//------------------------------//
// Third The Change 
// Story: Squad Z 
// by Fort Impression 
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I’m an idiot, aren’t I? I mean, she tried many times to tell me, and I blew her off like a leaf resting on my snout. She even referenced one of the Royal Guard’s codes: Rule 17, get to know your squad. How did she know our rules anyways? No, stop, I am going off topic. I probably won’t gain her respect back after that stupid incident, or it will be really hard to at least. Growing up, I always wanted to be the leader of my own squad, be the ‘big shot’ that gives the commands, and be the pony that everypony can look towards for help. Now that I am grown up, and I got this chance to lead this group to something that would have been successful… I honestly didn’t think it would be this hard.

For the past hour, Serus’s eyes have been open, and his body and mind was fully aware of where it was and what situation it was in; however, the pegasus refused to do anything more than to think… reflect. Even though he knew he should let some pony know that he is awake, to assure them that he was okay, he wanted to take this time to himself and just go over everything by himself. He wanted to plan his next moves and predict the possible outcome of this failure before bring the rest in to pick at his mind; he wants to be prepared this time.

Pondering over the different outcomes to come of this, laying on his side in the gurney that he has been in for what seems like 2 days as far as the calendar says; on the other hand, he could still be delirious from his head injury and think that it says Sunday instead of Saturday. He wasn’t going to think about it too much since it would only make his head hurt more than it already does.

Aside from figuring out the day of the week, he tried to figure out what is going to happen to their team. He knows that they won’t kick him out so easily from just a simple hit on the head… or will they? Serus shook away his pessimistic thinking and return to the problems at hand. He is aware that, in time… sometime, he has to talk to Aknow and properly apologize to her. He needs to talk to Griselda, for sure, about her problems, but that will be last since he knows the griffon will just ignore him. He also figured that he needs to report to the Captain about the mission and its blow-up failure. He has a lot of jobs he needs to do.

Figuring that is all that he needed to handle, along with the steady reminder to apologize to Mayor Mare, he took another glance at the clock. Another hour has passed he thought moving his focus towards the calendar. Saturday… okay, good, it has only been a day.

The slightly distorted pony slowly sat himself up in his seat to take a gander around the room, and to no surprise, he was in fact in a hospital. It was not a hospital in Canterlot though, so he must still be in Ponyville. Trying to scoot further up in his seat and adjust from his uncomfortable position, he was stopped by the grey pegasus’s head that was nestled across his hind legs. He stared quietly at the sleeping pony without the faintest bit of expression to be found.

“What did I do to deserve this treatment?” He quietly asked himself, or so he thought before a reply shot out of the corner of the room.

“What? Was saving her not enough to quench your regrets?” Griselda shot back at him and drank another hard cider. She dropped it as she finished it, and it rolled slowly off the table to join the ten or eleven bottles that were still intact on the ground below. “Did you think that… I don’t know, the little girl would just hate you forever because you weren’t smart for a day to listen to her. You are sa-”

“Sweet Celestia, Griselda,” Serus intervened. “Drink some water at least before you die of alcohol poisoning. I hope you didn’t use my money to buy all those; I don’t think I can even afford it.”

Griselda gave him a ‘really?’ stare, which sent the pegasus quite the confusion before continuing on with what she was saying.

“You are sadly mistaken, kid. She will forgive you,” she threw the last bottle sitting alone on the table. “Now don’t leave us hanging. These were her treat, and she drank the majority of them… Seven to be exact, and that was supposed to be my fifth. Hope you have low alcohol tolerance because she wanted us to be drunk together.”

The feather friend got up from her seat and slowly walked for the door. Using her wing to push it aside, she stood there for a moment and took a deep breath.

“Captain Shining Armor will be here in two hours,” she notified without turning back. “That should be enough time for you to fix your ‘A’ and ‘B’ conversation, and I will just ‘C’ my way out.”

With no warning, Griselda slammed the door behind her. This woke Aknow up in a shock, and she quickly scanned the area for the source of disturbance until she realized that Serus was awake and waiting for her to notice.

“Boss...”

“Aknow…”




Aknow took a seat adjacent to Serus while he scooted to give her room. She gave her thanks upon sitting, and then an awkward silence grew between them. Serus had what he wanted to say planned out, but it all left him the moment he realized they were alone. Nerves struck, Serus simply sat there thinking of another way to start off the conversation. The stallion never had this much trouble talking to anyone before, even stallions, but for some reason his mind kept him saying what he thought was right. It is not good enough would always sit in the back of his head; luckily, Aknow saved him the trouble of starting the conversation.

“How’s your head?” she ask no louder than a whisper.

“It okay, I think… I just have a bit of a headache right now.”

The grey pegasus giggled a little, “I have a headache, too, but it probably isn’t as bad as yours.”

“Yeah…”

Silence continued, and Serus shifted around in his spot in discomfort to the lack of talking there was in the room. This is harder than I thought Serus thought to himself, blowing a piece of hair aside as it fell into his line of vision.

Coming with a bit of shock, Aknow shot her head to look at him, and he leaned away from the active mare unsure of what she was about to say. Waiting, expecting her to say something important that could change their friendship forever. A smile, that was all she gave him; a weakly put on smile with all the effort she could put into it. Serus, bewildered, just continued to stare at her with a cocked head. To his mental health, the mare decided to start the pep talk.

“Hello, my name is Aknow Twist,” she stated only confusing Serus more than he already was, which didn’t help his mental health in anyway that he thought it would, but the grey pegasus spun her hoof in circles as if expressing to him to follow along.

“Um.. Hi?” he more asked looking for a response if he was playing along, and she smiled. “My name is Serus Starz.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Serus, and I hope we can get along as a team. I had a few things that I thought you should know about me, so you have a better understanding as to my personality and how I function around other bystanders.”

Serus was a bit surprised by the mare’s formality and change of tone. It was almost like he was talking to another pony. He snapped back into the conversation trying to figure out what to say next to continue the conversation.

“Uh-well… what is it that you wanted to tell me?”

“You see-” Aknow drew a blank and paused a moment to gather the topics she wanted to throw out into the pot. “I am very spontaneous and random, and I like being that way because, sometimes, I believe set plans or pre-scheduled activities can be boring. I see taking life as it hits you to be a very thrilling experience and can prepare you for unexpected discrepancies.”

At this point, the astonished leader couldn’t believe so much that the mare he first met was anything like this. Aknow surprised him with her variating word choices and calm, very well professional posture. It didn’t stop there though, for Aknow had many things she wanted to get off her chest.

“I am not really a big fan of drinking; I only do it to make Griselda happy. My favorite food is pasta, I graduated my schooling period three years early...” That explains it. “I am apparently recorded as the youngest Lunar Guard in all of Equestria by two days, my favorite color is purple-” Her list goes on and on from the name of her first pet all the way down to the hospital she was born in before coming to the last one on her list that grasp the stallion’s attention. “And I am an orphan.”

Pressure built up in Serus’s chest almost leaving him gasping for air; a chill slowly, deeply ran down his spine giving him great agony. Now he wanted to know about what happened. Serus sucked in his gut and followed along.

“I’m sorry to hear that. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your parents?”

Aknow gave out a heavy sigh and slowly leaned herself against Serus until her head laid itself on his shoulder. She sat still for a minute before sighing once more. Serus felt her heated tears freeze his coat where it landed, and the frost only spread further with each tear. She did not whimper, she did not scream, but she simply let the tears flow from her eyes.

“When I was a filly, our house was set ablaze along with 15 others’ homes. Both of my parents died in that accident… from the house collapsing on them.” 

Aknow seemed calm about it, but Serus could feel that she was putting a lot of strength into these words without breaking down. Serus wanted to stop, but at the same time, he want to know more. He didn’t want to press too much onto her already dreadful situation, so he only wanted to ask Aknow one more question.

“How did you survive, Aknow?” he asked and pet her mane to comfort her.

“I don’t remember,” she answered. “The last thing I ever remember is when the house is collapsing on my mom and me, but then I would wake up from my dreams.”

Serus wasn’t sure how to think, or even process, her traumatic incident. The pain in his chest only grew the less he didn’t hear her voice; her cries. Being just a filly- no- being anypony to have experienced such a tragedy and being unable to recall it was undaunting to the stallion. How? he told himself many times, his mind unable to fit a word yet into its empty spaces, or was it that his mind wanted to know everything about ‘how’?

The pressure became unbearable, and his body started to shiver. The sound of his hooves clacking together became very prominent, and his breathing was very expressive; he felt himself having a panic attack. Yet, his worries were put at ease when he felt the comfort of Aknow’s body gently pressing itself against his back. Instantly, the pain disappeared and was replaced with tranquility.

“It’s okay, Boss,” she whispered mildly into his heart. “And I’m sorry I can’t cry so you can comfort me.” Her words, they told him everything he thought of to himself almost as if she read his mind. The tears that never stopped falling, now fell sluggishly onto his back as she spoke once again, “The whines I once had for my mom- my dad- I have lost them long ago, so don’t feel like you aren’t making me feel better because you are. You definitely changed my mood and made my gentle days.”

Her embrace never leaving, grew warmer with each tear; they first froze his entire being, but now, they soothe this mind with fragile feelings. With that, silence returned to the room and filled its presence for both to notice. Serus breaking the embrace himself and turning around to face the mare in her emerald eyes. He took a deep, but quiet, breathe then shared his life to the one he believed he couldn’t match up to.

“Well, I am a very lawful pony, even when I was just a little colt. My father has always been apart of the Royal Guards, and he applied their beliefs to the household.”

Serus sat there trying to remember his father, but many years has past and could not think of even the simplest detail about his father. The only thing that is left for him to remember his father by was his journal of his adventures.

Serus continued, “I lived with my father, mother, and brother…. and my father passed away.”

The blonde pegasus, himself, shed a tear.

“Are you crying?” Aknow teased a bit.

“I’m not crying. It’s just… liquid pride.”

Unable to control herself much further, Aknow bursted into a rain of laughter falling straight to the floor. Serus, obviously embarrassed, sat still on the bed flushed waiting for her to control herself.

“Are you finished?” Serus asked impatiently. “It is rude to laugh at someone that is trying to tell you their life story.”

Aknow pulled herself together and replied back, “Sorry, Boss. Didn’t mean to be rude, but liquid pride? That is something I would say.” 

“Well I am glad you feel better, but you should also take into account ot-”

Serus was halted by another generous and heart-filled hug from his fellow comrade. Her fore hooves reach around him and held strong, unbreakable to anything that would want to separate their friendship.

“Thanks, Boss, for listening to me, and I am sorry for what your family is going through.” The last part of her sentence questioned him, but she soon clarified. “I did a little research on everypony in our group, and so I know what happened to your father and your brother.” She broke her hug and looked at him, her smile shined fluorescently into his mind. “I’m glad we got to talk, Boss. You should have a talk like this with Gris. She may be mean, but she is really nice, too; you just gotta suck up your ‘liquid pride’.”

The mare gave Serus a straight face for a little bit, but he was well aware of what she was waiting for him to do. Slowly bring his hoof in the air, he brought it towards his face lightly, reenacting a facehoof. Both members laughed cheerfully as they enjoyed each other’s company until their Captain showed up.




Despite the intention of them trying to be quiet, the knocks on the hospital door echoed across the room, grabbing the attention of the now present Squad Z members, who were all playing a game of cards with one another. Waiting for quietly for a bit, the griffon made her way towards the door and opened it slowly revealing Shining Armor waiting patiently for a response. He tilted slightly forward gesturing his request to enter the room, and the griffon responded by opening the door further giving him room to walk in.

“I am glad to see you are alright, Serus,” the unicorn breathed. “I haven’t been to Ponyville in a long time, so I wasn’t aware of how long the travel was; sorry for showing up late.”

“Your presence is very my flattering, Sir, but for just a stallion that only took a wall head on, literally, that is too much worry for somepony like me.”

“I take care of all my squads and showing you guys that I really care for your health and success, it was only right of me to see you personally,” he countered, making the team shrug in agreement to his notion. He added, “Besides, there is some important things I wanted to go over with you ponies… and griffon.”

Shining Armor pulled himself a chair with his magic and sat down pulling forth a folder of documents from the saddle bag the hung off of his right shoulder. He opened the file, which showed a debrief document of their previous mission, and it contained a current newspaper in regards to Serus’s sudden hospital visit and the falling of the construction site. Where were a couple of other miscellaneous material inside the folder, including a photograph of somepony, but the face couldn’t be depicted from the range and light setting they were positioned in. The Captain clearly his throat and took a deep breath.

“So before we go over everything, Serus,” he directed his attention towards Serus for a second, “I need to know if you are capable of continuing on as fit for full duty, or do you need to take a couple days as sick in quarters? The hospital recommends that you take the SIQ, but ultimately it is your decision whether you are feeling up to it or not.”

The blonde pegasus puffed his chest out a pinch and nodded, “Yes, Sir. I feel better than ever.” Serus was prepared for whatever his boss planned to throw at them, for better or worse.

Shining Armor gave his future successors a smirk, “Okay, then I will cut straight to the point. First, I would like to go over your previous mission. From how it is, this mission was a bust, and it is your first failure; however, it will not be your last. Despite being a failure, you guys did manage to pull through at the last moment and only suffer one casualty.” He stopped and looked around to see if there were any questions; none. He continued on, “Due to the reports I have received from Mayor Mare and several Ponyville citizens, I got a general understand as to what happen. Along the way here, I thought really hard about what to do for the predicament, and I came to the conclusion. Serus, unfortunately for you… I am revoking your position as the leader of this team away from you.”

“What!?” Aknow blurted out flying out of her chair.

“I understand, Sir,” Serus replied ignoring his teammate’s outburst, but it only caused her to say it once more.

“What!? But- but- Sir-” her retaliation was seized by Serus’s own hoof.

“It’s okay, Aknow. I saw this coming, and I know it’s for the best. Let us just hear what the Captain has to say,” he finished giving her a warm smile.

Aknow couldn’t argue, and she followed the orders as she sat quietly, bowing towards Shining to continue, which he did, “Understanding how you pony, and griffon, much rather him be your leader over yourselves- getting this from our conversation when you two joined- I came to the conclusion to add a new member to your team.”

All of their attentions were captured by the moment he said new. They stared intently at their Captain, who slowly leaned back as they leaned forward. Before he could fall out of his chair, he shooed the curious bunch back into their own chairs. He took a deep breath and dropped the photograph in front of them enveloped in magic. All their faces churned with confusion; they were unsure what to think of when they saw the picture. They looked at eachother for a second reading their thoughts before coming with a solid understand as to what to say.

For the team, Serus spoke once more, “Sir… this… this is a zebra.”

Shining Armor stared at them blankly before sarcastically stating, “Oh, sorry. For a second, I thought it was a Sea Pony.”

Griselda interjected, “But, Captain, you are going to turn our squad of freaks into… well, an even bigger squad of freaks?”

“Hey!” their boss whined taking offense to that, “Don’t think of it as that. Instead, think of your team as unique.” The team wanted to tell him all of their opinions, but Shining threw his hoof in the air, instantly silencing all noise. “His name is Zalis and-”

“Salad?” Aknow giggled.

“No, Zalis. Za-lee. Anyways, he is coming all the way from his home country to join your squad to bring forth his experiences. He was the leader of his village and has lead them through life for a little over ten years. Being this, I figured he would make do as your squad’s leader.”

“When will we get to meet this Zalis, Sir?” Serus questioned pushing the photo back into the folder once everypony had a general understanding of what their new commander would look like.

“As soon as we are done with this brief, which will be over soon after I give you your next assignment.” Shining flipped a page over in the folder holding yet another photo, but it was a unicorn. Under this photo visibly laid a few other pictures, and a document under these with lines crossed out in black. “For the past week, this unicorn, Petsy Tamer, has disappeared after stealing several gems and a variety of exotic creatures.” He threw out the photos as they spread themselves out containing, as their Captain said, many exotic beasts: hydra, manticore, giant mantis; there were about seven or eight of these pictures. “We ha-”

“Sir,” Serus interrupted, “I am sorry but… shouldn’t a- well- more qualified squadron handle this situation. If I am understanding the situation right, Petsy could possibly use these beasts to her advantage to escape, or worse, dispose of us.”

“Good question, as I was about to explain that. We have sent several squads in attempts to capture her, but they have all returned failing. So, we have been left no choice but to send you ponies, and griffon, to handle the situation.” Serus went to speak, but Shining talked over him. “We understand that you don’t think you will show different results, but from what we see, you can. Serus, you were given a different training method in basic as our experiment to see if it was more effective than our current training we are teaching the Royal Guards. Along with that, and the rest of your group of different customs, we are hoping you could confuse our target, where she has understanding of our current fighting patterns and formations.” Shining looked at the clock that rested above Serus’s bed. “That’s not a good place to put a clock. Anyways, I do not have the time to commune much further about your mission; you know your job and you know what you need to do. Get Petsy Tamer and bring her back to Canterlot along with all of the exotic animals. If you have further questions, ask your leader since he has all the information.”

Shining Armor swept up all the material and placed in back in the folder. Putting it back in his satchel, the Captain quickly made his way to the door and out with Serus quickly to follow. Upon leaving, the pegasus immediately spotted the zebra sitting quietly outside by the large window displaying a nice view of Ponyville. The striped pony stared out of the window watching the activity of everyday life until he felt somepony rustling his coat. He looked behind him to find Serus staring at him as the Royal Guard made his way by him. With a quick glance, and a bit of eye contact, the zebra waved at Serus with a warm smile; Serus continued to catch up with his Captain.




Checking the clocks along the way out, a worried face was pasted onto Shining Armor as he picked up his pace to only be quickly stopped by the recruit that followed behind him.

“Sir!” Serus called out, and the unicorn came to a quick halt.

“Serus, I-”

“I know, Captain,” Serus interrupted, “but this will only take two seconds. I respectfully request that if Griselda is to further partake in missions with this squad that she respectfully gets paid for her hard work.”

“S-Serus,” Shining stuttered trying to find words to say for the sudden offer. “You know who she is, right?”

“Yes, sir” the pegasus continued to push his answers across, “I know very well, now, who she is, what she has done, and for what reason.”

The quick change of pace was more than Serus wanted to handle just waking up from butting heads with a wall- as well as his long talk with Aknow- but it was something that need to be taken care of while the chance was still before him. The battle with his mind to fall asleep from the information that nearly overloaded his brain, or to continue on working his mind to take in this last bit of information that he desired to gather, was very absurd; he could feel his head pulsating with each thought. Inspite of this torture, he found himself obligated to follow his code and push forth the last bit to bring him together with his squad.

Serus doesn’t remember when, or how long, Griselda has been in front of him, sitting ever so silently for the white pegasus to speak; she must have came around the moment Aknow left to grab more drinks once Serus finished his cider. It all happened faster than Serus was expecting, and now the griffon waits for him to recollect and get on with the ‘important’ discussion he needed with her. Serus knew he had to act quicker than that, or she would lose interest within seconds; in fact, he is surprised that she even agreed to have this conversation in the first place.

Griselda raised her brow, when she observed her leader leading himself through some breathing exercises. She figured that she would have to start the conversation in order to get anything out of this pony, but he collected himself in time to put out the first words.

“Why are you a part of this squad?” he went straight to the point. “What did you do that lead you into a squad working for the law.”

“An offer,” she simply stated at first, but then she continued. “They pretty much gave me a deal to work here, and they would rid my brother of all his charges.”

“Charges?”

“Yeah, the eldest brother in our family got in trouble with the law, and I attacked them so he could run away. That is pretty much the reason why I am here.”

“I don’t understand, sorry. What about all the other crimes you have committed?” Serus pressed on hoping she would continue talking, and she did to his satisfaction.

“They were all minor acts of stealing food and stuff, nothing big,” the griffon shrugged off and leaned further back in her chair. “My family was poor, and my brothers and sisters were hungry. So I stole food to feed them. Since we didn’t really have parents taking care of us, I was left alone to care for my seven brothers and sisters. One of my brothers, catching on to what I was doing, thought he could do the same thing and help. The dumbass got in trouble, and I didn’t want that following for life. So the dumbass me hit one of the cops and flew off giving him the chance to run, which they ended up finding him later anyways.”

“Wow, that was pretty stupid,” Serus pointed out, but she didn’t object.

“Yeah, it was,” Griselda uttered as she stared out the window for a long while.

She took in a breath of what she thought was fresh air to be denied that by the window, which stood in her way. Instinction kicked her claw forward in attempts to grasp what she wanted, but no matter how hard she imagined the middle man to disappear, it still existed to keep her grounded. She eventually forced her claw back to her side, balling it up with a slight sense of anger, and later dropping it as if letting free all her anger and sins.

Griselda looked at her leader and spoke, “Since the crime was committed in a pony district, we were lucky enough to avoid serious charges. They gave me the offer to work in a squad, and they were more than willing to clean out my record, and my brothers. As me, I didn’t want any of them making the same mistakes that I did and suffer the way I was, so I took the offer to help set my brother free. Yet, I am not getting paid, they aren’t making money, and I haven’t been able to talk to them since I joined. I don’t know what is going on or how they are surviving.”

For a second, Serus thought he heard the griffon whine for a moment, but she seems to be holding strong for something emotional.

“So, is that why you are still working, even though you say you don’t need to do anything? It’s to keep your family safe?”

“Pretty much,” Griselda only said. “I even fixed the mess we left behind.”

Becoming extremely confused, Serus sat and wondered what it was she was referring to. He eventually gave up for his head would let him think past questions.

“What mess?”

“The construction site. While you were unconscious and Aknow was crying her weak gut out over you, I went to the site and cleaned it up. I didn’t finish building it, but it is organized for when they get back to it.”

The two sat in the room alone, unsure what to do next. Serus was still baffled by what Griselda did by her; he thought what he did was well-worth effort, but Griselda was able to go beyond that. He wasn’t sure if somepony else helped her with the mess, but it didn’t matter since it was Griselda.

“But, why would you do something like that after you just told me you didn’t need to do anything?”

“Well,” she shifted for a moment finding the right words to use, “you could say it was the heat of the moment that made me say that. Why? I guess I was hoping they would eventually pay me if I did extra work, but it looks like I was wrong.”

Those were the last words she said before opening the door to a peeping grey pegasus, who stumbled her way in from the unexpected door opening.

Shining Armor wanted to think about it for a moment, taking in all of Serus’s reasoning, but when he checked his watch, his gave a grimace express. The stallion whipped his indigo hair as he checked his surroundings once more before taking a deep breath.

“Okay,” He eventually agreed after a seemingly hour wait. “I will get her paperwork updated, so she gets paid the respective amount for her family. I hope you know that if she messes this up, she will lose that privilege?”

“I am fully aware, and I will be sure she is as well, Sir.”

“Good, now I have to go because she is probably madder than she was twenty seconds ago.” In a quick haste, he left to go to a meeting, Serus thought. Unfortunately, the direction he rans said something different as the Captain trotted towards a large tree sitting in the middle of the town.

It did peak, Serus’s curiosity to wonder where exactly his Captain went that was so dire, but such personal matters were his own; also, there was somepony more important at the moment that the Royal Guard needed to talk to and understand: Zalis.