Ryan wasn’t looking forward to this day. He was actually hoping that something, anything, would keep this day from happening. Violence, injury, escape, opportunity, anything would have worked. He really didn’t want to work at Rarity’s boutique today.

His main concern was how she had said that she wanted to make him clothes. That would mean that he would have to remove what he was already wearing. “I can’t let her see the scars.” he thought as he got up out of his trench. Once he was out, he stretched his back, hearing several satisfying cracks and pops as he did so, and donned his beret and scarf. With his hand back there, he felt around for anything that may have fallen off. His knife was there on the back in its place. He was also surprised to feel the morphine syringe. He pulled it out and held it in front of himself. “Hmm...” He looked hard at it, trying to figure out what to do with it. He had no real need for it now, and neither did these ponies, with their magic. He twirled it around in his hands.

“I’ll keep it.” You never know, after all.

He started towards the town. It was early in the morning, around half past five. The birds weren’t even chirping yet. Insects of the night still buzzed about in the remaining darkness of the night before, forcing Ryan to swat at them when they drew near. The wind had picked up a little in the night, and a gentle breeze was kissing the land as it went along its merry way. There were a few clouds up above, but only barely visible in the darkness. The sky was a calm shade of dark blue, slowing getting lighter as the day began to progress. Ryan stopped in the middle of the field between his trench and the town.

“This is how the world should be.” he thought. His world would be like this soon enough; no people, or ponies, no conflict, nothing to remind him any more of his crimes then he already had. He could be left to his misery.

He started up for the town again, but at a slower pace. He might as well take his time since Rarity would still be asleep. Hopefully, her little sister, Sweetie Belle, wouldn’t bother him today like she had on Saturday.

Sunday had been alright for Ryan, though. he had managed to have about ten bits left on Saturday night, so he was able to buy cheap, edible snacks for himself. He had managed to avoid being found by any of the ponies with whom he had interacted with so far, though they had searched for him. He knew that because they had very nearly found him several times. Once, he was back in his trench, sitting quietly with his gun in his hand, when he heard several feminine voices approaching. Three were certainly of the little fillies, as they were called. Ryan just thought of them as little girls.

The other two voices were clearly of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. The fillies must have told Twilight and Rainbow about where they had found Ryan the previous day, so they looked for him there. In order to escape, Ryan had to run down the trench as fast as he could and jump out and into a bush. Luckily, they hadn’t found him. This was in the morning, after Ryan woke up from a hangover that knocked him out for about six hours.

The next to escapes of his day were in close proximity to each other. Apparently, the girls had decided to keep looking for Ryan throughout the rest of the day, and they figured that they would search the outskirts of the town. That meant the whole line of the trench. Luckily for Ryan, they started by going in the opposite direction that he had, so he had time to run off. When he was far enough away, he decided to go into the town. Surely there would be no ponies there who would look for him; but there were. Pinkie, Ryan recalled her name with ease, was excited to see him. She had actually managed to get a clean look at him at one point.

“HARKNESS!” she had yelled. Ryan’s face took on a frustrated scowl, and he ran. Pinkie followed for a time, getting right next to Ryan. “Whatcha doin’?” she had asked. Ryan stopped.

“Trying to avoid ponies.” Before Pinkie could stop and turn, Ryan ran down an alley and turned left as soon as he was out. Pinkie must have lost interest or not noticed, because she didn’t follow him.

While Ryan ran, he tried to think of places where he could hide. He could always hide on the apple farm. “I’ll head there.” he told himself. But he wasn’t going to go there without some trouble; he nearly bowled over Rarity on the way. He had to leap into the air to avoid a collision, ruffling her hair as he shot over her.

“Darling, do be careful!” she said, using her magic and a comb to fix her hair. “What’s got you in such a rush now?” She sounded half annoyed and half interested.

“Umm...” Ryan had to think quickly of a response. before he could, though, he heard five familiar voices again.

“Are y’all sure that he ain’t out there?” Applebloom asked someone. Ryan flew into a mental panic.

“I’m escaping from Pinkie!” he announced, then ran away in the direction of the farm. Rarity didn’t have time to respond.

Other than that, Ryan’s Sunday had been fine. He stayed on the farm mostly, careful to avoid the family that lived there, and just sat around. Once, he went out to buy cheap food. But now, he was going back to the ponies to get money. “Freakin’ lack of money.” he thought. He had no money left any more and if he was to leave any time soon, he would need money. Hopefully, Rarity would pay him well for whatever job she gave him.

He soon found himself in the town, and the sun was beginning to rise. It had taken him around forty minutes to get to town, so it was probably around quarter past six. The ponies would likely be getting up soon. Ryan already knew that the Apple family would be up. Though he wasn’t sure if anyone else would be.

“Rarity’s probably still asleep.” he figured. She didn’t seem like an early bird, being less of a physical worker and more of an artist. In Ryan’s experience, artists tended to get however much sleep they could. He always just thought that they used their dreams as inspiration.

He went to Carousel Boutique and looked around. There was nothing particular, except for a small tree off to the side. Ryan went over and sat under it, not having any desire to be out when the sun came up. It was hot enough already.

He sat there for close to two hours before he decided to stand up. Sitting was fine, but lack of movement tends to lead to thoughts and memories, neither of which Ryan was particularly interested in. “I wonder if she’s up yet.” he said as he stood up. He walked over to the building and inspected it absentmindedly. He searched for any less than overt ways inside, but quickly corrected himself when he realized what he was planning. Instead, he looked around for anything that would let him view the inside. Off to his left was a window next to the door.

“Good enough.” he thought. He walked over to the window and took a look inside.

Inside, he saw what must have been a dozen mannequins spaced about around the room, each with its own little outfit. Most looked like they were covered in fillies and tactically suicidal glam. “Ugh.” Ryan thought. He looked elsewhere in the room. There was a little stage off on one end of the room with mirrors surrounding it. On the other end was a pair of changing rooms where he assumed ponies would change.

“Weird.” Ryan thought. Aren’t the ponies usually naked? Lastly, there was a staircase and an opening into a room that looked like a kitchen. Inside the kitchen, there was Rarity and Sweetie Belle, eating breakfast. Sweetie Belle had a backpack on. “I guess that school starts at around the same time here.” he said to himself.

Ryan decided to wait for Rarity to finish her meal and time with her sister before knocking, and so leaned up against the wall of the building while he waited. he tried to guess what Rarity would ask him once inside. “She’ll probably want to know about fashion and stuff.” he concluded rather quickly. She was a fashion designer after all; that was her trade. She would surely be interested in Ryan’s old homeworld. Wracking his brain, Ryan tried to think of anything fashionable from home. He remembered Uggs and rain boots for girls, yoga pants, Under Armor for guys, and nothing else. He at least had something to go off of.

The door opened, and Sweetie Belle came running out. “Later Rarity!” she yelled without looking back. She hadn’t even noticed Ryan as she ran off. He looked into the Boutique as she ran past; Rarity was still in the kitchen. Not wanting to miss a chance to enter quietly, Ryan snuck in through the rapidly closing door, just slipping past the hinge as it shut.
He maneuvered himself over to the stage and waited there for Rarity to walk through the door and see him. He could hear her doing the dishes in the kitchen.

She was humming a little tune. As Ryan listened to it, he glanced around the room. Nothing was different from what he had seen from the outside, save that there were a couple more mannequins. He crossed his legs on the stage and watched the archway to the kitchen. “Any minute now.” he thought.

Rarity walked through the archway, still humming her tune to herself. Her eyes were closed and she was waving her hoof about as she walked along, not seeing Ryan on her little stage. He observed her as a hawk observes its prey, keen on taking in every detail. Her coat was clearly very clean, she probably washed it every morning and probably at night. The mark, her cutie mark, was three diamonds and nothing else. Ryan had no idea what that could mean exactly.

“Weird.” he thought. The closest thing he had was the big USA carved into his back, and that wasn’t exactly obtained willingly. In fact, his cutie mark of sorts could just be all of his scars put together. His special talent was having the living shit kicked out of him. “And living.” he concluded. At least, slightly. He had died, as far as he was concerned. Discord just brought him back.

Rarity walked through the room and over to her door, flipping the closed sign to open. When she turned around, she had her eyes open and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Ryan covered his ears and let his eyelids close. When he opened them again, Rarity had her hoof over her heart and was gasping for air.

“Not so loud, please.” Ryan requested.

Rarity swallowed hard and tried to calm herself. It only worked a little. “W-w-why... how?” She couldn’t coherently speak. So Ryan waited for her to be ready. “What are you doing here?” she asked, now with all hooves on the ground and stepping forward toward Ryan.

“Remember that I work here now on Mondays?” he reminded her. “I’m here to do whatever my job is.” Rarity was now in front of him.

“Well, Harkness, I suppose that we can start.” She sniffed the air. “But not until you’re clean and decent.”

Ryan crossed his arms and looked at Rarity. “Rarity, men like me can never be clean OR decent. No reason to try.” She waved a dismissive hoof right in Ryan’s face.

“Nonsense. All you need is a bath and for your clothes to be washed.” Ryan opened his mouth to speak. “And no, you can’t wear those in the bathtub. I will take them and wash them.” Ryan shut his mouth and scowled.

“How am I to go about this?” he wondered. He swung his legs off of the stage and stood up. “Alright.” he said. “But here’s my rules; I take my clothes off in the bathroom and leave them outside the door. After you’ve cleaned them, you leave them right outside the door. When I come out, I’ll be wearing them again.” Rarity looked at him curiously. “Clear?” Ryan asked. Rarity nodded.

“Sure, darling, sure. But if I may ask?” Ryan looked at her; he knew what question was coming. “Why are you so resistant to be in the nude? All of us are.” Ryan looked away for a moment, formulating a response.

“Back home, nudity isn’t exactly welcome. Also, human parts tend to hang free.” Rarity blushed, realizing the implication. “So yeah.”

She nodded and began to lead Ryan over to the stairs. Before they got there, a cat came down and looked at them. “Opal, this is Harkness. Please, don’t bother him. He’s a friend.” The cat looked at Ryan with narrowed eyes as if to say, I don’t trust you. Ryan shrugged.

“You shouldn’t.” he said with the motion. The cat stood up and walked away.

“Sorry. Opal is just a cranky kitty sometimes.” Rarity explained.

Ryan shrugged again. “Meh. I’ve dealt with worse.” he replied. Rarity gave him a weak smile and led him up the stairs.

Once upstairs, Rarity pointed down a small hallway to a room at the end. “That’s the bathroom. Inside there’s a bath. I trust that you can operate sinks and faucets.” Ryan nodded. Why would she have any reason to believe that he could? “Good! I’ll just wait outside for you to toss out your clothes.” Ryan walked down the hall to the bath.

“Alright.” he said.

He cracked the door open and looked inside before entering. The bathroom was extremely lavish; the floor tiles were white marble with what looked like Amethyst encrusted into them in large, flower-like patterns. The walls had white marble tiling and what could have been blue sapphire or blue topaz squares in each tile. The towel racks were brilliantly shiny brass, and had swirling ends like funnel clouds. The sink was short and made of porcelain with patterns etched into the side deep enough that Ryan could see them from the door. They were vines with dragon’s tongue flowers on the ends. The sink faucet was brass like the towel racks. The bathtub was porcelain like the sink, but had no patterns etched into it. Its faucet, too, was brass. There was also a large mirror on the wall, like something out of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles.

“Whoa.” Ryan said. He had never seen a bathroom this ridiculous before.

“Yes, it’s quite impressive, hmm?” Rarity replied from behind. Using her horn, she nudged Ryan on his behind to enter the room.

“Rarity, I’m not exactly into having long and stiff instruments poking my rear.” Without waiting for a reply, Ryan entered the bathroom and shut the door.

“I assure you, Harkness, that I am not that kind of lady.” he heard Rarity reply from behind the door. Ryan started to take off his clothes.

“Right.” he replied. As he took off his clothes, he remembered that he wouldn’t want her to have his weapons in case she got too curious. He removed his guns, knife, hammer, and morphine from the vest and set them off to the side. “Can’t let things like that into the hands of those who don’t understand.” he thought. He also removed his necklace and watch and set them with everything else.

He took his time removing his clothes, partly because they were sticking to him from all the sweat and grime that they had accumulated. Even he had to admit that that was perhaps not the healthiest way to live. “Even so.” Ryan said to himself. “It doesn’t matter.” He would probably be living like that in the future anyhow. Once he had all of his clothes off, he cracked the door open and tossed them out.

“Ah!” He had startled Rarity, it seemed. He let his arm hang outside the door for a moment.

“Just leave them here,” He pointed at the ground. “when you bring them back.” His arm retreated back behind the door and shut it.

Rarity used her magic to pick up the clothes. There was no chance under Celestia’s magnificent sun that she was going to actually touch them. Ryan had handed her a short-sleeved shirt, a jacket, a pair of shorts, a vest with lots of places to put things, a scarf, a beret, a pair of socks, worn boots, and underwear. It all smelled terrible. But that wasn’t what shocked Rarity when Ryan’s arm came out.

“I wonder what happened to him...” she thought aloud, looking back at the bathroom door. What had surprised her when the arm came out was the skin on it. It looked like somepony had melted it and poured it back on. Rarity knew that this wasn’t exactly something that happened randomly. “I hope he’s okay.” She went downstairs to the washer, where she continued to contemplate the significance of this new development.

Ryan started the water in the tub and sat on the ground, the cold marble floor welcoming to him. It was actually the first time he had sat on something hard and stable in quite some time. He didn’t feel like thinking at the moment, so he just sat there in the room. Absentmindedly, he got up and went into the tub, letting the hot water embrace him in its fluid grasp. Then he started thinking.

“This is Rarity’s tub...” He suddenly felt a little awkward using the tub, but he was already in it, so he might as well stay. If only she had a shower. “Eesh.” He was looking down into the water. It was turning green and brown around him as it carried away all the dirt and grime. There was also a lot of red. “Guess I did need a bath.” He didn’t care about the dirt, but he wasn’t fond of the idea of having dried blood on himself all the time. Deciding to let the tub do its work, Ryan leaned back and looked at the ceiling, trying not to let his mind wander to the river in Vietnam.

Rarity inspected each piece of clothing before she put it in the bucket for washing. She had to make sure there were no tears in each one, or she might make the damage worse. She started with the jacket. It had a lot of grime on it, but the most prominent of all was the amount of red stains on it. They were especially bad around a hole that Rarity quickly found in it. “Must be from when the girls found him.” she figured. Using her magic and sewing kit, she fixed up the hole in no time and set to washing the jacket. It wasn’t easy to get the blood stains out with the washboard.

“Get out, filthy stains!” she commanded. Her horn began to glow, and she started using her magic to attempt to actually pry off the blood. It worked marvelously, and the jacket was nice and clean in just a few minutes. Rarity examined it. “This is actually quite nice.” she commented, taking in the jacket’s features. The material felt very comfortable, and the camouflage pattern was done perfectly. “I should make something like this for stallions.” She set the jacket down and moved on.

Next came the shorts. The only thing about these was that there was more dried blood on them. But that came off as odd to Rarity. “Why would there be blood on his pants if his chest was where he was wounded?” she wondered. She quickly dismissed the thought when she remembered how he had been transported when he was found. Next, she cleaned the underwear, which was in the same condition as the pants. She then moved onto the socks, which just had dirt on them, and the boots, which she shined and cleaned with great intensity. The shirt was in the same condition as the jacket; blood, dirt, and a hole all the way through. The last items were the beret, scarf, and vest. The beret was clean enough that she just soaked it in the soapy water and rinsed it. The scarf was harder. It was a very nice silk, so Rarity would have to use her magic to clean it.

“What a lovely scarf.” It was really out of place, though.

When she finished with that, she moved onto the vest, which really piqued her interest. It was obviously not a “social” garment. It had a lot of pockets where things could be stored, and two things that looked like they sheathed very specific items. One would hold something shaped like an “L” and the other was a knife sheath.

“Odd.” She couldn’t use the roller on this, so she just put it in the water and used her magic to clean it. She had been so busy watching the clothes that she hadn’t even noticed the change in the water; it was a dark reddish-brown now. When she looked down at it after removing the vest, she turned away and nearly threw up.

“Oh my.” she reeled. She had forgotten where all the blood would go. She quickly took everything and rinsed each item in fresh water and hung them outside to dry.

Rarity looked at the blood filled bucket and wondered what she would do about it. She couldn’t just leave it there, her sister would be coming home in a few hours. It wasn’t sanitary. “Maybe Harkness will have an idea.” She turned and trotted out the washroom arch and up the stairs.

Ryan was sitting quietly in the tub when he heard several hard knocks at the door. “Harkness, I need your help.” he heard Rarity say. He looked over in the direction of the door.

“What is it?” There was a moment of silence.

“What should I do with the bucket of, umm, blood?” Ryan blinked. He had forgotten that there would be something like that when the clothes were washed.

“Umm, I guess you can dump it outside or something?” he replied. “I’m not sure what you ponies do with medical waste here.” Another pause.

“Alright. I just wasn’t sure what you would want to do. They’re your body fluids after all.” The sound of hooves clopping away told Ryan that Rarity was about to dispose of the blood.

While she was washing away, Ryan drained the tub and refilled it to have clean water to bathe in. It was amazing how much more freedom of movement he felt like he had now. With all the dried grime and whatnot, his skin tended to feel tight under it. He felt much better.

“I should put my forest home next to a river.” he thought. When he moved somewhere else, he would have to be near a source of water for drinking and bathing.

He drained the tub again and walked over to the door. “Rarity, you out there?” he asked. He got no response. “Alright.” he said, putting his hand on the door handle. As he turned the knob, the door creaked open. He looked down; there were all of his clothes, clean and ready to go. He shot his hand out and grabbed ahold of them. When his arm came back inside, Ryan walked over to his other pile of things and sat down. He took his time putting everything on, taking in the feel of each item. It was all wonderful.

“Also I need to have a washboard.” he concluded. Once his clothes were on, he donned his other items; his watch, necklace, guns, knife, hammer, and morphine, and left the bathroom.

He exited the bathroom and went downstairs. Down there, Rarity was waiting for him in the middle of the room. “Ah, good. How do you feel?” she asked. Inside, Ryan still felt dead. Outside, he was feeling nice.

“It’s certainly better.” he replied. Rarity flashed a genuine smile.

“Good. Now, let’s work on getting the rest of you back in shape.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow.

“What?” he asked.

She pointed at his head. “I will hardly believe that THAT’S your usual hairdo.” she said. Ryan felt his head. It was a little long for his liking. “And I’m sure there are other parts of you that need tending to.” Ryan put his hands in his pockets.

“I can tend to my parts myself.” Rarity flushed.

“As sure as I am that you can, I’m referencing cleanliness.” Ryan shrugged.

“Alright.” Rarity grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the boutique.

She dragged him through the town, much to his displeasure. They were being looked at by every pony that they passed. “Rarity, how much farther is it?” he asked.

“Just over there.” she responded excitedly. He looked; it was a salon. When they were right up to it, the sign read The Main Mane. Ryan deadpanned his gaze at it.

“Clever.” he thought. Rarity tugged on his hand.

“Come on, let’s go!” She practically kicked the door open and ran in, Ryan in tow behind her.

“This young... stallion, I guess? He needs to have his mane taken care of.” Rarity explained to the deskmare. Ryan looked around. There were several mares attending to the manes of other mares. There were no stallions in the room. He leaned down to whisper to Rarity.

“Why did you bring me to a mane place for mares and not stallions?” Rarity waved her hoof.

“No worries. Stallions come here at other times.” Ryan took her word for it.

A green mare with a big mane walked up to them. “We would be happy to serve you, Mr...?” Ryan stood uncomfortably behind Rarity.

“...Harkness.” The mare nodded.

“Mr. Harkness. Please, come with me and have a seat.” He followed the mare, glancing back at Rarity. She was being led behind Ryan by another mare. “Here.” his mare said. Ryan at down, the chair sinking under his much greater weight. The mare got behind him. “So, how do you usually like it?” she asked. Ryan thought.

“Well, I like it buzzed on the sides and back and just short on top.”

The mare nodded. “One Air Guard cut, coming up.”

As she did her work, Rarity took the seat next to Ryan. “So, Harkness, what exactly did you do before you came to Ponyville?” she asked. The two mares doing their hair and mane silently worked along, listening to the conversation. Ryan hesitated before answering.

“Mostly just survived. Found myself really far from home, in the wilderness and in countries that don’t speak my language. So I just kind of survived.” He shrugged like it was nothing. None of the mares around him thought that, though.

“How? What did you do for food? Or water?” his mare asked.

“I stole from people when I encountered them, mostly. Not like beating them up, though, I took from stores. Gotta live.” The mares were silent.

“I suppose so.” Rarity’s mare replied. “But don’t they suffer from that?” Ran just shrugged again.

“Either they lose a small sum of money or I die. I figure it’s the lesser- less evil of the two.” Him dying wasn’t bad enough for the metaphor.

Rarity looked at him. “So you committed crimes to live?” she asked seriously. Ryan shrugged.

“Sure. But I don’t any more. No need to. I will only do illegal or immoral things if I think I need to.” It was true, but whether or not he needed to do those things was left to question.

“Okay.” Rarity said, clearly relieved. “I wouldn’t want a kleptomaniac near my home.”

Ryan nodded. “Me neither.” There was a moment of silence.

“How did you find yourself so far from home?” his mare asked. The question seemed to pique the interest of the other mares as well. They all looked at Ryan intently, waiting for an interesting story. He thought about it for a minute.

“I don’t want to go into it.” He looked back at his mare. “A series of unfortunate circumstances.” he explained. When he didn’t go on, they let the subject drop.

“So, what kinds of things did you do in your country?” Rarity asked. “It must be a lot different from here.” Ryan thought about how to answer her question.

“Well, I was a student. You see, all kids are required to attend public school until they turn sixteen. Then, they can drop out, or finish high school. Then , if you’re smart, you go to college. I was still in high school when I found myself elsewhere.” Rarity wasn’t satisfied with his answer.

“Sure, but what were your hobbies? What did you like to do?” Ryan was fine with questions like these, so long as they never pertained to his time in Asia.

“I did Karate and SCUBA diving. Those were my favorite activities.” The salon mares “ooh’d” at him.

“So you know how to fight?” one asked. Ryan nodded. “Have you ever used your skills?”

Ryan paused. Should he answer that? Sure, he had used them outside of Asia for fighting purposes, but this could lead to Asia if he wasn’t careful. He decided to answer. “Yes.” Rarity looked at him disapprovingly.

“Really, Harkness? I thought you were a gentleman.” Ryan put his hands up defensively, though only mockingly.

“I was defending my friends, who happen to have been a boy and a girl who was being harassed by some dude. I was trying to be chivalrous and defend the lady.” Rarity’s disapproving look became one of elated glee.

“Oh! Well, that’s nice. It’s good to see that there are a few knights in shining armor still out there.” Ryan didn't respond. He was no “knight in shining armor”.

“All done.” his mare announced. Ryan looked in the mirror. His hair was just like the way he used to like it; crisp and clean cut, very much within SOP.

“Thank you.” he replied. Before he got up, though, Rarity stared him right in the eyes. She wasn’t backing down, either. “What?” he asked.

“You’re beard.” she said. “It has to go.” Ryan rubbed his chin. The hair was getting long and would be annoying to deal with.

“Alright then.” He sat back into the chair again. “Could you shave off this facial hair for me?” he asked his mare. She nodded and pulled out an old razor kit. Ryan eyed it nervously. It wasn’t exactly a Bic razor; this was a straight up blade that you dragged across your skin. He turned to Rarity, concern playing itself out in his eyes.

“Relax.” Rarity said. “She’s good at this.” Ryan sighed and sat back.

“Just hold still.” the mare ordered.

They walked out of the salon with Ryan looking fresh and new. “Wow. I wouldn’t even guess that you’re Harkness if I hadn’t been here for this.” Rarity commented. Ryan snorted.

“I’m not.”

They walked on back to Rarity’s boutique. “So how much do I owe you for all this?” Ryan asked. Rarity waved her hoof right in his face.

“Nothing, darling! I couldn’t bear to see you walk around so filthy and... umm... bloody.” She drawled out that last word.

“Well, thanks I guess. It feels good to be clean.” Rarity smiled at him and they walked together in silence.

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

Discord was watching with great interest as Ryan left the salon. “I never figured him to be willing to do that.” he thought. And he also found it interesting that Ryan had let the mare close to his neck with a sharp blade. “I guess that no one tried to cut his throat with a blade, so he wasn’t too uncomfortable with it.” Ryan had certainly cut throats with his blade. The memory would have made Discord shudder if he was in his body. “No pony or human deserves to suffer such a fate.”

Ryan and Rarity were walking in silence while Discord watched. He quickly grew bored. “I wish they would do something.” He gave them another minute. Still nothing but walking. “I’ll come back later.” Discord returned to his body.

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

Ryan closed the door behind him as he walked back into Rarity’s home and store. He took a look at the clock up on the wall; it was about five past three. They had been out for a lot longer than Ryan thought. “Whoa.” It amazed him that he could so easily lose track of time.

“Harkness, would you be a dear and help me fold my fabric in my studio?” Rarity called from the stairs. Ryan moved in that direction.

“Sure.” He was being paid for just this, right?

They ascended the steps and went to her studio. It was a big studio, with lots of mannequins around and several shelves of fabric and sewing tools. There were a couple of sewing machines, and the room in general was a bit of a mess.

“Where should I start?” Ryan asked. Rarity pointed to a corner where fabric lay in an unorganized heap.

“Start by organizing that and putting it on a shelf.” Ryan nodded.

“Yes ma’am.” He walked over and started separating the fabric into piles according to color. “You want it by color?” he asked. Behind him, a sewing machine started up.

“Certainly.” she replied.

The doorbell rang. “I wonder who that could be?” Rarity wondered, stopping her machine. She got up and walked out of the room.

“Probably Sweetie Belle.” Ryan thought aloud. He just kept on separating the fabrics.

Rarity trotted down her steps and looked to the door. Outside, three familiar looking ponies sat waiting at her door. She rushed over. “Hello!” she said to her friends as she opened the door. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had all showed up. “What brings you all here?” She eyed Rainbow Dash. “Finally going to be a more refined lady, I hope?” Rainbow blew a raspberry at Rarity.

“As if! I’m here, for... I don’t know. I’m just here.” Rarity smiled and nodded.

“Well, it’s good to see that you’ve all stopped by.”

She let her friends in and shut the door. “I can always take a minute to spend time with my friends, especially with Harkness doing some work upstairs.” Pinkie gasped and spun around to face Rarity.

“You have him working here?!” she asked. “This is great! We can throw him a ‘Congrats-on-getting-a-job party’!” She was bouncing up and down excitedly at the prospect of throwing Harkness a party.

“Now, now, settle down Pinkie. I’m sure that we’ll throw him a party soon enough.” She kept on bouncing.

Fluttershy walked timidly up to Rarity and got close to her ear. “Umm, is he doing alright? He’s not sick or hurt or anything, right?” Her voice picked up some urgency toward the end. Rarity put her hoof on her friends back.

“He’s fine, dear. He can certainly take care of himself. In fact, I learned today that the boy knows how to fight, and has done so in the past to defend his friends.” Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk. “Relax, I’m sure that-” Rainbow jumped in and cut her off.

“Whoa, he’s actually FOUGHT ponies before!?” she asked ecstatically. Rarity huffed at her.

“Well, yes, but I don’t see how-”

Again, she was cut off. “That’s awesome! So, what, he’s like, a hero or something?” Rarity thought back. Perhaps he was a hero of sorts.

“Well, I suppose so.” she said.

Rainbow’s head whipped back and forth. “Where is he?” Rarity used her magic to pull her friend closer.

“Please, Rainbow Dash. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. Most ponies who have to fight or do things they wouldn’t otherwise do rarely ever want to talk about it. So please don’t bother him about it.” Rainbow looked to Fluttershy for help, but she had a stern gaze on Rainbow as well.

“She’s right.” was all she said. Rainbow crossed her forelegs and sat on the ground, pouting.

Rarity looked to the stairs, and when she saw no sign of Harkness, she urged her friends to get close and huddle. “Just between us, I don’t think that his fights were exactly ‘willy-nilly’. I think they were serious.” Fluttershy was stunned by the idea, but Pinkie had the most severe reaction. Sort of.

“Really? Why?” Her reaction was normal. Not exactly Pinkie Pie. Rainbow had gone silent, waiting for an explanation.

“Well, when I saw his arm earlier...” She glanced back at the stairs. “The skin was... abnormal.” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth.

“How?” she asked. Rarity took in a deep breath; Fluttershy wouldn’t like hearing this.

“Well, it looked like somepony... melted his skin, and then poured it back on.” All of the mares completely stopped moving. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I know it wasn’t normal, but I didn’t ask him about it. I figure that it isn’t a pleasant memory.” Rainbow looked over to the stairs.

“I... wow. Just... wow. I wouldn’t have thought about that.” Rarity nodded.

“Yes, so let’s try not to mention it to him.” They all nodded in agreement and went up the stairs.

Ryan had just finished organizing the fabrics onto the shelves when he heard several sets of hooves approaching the door from the hallway. “Ah, crap.” he thought. He had no desire to deal with the ponies. “I can’t wait ‘til I can make a home in the forest.” He just kept on working when somepony knocked on the door. he didn’t answer.

In came Rarity, followed by Fluttershy, who ran over to Ryan and stared at him, Rainbow, who looked curiously from afar, and Pinkie Pie, who bounced around the room for the moment. “Can I help?” Ryan asked Fluttershy, who was just a little too close for comfort. She poked his arm, causing him to recoil a bit. “Please don’t violate me.” Fluttershy flushed and moved away. In the background, Rarity giggled and put a hoof on her friend’s back when she was close enough.

“Don’t worry; he’s gotten me several times already.” Fluttershy hid under her mane as if to hide.

Pinkie Pie bounced up to him, putting her hooves on either of his shoulders. “So when do you think we’ll have that welcome party?” she asked. Ryan looked at her eyes; they were filled with fun and excitement and blissful ignorance. “Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?” Ryan shook his head and put his hands around her waist.

“Whenever you feel like surprising me is my best guess.” As he lifted her and placed her aside, she squirmed in his grasp, giggling uncontrollably.

“That tickles!” she shouted. Ryan turned around and got back to work.

“Now, is there anything I can do for you?” he asked curtly. At first, there was only silence.

“Well, umm, I would like to get a... I don’t know what it’s called. I’d like to catalogue you, I guess? For the bestiary, with the sentient races, like Ponies and Griffons.” Fluttershy asked nervously. Ryan stopped himself for a moment.

“Sure. When can we do this?”

Fluttershy shifted behind him. “This weekend, maybe?”

Ryan nodded. “Seems good.”

Rainbow floated up next to him, urged on by Rarity. It was her turn now to talk to the human. “So, umm... I don’t know. You ever flown before?” She sounded like she really wasn’t comfortable being next to Ryan. Of course, he wouldn’t be comfortable being next to a man who’s armed to the teeth either.

“Yeah.” he replied. It took Rainbow, and the others, to register his response.

“Wait, what?” Rainbow replied. “Really?” Ryan nodded again.

“Yeah. A bunch of times.” Rainbow looked to her friends, who were just as shocked as her.

“How?” she asked.

“I usually found myself on either a Boeing 737 or 767. Planes.” Rainbow looked skeptical next to Ryan, who did his best to ignore her stare.

“What’s a plane?” she asked. Ryan finished the last piece of fabric for this shelf and turned to her.

“Tomorrow, I’ll be telling Twilight about my species’ technology. Feel free to drop by.” He walked past her and over to his next set of fabric. It was gone. “What?” he quietly asked himself. He looked around; there was a purple aura on everything.

“No worries, Harkness. I can finish this. You may be done.” She floated over a sack of bits. “For your work.” Ryan took the bag; if she was going to be generous, he might as well let her. There were about thirty bits in the bag.

“Thanks.” he said. He walked out of the room and went downstairs, leaving the mares to gossip about him as they likely would. “Women.”

When he got downstairs, three familiar little fillies were there to greet him. “Hey Harkness!” they shouted in unison. Ryan looked down at them.

“Hey.”

Scootaloo ran up to him and looked up. “Can you help us to get our cutie marks?” she asked. Ryan shook his head.

“Not today.” he said. He walked out, leaving three very disappointed fillies.

“Maybe tomorrow?” Applebloom said hopefully. Ryan just kept on walking to his trench, where he could be alone and not have to worry about facing his past.

But little did he know, there was still one piece of his past that wasn’t about to leave him be.