Big Mac just watched as the creature ran away. He couldn’t speak or even think. The girls were right; it was intelligent enough to be capable of speech. The really weird thing to Mac was the tone with which it spoke. It didn’t exactly sound like fear, or anger or aggression. It wasn’t sadness, either, like he needed to be alone. It was more of a calculated statement of his demands, like one would make in a business arrangement. It puzzled Big Mac.

He barely even registered that there were several ponies running his way, yelling, asking if he was alright. It didn’t seem that important, compared to what had just happened. “Mr. Macintosh!” the doctor yelled. Big Mac finally turned around to see what they wanted.

“What?” he said nonchalantly. The doctor stopped right before him to catch his breath.

“Are-*huff*- are you alright?” Big Mac just nodded curtly and turned back to face the forest.

“Ah’m fine.” He stood up and took a step towards the treeline, which was a good twenty-five meters away. “Ah wonder what he thinks he’s doin’.” Surely, the creature must know how dangerous the Everfree forest is, right? Everypony knows that. Could the creature have come from it? Maybe, though it didn’t seem like it did.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to Big Mac and hugged his legs. “When we saw you tackle it, we thought that you had it, but when it knocked you down, we got so scared!” Scootaloo wailed. Sweetie Belle was silent, and Applebloom was doing her best not to cry. After hearing that incredibly loud noise and finding a shattered mirror and window, they had no idea what the creature might have done.

“Ah was scared...” Applebloom muttered into Big Mac’s leg. Sensing her enormous distress, Big Mac took her and the other girls into an embrace in one fell swoop of his long leg.

“Shh.” he said, trying to keep them calm. “Ah’m fine, no need to worry.” Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure about that. The creature had threatened him with some sort of item, telling to “stay away”. That item could have been the noise maker. But then again, something so small couldn’t really make a noise like that, now could it?

The doctor, having recovered from his exertion, came over to the group before him and spoke hurriedly. “We need to find the creature before it potentially caused damage.” he said. “Where did it go, Mr. Macintosh?” Big Mac responded by pointing to the forest.

“Hold on there, doc.” he said, halting the doctor. “It don’t want to hurt us. It told me to ‘stay away’. Maybe it ain’t dangerous? Maybe we should leave it?” Much to Big Mac’s chagrin, the doctor energetically shook his head.

“No. It might be dangerous, and I don’t know if I got to all of its infections.” Oh. Well, that could be a problem. “Plus, it’s a new species. If I don’t try to find it now, Miss Sparkle will likely tear up the forest looking for it.” Thinking about it, Big Mac realized that it would actually be safer for Miss Sparkle if the creature was found before she arrived the next day. She wouldn’t be obliged to enter the Everfree forest. “I’ll send in some of the hospital security to find him.” Like magic, several security officers that Big Mac never knew existed popped up and stood at attention. “Find the creature, and bring him back to finish treatment.” the doctor ordered. His security personnel fanned out and went into the forest.

Big Mac put the fillies on his back. “Well, doc, Ah’m afraid that we’ve got nothing to do here, so I guess we’ll just be leaving.” The doctor nodded, not really paying attention.

“Alright. I’ll notify you if anything happens or develops.” With that, Big Mac left, carrying three very disappointed fillies on his back.

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

Discord found himself laughing hard, and even he didn’t really know why. Meh, he didn’t need to make sense
.

The boy had just blasted out the hospital window and ran off, only to be chased by Big Mac, like a puppy chasing a rodent. Only that rodent was more like a tiger. Little dog syndrome, perhaps? Ah, well. Seeing Ryan tackle that behemoth of a pony to the ground like it was nothing made his day. Size really doesn’t always matter, does it?

Discord had told Ryan that he had a garden to attend, but he had lied. Plain and simple. Why on Equestria, thankfully he was back there, would Discord one; go back to being a statue, and two; give up a chance to see this story all the way through? Discord still felt guilty about what he had done before, but now that Ryan was in a much safer place, he could actually enjoy what he witnessed, rather than think of the deadly consequences. Those consequences no longer applied.

Discord had been weighing his options, though. He couldn’t make a fake statue to keep the royal sisters off his back. They would know that it was a fake. So that option was out the window. He could return to the garden, but he had already knocked that off. He would just have to try and find a way out again, and the way he got out before likely wasn’t goin to be available. But... if he PRETENDED to be a statue, then he could go back and the sisters would be none the wiser. They would be able to tell that he was, in fact, there, but not that he was fully conscious and influencing the world around them. He could send his mind out in small waves to check on the boy’s healing progress and maybe make it a little bit more fun along the way.

Discord thought of Harris when he thought of Ryan’s recovery. He truly did feel for the boy; all he had wanted was to bring his friend home and help him to get better. When he saw Harris sitting with Ryan as he died in that disgusting river, Discord himself almost cried. Unfortunately, while he was helping Ryan, he could only hope that Harris could deal with his own pain and suffering on his own, and only if he could escape Vietnam. To try to make up for it, Discord was taking on the challenge of helping Ryan to recover that which he lost in those jungles and cities. There was a lot to do; but the elements of harmony would no doubt be helpful for this.

Having decided on a course of action, and being satisfied with what he saw that day, Discord flew off towards the castle, where he would play statue and no one would ever know that he was helping a lost soul to find its way.

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

Starstep awoke before Luna, not shockingly. She had her forelegs curled up tight around his torso, holding him close. She was snoozing away, and what she was dreaming about, Starstep had no idea. Whatever it was, he only hoped that it was peaceful, after hearing about what had been going on.

Starstep was happy to be this close to her. They didn’t share moments like this very often, but when they did, he always wanted them to last forever. Of course, he would never tell her that. It could ruin their friendship.

There was a loud rapping at the door, and someone on the other side was yelling. “Princess Luna, please, come quick!” That voice, it was too familiar. Starstep groaned.

“Blueblood..." he thought as he got up, making sure not to disturb Luna. The loud rapping kept up as he approached the door. “I’m coming already!” he loudly whispered. Looking back, he saw that Luna still slept. “Now,” he said as he opened the door, laying his eyes on a distressed Blueblood. “What?” Blueblood took a moment to compose himself.

“There has been a... development, in the search for Discord.”

Starstep blinked. Then he blinked again. What? “What?” Blueblood nodded.

“Yes. We need Auntie Luna right away.” Starstep looked at Blueblood, then at Luna, then back at Blueblood.

“Right away.” With that, Blueblood nodded and ran off.

Closing the door gently, Starstep turned around to look at his princess. She was in no condition to be going around in public, but the nation needed her right now. She and her sister had to ensure that whatever this development was didn’t create any danger. He walked over to her and put his hoof on her side. “Princess.” he said flatly. She murmured and rolled over. Starstep jumped up stood with his front hooves on her side. “Luna!” She jolted awake from the sudden assault on her eardrums. Groggy and feeling sticky, she looked up at her guard.

“What?” she asked. Starstep jumped off the bed.

“You are needed.” He leaned in close and whispered. “There has been a development in the Discord situation.” Luna shot up and leapt off the bed.

“Where am I needed?” she asked frantically. Thinking back, Blueblood hadn’t told him where Luna was needed.

“I would guess that you need to head to the throne room.” She ran off, clearly panicking that something terrible had happened.

After she left, Starstep looked around and sighed. Life had been going fairly well for him. There was a little hiccup on the day of Discord’s escape, but other than that, not much happened. Then the boy died, a tragedy to be certain, from what Luna told him. Not only that, now, less than a week later, Discord was somehow involved with something.

“Why must life be so hard at times?” But then, he already knew the answer to that.

Luna sprinted through the halls as fast as she could, drawing looks of concern from guards and staff who were out of the loop. They had no way of knowing what was going on for some time, but for those who did, they wore grim expression. Though, as she drew closer to the throne room, the expressions became more neutral. “I wonder what has happened?” she thought. The ones who knew didn’t seem like they were that concerned. Some just looked confused.

When she entered the throne room, she spotted her sister sitting on her throne, reading some papers. They looked terribly boring. “I have arrived, sister.” Luna announced. Celestia looked up and smiled.

“Excellent. Come with me.” Luna followed as her sister got up and walked behind the throne. She normally had a tiny bit of small talk first, so this indicated to Luna that this development was something big.

“Sister, what has happened?” she asked. Celestia chuckled.

“Just wait. You’ll see.” Luna grumbled. She hated it when her sister did this.

They entered the garden, and upon inspection of the garden, Luna’s jaw dropped like a thousand pound bomb from a B-29. The noise that came from her maw was of confusion, like that of a community that was just unprovokedly bombed. There was zero coherence in her speech.

“Is that..?” he finally managed to ask. Celestia nodded.

“It is.”

Before them stood the statue of Discord, only this time, it was standing in a new position. Before, he had been standing with his hands outstretched and a look of terror on his face. Now, he sat on his hind end, with one leg over the other. His hand was under his chin, and he looked rather thoughtful.

“How did he get here?” Luna asked, astonished. Celestia walked forward and looked up at the statue.

“He just appeared here. After a groundskeeper alerted me to the statue’s presence, I came over and checked if it was him with my magic. And it is. He is back here, Luna, where he cannot cause chaos.” Celestia looked over at her sister. “One less thing to have on our minds, dear sister.”

Luna sat down, hardly able to stand up. If Discord was back, who put him there, and why? If it was the elements of harmony, they would have alerted the royal sisters to this. Of course, the bigger question was, where had he gone? Where did he spend so much time, only to wind up coming back to this garden where he had been imprisoned for so long? Questions swirled around Luna’s mind, like a cyclone over the pacific ocean.

“I am glad.” she said, deciding to ponder upon it later. With Ryan still on her mind, she didn’t want to think about Discord right now. Two unrelated things needed to be pondered at different times, she always believed. Dedicate all your time to one thing, then another. “What shall we do?” Luna asked. Celestia looked back to the statue and sighed.

“We just have to hope that whoever put him here this time did so in a way that won’t let him escape.” Not entirely satisfied, but still happy with this ending, Luna turned and left after giving a goodbye to her sister to go tell Starstep the good news.

The whole time, Discord had to do his absolute best not to laugh hysterically at the two regal sisters before him. Luna was just leaving, clearly she had fallen for it. Of course, she also looked like she was brooding on something. Discord noted that and would look into it later.

Celestia was still in the garden with Discord when her sister left. Discord silently ordered her to leave so that he could use his magic without being detected. Celestia’s presence made things hard because, while the spells to detect magic aren’t easy to do, if a powerful unicorn, or alicorn, is nearby, they can typically sense it.

“Go away!” Discord mentally shouted at Celestia. he turned around for one last look.

“Don’t cause more trouble.” she said menacingly, then walked away. If he could blink at the time, Discord would have done so several times right there. Did she know that he was able to just leave? He told himself not to cause trouble. “I’ll just influence Ryan’s life.” If he did anything to other ponies, Celestia would surely bring down her full wrath upon him.

Bored, but not feeling like watching Ryan at the moment, Discord just felt like entertaining himself by observing the lives of the Canterlot nobles. “Ah, yes. Rich pony problems.” None of them knew the pain and suffering that Ryan knew. And he hoped that they never would.

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

Ryan ran through the forest, trying to get as far in as possible to evade capture. These ponies wanted him? They would have to fight for him. “I’m not going back there.” Ryan told himself. He had no desire to be a part of civilization any more. He couldn’t properly function in society, not after everything He would always be looking over his shoulder, always be looking for bad guys to kill. At least out in nature, his behavior made more sense. Or he might die. Yeah.

Behind him, he could hear several of the ponies just entering the forest, calling out to him. “Creature!” they would yelled. Ha. He was the creature now, it seemed. Although, they were more right than they knew. Ryan had become a creature back in Sumatra. His mind wandered back to the island, then to continental Asia.

“I should have just died out there.” he thought. “I should just die out here.” He had no goal any more. There was no reason for him to keep going. So, what drove him? Was he looking for something? He must have been, seeing as killing Narendra didn’t get him anything.

When the voices faded, Ryan figured that he had enough time to kill to stop and think. Why run? There was nothing to run to, nothing to go after. There wasn’t even anything to avoid, truthfully. He just knew that he would have nothing to gain from society, and nothing to gain from being alive. What did he have to lose from being dead? Nothing, really. Wherever he was, it was far from home. His family and friends would all think that he was dead by now. He had no one to return to, even if he wanted to. He couldn’t love people. Remembering his dream, he realized that he couldn’t be a SEAL any more. Even if he may have been a half decent one, he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t pass the psychological test. There was literally nothing for him to lose from dying.

He pulled out his M1911 and, seeing that it was empty, replaced the empty mag with one of his full ones, putting the empty one in his vest. He chambered the first round and looked down at his gun. “Why?” he asked. The one question he wanted an answer to, and it couldn’t be answered. He pulled the gun up and pointed it at his chin, aiming up. There, he stood for the better half of a minute He wanted to pull the trigger, but something wasn’t letting him. He thought about everything before he fired, especially Harris. They were best friends, maybe even brothers when you got down to it. Ryan put the gun down and holstered it again.

The voices were loud again, much closer than Ryan anticipated. He also hadn’t anticipated not shooting himself, though, so it evened out. “Stay away!” Ryan yelled, running further into the forest. There was a flurry of activity behind him as ponies yelled and gave chase, excitedly chattering about their pursuit. At one point, they were close enough for Ryan to hear. “I wonder what it is?” That was all that Ryan caught. “It’s not your fiend, that's for damn certain.” Ryan thought darkly to himself.

He ran deeper and deeper into the forest, carefully trying to listen to the ponies pursuing him. Eventually, he got his desired result.

“I am not going in any further!” he heard. Another spoke up, this time sounding farther away.

“Me neither, forget that!” It seemed that they were done following him. Until he heard the last one.

“I’m gonna get him before he puts himself in danger!” one yelled, sounding dangerously close. Before Ryan knew what to do, he was on the ground.

The pony that was chasing him was male, and very large. He had Ryan under him, with his hooves to either side of Ryan’s body. “Now hang on!” he said. Ryan looked up at the stallion resentfully. “We just want to help you-” He was cut off when a fist connected with his exposed belly, followed by a harsh roundhouse kick to his side, knocking him to the ground. Ryan leaped up and got into fighting stance, twitchy and having trouble not pulling one of his guns. The stallion stood. “Look,” he said, rubbing his side and coughing lightly. “All we want is to help you. Please, don’t do this. You may get hurt.” Ryan’s hand went for his knife and he gripped the handle. The stallion had seen the gesture and backed off a little.

“We don’t know if you have any infections.” he said. Ryan just stared at the stallion, not really listening. He was waiting for it to get up and attack. “And this forest is dangerous. You are in serious danger here.” In response, Ryan started to move back, where he knew there was some brush for him to run away through. “Please, let us help you...” Ryan put a foot into the bush behind him. “Leave me be.” he replied, spinning around and running away.

He was trying to keep the speech with these creatures to a minimum, in an effort to avoid letting his own guard down and avoid them letting theirs down. If neither side was in a mood for compromise, then e would be safe in this forest, never having to go back to society. He could live out his days in solitude here. That stallion had said that this place was dangerous, so none of them would go in any more to find him. Out here, he could live or die as he pleased.

After he escaped from the stallion, he just kept on walking through the forest, not even thinking about where his feet were taking him.

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

Big Mac was taking the girls to the Sugarcube Corner, where they could get a tasty treat in exchange for missing a chance to interact with the creature. They were exceedingly disappointed that they didn’t get to speak with him. The whole way over, none of them spoke. They mostly just pouted.

Big Mac, on the other hand, was still in shock. He had taken that creature down while they were at a full sprint, yet it just got up and countered instantly. If it had wanted to do so, Big Mac would be in the hospital right now. He considered himself lucky.

“That could have been a whole lot worse.” he thought. While his sister and her friends might think that the creature was aggressive and dangerous, Big Mac thought otherwise. It had a chance to really hurt him, but it chose not to take it. He had no intent to harm Big Mac, his sole concern was escape. Maybe it was from the forest, and it was just trying to go home. Or maybe its home was from far beyond the forest, ad it didn’t want to be followed. Either way, Big Mac thought positively of it.

They arrived at Sugarcube corner, and when the girls saw it, their countenances instantly lighted up. “YAY!” they all yelled. Big Mac smiled. He loved it when they were like that.

They walked in through the door and drew the attention of Mr. Cake, setting some treats in the display case. “Ah, welcome!” he said. “What can get for you?” he asked. Big Mac looked at the girls.

“Ah’ll have a chocolate cupcake!” Applebloom replied.

“Can I have a... vanilla milkshake?” Sweetie Belle asked. Mr. Cake nodded.

“And gimme a... big chocolate chip cookie!” Scootaloo finished it off. Mr. Cake nodded and got to work.

“Anything for you, Mac?” he yelled back from the kitchen.

“Naw, Ah’m good.” Big Mac replied. He took the girls over to a table and sat down. They all climbed off his back and took their seats.

While they were waiting, the girls were just staring at Big Mac, making him feel uncomfortable. He didn’t know why they were looking at him.

“What?” he finally asked. Mistake. He was barraged with questions.

“How did it get you down?” Sweetie Belle asked. She seemed really concerned about it.

“He fell at the same time as me and just as hard. Ah don’t know how he managed to get back up so fast. Then, he just tackled me.” Scootaloo came next.

“What was that thing in its hand?” Big Mac thought about that for a moment. Like the creature, he had never seen that item before.

“Ah don’t know. Whatever it was, he held it pretty threateningly. So Ah’m gonna assume it’s something dangerous.” Applebloom, like lightning, leapt over the table and hugged her brother.

“Are y’all alright?” she asked, mostly for herself. Big Mac patted her head.

“Ah’m fine.” He took her off and put her back in her seat.

“Did it talk to you?” Scootaloo asked, excited. Big Mac nodded. “What did it say?” she asked, impatient. Big Mac shrugged.

“He said, ‘stay away’. That was all.” Scootaloo’s smile turned into a scowl when she didn’t get anything else.

Their treats came soon after that last question, something Big Mac wa grateful for. If the girls were eating their treats, they couldn’t ask questions. Only Pinkie Pie was capable of that. Big Mac shuddered at the thought of her and Twilight Sparkle’s likely-to-come questions, most of which he would not likely be able to answer.

“There you go.” Mr. Cake said cheerfully. “Enjoy.” He gave a small bow as he left their table. Big Mac took the opportunity to rest while the girls ate and thought about what he knew. The creature could speak. He could certainly fight. He didn’t want to be found. All in all, he seemed like a lonely guy who wanted to stay that way.

“Ah can relate to that.” Big Mac thought. He had never been that into making friends. He had a couple here and there, but he preferred being alone, most of the time.

When the girls finished, they paid Mr. Cake and exited Sugarcube Corner. Now on a sugar high, the girls were intent on running around trying to get their cutie marks. They left Big Mac, who opted to head home. “When they get back tomorrow, Ah’ll talk to them if they come to me.” Deciding on that, he went home and did his best to forget about the whole thing until his sister and her friends came back.

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

Ryan had been walking through the forest for a long while now. He had no idea where he was, although being in the forest was a strange comfort for him. At this point, he preferred it to any town or city.He may have been shot and killed, at least he thought that he died. It didn’t matter now, anyway. He just had to walk.

Why? That question kept on popping into his head. Why did he have to walk? What would he get from it? There was no happiness to be found out here. There was no evil to confront, none other than his own. And he had no desire to confront that, for it would destroy him. He pretty much just had to walk until he could walk no more. So he decided to do that.

Eventually, he started to notice strange bits and pieces of rock laying on the ground. They were all a dark shade of blue, something that didn’t match up with the other bits of stone and dirt in the area. He must have been approaching some different area of the forest, or have been leaving it. “Let’s see what this has in store for me.” Ryan thought. Hell, why not? It would at least be a start in some direction. And this direction seemed as good as any other.

He followed the blue stones as they became more common, having to retrace his steps several times when the trail got cold. It was frustrating at first, but eventually, Ryan came across the last thing he had been expecting to find; an old, medieval style castle, with what seemed to be a bottomless trench for a moat. Cautiously, he walked over to the edge and looked over. Fog, and lots of it. He shuddered.

“I pity the one who falls down into the unknown abyss.” he said to himself. He looked around for something that he could use to cross the gap and check out the castle. Off to his left, he noticed an old, rickety rope bridge. “If it’ll get me across.” he decided. he tentatively walked over, thinking over what may await him on the other side. He had no way of knowing what there could be. There could be more of these ponies, doing archeological work. Or maybe just some old hermit, who wouldn’t be too happy about Ryan’s intrusion. Maybe there were loads of creatures in there. The stallion form earlier had said that the forest was a dangerous place.

“I can handle whatever this place can throw at me.” Ryan thought. He had two guns, the Automag with a total of twelve rounds left and the M1911 with fourteen left. He also had his knife and hand to hand skills. Feeling overstocked in killing capability, Ryan began to cross the bridge.

Crossing the bridge wasn’t the worst experience of his life, but it was far from the best. Below him, he would swear that he heard the moans and groans of either suffering people or ghosts of people who had. Several voices in particular struck him. Joey was the loudest by far, like he was losing consciousness from heat exhaustion, while Nadine’s came next. Hers were relatively quiet screams and whimpers from only Ryan knew what. Hers were easily the worst, with Ryan knowing exactly what had happened. Then after her was the sound of Catherine, and the loud gunshot that took her life. Ryan did his best to ignore them, but they overpowered him, and he rushed to get across the bridge.

Once across, he gasped for air and fell to his knees, hands splayed out on the ground before him. Why were their voices down there? They couldn’t be here, only Harris had ever even seen Discord, other than Ryan. Discord didn’t bring anyone else here, and even if he did, he couldn’t have brought the others because Ryan had killed two of them and let the other die. They were gone forever, and no matter how hard anyone tried, they weren’t coming back. They couldn’t be in the gorge. Ryan turned around to look and took in a sharp breath from shock.

Before him stood the little girl from the house of the family that let them stay with them. Those kind people, who had been brutally murdered for helping some strangers. Ryan couldn’t look at the burned little girl before him. “It’s your fault you know.” The Girl said. Ryan shook his head.

“Please, I’m sorry.” he replied. “I... I didn’t want that for you. Please, don’t...” The girl walked forward, getting Ryan to scurry back towards the castle on the ground.

“You brought them there. You brought our deaths to us.” Ryan clapped his hands over his ears.

“No, I-”

“You did this to me!” The Girl screamed. Ryan’s eyes opened and looked at The Girl. He wanted to vomit.

“Please, I’m sorry... I tried...” Ryan started to sob on the ground. The Girl shook her head.

“You failed us. You failed your friends. You murdered all of them.” Ryan shook his head violently.

“NO!” The Girl stood over him.

“You caused so much suffering. Now you will know what it’s like to suffer for yourself.”

Ryan looked up, and The Girl was gone. Not wanting to encounter any more of the ghosts of his past, he turned tail and fled into the building.

Inside, it was pretty dark. he only lights came from suspicious candle-like things on the walls. When Ryan put his hand near one, there was no heat. Of course, with unicorns and such existing, magic probably existed here too. Other than the strange magical lights, the castle seemed like a regular old, abandoned ruin. Ryan could not determine that someone lived here, and he was fine with that. that meant that there was no one to potentially fight. The walls were mostly plain upon walking inside; he had come into a foyer. Inside it, there were several mildly decorated tables, with a few things adorning each one. On one, there were some cups. On another, there was a flower vase. Ryan walked over to the little table with the cups and dusted them off; silver.

“Well, I could sell it later.” Ryan decided to take a couple, stuffing them onto the back of his vest so that they would hang there. Gotta support himself somehow.

He walked through the foyer and found himself approaching a four way intersection of hallways. Looking down each one, he thought about the other times he had found himself trying to decide on which hallway to choose. Bad memories. He went left, sticking to his usual, hoping that it would bring him somewhere. All it brought him to was an old storage room, which he promptly exited. Nothing was there, so nothing would stay. He went to the hall that was to the right of his original position. Down that hall was a number of doors. Each time he passed one, he was sure to check inside. Either something valuable might make it worth checking or someone dangerous might be sleeping. If there was, he would get the drop on them. None of the rooms held up, though. They were all empty, except for dusty old beds and broken nightstands. At the end of the hallway, there was a larger door.

Before approaching, Ryan observed the door. It had a number of markings on it, like ancient symbols of a forgotten language. As he crept closer to the door, Ryan listened for anything that might be on the other side. When he heard nothing, he threw caution to the wind and waltzed to the door. On it were more than just symbols, there were pictures. Pictures that depicted two large horses, one larger than the other, both with wings and horns, doing something. To either side of them the sun and the moon, seemingly in harmony. Upon closer inspection, Ryan saw that the smaller of the two seemed to be interacting with the moon, while the larger had the sun. The smaller had a mane that, even through the ravages of time that afflicted the wall, was detailed enough for Ryan to make out twinkling lights on it. And they were actually twinkling, too. More magic.

“You must be Luna.” Ryan concluded. This cinched it; Luna lived in this world. Ryan got mixed emotions about this. Seeing as she had no way to contact him, she probably thought he was dead by now. If he were to find her, should he reveal himself? Would it be wise, considering how his actions may have affected her? He put those thoughts in mental storage. they were important, but at the moment, survival was more important.

Ryan opened up the door, slowly, and peered inside like a peeping tom. Nothing but a bunch of shelves. Ryan pushed the door all the way open and walked in. As he went towards the center of the room, he realized that this was a library of some kind. Books surrounded him on all sides, old tomes forgotten by those who abandoned them here. No longer were they forgotten, though.

“Interesting.” Ryan said to himself, removing his beret. he just remembered that he was wearing all of that stuff, he had been so preoccupied by his escape. He undid the scarf around his neck and wrapped it around the beret, then stuffed them under his vest where he wouldn’t lose them. “Let’s see what we have here.” Ryan went to a shelf and was stunned when the labels on it were in English. What the..? How? Ignoring that, Ryan picked out a book and, sure enough, it, too, was in English. He opened it up only to find dust coating every page. He blew on it, nearly choking when the dust flew toward him as well as away. When it all cleared, Ryan took a look at the first page of the book. Spells of the Ancient Dragons. He tossed it aside. He had no use for spells. He checked another book, going through the same process. This one was about spells made by some Starswirl the Bearded character. He tossed that aside as well. Noticing that this was clearly a magic section, Ryan moved onto another shelf. He needed history and bestiaries, not magical nonsense.

There was a movement behind him, and Ryan spun around, drawing his 1911. Nothing was there. Relieved, but still wary, Ryan holstered the weapon again and took a look through the books. This section was labeled history, so it likely had something, even if outdated. Ryan grabbed the first book off of the shelf. The Three Tribes. Interesting. He opened it up.

“At first, there were three tribes of ponies...” He got about thirty pages in when he decided that he’d had enough of ancient history. All that he got from the book that was useful was that there were also pegasi in this land, which, ridiculously, was called Equestria. “Well, ain’t that just the damndest thing.” Ryan said, putting the book back. Upon blowing away the dust and inspecting the book spines, he learned that all of the books were about ancient Equestrian history, so he moved on.

He went to several other shelves, looking for anything that might list the creatures that lived in the forest. Being in the forest for so long, the castle must have some sort of comprehensive listing, right? Ryan blew the dust away and began inspecting the book.

Thunk. Ryan spun around again, drawing his 1911. There was another noise. Ryan refused to believe it a coincidence. He scanned the room, but found nothing. Not wanting whatever it was to get the drop on him, Ryan moved around, checking his corners and looking in and around things to find the source of the noise. When he found nothing, he grew concerned.

“What’s going on in this place?” he asked no one.

The noise wasn’t coming back, and Ryan couldn’t figure out where it came from. Keeping his weapon out, he opted to exit the library and go down the lsat hall at the intersection. As he left the library, shadows seemed to try to dance around him and get through the door. Ryan shut it quickly.

“Nope.” he said, walking away from it. Behind him, the door grew darker.

Ryan went down the last hallway cautiously, letting his trepidations rule his actions for the time being. He was in an abandoned old castle, in a magical land, so it seemed like the way to go. To stay more prepared, Ryan drew his knife and held it in his left hand, under the gun, ready to go for a stab. Any time he passed a crevice in the wall or another set of halls, he took a look down to ensure that nothing was there. He never went down the halls; he figured that the most important room would be at the end of this long hall. Every time he heard a noise, he stopped and listened. More than once, it was just his feet on gravel or some little creature running past. Ryan swallowed hard.

“I’ve always hated creepy places.” he thought to himself. This old castle was the king, too.

Eventually, Ryan reached the end of the hall and found a massive set of double doors. He stared at them for a moment, trying to discern the pictures on this door. They were more faded than those on the library door, and they also and more pictures of the larger pegasus-unicorn, thought this time, alone. She looked terribly sad in the pictures.

“Did you lose someone close to you?” Ryan asked indifferently. “Cuz’ I lost everything.” He went and opened the doors, only to find a mostly empty room. Walking in, he observed everything around him. There were lots of pillars and stained glass windows in this room, as well as a throne at the end. So, this was the center of the castle, where all the magic happened? Looked terrible. Of course, it was abandoned. Ryan walked forward, wary of whatever may have been around him. Mostly, he just thought it was squirrels. Little buggers couldn’t be more annoying.

As Ryan proceeded to the throne, he looked at the stained glass windows. hey all depicted those two horses again, only now, they were in color. The smaller one was blue and had a starry mane. Luna, no doubt about it. She was nice enough at first, but as the glass went on, she looked less and less happy, eventually physically changing into something much larger. She seemed to be fighting her sister at one point, but lost, and something involving the moon happened. Ryan also took note of the white horse. This one was the sun one, and while also nice at first, seemed to grow cautious of the other. When she did something to Luna involving the moon, she looked forlorn and sad, like Luna had died or something. Perhaps she had, the way that Ryan did.

Gleaning everything he could from the glass was easy enough, so he moved onto the throne. It was tall and made of stone, like everything else he had seen as of yet. There were no notable features about it, except for one. Something was carved into the back of the throne, and Ryan took a closer look.

“Evil lurks in every crevice.” Ryan read aloud. Something crashed behind him in the distance, eliciting Ryan to pull his weapons to the ready. Whatever was going on in the castle, he knew one thing.

He wasn’t alone.

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

The train pulled into Canterlot Station, screeching to a halt. The steam billowed from its front, and ponies were already piling out. Porters lugged the luggage out and set it down, receiving tips from the less stingy passengers and scowling at those who were too stingy to tip. The girls tipped their porters well.

Rainbow Dash was the first off the train, followed by Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, then Applejack, then Twilight Sparkle, then Rarity and Spike, who was carrying all of Rarity’s luggage. Who needs a porter when someone adores you?

“Ah, it’s so good to be back where it’s nice and warm!” Rarity said, radiating in the sunlight. Spike just stared at her dumbly, getting Twilight to prod him with her horn.

“Yeah, now my wings won’t freeze up in the wind! I mean, the Crystal Empire was alright and stuff, but you can’t beat Equestrian air!” Rainbow did several flips in the air as she spoke.

Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down. “I can’t wait to see Pound and Pumpkin again! Well have so much fun playing hide and seek, ball, tag, diaper change-” She went off listing other things that weren’t games, and when she finally finished, Applejack was the first to speak after.

“Ah just can’t wait to get back to the farm. Ah’m sure Big Macintosh and Applebloom have had a lot to do without me.” Fluttershy nodded.

“Oh, I bet it’s not a problem. Big Mac is big and strong, he can handle things. And Applebloom has lots of energy. They were probably able to do their chores without incident.” If only they knew.

“Yeah.” Twilight concurred. “But before we do anything, we need to see the princess. Tell her how it all went.” While she talked, Spike handed off the heavy luggage to a porter and leapt up onto Twilight’s back.

“And how I saved the day, right?” he asked excitedly. Twilight nodded.

“Yes Spike, that too.” He gave her a big, toothy smile, and they all went to the castle.

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

Ryan watched the area behind him with heedful eyes. That noise happened one too many times, there was clearly something else here, something that was well aware of Ryan’s presence. He scanned the room, moving about to get a look behind pillars, but found nothing. As far as physical evidence went, there was nothing else in the room.

Not taking chances, Ryan looked for a way out that wasn’t the way he came in. He found his way out behind the throne. “Please, take me somewhere good.” Ryan said as he moved to the archway. It was a large staircase that looked like it spiraled up into another room. Ryan began to scale it when he heard another noise, this one much closer. “Who’s there?” he finally asked. No answer. Crazy? Maybe, but Ryan wasn’t going to take chances.

He ran up the stairs so that he would be able to ambush whatever it was that was following him. At the top of the stairs, he looked around. The only thing of notability in the room was a pedestal at the far end of the room from the staircase. “Hmm.” Ryan said. There was nowhere to hide in here. He got up against the wall just to the right of the staircase and waited. From the staircase, very small, step-like noises sounded.

“Gotcha.” he thought. As soon as they sounded like they were really close, Ryan jumped around the corner-

Nothing. Nothing was there. The noises still sounded, right in front of him, yet there was nothing. Dumbfounded, Ryan followed the noise with his eyes as it moved on behind him and toward the pedestal. As it advanced, Ran followed, staying fairly close behind. He was mesmerized by this anomaly; what was making the noise? And how? He kept on following it all the way to the pedestal, where it stopped in the center. Ryan came out of his semi-trance and shook his head. “That was odd.” He turned around and looked back to the stairs.

“This place is way too creepy.” He turned back around.

He gasped loudly and fell back. In the center of the pedestal, hanging from the ceiling, was a body. A human body. As soon as Ryan hit the floor, he scrambled back, trying to get away from the dead person. When he was fifteen feet away, he stopped and tried to regain his breath.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled. The body hung limply by its neck, slowly moving back and forth, as if it was a swing with a child on it. Ryan gulped and moved forward, pistol pointed at the body, and tried to see who it was. The site shook him; that was HIM hanging from the ceiling. Ryan was looking at Ryan, dead and apparently brutally beaten. Blood dripped from the body, coming out from what was likely various cuts and the mouth. There was also a big bloody patch on his shirt and jacket, where the hole had been. The arms looked freshly burned and there were bruises all over the exposed skin.

Ryan didn’t get less than ten feet from the body. It rocked his very foundations. What was this place? It tormented him in the worst possible ways. Ryan turned around to leave, to escape from this Hellish place.

“Where are you going?” a voice asked. Ryan spun around three hundred sixty degrees. Nothing.

“Where are you!?” he demanded. The voice laughed.

“I am in you.” it said. Ryan was about to shout at it, but it continued. “Though I certainly don’t wish to be.” Ryan pointed his gun forward, but at nothing.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” he yelled. This only drew more laughter from the voice.

“You are weak, Ryan. I have no intention of being a part of you. You are only half of what you once were.” Ryan ran toward the wall and took a defensive position at it. Suddenly, the rope supporting the body snapped, and the body crashed to the floor. Ryan’s attention was drawn to it.

“WHERE ARE YOU!?” he demanded once again. The voice didn’t care about Ryan, though.

“I know everything about you, Ryan.” It sounded from Ryan’s right, and he looked away from the body to find it. Still nothing. “I know what you’ve done.” It was behind him now. Ryan leapt away from the wall and turned to shoot, but there was still nothing. “You have no right to live. You are too weak to handle what you’ve done. Only the strong may survive.” Ryan moved back, then turned to aim at the stairs when he thought he heard something. He moved back.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” he shouted, his fear and anger taking control. He stopped cold when he felt a dark presence just behind him.

“No.” the voice said. “I will kill YOU.” Ryan spun around to fight the presence.

Something collided with his face as he turned, knocking Ryan unconscious. Ryan stood over him, looking down at him coldly. “But not today.”

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

The girls left Canterlot, all of them happy about how the whole trip had gone. Spike was especially happy, he got a window in the castle with him on it! Overall, it was a good day.

They had an uneventful trip back to Ponyville, mostly just them sitting on the train, talking a bit or, in Rainbow’s case, taking a nap. All that they really wanted was to get home and enjoy some down time, time to relax. Rarity had said that she would spend the whole next day getting a spa treatment, and invited all of the girls to join. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie agreed, but Applejack had to get back to work, and spas weren’t really Rainbow’s thing. She was saying that she was going to use the trip for inspiration in making new aerial maneuvers. Anyhow, they were all happy to go back.

When they arrived in Ponyville, things seemed... off. Something was amiss, but the girls couldn’t quite place it. The townsponies were all going about their daily lives, but there was something in their expressions. Not fear, or nervousness. Though that was apparent in some. Mostly, they looked confused, thoughtful, or curious. Twilight was the first to notice.

“Do you girls notice anything odd going on?” she asked. Rainbow yawned as she exited the train.

“Nope. Nothing. Now, I’m gonna head home, take a nap. See you girls later.” Without another word, she flew off, leaving the other five to themselves. Applejack looked around.

“Ya know what? Ah think you’re right.” She pointed to a small colt with a camera walking around. Little Pip, if she recalled correctly. “Hey!” she yelled. Little Pip spun around, hope gleaming in his eyes. The excitement fell a little at seeing Applejack, but remained a little bit. He ran over.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Is something goin’ on around here?” she asked. Little Pip vigorously nodded his head.

“There sure is! There’s a new creature around! Never seen anything like it before!” Twilight’s interest was piqued. She walked over to listen. “I don’t know the details, you’ll have to ask the Cutie Mark Crusaders or Big Macintosh for more details. Well, gotta go, I want to get pictures of it!” With that, the little guy ran off.

Applejack looked to Twilight, who was deep in thought. She didn’t want to interrupt her thoughts, but then again, that’s what Pinkie is for. “Whatcha thinkin’ about!?” she yelled, getting right up on Twilight’s face. Twilight hardly even flinched.

“I think I need to speak to your brother and sister, Applejack.”

Applejack nodded. “Alright. Let’s head on over to the farm and find’em.” The group of five mares made their way to the farm.

Rarity had minor interest in whatever this creature was. She was all about fashion, and animals didn’t wear clothes, so they really held no interest to her. Pinkie Pie was continually explaining how she wanted to throw it a party, listing off hundreds of different reasons for it. Welcome, discovery, new-friend-making, the list went on. Fluttershy was an active part of Twilight’s and Applejack’s talk.

“I wonder what kind of animal it might be?” she wondered, in awe at all the possibilities. “I can’t wait to find out so I can help it. Maybe it needs a home?” Twilight interjected.

“I would agree, but we don’t know what it is yet. It could be dangerous.” Fluttershy shook her head.

“No, no. That can’t be. If it was, the townsponies would be afraid of it, not out trying to find it.” Twilight silently agreed with that, while Applejack voiced her agreement.

“Ah think Flutters’ right, sugarcube. Ain’t no sense in lookin’ for a dangerous animal that ain’t around.”

They were at the gate to the orchards before any of them realized it. Except Rarity. She wasn’t really a part of the conversation, so she pretty much led them all to the farm. “Well, I’d love to stay and learn about this creature, but I really should be going.” Twilight was about to tell Rarity that she could do what she wanted, but Pinkie kept her from speaking.

“Come on, Rarity!” she almost shouted. “Don’t you have even a bit of curiosity about it? What if it...” Pinkie thought for a moment. “What if it... makes... clothes?” She gave a sheepish smile. Rarity sighed.

“Fine, I suppose I can stay.” Pinkie Pie jumped up while putting Rarity in a bear hug.

“Yayzees!” After a few moments of the others laughing at the scene, Pinkie let go and they all went to the house on the farm.

At the door, the sounds of three familiar little girls giggling went right through the door. Upon opening it, Applejack couldn’t do much to keep from laughing; her brother was tied up in the center of the room, with Granny Smith and the girls dancing around him. He was covered in all sorts of things, from makeup, which they assumed Sweetie Belle brought, to pie, which Granny Smith likely made. The other girls walked in, and Big Mac just looked at them.

“Help.” he said. The girls and Granny Smith all turned to see their friends and sister/granddaughter return.

“They’re back!” Scootaloo announced. Applebloom ran over to Applejack and hugged her leg nice and tight. Sweetie Belle was lifted over to her sister by magic and eld close. Scootaloo just walked over and jumped up on Fluttershy’s back. “So where’s Rainbow?” she asked. Fluttershy went to the couch and laid down on it.

“She went home to sleep. It’s kind of late, after all.” It was around seven. Not exactly late for anyone over the age of four. Scootaloo’s wings drooped.

“Oh. Okay.”

Big Mac was still sitting in the center of the room, embarrassed and indignant. Why had he agreed to play with the girls? And why did he let Granny make a vanilla cream pie? She only ever threw them at ponies. “A-hem.” he said. The girls all looked over and giggled, except Fluttershy, who came over and untied him. “Thanks, Miss Fluttershy.” he said, giving her a bow of his head. She went back to the couch.

“No problem.” He got up and went into the kitchen, where he cleaned himself up to be presentable. While he was off doing that, Twilight figured that she would start with her questions.

“So girls.” she began. They all went silent. “Would you all mind sitting down for a bit? I have some questions.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other, than complied with Twilight’s request.

Twilight and her friends sat on the floor, facing the little fillies. “I heard that you girls were the ones to ask about some new creature?” she asked. Straight up, no bulling around. That’s how Twilight does it.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo yelled. The others nodded.

“It was really weird!” Sweetie Belle added. Rarity was suddenly interested.

“You encountered it?” she asked disbelievingly. All three girls nodded.

“We found it!” Applebloom shouted. “It was in the east field when we found it, and it wasn’t in the best shape...” She trailed off, something that set off an alarm in Fluttershy’s head.

“Was it alright?” she asked hurriedly. “Was it injured?”

The fillies looked at eachother, then nodded slowly. Fluttershy turned a little bit pale. “How bad?” Her voice was a bit shaky, causing Rarity to pull her close. Applebloom took in a deep breath.

“He nearly died from a chest wound.” Fluttershy was about to faint. “But he survived! He’s alright now! We hope...” Fluttershy looked a little better, but still terrified.

“Hope so..?” Applebloom shook her head.

“We don’t know where he is now.”

Fluttershy looked even a little better, but Twilight was still concerned. “I still have a lot of questions.” she said. The girls all looked to her. “First of all; how do you know it’s a he?” Rarity looked like she was about to turn pale when she saw Sweetie Belle getting ready to respond.

“The doctor told us.” Rarity’s color (white, how could it have left in the first place?) returned, and she let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding.

“Alright. Second; what was the nature of the injury?” The crusaders shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, it was bad.” Scootaloo said. “There was a... hole, in its chest. Back to front.” Fluttershy gasped and, again, almost fainted. “It was weird, though, is what the doctor said. It started really small on his back, then got huge in the front. As it went through, too, it got bigger, like a cone-shaped hole. We have no idea how it could have happened.”

Fluttershy leapt forward into the middle of the room. “What did you do when you found it?” she asked. Big Mac walked back into the room.

“We put him in our wagon and brought him back to the house, where Big Mac,” Scootaloo gestured to the lumbering form of Big Mac just entering the room. “took the wagon and ran him to the hospital.” All the girls looked to Big Mac, making him shift in his place. Prying eyes. Except for Fluttershy, of course.

“What?” he said. He didn’t like talking to large numbers of ponies; large numbers was anything above three little ones or two big ones.

“Well, what happened next?” Twilight asked. Big Mac looked around, then walked over and sat near the couch.

“Ah brought him to the hospital. He was bleeding pretty bad,” he paused to take in the assortment of reactions. Mostly all were shock, especially Pinkie and Rarity. “The wagon and mah coat were hard to wash after. But the trip was uneventful.” Twilight wasn’t satisfied.

“I’m sorry to pry, but... how bad was the bleeding?” She had to admit to herself, her questions were odd and slightly morbid, but any info she could garner was good.

“The wagon started with an inch of water in it. It went to two inches of red water.” Everyone in the room shuddered, and Granny Smith stood.

“Well, Ah’ve had enough of that. Ah’ll be heading’ to bed now. G’night, youngsters!” They all waved to Granny Smith as she left.

With the events of the discovery now known, Twilight was able to move onto lighter questions. “What can you tell us about the creature? Physically.” Big Mac thought for a moment. What had he seen of it?

“Well, Ah saw that it had some clothes.” Rarity’s eyes trained on Big Mac at hearing this strange yet exciting news. “It had a hat, a jacket, a vest, pants, and weird items on it. Ah didn’t get a good enough look at it, though.” He paused again, waiting for another question. Instead of that, Twilight just urged him to go on. “He had hair on his head, but from what Ah could see, nowhere else in particular. He walked on two legs and didn’t have a tail, and he had hands and feet, like Spike.”

Spike, who had been forgotten on Twilight’s back, jumped off and looked at his appendages. “Woah.”

Twilight was still unsatisfied. There must be something else that Big Mac needed to tell her. “Did you interact with it after it awoke?” she asked. Big Mac nodded.

“A bit. He broke a mirror and window in his room and ran off. Ah chased him and knocked him down, but both of us fell at full speed. He got up first and knocked me back down.” Applejack gasped. How could anypony manage to knock her brother down? “He told me to ‘stay away’ and pointed a little thing at me, which Ah assume is what he used to shatter the mirror. He used a stool to break the window.”

Twilight was about to ask about its speech when Pinkie beat her to it. “Ohmigosh what did it say? Does it want a PARTY!? Let’s throw a party! A ‘SPEECH IS GREAT PARTY’!” She bounced up and down, rambling on about a party.

“Miss Pie, please, Granny is trying to sleep.” Big Mac requested. Pinkie stopped, but trembled from excitement. “It doesn’t want to be found, Ah can tell that much. It ran off into the forest, and Ah ain’t seen it since then.” Twilight’s head fell at hearing that. She had wanted a lot more, but that would have to do.

Rarity had been waiting patiently with her sister in her grasp, like she thought something might take Sweetie Belle from her. “So, tell me good Macintosh.” she began. “What kinds of things could you garner from what the creature was wearing?”

Big Mac didn’t need to think. “All practical. No fashion. Sorry.” Rarity waved a dismissive hoof.

“Oh, no, I think this is a lovely opportunity! If we locate the creature, I can introduce it to fashion proper! I could make it all new clothes. Ooh!” Her face brightened. “Maybe I could become famous for being the first to design for this kind of creature!” Big Mac smiled. At least somepony was excited, even if it wasn’t him.

He left soon after that, saying goodnight to all the ponies. “Goodnight, Miss Fluttershy.” he finished. She nodded to him from the couch, and he went upstairs to get some rest.

Twilight was not going to sleep very much that night, though. She had too much to think about. “Tomorrow.” she thought. Tomorrow, she would search for this creature, even if she had to delve into the depths of the Everfree to find it.

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

Ryan got up slowly, rubbing his face from where he felt it hit by something hard, like stony knuckles. Looking at his own, he remembered just how large they themselves were. Good weapons, they had served him well.

He looked around; nothing was there. There was no rope from the ceiling, no body, no signs of life other than him. On the left side of his face, he felt a nasty bruise poking at him, reminding him, “Hey! Getting smashed in the face sucks!” From the look of it, he may have hallucinated earlier and fallen, hitting himself on the edge of the pedestal.

“No...” That had been too real, though. “I don’t know what’s going on,” He got up. “but I need to get out of here.” Achily, his whole body was reminded of the abuse it had been taking for so long, Ryan walked out of the large room. On his way out, he stepped on several stone fragments that he had missed earlier. “Meh.” He just kept going, not noticing the symbols on each one.

He took his time leaving the castle, listening for anything that might have been trouble. Not a sound came through the castle, not even the sound of wind. It was cold and ominous. Finally, Ryan got outside.

“I’ll just sit for a minute.” he told himself. While on the ground, he decided to take inventory again. After removing everything, he checked off his mental list; jacket, check; knife, check; hammer, check; necklace, kept it on his neck; scarf, check (to stay warm in the night); Colt M1911 and .44 Automag, fourteen and twelve rounds respectively, check; beret, check; and lastly, his watch and vest, still with a syringe of morphine on the back. He donned them all and looked around, focusing on the “pit of doom” as he just named it.

“Don’t bug me.” he silently ordered. He went over to the rope bridge and tentatively looked around it. The fog had really rolled in, and with the new darkness; it must have been around midnight; it was impossible to see. he just hoped that the bridge would hold.

He started to cross, and the bridge creaked angrily at him for disturbing it. The wood groaned and the ropes could be heard, there was so much tension. Ryan sped up about half way across. “A bit more-” The world didn’t want to give him a bit more. The bridge collapsed under him when he was just five feet from the end. He held tight to the rope as he fell, snapping into the rock face when he stopped. He groaned. “Dammit.” he muttered. Carefully, he climbed back up and over the ledge. He sighed, looking back at the gorge. “Well, that was anticlimactic.” Just then, a roar sounded out through the forest. “But that wasn’t.” Ryan immediately took off, hoping to avoid whatever creature had released such a verbal assault from its likely deadly maw.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryan got out of the forest unscathed. He had to be careful, in and out of it, though; on the one hand, he could die. On the other, the could live. Not his favorite options.

He looked around. Surrounding him were hundreds, nay, thousands, of apple trees. They were everywhere; It was like the forest just extended into the area and became shorter, food bearing trees. Ryan ran up to a tree and plucked an apple from it.

“I hope it’s edible.” When he took a bite from it, he discovered that, yes, oh yes indeed, it was edible. He hadn’t been a fan of apples, really, but these were good. “Maybe I’ll just live here.” he decided. There was lots of food, in the form of apples, and he could probably hunt for his meat. He had learned long ago at school how to make a fire with two sticks, so he could cook meat. Yeah, maybe this place was good.

Of course, it could be a farm, so Ryan had to be sure. It wasn’t that stealing bothered him; he just didn’t want to be found. So, in an effort to clear that up, Ryan decided to take a walk.

He walked for what felt like an hour through endless apple trees. He had never heard of a forest of fruit trees exclusively, but given where he was, he couldn’t exclude the possibility. As he walked, he looked up into the sky. There were stars aplenty, just like the previous night, but also like the previous night, the moon was in its minimal glory. Just a sliver in the sky.

“Hmm.” he said. He had been hoping for plenty of light to guide him, but the stars would have to do. He looked back down, only to find darkness. “Freakin’...” he went on like that to himself for the better half of a minute, cursing the darkness and the pain it had brought upon him. What right did it have?

After an actual hour of walking, Ryan finally spotted that which he had been afraid of; a house with lights on. He scowled. “Why the Hell does life have to be this way?” he asked no one. He never got answers, so he never expected any. he moved forward toward the house, slowing down as he approached, as any sniper would approach their target. When you are a mile away, crouch. At half a mile, crawl. At a quarter of a mile, be a slug. ryan ignored the second and third, though, and just slowed down and crouched. As he got closer, he could hear laughter and general giddiness from inside the house, like the family was having lots of guests over. They were pretty loud, but given that no one lived that close, it was okay. “Let’s see what I’m dealing with.” Ryan told himself. He spent the next few minutes approaching the window nearest him. When he arrived, he looked inside.

What he saw didn’t shock him, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. Inside was the big red stallion, saying goodnight to a large group of clearly female ponies. Mares. “Good ratio, bro.” Ryan thought. He took a good look at all the ponies in the room; there were three little ones, whose voices he recognized as those of the ones who saved him from death (he used “saved” lightly). They seemed like they were having a blast. There was a yellow pegasus on the couch, with a long, pink mane. There was an orange pony with a blonde mane and a violet unicorn with a dark mane with a light stripe sitting next to each other. There was also a white unicorn, hugging a littler white unicorn close.

“Sisters.” Ryan thought. Other than that, there was just a pink pony with a poofy pink mane that was bouncing around, super hyper. “What an eccentric little group.” Ryan thought. He decided to listen to them for a bit.

“So what are y’all gonna do, Twilight?” a small yellow pony with a pink mane asked.

“Well I plan on going into the forest to find this creature tomorrow.” Ryan frowned.

“Hmmm.” he thought. He had no desire to be found, wouldn’t the red guy have told her that?

“But Twilight!” the white unicorn shouted. “We were going to go to the spa tomorrow!” What? They had spas?

“I’m sorry, Rarity, but I need to find this creature. Call it scholarly intrigue that requires full attention.” Okay, so this Twilight was a scholar. And this Rarity was a diva or something.

“Oh, fine. I suppose that it is important.” So maybe not a diva, per say. “I wish you luck.”

Ryan listened to the rest of the conversations of the group until they all finally decided to leave. The first to go was the yellow pegasus, whom Ryan determined to be called Fluttershy. Next was Rarity, who took her little sister closely and waited at the door. The orange pony, Applejack, it seemed, lived here, and just went upstairs. Twilight exited with Rarity and the little one.

“Options; scare them into staying away from me, or stay hidden.” Thinking back to Vietnam, Ryan remembered how well staying hidden had worked out. It didn’t. “Scaring it is.” He went over to the edge of the wall and watched as the trio of unicorns left the house. As they walked away, Ryan followed them in the darkest shadows he could find, keeping off the road and among the trees. When they were finally halfway from the house to the gate, as Ryan could see, he enacted his lack of a plan.

Briefly, but enough to be seen, Ryan stood halfway out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. The two larger unicorns, Rarity an Twilight, were talking and didn’t notice. The little one, though, saw Ryan fully and went bug-eyed.

“AAHHHHHH!” she screamed, freaking out the other two. Ryan moved behind the tree.

“What is it Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked. Okay, so she was Sweetie Belle. What was up with the names?

“I-I-I-I saw it!” she said. It sounded like Ryan had scared her a bit too much with his creepy display. “The creature- he’s behind that tree!” Uh oh.

“Time to high tail.” Ryan took off in a sprint to the next tre back from the road and got behind it. Just in time, too, since Twilight had just gotten to the tree.

“Nothing’s here.” she announced. “You probably just saw a shadow.” twilight reasoned. Sweetie Belle must have been pretty upset.

“No, I saw it! It was there, looking at us! It just... stared, like it wanted something. I-I just got startled.” She was sniffling. Dammit, even now, Ryan still hated seeing little kids cry. Now he felt like a REAL asshole.

While the other two were trying to comfort the little one, Ryan moved out from his new cover and, in the darkness, climbed a tree up ahead in the road. There he waited, hoping that this next move would have the full desired effect. The ponies finally got back on the move, in Ryan’s direction, and he once again enacted his lack of a plan.

He knocked an apple off the tree just when the mares and young one approached, eliciting a startled yelp from the older two. The white one looked at the apple, then picked it up and ate it. The other looked at her with a face of Meh. The one calle Twilight looked up at the tree to see where the apple fell from and froze. She found herself staring right at Ryan’s stone-cold face, looking down upon the girls.

“Twilight?” Sweetie Belle said trepidatiously. Twilight looked away for a moment, then looked back. Ryan had already moved away and was coming down from the other side of the tree.

“Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle.” Twilight reassured her. “It was nothing.” Ryan stood still, trying to listen to them leave, but they weren’t moving. “You girls go on ahead.” Twilight said. “I need to check something.” Well, it didn’t work out the way Ryan was hoping. But he could still get them to leave him alone, if he did the right things.

The two white unicorns walked off while Twilight walked over to the tree. Ryan was just on the other side, listening intently. “I don’t know what you are,” Twilight said, thinking that the creature was in the tree. “but we just want to help you. We mean you no harm.” When se received no response, she went on. “You aren’t dangerous, so we don’t want to do anything to you. Will you please come out, so we can be on good terms?” Ryan waited for a moment, but Twilight said nothing. “I’ll wait for a response all night.” Ryan sighed and climbed back up the tree quietly, getting above Twilight but still out of view.

“Stay away.” he ordered, then immediately moved away. Rapidly, he made his way to the other side of the tree.

Twilight wasn’t making a move, though, like Ryan had expected. When he dropped from the tree, Twilight just looked up at the tree and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She walked away, and when she turned around, Ryan spun himself and sprinted away, with Twilight hearing each of his heavy footsteps as he ran off.

Ryan ran a good half mile before he stopped to look behind him. No, Twilight didn’t follow him. That was good; Ryan was growing weary, and he could use what little rest he would get. Looking around, Ryan found a suitable patch of soft dirt that he could sleep on. He laid down on it, eyes to the sky.

“What did I get myself into?” he asked. After two hours of laying there, he finally fell asleep, only to be assaulted with memories of the past.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Ryan awoke, it was probably close to six in the morning. He had fallen asleep somewhere around one in the morning, and now it was five til six. Not his best sleep ever, but far from his worst. His Black Belt testing had been twenty-four continuous hours of physical and mental stress and work.

He rolled around for a few minutes before getting up this morning. Beneath him, the dirt silently shifted to accommodate his weight, which had dropped since before his quest to kill Narendra. Slowly, he got up, looking around. Yeah, still in magic land. He stood, dusting himself off, and trudged over to an apple tree, picking an apple right off. Ripeness was irrelevant, as long as he survived eating it, it was good. He took a bite; ripe, certainly. He chowed down on the apple, getting the juices all over his face. Good apple.

Now that he had food in him, he could think more clearly. The previous night, he had encountered the violet unicorn. Her name was... Twilight? Yeah. He thought about what to do about his new situation. “She clearly has no intention of leaving me be.” Ryan figured. “I have lots of options here. I could fight; but they have no intention to harm me. If I attack, they’ll probably call in their military to kill me. I could run; viable. I could hide. No, no, they would find me. But,” Ryan looked around. “There is all this food.” Odds were, there were lots of tiny critters that Ryan could kill and eat, too. So, he could run and try to survive in an unknown world, or he could stay put and survive in something that he knew. He already knew where the first one would land him; the same place as last time.

“I’ll just try to hide.”

Groggy and dirty, Ryan walked from his spot and explored the orchard, intent on knowing his new home like the back of his hand.

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

Twilight got up slowly, yawning and stretching as she did so. She looked over to Spike; he had been asleep on her back the previous night, so he missed the whole exchange. Even when Sweetie Belle screamed, he stayed asleep. Biy, that dragon slept like the dead.

She wrote him a quick note to give him the day off; where she was going, he probably couldn’t help much. Today, she was going back to Sweet Apple Acres to find this creature.

After a short breakfast, she exited her library home and trotted on over to the farm. On er way, she encountered only a few ponies. The most notable was Pinkie, not surprisingly awake at seven thirty. “Heya Twily!” She shouted. Pinkie ran over to join Twilight on her walk. “So whatcha doin’?” she asked. Twilight was delighted to have the company of a friend.

“I’m heading over to Sweet Apple Acres.” she explained. “I think that the creature may be there.” Pinkie Pie gasped loudly.

“REALLY!?” she shouted. Twilight hushed her. “Are you gonna bring it here? Are you gonna experiment on it? ARE WE GONNA THROW IT A PARTY AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN AND BE BESTEST FRIENDS FOREVEEEEEER?” she whispered this as loudly as she could. Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes.

“Maybe. I can’t say for certain.” Pinkie gave a happy snort.

“Well, I’d love to help, but I have to work at Sugarcube Corner. Sorry, Twi.” Twilight waved a hoof.

“No worries. I can find it, I’m sure.” Pinkie smiled big, then hopped off to go to work. “You’ll be the first pony I bring him to!” she shouted. Pinkie exclaimed her excitement, but her words were lost in the distance. Turning around, Twilight thought about how she would go about this. “Guess I’ll just have to look around.” she figured.

She got to the farm in a small amount of time, only to find that the apples, minus Applebloom, were already up and at work. Farmers always get up early, Twilight knew that. “Applejack!” Twilight shouted. Big Mac and Applejack turned to see Twilight standing off in the distance.

“Howdy Twi!” Applejack shouted back. Twilight trotted over to her friend. “What bring y’all here today?” Applejack asked, curious as to why her friend showed up out of the blue.

Twilight looked around as if to make sure no ponies other than Mac were around. “I think the creature is on your farm.” she said. Applejack stopped in her tracks. “I came here to find it.” Applejack looked to her brother, who had heard the whole thing. He nodded.

“Yeah, Ah think that would be a good idea.” Applejack replied. “If’n it’s here, it’ll be out in one of the fields. I’d check the north field first; it’s closest to the Everfree Forest.” Twilight thanked her friend and her friend’s brother and ran off to the north field.

In the north field, she had already spent almost an hour searching. Considering that this creature was probably moving around, this frustrated her; who knew where it could be? How did she know that it hadn’t left the farm already? Sh sighed to herself.

“I don’t have any idea where to start.” she said to herself. She walked over to a tree and laid down in the shade, exhausted from the early morning summer heat and pondered. “I saw the creature here last night!” she told herself. “It spoke to me.” The shade was awfully welcoming. “I’ll sit here and plan.” she decided.

It was small and very quiet, but a noise came from behind Twilight’s tree. She froze; if this was a small critter, she would be mad. If it was the creature, she didn’t want to risk running it off. Using her magic to lift herself off the ground, Twilight got up and turned herself to face the tree. She dropped herself gently, and made her way around the tree.

What she saw was staggering, to say the least.

Before her stood the creature, in all its potentially-existent glory. It was incredibly dirty; it must have slept in the ground. On its head was a hat, some kind of beret, colored green with some small insignia on it. It had a nice scarf around its neck, and on its torso, was a large vest with all sorts of things hanging off of it. There was a hammer, a knife, a syringe, two strange metal instruments, and several long, rectangular metal things. It had a jacket on that concealed its arms, but short pants on. They looked like they had been cut up at one point. The creature was standing, looking the other way, eating an apple. Twilight was just a little bit peeved; stealing is wrong! He could at least try to repay the Apple family for eating their livelihood. Twilight quietly moved away from the cover of the tree, eyes trained on the creature. It was talking to itself.

“Fucking Narendra and his little minions...” Narendra? Who was that? And why the vulgar language? Twilight swallowed hard.

“Hello..?” she said, terrified. The creature froze, dropping the apple. Slowly, its hand went to the strange metal instrument on its right side, pulling it from its place. He turned around and looked at Twilight, their eyes locking. Twilight tried to learn what she could from the fhort contact; his eyes held very little. But that told Twilight a lot. “My name is-” The creature cut her off.

“Twilight.”

Twilight blinked twice. The creature had spoken to her. How exciting! “Umm, yes.” She wasn’t sure what to say now. Why hadn’t she planned for this? “I, umm, came to find you.” she explained. The creature hacked a lugee and spat it away.

“I figured.” Holy Celestia, a real conversation with another, undiscovered sentient species! Twilight would have squee’d if she wasn’t so nervous.

“Ummmm... okay.” she replied. The creature slowly turned to face Twilight, weird thing still in its hand.

“So what’re you gonna do now?” he asked. That was a good question. “I have no intent on going anywhere with bizarre strangers.” Twilight was slightly agawk. She was bizarre? Where was this guy from?

“I hate to break it to you,” she began. “but YOU’RE the weird one here.” The creature smirked at the realization.

Twilight moved forward, prompting the creature to move back. “Please, I just want to help.” she pleaded. The creature kept moving back, even when she stopped.

“I don’t want your help.” he replied. “I want to be left alone.” Twilight shook her head.

“That’s no way to live.” Damn, he knew just how right she was, even if she didn’t. He stopped to think, but Twilight kept on going. “Please, trust me.” Ryan scowled.

“Why?” he asked.

Twilight stopped dead. He had a lot of good questions. “Just have faith, please. I mean you no harm.” Faith. That was something that Ryan hadn’t thought about in some time. He had been concerned with logic, with living to kill that man. He hadn’t given faith its time in a while. Logic screamed at him not to trust her, but the tiny voice of faith in the back of his mind said to. He tried to distract himself.

“Why do you trust me? How do you know I won’t eat you?” Twilight was visibly disturbed, but pressed on.

“Because I have faith that you won’t.”

Ryan’s M1911 was pointed at her by now, but he was lowering it. Maybe she meant him no harm. Maybe she really could be good.

“...”

He holstered his weapon, and Twilight walked up to him. “Please, come with me.” she said, nosing his hand. “I think you may like the town.” Everything Ryan had screamed at him to just run, but something about this mare kept him from doing so. It was like her presence forced him to have faith.

“Fine.” he said gruffly.

Twilight smiled massively; slightly disconcerting, to be truthful. She hopped around, going, “YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!” It was adorable, actually. She grabbed his hand with her hoof (How?) and dragged Ryan away to the farm house.

On the way, she kept trying to get Ryan to talk, but to little avail. Eventually, she just started asking simple questions. “I totally forgot!” she yelled. “What’s your name, if you have one?” Ryan hadn’t anticipated this. he was willing to give her enough faith to go with her, but not enough to give her his name.

“Harkness.” Ryan replied without thinking. Harkness? What the hell?

“Harkness.” she repeated. “Hmm.”

They walked together in silence after that, Twilight clearly getting that Ryan wasn’t in the mood to talk. She kept on looking at him, though. In her eyes, Ryan could see a sparkle of excitement, like she was going to become his friend. In response, Ryan locked eyes with her each time. He had figured out that it drove her eyes away from him. Maybe it was because there was nothing to look at.

They approached the farm house from the previous night, and Twilight looked around. No one was there. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked. Twilight trotted forward a couple of steps and then turned.

“I’m looking for Applejack.” That was the orange pony, if Ryan remembered right.

“Why?” he asked, unhappy with the implications.

“So you can meet her!” she said happily. Her smile was balanced out by Ryan’s scowl. Nice and neutral. “I want to introduce you to all of my friends.” Ryan sighed. e should have seen this coming, but he hadn’t been thinking straight.

“Fine.” Twilight squee’d and galloped towards the farmhouse, leaving Ryan in the dust. He jogged after her, trying to stall for as long as possible before going into an awkward social situation. He had been in plenty of those; they were terrible.

Twilight waited for him at the door. When Ryan finally got there, she looked like she had just graduated from Harvard Medical with a one hundred percent on everything she did. Suffice it to say, she was excited. She knocked hard on the door, perhaps too hard. She smiled sheepishly, as there was now a dent in the door from her hoof.

“Just a minute!” an elderly voice called out. Ryan swallowed hard. Why, why did it have to be an elderly lady? He stood a bit farther back as the door opened. “Howdy there, Twilight!” the old mare announced. She spotted Ryan in an instant. “And who’s your... friend?” Twilight moved aside so the older mare could get a look at Ryan.

“Granny Smith, this is the creature the girls saw. His name’s Harkness.” Granny Smith moved toward Ryan surprisingly fast for one so old and scrutinized him. For a minute, all was silent.

“WELL HOWDY!” she shouted. putting her hoof around Ryan’s hand and shaking hard. “Good to see you’re alive!” She let go, and Ryan nursed his aching hand. Twilight giggled. “AJ, Macky, Applebloom! Come out here!”

Ryan stood back as he heard the sound of lots of hooves hitting hardwood flooring. Suddenly, three ponies burst outside, looking to their Granny. “What is it granny?” Applejack asked. Granny Smith pointed at Ryan. All three of the ponies jaws collapsed to the ground.

“This here’s Harkness. Twilight found him.” She went to go inside. “Ah’m sure y’all are gonna have a nice talk. He seems nice enough.” If only she knew.

When Granny Smith left, there was an awkward silence. Applejack stared in awe at Ryan, never having laid eyes on him before. The big red guy, “Macky”, he had been called, looked at him curiously while chewing at a piece of straw. He looked curious but generally uninterested. Ryan nodded to him, he nodded back. He was the kind of guy Ryan could relate to. The other, though, Applebloom, was wide-eyed and looked like she was about to burst.

“Well?” she said, still excited. Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Can’t y’all talk?”

Ryan scratched his head. “Yeah.”

Applebloom suddenly burst forward fast as a speeding bullet and ran around in circles around Ryan. “WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!” she shouted. Ryan wasn’t even trying to keep up, he would just fall over. “Ah can’t believe I finally get to talk to him!” it was like he wasn’t even there, the way she spoke. The other mare, Applejack, came forward and extended a nervous hoof.

“Ah’m Applejack. It’s, umm, nice to meet you.” She avoided locking eyes, which was just fine with him. “That there’s Big Macintosh.” Again, they nodded to each other. Men of few words. Applejack moved back, but Applebloom kept on running.

“Ah can’t wait to get the girls!” she shouted.

“Oh God, there’s more?” Ryan dreaded.

Twilight saved his day, at least for the moment. “Well, while you go off to get them, I’ll show Harkness around, introduce him to the others. We’ll see you all later!” The Apple family waved their goodbyes and Ryan gave a salute as he left. One down, at least five to go. Fun.

The pair left the farm and went off toward a small town. From a distance, Ryan could see that there were lots more ponies there. “Are you sure I should just parade through there?” he asked, trepidatiously looking at the town.

“Don’t worry, ever since Zecora, the ponies of Ponyville are much more accepting.” Ponyville? Really? And who was Zecora?

“If you say so.” They were soon upon the town.

Around them, ponies stopped everything and looked at the pair in awe. This creature, wearing a strange set of clothes, just walked in with the resident genius like nothing was wrong. Well, not quite. When the townsponies looked closer, they saw the nervousness in the creature’s face. Being ever respectful, those who noticed looked away to try to make him more comfortable. Some had seen the events of days prior, so they didn’t want him to suffer more. Ryan was grateful for this.

Up above, there were several peasi in the clouds, seemingly moving them. Magic. Ryan looked back down only to find himself looking a the weirdest building; it was like something from Candyland. “Now you’ll meet Pinkie Pie!” Twilight announced. She sounded like an airport speaker. They approached the door, but as they neared it, it swung open for them. Instinctively, Ryan reached back for his knife, but when nothing flew out at him, he only drew it half way. Thankfully, Twilight didn’t notice.

“..?” Ryan looked at Twilight, who looked back at him, then ushered for him to go in. He walked forward through the door.

Confetti assaulted his face, making him close his eyes. Loud noises sounded everywhere. “SURPRISE!” a girly voice called out. Ryan opened his eyes, only to find a world of pink. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” Ryan moved back and took a look at the pony who had attacked him with fun. She was happy, energetic, and looked a little bit crazy.

“I figured as much.” Ryan replied. Twilight walked in.

“Pinkie, this is Harkness.” Ryan tentatively extended his hand, which Pinkie grabbed and shook reasonably.

“You must be that creature!” she shouted. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Now we can party and have lots of fun and play games and-” Ryan looked to Twilight for help, which she readily provided.

“Pinkie, how about you give him one of your signature cupcakes?” Ryan turned to look at the pink ball of energy as she gasped loudly.

“YOU’RE RIGHT!” She ran off, leaving a confused Ryan in her wake. When she returned moments later, she held a cupcake out to him. “Try it, you’ll love it!”

Not wanting to cause offense, Ryan took it. He hadn’t eaten anything like this in a while, but it couldn’t be that bad for him... right? he took a bite. It was one of the best cupcakes he had ever had.

“Good.” he replied, stuffing the rest down his gullet. He hadn’t eaten that many calories in a sitting since Australia. Pinkie smiled at him so big, he thought that it would tear a hole in reality.

“YAYZEES!” she yelled, putting him into a big hug. Ryan didn’t even bother resisting; affection probably wouldn’t kill him.

A stallion suddenly appeared behind the counter. He looked at Ryan, then at Pinkie on top of him, then back at Ryan. “I see you’ve met Pinkie.” he said. Ryan looked over. “I’m Mr. Cake. I and my wife own this shop.” Ryan nodded to the man, then turned his attention back to the pink globbus.

“You can let go now.” he said. Pinkie let him go and ran back to Mr. Cake.

“He’s really great!” No, he’s really not. Pinkie suddenly started telling Mr. Cake everything she knew about Ryan, which was a little bit more than he was expecting. When she finished, Mr. Cake looked to Ryan.

“Well, I’m glad to see that you’re alright now.” Ryan nodded.

“It’s good to not die.” he replied. Mr. Cake smiled nervously at him.

“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I think I may be driving your customers away.”” Mr. Cake took the hint.

“Well, I’d hate to keep you anyhow. It was nice meeting you.” Ryan turned and nodded.

“Likewise.” But not really.

He and Twilight left the place, Sugarcube Corner, the sign read, and moved on down the street. The pegasi were still in the air doing their thing, but now, there was one very distinctive one in the air. It was light blue, like the sky, but its wane was a rainbow. “Joyous times.” Ryan thought. He recognized it from the previous night. Twilight noticed his gazing to the sky and followed where his eyes were going.

“Oh!” she said. “That’s Rainbow Dash!” Twilight took a few steps forward. “RAINBOW!” she shouted. The pegasus must have heard, for she swooped down and landed near them with quite a bit of gusto.

“Twilight! How’s it-” She stopped when she saw Ryan. “Is that..?” She pointed at Ryan. Twilight nodded.

“Yes.” she said, moving aside and pointing at Ryan. “His name’s Harkness.” Ryan nodded curtly. Rainbow moved forward.

“Hmm.” She circled him suspiciously.

Ryan was wishing that he hadn’t agreed to this by now. He should have stuck to being alone. He should have thrown faith out the window. “You’re not evil, are you?” Ryan shrugged.

“Depends on how you define ‘evil’.” Twilight’s smile faltered for a moment, then came back in a force. Rainbow’s suspicious gaze turned into a scowl.

“I have to go now.” Rainbow announced to Twilight. “But I’ll be watching you.” She took off, leaving Ryan to ponder their very brief encounter.

Twilight walked back over to Ryan and patted his arm. “Don’t worry, my philosophical new friend.” she said. “She’ll come around eventually.” With that bit of reassurance, Twilight grabbed Ryan’s arm and started dragging him away.

Before he knew where they were going, they stopped. Before him was a large, lavishly decorated building. Through the windows in the front, Ryan could see several mares sitting, reading magazines. “Why are we here?” he asked. “And where are we?” Twilight let go of Ryan’s arm and went to the door.

“This is the Ponyville Day Spa.” she explained “Rarity and Fluttershy are here.” Oh, boy. Rarity would probably have some choice words for him, for terrifying her little sister. More awkwardness.

“Alright.” he said as Twilight held the door open for her. Ryan walked inside.

All reading or writing ceased when Ryan came inside. All of the mares looked up from whatever they were doing and stared. He felt like someone was going to pull a gun and shoot at him. “Harkness?” Twilight said. Ryan was rigid as he stood, scanning the room. “You feel a bit tense.” she said, rubbing his arm.

“Yeah.” he said, pulling his arm away. Twilight looked around, then got it. She immediately went to the desk.

“Hello, are Rarity and Fluttershy in?” she asked. The desk mare looked at her, then at Ryan.

“Y-yes, madame. You may head on in.” Twilight nodded her thanks as she went in, followed not so closely by Ryan.

Inside this area, Ryan felt even more out of place. There were so many frills and cushions and relaxation things that Ryan felt like he would end up being killed if he stayed. He couldn’t let his guard down, even if it was to relax.

“Ah! Over there.” Twilight said, pointing to a couple of ud baths. The last time Ryan had any sort of mud bath was in a river in Vietnam. He shuddered at the memory as they approached the mares. “Rarity, Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed. The mares had cucumbers over their eyes, so they couldn’t see Ryan.

“Darling, how wonderful to see you!” Rarity replied. Irony. “I’m so glad you could come. Go on, join one of us. It’s really relaxing.” Twilight happily rolled her eyes.

“That’s not actually why I’m here.”

Rarity and Fluttershy both sat up a bit. “Really?” Fluttershy said. “Then what brings you here? If you don’t mind me asking.” She shrunk her form at the end of the statement like that would protect her from a monster.

“I found the creature!” she said giddily. “His name’s Harkness and he’s here to meet you.” Both spa mares shot upright and removed their cucumbers. Rarity looked at Ryan with a combination of glee and disapproval. Fluttershy looked at him like he was dying again.

“Dear, me, my manners have escaped me! I’m Rarity, darling, local clothing designer.” She put a hoof up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ryan nodded.

“I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy said quickly. She moved over to the edge of her bath and got closer to Ryan. “Mr. Harkness, are you alright?” she asked. Ryan nodded wordlessly. “You’re sure? No infections leftover or anything?” Well, he hadn’t thought of that. No matter.

“I’m sure I’m fine.” he said, causing Fluttershy to shrink back a bit and Rarity to look at him excitedly.

“Ooh, this is magnificent!” Rarity exclaimed. “I’ll have to make you all new clothes! Trust me, they will be the absolute best you will ever have.” Ryan nodded to her. He didn’t want to come off as an asshole; that would get him nowhere.

“Thank you, Miss Rarity, and Miss Fluttershy.” He paced backwards a few steps. “It’s been a pleasure.”

Without waiting for Twilight, Ryan made his way outside while she stayed to chat with her friends. “Well, he seems like a gentlecolt.” Rarity beamed. Fluttershy concurred.

“I do hope that he’s okay. It would be terrible if he wasn’t really okay.” Twilight waved a dismissive hoof.

“No worries; I’m sure he’s alright.”

While they were talking, Ryan made his way outside. The spa mares looked at him again, prompting him to go faster. He opened the door and-

He was knocked to the ground by what felt like three cannonballs, all screaming and shouting something. As soon as he hit the ground, Ryan rolled back up, ready for a fight. He held himself, though, at seeing the three little ones from the previous night.

“Sorry, mister- hey, it’s him!” The one who yelled that was Applebloom, and as soon as she did, the other two leapt up and ran over to Ryan, who towered over them. They circled him, asking him all kinds of questions. He answered one at a time.

“What’s your name?”

“Harkness.”

“Where are you from?”

“America.”

“Where’s that?”

“Far away.”

He tried to keep nonspecific questions vaguely answered. Before he knew it, other little ones were coming around. “Wow, AB was telling the truth!” She apparently told them all that she met “the creature”. Ryan turned to see several little ones, one with a camera, staring at him as the three originals ran around him, shouting incoherently.

“What if it’s a monster?” one asked. Another tried to reassure it.

“Monsters only come out at night and in the Everfree, remember?”

Ryan didn’t want all this attention. “I came out of the Everfree.” he announced, causing their little jaws to go agape. He crouched and loudly whispered, “And the night is my domain.” The little ones looked like they wanted to run, but the three circling him must have convinced them not to.

“Aww, he ain’t no danger! He’s real nice, just gotta get to know him.” Ryan sighed and gave up.

He sat down, and as he did so, the young one with the camera came up to him. “Do you mind if I, maybe, get a picture?” the tiny Brit asked. “For the news?”

Ryan shrugged. “Why not?” The little Brit smiled as he brought up his camera. There was a bright flash, and the camera went back down.

“Thanks, Mister!” he said as he retreated back to the group.

Right as he did so, Twilight came back out. “You good... to... go?” She giggled as she looked at Ryan, still in a circle of fillies.

“As ready as I could be.” He stood up and leapt away from the fillies.

They all said their goodbyes and Ryan left with Twilight, heading in God knows what direction. “Where to now?” he asked fearfully. Twilight pointed forward at a big tree.

“The library. That’s where I work and live.” She started to trot forward. “Let’s go! I have lots of questions for you!” She ran off to her home, leaving Ryan in the dust once again. He ran after her.

“I guess I should either be careful with my answers,” he thought. “Or I can be totally honest.”

He was at the door, meeting back up with Twilight, who seemed unable to comprehend that his species was not built for running like hers.

“Here we go.” He walked inside when Twilight held the door open for him.