Ryan was leaning against the wall of his trench, just trying his best to keep his mind clear. The previous night had been difficult. Shining Armor had been trying to get Ryan to drink more then he should, presumably because he knew it would mess up his inhibitions. Shining clearly knew that Ryan wasn’t telling the truth. It was especially highlighted when Shining questioned Ryan’s wartime history. The only reason he had to stop was because Nightlight had told him to. He was pretty cool, Nightlight. He didn’t press Ryan for information.

Ryan learned some interesting things about the two stallions he had to drink with. Shining Armor was a prince, thanks to his marriage to Cadance. He was previously a captain of the guard in Equestria and had fought the Changeling invasion. Ryan had to have it explained to him what a changeling was. It certainly explained why Shining Armor was so interested in Ryan’s secretive past; he naturally didn’t trust Ryan. Nightlight, too, had been a guard, though not as highly ranked as Shining Armor. He seemed more reserved, like he had seen more legitimate combat then Shining Armor.

All, in all, Ryan was just glad to have gotten out with his secrets intact.

From what he had determined from the way they acted and spoke, they would all be here for at least another day. Thankfully, Ryan had to work at Sweet Apple Acres today. They wouldn’t be able to question him so incessantly.

“Unless they really want to pester me.” He remembered his conversation with Celestia; no doubt she had told the mares about what she learned. Ryan groaned. “This day is gonna suck.” He looked to either side of himself. He was all alone.

“Hey Ryan.” Or maybe not. Ryan looked up; it was him.

“What the hell do you want?” he asked.

The Wraith jumped down into the trench and took the opposite side of Ryan. “I just came to chat. Is that so wrong?” Ryan grunted, drawing a chuckle from the Wraith.

“Yes.” The Wraith just kept on laughing and shook his head.

“Come now, Harkness. You know, that was a terrible name choice. You know what I’m here for.” Ryan glared at him.

“No. Enlighten me.” The Wraith stopped smiling for a moment, but it quickly came back.

“I’m here to tell you that you have to leave this place. You can’t possibly stay any more.” Ryan sat up and put his hand to the Automag at his side.

“What makes you say that?”

The Wraith walked around the trench. “They know that something is up with you. You can’t deny that. And by now, odds are, all of them know. Isn’t that just what you were avoiding?” Ryan stood. “They’re going to run you out of town. Now, if they tried to do that to me, I’d just shoot ’em. And you would too. But that’s the thing; isn’t that what you’re trying to escape from?” Ryan stood on his guard.

“I won’t kill any of them unless I have to.” The Wraith laughed loudly.

“And what defines ‘have to’?” Ryan could feel sweat on his brow, beading and dropping along his face in tiny droplets. “You can’t. And so you’ll just kill, like you always have.” Ryan pulled the Automag.

“Shut up.”

“Oh ho ho! Did I strike a nerve?” Ryan stepped forward.

“I didn’t have a choice. I-” The Wraith took on a sinister tone.

“YOU HAD EVERY CHOICE!” Ryan fell back. “You made your decisions because you’re a selfish pile of trash! You can’t accept that; but you know it to be true.”

Ryan pointed the gun forward. “Oh, what, are you going to shoot me?” The Wraith asked. “Please, by all means. I’ll at least be rid of you.”

Ryan snarled. “Gladly.”

He fired the gun, an ear-cracking boom slamming its way through the landscape. The bullet slammed into the dirt behind the Wraith and exploded out of the ground behind him. The smoke from the gun trailed slowly into the air. Behind it, Ryan’s face contorted with anger and confusion.

“Surprised?” the Wraith asked. Ryan fired again. “Please, don’t waste more ammo. You might need it.” the Wraith said with a smirk.

“How- why- I shot you!”

The Wraith bellowed out in laughter. “You honestly thought that would work?” he asked. Ryan scowled. “You can’t shoot me any more then you can shoot yourself. I’m unkillable.” Ryan spun around and leapt out of the trench. “You can’t run forever!” the Wraith shouted after him as he ran. “I will always find you!” Ryan just kept running, the sounds of evil laughter following him like an echo in the darkest cave.

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

Luna woke with a start. She had just had the strangest dream, almost real. She hadn’t been dream traveling that night; she saw no need. But something had awoken her.

She looked over at Starstep, who was snoring and drooling all over Luna’s nice pillows. She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Ah, Starstep.” she whispered. With the grace of a feline, Luna jumped off the bed silently and walked over to the window. Outside, the night was looking fantastic, even if getting ready to come to a close. She could still see her moon and stars all over the sky, especially the special one she made to commemorate her fallen friend. “I wish I could do more.” she thought solemnly. She sat her rump down on the ground and watched the sky.

“You’re up early.” she heard her guard say from behind.

“I could say the same for you.”

He chuckled. “I always wake up early. It’s just that in here, I can go back to sleep.” He sat down next to Luna.

“I can imagine why.” She leaned into him playfully.

He leaned back. “So what got you up so early?” he asked.

Luna looked down toward the ground. “I had an unusual dream.” Starstep looked at her, cocked eyebrow and widened eyes.

“An unusual dream? For you?” He was honestly surprised. Luan nodded.

“Yes. It was about Ryan.” Starstep deflated a bit inside. “But it wasn’t bad. I dreamed that he was here, in Equestria. And he was with several stallions, drinking happily.” She turned and looked up at her guard. “Does it mean something?” Starstep looked outside at the glory of the near dawn.

“I think it does.”

They were silent for a moment, then Luna began to hum a gentle tune. “You know you’re killing that lullaby, right?” She used her magic to yank on his tail, earning a yelp from him.

“Don’t ruin the moment.” Starstep chuckled, and they went back to looking out the window and into the eternal bounty that is the night sky.

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

Ryan looked back; the Wraith was nowhere to be seen. He seemed to have gotten away. “Just what is he?” he wondered. He looked at the pistol in his hand; he had wasted two shots. “Dammit.” He thought back on how much he had left; that left a total of ten for the Automag and fourteen for the Colt. “Gotta conserve it better.” He holstered the gun and walked around the still dark town.

It was odd, really, to walk around a population center and have NOTHING happening. There were no ponies around in the dark, no fillies or colts playing. It was a pure, dead silence. He walked around tentatively, not wanting to risk waking any of the residents.

“Probably already woke a bunch with the Automag.” Ryan said to himself. Silently, he cursed the extraordinary loudness of the .44 magnum round.

Ryan still had about two hours before he had to be at the orchards, so he walked around aimlessly. He looked around, saw what might be called the sights. There was town hall, dark and ominous in the black of the night. It stood tall, trying its best to block away the light of the moon. There was a bridge, over the river reflecting all the stars of the endless night. Even the special star shone brightly in it. There was the library, built into a tree, and there was also the boutique, the only other particularly notable building.

Ryan stopped at the boutique, seeing a bench on the other side of the road. He sat down and let out a long, exhausted breath. He hadn’t slept that night; without the alcohol totally taking him over, it only made it easier for him to think of the past. That was why he just sat in his trench, blankly staring into the dirt.

“I have to figure things out.” he said to himself. He was buzzed; otherwise, he wouldn't have admitted that.

He heard a rustle of movement behind him. Time froze while he sat at the bench. It was four in the morning; no pony should be out. Ryan got his hand on his Automag. There was a tiny voice behind him. “You shouldn’t be up at this hour, kiddos.” Ryan holstered the gun.

“Aww!”

Three little fillies came out from behind the bench and under a bush. “How’d you know we were there?” Applebloom asked in a very whiny little voice. Ryan turned and looked at the kids.

“You aren’t that stealthy. Don’t try to get special forces cutie marks.” The fillies looked at him confused, but Ryan quickly dismissed them with more words. “Why are you up at this ungodly hour?”

Still looking at him strangely, the girls replied, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Ninjas!” Ryan looked at them; they weren’t even wearing any outfits.

“Alright, then.” He looked to the boutique. His guess was that they were having a sleepover there. “Now, get back inside and go to bed. You’ll need your energy for school.”

They all looked up at him defiantly. “Not until you tell us why you’re here so early!”

Ryan deadpanned at them, “I know you’re sisters and Rainbow Dash. I don’t think they’ll like you three being out so late.” The fillies looked at each other, then sighed in defeat.

“Fine.” Applebloom said. “But we’re gonna bug you about this later.” Ryan waved them off, and they went inside the boutique.

Ryan sat on the bench for another hour before deciding to get up and walk to the orchards. He kept finding himself teetering through the streets, though. Twice, he had to stop himself and get his bearings and correct his course. He rubbed his eyes as he walked, trying to get the sand and dirt out of them so he could see. Before he even realized, he was walking into Sweet Apple Acres.

“Well, I guess I’m here.” he said to himself. He dragged his feet along as he entered the farm property.

Ryan took his time walking to the barn house where he was to meet Macintosh to start working. His sister didn’t work when Ryan did, probably because she was either heading the stand or hanging out with her friends. Mac wasn’t into that stuff, Ryan could tell; and he was totally fine with that.

“Speak of the devil.” he said as he approached the barn. Big Mac was standing there, waiting for Ryan. They nodded to each other before entering and beginning their work.

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

Shining Armor woke up slowly, taking in deep breaths as he got ready to move about. He had just woken up a few minutes before, as usual, next to his fantastic wife Cadance. Her chest rose slowly in her sleep, seemingly in perfect harmony with the chirping birds of the morning. The sunlight shone gloriously through the window of the guest room that Twilight had set aside for them. Inside, the room had a nice, rustic feel; much different from the palace of the Crystal Empire.

He got out of bed, careful not to wake his wife, and looked back. After the previous night, she was most definitely tired. “Such an angel.” he said. Unable to help himself, he walked over to her side of the bed and kissed her on the forehead. He would do anything to protect her.

That brought his thoughts to the human he had met the previous day, Harkness. At least, that was what he called himself. As Celestia had revealed, that was not even his real name. He had refused to share his reasons for the fake name, and had refused to elaborate on what was clearly a violent and complex past. With all this new information, Shining Armor wasn’t sure how he felt about him. He seemed good enough; not a troublemaker. But looks can be deceiving.

“I’ll have to confront him today.” he concluded. Cadance would have his head for it, or more likely NOT, but he had to make sure the this family and home country were safe from any harm.

Shining left his room , having decided to talk to Harkness today, and went downstairs, yawning all the way. He, too, had been tired out by the last night, starting with the friendly drinking. That was where his suspicions about Harkness started; he had been evading questions about a specific segment of his past, specifically how he came to Equestria, and hadn’t drank much. Shining tried to loosen up his defenses, but Harkness had seen that very clearly.

“He’s hiding something.” Shining said in a loud yawn. If anyone heard it, it was incomprehensible. “And I’m gonna find out what.”

He walked into the kitchen, expecting it to be empty, but instead walked in on Spike and Nightlight having a conversation. “Ah, Shining!” his father said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be awake. Please, join us.” Shining inwardly groaned; he had someone to speak to. But nonetheless, he sat down at the table with his male family members. “So, son, the trick to the heart of any mare is to be honest, kind, generous, but not too generous! Being funny, loyal, VERY important, and being there for them when they need you.”

Shining Armor smirked, despite himself. “I remember this talk.” He had gotten it when he was just a colt too.

“So, like, the elements of harmony?” Spike responded. Nightlight winked and clicked his tongue.

“There you go kiddo.”

That conversation was apparently over, so they turned to Shining. “So, what got you up so early?” Spike asked. “I thought that you would enjoy sleeping in.” Shining looked at his father; he already seemed to know.

“I was just thinking about the new guy.”

Spike smiled. “He’s practically a brother from another mother. We’re tight.” Nightlight smiled; Shining didn’t.

“I’m gonna try to get closer to him, you know? Talk to him.”

Spike nodded. “Cool. I think you’ll like him.”

Shining scratched his face. “I hope so.” He turned around and walked out of the kitchen.

“Son, you forgot your coffee!” Nightlight shouted after him. Shining turned around and took the coffee from his approaching father with his magic.

“Thanks.” he said, grateful for his father’s reminder.

Nightlight got up close, right to Shining’s ear. “Be careful where you tread, Shining.” he warned. “Sometimes, it’s best not to wake a sleeping bear.” Shining nodded, taking a sip of the coffee.

“Don’t I know.” He walked out of the library and went into the town. It was only seven forty-five.

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

Cadance woke with a big yawn and reached over to put her hoof to her husband’s chest. To her surprise, he wasn’t there. “Shining?” she said, scanning the room. He had this thing he liked to do where he would hide if he woke up first, he would ambush her and they would wrestle on the bed. They never declared a winner, though.

She got up out of bed, not happy with her husband’s absence, but not unhappy for the obvious respite. She was exhausted; the previous night, she had been playing all sorts of games with her family members.

“That was really fun.” They had played word games, gossipped about “noble ponies”, and reminisced on the old days. She had recounted how she met Shining Armor, his various blunders, and the great times they were having. Twilight Velvet had recalled her first time meeting Nightlight when he was a guard in the Royal Equestrian UniCorps. That had been a most interesting tale.

As she approached her door, she heard somepony leaving the library down below. She ignored it, and instead moved outside her door and looked around. She felt like she had rolled around in the dirt and mud, like it was clinging to her coat. She felt like a bubble bath.

“Now where is the bathroom?” she wondered. She walked about the floor, looking for the bathroom, until she finally found it about as far from her room as it got. “Ah, finally!”

After finishing her shower, she looked at the bathroom clock. It read ten after eight. The extra sleep had been nice. “I love this life.” She had no idea what Harkness’ life had been like.

She went downstairs in the search for his husband. “Hello?” she said. She heard the voices of Spike and Nightlight from the stairs. “Is Shining Armor here?” she asked as she came to the bottom. Nightlight ran out of the kitchen.

“No, he just left.” He smiled oddly, but in her tired state, it flew right over Cadance.

“Where did he go?” She was curious; Shining never left without word unless it was important.

“No idea. He just said good morning and went out.” Cadance looked to the door and shrugged. He would come back later anyway.

She went into the study area to read while she waited. For whatever reason, she felt like reading an epic about an anti hero this morning.

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

Ryan was hard at work with Big Mac in the orchard. Swea coated his brow and was already staining his clothes; luckily, though, he had forgotten his scarf and beret at Twilight’s library the previous night, so he wasn’t wearing those. Those would have made this especially hard.

Still, he would have to try to get them back in the least noticeable manner possible later. He had no desire to continue speaking to any of Twilight’s relatives, particularly Celestia. She could read him like an open book; it made him feel exposed and vulnerable. Twilight’s father, Nightlight, had been respectful of his privacy, but his son was certainly a contrary. He had been trying to get Ryan to divulge information all night. His wife seemed alright, but he had thankfully not had to speak with her.

It was about five after eight. Ryan and Macintosh had been working hard, trying to get as much done that day as possible. They never said a word, as it was neither’s prerogative to do so. They could both appreciate a good bout of silence. It’s good for the mind sometimes.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that an outside source can’t ruin the silence seemingly out of the blue. “Harkness!” A male voice called. Ryan turned; it was Shining Armor. He looked to Macintosh, who had also looked to the source of the voice. After a quick locking of eyes, Macintosh knew that he should probably leave. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.

“What?” Ryan replied, not looking back, but instead watching Macintosh leave. He was respectful; Ryan liked that.

Shining Armor walked over. His steps, while attempting to be gentle, were sinking into the ground under him from the force of his body. Ryan could see the tenseness in his neck, the veins and tendons ever so slightly bulging, like silver ore in a rock bed. His tail was swishing back and forth in short, quick motions. As he got closer, Ryan got a better look at his face. There was nothing friendly about it. His eyes were tensed up, slightly closed as if ready to have something flung at them. The muscles around his mouth twitched. His brow was furrowed. In his eyes, there was a single warning.

“Can I help you?” Ryan asked bluntly. He turned around and started working on the next tree, climbing up and putting distance between himself and the guard captain.

“I came to be direct with you.” Ryan was up in the tree, and loosened the gun in the holster.

“I’m listening if you feel like starting.” Shining Armor harumphed; few ponies had spoken to him disrespectfully. It wasn’t that it bothered him so much; it was the blatant disregard for common decency.

“I want to ask you a few questions.” Ryan picked away at the apples, letting them fall down. One landed on Shining Armor’s horn, getting him to violently shake his head to extract it from his person.

“I’m all ears.”

Ryan was bounding through the tree. Shining Armor had to circle the tree to follow him. “ You have the eyes of a stallion who’s seen things he shouldn’t have had to.”

Ryan tossed down an apple, missing Shining this time around. “And you have the eyes of a man who just got laid. But I don’t broadcast things that aren’t my business.” Shining frowned at the boy in the tree.

Ryan let himself fall from the tree, landing on his feet and sending a jarring sensation through him. He took a note not to do that again. “You’re not getting anything out of me. So please, just leave it.” Ryan started collecting the apples from around the tree.

“I’m afraid I can’t.” Shining replied. “You said you were a part of a war.” he stated. “What war?” Ryan stood up.

“I’m not talking to you about it. Not you or anyone.” Ryan was growing annoyed. This guy just wouldn’t leave him be.

“I’m not asking for your side.” Shining explained, hoping that it would get Ryan to open up. “Just which war.” Ryan sighed. It was already probably public that he had been in a conflict; might as well say which one, if it would get this guy out of here.

“The war on terror. Now no more.”

Shining Armor couldn’t leave it there, though. If this guy had been on the wrong side, he couldn’t just let him roam through Equestria. It was too risky. “Now I’m curious.” Shining commented, ready to keep questioning. Ryan scowled at him and out his hand to his side.

“Curiosity killed the cat.” he said. “With a .44 magnum.” Shining Armor cocked an eyebrow. He was unfamiliar with the term, so he ignored it.

“Sorry, but now I have to ask. Whose side were you on?” Ryan didn’t answer. He had finished picking up the apples, and was picking up the buckets. Shining put his hoof on the one Ryan was picking up. “Whose side were you on?” He was growing angry.

Ryan frowned. “Mine. Now. Piss. Off.” Ryan lifted up the bucket, throwing Shining Armor off of it.

Tensions were tight. So tight that Pinkie could probably cut them with a butter knife. Shining Armor moved to intercept Ryan as he walked away. “And what did that side entail?” he asked aggressively. Ryan dropped the buckets and moved his hand behind his back.

“My own goals.” Neither moved. “Shining, we can do this two ways.” He didn’t elaborate. When two warriors are about to go at it, words aren’t necessary. Shining knew that it was either leave him alone or fight it out. He moved aside; no need to get in trouble for beating up the new guy in town.

“...”

Ryan walked past him, keeping an eye on him. Neither spoke. Shining let him go for a moment, then followed.

He wasn’t going to let this go without a good risk assessment. It was just too dangerous. “You do understand that I can’t just let you walk away without some kind of all clear.” he said. Ryan stopped. He turned, eyes filled with the anger and sadness of before. It perturbed Shining Armor to see such eyes.

“Shining Armor, if you truly believe me to be a threat to your country,” he began. He turned to face Shining all the way. “than you had better kill me now.”

Shining blinked and shook his head. Had he heard this guy right? “I have no intention of harming any of yours, loved ones or not. I have no reason. As soon as I can, I’ll be out of here forever, never to be seen again.” He stepped toward Shining Armor, eliciting a step back from the stallion. “But if you plan on coming after me after this day, for any reason, I promise you, I will see it coming. And I will take as many of you down with me as I can.”

Shining looked into the eyes of the human now two feet in front of him. They were soulless, the eyes of a stallion who had seen bloodshed far beyond the comprehension of almost any pony in this world. “When I turn around, if you don’t snap my neck, we will be perfectly square. But if I detect any confrontation, any bit of a coming fight, you will be dead before you can utter a word.” His words carried more weight than any Shining had ever heard before. He swallowed hard; he was failing to stand his ground.

“How many have you killed?” he asked. He didn’t really want to hear the answer. Ryan got less than an inch from Shining’s face.

“I count forty.”

He turned and walked away.

Shining Armor’s knees finally failed him, and he dropped to the ground like a brass shell casing, his head bobbing and bouncing while he tried to maintain some measure of control over his body. It was an encounter unlike any before. He watched as the human walked away.

“I should be stopping him.” Shining Armor charged his horn and took aim. He pointed it and held it steady. And held it. And held it. And held it. He dropped his horn. He couldn’t do it. He wanted for nothing more than to take away this danger to society. But Harkness’ words rang in his ears like a gunshot through mountains. You will be dead before you can utter a word. Shining Armor wanted to vomit. He had actually been intimidated into submission by this unknown creature, something no guard is allowed to do. Harkness just kept on walking. “What the hell happened to him?” he wondered. Harkness was definitely not the guy he had met at dinner.

There was the sounds of hoofsteps from behind. Shining Armor half expected it to be Cadance, here to find him and chew him out for bothering Harkness. If she didn’t see any of that, he would have to explain it to her.

But when he turned around, there was not the sleek, beautiful form of his wife. Instead, he was greeted by a massive, barrel-chested, red pony wearing a yoke. The obvious workhorse was looking down at Shining Armor, a nearly blank, yet calculating, look in his eyes. Shining Armor looked up at him and rose himself. Ponies, he had no trouble maintaining his composure for. “Ah don’t think y’all can understand him very well.” That was all the workhorse said before he walked past Shining Armor carrying his own buckets of apples.

Shining Armor looked to the ground, thinking about what had just gone down. He felt strange; he had assumed bad things about Harkness. Albeit, they may have been true, but the farm pony’s words stuck in his mind like Harkness’ had. He looked up at the pony and human in the distance. If anypony clearly knew this guy, it was that one. Shining Armor decided to take the farm pony’s word for it, and he turned around and walked back to the library.

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

Cadance was reading a sad epic of a pony named Mustang who had fought in the last war against the griffons. It was a piece of historical fiction; as far as she could tell, there was no Nighthawk named Mustang who beat the baddies and got the mare in the end.

It was about eight thirty-five when she heard a series of knocks on the door. Nightlight had taken Spike out to teach him about mares, so that was Cadance’s first thought. “I told Spike that I was the one to ask.” She looked around; none of the others, even Celestia, were up yet. She stood and walked over to the door. “Who is it?” she called as she approached. The response surprised her.

“It’s Shining.” She recognized her husband’s voice instantly and flung the door open, rushing through to give him a big hug.

“Oh, I didn’t know you would be back so soon!” she said.

Shining returned the hug, though not as strongly as usual, and replied, “I didn’t think you would awaken so soon.” He sounded almost a little nervous. Cadance broke the embrace and studied her husband’s face. It looked like something had gotten to him.

“Come on inside.” she said, not hiding the concern in her voice.

They walked in and sat in the study area, Shining looking away from Cadance or toward the ground. She put a hoof on his shoulder. “Is something bothering you?” she asked. Shining knew that there was no point in lying.

“Well, I just went and had a talk with Harkness.”

Cadance blinked. “What?” she asked. Shining lowered his head. “Why does that bother you? What did you two talk about?”

Shining rubbed his foreleg guiltily and looked away from Cadance. “Well, I pressed him for information that... may not have what he was hoping to share.” Cadance frowned. She knew he would do this, she just knew. So she wasn’t as mad as she could have been.

“You should’ve understood that there are reasons why he wouldn’t want to share.” she criticized. “Why would you-”

“He’s killed.”

Cadance stopped. She had trouble realizing what she had just heard. “What?”

Shining looked her in the eyes. “He’s taken lives, Cadance. He said that he fought in the War on Terror, or something. I couldn’t figure out what side he was on.” Cadance shook her head.

“Why would-”

“He killed forty.” Cadance swallowed hard. “I was going to... I don’t know. I’m not sure how to advance from here.” Cadance looked at her husband. This was the only time she had ever seen him in a position where he had no idea what to do.

“Maybe you should let him be.” she suggested. “He won’t hurt anypony.” Shining chuckled, throwing Cadance off a bit.

“Yeah. He said that he plans on leaving forever as soon as he can.” She listened to this unhappily. This man, Harkness, was suffering. He had done terrible things, obviously. He had seen terrible things, that had to be true. And he seemed to seek to separate himself from society.

“That’s no way to live.” Both knew that Harkness would be leaving to live alone. “And I don’t think we should let him.”

Shining looked to his wife. “Why not? He won’t be a risk to us.”

Cadance deadpanned at her husband, “You never abandoned your own stallions. Don’t abandon this one.”

She stood up and stretched. “Are you going to talk to him?” Shining asked. Cadance looked to the door.

“Well, somepony has to.” She walked out, grabbing a green beret and a nice scarf on her way.

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

Ryan was walking back to the fields with Mac when he saw the pink alicorn on the horizon. “Frickin’ dammit!” he thought. Why couldn’t they all just leave him alone?

Ryan looked at Macintosh, who nodded and walked away. Ryan turned around to face the oncoming pink alicorn. “Can I help you?” Ryan asked in his most polite possible voice. He did a piss poor job of it.

“I have some things for you.” Cadance said on her approach. As she got closer, Ryan could see that she had his beret and scarf neatly tucked onto her back. She levitated them over to him.

“Thank you.” Ryan said. Now, he didn’t have to go back to the library. “But you didn’t come here to do that.” He was looking straight at Cadance, and she shuffled her hooves under his unmoving gaze.

“...No.”

She walked up next to Ryan, who moved away to grab his buckets to bring to the fields. “I came to apologize about my husband.” Ryan sighed. He had told her about the encounter, then.

“You don’t need to.” Ryan replied. “I don’t require any apologies. I just want to be left alone.” He started walking towards the fields. Cadance followed.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’ll be happening either.” Ryan looked at her, a flash of anger present for just a single moment. That moment was enough to make Cadance take a step back. “Please, Harkness.” she pleaded. She stepped forward and reached out. “We can help you...” Ryan laughed, and Cadance pulled her hoof back.

“If you really think you can help me, then you have more problems with your mind than I do with mine.” He walked away. Now, Cadance was offended.

She stormed on after him. “Why won’t you let anypony help you?” she asked. Ryan ignored her. “How can you just allow yourself to be this unhappy? This scarred? How-”

“Because some of us deserve it.”

Cadance stopped. So did Ryan. “What?” she asked. Ryan turned around.

“Some people deserve to be happy. You do. Your husband does.” He looked off toward the horizon on the mountain. “Some of us don’t. And you have to accept that.” Cadance shook her head.

“Everypony deserves to be happy.” Ryan took in a deep breath and let it out steadily, monotonously.

He turned; his eyes were again soulless and gray, an eternal void of emotions. “Even those who take the lives of innocents?”

Cadance tried to respond, but her jaw was failing her. She wanted to give him a response, something that would get him to allow them to help, but nothing came to her. Neither in words nor in mind, she had nothing. Ryan’s eyes were boring into her, like drills going into a chunk of wood, tearing away and splintering. Cadance closed her mouth and tried to think of a response.

“We can all at least try to be decent.” she said, half-heartedly. “You can become good again.” Ryan shook his head.

“I can’t.” he replied. “Because I don’t want to be forgiven.” He walked away and left Cadance on her own.

She looked on as he walked away, toward the field. She couldn’t accept that he was evil; if he was, then he would be causing ungodly amounts of trouble right now. But here he was, explaining WHY he was evil. Cadance could only think of one reason to try to help him; he could still be saved. She turned around and trudged away, barely clinging to hope for this human who had been a part of so many terrible things.

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

Ryan walked away from Sweet Apple Acres with his sack of bits and his standard setup. The sack had about one hundred bits in it after having worked in other places this week, and Ryan would be getting a bit more tomorrow from Applejack for his farm work. He was doing well on the farm. He could pick faster than most, seeing as he could specify which apples he wanted, and didn’t have to sort them after they were on the ground. He was getting a good setup; as long as he could try not to spend too much on alcohol, he might be going into the forest sooner rather than later. He just had to scope out the forest to find a good enough spot.

It was beginning to grow dark out. Ryan had been doing mindless work ever since Cadance left him be, but he had been having trouble forgetting about his past for the day. It was stuck in his head. “I’ll go to the bar.” he decided.

He was walking through town when he looked up into the sky and saw something odd. There was a topless carriage flying toward the town, with two ponies on the front. “Must be getting someone.” Ryan figured. He just kept walking, but kept an eye on the carriage. It was coming slowly, like whoever had ordered it wasn’t in any particular rush.

“Harkness.” a motherly voice called out. Ryan groaned. He couldn’t seem to catch a break today.

“Yes, princess?” he asked as he turned around. Sure enough, the tall form of Princess Celestia was standing before him.

“I wish to speak to you.”

Ryan sighed. “Seems like everyone does.” He looked to his right and saw a bench. He sat. “What is it that you want to know?” he asked, not inviting Celestia to sit with him. Celestia walked over to him. Off in the distance, the carriage landed.

“I don’t wish to ask you anything.” she said. “Well, maybe I WISH to, but I will refrain from doing so.” Ryan breathed in and out steadily.

“Thank you.” He actually did appreciate that. “So what is it that you came to me to talk about?” He still didn't like talking to her though; she made him feel so exposed.

“I just want you to know that you will always be welcomed here.” she explained. “I care not for your past, though I would certainly like to know more about it. I know that you are not going to cause trouble here.” Ryan nodded. She already seemed much better than Shining Armor. “But please, understand. The ponies here are friendly, and they already consider you their friend. They wish to help you.” She leaned in. “And I know that you think you don’t deserve help. I can’t even say myself that you do. But these things are rarely ever for us to decide.” Ryan looked at her; she had soothing eyes, soft and kind. Ryan was disarmed. “Please let them help you, if not for yourself, for them. They couldn’t bear it if you were to suffer because they couldn’t help.”

Ryan sighed. “I get that.” he replied. “But why would they want to help me, if I tell them the truth? You already know part of it. With what I did, most places in my world would be screaming for me to get Capital Punishment.” Celestia raised her eyebrow. “Death sentence.” Her eyes widened for just a second, but she regained her control immediately.

“And what do you think of that?” she asked.

Ryan shrugged. “I think that there are some people who simply deserve to die.” He looked at her. “I’m not an exception to that.” Celestia inched closer. “I can’t say that another man who committed my crimes deserves to die, while I deserve to live. I had motives that were far from noble; I wanted revenge. Sure, they were bad people, but they were still human beings, with families and loved ones.” He looked into Celestia’s eyes; both sets were filled with sadness, though one also had sympathy. “How can I justify ending so many lives and potentially destroying hundreds of others?”

Celestia shook her head. “We cannot always justify such actions. We must learn from them, no matter what they are. I know that I have had such trouble.” She extended a wing to cover Ryan around his shoulders. “We must try to forgive ourselves and to redeem ourselves.”

Ryan brushed the wing off. “There is no redemption for the devil.” he said. “He is the one that makes people need redemption.” He sat back and looked to the aging daylit sky. “Have you ever been forced to make a decision? One that no matter what you chose to do, you would be responsible for horrible crimes?” Celestia stared at him; his eyes were closed now, tears forming at the edges. “Have you ever been made to decide who lives and who dies? Who gets to see their child the next day or who has to watch their child go away forever?” He opened his eyes, still aimed at the sky. They were red and bleary, with tears coming from them in droves now. “Have you ever been made to decide between your own life and the life of that child?” Celestia felt tears forming in her own eyes.

Two guards in Air Guard armor approached, but Celestia waved them off. “No, I can’t say that I have.” she responded. Ryan nodded; he knew that. “But I can say this; if you ever need to talk, or rant, or simply be with somepony, I or any of these humble ponies are readily available.” She stood up. “I will drop whatever I am doing, if you so need. My sister would even do so.”

Ryan chuckled, looking to the princess. “Yeah. I know that she would.” Celestia’s brow went up; clearly, he knew Luna somehow. She would have to mention that to her sister.

“Well, I must say goodbye for now. I wish you well, and please.” She leaned in. “At least let them try to help you.” He looked at her, but didn’t speak. Then, she turned around and got into her carriage and flew away.

Ryan got up and dredged to the bar, where he would have a good long drink with what was now one hundred bits.

Big Mac walked through the town, looking for his friend of no words. They had spoken ten words, if that, to each other, yet they had a mutual respect and understanding. But Big Mac was going to be going against his understanding. Celestia had asked him to check up on Harkness, so that was what he was going to do.

He had little trouble trying to find Harkness. The only trouble was finding out which bar stallions went to to forget their problems. That just meant the place with the strongest drinks. “The Salt Lick.” he repeated to himself again. He had never heard of this place but once when he was a colt. The hardest drinkers went there.

He stood before the building, taking in the sight. Whoever the owner was, he or she certaily didn’t care much about upkeep. Of course, the customers probably didn’t care either. So why bother? When he entered, Big Mac could see that the inside wasn’t much better. The tables were old, some with rotted legs. The stools were all cheap, metal chairs, some even rusted. The cushions for ponies were torn and taped together. Half of the lights didn't even work. The only part of it that looked even semi-decent was the bar itself.

Big Mac could clearly see Harkness at the bar, hunched over and clearly in a dangerously low state. He had a shot glass in his left hand with a dark liquid in it. Big Mac looked up at the bottles on the shelves; Harkness was drinking Applejack Daniel’s. This particular brew had an almost absurd percentage of alcohol. Big Mac walked forward through the bar to his coworker, careful to avoid bumping into ponies who might be a little too tipsy and depressed to be stable.

“Harkness.” he said. Harkness turned his head to look at the intruder; when he saw Big Mac, he just turned back around to tell him go away. Big Mac shook his head and took a cushion next to Harkness. They both looked at each other when Big Mac sat down; neither moved. Ryan sighed in defeat, and simply tried to ignore Macintosh’s presence.

Oktoberfest came over, wiping a glass as usual. “What’ll you have, big fella?” he asked. Big Mac looked at the shelf.

“Gimme a shot of Samaloco Adams.” Oktoberfest nodded and went to pour the shot. “Princess Celestia asked me to talk to ya.” Macintosh explained. Ryan stayed silent. “She said that y’all need somepony to help ya.” Big Mac waited for a moment while his shot was brought him, thanking the bartender. “But Ah don’t think she can get you.” Ryan looked over, surprised. “Ah don’t think any of us can. Ah will always be there to help, just like everypony else. But Ah ain’t gonna try to make you do anything.” He took a sip from his glass. Ryan did the same. They stayed silent for a time.

Oktoberfest returned, this time looking oddly at the two workers before him. “Anything else?” he asked. Ryan tossed him fifteen bits to pay for his drinks. Big Mac tossed him five.

“No.” Ryan said. He looked to Big Mac. He knew what Macintosh was hoping he would do. “I think I’m good.” Together, Macintosh and Ryan walked out and went their separate ways, one to a comfortable home, the other to a roadside ditch.

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

Ryan went to the farm the following morning with a splitting headache. It didn’t come from drinking, though. It came from his own head. The whole night, he had been wrestling with whether or not he would tell anypony anything. No matter how much Celestia or Macintosh wanted, though, Ryan could not find any way to share his history without being ostracized and ultimately end up dead in the forest somewhere.

He eventually gave up and decided that telling the ponies anything was strictly not going to happen. Twilight would no doubt freak out and toss him away with her magic. Applejack could kick him to death. Pinkie could stab him with one of her no doubt hundreds of cooking knives. Rarity would strangle him. Rainbow Dash would probably grab him and drop him from a mile up. The worst, though, was Fluttershy. From what Ryan understood, she could sick a group of bears on him to tear him to shreds. None of it was very helpful for what he wanted to do.

On their way out the previous night, Macintosh saw fit to tell Ryan that he had stand duty, and he would be working with Applejack today. They hadn’t spoken another word after that, but Ryan could tell that he wanted Ryan to think that it would go well. Silently, Ryan had kept on insisting that it wouldn’t end well for him. When they parted ways, Ryan brooded on his luck, cursing Discord for not letting him die.

Discord hadn’t been happy about that. “Oh, so he’s going to be a jerk about being alive, eh?” he had thought. Discord evilly smirked. “Well, let’s see how he likes this.” Discord used his magic to knock over a tree on the way to Ryan’s ditch.

“What the hell!?” Ryan shouted. Discord chuckled. He was trying to force him to go the other way. Ryan sighed and went. But what he didn't know was that Discord was forcing him to go toward the exiting parties of Twilight’s parents and Shining Armor and Cadance.

When he passed by, there was the most awkward silence. Nightlight nodded curtly. Twilight Velvet smiled, but there was nothing but pity behind it. Cadance did the same, but she at least looked away. The worst was Shining Armor; he was glaring at Ryan with dagger eyes. He was promptly smacked by Twilight Sparkle, who then yelled at him. This prompted Cadance to smack him, and shortly thereafter, everyone was getting in on assaulting the Guard Captain and Prince. Ryan quickly ran away, eager to get out.

Of course, that wasn’t to be the end of Discord’s fun. He had already spent too much time not enjoying himself. “What else can I do?” he wondered. He watched Ryan as he walked. He was slightly buzzed, but not drunk enough to not notice massive changes in things. He gave it some thought. “That’s it!” He watched as Ryan walked over a bridge and slowed down on it to look at the passing water.

Discord created a small explosion in the water just below Ryan, totally soaking him and sending mud everywhere. Rather than freak out, though, Ryan just stood there. He wiped his eyes and looked around. Nothing could explain it.

“Damn magic.” he grumbled as he walked away. Discord just laughed away in his mind and left Ryan be, content with what he had accomplished.

That was how his night had gone. Suffice to to say, he was not in a good mood.

Of course, he had no idea that Discord was behind it. So, he was just angry at this world in general. “Damn magic and its damn weirdness.” he kept grumbling. He hadn’t slept much, stupid thinking getting in the way. Even so, it was better than what he would have seen sleeping, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. “I should just stop spending money and get out of here as soon as possible.” he told himself. “Or just buy supplies with what I have now and leave. But then I’d have more trouble living...” He didn't want to live. He hated living at this point. He wanted nothing more than to die. But he had made a promise. “I won’t betray my last friend again.” he thought.

He walked onto the farm in the fading darkness, a stark contrast to his mind. The birds had been chirping a little bit, but seemed to lose interest in noise as Ryan passed. He looked up at each tree, glowering and envious of their easy lives.

“Harkness!” He looked over; Applejack was walking towards him, her older brother in tow behind her. “Y’all ready to work?” she asked. When Ryan nodded, she spun around and waved for him to follow. “Let’s go!” Ryan looked to Macintosh; he just shrugged and left Ryan to work with his little sister.

Ryan caught up to the mare and remained silent as a mouse the whole way to the farm. During the walk, Applejack was constantly looking back at him, as if to ensure that he wasn’t lost or dead, which bothered him. Each time she looked, he would lock eyes with her, getting her to turn away from him. As comfortable as her older brother was around him, she seemed almost ashamed to be close by.

“Alright!” she announced when they reached the barn. “Ah’m gonna plow the fields ‘n you’re gonna plant seeds.” Ryan cocked an eyebrow; it didn’t seem like the time to be planting seeds. “Come on in.” She pushed the door open and sauntered through, and Ryan simply followed, slouching like a neanderthal.

He looked around. “Where are the seeds?” he asked.

“Off to the side, by the rakes.” she said, pointing over to the wall. “They should be behind the barrels.” Ryan walked over, unsure of why there were barrels in the barn. He didn’t bother questioning it, though.

He walked over to the barrels with his hands in his pockets. When he walked around the barrels, his head collided with a very low-lying wooden board. “Ow!” The beret fell off his head, making a soft pomf when it hit the floor, which was covered in hay. He picked it up, rubbing his head, and continued onto where Applejack told him the seed was. “Ah.” The sacks of seeds were in a heap on the ground. Mindful of his head, Ryan bent over and picked up two sacks. They were shockingly light, though, so he picked up two more.

“Why exactly are we planting things when we’re approaching the end of summer?” he asked as he walked out. According to his watch, it was now August Third. He didn’t think about what the date probably should have been. It wouldn’t end well.

“Because,” Applejack began, getting a smaller yoke than Macintosh’s around her neck. It was already connected to the plough. “These particular plants ain’t gonna be comin’ out of the ground until next year. They’re special.” Ryan nodded. “Now, let’s head on out there.” Applejack left the barn, evidently struggling against the plough.

Ryan followed her out of the barn and to the empty field where they would be planting. At the edge, Applejack stopped and took a moment to breathe. Ryan walked up next to her and looked out at the field. “You know, if you’re having trouble, I’m sure Mac would be happy to take the plough.” Applejack waved a hoof, dismissing Ryan’s suggestion.

“Ain’t no problem.” she said, huffing and puffing with the yoke dragging her head down. “Ah’m just as capable as Mac is. Y’all’re gonna see.” She didn't tell him the real reason for her insistence on this. “Trust me.” Ryan put his hands up and went back behind the plough.

Applejack sat on her hind for a moment and thought about what she had been told of him. Harkness had seen war, from what Twilight said. What he did in that war, nopony knew, but war is war. He had apparently called it a “War on Terror”, but none of the girls knew what that meant. It sounded really bad, though.

“Twi said that he needs help.” she thought, craning her neck to look back at the human, who was fiddling with an L-shaped metal instrument. He had clearly seen things he should not have, maybe done things he should not have. But Applejack wasn’t one to judge. “So Ah’m gonna try my best.” He was her new friend; it was her obligation.

She stood up. “Alright, time to get moving!” She pushed forward without waiting for a reply. The plough resisted movement, though.

“You alright?” Harkness asked from way behind. Applejack strained against the plough.

“Yeah, Ah’m good!” The veins in her neck and haunches bulged. Then she ran out of steam. “Dang.” she thought. She looked at the plough, the huge metal contraption refusing to even budge. “Well, Ah don’t think this is happenin’!” she yelled back to Harkness.

He walked forward. “Should we go get Macintosh?” he asked. Applejack shook her head furiously.

“No!” she shouted, prompting Ryan to cover his ears. “We can get other things done today that ain’t so hard.” Ryan looked down at her.

“Like?” He was growing impatient; he just wanted to work in silence. Applejack could sense it.

“Painting and fixing the barn.” she said simply. Ryan breathed deep.

“Alright.” He looked back at the plough. “Need help moving it?” A weary Applejack looked up at him, then to the plough, then back.

“Sure.” Ryan nodded and went behind the plough. He wasn’t strong enough to move it or really lift it, but he could still reduce friction with the ground by lifting it up ever so slightly.

They got the plough back in the barn and took a moment to rest. Ryan went over to the side of the barn where he put the seed sacks back and sat down back there. He plopped onto the sacks, not from exhaustion, but simply from disappointment that his day was no doubt going to involve tip-toeing his way around his past. He could already tell that that was why Applejack had opted to work with him.

“Why?”

He found himself asking himself that more and more often lately. And still, he never came to an answer.

“Harkness?” Applejack called. He sighed loudly, apparently loud enough for Applejack to hear. She came around the barrels. “Come on, lazy bum! We got work to do!” Ryan looked at her; she was way too happy.

“Alright.” As he stood up, he noticed her mood deflate just a little bit at his nonchalance and she frowned. “What?” he asked.

Applejack shook her head. “Nothing.” Ryan watched as she walked away, then followed.

She walked to the middle of the barn and stopped, turning around to get a look at Harkness as he approached. “Well, Harkness, there’s a couple of options here.” he stopped and listened. “We can either paint the outside of the barn, or we can fix up the inside.” He looked around; now that he was paying attention, he noticed that there were a lot of loose boards and damaged spots around.

“Yeesh.” he commented. Applejack scowled.

“Well, Ah guess we’ll be fixing up the inside.” Ryan looked at her, uncaring of whether or not he offended her.

“I would say so as well.” He didn’t understand when she harmuphed at him and turned around, tail swishing about.

She grabbed a tool kit from a work area at one end of the room. “Here we go.” she said, the kit messing up her speech while it hung from her jaw. “We need to re-shingle the roof, which Ah can do. You, though, will have to stay inside and fix up the wooden structure of the barn.” Ryan nodded. “Y’all’re gonna take them boards,” she said, pointing at a pile of wooden boards at one end of the room. “and you’re gonna use them to replace old ones or cover up holes. Any questions?” Ryan shook his head. “Good. Ah won’t be long.” Applejack ran back to the work area, grabbed her own tools, and ran outside, leaving Ryan all alone in the barn.

Thankful for the respite, he immediately went about his work. But, rather than pull out a hammer from the toolbox, Ryan just pulled out his own. There were still bloodstains on the wooden handle from when he last used it. “Meh.” It wouldn’t affect his work.

He went and picked up a board and glanced around the barn. There were several holes in the walls, so he just figured he would start with those. One at a time.

He could hear Applejack up on the roof, moving about with heavy hooves. She stomped all over the place, the noise a constant strain on his concentration. When he got over to the wall, he set the board down and took a look at it. “Dammit.” He had forgotten nails. As he turned around, a shadow formed on a patch of light on the ground from a hole in the ceiling.

“Y’all good?” Applejack asked.

Ryan looked up at her and shouted, “Yeah.” He continued forward and retrieved the nails from the toolbox. The shadow came back. “What?” he asked loudly, frustration growing in his voice. He could sense the glowering stare coming from above.

“Ah’ll be down shortly to help out in there.” Ryan grunted in response and went back to work.

Now with the nails, he was able to get to work. At the wall, Ryan bent over and picked up his tools, hammer in hand, board in hand, and nails in mouth. He pressed the board against the hole and got it into a position where it would cover the entire hole. Once there, he used his elbow to keep it in place and pulled a nail from his mouth and raised the hammer. He started swinging away at the nail, getting it thoroughly into the wall. Before he realized what he was doing, he found himself completely engrossed in the task. He forgot about the blood on the hammer, the killing it had helped him to do. In that moment where he was lost in work, he was able to totally forget about the past.

He kept that up for almost half an hour, hammering away at the nails and mindlessly droning away. It was exactly what he had been hoping for that day. But then it was ruined. “Harkness!” Ryan was startled out of his stupor and dropped the hammer, which landed right on top of his foot.

“Goddammit!” He shouted, picking up his foot and cradling it like a child. He fell over, and once recovered, glared at Applejack for startling him. “A little warning next time?” he said.

Applejack smiled sheepishly and trotted over. “Are y’all alright?” she asked. “Ah didn’t mean to startle you.” Ryan stood up and waved his arm about.

“No, I’m fine. Now what did you come down for?” He picked up the hammer from its spot on the floor and tried to go back about working.

“Well, Ah came in to help out with the inside of the barn.” She looked around. “Though Ah guess that you pretty much have it taken care of.” Ryan looked around as well; he had taken care of all of the low-laying damages.

“Mostly.” he commented.

He took another board and more nails and went over to a ladder that led up into the rafters where there were more holes. “Be careful.” Applejack warned as he ascended. He shook his head, wishing she would just leave him be.

“I’ve been in more dangerous places than this.” He couldn’t see, but below him, Applejack puckered her lips, as if in deep thought.

Once again, he took the hammer and started fixing up the barn, an innocent enough job. Even with that innocence, though, it was still dangerous. The hammer could fall from his hands, or the board might fall. But that didn't concern him, and he finished quickly and descended back to the earth.

Applejack walked over to him, admiring his work on fixing the holes. “Nice work.” she complimented. Ryan hung the hammer back on his vest and looked up.

“Good enough. But these aren’t permanent fixes. You’ll need to get a pro in here to patch up the walls.” Applejack smiled at him; he seemed like he was totally absorbed by the work, like nothing could bother him. It seemed like an appropriate time.

“So, Harkness.” she began. He looked over at her, still not in grouch-mode. “Ah decided to work with you today because-”

“Because you want to learn more about me.”

Applejack blinked at Ryan completing her sentence. “Umm, yeah. So, let’s head on outside, since we still got time to work, and get some apples.” She smiled widely; Ryan did not return it.

“Alright.” They walked out and went to the fields.

They had been silent on the way, Ryan in a state of Mushin and Applejack trying to establish how she would go about starting the conversation. They were taking apples from the trees when she finally decided to wing it. “So, where exactly were you surviving before y’all came here?” she asked, getting ready to buck a tree. Ryan was up in a tree, throwing good apples down. “Y’all have a lot of stuff from it, it looks like.”

Ryan dropped from his tree, a cold, stoic expression on his face. “The jungle. Where things try to kill you.” Applejack faltered in her kick and missed the tree completely. “That’s about it, honestly.” Applejack looked at him. She knew that it was not “honestly”, but she let it go.

She decided a different approach. “So, what’s the purpose of each of them tools?” she asked. Ryan broke from picking up the apples and looked at his vest.

“The hammer is for breaking things. The knife is for eating and cutting vines.” The lies were awful. Applejack looked at the L-shapes instruments.

“How about them?” she asked, pointing at the guns.

“Those are secret.” Ryan replied quickly, as if letting the question linger would result in some terrible catastrophe. Applejack could sense that she was to get nowhere with this.

Ryan decided to ask some questions in order to get the attention off of him. “So, Applebloom is your little sister, right?” he asked. He already knew that, of course.

“Sure is!” Applejack beamed, evidently proud. “Ah love mah little sister, even if she and her friends are a bit prone to trouble.” She chuckled a bit.

“What’s so funny?” Ryan asked.

Applejack looked around. “If y’all wanna hear a fun little secret,” she began, approaching Ryan. “she and her friends were responsible for releasing Discord.”

Ryan would have spit if he was drinking, choked if he was eating, and run into something if he was walking. “What?” he asked.

Applejack nodded. “So, you already know about him, huh?” she asked understandingly.

Ryan sighed. “Better than I wish.” Her understanding vanished. “That must have been pretty bad.” Applejack nodded, then went back to bucking.

“Yeah. Ain’t no other pony but Rarity that knows about that.” she commented. Ryan’s interest was suddenly piqued. “We don’t want the town to be mad at them or anything.”

Ryan started climbing a tree to get more apples. “If that’s the case, then why tell me?” he asked. “I’m new here. You have no reason to trust me, or think that I won’t judge. Why tell me?” Applejack bucked her tree hard, then turned around, sweaty and nastified.

“Well, Ah trust you not to judge. Y’all don’t seem the type.” How’s that for guessing the truth? “And I got no reason not to trust you. Just because you’re a stranger don’t mean y’all can’t be good.”

Ryan stopped picking apples to digest her statement. She was right, at least partially. Not every stranger was evil or dangerous. Of course, with how many Ryan had encountered, he wasn’t willing to take risks. Still, though, it was something for him to think about.

Once he finished his tree, working in silence, he dropped down, only to be greeted from a foot away by Applejack. “GAH!” He fell back and landed on the trunk of the tree. “Don’t do that.” he demanded, Applejack snorting and chuckling the whole time. She stepped forward and extended a hoof, which Ryan took hesitantly.

“You know, you can tell us things about yourself that you ain’t proud of. We won’t judge.”

Ryan stood up, nearly pulling Applejack down on top of him. “You don’t know that. Trust me.” Applejack let it go, and they walked back to the barn.

They arrived at the barn in another bout of silence, Ryan not intent on talking, and Applejack feeling awkward about not having made the conversations last longer. They stopped outside the wall of the barn and looked at it. “Not too bad.” Applejack commented. “Ah think you could do pretty well with this.” A light bulb turned on in her head. “What’s your cutie mark?” she asked. Perfect conversation starter!

“Humans don’t have them.” Maybe it wasn’t. But she would be damned if she didn’t at least try to to keep this one going.

“What?” she asked, poorly faking surprise. “How do you know you’re special talent?” Ryan shrugged.

“We don’t. A lot of people never find what makes them happy.” Applejack’s jaw was agape from speaking, and did not close after she heard that. She blinked three times, trying to think of a response, but she was struck speechless. How could he be so nonchalant about that?

However, seeing that he thought of it as normal, she did not press the issue. It would probably just depress her, anyhow. She changed the subject, looking at Ryan’s tools for inspiration. “Nice hammer.” She mentally hoof-smacked herself for the stupid comment. Ryan looked down at his hammer.

It was a nice hammer, actually. The handle, minus the blood stains, was a polished hardwood, maybe Cocobolo. It was sleek in his hand, designed for extended use. The head was perfectly flat on the hammer side, and the wedge for removing nails was rounded just enough at the edges that it wouldn’t randomly pierce the skin, but wouldn’t have trouble getting under a nail. It was a good tool. But that wasn’t the primary detail that Ryan noticed. It was that it wasn’t this tool made for taking lives. Now, it was just this thing that people world-wide used for normal work, not the deadly weapon he had made it. It wasn’t some danger to society that he had to hold in order to prevent its evil from escaping. It was a hammer.

“Do you want it?” he asked, picking it out and holding it out to Applejack. She reeled back a little, surprised by the offer. “I have no use of it any more.”

Applejack looked at the hammer, then to Ryan, then back to the hammer. “Alright.” she said. She took the hammer in her mouth by the head. “Thanksh.” Ryan nodded.

“Don’t mention it.” Once the hammer was out of his hand, he could feel the lack of its weight there, like a person had come and relieved him of some of the crap he had been carrying with him. He looked at his watch, then to the darkening, orange sky. “Guess work’s over.” he said. Without waiting for a response, he turned around and walked off, leaving Applejack alone and ponderous by that big red barn.

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

It was Friday night, and all the ponies seemed to be out tonight. Little ones were over at friends’ homes, playing games, occasionally running through the streets, chased by adults. Older ponies were walking about in the moonlight, some on romantic dates, others just because it was a nice night. Other ponies, like Twilight Sparkle, were just outside reading in the dim moonlight, using magic or lamps to aid in their task. The night sky was gorgeous; the stars twinkled bright, the moon shone brilliantly, and the constellations were extraordinary. Everyone was enjoying themselves that night.

Except for those ponies, and one huan, at The Salt Lick. As per their norm, they were all just wallowing in the pools of their misery, even on such a beautiful night. If Luna saw them this way, she would no doubt have their heads. And there was one in particular that she would no doubt want to keep.

“Give me another Samolaco Adams.” Ryan ordered from the new waitress. Oktoberfest had hired her because he was growing old and tired, and needed some other pony to be walking around taking orders. The waitress jotted down Ryan’s order and nodded.

“Yes sir, right away.” She walked off, swinging her hind like a human girl would who’s trying to show off. No doubt, the reason why she was hired was because all of the stallions in the bar were looking her way all the time. She had a light charcoal coat and a dark orange mane and tail, which she swished around any chance she got. Ryan still had yet to get her name.

“Oh well.”

She wasn’t a bad waitress; she always got him his drinks to him quickly. Her attitude wasn’t too perky, but just barely fit in with the atmosphere of the place. She also kept referring to him as “sir”, which bothered him. He wasn’t worthy of that title; he was no one’s superior, and never would be. When he asked her about it, she said that she refers to all soldiers with “sir”. Twilight had apparently told everyone about what she unfortunately overheard.

He just sat in his booth, trying to stay out of sight in case anyone came looking for him this night. He had had a long day. Not because of ponies, mind. He had been having trouble with his past. The previous night, he was having more nightmares, which kept getting more aggressive and difficult to deal with. They haunted him for the whole day, and now, here he was, drinking away the night.

There was a series of clop clop clop noises coming from off to his behind, where the door was. He listened intently to them; they were much too heavy to be the new waitress’, and Oktoberfest wasn’t about to come out. They sounded like they were coming from a large body, one that could generate great power with little effort. After a few minutes, they approached Ryan from behind.

“Hello Mac.”

Big Macintosh stopped behind Ryan, surprised that he could tell who was coming from behind him. Of course, with the few things that Mac did know about him, it wasn’t terribly surprising. Without speaking, Mac went to the other side of the booth and sat. Ryan, who was nursing his current drink, which was nearly gone, merely looked up with dying eyes for a moment, then let them fall back to the table. The waitress returned.

“Oh.” She hadn’t expected company. “Umm, what will you have?” she asked. Big Mac pointed his muzzle at Ryan’s drink. The waitress nodded. “Alright, babe.” She winked. “Coming right up.” She walked away, with even more swagger and swishing than before.

Ryan took in a deep breath and looked up at Big Mac. His coworker was looking in the direction of the waitress, eyes just under being wide, his nostrils moving very slightly. Eventually, when he turned around to look back at Ryan, Ryan raised an eyebrow and tilted his head toward the bar. Big Mac shook his head and put his hooves on the table, a small smile crossing his lips. Ryan shrugged and raised his glass to down the remainder of his drink.

Soon, both workers had their full drinks, this one being Ryan’s third, and they sat in silence once again. For a time, neither seemed interested on any kind of actual contact with one another, but that changed fairly quickly. Big Mac stared at Ryan while he looked down, and Ryan could sense it on his scalp, like the tingle of an itch. He looked up; Big Mac looked serious. Ryan shook his head and sat back, drink in hand. The beer sloshed around in the glass, nearly spilling over, like angry waves attacking the shoreline. Big Mac motioned at the drink, than at Ryan. Ryan sighed, defeated, knowing that it was true. He downed the drink, then looked at his coworker, becoming somewhat resentful of his presence. He looked straight into Mac’s eyes, boring through them to find out why he had come. Big Mac stood his ground, only showing sympathy for Ryan in his state of misery.

Ryan gave up on his endeavor. “Waitress?” he said, shaky in voice, mind, and body. His troubles weren’t going to be hidden by alcohol; only forgotten in the morning. She came over.

“What can I get you, hon?” she asked, a worried expression on her face. Ryan swallowed hard, trying to think of whether or not he wanted more or something stronger.

“I’ll have another.”

The waitress nodded, not hiding her worry in her face. Big Mac looked at her hard; when she noticed, she met his gaze, and he revealed his intentions for the human. “And my name is Cinny.” Cinny walked away to get more drinks.

Ryan glanced at Mac, who was quietly sipping away at his drink, looking innocent enough. Ryan knew that he was, too. His eyes said that he had never known anything but life in Ponyville. He never knew true suffering. He never saw the horrors that life had to offer. He had never been forced to make impossible decisions, watch his kind die... take the lives of his fellow ponies. He could never understand. But then again, he wasn’t trying to. He was just sitting in front of Ryan silently, a presence, not interfering with what Ryan was doing or trying to change how he was living. And Ryan was perfectly fine with that.

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

Luna walked heavy-hoffedly to the throne room that night. She had no desire to be dealing with all the nobles and their pathetic problems; not one ever came to her with a real problem. Although, they might have; she couldn’t tell any more. She thought of almost all problems as petty now.

Starstep walked behind her, his usual guard’s stoic expression on his face. His armor clacked a bit as he walked. Each time it did, it struck a very quiet cord in Luna’s mind. The clacking was like the ticking of a stopwatch. Once it stopped, she knew that it meant that she would have to do something.

But she got lucky that night. “Lulu!” She turned around; her sister walked over to her, a soft smile on her face. Her aloof demeanor and happy attitude served to alleviate some of Luna’s foul mood. Her sister typically managed to do that.

“Ah, Celestia. Good to see you.” Her sister came up next to her, and they walked together down the hall, followed by a now much larger contingent of guards. “I wish I could chat, but I must attend the Lunar Court.” She said it with evident disgust.

Celestia giggled. “You know, I might be able to help.” Luna looked at her, brow raised. “Maybe you could join me for an important talk in my chambers?” Luna smiled wide and nodded.

“Guards!” she shouted as she spun around, all but Starstep coming to attention. “Tell the court that it is dismissed. If there are any serious cases, they may return tomorrow night.” The guards saluted and marched off.

The two princesses and one guard walked away from the scene, the ladies giggling like they had done something naughty. Starstep had let a little smirk creep onto his face, and he chuckled just a bit. Once they were far enough from the court and nopony would hear, the princesses laughed loudly into the nighttime air, releasing their pent up humor.

By the time they had gotten to Celestia’s chambers, they had calmed down considerably and were quiet once more. Celestia opened the door tentatively, as if she thought there might be a sleeping stallion inside. Once the door was open, and they clearly saw that they were alone, the three ponies entered and shut the door.

Celestia went over to her little coffee table, followed by her sister, but not Starstep, who hung back. They both looked at him, curious, but when they saw his look of wariness, they simply chuckled and let him be. As much of a confession as one could get.

“So, how was your trip to Ponyville?” Luna asked. Celestia used her magic to lift up two cups of tea and the pot and poured them each a drink.

“Very nice, though not at all what I was expecting.” Luna “ooh”d at this as she took her tea, her childish nature of curiosity and wonder taking over.

“What was so interesting, if I may ask?”

Both princesses took a sip of their tea, smacking their lips in satisfaction. “The new friend Twilight mentioned was... different than expected.” As soon as she said that, Starstep took interest in the conversation and stepped forward, trying to discern whatever he could about the conversation.

“What was so interesting?” Luna asked.

Celestia took another sip of her tea. “Well, first thing is that her friend is male. That shocked me, but that was in the letter. At first, I thought she found a nice stallion for herself.” She looked at Luna’s expression, which looked doubtful, eliciting a chuckle from the ruler of the sun. “Well, when I saw that he isn’t a pony, I figured out why that wasn’t it.”

Luna had been sipping her tea, but stopped when she heard that. “What?” she asked.

Celestia nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid what exactly he is had escaped my memory, but it was interesting.” Her smile faltered, fading rapidly like a sped up sunset. “He has suffered, this much I can tell. He saw things that nopony should see, much like you, Starstep.” she said, switching to Starstep mid-speech. He looked sad at the comment. “I hope that my student and her friends can help him, but I do not know. But, back to a lighter note, he seems quite fine, not at all undesirable for a resident. Except for the potential for alcoholism.”

Luna took it all in, finding herself going back to her memories of Ryan. The description matched him well, except for the alcoholism. From what she had seen early on, he wasn’t that kind of person. Of course, he wasn’t the kind of person he had once been at all around the time he died anyway.

“What is his name?” she asked, curious but hopeful. Her hopes were destined to be dashed for the time being.

“He said his name is Harkness.” Luna’s ears fell flat, her face sagging like a sad old mare. “But he was certainly lying. I managed to get that out of him.” Luna’s ears remained down. She shouldn’t have let her hopes get up. Ryan died, and there was no getting away from that.

“I see.” Her mood was ruined now, all thanks to her inability to keep the colt out of her head.

Celestia, sensing the change in mood but not questioning it, stood and stretched. “Well, I believe that it is time for us to go to bed now.”

Luna stood up and turned around, hyper-extending her legs to pop the joints around. “Indeed.” She started to walk away, but her sister had one last thing to say.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Luna turned around. “He knows you personally.” Luna blinked. She had never met this stallion or whatever. How could he know her? Maybe it was a griffon-pony combo; those existed as far as she could tell. Or it could be something entirely different.

“Interesting.” she said. Starstep walked up next to her and poked her side, sensing that Luna might start thinking about Ryan. “Well, good night.” Celestia returned the gesture and shut her doors once Luna left.

She walked down the hallway in a sullen, but not terribly unhappy silence. She hoped that she might get to meet this guy some time.

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

It was half past eight, Saturday morning. The birds were chirping head-bangingly, the grass was moist with glistening dew, and all the morning animals and ponies were on their little routines.

Ryan was walking to Fluttershy’s cottage to do that cataloguing thing with her. Being the only human, it was his job to let her get an idea of what humans are like physically. If he ever needed a nurse for a specific problem, she would end up being the one to go to.

He was on the trail to her cottage, a strange place built into a big, twisted tree on top of a hill. Animals were everywhere; in the tree, on the ground, in the air, in the water, in his face, clinging to his pants, looking up at him from underneath.

“No view for you.” he said, kicking at the animals, which responded by angrily waving limbs at him. He cocked his brow at them; they were actually intelligent. “Great. This’ll be fun.” He walked past the animals to the cottage house.

On the way there, the door opened up and a familiar workhorse walked out. He had two empty baskets attached to his sides. “Thank you again, Big Mac.” Fluttershy said, coming out from behind the massive stallion.

He nodded his head. “No problem.” he replied. They stood there for a moment, silent, awkwardly looking around.

Fluttershy almost immediately saw Ryan. “Oh!” she announced, drawing Mac’s attention to Ryan. He would swear that he saw the stallion’s face go dark, but he couldn’t really tell. “I’m glad you made it, Harkness.” she said, turning around and waving her hoof. “Please, come in.” She walked inside. Ryan walked past Mac, giving him a sneer as he passed him. Mac grumped at him. Shut up. Ryan just chuckled and walked inside.

The inside was no better than the outside; it might have been worse. There were bird houses EVERYWHERE, hanging from the ceiling just high enough that Ryan wasn’t banging into them. There were dozens of mouseholes in the walls, each one with a mouse looking out of it. Each one that saw Ryan ran inside and shut a tiny door. Looking around, Ran also noted some raccoon nests, squirrels, chipmunks, and a bear.

“Is that a bear?” he asked, pointing to the behemoth in the corner. It growled at him.

“Mr. Bear, you should be nicer to our guests!” she said, staring at Mr. Bear. He submitted much faster than any self-respecting bear should have.

“So it is.” Ryan concluded thoughtfully. He would have to be careful; that bear, like all animals, could obviously see into Ryan like a clear lake.

Fluttershy pointed at a large, lush couch by the wall. “Please, lie down.” she said. Ryan walked over suspiciously. It looked like a therapy couch, but he wasn’t to judge their fashion. He laid down slowly, keeping an eye on that bear in the corner. “Great. I’m going to start by asking you questions about your anatomy, then we can move onto the next step.” Ryan breathed slowly; he would have to prevent that next stage.

She started with simple questions, like “What are your limbs called?” and “what major organs do you know you have?” He answered them with ease; there were only a few organs he couldn’t remember from health class. Bone and nerve structure were simple, as was the immune system. It got awkward around the reproductive system. “Umm...” She was pretty hesitant. “Where are your, umm, genitals?” she asked quietly. It was a good thing Ryan was listening; he wasn’t sure she would repeat that.

“Between my legs.” Fluttershy grew red.

“O-okay. And umm, how do they,umm...” Ryan took over to keep her from being too embarrassed.

“They hang free, and they’re just like what I assume most of the stallions around here have. One, then two.” Fluttershy wasn’t spared the embarrassment, though. She hid behind her mane.

A thought popped into Ryan’s head, and he just couldn’t resist. “Is this about Big Mac?” he asked, giving her a “Oh, you!” kind of look. The mare’s pupils became almost microscopic; her face wasn’t even remotely yellow any more; she breathed so shallow, you couldn’t see it.

“No!” she yelled, getting all of the animals to look at them. Ryan chuckled. He would stop there; he was still at least part gentleman when it came to shy girls.

“Okay then.”

Fluttershy stared at him, her pupils getting really big. Her timidness had disappeared without a moment’s notice, and she almost seemed mad. Ryan was confused. “I did not do that.” They locked eyes; in Fluttershy’s, he could see strength that he hadn’t thought to be there. There was an inferno of passion of the soul, born from a pilot light from her mind.

Fluttershy had trouble maintaining The Stare for long. She couldn’t bear what she was seeing in this human’s soul; pain, anguish, anger, hatred, suffering. She had never even heard of anything like it before, save for the veterans of the last war with the Griffons. She broke her gaze.

“Please, don’t think that of me.”

She looked less powerful now, but she still held unexpected confidence. Still perplexed, Ryan looked sideways at her. “Allllriiight, then?” He had no clue what had just happened. Of course, he did not know that no pony had ever resisted The Stare before.

They broke away from that little event and continued cataloguing. Ryan told her a little about the history of humans and their evolution, their dominance of the world, and their adaptations. But then, the tough part came.

“I need you to remove your clothes so I can get a good sketch of you.” Ryan gulped hard; he had to steer away from this.

“Well, Fluttershy, like how you're not that kind of mare, I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t do pornos.” Fluttershy flushed a little, but did her best to maintain her composure.

“It’s not that. And yes, I do understand about... that.” She pointed at Ryan’s crotch. “But I have to catalogue all animals that haven’t been catalogued. So I’m used to that, especially as a vet.”

Ryan inched away, into the wall. “Well, I don’t want to do that. I’m not comfortable.”

Fluttershy moved closer, trying to make him more comfortable. Never, EVER move closer to a cornered animal if it’s scared. “Please, just do it. I promise I won’t laugh.” Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but just blinked when he realized what she said. He decided to get serious, since joking wasn’t working.

“Sorry, Fluttershy, but I don’t want to. I think that you would be a little disturbed by what you saw.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I don’t-”

“And you probably won’t understand. If you saw, trust me, you would get it. But you won’t see. So that’s that.” He stood up and went for the exit. When Fluttershy followed, he turned around and looked down at her, being as tall as possible.

“Please. It’s for your good, not mine.” That was so solidly true it would make a better weapon than a brick.

She stopped. She was a vet, but she was also compassionate about the animals’ and ponies’ problems. She wasn’t going to force him to do anything. “Alright. You can go.” Ryan nodded.

“Thanks. And I was glad to help.” No, he wasn’t. Not at all.

He left and walked through town, looking for that tiny river so he could get a good look at himself. When he got there, he was indifferent about what he saw; he looked like hammered shit, with several distinct marks from each of the places where he had gone, namely Vietnam. His face looked like it was naturally dirty, coarse, and smelly. His clothes, while clean of blood, had once again become disgusting and smelled like garbage. Overall; not too bad.

Rarity would never say that, though. “Harkness!” she said, posh and proper. Ryan started, and nearly fell into the water. How had he allowed anypony to sneak up on him?

“Hello, Rarity.” He turned. “And Applejack.”

The two mares were smiling and walking together, a stark contrast to one another. One was clean and and purple, walked with regal posture, wore a fashionable scarf. The other was dirty, a rusty orange, wearing no clothes at all and had a workers’ poise. “Howdy!” Applejack greeted giddily. “How are y’all today?” The two mares were way too happy; something was up.

“I’m good enough. Just finished with Fluttershy.” The mares did not seem to care, except that it meant that Ryan was free to talk to them.

“Well, since you’re done, why not join us for a walk?” Ryan considered the option. They wanted something, he could tell. But he would be taking a big risk if he said no.

“Alright.”

He stood up and walked with the mares around town, not joining in on their conversation as they walked. They were talking about stallions. “Ah’d like a good, hard working stallion for me. Ain’t no other gonna work.”

Rarity nodded. “I want a handsome, noble stallion. And one who’s of good stature, of course.” She gave Applejack a sly smile, drawing a frustrated look from the farm mare.

“Well, Ah can’t say that Ah think Big Mac would.”

Rarity looked around. “Well, who ever said I meant Big Mac?” she said in mock offense. “What if I meant Harkness?”

Ryan turned around at the sound of his fake name. “What?” he said in mild surprise.

Rarity nodded. “Yes. I mean, just look at you!” He did; he saw very little. “I see a strong... human? Who works hard and is rather impressive.” She was trying to get to Ryan, but it was doomed to fail.

“Well, I AM rather large.” He shrugged. “But I bet you already saw that while I was showering.”

Applejack looked at her friend, barely containing her hysteric laughter. Rarity was turning red. “Well, I can assure you, that if I wanted such a thing, I would have taken it.”

Ryan threw out his hands in the air. “Well, I guess that you would love to just take advantage of me, then.” Applejack couldn’t hold it any more, and she dropped, bellowing out her laughter. Passing ponies looked on with interest.

Rarity used her magic to toss dirt at Applejack. “Well, I suppose that you would be rather afraid to hear our plans for tomorrow.” she said in mock disappointment. Now he actually was afraid.

“What are you planning?” His fear was evident in his voice, making Rarity wince at having actually scared him.

“We’re taking you to the SPA!”

He blinked several times, unable to understand why he was going to a spa. “Spas aren’t really my thing...” he tried. Applejack looked at him, not happy with the response one bit.

“We already told the gals that you would be there, Harkness.” Ryan actually felt like he had been slapped across the face. “Fluttershy said that it would be good for you, so we agreed and told ‘em.”

Fluttershy, of course. She had gone around the rules to get this. He would have to keep an eye on her in the future. “Now, you’re gonna join us cuz’ it’ll be nice, and you’ll feel great.” Ryan looked between the two mares, trying to find a way out. Regrettably, thanks to Rarity’s dangerous, potentially sexual-assault nducing magic, there was no way. He sighed loudly.

“Fine.” The mares smiled big and ran up to him and bear hugged him.

“You’ll love it, we swear!” Ryan shook his head. Why was he letting these things happen to him?

When the mares let go, Ryan nodded to them and took his leave, feeling the taste of defeat manifesting itself in his mouth as he considered how to explain the distinct scars in a way that would fail to indicate what he had done to get them and everything after.

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

He walked around the town in the dark of the predawn, still wondering what to say. Nothing had come to mind during the night, which he had spent mostly drunk and barely conscious. That was the trouble with forgetting; he couldn’t think either.

He was stuck. He had agreed to go with them to the spa, but he had no story to go off of. “I’ll wing it.” he decided. He could probably come up with something pretty good on the spot. He had done it before; he could do it again.

Rarity had told him before he left to be at her home early, around eight, for a whole day at the spa. So, that was where Ryan headed. He found his bench from before, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders had tried to attack him, and simply sat for hours until well after the sun rose from its spot below the horizon. Ryan’s star still twinkled a little into the early morning, fading at times, but always coming back strong, until its light was blocked by the sun. It seemed like it had a connection to him, though he couldn’t see how. Even in a world of magic, he hadn’t earned his own star.

It was about quarter after seven when he came back. “Well, Ryan, I see that you’re in something of a tight spot.” The Wraith commented. Ryan grunted, putting his hand to the Automag. “You remember how that went last time, right?” Ryan looked at the pistol which had been so ineffective before and took his hand away from it. “Good.” The Wraith said.

The Wraith sat down beside Ryan on the bench and crossed his legs, whistling a little tune. “What do you want?” Ryan asked. He was looking angrily at The Wraith, his resentment for his past dominating his features. The Wraith put his hands up into the air.

“What, I can’t spend time with my brother, whom I connect to so very much?” He struck a cord in Ryan with that one.

“No, you can’t. Now piss off.” Ryan stood up and went to walk away, but was quickly stopped when he heard several noises from inside the boutique.

“Whoops. Can’t just ditch her, now can you? That’s what I’d do.” Ryan scowled. He only had a short wait until Rarity came out to get him, and there was no way that The Wraith was to leave him until that time came. So he might as well just wait.

“Tell me something, Wraith.” He turned around and looked at The Wraith, who had his arms open and out wide.

“All ears.”

Ryan took several steps forward, trying to be intimidating. It didn’t work. “Why are you pestering me?” he asked. “What have you got to gain from this?”

The Wraith put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. “I suppose it makes for an interesting story.” he said. Ryan shook his head, confused.

“What?”

The Wraith suddenly pulled out a book with a strange binding to it and odd symbols on the front. “You see this book?” he asked. Ryan nodded. “This book is the story of your life. Everything that happens gets recorded in here, all thanks to the magic of this land.” He waved the book around, then flipped it open. “Says here that you went and got a dance back in Australia, had a good time.” He looked at Ryan, whose face revealed no reaction. The Wraith shrugged and put the book away.

“Unfortunately, it can’t see the future.” The Wraith smiled and lightly looked at Ryan. “But I don’t think I’ll need it to see your future.” Ryan sharply took in a deep breath and put his hand back on the gun.

“Fuck yourself.” The Wraith stood up, cracking his joints as he did so and let out a long sigh.

“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid that I have to go. Things to do, places to go, ponies to see.” Ryan blinked, and The Wraith was gone. He sighed loudly, resentful of the being’s presence, and went and knocked on the door of the boutique.

He knocked three times, then heard a big clamor inside the store. Rather than go inside and investigate, though, he waited at the door, not eager to get involved in any of the potential craziness inside. After a few minutes, the door opened, revealing the tiny form of Sweetie Belle.

“Harkness!” she shouted, a silly grin splaying out on her face. “You’re going to the spa today!” Ryan nodded, unsure of why she felt the need to announce that. Kids.

“Yeah. Where’s Rarity?” Sweetie Belle waved him in and walked him to the stage of the room.

Upstairs, there was a ton of noise and the sound of a panic. “Is everything alright?” Ryan asked. Sweetie Belle dismissed it with a wave of her hoof and a shake of her head.

“She’s just working on an order. She does this alot.” Ryan nodded, sitting down on the stage, and was ready to let his mind wander when Sweetie Belle wasn’t letting him do so. “Harkness?” she said. Ryan looked down; she wore a sad face for some reason.

“What?” he asked, taken off guard.

“Can I ask you to do something?” She pouted and blinked three times, looking tiny and weak on the floor. Ryan didn’t even try, sighing in defeat.

“Sure.”

Her smile returned instantly, practically illuminating the room. “Next week we have to bring in somepony we know for a project at school!” she began. “Most kids are bringing family, but mine is too busy. Would you come with me?” She looked at him with such hope that even Ryan didn’t have the lack of heart to deny her. It was too much like Joey.

“Depends.” he stalled. “What would I be doing?” He secretly wished that Rarity would hurry it up up there.

“Well, we have to bring in somepony to tell us about their job and life, and answer questions for the class. That’s why most ponies are bringing family. Scootaloo’s bringing in Rainbow Dash.”

“Well, shit.” He had just basically agreed to revealing himself to a bunch of little children. At this point, he could hardly say no. But he could make excuses. “Well, I never had a job, I was just a student. I can’t-”

“Then how did you get so badly hurt?”

Ryan didn’t continue with his sentence. Through the power of observation, something Ryan thought to generally be missing among the intelligent life he had spent the most time around, she had figured out that he did some very different things from most people. He had to think fast.

“A series of events that I don’t think children should hear.” Sweetie Belle looked up at him in total awe. He was just digging his hole that much deeper every time he opened his mouth.

Then, his saving grace came. “Rarity!” he shouted in an attempt to get Sweetie Belle to look that way. It worked. “Ready to get going?” He smiled as big as possible to indicate that the little sister was pestering him ferociously. She took notice immediately.

“Sure, darling, just let me get a few things in order. I will be but a moment.” That moment was all Sweetie Belle needed.

“So, can you do it?” Straight forward, no way around it.

Ryan clenched his teeth under his lips for a moment, then replied calmly, “Sure.” The tiny filly leapt into the air, legs splayed out wide and horn slightly aglow.

“YAY!”

Rarity came back and looked hurriedly at the clock. “Oh, dear, we’ll be late!” She used her magic to grab a small bag and then Ryan by the neck of his jacket, dragging him along the floor to the door. It was a highly unpleasant experience for the human, who grunted loudly as he was pulled along.

“Later Harkness!” Sweetie Belle shouted. Ryan saluted her as he was dragged away along the unpolished marble floor.

Once outside, Rarity released Ryan form her overly invasive magic and he fell like a boulder to the ground, creating a big thud. He just got back up. “Thanks for the save, but it was a little bit late.” Ryan said. Rarity nodded rapidly at him, prancing about.

“Yes, yes, you’re welcome, but we must hurry!” She turned around and started running, and Ryan ran after her, much slower due to his lack of horse anatomy. Humans aren’t built for that kind of powerful running.

“What time is it?” Ryan looked at his watch; it was quarter ‘til. They had plenty of time. Rarity just hated the idea of being late, it seemed.

Rarity arrived about twenty seconds before Ryan did, looking rather distasteful when she sniffed the air upon Ryan’s arrival. He was sweaty and gross already. “Egad, you really could use a spa treatment.”

Ryan stopped before her, panting like a dog, and held up his index finger. Then, he said, “Well, if you weren’t trying to weaken me so much to the point of defenselessness, maybe I would be looking better.” They had run there incredibly fast; faster than Ryan had ever run before. Rarity turned mildly red, and flung her mane to the side with a whisk of her head.

“Well, I assure you, I am strong enough already.” Ryan just glanced up at her, finally starting to recover from his exertion.

“Well,” he said, standing up as tall as possible. “I think that you’ll find me to be more durable than you in the end. And at the climax of the battle, isn’t the ability to take it and give it back what really counts?” Rarity looked flustered, but let out a fit of giggles.

“Oh, my. I can’t seem to win.” She then looked like she had some kind of revelation. “Oh, I nearly forgot!” She pulled out a pair of shorts that Ryan would wear from her small bag. “I made this for you for today.”

She gave Ryan a pair of swim trunks that would fit snugly over his waist. “Oh. Thanks.” he said. Once that was done, they went inside and looked around the waiting room. Sure enough, all of the mares, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were there. Rainbow, though, looked around like she had stolen something. “Yo.” Ryan greeted, taking the chance from Rarity to extend it and start more of a conversation. The mares all looked over at the pair as it entered.

“Hey!” Pinkie yelled back. She bounced out of her seat and straight at Ryan. “So, are you ready for your super relaxing awesome wonderful super duper day at the spa!?”

Ryan blinked. “Yes?” Pinkie stood on her hind legs, like a human, and extended her forelegs out to the sides. Ryan rolled his eyes and picked her up, getting giggles from her and her friends. Except Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash; they looked nervous, both, and shameful, too.

Ryan walked over and took a seat that looked toward the door and the group of mares before him. To his right, Fluttershy was trying to hide behind her mane and Rainbow Dash, while Rainbow Dash was looking around like she had committed a crime.

“What’s with you two?” Ryan asked.

Fluttershy squeaked some response out, but it was incoherent, and Rainbow Dash said, “I’m not into this stuff. I’m just here because Fluttershy asked me.” Ryan looked around Rainbow at the timid pegasus, who gave her best effort to remain hidden. She knew that Ryan wasn’t happy with this.

A very foreign accent came from the desk. “The large appointment for Miss Rarity?” It sounded like a combo of Swedish and German accents to Ryan.

“Yes, that’s us!” Rarity said back, going up to the desk. Ryan and the others all stood up and walked up to the desk behind Rarity.

“Oh.” the desk mare said at Ryan’s unexpected form. “You’re tall.” Ryan raised an eyebrow and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Okay.”

While she was looking at Ryan, Rarity also turned to him to speak. “Harkness, you didn’t have to carry all of those things with you, you know.” Ryan didn’t respond quickly.

“I do, actually.”

Rarity gave him a mildly concerned look, then turned back to the desk mare. “Do you have anywhere that he can put his things?” The mare nodded.

“Yes, we have lockers where you can store your things for the day. Please, follow me.” The desk mare came from the other side of the desk and walked over to a door at the side of the room.

“You girls go ahead.” Ryan said, not intent on being followed. “I’ll be in there once I’ve stored my things.” The mares all nodded and went to the spa area.

The desk mare led Ryan through a serie of halls that were lavishly decorated and very clean and white. Purple curtains hung from the windows and ceiling, and there were assorted potted plants and little statues around the hall. Eventually, they came upon a room that had a “Stallions” sign on it. “Here you are. Come out when you’re ready.” She left Ryan to enter the room, which he did as slowly as possible.

The room was small, as to be expected. Most stallions probably didn’t find themselves here very often. Looking around, Ryan picked a locker, number seven, and stored his things in it. They fit in very tightly, only barely fitting. He then put on his new set of trunks, which fit excellently, if a bit snug at the waistline. He shut the locker and looked around.

“There’s gotta be a towel in here somewhere.” he said to himself. When he spotted the basket, he grabbed a large one and put it around his chest and walked out.

He just followed the signs to the spa room, and found himself there rather quickly. Inside, there was a large inground hot tub that could easily fit two dozen, with six mares inside talking and laughing. His entrance would surely end that laughter.

“Harkness!” Rarity poshed. “So glad to see you didn’t run off.” She looked smugly at Applejack, who grumbled something. They seemed to have bet on his showing up. “Please, join us.” Ryan breathed in deep; now was the moment of truth, and he still had no story.

He removed the towel and hung it on the wall, the steam of the room preventing the mares from seeing his scars. He took a quick glance at them before proceeding; the hole in his chest, the chemical burns on his arms, the cuts on his leg, and the big USA and slash marks carved into his back. He would have trouble explaining these things.

He walked toward the pool, and as he got closer, close enough to be seen, he could hear at least two of the mares gasp. He looked to Fluttershy; she looked like she might faint. He might have to catch her if she did, seeing as it would be his fault. He stepped down into the hot water, about one hundred and two degrees, and eased himself in. It was certainly a hell of a lot better than sixty degree water in Vietnam.

Next to him, he wasn’t sure when it happened, was Fluttershy when he was fully in. She had moved stealthily through the water and was taking a look at his back. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked, already knowing.

“I’m checking for that... hole... wound...” She blinked several times when she saw the letters in his back. “W-what happened?” Ryan moved away. With no story, he would just have to refuse.

“I prefer not to talk about it.”

The others suddenly took a great deal of interest in Ryan’s physique with that. Rainbow was the most aggressive. “What? Lemme see!” Before Ryan could react, he was yanked into the middle of the pool and thrown face down into the water. He could still hear, since his ears were above the water. “USA?” Rainbow said, confused. Ryan forced his way back up.

“Yeah, my country of origin. United States of America. Now let me go.” He walked away from her, not happy with the sudden intrusion of his space.

When he sat down on one end of the group, the others were all looking at him. “What?” he asked. Again, he knew exactly what.

“Harkness, Ah think it’s time for you to tell us the truth.” Applejack stated matter-of-factly. “Ah know you’ve been lying and trying to hide. But we can’t let you do that; it ain’t good for you.” Ryan was about to respond angrily when Twilight piped in.

“She’s right, you know. You shouldn’t suffer alone.” Ryan sighed loudly, choking a bit on the spa water fumes. “Trust me. This won’t be good for anyone.”

The mares were suddenly much closer. “Please, tell us the truth. I don’t like seeing ponies unhappy.” Pinkie had big pupils and a pouty lip that quivered like a whimpering dog.

Ryan put his head down. There was no way out of it. “You want the truth?” he asked. The mares all nodded. He nodded as well. “Alright.”

“My name isn’t Harkness. It’s Ryan. That’s the first bit of news.” The reaction was minimal; it wouldn’t stay that way. “Let me start with how the whole thing started. I went to another country, Australia, to visit my friend. When he, I, and some others were driving to a city for a concert, we were attacked by men who aimed to kidnap us. They succeeded with everyone but Jackson.”

Rainbow was already confused, and made it well known to everyone. “Who’s Jackson, and why were you kidnapped?”

Ryan addressed her question quickly and curtly. “Jackson was a friend of mine. And the men kidnapped us to sell us as slaves.”

Twilight swallowed hard. “So what happened to Jackson? Did he get away?”

Ryan shook his head gravely. “Nope. Died in the initial attack. Shot twice in the head, several times in the body. His jaw hung like a broken branch from his face.” Ryan gauged the reactions; all looked sick, but Fluttershy was about to faint. Ryan moved forward and held her up. “And the rest of the story is a lot like that. So I’ll let you recover before I keep going.”

They spent the next few minutes in silence, Ryan trying to see what the mares all thought of him. Mostly, they looked like they pitied him, but there was something else. Some kind of fear of him, like he had been expecting from the start.

He was about to continue when the spa mare came in. “Ready for massages?” she asked in her foreign voice. Ryan stood up in the water.

“Certainly.” He walked away, Fluttershy still getting better in his arms, and was followed closely by the mares. The spa mare looked at him funny, but made no mention of what she was seeing. She just led them to the massage room.

Ryan looked at the tables; they were pretty small. His arms and legs would be hanging off the sides. “Please, lay down. We shall begin shortly.” There were only two mares doing massages; the others were doing various other things in the room.

Ryan got onto the table, joined by Rarity at the other, and waited. No one spoke. “I think you can keep going, Harkness.”

Ryan cleared his throat. “Ryan.”

“After we were taken, save for Jackson, we were transported through various islands, all of which make up a country called Indonesia. We were kept in a series of shitty little compounds in the country.” He couldn’t see it, but everypony in the room winced at the use of his foul language. “That was where things went pretty bad.”

Rarity blinked next to him. “How could it get worse?” she asked.

Ryan grunted as the spa mare started rubbing his back. “Just wait. You’ll know.”

“On the boat on the way to one compound, I was given a choice. Shoot my best friend or this girl named Catherine. I shot Catherine.” The room went completely silent. “Yes, I killed an innocent. And yes, I know that I’m going to Hell. But this is what you wanted to hear, so this is what you got.” The spa mare on his back slowed down, clearly disturbed, but kept going. The silence was broken when Twilight finally spoke up.

“What would have happened if you hadn’t done that?” she asked.

“We all would have died. But that doesn’t make it any better.”

He continued. “After that, they brought us north to another compound. It was there that I made my escape. When I got away, though, I had to go and get my friend, Harris. So, I went to the next compound and I got him.”

Rarity, who had been perturbed, actually seemed almost fascinated by the story now. “How did you do it?” she asked.

Ryan thought for a moment. “I killed about seven guards there. They... I don’t know what I was going to say. But I killed them because they had my friend.”

Pinkie Pie had a revelation over in the mud bath. “Wait, how did you get the scars?” she asked. Ryan hesitated. There was a reason he left that out.

“I was given another decision. Shoot a kid in the head or everyone got Anthrax and was sent home. I shot the kid in the head. But right before that, I was tortured.” There was a collection of gasps. “The burned my arms with chemicals and cut up my back, the big USA and grouping under that. I don’t like to recall it.”

He decided that this was more than enough for the mares, so he left them with one more thing. “And because of what they did to me, I decided to hunt down the man responsible and kill him.” Rainbow Dash left her spot in her own mud bath and walked over to Ryan.

“Did you?” she asked.

Ryan nodded. “I killed them. Forty lives, I took, three of which did not deserve it. And those are the details of the story that you will be getting.”

There was no talking after that. The revelation of Ryan’s true history was too much for the mares to handle. They spent the next two hours in total silence, a concept very welcomed by Ryan. Once the visit was done, Ryan got his stuff and left and sat in his ditch for the rest of the day, tears silently streaming from his eyes and knowing that life was about to go off the road for him again.