Ten days after the craziness brought by the reporters, on the twenty-seventh of January, a Wednesday, Ryan walked along his way to work at the library. He had spent some extra time in the basement today, seeing as he had nothing to do befor the library opened. The previous week, he had broken in because it was cold and the door was locked. Twilight got mad at him, so Ryan wasn’t too intent on doing it again, at least not if he didn’t have some kind of joke to play.

At the moment, he was leaving the boutique, bundled up for the cold and saying goodbye to Rarity and Sweetie Belle. As he shut the door, he eyed his watch. It was about half past eight, much later than he would like to have left. But the cold didn’t permit, so he was stuck waiting in the basement, checking his gear and everything to make sure it worked properly. It was boring work, leading to him having to play with Sweetie Belle to keep her off of Rarity’s work.

So he was off, feet crunching the snow underneath and hands in his pockets. Rarity had offered him a scarf, but he simply took the one he already had. As usual, he had all his weapons on him, which was actually only his M1911 and KaBar knife. He wore his pendant around his neck, his watch on his wrist, the jacket under a coat Rarity provided, and his armor vest. It may have been heavier than regular clothes, but it was certainly warm.

The town wasn’t as quiet as when he typically left early in the morning, but that didn’t mean that a lot was happening. Rather, there were just a few ponies out, doing various chores, shoveling, heading to the train station to go to work. Some were kids, celebrating what was apparently a snow day.

“I swear, it’s like these kids never go to school,” Ryan said to himself.

“I wouldn’t say that!”

Ryan jumped with a yelp at the unexpected statement just behind him. Startled, he spun around to see Pinkie Pie sitting there, an innocent smile on her face and crumbs all over her mouth.

“Pinkie,” Ryan said, catching his breath. “What brings you out so early?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Well, my Pinkie Sense went off this morning and I figured that it meant that there meant that there was gonna be a doozy today but I couldn’t figure out what the doozy would be so I decided to leave work to see if I could find out what the doozy would be and then I saw you and I thought, ‘Half of what Ryan does is a doozy!’, so I decided to follow you after you left the Rarity’s and now here I am!”

Ryan let his eyes fall closed and chuckled, a little smile crossing his lips. “Well, I can’t say I expected to be followed this morning on my way to work, but okay. Feel free to tag along.”

Ryan waite for a response, but instead, Pinkie just stood up on her hind legs and put her forelegs out. With another set of chuckles, Ryan picked her up, eliciting giggles from the pink mare, and carried her to the library.

On the way there, he was forced to put her over his shoulder. She was a lot heavier than she looked, although Ryan would never say it. Maybe it was all the sweets? Working and living in a bakery can do that, especially when you’re as crazy as Pinkie. While he carried her over his shoulder, he was getting odd looks from the other townsfolk, but most of them ended up just shrugging and muttering, “Pinkie being Pinkie.”

From his shoulder, Pinkie was glancing about, not a care in the world in her eyes. She liked being carried around; it was fun. It made her feel like a royal, able to tell Ryan where to go and what to do. She would never do that of course, but hey. And it made her feel like she was being carried away by a brave knight to be loved and held forever.

“Every mare has a right to her fantasies,” Pinkie thought at unknown viewers.

Pinkie looked down at the back of Ryan’s jacket. It was a cool symbol, the golden eagle with an anchor, weird thing, and a trident. But it didn’t help to remind Pinkie of what was underneath the clothes Ryan wore. His scars really were something to behold, a humbling experience for anyone who thought they had encountered an evil being. Ryan knew evil, and he suffered at its hand in the most awful of ways. Pinkie’s mood dropped a little at the memory.

“What’s up, Pinks?” Ryan asked, surprising but not taking Pinkie off guard. “You’re not bouncing up and down.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said, trying to play it off. She couldn’t though. “I was just thinking about the scars on your back...”

“Oh.” Ryan didn’t like that. It made his friend sad. “Don’t worry about that; that’s all over. And you’re life is great, you don’t need to worry about anything like that.”

“Yeah, but... I mean...” Her mood was dropping fast. “We think that Nightmare Moon was evil. We think Discord is evil, that Sombra and Chrysalis were evil. They were nothing next to that guy you talked about, uhh...”

“Narendra?” Ryan said, a foul taste in his mouth.

“Yeah,” Pinkie replied. “It makes me sad to think that you’re world has to deal with guys like that, but ours doesn’t. You didn’t do anything to deserve any of that, after all.”

Ryan slowed down; he could see the library. But this wasn’t a library conversation.

“No, I suppose we didn’t,” Ryan conceded. “But then, why would they be there? They’re humans, just like us.” Ryan shrugged. “Sometimes, the world is just testing us to see if we can do the right thing. It’s up to those who pass to stop those who fail, I guess.”

“Ponies don’t have to prove themselves, I guess,” Pinkie replied sadly.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Ryan responded. “Plenty of times, ponies do. Just not in a violent setting. The neverending battle between right and wrong isn’t as strong here, but there are still plenty of tests. Helping the needy, sticking by your friends when they need you... just because there isn’t some terrible price doesn’t mean that a lesson isn’t had or a point isn’t made.”

Pinkie lightened up just a tad. “I guess...” she said. “But why did you have to go through so much pain?”

“Beats me,” Ryan said without thinking. “But I’m here now, so that makes up for it.”

Pinkie’s usual bounciness suddenly resumed with a jump start, and she spun around on his shoulder to hug his face.

“You are here!” she shouted, blocking Ryan’s field of vision. “And we like that!”

Ryan laughed under her forelegs. “Thanks,” he said, putting his hand on her leg to pat it. “It’s good to be here.” Pinkie seemed to have brightened up quite a bit, so Ryan le the conversation end there.

He made it to the library door and knocked three times. Looking at his watch, he realized that he was late, what with Pinkie showing up and all. But that was alright; he kind of enjoyed it.

The door opened to reveal a tired-looking Spike releasing a yawn. “Yo?” he said. He picked that up from Ryan.

“Yo,” Ryan replied from behind Pinkies foreleg. “Can I come in?”

Spike looked up. “Oh, sure. Come on in.” Ryan walked in, ducking to avoid hitting Pinkie’s head on the door frame. As he took his time getting his coat off, Spike walked over to the kitchen.

There was arguing somewhere in the room, but seeing as Ryan was unable to see, he simply ignored it for the time being and felt around for a chair. He thought that he remembered where there was a chair, so he headed in that direction, hands out in front of him like a snowplow. He found something that felt soft and cozy to sit on, so he hopped up and plopped himself down.

“Ah!”

The chair yelped and collapsed, bringing Ryan and Pinkie down with it. Pinkie hopped off of Ryan’s head at the last second, landing on her hooves, while Ryan went down to the ground. When he hit, he heard a groan from underneath him, and when he looked, he saw it was Rainbow Dash.

“Oh hi,” Ryan greeted, rolling off.

“Yeah, hi,” Rainbow replied grumpily.

Ryan turned to Pinkie. “Why didn’t you tell me that I was about to sit on Rainbow Dash?” he asked.

Pinkie snorted. “Well, I thought it would be a fun surprise, landing on Dashie’s soft back! She makes a great chair.”

Ryan turned to Dash. “You alright?” he asked.

“I’m good,” she replied.

He stood up and offered his hand to help Dash get up, which she accepted with minimal grace. Wondering why she was here, Ryan took a look around. Immediately, eh spotted Applejack, searching intently through the book shelves. They were in a section about ancient rituals and trials, probably trying to find a contest to prove who’s the better pony at whatever nonsensical activity they would choose.

“Looking for something?” Ryan asked Applejack. She grunted in response. “Well, keep at it, I’m sure you’ll find it.”

“Hey, don’t you work here?” Rainbow asked. Ryan nodded. “Well, why don’t you help us find what we’re looking for?”

Ryan sighed. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

Applejack turned around. “We’re lookin’ for a book that has challenges for us to compete in,” she explained. “Ah need to show her that Ah can best her any challenge of her choosin’.”

Ryan looked at the shelves. “Well, you’re in the right section. Unless you’re looking for something specific, I can’t really help you further.”

“Why don’t ya help us search?” Applejack suggested. “It’ll make everything go a lot faster.”

Ryan rolled his eyes and moved over to the shelves. At the moment, Applejack was looking through books on ancient trials and customs that were used once upon a time to prove adulthood. Ryan moved over to the more modern sections that read about current challenges and physical contests, but found little that the two competitive ponies would be interested in. Instead of staying there, he thought it would be better to check the physical fitness section.

He walked over to that section, and as he did, he looked for any sections about gryphons and geography that he could find. He had already done a good bit of reading on gryphons, but the actual layout of their lands was still a mystery to him. The geographical information about resources and the lay of the land would help to explain some of their culture, and help him to understand how they fight.

The walk was short, though, so he didn’t see where the books he would be looking for were. Diverting his attention back to his current task, he searched through the sectio until he found a good-looking book for the ponies; The Most Painful Workouts Ever Designed. He pulled it from the shelf and carried it over to the athlete and farmer.

As he walked back, he noticed that Rainbow and Applejack were nose-to-nose, looking aggressively into each other’s eyes with huge grins on their faces. Pinkie watched on with her typical bounciness, making everything fun in her own way. The ponies didn’t notice Ryan as he dropped the book in front of them.

“There,” Ryan said, failing to draw their attention from each other. “Try those, they’ll ravage your body once you’re done ravaging each other.”

He turned around and walked about, looking for his book, and didn’t notice the screeching halt that was the expressions of the two ponies.

“What the hay does that mean?” Applejack asked.

ryan turned around and saw that the faces of both ponies were totally red. “What?” he asked innocently.

“What do you mean, ‘Ravaging each other’?” Rainbow repeated.

“Oh that!” Ryan replied, as if he just remembered. “Well, the way you two were staring into each other’s eyes, you looked about ready to take it upstairs.” Both their faces turned a bright shade of red, and Pinkie started laughing her head off behind.

“We are not!” Applejack shouted. “We were just pushin’ on each other!”

“I’m sure that you would love to push on each other some more,” Ryan replied. “But please, keep it upstairs. I’m sure Twilight will get it.”

“Get what?”

Ryan looked over to the stairs to see Twilight coming down with several books levitating next to her. Rainbow and Applejack’s faces were still red, drawing a temporarily confused face from the librarian. When she saw Ryan acting like nothing had happened, though, she knew.

“They want to have a romp in your room, since I won’t allow it down here,” Ryan explained.

“No!” Rainbow shouted. “We were just trash-talking!”

“Talking dirty is more like it,” Ryan countered, drawing glares from the two mares before him. “Their faces were so pressed into each other, I thought they would break down and snog right there.” Ryan pointed a where they were standing with his thumb.

Twilight looked neutrally at her two friends, then at Ryan, then back at them. “Girls,” she said, coming off the stairs and stepping towards them. “This is what I have to deal with all the time. You have my permission to attack.”

Ryan did a double-take at Twilight, then looked to Applejack and Dash. They looked to each other, smiled, then looked back at Ryan.

“Oh, no.”

They launched themselves at the human, before he could get away, and each took control of part of him. Applejack grabbed his legs, while Rainbow flew up with her forelegs under Ryan’s armpits, holding him up. The sound of Pinkie’s uncontrollable laughter only got stronger with each passing second.

“I didn’t consent to this!” Ryan said.

Twilight walked up to him. “You don’t have to,” she said, an evil look in her eyes. “Pinkie?”

Pinkie reigned in some of her laughter. “Yeah, Twi?”

“Do you still have that can of whipped frosting?” Ryan’s pupils shrunk and his eyes widened at the phrase.

Pinkie pulled it out of seemingly nowhere. “Yep! You never know when you’ll have a frosting emergency!” What?

Twilight levitated it over with her magic and pointed it at Ryan. “You see, Ryan, this is what happens when you play these games with magic users.”

Ryan watched as she uncapped the can and shook it. He swallowed hard, hoping for the best. The best was not to come.

“No no no no no!”

Twilight yanked the front of Ryan’s pants and pointed the can in, letting the frosting loose. Ryan yelped and squirmed as it went in, the cold, unforgiving content slowly filling his pants. He tried to fight it, but it was in vain, the can was in place. All the mares laughed maniacally at him as they put him through the torture.

Applejack and Rainbow released him when the can was empty, leaving him standing in a wide stance with frosting coming out the bottom of his pant legs. His face was contorted with the cold, weird feeling of frosting everywhere, getting more laughs out of the mares.When he took a step forward, the frosting squeezed out of his pants, getting all over the floor. Twilight was too busy busting her gut on the floor to notice.

They had gotten him, to be sure. But that didn’t mean that he last laugh was theirs.

“Now who’s gonna lick it all out?” Ryan asked.

The three mares involved in the act all went totally silent, turning completely red, while Pinkie started crying from laughter behind them. Ryan moved towards Twilight, moving with slow, deliberate steps, then changed his direction toward Applejack and Rainbow. Before he could make it, though, the frosting came out in a force and coated the floor. Ryan didn’t notice, though, and slipped on it.

He landed with a loud squish on the frosting and slid toward the two mares. Rainbow managed to fly up out of the way, but Applejack was too stunned to move. Ryan bowled right into her, sending her to the floor next to him, covering her in frosting.

Rainbow started laughing again, as did Twilight. Applejack tried to get up, but the frosting was too slippery. Ryan didn’t even bother trying to get up, just watched Applejack try in vain. Rainbow was directly above them, barely able to keep herself in the air.

“What’choo laughing at?” Ryan asked.

Before Rainbow could react, Ryan reached up with his long arm and grabbed her tail, dragging her down the the ground. He shoved her to the floor and rolled her around, covering her with as much frosting as possible. Ryan as too busy watching Rainbow to see it, but he could hear Applejack laughing next to him. When he finished with Rainbow, he sat up.

Rainbow lay on her side. “Alright, alright!” she said, trying to control herself. “You got me.”

“I’d say that worked nicely,” Ryan replied. “Now, both of you can-”

“Don’t even,” Applejack warned. “Ah may be coated in frosting, but Ah can still wrestle you down.”

“Well, I was going to say you can have a water fight to clean off,” Ryan lied. “But I suppose that if wrestling is the first thing that comes to mind, you could go at it with Rainbow. Or,” Ryan slowly shifted his gaze. “The two remaining mares.”

Twilight’s face took on a panicked look as Ryan carried the two mares up as he stood, while Pinkie put on a face of determination. Without waiting or a cue, the three frostig-coated warriors lunged at the two mares, Applejack and Rainbow going after Twilight, and Ryan going after Pinkie.

Twilight tried to teleport away, but Equestria’s fastest flier was already on her, holding her down. Applejack came up next and took her hind legs, and they carried her off to the spot on the floor where her fate was sealed. The dropped her down and rolled her about, the lavender unicorn barely even fighting against it as her face went from terror to amusement and laughter.

Ryan, meanwhile, had to get Pinkie. He was trying to get his hands on her, but every time he thought he had her, she would slip right out of his grasp, like she was made of the frosting. It was a confusing problem that Ryan had no solution to. At first.

“You can’t get me!” Pinkie said, making a face.

Ryan looked at her with intense determination. “We’ll see about that.”

He reached down and grabbed some of the remaining frosting from the bottom of his pant legs and took as much as he could. From there, he launched it upward toward Pinkies face, earning a gasp of surprise from the party mare. To avoid being covered, she opened her mouth wider than it had any right to be and swallowed the frosting.

But while she did that, Ryan moved in right behind it and went for a bear hug. He succeeded, taking Pinkie by surprise, and took her to the floor. Once there, he took more frosting form his leg and foot and tossed it onto her, then rolling her about as he did the others.

The whole endeavor proved to be pretty exhausting, so when Ryan felt that he had won, he rolled away and sat up, leaning on his knees. He looked over at the other three, giggling and talking over where they were. From behind him, Pinkie jumped up and leaned on top of his head.

“That was fun,” she said, still stricken with the giggles.

“It sure was,” Ryan replied, reaching up and scratching Pinkie behind her ear. He leaned forward to get her on his back and crawled over to the group to join them.

Ryan sat himself down with the others and shrugged Pinkie off. She moved over and sat down next to him, licking the frosting off of herself with glee. The others were all working on taking the frosting off of themselves, save for Twilight. She was just kind of sitting there, looking amused.

“Care to help, Twilight?” Ryan asked.

She smiled. “Certainly.” With a flash from her horn, all the frosting was gone.

“Thank you,” Ryan said, giving a little bow of his head. He stood up and stretched his back, getting several satisfying pops form it. “That was fun.”

Pinkie was lamenting the lack of frosting on her, leaving the others to respond. “Yeah it was!” Rainbow said. The others simply agreed with her and they started talking about whatever it was they talked about.

Ryan moved away from them and looked for an atlas, the most detailed he could find. He had to go to the maps section to find it, and that was easily one of the most annoying-to-navigate sections. There were literally hundreds of maps, ancient and modern, old and revised. It could take some time, unless they were organized by date.

Which they were, thankfully. Ryan walked straight over to the modern section and started his search. He saw maps of the everfree forest, though he had no need for those any more. There were loads of maps of the towns, cities, and municipalities of Equestria, though those were equally useless. Soo enough, Ryan came across the foreign maps section, a scarcely populated part of the library. Most of those maps probably weren’t useful to the residents of small-town Ponyville anyway.

Ryan found what he was looking for; an atlas of the Southern Gryphon Colonies. It was small, which made sense, given that it was one region, though it definitely had enough pages for plenty of information to be had. Ryan pulled it from its place on the shelf and walked it over to a reading chair, where he sat himself down quietly and opened it up.

The first page was introductions. No one ever reads the introductions. he skipped it and went on, finding a map of the region as a whole. The entire thing was mountains, not a plain in the entire area. According to the atlas, the average depth of the valleys was at least one mile. To make matters worse, the average incline of the mountainsides was fifty degrees.

“Wow,” Ryan said to himself. Fall down there, and if you can’t fly, you’re basically guaranteed to die.

He read on, looking for specified regions. Knowing that the general landscape was hostile to him was fine and all, but he wanted specific information that he could use for something other than caution. The first bit of that he found was in the northernmost region, known as The Wetlands. The region was known for its near-constant rainfall, as well as the systems of caves that made up most of the settlements. There were entire cities in those caves, some of which had easy access to power for lights and whatnot.

Ryan moved onto the easternmost region, known as the Goldtop Mountains. The name gave it away; there were all kinds of riches there, and that was where most of the wealth in the region was. They had exceptional warriors, as they had to; no one wants to think its easy to be stolen from when they have loads of money. They more or less let the other regions rot, though, not getting involved in any conflicts or helping to broker any peace.

The southern region was pretty straightforward, as was the eastern region. They both had mostly tribal societies, fighting over water and hunting grounds. They had the steepest slopes and several volcanoes, making them the most volatile regions in the atlas. The tribes in those areas rarely ever ventured out, though, instead opting to fight each other.

That left the central region, the heart of the colonies. This place was an outlier to be sure. It had mountains that ranged from two thousand feet to three miles high, and the valley floors were flat and easy to navigate in for ponies. Other civilized regions typically had roads and bridges for the gaps between the mountains, but this one had none. It was known for its dangerous roads, made dangerous by the locals and other groups. This was where most of the fighting in the war several years ago had occurred. It was nicknamed the “High-dive of Death”.

Ryan was about to continue reading on when a tuft of pink hair obscured his view of the page. He waited for it to go away, but when it didn’t, he simply sighed and looked up. Pinkie’s face was over the book, her eyes staring down at the pages, actually bulging out of her head like spear points.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

“Reading.” Pretty simply. “What are you doing?”

“I was reading, until this pink mane got in the way. You wouldn’t happen to know whose it is, would you?”

“Nope!” She kept on reading. “Oh, wait, it’s mine! Teehee! Sorry.”

She stepped back to reveal the other mares, all staring at him. “What can I do for you?” Ryan asked, curious as to why they were staring.

“What’re you reading?” Rainbow asked, stepping forward.

“I’m reading an atlas, getting a lay of the land,” Ryan replied, holding the atlas up. “You never know when you’ll need to know the geography of someplace.”

“The Southern Gryphon Colonies? Why would you ever go there?” Rainbow asked as she observed the name of the atlas.

Ryan shrugged. “You never know,” he replied. “I doubt I’ll ever end up there, but I like to know as much as possible. I’ve been reading up on other atlases as well, like Saddle Arabia and Zebrastan.”

Twilight nodded approvingly. “Well, you can never be too well-read,” she said proudly.

Ryan nodded. “Truth.” He was about to get back to reading when there was a clattering from the kitchen.

“Hey, I got snacks if anyone’s hungry!” Spike announced as he walked out.

Everypony walked right over and nabbed some snacks, while Ryan just sighed and set the atlas aside for another day. As the mares all walked away, Ryan approached and grabbed a snack. They were fresh gingerbread cookies, shaped like the Elements of Harmony, himself, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Why would he include those three?

“You took an awfully long time, considering how long you were in the kitchen,” Ryan commented, giving Spike a sly smile. “You enjoying the show?”

Spike grinned right back. “Oh, you better believe it.”

“What’re you two scheming about?” Applejack asked suddenly from off to the sides.

“How to make the next one even better,” Ryan replied, getting a confused look from the mare. She just ignored it and went back to eating and chatting.

Ryan took the cookie of himself and bit down on its feet. “Why did you make some of the CMC?” he asked. “Gonna give’em to them as gifts?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, they’re my friends too, so I thought, why not?”

Ryan nudged his shoulder. “You suuuure it isn’t because of what I told you?”

Spike gagged. “As if! You may be smart, and good with mares and stuff, but you’re definitely wrong about that.”

Ryan chuckled and ruffled Spike’s spines, then walked off to put the atlas away. Once he did, he thought about what to do. He clearly wasn’t going to get more reading done, although he had gotten a lot done today. The mares were whispering about something that they clearly wanted no one else to hear, so they were out. Maybe he could head out?

He walked to the door. “Yo twi, mind if I head out for a bit?”

“I’ll give you an hour and a half for lunch!” Ryan chuckled as he grabbed his coat and exited the library.

He had no idea what he was doing, as usual, so he just wandered. Maybe something would strike him and he would have something to do. Or something would strike him and he would have to go back to Twilight for a broken nose. Either way, he was hoping for something.

He had money in his pocket, so he could just go to a restaurant for lunch. Though there were few enough in town he actually liked, and it would be a pain to trudge through the snow to get to them. Even so, with nothing else, Ryan decided to go for it and find one.

He had only been walking for about ten minutes when he spotted the restaurant he was looking for, some lunch place whose name escaped him. It was a good place, serving pleasant vegetable dishes and proteins that weren’t from meat, so he could eat here and feel good about it. thinking about it, he hadn’t eaten any crap foods since he came here. Equestria was great for his health, apparently.

Ryan needed to know if there were any seats, so he walked over to the window and looked inside. Nopony seemed to notice his face against the freezing glass. He spotted no empty tables, unfortunately, so he would probably have to go inside and wait for a table to open up.

Ryan felt vibrations in the glass. He pulled his face away and looked about, trying to find the source. What he saw surprised him.

Rarity and Fluttershy were at a window-side table, looking at him with smiles. “Ryan!” Rarity said. “Do come inside and join us, it’s far too cold for you to be out there.” Ryan smiled back and waved, happy to accept the invitation.

He trudged through the snow and walked in through the door, bypassing the waiter and heading for the table. Funny thing about that; if you just walk in like you’re supposed to be there, they won’t stop you. Just go in and grab a table, no one stops you. At least, if they don’t see you snag a table.

He walked over to his friends’ table and greeted them. “Hey, girls,” he said. “How’s it hanging?”

“Just fine, darling,” Rarity replied. “Do pull up a cushion and sit for a spell.”

Ryan did as he was told and stole a cushion from another table. “Thanks,” he said. “Twi gave me an hour and a half for lunch, so I decided to come out. She and the others were talking things privately, so I thought not to intrude.”

“How gentlecoltly of you!” Rarity complemented. “Much more so than Mister Macintosh, if I may say so,” Rarity added, looking at Fluttershy.

“Oh, I didn’t have a problem with it,” Fluttershy replied. “He was just curious, was all.”

“Oh, come now, why would he listen to us? He must have some kind of secret if he was so stricken when we saw him.”

“What were you talking about?” Ryan asked.

“Well, we were talking about the gala dress I’m making for her. I’m sure he wanted to know what it would be like, but it has to be a surprise!” Rarity said the last bit with some flare added. “It’s going to be the greatest night of their relationship yet, but it has to be a surprise!”

“Greatest night, huh?” Ryan asked, shifting his gaze to Fluttershy. “Got any ideas for why he was listening?” She shook her head. “Good, I’m sure he wants it to be a surprise too.”

“Do you know something?” Fluttershy asked. It took Ryan off guard.

“In all honesty, not really. I just know that he plans to make it extra special.” When he finished, Ryan took a look at Fluttershy’s face. It was already off in La-la land, her eyes taking on a dreamy look at the thought of her big red stallion.

“So what do you boys talk about when you go out?” Rarity asked while Fluttershy was out of it. “Anything... interesting?”

Ryan laughed. “Yeah, but not like that. We respect each other’s privacy and the privacy of our other friends. Very well. We mostly talk about what goes on in our lives, get advice from each other, drink and have fun. Significant others come up, but not in intimate ways.”

“Oh?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy was just coming back to the real world. “Do you have one?”

“Why? You want the position?” Rarity smiled at his little quip. “No, I don’t. Not a lot of ponies who would want a human, I reckon.”

“Don’t say that, Ryan,” Fluttershy chided. “You never know when love will find you, or from whom, or from where! Have some hope.”

Ryan gave her a look. “Well, I don’t, I guess. But I bet you know when it comes for you, and from where, and from whom.”

Fluttershy’s eyes darted around. “Well, y-yes, I do. But not everypony does, so I’m not a great example.”

“I’d say that Mac loves your example,” Ryan said. Fluttershy blushed. “I’d say that he’d like to make a case study.”

Rarity frowned at Ryan. “Now, Ryan, no need to be prying.”

“Prying?” Ryan said with a scoff. “Library. That’s all I need to say.”

Rarity cocked an eyebrow, then looked to Fluttershy. She was breathing slowly to keep herself under control, face still reddened. At first, Rarity didn’t get it, but when she did, she had to put a hoof over her mouth to keep her gasp in.

“In the library?” she asked in a hushed voice.

“No,” Ryan cut in. “I told them not to. Twilight’s room hardly seemed appropriate.”

“In her room!?” Rarity said, still hushed. “Fluttershy, I never knew you to be so... so... driven!”

Fluttershy managed to calm herself, but not completely. “I never said it, just.. never mind! Can we talk about something else? Please?”

Ryan felt bad now. “Sorry,” he said. He reached forward and ruffled Fluttershy’s mane. “Didn’t mean to distress you.”

“That’s okay,” she said.

“Well, since we don't want to talk about Fluttershy, let’s talk about Ryan.” She looked to him with curious eyes. “What of your life and relationships?”

“Never had one,” Ryan said easily. “Never really considered it.”

“Really?” both mares before him asked.

“Really.”

“I would have thought a gentlecolt such as yourself would be taken at least once.”

Ryan shook his head. “Nope. Most girls back home were either nasty or mean. When I say nasty, I mean NASTY. Like, bad hygiene and such.” The two mars before him looked like they understood. “And for the future... my hopeful career field didn’t give much room for relationships of that nature.”

Fluttershy looked sad at the statement. “So soldiers don’t get married where you're from?” she asked. “That sounds awful.”

“No, no, they get married and have families and girlfriends and stuff.” Ryan explained. “Plenty of soldiers do. Even special operations soldiers, like I was hoping for. But more often than not, those relationships don’t work out. It’s tough on all involved, with one partner being gone for so long and so far away. I never considered a serious, long relationship because of that, so I never really thought about short-term relationships.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah,” Ryan replied. “It’s tough, but that’s what they choose, a lot of the time, at least. For those for whom it works, props to them. If not, well... You can always look again after the military.”

They pretty much ended the conversation there and ordered some food, which came in no time, considering how many patrons there were. They ate, but not in silence, finding several other things to talk about, like the other guys and the other Elements. It was pleasant, the lunch, and it ended too quickly for Ryan. He excused himself with about thirty minutes to get back to the library, and made his way out.

He walked out of the restaurant and went down the street, thinking about what he would do back at the library. If the girls were still there, he would probably end up just doing his job, unless they were still being all secretive. If they were gone, he would most certainly get a chance to get some more reading done.

As Ryan’s feet crunched through the snow, he wondered about some things. Nothing particularly huge or important right now, but still, some things. He thought about Mac and Soarin’ and Fancy, and the girls. They all had significant others, and one was married, with another getting ready for just that. He was alone, probably forever.

Which was just as well. Whom would want to sleep next to a guy who woke up sweaty and terrified half the time? Who rarely got a decent sleep through the night? A guy who did horrible things and had yet to actually do something about his past? The more he thought about it, the more forlorn he felt.

He tried to think about something else, anything else that would make him feel less lonely. Let’s see, his favorite drink of all, though expensive, was Mallorquin, their equivalent of MaCallan scotch. It was expensive, depending on the number of years, but it was certainly the best. He couldn’t afford some of the older stuff, but he could bet he knew what it would taste like. He had yet to test his armor and such, but he wasn’t sure he actually wanted to do that. It would never withstand a bullet, but a blade would probably not get through it. Probably.

It was tough work, but Ryan got his mind to go to other places, some of which were empty and consisted of thinking about food and water. One of them was less empty, thinking about the cave. He would need to head back out there with some bottled waters or something, for when the river freezes over too much or him to get through. Or just bring more firewood. That would suffice, although he did need more wood to build stuff for his home.

Ryan left the wanderings of his mind to find out where he was; he was nowhere near the library. He had taken a wrong turn, and now stood next to the river. The ice was thick and white, blocking off any view of the river underneath. Everything was perfectly still, frozen in time and space, like a painting in a private collection. The branches on the trees were coated in a thin layer of ice, preserving them through the winter. Ryan took in the scene quietly and with great respect to nature.

“Beautiful, huh?”

Ryan didn’t look over. “It sure is,” he replied. “Though there is one thing out of place here.”

“Oh?” the voice replied. Its owner, the Wraith, walked out in front of ryan, facing the frozen river, hands in his pockets. “And what might that be?”

“The presence of a human and his faithful companion,” Ryan replied, like it was obvious. “I would hate for you to ruin the scene by releasing your waste all over the pristine snow.”

The Wraith didn’t turn. “Ah, but my waste consists of your bodily fluids,” he said. Now, he turned around. “I’ve always thought that crimson snow was a sight to behold.”

“Well, just spread your legs and stand up,” Ryan replied with a wave of his hands. “I’m sure your time is near anyway. After all you do like crimson snow.”

“But that would be a waste!” the Wraith said in a mock tone. “I have better ideas for my own bodily excretions.”

“Such as?” Ryan asked, curious as to what the Wraith meant.

“Showing you what I think of you.”

Ryan mocked like he was slapped across the face. “Come now, Wraith, you can do better than that!” he chided. “I expected better of you, though I suppose that I’m not sure why.”

The Wraith chuckled and smiled. “Oh, I think you know exactly why,” he said, moving toward Ryan. “It’s because I am better than you. Always have been, always will be.” He sounded casual, like he was stating a fact in an essay.

“In what ways might those be?” Ryan asked. “In the sense that you have nothing, or that you’re stuck with no one but me for company?” Ryan put his hand to his chest with that last remark.

“Well, I suppose that you have a point,” The Wraith conceded. “No one would want just you for company.”

“And that’s why I’m better than you!” Ryan replied. “I can actually get decent company to spend time with.”

“Yes, I’m sure you do,” the Wraith said. “And that company makes you weak.”

“Oh, more of this?” Ryan asked disappointedly. “I would love to have this chat with you again, but I haven’t the time. My weakening company needs me back at work. It was a nice try, though.” Ryan turned around and started to walk away.

The Wraith just stood there. “You know,” he said. “Company doesn’t have to last.”

Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around to take a look at the Wraith, his eyes taking on a cold, savage look. The Wraith just stood there, looking like he had done nothing at all, watching. Ryan stepped back toward him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

The Wraith shrugged. “Oh, nothing. Just that, you know, life can be so short sometimes. But that’s the way the world works.” The Wraith leaned toward Ryan. “Isn’t it?”

Ryan took a wide stance. “I don’t like threats.”

The Wraith put his hands in the air. “Who’s threatening you?” he asked. “Not m-”

“I don’t know who you’re trying to fool,” Ryan said. “But it sure as Hell ain’t me.” He walked up to the Wraith and poked him in the chest. “You will never threaten them again. You will never go near them. You will keep this between you and me.”

The Wraith smiled. “Or what?” he asked, his expression unchanging.

“Or I will kill you.”

The Wraith chuckled. “Oh, is that supposed to scare me?” he asked.

“No,” Ryan said, stepping back. “Just let you know what’s on the table.”

“Well, if that’s what’s on the table, I’d say I’m about ready for dinner,” the Wraith replied, widening his own stance “Care to dine with me?”

Ryan narrowed his gaze at the Wraith. “Let’s.”

At first, neither moved. They took in the appearance of the other, observed their guards and fighting capabilities. The Wraith knew what Ryan could do, and he could do it all just as well. He just had to put Ryan back down where he belonged, and it would be set.

Ryan was different, though. He had to fight the Wraith, he had no choice; the safety of his friends was riding on this. He needed to win this, and he needed to win it as absolutely as possible. He was going for the kill.

It all happened extremely quickly. Ryan took the initiative and launched himself forward, hands up in front of his face to guard. The Wraith got as low as he could in preparation for the attack. When Ryan reached the Wraith, his target was low and small, minimizing his target range. He threw a left punch at the Wraith, which the being blocked, then followed it with an elbow to the top of the Wraith’s shoulder.

The Wraith was knocked back and spun from the strike, but recovered quickly. Using his spinning momentum, he whipped around and sent a backfist at Ryan’s head. Ryan saw it coming and moved in the same direction as the fist, just getting clipped by it. He responded with a swift back kick to the Wraiths gut, sending him back.

Ryan turned around to keep from exposing his back and found the Wraith already on him, throwing a right hook at him. Ryan moved his hands up to block, but couldn’t get them there enough in time, and felt the fist come across his face like an ice ball. The strike stung like Hell, but Ryan did his best not to notice and countered with a haito strike to the Wraith’s chin.

The Wraith’s head whipped up, and he fell back a few feet, recovering. Ryan wouldn’t give him the chance, though, and advanced on him like lightning to the ground. He started throwing punches, powerful but controlled, at the Wraith’s head, connecting each time. The Wraith was hardly able to withstand the assault.

That was what Ryan thought, at least. He started to run low on energy, and decided it was a good time to stop his onslaught. He stepped back, rubbing his knuckles, and looked at the dazed Wraith before him. But that didn’t last long; the Wraith opened his eyes and grinned.

“My turn.”

He sprinted at Ryan and went on the offensive. Ryan switched to a Hindiandi guard, both hands out and legs locked, and tried to defend himself. The ease of blocks with the Hindiandi guard, simply having to move his body left or right, made it easy to block most of the Wraith’s attacks. Some got in, though, and Ryan found himself being pushed back.

The Wraith was getting in very few body shots, but he was constantly attacking Ryan’s legs at the thigh and calf, practically immobilizing him. After a few moments of that, the Wraith managed to get in a shot at Ryan’s face, hitting him right under the eye. Ryan fell back, to the ground, and rolled backwards in an attempt to get a break.

When he was up, the Wraith was coming at him again, but this time, Ryan was ready. He waited for the Wraith to get just in front of him and, when he was in the right spot, Ryan thrust his left hand out to stifle the Wraiths assault. The Wraith saw it and tried to move around it, going for the inside of the guard.

Ryan then moved his right hand low and moved just under the Wraith’s guard, getting his arm between his legs and standing straight up. The Wraith lost his connection to the ground and went flying back through the air behind Ryan. Ryan watched as the Wraith went down and took a hard landing on the ice at the edge of the river, smashing right through it and being half-submerged in the freezing water.

He stood there, looking at the Wraith as he dragged himself from the icy water. The being looked haggard now, and was breathing heavily down below Ryan, the cold sapping at his strength. Ryan could feel himself losing his ability to move much, but still stood there, watching. When the Wraith was all the way out of the water, he decided to go for one last thing.

He walked down to the Wraith and picked him up by his shirt. “You hear me?” he asked. “You stay away from them.”

The Wraith looked at him and smiled. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” he replied smugly. “I’ve already got you going where I want you.”

The Wraith started laughing a maniacal, evil laugh. Ryan held him there for a moment, listening, wondering what the being could mean. There was something up here, that was for sure. But Ryan couldn’t figure out what Instead of asking, Ryan just walked over to the water and dropped the Wraith back in, the being sinking down lower than the ground should have let him, and stared at the spot until the bubbles disappeared.

When all was calm, he looked at his reflection in the water. “Aw, shit,” he said. He was going to have to make up a fight story to tell Twilight this time, and it was a safe bet that she would be mad.

But that wasn’t much of a problem, not in comparison to this. Ryan simply turned around and walked off, thinking about what he would tell her when he got back to work.