It’s the most, wonderful time, of the year.

That was what was going through Ryan’s head as he awoke that morning on the twenty-first of December, a Friday morning. He lamented having to get up, but he did agree to go with the girls, sort of. If only this could have been a normal work day. Though at this point, he wasn’t even sure why Twilight kept him on the job. Her questions were much reduced now, and all Ryan actually did was move books or go out to get things. It was mostly just Ryan getting paid to do Spike’s work while the dragon took some time off.

Ryan sat up groggily in his bed and stretched his arms as wide as he could, feeling the stretch in his muscles as they went to their maximum extension. As his arms slowly receded back to their regular positions, Ryan let out a silent yawn, rolling his head back and forth to get any cricks out. As he stood, he could feel a distinct stiffness in them.

The human walked around his basement room to warm up his legs and prepare to move about that day. While he walked around, he took a look at the space where he kept his outfit. Everything was accounted for; he didn’t quite understand why he always felt a need to look. More of that old mild paranoia setting in.

Once he felt warmed up and ready to face the day, Ryan walked over to his little dresser and started to take out the clothes he would wear, a simply pair of cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt. Rarity really was a master seamstress.

He looked up from his dresser at a large mirror that sat atop it, leaning seemingly unsafely against the wall. The reflection of himself was... odd, for some reason. He was getting back to the point where he would need to shave and he definitely needed a haircut again. After all that work on the farm for so long, the muscles in his arms, chest, back, and abdomen had become significantly stronger and larger, very clearly defined against the rest of his body. His skin was a lot cleaner somehow, even though he lived in a world where the idea of hygiene was... different.

And then there were the scars. They were still very much there; they would never go away, after all. A permanent reminder of the shit he pulled in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. They would always be there, always remind him of what he did. Why he did it. Who he did it to. It would be impossible to forget.

Ryan ran a finger over the scar on his chest, feeling at it like he would find the hole that had once been there. It seemed like if he pushed hard enough, the skin would tear, like a tissue, and he could stick his finger right into his lung. It’s an odd thing, knowing that something that shouldn’t have been in a certain part of your body was. It makes one feel strangely vulnerable, yet at the same time, less vulnerable. If that makes sense.

The boy turned around and looked at the big “USA” carved into the top of his back. Even if it was backwards in the mirror, it was still easy to understand. That was his country, the land where he grew up. The land he had been willing to die for, and now, he knew, still would. It was the land he was loyal to, the principles that he made a part of his life. And somehow, some way, Narendra had used the name of his own country to hurt him.

Ryan turned back around and looked at his face, scrutinized every little detail. The stress of everything that had happened was still there, plastered onto his face like clay. The damage was still evident, he still looked like he could go to sleep and never wake up. To himself, he looked dirty still, covered in the waters of the shit river in Vietnam.

Ryan frowned at himself and moved closer to the mirror. His eyes, his eyes were off, somehow. They weren’t the eyes of the one from New Jersey. They weren’t the eyes of the one from Australia. They weren’t even the eyes of the hate-filled one from the journey. They were somewhere else, somewhere where there was nothing to be had. If only he could find them...

“Ryan!”

Ryan flinched at the sudden calling of his name, jerking his knee up and slamming it into the bottom of the pulled-out drawer. He cursed loudly as he fell to the ground, clutching his knee and rolling about. From his painful position on the floor, he could hear hoofsteps coming from the stairs.

“Yeah?” he asked, sucking in air through his teeth. It was like he hit the funny bone of the knee or something.

When he looked over, his eyes were greeted with the form of Rarity, hoof in mouth and trying to stifle giggles. Ryan rolled over and sat on his rear, still holding his knee, waiting for Rarity to recover enough to speak without being obviously entertained.

“Get yourself ready, we’re heading to Canterlot to put on the Hearth’s Warming Play!”

They had told Ryan about this, and they had also told him that he would have to be up around six thirty to get ready. That wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been for the nightmares keeping him up for most of the night. But that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Yeah, I’m getting ready. Just give me a minute.” Rarity nodded at him and trotted back up the stairs.

Once she was gone, Ryan let out an exaggerated sigh. He had been hoping to get something done today, but he wasn’t quite able to get out of this. The girls insisted that he go, see their performance and enjoy the festivities. Only to avoid offense did Ryan agree to go, especially considering that two were his current employers and one had employed him, and hopefully would employ him in the future, at her farm.

Ryan later found out that Cinny and Mac were going; they had gotten some kind of special invitations from an anonymous harmonious pony (It wasn’t hard to guess). At least Ryan would be able to sit next to some familiar ponies.

Ryan threw on his clothes and prepared himself. As always, he threw on his vest, carrying his knife, guns, and ammo. He didn’t even really know why he was bringing the Automag; a blunt weapon, he reasoned. He slipped on his necklace and wrapped his scarf around his neck, following it by throwing his jacket on and grabbing a bag of bits. Once all that was done, Ryan climbed the stairs out of the basement and went to meet Rarity in the shop. She was standing in the middle of the room wearing a pointlessly elegant winter outfit.

“Ready to go?” she asked.

“Yep." Ryan replied, heading to the door. “Let’s head out.”

They exited the shop and Rarity locked the door behind her, though Ryan couldn’t help but wonder what Sweetie Belle would do if she had to get back inside later. Nothing to worry about, though, since Rarity would have thought all this through. She had been pretty good about that, and it was especially evident in her inviting of Mac and Cinny.

They walked along their merry way to the train station, snow all over the place and falling lightly, not a sound to be heard from anywhere. Most people aren’t up and out so early in the morning, especially when it’s so cold out. It’s a sobering thing, really. To be out when there is no one else out, to see what the world was like before the hustle and bustle of modern living. And you can do it on any morning during the winter, too.

They arrived at the train station in no time, a place that Ryan was finding himself going to more than he had expected when he first agreed to live among the ponies. Of course, he hadn’t really been expecting to be revived in a world of talking, pastel-colored ponies, either.

“Ryan!”

The human had been looking toward the ground while they walked, thinking about important things about himself. The shout from a mare up on the platform completely derailed his train of thought, forcing him to look up and see who had called him. Before he could register who it was, Cinny ran up to him and leapt at him, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders in a big hug.

“Hey Cinny.” Ryan responded, returning the hug weaker than he thought he should. Rarity smiled at the pair as Cinny slid off of Ryan.

“It feels like it’s been forever since we got to hang out!”

They had been hanging out a bit more, especially since the fourth. It had often been more of an excuse to get away from group events, but Ryan actually found that it wasn’t that bad. Cinny was pretty smart, though she wouldn’t be college educated in this world. She was exceptionally respectful about the more touchy subjects of Ryan’s life, clearly going out of her way to avoid bringing them up. Overall, she was really nice.

“Yeah.” They had only hung out a few days before. “Times flies.”

Cinny turned around and stood next to Ryan to walk to the platform with him, Rarity off to the side. On the platform, the other Elements of Harmony were waiting, plus Spike and Big Macintosh. As Ryan approached, Big Mac greeted him with their usual silent nod, which Ryan returned in kind. Spike ran up to him and greeted him as a “bro”, putting out his fist for a bump, which Ryan could not leave hanging in good conscious. The girls all just said hi.

“So when does the train come?” Spike asked with a yawn.

Twilight looked over at a clock on the station house. “It should be here in about ten minutes. Look,” she said, pointing out in the distance. “I can see the light from the train already.”

Sure enough, the train was coming, though not blaring its horn in the quiet morning. As it rolled up, the frozen tracks screamed against the weight of the locomotive, sending a new chill down everyone’s spines. When it finally stopped, everyone pulled together what little was coming with them and boarded the train for Canterlot.

They were just about the only passengers on the train this morning, so once they were all on, the train got to moving again. As soon as it went off, the girls all started discussing what they were going to do for the Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant. They didn’t want to spoil it for Ryan, though, who had never seen it, so they moved to another car to have their discussion.

That left Ryan alone with Mac, Cinny, and Spike, whose role was minor enough that he wasn’t needed for other details. Spike, being a baby dragon, was already extremely tired from getting up so early and fell right back to sleep. Cinny positively gushed about how adorable he was while sleeping, while Mac and Ryan just sort of watched her watching him.

“So what kind of holiday is Hearth’s Warming Day?” Ryan asked Mac, who was sitting quietly next to him.

“It’s a holiday where ya give gifts to ponies.” he replied simply. “Do y’all not have it where you’re from?”

Ryan shook his head. “No, we have it. We just call it Christmas. Same idea.”

Cinny was done watching Spike sleep. “So what do you usually do for ‘Christmas’?” she asked. “What happens?”

Ryan shrugged. “Well, not everyone celebrates it. It’s a religious holiday, though it has a huge presence in business and industry in my country.” He wasn’t too sure about other countries. “For those who celebrate it, in my experience, it has given them a conscious that they otherwise don’t seem to have and generally people seem nicer to each other.”

“Sound a lot like here.” Cinny replied, taking a seat next to Ryan. “Here, Hearth’s Warming Day brings us all together and everyone is merry and loving! Even the gryphons, who don’t generally celebrate it, since it’s really a pony holiday, take part in the festivities.”

“What does ‘even the gryphons’ mean?” Ryan asked, curious.

Mac jumped in. “Relations aren’t great with them. The Southern Gryphon Colonies were at war with us not that long ago, and now, they’re still troublesome for us.” Mac shrugged. “Those that are here, though; even the ones from down there; will forego our differences and celebrate with us.”

Ryan remembered reading about the Southern Gryphon Colonies in the papers. If he remembered correctly, that was also where that soldier, Blazer, was being held. That was something to think about another time.

“That sounds a LOT like Christmas.” Ryan said. “I remember when we learned about World War One in history, my teacher told us how, in the first year, the two sides actually stopped fighting and exchanged gifts, much the the brass’ chagrin. It didn’t happen again, not ever again, but the holiday had enough power to stop the fighting of one of the largest wars in history for a day and get everyone to give gifts, even to their enemies. This one, sort of shared holiday of ours seems to have a great bit of power.”

Cinny whistled. “Wow. Maybe it’s not a coincidence?”

“We can only wish.”

The rest of the train ride was spent talking about various holidays in the Ryan’s world, mostly, with a few from the ponies’. Ryan had to explain the religious significance of several holidays, like Easter, Eid al-Fitr, and Yom Kippur. Some that were made later to celebrate people, like President’s day, Veteran’s day, and several celebrated birthdays, required a little less explanation.

The train ride was short, as always. Ryan watched the landscape as it seemingly flew past, blanketed in snow and almost completely still. It was tranquil, watching the landscape go by, seeing the world as it should be. No battle, no conflict, just peace and quiet. The cave would offer him that...

When they stopped at the Canterlot station and got off, the girls and Spike immediately said their goodbyes and went off to prepare. Ryan hadn’t expected them to ditch him there, but it did explain why Cinny and Mac were invited. At least, until that night, Ryan would be able to stay out of trouble. At least, that’s probably what the girls thought.

“Let’s go into the city!” Cinny shouted. “I haven’t been there since I was a little filly!”

Cinny started leading them through the city, eager to explore and see the sights. It was like seeing a child in New York for the first time; the awe and admiration was extraordinary. Cinny was always pointing at something, talking about something. At least she was enjoying herself.

After a time, they ended up in the market district, surrounded by ornaments and sales and the feeling that it truly was the holiday season. Green and red adorned all the store windows, mannequins were all dressed up, pictures of presents and boxes all over the place. And there was at least two of every kind of store here.

“What should we do?” Cinny asked, still very excited to be in the city.

Mac looked around. “Ah say we go there.” he said, pointing his hoof at a massive store.

The store’s name was Tallmart, something Ryan had to try desperately not to notice. It was huge, at least three stories high and took up an entire block. Their sign read, Lowest Prices in the City! Further adding to the difficulty of ignoring the name was the color scheme; blue and yellow. The store windows were huge, showing all kinds of toys for little kids.

“Sure!” Cinny replied. “Let’s see what’s in there.”

Apparently, Ryan had no say in what was going on, so he just went along with it without complaining. They trotted on over and went through the front doors. Inside, it was total mayhem. Ponies everywhere, trying to find the right things to get for their loved ones. Some were a bit more aggressive than Ryan would have thought okay, but back home, it was no different. So he figured he would just try to survive as he always had.

The trio stuck together as much as possible, though Mac broke off pretty quickly. He needed to find some tools that he would need to keep the barn up during the winter, and a few other important items of a similar nature. Ryan watched him as he walked off, quickly seeing that he was also trying to find good gifts for his sisters and granny. He probably just wanted to keep it a surprise.

That left Ryan and Cinny together to wander the store, looking for anything interesting. Ryan had some money on him, so he could buy something if he saw anything interesting. He still needed to get his friends their Hearth’s Warming gifts, but he was reluctant to get anything from this store. He liked to get his friends personal gifts, the kind of thing one might buy at a market stall in a foreign country. Getting something from a chain store seemed... less attached.

“Ooh!” Cinny shouted, shooting forward toward a shelf. “This is nice!”

Ryan stepped forward, curious, and took a look. They were in a section that specialized in maps, from small and single-country, to very large world maps. The world maps were incredibly odd-looking to Ryan; this world looked nothing like his. The land was all oddly shaped, the seas had pictures of monsters that were probably very real, and the borders between countries were marked differently in different areas. The Southern Gryphon Colonies, in particular, utilized the unusual borders.

“It’s a very fancy map.” Ryan said as he approached. It reminded him of that one in SkyMall, the one that you put pins on to mark various places.

“It sure is.” Cinny said, taking a closer look. “Let’s see...” She was squinting at it with purpose. “I’ve been to Canterlot, Ponyville, and Fillydelphia here in Equestria.” She pointed out the locations on the map.

Ryan nodded to her. “I guess you don’t move around all that much?” he asked.

“No, but I would love to.” Cinny replied. “I would really love to see Saddle Arabia, the Dragon Lands, Roam, and Ponya. I’ve heard so many things about their beauties.” Cinny’s face looked like she had gone off to la-la land.

“I’ve traveled a bit in my day.” Ryan said, acting as if he was older than he was. “Lots of places, mostly south of my home country. But I can proudly say I’ve been in all four hemispheres of my world.”

“Wow.” Cinny replied, her eyes wandering off the map. “That’s pretty great.”

“Yeah. It provides a lot of perspective.”

They left the maps section and went off to find Mac, starting in the tool section. Of course, as Ryan had expected, he wasn’t there, so they started looking elsewhere. They started off by heading to the mare’s clothing section, thinking Mac might be buying a nice outfit for Applejack or Fluttershy, but it was no dice. They moved onto the toy section, but still no Mac. Thinking he might be at the front door, Ryan and Cinny went off in that direction.

It turned out that they were wrong, so they just waited at the front for Mac to show up. After around thirteen minutes of waiting, he finally came by, carrying what looked like a lot in his saddle bags.

“What took you so long?” Ryan asked, directly referencing the bags.

Mac shrugged. “Jus’ had to get some things.”

“Uh huh.” Ryan said, unconvinced. But he could let it go for now.

They walked out the door and back into the cold, but as soon as they were out, they were swarmed by a massive group of shoppers. Apparently, no one wanted to get up fifteen minutes ago to do their shopping, they all had to do it now. The instant the door opened, they started trying to rush inside, nearly toppling over the trio.

Ryan wrapped his right arm around Mac’s neck and grabbed Cinny with his left, pulling them all as close together as possible. Mac was barely able to stand against the wave of shoppers, but it was enough to keep them from being trampled to death. Once the shoppers were inside, and everything was clear, Ryan let go of his friends.

Cinny fell to the ground, hyperventilating from fear. “Th-thanks.” she said, trying her best to calm down.

“No problem.” Ryan replied. He turned to Mac. “Nice work.” Mac just nodded back to him, silently giving his own compliments to Ryan’s quick thinking.

They just remained in their spot for the moment to let Cinny calm down, though Ryan felt uncomfortable at the entrance to the store. When Cinny was prepared to go, she took in a deep breath, stood up, and shook herself off.

“Let’s head to the playhouse.” she said, eager to find a seat inside and just relax for a bit.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Ryan replied, equally as eager to get out of the area.

The group got a move on to the playhouse, trying their best to remain off to the sideline the whole way there. It seemed like everypony was up now, trying to get their shopping done. Some of them were young, others very old, and some who looked so lonely they couldn’t possibly be shopping for anyone. The funny thing was that the old ponies were the most aggressive. The younger ones weren't willing to be aggressive to them, so the older ones would just shove them out of the way to get what they were looking for. It was a sight to behold.

Getting to the playhouse didn’t take that long, though the cold air and distinct hostility that seemed to be inexplicable present in the ponies made it feel longer. Once there, they were only able to get inside because their friends, and in Mac’s case, sister, were running the play. Anyone else who was their to watch was kept waiting outside, and they were not happy about Ryan and his friends getting in first.

Ryan was awestruck by the building inside. The walls were excellently decorated and extraordinarily tall, with marble pillars that would make Athens green with envy. The stained glass windows were beautiful, depicting scenes from all over history; Nightmare Moon, Discord, some guy named Sombra, a mare named Chrysalis, there was all sorts of stuff depicted in them. Even Spike had a part in one of them, which made Ryan chuckle quietly to himself.

With no one else around and nothing to do, the trio decided to take their seats now and take the time to relax, with Cinny to Ryan’s left and Mac to his right. That didn’t last very long, though, as the “investors”, or some such nonsense, were allowed in soon after. All of them snorted at the trio when they spotted them, to which Ryan promptly responded to by flipping the bird at them. None of them got it, but when Ryan mouthed “Fuck you” to them, they got the point pretty solidly.

Then, pretty soon, the general audience was allowed in, and the entire room was jam-packed. Ryan felt like something was off, so he looked at his watch. It read 5:46.

“We didn’t spend that long in the city, did we?” he wondered. He knew that they hadn’t been in the theatre very long.

Everyone in the room was chatting away while they waited for the play to start. Ryan picked up a few random bits of conversation here and there; something about a business venture gone horribly awry, resulting in the loss of big money. Someone was being resentful of their ex-wife, cursing her for doing something in the last holiday season. Another pony was talking about some half-witted plan to get with a princess. If Ryan was lucky, he would read about said failed attempt in the papers.

Not wanting to be left out, Ryan looked to Mac for conversation. Mac, however, was asleep, and in no state to talk. So Ryan turned to Cinny. She was just glancing around, listening to ponies, watching them walk around. She looked like she was spacing out.

“So, Cinny.” Ryan started, hopeful that she would have a topic of conversation.

She turned to him in an instant. “Yes?” she asked, glad to be talking to someone.

Ryan thought fast, trying to come up with something to talk about. “So...” he began. He had to wing it. “You got anypony you plan to spend the holidays with?”

Her eyes positively lit up. “No, actually. I didn’t plan on it. My parents aren’t around this season, though I did get a card. But I don’t have any plans for this year.” She leaned in a little bit, eyes way open. “Why?”

Ryan had just foolishly planted himself firmly in a corner with no way out. He had no plans at all, and if he lied, that would mean he had to make plans immediately. If he told the truth, she might want to spend the holidays together. Ryan wasn’t sure what that might be like, but he wasn’t too keen on finding out. But he had been dumb enough to put himself in this position. So he had to go through with it.

“No reason. I was just wondering. I don't have any plans myself, so I’ve been trying to come up with something.” Cinny’s face exploded into a big smile, a big, toothy smile that made her look childish.

“You should spend Hearth’s Warming Eve with me!” she said, causing Ryan to silently curse himself. “I have room, and I would love the company!”

Ryan opened his mouth to respond in the negative, but halted. She looked really excited about this. She had no one that she was spending the holiday with, so that must mean that she hadn’t that often before. Thinking about it, her life was probably kind of lonely, working at the bar and not seeing many ponies other than the ones that leer at her. And besides, how bad could it be, spending the holidays with somepony? Maybe it would be enjoyable.

Ryan smiled warmly. “Sure, that sounds great.” Cinny squee’d at him and grabbed his arm, hugging it tightly to her chest. “It’s a holiday to spend with the ones we care about, after all.”

With Cinny now latched onto his arm, Ryan turned his attention back to Mac, who seemed to be waking from his little nap. Ryan gave him a moment, then used his remaining arm to flick Mac on the nose. Mac flustered about in his seat for a moment, then opened his eyes, looking groggy and tired.

“Did Big Mac need a big nap?” Ryan asked jokingly.

Big Mac seemed like he was only half there. “Big Mac needs to hit the big sack.” he replied.

Ryan blinked. “Just gonna softball it in like that?”

“What?” Mac didn’t quite get it, but Cinny was giggling away next to the human.

Suddenly, all conversation ceased around them, save for a few hushed and excited whispers here and there. Ryan took it as the cue that it was time for the play to start, so he removed Cinny from his arm, much to her dismay, and started to watch. Before long, the lights in the room dimmed, and the play began.

Truth be told, most of what was happening wasn’t all that new to Ryan; he had read it in those books back when he first got here in the library in the old castle in the forest. There were the three tribes, and they were having some kind of fight over land or something ridiculous. Then, a winter storm blew in and made the land uninhabitable. They were about to duke it out when ultimately, they decided to split ways and find a new place to call home.

“Why can’t people back home be like that?” Ryan thought. It would make life so much easier.

They left each other and traveled, but somehow, they took different directions to the same place. Initially, they were about to fight it out again, but then, they were hit by a winter storm again, and they took refuge in a cave.

“Kind of like me.” Ryan thought. Hateful persons or ponies, living in a cave? Yeah, like him.

Then the rest was pretty much easy, the leaders were frozen for being assholes, while the helpers were being nice to each other and enjoying their dying moments together. However, they ended up being saved by the Magic of Friendship. Ordinarily, Ryan would have called bull, but, as per the norm, this world didn’t have unbreakable laws of physics, and it did have magic. So Ryan let it go.

Soon after, the play ended, though only after a merry holiday carol. When the curtains closed, actually knocking into Spike and sending him flying backwards behind them, the crowd got up, cheered and clapped their hooves, and the chatter resumed.

Ryan, Cinny, and Mac weren’t feeling like waiting, so they decided to make their way to the stage to congratulate their friends on a job well done. It wasn’t easy; the ponies in the way weren’t very happy about moving out of the way. Mac had the lead initially, but when he was proving too soft, Ryan took the lead with a caustic voice and a vocabulary of anger. Gotta love the holidays.

They made it to the stage with little incident, and simply climbed up and went in under the curtain. As they poked their heads through, they were greeted with the sight of ponies busily putting away props and actors getting out of costume. Over by the mirrors sat the girls and Spike, winding down after a well-done performance.

“Hey!” Cinny shouted to them.

They all looked in their direction and smiled. “Hey!” they all said, coming over. Ryan, Cinny, and Mac walked on over, Mac heading over to talk to Fluttershy.

“Darlings, it’s so good to see you!” Rarity said, giving Cinny a big hug. When did they become the best of friends? “How did you like the show?”

“It was amazing!” Cinny complemented.

“I certainly liked it.” Ryan affirmed. “You all did a great job.”

The girls and Spike started chatting away with Cinny and sort of at Ryan, though Ryan wasn’t paying that much attention. He was watching Mac, who stood with Fluttershy off to the side. She was shaking a little bit, but she had a silly grin on her face with Mac’s foreleg wrapped around her in a hug. They were talking quietly to each other, as anyone who knew them would suspect. Ryan could see that they were trying to have a private moment, so he removed his gaze from them and paid more attention to the girls before him.

But his mind remained on Mac and Fluttershy. They had something really nice, over there. They clearly loved each other very much, and they were both so gentle, yet strong in their respective ways. They just wanted to live their lives together, and not have to worry about the rest of the world. Ryan had once been like that, but he never had anyone he loved that way.

It was something beautiful, to see two beings who loved each other. To see two beings who wanted to stay together forever, who would stop at nothing to help each other and keep each other safe. Two beings who would never leave each other’s sides. Who represented everything that was right with the world.

In a few ways, it made Ryan think of Harris. His best friend, the guy he had counted on during the hardest part of his life. He never let Ryan down, but Ryan let him down. Mac was like him. Dependable. Headstrong. Capable when necessary. It was almost like Mac was the pony version of him.

WIthout realizing it, Ryan’s hand went to the Automag, which had no ammo, and simply rested on it on his hip. He wasn’t gripping it, though, just had his hand on it. It wasn’t his weapon, really. Harris would never have wanted it, not after seeing what such weapons did, but this weapon was his. It had never done anything wrong. It never killed an innocent person or pony. It distracted Narendra. It shot the Wraith. It was an ironic symbol of the power of good in the world.

“So, Ryan.”

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden intrusion. “Yes?” he asked. When he looked for the source, it turned out to be Applejack.

“Cinny says that y’all got a similar holiday back home.” Ryan nodded. “So, tell us about it!”

Ryan smiled. “Sure, but on the way to the train station. We don’t want to miss our ride home.” It was about time anyway.

Ryan rehashed everything he had said earlier, plus explaining the well-known and lesser-known facts about Christmas back home. The ponies were all fascinated by it, especially Twilight, who loved its historical significance. Mac and Fluttershy were still just quietly sticking together, with Fluttershy leaning into him while they walked, and Cinny was talking to Rarity about something. It was a pleasant walk for Ryan.

The train was already in the station when they got there, so they just boarded and waited to leave. Ryan took a seat toward the front of the car, pretty much away from the others, and thought he’d just look out the window into the dark night, looking for the festive lights of near and far towns and cities. He saw a whole lot out there, actually; Fillydelphia, he guessed, was positively illuminating the night sky. Luna was probably having a fit, what with all the ground light blocking out her night sky.

“Seat taken?”

Ryan tore his eyes away from the sight and saw Mac, standing before him, with a sleeping yellow pegasus on his back.

He chuckled. “Not at all, my friend.”

mac sat down and set Fluttershy on the bench next to him, leaning her on his side to keep her from waking up. She must have tuckered herself out, making herself get up in front of all those ponies in that room and performing. She had done a good job, and deserved a nice rest.

Mac looked out the window at the world as it passed by. “Ya know, Ah love the lights this time o’ the year. Makes everything feel... happier.”

“Yeah...” Ryan agreed. “Makes the world seem like a better place.”

Mac laughed a bit. “Yeah. Ah don’t care much for what happens to the rest of the world, though, jus’ what happens here.”

“Amen to that.” Ryan said.

They sat in silence for a time. Fluttershy had this adorable way of snoring, and the way Mac looked at her, it made it clear that he knew that snore already. As Ryan took in the sight, he still reminded him of Harris. Here he was, the symbol of strength and good, just sitting here, minding his own business. Like Harris would have wanted.

Ryan put his hand on his Automag and looked at it thoughtfully. Mac noticed him and just stared at him, knowing what he was touching, but not understanding the look on his face or why he even had it at all. What was so special about it? Ryan hadn’t shot anyone with it, save for a few timberwolves, but he still treated it like it was his close friend.Though it was the weapon of his old friend harris.

Ryan pulled the gun out slowly and laid it on the table, inspecting it It was shiny, at least on the metal parts. The wooden parts were in good shape, though they showed some wear from the lack of maintenance. The gun had fired recently, though, so it was clearly usable. If not for the lack of ammo.

Ryan looked down at it, then at Mac, then back down.

“Mac...”

Wordlessly, he pushed the gun forward and left it on front of Mac. The stallion blinked, surprised, and looked at Ryan, who was looking right into his eyes. He was about to ask Ryan what this was, but with that shared gaze, he knew exactly what this was. He held the gaze for a bit, trying to see why Ryan wanted to give him this, but Ryan’s eyes said it all without anything to hide. Silently, Mac brought the gun to the side of the table with his hoof and moved his saddle bag to drop it inside.

Once the firearm was safely inside, he returned his gaze to Ryan, who was still staring at him. Then, slowly, the human brought his arm up onto the table and rested his elbow on it, palm out and fingers extended, and waited. Mac brought his foreleg up and put his hoof into the human’s hand, which then grabbed the hoof and gripped it firmly. Their eyes still engaged, they held that stance for a bit, with no words needing saying or movements necessary.

Mac said nothing to Ryan. Ryan said nothing to Mac. But they both knew what that gun was.

They disconnected and sat back in their seats silently, their pact set, eyes now shut, and let their minds wander to the future.