I woke up to find myself trapped in a fluffy prison. Talion had apparently rolled over in the night and was lounging on top of me. Which was fine given I was warm now. I smiled and wriggled up a bit so my muzzle was poking out and I could breathe easier. I heard whispering outside the door and it slowly opened. As soon as it did everyone walked in looking worried. That immediately changed to shock and then Megan and Jessica started laughing. Talion's dad closed his eyes and got a weird look as his mom looked at us in horror.
"T-Talion?!"
Talion grumbled and shifted slightly. I raised a hoof and poked him in the face. He tried to slap my hoof but just ended up slapping himself. He jolted and looked around blearily.
"Wha- I'm up! I'm up!"
"Talion, what are you doing."
He looked at his mom before looking at me. I smiled and waved.
"Morning!"
He jumped off the bed. Not just rolled off really fast, but lept up and landed on his back behind the bed. Linsey laughed and ran forward. She jumped onto my back and hugged around my neck. She giggled as I bopped my hoof gently against her beak.
"I wanna snuggle with Jack! Can he stay with me tonight? Please! Pretty please!"
Mrs. Quillson sighed as Talion stood, a furious blush on his face. He gulped and said,
"What are you guys doing in my room?"
His dad looked at the ceiling and sighed.
"It's eight thirty. We figured we'd wake you up for breakfast. But apparently you were tired."
He wouldn't look Talion in the eye as his sisters began to laugh and pantomime something with their claws I didn't quite understand. Impossibly, Talion's blush got redder and he quickly responded.
"We didn't do anything! I must have rolled over in my sleep!"
"Yeah... sure Talion."
Jessica winked and laughed as Talion sunk behind the bed.
"I swear, we didn't."
Mr. Quillson raised his claws.
"What you two do... is your business. I believe you, but... just... uhh... whatever."
Talion nodded and got up. He walked out and down towards the bathroom. I looked at his family and smiled.
"Good morning. Sleep well?"
Everyone just kinda looked at me before Mrs. Quillson smiled and replied.
"I slept very well, thank you. How about you?"
"It was pretty cold. So that's why I decided to use Talion as a space heater."
Everyone looked at eachother and "ooh"ed. They began to file out and I stretched before pulling the gryphon off my back.
"I'm going to get some breakfast. How about you?"
Linsey nodded and scampered out the door with me following at a more leisurely pace. Upon reaching the table everyone sat down and began digging into the large plates of eggs, bacon, and french toast. It was really good. I mean, way better than the stuff I was eating in Equestria. Oh meat, glorious meat. Each bite of the scrumptious substance was like a walk down sort of memory lane given all I had for meat before was rations. Rations suck.
"So, you two planning on getting jobs here or...."
Talion swallowed his bite and pointed to the paper he was reading.
"I'm looking through the classifieds now. Unfortunately the doctor said that Jack needs to wait a bit before going back to work, in case of... complications."
"Complications?"
Everyone looked at me just as I was trying to remember what I was going to say.
"Yeah, complications."
Everyone went back to eating and I decided it wasn't worth remembering what I was going to say. When the dishes were cleaned up everyone went their own way leaving me sitting on the couch with nothing to do. Talion was out job hunting so that ruled him out. Now who to follow around?
I stretched and started up the stairs before feeling a familiar cold chill. I dashed into the bathroom and locked the door. Back to human and I started reaching for my magicite. Only to realize I didn't have it on me.
"Where did I..."
>In your bags.<
~You didn't want anyone to see it.~
Yeah... crap.
I unlocked the door and peeked out. The coast was clear. I gently opened the door and creeped down the hallway I was almost to Talion's room when I heard a gasp. I spun around and saw that Linsey was staring at me.
"Uh... hello."
She pounced and I fell backwards as a weight hit my chest. She sat on my chest and looked at me with curiosity filled eyes.
"Are you bigfoot?"
Uhh... what?
----------------
Captain Stonewall rounded a corner and saw that the two guards assigned to the throne room were lying on the floor. He trotted over and prodded them and they blearily stood up.
"Wha... what's going-- THE PRINCESS!"
The guards spun around and dashed through the throne room doors Captain Stonewall rolled his eyes.
"Rookies," he muttered, "Always falling asleep at their posts." He was surprised to see that Princess Celestia wasn't sitting in her throne and that the two guards were frantically looking around. He cleared his throat and belowed,
"ROYAL GUARD! REPORT!"
The two skidded to a halt and rushed to stand in front of him. They saluted and said,
"SIR! We were attacked by humans, sir! They hit us with some sort of silent dart gun, sir! We believe they've captured the Princess!"
Stonewall gasped and looked at the empty throne.
"I want you two to go check the royal chambers! Double time! Move!"
They positively flew out the doors and towards Celestia's chambers. Stonewall grit his teeth and paced. What could have happened? Surely no humans could beat the Princess? She was too powerful! A door creaked open and he spun to face it. Out crept a scared looking Raven Inkwell, Princess Celestia's assistant.
"Raven! What are you doing?"
She gulped and remained hidden behind the door.
"I-I was heading to the throne room to deliver some papers when I saw six humans knock out the guards. They spotted me before I could run and used me as a hostage to subdue the Princess. After they got her their leader told one of them to 'take care' of me. He was supposed to kill me, but he didn't."
------------------
(Earlier)
Lance carried the quaking unicorn into the side room and put her down before covering her mouth with his hand.
"Listen to me. I don't want to hurt you, but we can't have anyone notice something until morning. We didn't kill anyone because we didn't want to arouse suspicion, so don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen to your princess. I need you to stay hidden until they notice the princess is missing. Okay?"
Raven nodded, tears streaming down her face. She opened a closet nearby amd ducked in. Lance cocked his pistol and fired a round into the wall. With that done he rejoined his squad and they left the castle.
-------------------
Stonewall looked at the sobbing unicorn before him with mixed feelings. He was glad she was okay, but if she would've gotten his attention last night....
"I-I'm sorry. I should have... I should have gotten you. But... I was so scared! I-I let Princess Celestia down."
She slumped to the floor and sobbed harder. Stonewall patted her shoulder and said,
"Raven, it's okay. I understand. You're not a soldier. I just hope the Princess is alright."
(At Harrier HQ)
Everyone was relieved now that the leader of the ponies was securely locked up. They knew that the ponies had strange powers and really didn't want to mess with them. Commander laughed again and Atlas looked at her worriedly.
"Why are yoo laughing? Yoo've been laughing since last night?"
Commander shook her head.
"It's just so ridiculous. Imagine what my six year old self would have done if she'd seen a magical rainbow pony!"
She burst out laughing again and Enoch smirked.
"She's got a point. Who would have thought we'd be fighting talking ponies?"
Everyone shook their heads. There was no way to truly come to terms with what they were doing.