asked.

Rainbow Dash huffed, not even trying to hide her distaste for the human. “No, I haven’t. But I bet I will eventually.” Scootaloo looked up at her surprised, then back at Ryan with an apologetic look.

“Who knows? Maybe you will.” He stuck his hands in his pocket. “The world is full of all sorts of mysterious and crazy things. You never know when you’ll see them.”

The bell rang, ending their accusatory conversation and drawing a relieved sigh from Applejack. Rainbow Dash was about to say something to Ryan, but he ignored it and walked inside with Sweetie Belle. Inside, he took his place at the back of the room, where he stood among the adult ponies, who all looked at him in either wonder or mild fear. He did his best not to notice.

“Good morning class!” A light purple mare came into the room with a small saddlebag, yet no saddle. Magic. “I’m sure we all have our ponies-” She noticed Ryan, who raised a hand and gave a half wave. “and others, I suppose?” The little ones all turned and saw Ryan, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed, looking tough. They turned back quickly. They all replied with a single, “Yes Miss Cheerilee.”, and so the class began.

“Who wants to go first?” Cheerilee asked. Half a dozen hooves went up instantly, the rest following close behind. “Hmm... how about you, Diamond Tiara?”

Ryan blinked twice to himself. “What?” he wondered? “What kind of stupid name is that?” Then he remembered how his name probably sounded pretty ridiculous to them. It’s all about perspective.

“Certainly!” she shouted. She turned and looked to the back of the room. “Daddy?” Ryan turned and saw that stallion with the tie and suit from earlier get up and walk to the front of the classroom, a content look on his face. “Tell them all about yourself.” There was a hint of stubborn pride and arrogance in the little filly’s voice.

“Sure.” Her father stood in the front of the room and pulled a chart paper from his suit, something Ryan hadn’t thought about doing. He should have brought something other than...

“OH SHIT!” He had completely forgotten that he had his arms on him, guns and knife. He wasn’t thinking about it earlier when he left with Sweetie Belle. “Why? Why did I forget?” How he had forgotten something so important was beyond him. He just had to hope that none of the kids noticed anything.

“My name is Filthy Rich.” the stallion stated. Ryan snorted at the joke of his name. “I buy and sell stocks in various companies, which has done very well for me. My job mostly consists of...” And he went on, losing Ryan’s attention completely. Ryan was busy reprimanding himself for foolishly bringing a GUN into a room full of small children.

The stallion finished fairly quickly, the kids not even coming close to understanding what he was saying. Mostly, it seemed like he was talking to the parents, trying to show them how well they could do if they invested a small amount of money into his system and career choice. Cheerilee got right back in front. “Who’s next?”

Sweetie Belle’s hoof was the first one up, causing Ryan to groan inwardly to himself. “Ooh, ooh!” she said. Cheerilee chuckled. “Me!”

The schoolteacher stood aside and looked to the back. “Sure. Who did you bring Sweetie Belle?” Sweetie Belle pointed right at Ryan, a huge grin that said “fuck yourself” or some variant of the phrase pointed right at Diamond Tiara. “Alright... come on up, mister..?”

Ryan got off the wall and stepped forward. “Ryan.” He walked forward toward the front of the room and a teacher who looked like she was expecting more.

“Ryan..?”

He blinked three times at her. “Just Ryan.” She nodded and stepped away from the front, leaving Ryan to battle the onslaught of questions on his own.

He looked out to the crowd, which was totally silent and staring intently at him. They were all curious about this new, intelligent creature, and their curiosity tried to bore into Ryan like a drill. He was denying it like with a shell of diamond, making sure that no one saw the rather unpleasant truth underneath the surface. “Alright. Guess I’ll tell you about myself. I’ve never done this before, so be gentle.” He drew some chuckles from the adults in the back, except for Rainbow and Applejack.

“I’m actually only seventeen, though my appearance would never suggest that.” The reactions he got from his first sentence were all of surprise, like they had expected him to be in his mid thirties. “I was a student at a public school, one of the best in the nation, even better than a lot of private schools. I studied the standard course load: Math, English, Foreign Language, Science, and History. I went into a few advanced level classes, but not many. I had my friends, with whom I had some adventures that I might tell you when you’re older.” The adults chuckled again, some even laughing.

“I had only two hobbies, but I dedicated my life to them. I did SCUBA Diving, the deepest I ever went being about one hundred and ten feet. I’ve seen some cool stuff. My other hobby was Karate. I’ve been practicing for about thirteen years, and got my Second Degree Black Belt.”

The little kids were all staring at him, mouths agape, and the adults were either wide-eyed or giving approving looks. They were impressed, and the fillies and colts were looking at him with eyes that were filled with questions. “That’s all I have, really. Questions, I guess?”

The whole of the class before him raised its hooves, all the little ones making noises in an effort to be called on. Ryan was taken aback by the sudden interest in him, and looked to Cheerilee for guidance. She was laughing away off on the side, barely noticing Ryan’s predicament. When she finished, she looked to Ryan and motioned for him to go on. “Alright.” he said hastily. He looked around; his eyes fell on a gray filly with a silver spoon for a mark. “You.” he said, pointing at her.

The class hushed, something most classes in Ryan’s school couldn’t do for their lives. “Do you have a cutie mark?” she asked, sounding slightly snobbish. Ryan raised an eyebrow at her question, trying to indicate that it wasn’t very good. Don’t listen to people who say that there aren’t any stupid questions.

“No. Humans don’t get them. Ever.” The whole class, including the spoon filly, gasped loudly, as if he had uttered some terrible curse in front of them. “What?” he asked honestly. “We don’t, it shouldn’t be that strange. We get tattoos, but nothing magically appears on our as- flanks.” He barely caught himself. “It’s not that bad.”

There was hushed muttering among the little ones, and they slowly began to raise their hooves again. “You.” Ryan said, pointing at a light blue one with a darker blue mane.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

“I come from the United States of America. It’s a country that’s very, VERY far away. You’ll never see it, unfortunately. Or fortunately. Hard to say at times.” The kids looked at him, confused, so he continued; “All depends on your idea of fun, really. Most people who live there under appreciate it, but it’s pretty good.” In an effort to get away from a certain line of questioning, he looked around for more hooves. One colt, very skinny, had his raised. “You.”

He stood up tall. “What gave you the injury that you first came here with?”

Ryan’s blood ran cold, and his face paled a little bit, but not noticeably so. His fingers gripped the desk he was sitting on hard, giving him white knuckles, and he chewed on his inner lip trying to think of an answer. Lying had failed him, so he would have to be forward with them. But he could still zig-zag.

“The events that injured me in such a way are of a nature too malapropos for me to divulge upon to ears so pubescent. I cannot, in reputable mentality, explicate upon that area of my history.” Glancing around, he saw that he had successfully fried the brains of the kids in the room. “I might be able to give you a censored, heavily abridged version, with the parent’s permission, though I personally find that unlikely.”

Before he even finished that sentence, Filthy Rich stepped forward and into the center of the room. “I think that the censored version would be fine, don’t you all?” He turned around to see the nodding heads, then turned back to see Ryan silently brooding. “Care to share?”

Ryan swallowed, hoping that he wouldn’t find himself elaborating too much on everything. “Very well.” He sat all the way on the desk and took in a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he prepared himself for the worst. “Before I came here, I found myself in the middle of a war of a very different nature than most think of when they think of war.” He hopped off the desk and moved to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk, and started drawing something. “It was a war between the world, slave traders, and myself.” He wrote SLAVERS on one side of the board and WORLD on the other. “I was here.” He put his name in the middle.

When he turned around, he could see a lot of questions in the eyes of the little ones, and horror in the faces of the adults. Well, they got what they asked for, and if they didn’t like it, well, it sucks to suck. “Any questions?”

Sweetie Belle was the first to raise her hoof, and the only one. “Why were you in the middle? Why weren’t you on the side of the world?” She sounded a bit concerned.

“Well, I fought in this war, but not for either side. I fought mostly against the slavers, and once or twice against the world when it tried to stop me. But I only sought to take down the slavers.” True, but he wasn’t explaining his motives.

“Why?” Sweetie Belle asked, forcing him to explain his motives.

Ryan sighed. “Well, they did a lot of terrible things to a lot of people, myself being among those people. So I fought back.” He set the chalk down and went to walk to the back of the room. He was stopped by a question that he wasn’t expecting.

“Did you win?” The light blue one with the dark mane asked him that.

“What?”

“Did you win, beat the slavers?” Ryan blinked. He had never thought about that before, really.

“Well, my goal of taking down their leader was achieved. So yes, I guess that of them and me, I did win.”

The eyes of the colt looked like stars, glittering and bright. “So, you’re like, a war hero, right? You beat the bad guys and saved the day!” The little ones all looked up at Ryan, awestruck by the colt’s inference. Ryan chuckled to himself. This time, though, they all noticed. “What?” the colt asked.

Ryan stopped chuckling, realizing that it wouldn’t be very funny to them. “There are few heroes in war, and they are rarely those who fight. And on another note,” He turned to face the colt. The nametag on his desk read RUMBLE. “I’m one of the farthest things from a hero that you’ll ever meet.” He walked to the back of the room. “And so that’s all about me.” The students started clapping their hooves together, making a lot of clop noises rather than clap noises.

Cheerilee went back to the front. “Well, that took longer than expected. We’ll break for lunch now, but we’ll resume when we come back and finish up. I guess you kids don’t have to go through my lesson plan today.” She mocked disappointment, drawing lots of laughs of joy from the students. “Dismissed!”

The little ones all ran outside, leaving the adults and Ryan in the schoolhouse to chat amongst themselves and catch up. In Ryan’s case, it unfortunately meant meeting new ponies.

They all stood around, mostly, just talking amongst friends. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were talking off to the side, and there were other little groups of friends around the room. “I wish my life had been this simple.” Ryan thought. His life had been much worse than he had always hoped.

“Hello!” a voice called. Ryan turned around to see that guy, Filthy Rich, walking towards him. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Filthy Rich.” He extended his hoof, which Ryan took hesitantly. “So you’re the creature that everypony’s been talking about.”

Ryan cocked an eyebrow at still being called a creature, but let it slide. “I wasn’t aware that I was the talk of the town.” he replied. “But I guess that comes with being the only human.”

Filthy nodded. “Ah, yes. While my case was not so... unique, as your, I remember being the only one who was different for a time. It wasn’t easy for me, but, well, look at me now.” He raised his chin proudly. “I own my own stocks business and have made myself my own success.”

“Very impressive. I wish I could say the same for myself.”

“Ah, I’m sure you could. You said that you fought evil ponies, those despicable slave traders. You can do anything you want, I’m quite certain of that.”

Ryan chuckled. “I wish that were true. But the past is the past; I tend to focus more on the future.”

Filthy smiled a big, excited, business smile. “Well, if you ever find yourself in need of money, I’m sure I could help you invest. You did great things for the world; I can only try my best to repay you for that.”

Ryan liked this guy. He was friendly right off the bat and wasn’t asking him any prodding questions. “That would be great, but I don’t think I’ll be sticking around. I might be here awhile, but long term wealth isn’t that important to me. I plan to leave eventually.”

Filthy’s smile became sad, but persisted to live on. “Oh. Well, I wish you the absolute best, and hope you live the peaceful life that you’ve earned.”

Ryan thanked him, and their conversation ended. Filthy walked back to his group of fellow investors and money handlers, where it sounded like they were all wishing Ryan would let them handle his money. Ryan had a bank for that, so he didn’t need them, but they were still nice people. How Diamond Tiara was apparently such a bitch was beyond him.

He was about to walk outside to get going when he suddenly found himself before Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The two ponies were looking up at him, surprise and suspicion on their faces, and neither seemed very friendly at the moment. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

“Can I help you?” Ryan asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah.” Rainbow said aggressively. “What do you mean, you plan on taking off?

Where do you think you’re going, huh? Trying to run away from us so you can go hurt more ponies?”

“Rainbow!” Applejack shouted. It was a good thing she shouted, too, because Ryan was about to ream at her. “That ain’t okay!” Rainbow Dash grumbled and stepped back, lowering her head. Ryan, jaw clenched and fists tight, looked at Applejack, who turned back to him. “Ah’m sorry about that.” she said. “But what DO you mean about leaving?”

Ryan snorted. “What I do is my business. But if you must know, I have no intention of staying here. First chance I get to move out of here that I can take, I plan on doing that.”

“Where are you gonna go?” she asked, curious.

“Hell if I know. But I won’t be sticking around here anymore.”

Rainbow looked up at Ryan from behind Applejack and grumbled, “We don’t want murderers here anyhow.”

Ryan snarled at her, causing Applejack to move back in fear. “Fuck you.” he said, shoving his way past Rainbow Dash. He pushed her hard enough that she landed on the floor, drawing looks from everypony else. “I don’t have to take your shit.”

Applejack helped Rainbow up under the watchful eyes of the other adults, trying her best not to make a scene. “Rainbow, why in tarnation did you say that?” she asked. Rainbow didn’t answer. “Augh.” Applejack looked out to the angry, hurt form of Ryan that was walking away. “Ah don’t want you causing him any trouble any more, understand?” Rainbow Dash nodded ruefully, and they went outside for some fresh air.

Ryan was about to get on the road when he heard a tiny voice from his left. “Halt!” it said. “If ye want to gain passage by the road, ye have to pay the toll.”

Ryan looked to his left, then down. There was a tiny guy playing like a pirate next to him, a young Brit, by the sound. “I have no money.” Ryan explained, going along with it. “What would the pirate take from a man who has nothing?”

The young pirate looked thoughtful, but in the end, had nothing. “How about you give me-”

He was cut off by three fillies tackling him to the ground and rolling away. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS COAST GUARD PONIES!” they shouted. They all rolled away, tumbling across the grass, wrestling the whole way. In the end, the three fillies had him pinned on the ground. “Hah! We got you!” Sweetie Belle announced. “Do you submit?”

Ryan walked over, laughing to himself very lightly as he approached. “I submit.” the pirate said regretfully. The fillies extricated themselves from the boy and stood proudly next to Ryan. “They have rescued you from my pillaging.” Ryan blinked and tried to ignore what he heard.

“No fear, little man.” Ryan said, going over and extending his hand to the young pillager. “It was a good wrestle.”

The young one took his hand and stood. “But I had to wrestle girls!” he whined, drawing eye rolls from the fillies. “It was gross!”

Ryan laughed and patted the boy’s head. “Someday; trust me; you won’t think that. You’ll WANT to wrestle with them.” He just looked at Ryan like Seriously?, and then looked to the fillies, who were pretend gagging behind Ryan. “Now run along and play.” The pirate boy ran off to play with his friends.

Ryan turned around to leave again, but before he could get going, his legs were tackled by the three young fillies. They almost knocked him over, grabbing onto him like little vice grips. “What?” he asked.

Sweetie Belle looked up at him with a sad face. “Where are you going?” she asked, giving him her best pouty face. “Aren’t you going to stay?”

Ryan extricated the fillies from his legs and set them before him. “Sorry, but I don’t think I should. There are certain ponies here who might not be in favor of that.” He looked back to the schoolhouse, silently resenting that Rainbow Dash had learned about his past. The others were fine; it was her that seemed to be the most troublesome. “I should probably just go.”

All three fillies looked up at him and tried their darndest to stop his heart. They widened their eyes to unnatural lengths and sizes, and they pouted their lips to the point of quivering. Unfortunately for them, Ryan wasn’t going to let them get him now. “Please stay?” they asked.

Ryan sighed. Really thinking about it, it would be pretty rude to leave. But then again, to stay might mean another little scene, and that would no doubt embarrass both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, their guests both being assholes. Maybe he should stay. “Alright.” he conceded. “I’ll stay.” The girls cheered their victory and ran off.

As they ran off, Ryan could feel some horrible presence close by. He could tell that something was watching him, scrutinizing him, waiting for him to screw up. Its eyes felt like they were right on him, like they were grazing the back of his neck. As he watched the fillies and colts run about, he suddenly felt a fear the likes of which he had never known before. He looked behind him and around the schoolyard, scanning like a machine for anything that was not meant to be there.

“Ryan!” a scratchy voice called out, shocking him out of his stupor. He practically jumped into the air at the sudden noise. “I gotta talk to you.”

He looked over; it was Rainbow Dash walking over, looking regretful and very unhappy. She slouched her neck and slightly dragged her hooves, keeping her eyes to the ground. When she was in front of him, she looked up very slowly, and when she saw his face, a flash of distaste came across her face.

“What?” Ryan asked, already knowing that whatever she said, there would be something else under it. He hated it when people talked to him like that at home.

She kicked at the ground a little with her front hoof, reluctant to speak. “I’m... sorry, for what I said in there. It was uncalled for.” she said. Ryan kept a neutral expression, one that she couldn’t see. “I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry.”

Ryan leaned back and took in the mare before him. It was almost comical, the way she was trying to apologize. But still. “I know what’s going on.” he said. “Applejack sent you here.” When he said that, Rainbow visibly flinched, her cover completely blown. “You aren’t sorry. You hate me. You want to see me gone, where I won’t hurt anyone.” He ruffled her mane, getting a confused expression from her. “But I get why.”

He was about to go past her and walk toward a table to sit down when she put her hoof up to his chest and stopped him. “What?” she asked. “What the heck do you mean? Why aren’t you... why not... what?”

He sighed and removed the hoof from his chest. “You hate me. I know why. You fear me because I’m dangerous. I represent everything that you ponies fear.” He looked up to the sky. “I killed people. A lot. Not all of them evil, either. I’m not asking for forgiveness or any such crap. When I die, I won’t be going anywhere nice. Nor should I. So if you hate me, it doesn’t matter. You can hate me all you want, because I’ll still go to Hell, and you’re hate will still just be here, pointless and bitter.” He stepped past her. “Now I am going to sit down.”

He walked past the cyan mare and went over to the table. As he did so, Rainbow Dash looked on, wondering about what she just heard and quietly wishing that he would just leave so that life could be normal for Ponyville again.

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

Discord watched in with express interest in what was going on between Ryan and Rainbow Dash. He could tell that this was going to play a pivotal role in coming events in Ryan’s life, and likely Rainbow’s too. It would be fun to watch.

But there were other matters that would need tending to as well. For one, there was the Wraith. Discord had no idea where he had come from or how. The Wraith simply showed up one day, tormenting Ryan and causing trouble. Discord had tried to use his magic on the Wraith, but to no avail. Something about him made him immune to magic, but he couldn’t tell what. And he dared not tell Celestia, or she might do something drastic to save her subjects. She had done it before.

Discord let the matters drift to the back of his mind, where they would remain for the time being while he enjoyed watching Ryan. He had skillfully tiptoed past the issues raised by his going to the school with Sweetie Belle, but he still had Rainbow Dash to deal with. Applejack was clearly trying to help him, but Ryan was little interested in that. It had been most fun to watch.

Now, though, he was just sitting at a table, mind adrift, not doing anything in particular. The fillies and colts played around him, never approaching him. They thought he was a hero; to Discord, they were right. He thought that Ryan was a hero, because he fought the evil to the best of his ability. Sure, he had fallen, but even the best of us do at times. Through it all, he had tried his best to do what was right. It was only when he went criminally insane that he stopped that.

Ryan was sitting quietly at the table, minding his own business, when a little colt ran up to him. “Hey!” he shouted in a tiny voice. The colt was small, light blue, and had a swept back blue mane. “Can you help us?”

Discord watched with wariness as Ryan looked down. He had been thinking about something, something important, when the colt interrupted. It was hard to say if he would react well.

“Depends.” Ryan said, drawing a mental sigh of relief from Discord. “What is it that you need?”

“Can you help us to think of a game? We need a bad team and a good team, but we don’t know what to do.”

“Well, what’s the theme?” Ryan asked patiently. Discord thought that he was doing a good job of dealing with kids.

“Umm, we aren’t sure. But we want to have battles!” the colt said excitedly.

Ryan chuckled. “What’s your name, kiddo?” he asked.

“Rumble!”

“Alright Rumble. Here’s my idea: you have two teams, OpFor and Task Force Delta. OpFor has hostages, how many, you can choose. Task Force Delta’s job is to rescue them by whatever means they can.” Ryan seemed to be enjoying Rumble’s look of total awe. “Sounds good?”

The colt smiled big and shouted, “Yeah!” He turned around to run off, but stopped only a few feet away. He turned around, sheepish and silly, and asked, “Can you help us set up our game?” Ryan smiled and agreed.

Discord smiled too, as he watched Ryan walk off to give the kids a game that they had no idea was very real where Ryan was from. While Ryan’s game was maybe a bit mature, e had no doubt that the kids would enjoy themselves. He was making a decent name for himself, despite his hopes not to have a name at all.

Which was even more surprising, considering that he had said that he didn’t want to make any connections at all. He seemed to be more conflicted than Discord had thought...

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

Luna was staring at her calendar, trying to decide on what she was going to be doing for the next week. She hadn’t planned anything; she was still trying to deal with Ryan’s death. As much as she knew that it would help her, and Starstep, to get that off her mind, she couldn’t keep it away. Frustrated, she scoffed and turned away from her calendar and walked out of her library.

Starstep was doing some exercises in the middle of the floor, sweating up the carpet. As Luna entered, she used her magic to pinch her nose and commented, “Can you be any nastier?”

Starstep looked her way and stood. He shook himself, getting sweat everywhere, and said, “Well, I’m sure that you would LOVE to be the first to know that.” He had a sly grin on his face, one that Luna couldn’t fight and caused her to blush. “But I suppose the only way for you to know that would be to join me in my extreme physical exertion.”

Luna responded quickly. “Hah! I can assure you, you may be a highly trained guard, but I can outlast you with my magic tricks.” She grinned as she approached her guard. “I know tricks that you can’t even begin to imagine.”

“I bet you do. But knowing you, I doubt you’ve ever tested them. If you ever need a crash test dummy, be sure to tell me.”

Luna shot back, “What makes you think I haven’t tested them? You sleep here, you know.”

Starstep stopped, taken off guard by the indication of being violated in his sleep. He tried to think of something to respond with, but nothing came out; he was empty. He released a spent sigh and sat down. Luna cheered on her victory as she came forward.

“Great, great. You win this round, princess.” he said.

Luna sat down next to him and playfully leaned on his side. “And I shall win the war.” she proclaimed. “You shall be defeated.”

Starstep chuckled. “Please, princess. If either of us will be on top, it’ll be me.” Luna blinked. When she didn’t respond, Starstep added, “I guess I got the last word this time.”

“This time.” she replied.

They sat together in silence for a time, unmoving, eyes going lazy. Starstep glanced outside; it was approaching the evening. The sun was getting a little lower in the sky, casting an orange glow over the landscape. The light bounced off of the ground and shot into the room, casting daggers into Starstep’s eyes and shutting them. He turned his head in Luna’s direction and reopened them to see her head on his shoulder, humming a silent tune.

“Whatcha’ singing?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Luna stopped for a moment and shifted her head, eyes closed. “A lullaby, from the olden days, when ponies still struggled to survive. It gave them courage and hope in their hardest of days, courage and hope that we only ever see in a select few ponies.” She nuzzled him hard to push her point.

“It sounds... interesting.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, it certainly was. It is said that the song can connect to those who need it the most, those who wish to serve others, and give them the strength they need. It is a silly tale, though; something you tell the young when you sing it to them.”

“I’d love to hear it, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course.” She cleared her throat and raised her head back up. In her softest voice, she began:

Starstep listened to the song of his unit, swaying lightly to the rhythm, and, without either pony saying another word, he wondered if Ryan could hear the song, wherever he was.

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

Ryan was entering the boutique after retrieving some fabrics for Rarity from the mailmare’s office. It had been a strange experience, talking to the mailmare. Derpy, she said her name was. She had eyes that pointed in different directions and she apparently loved muffins; she tried to get Ryan to pay her with them. It turned out to e a joke, but she did say; “I LOVE MUFFINS.”

When he came in and the door began to close, he announced, “I’m back. Got the stuff, I’ll leave it by the stage.” He walked over and set everything down, then sat himself on the stage.

His day had gone just fine after teaching the kids how to play a new game that bordered on military training. They all loved it, and as such, him. And as a result of that, the parents seemed to like him. From there, it was a mess of trying to get out of conversations that predominantly were about his past.

Walking home with Sweetie Belle wasn’t too bad, other than the fact that her ENTIRE class followed. They kept asking him questions about where he came up with the game, to which he only gave the vaguest of answers. The crusaders had been persistent, but Ryan explained that it was “something they might learn when they got older”, and they gave up.

The little colts were more interested in him than the fillies, and they kept asking him all kinds of questions about his masculinity. “Do you even lift?” “How much do you lift?” “Have you ever rescued a damsel?” “How many dudes have you fought?” It got annoying after a while, so Ryan started asking them questions instead. It didn’t work.

The girls ran off with the boys and they played their game somewhere, so Ryan was alone in the boutique with Rarity. He looked at his watch. “I wonder when Sweetie Belle will get home...”

Almost as if on cue, the door opened up and three little fillies ran inside, escorted by some colts. They were all shouting, the fillies running for cover. The colts shut the door and, without noticing Ryan, all the little ones ran to the basement.

Ryan stood up and walked to the door; they had locked it, and there were several colts running this way. Ryan unlocked and opened the door, stepping aside so as not to be seen. The colts ran inside and started looking around, eventually splitting up and searching. Rarity screeched from upstairs, and one of the colts sprinted away, face red, and ordered; “RUN!”

Rarity came running down, soaking wet, and looking quite mad. The water on her was steaming. Not wanting to see any little colts splattered against the wall, Ryan held the door open so that they could run.

Rarity came down. “You know, I would APPRECIATE it if you would let me handle things when they get so out of hoof.” she said, opening the door and stepping outside.

Ryan walked out after her and let the door shut behind him, shaking his head slowly, saying, “If I did, you would be trying to use them as slave labor.” Rarity looked back at him, half offended, half admitting that to be true.

“Fine.” she said, walking back to the house. “But next time, please, just let me take care of it.” She opened the door and went back inside.

Ryan simply stood where he was, thinking about nothing particular. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings, and-

There he was. The Wraith, the evil twin brother, the twisted antagonist, the little bastard, standing under a nearby tree. He wasn’t doing anything really, just standing there. He wasn’t even looking at Ryan; he was staring at some book. Eventually, he looked up from his book and sneered at Ryan.

Ryan was about to take a step forward, but something stopped him. He abandoned focus on the Wraith and listened. Around him, he could hear leaves rolling on the ground, ponies off playing somewhere, and the wind, rustling the trees and bushes.

In that wind, there was something else. Something familiar, something he couldn’t seem to place. It was the voice of a woman, but not the Woman. It was soft and tender, like a harp playing for a newborn babe. The Wraith noticed too, for he had turned to look in the direction of the wind, a frown of concern across his face.

Ryan faced the wind and listened more, trying to discern what it was. He could tell, he knew, it was the voice of a woman. But what was it saying? What did it want to say? Who was it?

He turned back to face the Wraith, but he was gone. He and his mysterious new book disappeared into that wind, dispelled by some strange magic. At first, it seemed that he had simply left Ryan, that he had decided to spend his time with his book. Maybe he was no longer interested.

But Ryan knew better than that. He would be back; he would always be back.