Twilight opened the door to the library to allow Ray to be carried in.
"Really Rainbow Dash, I don't need to be carried!" Ray protested.
"Are yah sure Ray? You look like you're banged up pretty bad," Applejack stated.
"I'm fine girls, really!" Ray attempted to reassure them.
"I really think you shouldn't get up though," Fluttershy squeaked.
"I can walk!" Ray argued as he began to push himself off of Rainbow Dash's back.
"Oh no you don't Ray!" Rainbow Dash said as she shifted herself back under Ray.
"Alright Rainbow, that's enough! We're here now so ya don't need ta carry him anymore," Applejack said when she reached the table in the middle of the tree.
"There ya go big guy." Rainbow Dash let Ray slide off of her back and set him down. "Happy?"
"I guess, thanks," Ray said with only the slightest hint of gratitude.
He limped over to the table in the middle of the library to sit down.
"Oooh-kay, now that we are here, what are we supposed to do?" Ray asked.
The awkward silence that followed lasted for several moments.
"Okay, I guess we will be talking," Ray said with a grin.
"Sorry Ray, we just aren't exactly used to having a friend die, or almost die in your case," Twilight apologized.
"It's fine, I understand," Ray replied still smiling. "So what are we gonna talk about?"
"How can you be joking around right now? You almost died!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Been there, done that," Came the simple reply.
Rarity gave an exasperated sigh. "You can be such a mystery at times!"
"I can be, can't I? Speaking of mysteries, where's Pinkie-"
"SURPRISE!" a high voice yelled suddenly. There was a small explosion from behind and Ray ducked almost instinctively with his hand now on his sidearm. He let his hand slide off of the pistol and relinquished his breath.
"Thanks for the heart attack Pinkie," Ray gasped and collapsed to the floor.
The ponies laughed until they realized Ray wasn't moving.
"Ray?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Are you okay?" Fluttershy whispered.
"Ha, that's really funny!" Pinkie added.
"Ray?!" Rainbow Dash rushed to his side. "Get up!"
Ray snickered suddenly and sat up. "You should have seen the look on your face!" Ray laughed. With his laugh, the other ponies released a collective sigh of relief, aside from Pinkie who was hysterical laughing.
"Good one Ray!" she laughed as she fell to the floor giggling.
Rainbow Dash huffed angrily and dragged Ray back to the table, which now was covered in Pinkie's party supplies and treats.
"Ow! My leg wasn't the only thing that was shot!" Ray gasped as he was dragged by his bad arm.
"Suck it up," Rainbow Dash spat through her teeth.
Ray said nothing more until he was propped back up on the table.
"I guess I'll cut the cake," Ray said and unsheathed his knife. He showed it off a little by twirling it around a few times. "So remind me what this party is for?"
"It's a Ray Didn't Die Party!"
"Oh… Okay… That's... Interesting?"
The rest of this night was filled with laughter as ponies told jokes and Ray told funny stories. However, Ray noticed that his close friend wasn't exactly enjoying the party as much as the rest of them. He knew something was bugging her considering she had zoned out more than once.
"Okay, what's wrong Rainbow Dash?" Ray asked abruptly.
"What? Nothing!" She replied with a fake smile.
Ray sighed. "We're all your friends Rainbow Dash. You can trust us."
"I'm fine Ray," She replied stubbornly.
"Rainbow Dash, I know- Oh, I get it. So you still know what I'm going to do."
"Yeah, I know you can't leave them after all you've said about them. I can tell that they mean a lot to you, but what about me- Us?" Rainbow Dash hastily corrected herself. Ray didn't seem to notice.
"Rainbow Dash, it's not that simple…"
"Oh what, choosing them over us isn't simple?" Rainbow Dash retorted.
The five other ponies nervously watched the argument.
"See why I wanted to leave without telling you?" Ray replied quietly and suddenly as he looked away from her, "My team is one of the last connections I have with Cassandra. If you expect me to give that up easily, then maybe you don't know me that well."
Rainbow Dash saw her mistake and immediately regretted what she had said.
"And if you think it's easy to leave you all, it's not. Why would you think it would be easy to leave you after all we have been through?"
"Ray… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." Rainbow trailed off as it was obvious she wouldn't be getting another reply in regard to it. Rainbow Dash walked around to look at Ray's face. She did a double take when she saw tears flowing from her friend's eyes. Seeing this conjured both a feeling of regret and relief. The pegasus recounted that he hadn't shed a single tear when he had told her about what happened to Cassandra. She nervously glanced at her friends, who were shocked at Ray's sudden outbreak. Rainbow Dash also saw Twilight nervously pawing at the ground and averting her gaze from Ray. Swallowing her pride, Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around Ray's neck.
"I'm sorry Ray," She repeated as she too began to cry. "I just don't want to lose you."
"I'm sorry too for putting you through this." Ray sniffed. "But hey, look at the bright side! I still have to recover so I will be here for a little bit longer," He continued while returning the hug with a small smile.
"Awwww that's so cute!" Pinkie exclaimed suddenly.
Rainbow Dash shot her the nastiest look she could conjure, but that didn't stop her friends from giggling.
"Hey, just ignore them, okay?" Ray whispered and let her go. "Hey, Pinkie, can you balance a cupcake on your head?"
"Sure, why?"
"Just do it Pinkie."
"Okie Dokie Lokie!" The pink pony took a cupcake off the table and, as an added bonus, balanced it on her nose. "Like this?"
"Perfect! Rainbow, ready to see this?" Ray asked.
Ray quickly unsheathed his knife and threw it in one motion, hitting the cupcake dead center. The knife continued and impaled itself next to one of the bookshelves. Ray grinned, stood up and retrieved his knife. Rainbow Dash snickered at the shock and fear on the other ponies faces.
"Oh good, I can still throw a knife accurately!" Ray commented cheerfully.
"You mean you could have missed?!" Twilight asked, clearly shocked.
"I did take a large caliber round to the arm you know. Even if you repaired my broken arm, there could be muscle and possibly even nerve damage. That made it harder to throw the knife accurately."
"You could have hit Pinkie?" Twilight concluded.
Ray turned and winked at Rainbow Dash, "Something like that. What's life without a little risk? I'm sorta tired right now so I think I'll be going."
Before Twilight, or any pony for that matter could get another word in, Ray was holding the library door open for Rainbow Dash and they both walked out of the tree together. The rain had eased up since earlier and it was just a light drizzle at this point.
"You couldn't have missed if you tried right?" Rainbow Dash asked when they were out of earshot.
"Oh yeah, sure," Ray replied nervously.
"Ray…"
"Of course! You doubt my skill?"
"Well you did sorta get shot three times and almost died on us," She shot back.
Ray blushed clearly embarrassed.
"Are you blushing? Haven't seen you do that before!" Rainbow Dash continued to tease.
"Hey, maybe next time I won't try to save your pride," Ray suggested.
"Maybe next time I won't wait by your bed!"
"Oh, you would if there was a next time..." Ray responded.
"And you would be there to save my life if that were to happen again, which it won't!"
They both laughed at their joking as they arrived at Twilight's balloon.
The next few weeks after Ray had "returned" rushed by quickly for both the pegasus and human. Rainbow Dash spent as much time as she possibly could with Ray, even with the preparations for the start of winter. Luckily, Ray had been interested in the creation and dispersion of the weather throughout Equestria, so it didn't take much convincing to bring him to the weather factory in Cloudsdale again. Ray had decided that the colder temperatures required him to wear a ghillie suit in the elevated town for the added clothe to stay warm for extended visits, although at the cost of Rainbow Dash making fun of him and constantly reminding him that he looked absolutely ridiculous in it. In the factory, he was helping make the snow because his hands were more nimble than hooves. His patience and ability to stay quiet for long periods of time definitely helped also. Ray was quietly working on a small table with all sorts of peculiar tools and magical materials needed to make a snowflake.
"Ray?" Rainbow Dash whispered, wandering in to this different part of the factory.
Ray held up a finger to tell his friend to wait a few seconds as he finished another snowflake.
"Yes?" he quietly responded afterward.
"Break time for me and I'm headin' out for a bite to eat. How 'bout you?"
"I'm not hungry, but I'll join you."
Ray got up from his work and waved goodbye to the other pegasi making snow. They briefly stopped their work to wave back at him, but immediately returned to their work afterwards. As the two stepped outside, Ray slipped on a pair of sunglasses and gloves.
"Lead the way." Ray said and followed Rainbow Dash, who was stifling herself from laughing at how ridiculous she thought Ray looked, to a café close to the weather factory. The two entered the café and took a seat at a small table. When the waiter arrived, Ray only asked for a glass water before he leaned back into deep thought again.
"Gotta make up your mind Ray: Stay or go?" This thought plagued Ray whenever he had a spare moment to think.
"Ray?" Rainbow Dash asked, noticing her friend's trance.
He sighed. "Well, I'm not gonna lie now. I'm trying to make up my mind on whether or not I'm going to be staying here or going back home."
"Well then, I won't lie either. I would like you to stay and I'm pretty sure everyone else does too. I almost completely lost you two weeks ago and I don't want to go through that again. Plus I don't see how you could leave somepony as incredibly awesome or cool as me." With her last sentence, she tried to make it seem like it really wasn't bothering her. Ray just chuckled.
"Well the doctor says I have to stay here past up until the first day of winter, so that's about three weeks. And I get to watch the first 'Winter Moon Festival' which sounds pretty interesting. After that…"
"Well, what can we do to convince you to stay?"
"Honestly, the best thing you could do is just act as if I weren't going to leave. It's hard enough deciding between both options now. I don't want the decision to be more difficult."
Rainbow Dash contemplated this for a moment, "Okay, if that's what you want, I'll do it."
"Thank you."
Ray snapped his eyes open and checked his watch. 0015 hours, or 12:15 in the morning. He swung his legs over the bed and eagerly went to wake up Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash get up! I don't want to be late for helping start winter!" Ray started with a whisper.
After no response he increased his volume. "Rainbow Dash, get up!"
Finally Ray decided to sound off. "RAINBOW DASH GET UP NOW!"
"Five more minutes?" asked the drowsy Rainbow Dash.
"You are quite a heavy sleeper," Ray murmured to himself, "Now, use a gun or a bucket of water? If I use a gun I risk waking Ponyville, if I use water, I risk death…"
Ray glanced at his watch, "Well I guess you'll protect me. Making Rainbow Dash angry sure does require lots of courage."
He pulled out a section of the cloud wall, sculpted a bucket out of it and then filled it with water from the kitchen before returning to the pegasus' room. "Here goes nothing."
Ray dumped the water on his friend and dove away.
"Whatthehaywhosthere?!" Rainbow Dash gasped.
"Relax it's just me. We have thirteen minutes till we need to start winter," Ray exclaimed, clearly excited.
Rainbow Dash groaned in response and tried to rub the sleep from her wet eyes as Ray walked outside to Twilight's balloon.
"Geez Ray, it's just the beginning of winter. It's more work than anything," Rainbow Dash said as she groggily followed Ray out the door.
"Are you kidding me? I love the cold crisp air, the snow, Christmas."
"Christmas?" Rainbow Dash inquired.
"Oh, it's a holiday back where I'm from. It's basically a celebration of an important person's birthday. We celebrate and give each other presents," Ray answered.
"Hmm, sounds like Hearths Warming Eve."
"Oh yeah, I read about that in one of Twilight's books. Interesting story indeed. I never thought of you ponies as a violent race."
Outside, the moon still glowed in the black sky, so Ray retrieved his night vision goggles and pulled them over his eyes, coating the dark world in a sickly, digital green color.
"So how will things go about today?" Ray asked.
"Well today is usually just when we put all the clouds in place, so you probably won't be doing much today," Rainbow Dash replied.
"Okay, I'll see if I can start prepping for the celebration tonight then."
"Well, I'll see you in a few hours," Rainbow Dash yawned.
"And Rainbow Dash, try not to fall asleep on the job," Ray continued with a smirk.
Rainbow Dash took a swipe at Ray but he easily stepped backwards, out of the way. "Got to be a bit quicker!"
"Just get going," Rainbow Dash replied, slightly annoyed, but grinning all the same.
Ray patiently waited for the balloon to hit ground level after he had climbed in and told it to head for Ponyville. He wondered how he was going to start preparing for the festival by himself. He figured that Twilight would probably have stayed up planning for the day's events. As he hit the ground, Ray could already tell that the temperature was colder than when he had first come to Ponyville.
"Hey Twilight, you up?" Ray whispered as he knocked on the door to the library, which was still lit up inside.
"One second Ray," Twilight said from somewhere inside. "There we go!"
Twilight opened the door and Ray stepped inside. "Thanks, it's getting cold out there. I assume you were up planning for tonight?"
"Yeah, I think I have it all planned out!" Twilight said proudly, indicating her papers on her desk. Ray sat down in her chair and checked over the plans for the night's festivities. It took him about thirty minutes to pour through all of her notes, diagrams, and schedules.
"Pretty big op you have planned Twilight. I think it will be quite a celebration." Ray observed after he had finished. Twilight had stayed to work on something else for the festival, but Ray couldn't tell what.
"Do you think Princess Luna will like it?" Twilight asked anxiously.
"I'm sure she will enjoy what you have planned Twilight. Also, I look forward to meeting her highness. Anyway, let's go see if we can get any preparations started ASAP."
"I agree. We can start by checking to see if we have the correct amount of materials."
Ray knew for a fact that she had checked that yesterday and also knew he was in for a long haul. Stepping outside again he flipped down the night vision goggles as Twilight followed him with a blue striped scarf wrapped around her neck. Ray lead the way to various piles of wood and let Twilight borrow the high tech goggles to check, measure, count, and recheck each plank of wood for the various stands that would be set up. Next, they checked the stage on which Luna would publicly raise the moon. Twilight worked quietly, making sure each item was perfectly in place, but it was an unusual quiet, even for her. Ray thought something may be on her mind or she was simply dead tired. While she worked, Ray watched the pegasi pile clouds high over the small town admiring the speed and stealth with which they worked. Suddenly, little white specks of snow started to drift and dance through the quiet early morning sky.
"Hey, Twilight?"
"What is it Ray?"
"It's snowing."
Twilight stopped and looked around. The snow was already starting to form a thin blanket over every exposed surface. She sighed.
"I'll get this fixed later," she stated, turning back to what she was doing. She tugged on a few decorations before turning back around to Ray
"Ray, I never fully apologized for about how I acted before you got hurt," the unicorn said suddenly. Ray hadn't expected that sort of reply, but remained calm about it.
"It's fine. I understand why you did what you did. Heck, I probably would have done the same thing in your position."
"I was just so angry... I just wanted to protect Rainbow Dash," Twilight stammered with guilt.
"I know Twilight, I've felt the same way."
"Really? You? Never once have I seen you panic or get angry. The closest thing is when you threw that knife at Pinkie when we were laughing at Rainbow Dash, and that wasn't really anger either."
"That's because none of you were ever in danger or hurt. There have been times… Where I've sort of lost it for a few moments. I have done things I have regretted and things I will never forget. Terrible things. Don't ever do that Twilight; never compromise your beliefs because you will regret it.
"I'll do that," Twilight responded simply.
She turned around and resumed her work, failing to notice Ray sneak off into the night.
"Okay Ray, I think that's the last thing we need to check on for now. Ray?" Twilight had turned to find he had vanished.
Suddenly something cold smacked the pony in the face. She flipped the goggles back over her eyes and levitated a pile of snow, ready to retaliate. However, Ray was nowhere in sight. Twilight started walking slowly around the town, carefully scanning every corner, closed market stand, and roof in search of him. Another snowball hit her from behind and she whipped around, ready to throw the pile of snow at him, but found nothing.
"Okay then Ray. Come on out, I won't hurt you," She said in an innocent voice.
Another snowball hit her from where she had just been looking.
"That's it, no mercy then," Twilight said with an evil grin.
Again she was hit in the back of the head with a snowball.
"Okay, how are you even doing that Ray?" She blurted out. Curiosity getting the better of her.
Even with the night vision goggles, she couldn't seem to spot him.
"Okay I surrender," Ray said with his hands raised.
Twilight once again whipped around to see Ray stepping out from behind a building. She wiped the grin off his face by easily smashing the pile of snow into him. Yet again a snowball hit her.
"What the hay?" Twilight said turning again.
Rainbow Dash quietly laughed to herself, but was also smashed with a pile of snow. Ray had managed to dig his way out of the snow pile and stretched out his sore limbs. He definitely felt better than when had first awoken in the hospital, but from time to time he did start hurting again.
"Nice shot Twilight," Ray said with a grin.
"Thanks," Twilight said, quietly laughing herself.
The trio quietly snickered to themselves until Ray had suggested they head back to the library.
"Sun will be up soon so that's when we will be setting up for the festival tonight," Ray pointed out on the walk back.
The rest of the day was a scramble to set up stalls for activities or selling various things or preparing food and preparing crafts for the younger ponies. Finally, it came time for Princess Luna to arrive. The Elements of Harmony greeted her as she arrived via chariot pulled by her Royal Guards. Ray snapped to attention and saluted as the ponies bowed to the Princess.
"Pleasure to finally meet you your highness," Ray said after he finished the salute.
"The pleasure is mine, and please call me Luna."
"Of course Luna!"
"Twilight, how are the preparations for tonight's festival?" The Princess asked.
"Very well Princess Luna! We should be done within the hour!" Twilight answered with excitement.
"Excellent then! I shall go and prepare for tonight's ceremony. I'll see you all in a little while then!" With that Luna trotted away and her guards followed.
Ray watched her leave and picked up the nervous twitch of her tail.
"I needa go check on something so I will see you around girls."
There was a mumble of agreement as they went their separate ways and Ray walked in the same direction as Luna. The snow made it easy to track her. All he had to do was follow the three sets of steps.
"Halt!" A voice hissed as two spears crossed in front of Ray.
"Good afternoon gents," Ray said unfazed. "Sloppy, downright sloppy. You should be disappointed in yourselves. At least cover your tracks! Don't make it so easy to track the principle, that being the pony you're trying to protect, which in this case is Princess Luna. Also, find a better place to ambush from. Both of you were just relying on the shadows of these buildings, but you should try to find actual concealment or, better yet, cover. Now can I see Luna?"
The two guards were dumbfounded at the short lecture they had received. "She's just further up the road, uh, sir," one of them responded.
"Don't call me sir. I don't like being called that. Simply Ray or Gunny will do!
"Erm, sure thing Ray," the other replied, rather awkwardly.
Ray passed the two guards, who found better places to wait for any suspicious ponies to walk by, and found Luna staring idly into the distance
"A bit for your thoughts?" Ray said and flipped a coin in the air.
"I heard your little scolding that you gave my guards. I'm glad you didn't do something drastic."
"They weren't a threat. If I had wanted them dead, it would have been too easy. I would suggest you have them teach your other guards what I told them."
Luna cringed a bit at the thought of her guards being killed, but shook it off.
"I shall try to bear that in mind." she laughed. "Twilight is right, you are fairly intelligent."
"I would like to think so. Anyways, how are you feeling about tonight's performance?"
"I am not so sure about doing this in front of a crowd."
"But you have done it thousands of times before ,right?"
"Yes, of course!" Luna responded.
"Well back where I'm from, there is a saying: Amateurs train until they get it right, professionals train until they can't get it wrong. Now you have done this so many times, I'm sure you would have to try to mess up. Don't be nervous. What I'm trying to say is that it's basically impossible for you to mess up. I'm sure you can figure out the rest," Ray finished with a grin.
"Thank you Ray. You are as good as they say," the princess replied with a soft smile.
"If only I was…" Ray murmured as he walked away.
He checked his watch and saw it was ten minutes until Luna was going to raise the moon. Ray joined the crowd of anxious ponies, wading his way towards his friends.
"Hey girls, what have I missed?" Ray asked.
"Absolutely nothing," Rainbow Dash said, "We have been standing here forever."
"Oh hush now Rainbow Dash! It has only been five minutes!" Rarity added.
"Well, it felt like forever..." Rainbow Dash yawned.
"Shh Luna is coming on," A voice said from below.
"Oh hey Pipsqueak. Oh hi Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo," Ray said as he noticed the small ponies, "How can you tell she is coming on?"
"He can't. He just keeps saying that every five minutes, hoping he can hear her," Scootaloo pointed out.
"Here, let me help with that." He scooped Pipsqueak and Scootaloo up in his arms.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went to their sisters for a boost so they could see. Soon enough, Luna took the stage and made a fairly simple show of flying up and raising the moon with her alicorn magic. The ponies went ballistic from the performance, but Ray was left disappointed.
"That's it?" Ray asked, rather confused.
"What do you mean Ray? That was super fantastic!" Pinkie said.
"Uh, okay..."
"Well at least she did confidently," Ray thought to himself.
Suddenly Ray felt somepony lean up against his leg. Looking down, he saw Rainbow Dash, who had fallen asleep. Ray gently put Pipsqueak and Scootaloo down.
"Sorry everypony, but I gotta get Rainbow Dash home. I woke her up really early this morning and, by the looks of it, she didn't get any of her naps in during the day."
"Okay Ray, see you tomorrow." Twilight said as he left the group.
He knelt down and scooped up the blue pegasus, carrying her out of the crowd and towards the parked hot air balloon. Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but watch as Ray cradled Rainbow Dash in his arms while walking, bringing a smile to her face. Rarity also noticed this.
"What are you thinking Twilight?" the white unicorn asked.
"I'm not sure Rarity. Looking at these two is just... Cute! I feel like that Ray and Rainbow Dash have really bonded these past few months, even if it has been... violent. Sometimes I think that they're becoming something more than just friends."
"Oh, please Twilight! Don't get such a funny idea! You know it would never work out! A human and a pegasus! Goodness, I can't even fathom how that would work!"
Twilight paused for a moment before laughing to herself.
"Yeah, you're right! Silly me and my crazy idea, ha! Well, come on! I think Pinkie made some special treats over at Sugarcube Corner to celebrate!"