"Good morning everypony." I said walking down the stairs. I entered the kitchen to see Twilight sitting next to Raincloud who was moving a glass around the table with telekinesis and Spike making what appeared to be pancakes.
"Good morning Shadowstorm, that's your name right?, would you like some pancakes?" said Spike
"Yes Spike, my name is Shadowstorm, but please call me Storm. It sounds much friendlier than Shadow and yes I would love some pancakes." I replied. I had two pancakes because I was very hungry. About halfway through my second pancake, I noticed a sizzling sound a distinctive smell. I wasn't sure so I asked, "What is that smell and sizzling noise?"
Spike was flipping strips of what appeared to be hay, he turned to me and said, "I think you smell and hear the Haycon."
Haycon? Really, I had gotten used to most of the horse puns, but this was plain dumb. It smelled and sounded just like bacon, but bacon is made from pigs so I guess hay was a substitute for some meats. But did it taste like bacon? Only one way to find out. "Um, okay. Can I try a strip?"
"Sure." Spike tossed me a strip of haycon(I still think it's a bad pun for the record). I caught the strip in my telekinesis and popped it into my mouth. I had found the pony equivalent of bacon. On the outside I looked like a normal pony eating a slice of haycon, but on the inside I was trying so hard to contain my foodgasm. After living off of pre-packed meals and rations for four years, genuine food tasted amazing. I guess being a pony had changed my tastes as well as my appearance.
"This is amazing! Raincloud have you tried this?" I said.
Raincloud put his glass down and said, "Yes, and I love it!."
I finished my breakfast and set out to find Thunderhead and talk to him about how he was adjusting to the new life. I found him and Rainbow Dash at Sugarcube Corner.
"Hey Thunder, how's it going?"
"Good, I'm learning how to fly, not that hard. Easier than flying jets." replied Thunder. Bruce had flown jets, specifically F-16s, in the Air Force before re-enlisting in the Army. He was then transferred to the SEALs due to his exceptional infantry skills.
"Yeah, He's pretty good, but I was better when I first started." said Rainbow. I figured they would get along well, they complement each other pretty well.
I sat down at their table and turned to Thunder, " So, it seems we're all adjusting well to our new situation, and while we can't mooch off our generous hosts for the rest of our lives, I think you and I should strongly consider getting jobs."
Thunder looked at me for a second, nodded, then turned to Dash and said, "I agree. I mean, as awesome as your cloud home is, I would like a place of my own. Although I don't know what kinds of jobs I could do. I can't go back to what I did as a human because, well, maybe I could, but it would take some adjustments. Going from automatic firearms and Kevlar vests to spears and suits of armor is a pretty big jump backwards."
Dash was confused about the last part of what Thunder said, asked, "Firearms, was that what caused those loud firecracker like sounds that came from Canterlot?"
"Probably, I demonstrated the power of human weapons to the Princesses and Captain of the Royal Guard. Their ears will never be the same again." I said with a smirk. "So have you told Dash about what you did for a living back home?"
"He says he was in an organization that parallels the Royal Guard." said Rainbow.
"I was, and I hope I can find some sort of employment. I'd hate to live off of someone else for much longer." finished Thunder.
Rainbow had been waiting to speak up again, "You know Thunder, you're actually a really good at flying, especially for just getting wings literally yesterday. I mean, you're not nearly as good as me, nor will you probably ever be, but I think you could join the Ponyville weather team, that is if you're up to the challenge."
Thunder stood up from the table with a confident look on his face, "I'm always up for a challenge!" and we all walked out of Sugarcube corner together.
"Well, now you've found a probable job. What could I do here?" I asked Thunder.
Thunder answered, "Well, I've been talking with Dash, I briefly summarized your military career to her if you don't mind,"
"You've already told her, I really don't have much choice." I commented.
Dash smiled while Thunder kept talking, "Right, well, she said that Applejack is always looking for help at Sweet Apple Acres."
"I think I could help Applejack at the farm during the week." I said.
"Hmm, that could work, but you would probably be pretty tired after a while." added Thunder.
"Maybe, but most likely less strenuous then what I've been doing for the past four years." I finished.
We parted ways at the library, Rainbow was getting a book from Twilight, the next "Daring Do" book is what Dash told me, and Thunder was tagging along to get to know Ponyville a bit better. I set off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres to see if what Dash had said was true.
When I reached the farm, I saw a red stallion plowing the fields. He was about as tall as me, with a slightly more muscular build.
"Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, Can ah help you with somthin'?" asked the stallion in an accent similar to Applejack's.
I briefly overheard Applejack mentioning an older brother when I first met Twilight's other friends. I assumed this was him. "Hi, I'm Shadowstorm. Is Applejack around?" I politely asked.
"Eeyup, she's in the house takin' a break." came his reply.
As I approached the house the door opened and out rushed a yellow filly with a big red bow tied in her hair. She didn't have enough time to see that I was standing so close and she slammed right in to me.
"Ow!" she exclaimed.
"Sorry, are you all right?" I said as a offered a hoof to help the filly up.
"Yeah, ahm' fine. Hey!, are you one of the new stallions in town that mah big sister told me about?" asked the filly.
"Uh-huh, my name's Shadowstorm, just call me storm." I replied.
"Nice bumpin' in to ya, see ya 'round town. I gotta run to mah crusader's meeting." She was about to run off but stopped abruptly, "HEY!, You don't have your cutie mark either! Applejack didn't tell me that, you should come with me to our meeting to help you find your special talent!"
"Howdy Storm, sorry about Applebloom, she was about to go meet with her friends to see if they could get their cutie marks in, somethin'." Applejack walked up to see me talking with Applebloom.
"Ah, well it was nice meeting you Applebloom, I'll see you later." I replied.
"Alright, see ya 'round Storm." Applebloom yelled to me as she galloped away.
"She's an energetic little filly that one. Come on in Storm, Do you need somthin'?"
I walked inside the house and Applejack sat at a table. "I have a question, Rainbow Dash says that you're always looking for some extra help around the farm and I was wondering, if maybe I could help out. Possibly for a small salary?" I asked.
"If yer gonna work here, of course ah'll pay ya." Applejack replied.
"Thank you Applejack, I really need this. Mainly so I can stop feeling like such a freeloader. How about I start tommorow. I have a few more errands I need to run today."
"Sure, see ya tommorow. Bright and early." said Applejack.
"Of course, Bye." I left Sweet Apple Acres and set out in the direction of Sugarcube Corner to hopefully find Pinkie and ask about the party she said she was going to throw us. After walking the short five minutes into town, I found the pink mare I was looking for bounding towards the bakery.
"Hey Pinkie!"
"Storm! Do you need something?" asked Pinkie, jumping up and down in place.
"Well, I just got a job working with Applejack and her family, and I was wondering when you were going to throw our 'Welcome to Equestria' party." I asked.
"*GASP* Now that you have a job, I need to throw you a 'Congratulations on getting a job' party too! But I still haven't thrown your, 'Welcome to Equestria' party yet. I can't throw two parties at the same time. WHAT DO I DO?!" Pinkie replied. She stopped bouncing and stood still. Surprisingly.
"Pinkie, its really not that hard. Just throw one party and have it honor both events." I said. Pinkie perked right back up and started bouncing again. "Great. Have the party this Friday night so everypony can be there."
"Okie-dokie-lokie." chanted Pinkie as she bounced away.
With nothing else to do I decided to head back to the library. Coincidentally, Pinkie was headed there as well. I just followed her inside to see Twilight and all of her friends, as well as Thunderhead, sitting in the middle of the floor around Twilight holding a scroll from the Princess.
"There you are. Where have you been?" asked Twilight.
"I got a job at Sweet Apple Acres, thanks for asking." I briefly replied.
"Oh, great! Well this just came and I think you all should know what's going on." Twilight opened the scroll and began reading, "Dear Twilight, Yesterday we lost all contact with the Crystal Empire. We've sent scouts to see what the problem may be. Crystal Ponies leaving the empire by train and other modes of transportation have been showing up as of late and they say that something big is going on. I've yet to receive word from your brother or Cadance. I can only hope for their safety. I will send you more details as they come. Best wishes, Princess Celestia."
We all sat in silence for a brief period of time. We were all thinking the same thing, "What could happen to cause us to lose all contact with an entire empire?" Twilight was the one to vocalize our thoughts.
I had a theory, but I hoped I was wrong. If I was right, well, bad things were happening to say the least.
"Any idea as to what's happened?" I asked before we fell back into awkward silence.
"I hope nothing to bad, maybe all of the mailponies are sick?" Fluttershy theorized.
I was thinking something more along the lines of hostile takeover and occupation by a militant group, but that was also a possibility. Wait, no it wasn't. In the letter, Celestia said something about Crystal ponies pouring into Canterlot by the trainload. She also said that there have been reports of something big going on. My theory was looking more solid by the minute, much to my dismay. And there was what my father had told me in my dream. Was it Brevinski? Had he forcefully taken the Crystal Empire and was holding Shining Armor and Cadance hostage? I surely hoped not, but there was enough information to suggest that something along those lines have happened.
The others were talking with themselves as I was thinking about the likely scenario. It could be possible, but I doubted it. Mostly for the fact that if I accepted that as what happened I would lose sleep thinking over what was happening to Shining Armor and his wife.
If that was the case, there wouldn't be much I could do about it, or was there? I decided to let Thunder in on my theory,
"Hey Thunder," I called. He gave me his attention by staring at me. Unfortunately, everypony else in the room followed suit. "I need to tell you something in private, come downstairs with me."
Twilight's Perspective
I didn't know what was up, but my brother was potentially in danger and Storm knew something about it. I hated to be so sneaky, but I need to know what was going on. When the two stallions walked into the basement, I left the door slightly ajar so I could listen in.
Storm took a breath before he spoke, "I think, he's made his move."
Thunder looked at him quizzically for a second then replied, "Who?, You mean..." He had a worried look on his face.
"Yeah, I think it's him. I also think you and me may be the only ones with the knowledge and equipment to do anything about it." What was Storm talking about?, Who's 'him'? What knowledge and equipment?
"Well, I don't know what equipment you have, I don't know if you saw, but earlier today I moved the Humvee to the forest. In the Humvee is enough weapons and ammo to survive a short zombie apocalypse." Now I had no idea what they were talking about. All I could figure out is that 'He' could be responsible for the loss of communication to the Crystal Empire, and that in Thunder's vehicle there were weapons and lots of them. I decided to let them finish their conversation in privacy like they thought they were the whole time.
Shadowstorm's Perspective
"... to survive a short zombie apocalypse." finished Thunder. Great he had enough munitions to last us awhile, or at least enough for a short reconnaissance mission to the Crystal Empire.
"It could also be nothing and I'm just paranoid." I replied. With my late father's warning I was worried that I was right and for once hoped I was wrong. Out of all of the events of the past few days, this would make the most sense.
"True, we'll wait a few days before taking action." replied Thunder.
I hoped it was nothing too drastic going on up north, but all I could do was hope. I didn't want to think about what could be happening for the sake of my own sanity. I decided to wait a few days and hopefully receive word from Celestia about the situation before worrying further.
Three Days Later
We were in Canterlot, more specifically in the castle hurrying towards the throne room. I had fallen right into the routine of having a job bucking apples with Applejack. My experience kicking doors down translated perfectly to harvesting fruit apparently, but that's not important right now.
Celestia sent us a letter telling us that she had discovered development regarding the Crystal Empire. Apparently, the Crystal Ponies had been talking about being driven from the empire by "large things with eight wheels and other things with treads and flying things that make a scary buzzing noise". You see why we were in a hurry, my theory was just about rock solid.
"Princess!," exclaimed Twilight as me , Thunder, and the rest of the Elements of Harmony burst through the throne room doors. "We came as soon as we heard. Is my brother alright?"
Celestia held up a hoof to quiet her student. "I am still unsure of your brother's condition. The news I have to give you worries me further." We all silently took a deep breath, awaiting what the Princess had to say, "We believe the Griffons are responsible in some form. We also have reports and images of vehicles causing major destruction all throughout the empire." Her horn glowed and she projected an image. It showed, cruising down a street, a BTR-90.
I visibly recoiled and almost fainted. What are armored APCs doing in Equestria? Celsetia changed the image to an Mi-24 "Hind" helicopter unloading a payload of missiles into what looked like a castle in the center of the empire. The image changed yet again to the same chopper with Griffons fast-roping out of the Hind with AKM rifles slung across their chests.
What were gunships doing in Equestria? How did the Griffons of this world get their claws on automatic rifles? There was only one thing she could show me to make this worse, and she did. Celestia changed the image once more. This time it showed the thing that pushed me over the edge. I stared at the T-90 rolling down the street for about a second, then I actually fainted.
I woke up about five minutes later with all of my friends staring at me. "What are those things?" asked Celestia's student.
"They are vehicles used for the purpose of waging war. They are all human made. I have no idea how they fell into possession of them." I replied.
"Hold on, You know these things?" asked Dash.
"I already told you, human vehicles of warfare. And it looks like the Crystal Empire is trashed. That's going to take a while to rebuild." I told Dash.
I could still barely believe what I was hearing and seeing. What was described as one of the most beautiful places in Equestria, reduced down to a ruined urban wasteland. I've seen utopias fall before, but seeing such a peaceful race marred by the horrors of war, a once beautiful land burning in the rage and confusion. It was enough to make me wonder just how different our worlds were.
Celestia caught wind of my thoughts. "It appears the Griffons came in about four days ago, armed with these vehicles and weapons, they started causing mass destruction in a quick stretch of time. Possibly fueled by the soreness that came with us beating them last time."
Last time? These races had clashed before? Revenge looked like a possible motive, but where did they find that technology? It didn't just fall out of the sky into Griffon territory, or did it? And how did they know how to use it? They wouldn't unless there were humans with those vehicles...
"What do you mean 'Last time?" I asked.
Celestia looked at me with a depressing expression, "The Griffons are a very war-like race. The first Pony-Griffon war took place ages ago, much before the time of most of the ones in this room. Although it lasted only a few years, the effects lasted much longer. The Griffon Emperor, Bellicose is his name, found himself in possession of a new technology. Eerily similar to your weapons, only they were made of primarily wood with few steel parts and had to be manually cycled before firing again. Using weapons based off of captured Griffon technology and the Elements of Harmony, we pushed them back to the border of their home before Bellicose agreed to an armistice." Celestia finished, leaving me speechless. Not only have these ponies seen war before, but they at one point had weapons much like what I could only assume to be bolt-action rifles, pump-action shotguns and or single action revolvers. But then why go back to swords and spears?
"After the war, we went back to more traditional weapons due to the new ones having too much destructive capabilities. We didn't need weapons that powerful. The Griffon Kingdom and Equestria have remained neutral ever since." Oh that explains just about everything then.
"So much destruction in so little time. No wonder we couldn't communicate with them, they were too busy running for their lives! I hope my brother is out of harm's way." Twilight was worrying herself sick over Shining Armor. Maybe the guard captain was okay, maybe he was already six feet under. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was alive.
"I have a feeling he's fine Twi." She snapped up at the sound of my voice. It was also the first time I had called her by her shortened nickname usually reserved for her friends. She smiled warmly at me,
"I hope you're right Storm, I hope you're right." She replied sinking back to a depressed mass. Twilight's words couldn't mask the lack of faith she had in them. She knew her brother was in danger. She didn't know I planned to visit the occupied empire in a few days on unofficial reconnaissance for Equestria.
"I did not want to place fear in your hearts my little ponies, my goal was merely to keep you informed." Celestia said. Her usually cheerful grin replaced by a much more fearful expression.
"You did both, Celestia." I replied as we walked out of the throne room.
The train ride back to Ponyville was dead silent. Nopony dared say anything for fear of instilling more fear than we were already contending with. Even Pinkie Pie sat and stared out the window towards the horizon. The Crystal Empire, or what was left of it, was off in the distance surrounded by thick black clouds occasionally flashing with a streak of lightning. Conditions in the empire were dictated by the emotions of the Crystal Ponies. With little left, and the ones left most likely gripped by darkness and fear, the prominent emotion was reflected by violent thunderstorms.
"They went from being scheduled to be the host of the next Equestria games to ruin within the space of less than a few days. This is horrible." The last part of the prism-maned pegasi's statement was painfully obvious, but the first part made it hurt even more. What happened to cause such a successful state fall to ashes so quickly? The Griffons and their new armament, hell-bent on revenge happened. And they might start spreading and not stop until every last corner of Equestria was squashed under their thumb.
No, not if there was anything I could do about it. No doubt that Twilight wasn't about to just let me waltz into what was currently Griffon territory. I had to be sneaky about it, or else the Griffons would ravage this land until there was nothing left.
The next day...
It was a normal day. It started as any routine day, harvesting apples at the farm. Then I heard a sound I had hoped never to hear in Equestria.
*POW POW POW*
Three gunshots, there was no mistaking it. Something was in Ponyville armed with a rifle and traumatizing the population. Immieadiately following the shots came terrified screams of ponies scattering to avoid further attacks. But no further shots came.
A terrified Twilight and a serious looking Bruce materialized in front of me. Not Thunderhead, Bruce. The human stood a good three inches above me.
"Your brother and three little fillies were just foalnapped by Griffon soldiers!" Yelled a very scared and almost hyperventilating Twilight.
"Grayson, it's time to show this world just what Navy SEALs can do." Bruce said exactly what I was thinking.
I changed back into human form, my black special operations camouflage covering me entirely. Bruce was wearing a similarly styled uniform with a helmet and face mask.
"You got equipment?" I asked Bruce.
"Follow me." he replied.
We walked to the Everfree forest where Bruce's Humvee was parked just a small distance in. Far enough to avoid detection and investigation by normal ponies, but close enough to be easily accessed by me and Bruce in a situation like this. The hostages were being held in an old castle deep in the forest, apparently where the Elements of Harmony lay dormant for 1,000 years before Twilight and her friends came along and defeated Nightmare Moon to free Princess Luna.
Now the Griffons were occupying it and the surrounding area of the forest. Bruce and I stocked up on equipment. I carried my ACR with EOTech sight and suppressor and my suppressed M1911 on my hip, while Bruce had an MK14 Mod 0 Enhanced Battle Rifle(M14 EBR) equipped with a scope offering zoom ranging from 8-12 times magnification and sound suppressor along with a suppressed MP7 as a close range backup. If you couldn't tell from the suppressors, this was a stealth op.
"Contact, twelve o' clock. Range twenty meters." I whispered to Bruce, notifying him of a three man patrol of Griffon soldiers. They carried AKM rifles and wore a B.D.U eerily similar to the ones worn by Brevenski's mercenaries, red, white and gray jigsaw pattern, I didn't like the resemblance.
"I got a shot on the two on the right." replied Bruce in a whisper equally quiet to mine.
"On three." We crouched down,
"One," Bruce focused intensely on his targets,
"Two," I set the Griffon's head behind my reticle,
"Three," Two Griffons dropped dead from a well aimed shot from Bruce. The third didn't have much time to react as three 6.8 rounds hit him in the upper torso and head. We quietly walked past the bodies and the accumulating pool of red around the corpses.
"Nicely done." I commented.
"Copy that." replied Bruce.
We walked in silence for a few more minutes, passed over an old rope bridge that we had to cross one-at-a-time, then we came up on the castle, what was left of it. It was in ruin, not because of the Griffons, but because of the age of the place. It was just as old, if not older than the Princesses according to Twilight. Now it served whoever found it. Today it was used by the Griffons to hold my brother and three innocent fillies, not for much longer.
"Large patrol out front." I breathed the words on instinct. Just outside the door there were six Griffon soldiers all standing in a group talking to themselves.
"This won't be easy, there are too many of them to take at once." Bruce said just above a whisper.
"Then we'll take our time and search the castle quickly if we break stealth. Let me get closer before engaging." I replied quietly.
"Roger." Bruce replied as I crawled closer to the enemy patrol.
I gave Bruce a small thumbs up to signify I was ready. He put the scope up to his right eye as I turned back to the Griffons.
Three Griffons dropped when Bruce sent a 7.62 round through their skulls. One of the remaining Griffons drew breath to shout something, it would be his last. I cut the last three down with the remainder of my magazine. I reloaded my rifle as Bruce came up to the entrance. "We still have stealth on our side." Bruce said.
Just then one of the radios on the Griffons came to life, "To the remaining units in the area, we've lost contact with one of the scout teams and the sentries outside the castle are not responding, moving into high alert."
"Somewhat." Bruce added to his previous statement.
We quickly and quietly went in the main entrance. Bruce had equipped his MP7 while I still had my ACR. We silently crept through the castle not daring to make a sound. I take all of my missions seriously, even more so this time because my last living blood relative was in danger. We hurried through the castle ducking into corners to avoid passing Griffons.
Our search led us to the last room, inside there was a Griffon talking on a radio with someone, presumably a commander, and three foalnapped fillies cowering behind my brother. "We have successfully secured hostages to assist negotiations, Sombra."
Who's Sombra? "Excellent, we have the Crystal Empire locked down as well. We will have what we want in a very short time. Keep our 'bargaining chips' secure for the time being." The voice that replied over the Griffon's radio was cold and menacing, but also sounded like he had failed at something before and made a sort of half-baked attempt to get it back.
"Understood, Colonel Sombra. Over and out." The Griffon replied before switching off his radio.
My brother was the only thing between the three Griffons in the room and the three fillies. I immediately recognized Applebloom cowering between a pale white unicorn with pink and light purple hair and an orange pegasus with dark purple hair. He made friends and was prepared to give his life for them. I was so proud.
"So how do we deal with these guys without traumatizing the kids?" Bruce asked in a whisper.
"We could sneak up and get in close for hand-to-hand, I mean, hand-to-claw combat, and only knock them out." I whispered back.
Before we could go on, one of the Griffons was on the ground unconscious and another spoke up, "A human!?, Impossible!"
I peeked out and saw Alex struggling with a Griffon that had a knife and was attempting to stab him. Alex hit the Griffon's wrist with the lower part of his hand and the knife fell to the ground. One more swift strike to the Griffon's temple and he was out cold. The final Griffon raised his rifle and fired two shots that thankfully missed. In that time Alex had ran up to the Griffon, stuck the AK's barrel under his shoulder with the muzzle poking out from underneath, ripped the magazine from the gun and pulled the charging handle to eject the last bullet in the chamber. He took the empty rifle and struck the Griffon upside the head, knocking him out instantly. I was stunned. Either my brother was following in my footsteps by training with someone, or the Griffons really sucked. Three of them just got bested by a ten-year-old, so I was assuming the latter.
I stepped out with Bruce following behind me, "Nice job Alex, I guess I don't need to worry about you so much anymore."
Alex whipped around to face me, "You saw that? I did pretty good didn't I?"
"You beat three opponents without taking as much as a scratch. That's more than good Alex."
He turned to his friends who were still sitting in the corner, "Come on girls, now that my brother and Bruce are here, nothing will even touch us." The three fillies got up and wrapped Alex in a group hug, I couldn't help but smile at the cutest thing I have ever seen. I saw Bruce crack a slight smile before turning to me and saying,
"We can't just leave these guys here, when they come to, the first thing they'll do is contact their H.Q. and have an entire army flatten Ponyville."
I thought for a second, "You're right, we'll carry them back and hold them in Ponyville until we can send them off to Canterlot for questioning."
"Alright, let's do it."
Me and Bruce each carried an unconscious Griffon while Alex and his friends, who I learned to be called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, were dragging the last one over the ground. We reached the end of the forest to be greeted by Twilight and her friends, Wh- What happened?" asked the confused lavender mare.
"These guys were keeping us prisoner, but Raincloud was always between us and the bad guys. Then he did this thing and he became like he is now, standing on two legs and fighting the Griffons. One tried to stab him but he grabbed his claw and punched his wrist making him drop the knife then he punched him in the head and knocked him out, then he grabbed the other one's loud noise stick and took it apart and knocked him out with it!" The orange filly finished. We set the griffons down and Twilight came over and examined them.
"Are these?, no way! They are!" she exclaimed with an extremely shocked look on her face.
"What, what is it?" I asked.
"Th-these are Black Talon soldiers! The deadliest fighting force in existence, that we know of. They're a big part of the reason Celestia wanted to remain neutral with the Griffon Kingdom after the Griffon-Pony war. " Twilight stammered while staring at Alex in disbelief.
"Well, three of them just got beaten by a ten-year-old, so they can't be that good." Bruce commented/mocked.
"That's what scares me, these guys could mop the floor with our Royal Guard. How he managed to take out three of them is beyond me." Twilight finished, gesturing at Alex.
"Well in any case, we'd better get back home and secure these guys until we can have them shipped to Canterlot for interrogation." I said.
The crusaders, whose names I had learned from Alex telling them goodbye, ran back to their older sisters. Scootaloo ran over to Rainbow Dash who, while not blood related, had become a sort of older sister figure in the young filly's life. We all went our respective ways back home. While walking back home, I gave myself a pat on the back for a job well done and began thinking about when I would head off to the Crystal Empire. What exactly I would be looking for, how I would get there, things like that. It had gotten late and Luna had raised the moon and stars. Applejack took the Griffons back to the farm to tie them up and throw them in the barn. I gave my brother a big hug and went upstairs into the guest bed. Apparently Twilight was going to arrange a public reveal of the humans living in Ponyville. I fell asleep as a pony. I decided to take the day off from work tommorow. After helping save my bosses' younger sister, I thought I deserved it.