I woke up to having a rough muzzle rubbing against my face. I looked over blearily to see Fefir sitting and staring at me expectantly. I smiled at him and limply petted him. At this he leaped onto the side of my bed between me and the wall, and shoved me out of bed and onto the ground. I had caught him on me and Livy's first date. At this point he was a fair size enough to push me if I let him. Something I found out after a while of having Fefnir around was that they could be nearly as long lived as a pheonix if raised right. Every time he began to show signs of aging it was a simple matter of finding a tree of decent age and of decent quality of wood and chopping it into small pieces. And then smashing Fefnir with a hammer. Since timberwolves reformed after being smashed or crushed, if the cut apart tree was nearby then the fragments of the tree would be absorbed into Fefnir, making him younger and bigger. Even if there wasn't any wood to add then Fefnir would still reform, but instead of growing he would shed a bit and become smaller. Personally I made sure to add wood every time I needed to do this, usually every few decades. As a result of this and the magical plants (timberwolves were omnivorous, mainly carnivorous but they could live off forest materials if necessary) I fed him, he was much different than other timberwolves. His body was mismatched in color, going between different shades of wooden color, with his head and front legs being made of ebony wood, and gradually paler and paler wood until his tail was nearly white. His eyes had been affected similarly, and he had eyes of different colors. One eye resembled carved amber, and the other was crystal blue. He was halfway between the size of Luna and an average pony, and so he was a perfect size pet for me, as over time I slowly grew as well. By this point I was at least a foot taller than Luna, and so I towered over even many minotaurs. I was thankful for the fact that Fefnir could alter his wooden pelt as well. He was able to choose how soft/armored/rough his body was. I stared at him where he sat on my bed, with a smug look on his face. One thing he was good at was the fact that he could always wake me up before the sun. I groaned.

"Uuuggghhhh. Fine. I'm up you stupid pile of lumber..."

I stood up and he kept that look of smug satisfaction on his face. I took off my sleepwear and put my armor together. I smiled slightly as I put on my armor. It was worn and showed sign of battle, and felt like it was slightly too short for me, though it still fit. A suit of Skyrim-style dragon scale armor, crafted of silver scales and without shoulder plates so as to allow all four of my arms free movement. In the chestplate as always was my wraith's eye amulet. By this point I had finally been trained by Luna to clear my mind of my own accord, though it never hurt to have an extra line of defense. On my back were two sheathes, one holding Tharn's Fang and the other containing Finis. I had two more sheathes at either hip, both bearing a set of first-generation Night Guard swords. The Guard had long since changed methods, making blades out of Guardian Steel, namely a metal forge from Lunar Steel (used by the Night Guard), Celestial Steel (used by the Day Guard) and the barest hints of other (more powerful) metals that could last longer and do more damage, but at the cost of being less magically conductive. As a result, the swords I held for the moment were both enchanted, one to shock and the other to burn. Along with the swords at my sides, I held my original plasma cutter on my right and then an Equestrian cutter at my left. On each of my hands I wore an Orichalcum gauntlet, given to me before I became Commander of the Equestrian Guard. I picked up my iPhone (at this point in time it barely held against time by the enchantments placed around it to extend its life now that it could be charged) and smiled at the fact that Equestria had finally begun to catch up to Earth in technology, though still a few decades behind in some aspects and ahead in others. I picked up the final item for me to be ready for the day, namely my knapsack. I took some various supplies and packed them, mainly some first aid supplies and a few other small things. I finished getting ready and started off for the day, Fefnir following me along. As we walked I pondered all of the plans for the day.

"Alright, first the meeting up with my nieces and nephews, then the session of training for the new recruits to the Guard in how to handle military plasma weapons, and then finally the check with the border patrols using the scrying mirrors."

By 'nieces' and 'nephews' I meant the descendants of my old friends and of the children that I adopted with Livy. I made a personal matter of watching over them all, as an extra parent, bodyguard, adviser, and whatever else they needed from me. At this point there was a pegasus descended from Orchid and Razor by the name of Humming Wing that was a musician here in the Empire, as well as a unicorn named Power Shield descended off of Iron and a mare he married after he left the Guard that work with the current generation of Guards as a combat mage (specializing in defensive magic). Then there were my kids. First of my current offspring being a teenage dragon in the Guard by the name of Spiro (as he was a winged indigo colored dragon with a bright orange underbelly, straight sharpened horns, and eyes, this name seemed incredibly fitting when I recommended it to his parents, my Nth-edly great grandkids) who was descended from one of the dragon eggs Livy and I adopted worked as a berserker knight and could fight a dragon twice his size, and then there was Lupus. Lupus was descended from Akira, and I still loved him like a son, but honestly...

Lupus was a bit of a lazy shit.

He had a build of a larger gem hunter but with all of Akira's looks. He was tall, sleek, muscular, and bore a shining white pelt. His eyes were sharp and were a venomous yellow, and his claws were primed for digging, combat, and had a good deal of possibility for learning new skills. The only problem was the fact that he was the exact stereotype of an angsty teenager, rock music and all. I actually enjoyed a lot of that stuff since I was in college when I arrived in Equestria and still kept most of my preferences throughout time, but he was against me. For some reason or other he viewed me in much of the 'authority figure to resent' point of view. I still made an effort to visit him and make sure he's alright, but of course he gave mostly monosyllabic answers to my questions.

I walked along, waving to a few ponies as I went toward Lupus' house first. His parents had been killed in a cave in a few years back, but I still gave him an allowance of my own money so that he could live on his own and then find a job. The house was a simple crystal building, of the standard design. It did stand out from the fact that his house, by his own tampering, was crafted of a pale orange crystal rather than the usual teal. Oh, and the skull carved in his door. There was that. I pushed the doorbell and then opened the door.

"Hey Lupus it's me! I'm coming in!"

I called out.  walked into the dark room. Most of the furniture was of roughly carved wood that Lupus had gotten himself. On the walls were various posters for musical bands and such. I walked down the stairs to the basement he had made his room in. I walked down the stairs and found him laying on his bed.

"Hey."

He said in a low voice.

"Hey kiddo. Just stopping by as per usual to check up."

"Yeah yeah. You know, I'm not some kid you need to watch over,  can handle myself."

I laughed.

"Loop, I'm five hundred years old. Everyone but Luna and any dragons that have been hiding for that long, is a kid compared to me. Of course, you are one of my to the Nth-grandkids. That means that no matter what, when, or where, I'm gonna do my best to be there to make sure everyone of you is alright."

He huffed and looked away.

"Alright kid I get the message, I'll be going. I have to go check up with Hum at her rehearsal next."

He perked up slightly. I smiled internally. One thing I had managed to figure out on my own was the fact that Lupus had it bad for Humming Wing.

"U-uh.. S-so Hum's having a rehearsal?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, all of her friends are invited but everyone's busy. Even I can only stop in briefly."

I leaned in to him.

"You know, it would mean a lot to her if only there were a strapping young wolf around that could go over with me an then stay for her rehearsal."

His ears dropped and he got a miffed expression.

"Fine, point taken. Where is it?"

I smirked and waved him along.

"This way kid."

The rehearsal was in the music hall her in the original Empire, in a building named the Celestial Hall. It was a tribute for Celestia, but by this point Sol Demonius was a boogeyman for kids and Celestia herself had begun to fade from memory. As me and Luna planned, by the time Sol returned and we freed Celestia from her, the two would be viewed as entirely separate beings. The hall was a tall building of carved white marble, with an emblem of the sun over the door and as the theme of the place. We both entered and walked in and took a seat in the empty concert hall. On stage was Humming wing, a green/yellow pegasus with a pink mane and deep blue eyes. Her mark was a wing with waves (meant to resemble sound waves) on either side, and to match that she was concert violinist. She stood on her back legs on the stage, absorbed in her playing, and when the song finally ended both Lupus and I stood clapping. She looked and saw us, and then got a big smile. She set down her violin and then flew down and hugged me. She spoke in a high voice.

"Heya Grampa Jack!"

She looked at Lupus and then gave him a brief blush before sliding back, bushing.

"H-hey Lupus."

I looked between them both knowingly and then spoke up, placing a hand on Hum's shoulder.

"Well Hum I'm glad I got to hear some of your music but I'm afraid I have to go take care of stuff for the Guard. Of course Lupus here doesn't have anything going on and he wants to stay for your rehearsal."

She smiled and looked at Lupus.

"You really want to hear all my playing?"

He gave a tentative nod.

I patted them both on the heads.

"Well I'll see you two later on. Have a good rehearsal!"

With that I departed. These visits of mine never really lasted the same amount of time, how long I stuck around mainly relied on what all was going on with everyone. The next visit of mine would be part of the plasma cutter training, as Power and Spyro were both guards near the end of their training. I walked back towards the castle, passing through to the Guard training grounds. All of the group I was training was gathered already, a group of gem hunters, ponies of all types and a few dragons along with Spyro. I walked out and started speaking, looking over the table of weapons before me.

"Alright everyone, today I'm going to go over the procedures and safety measures behind using plasma weaponry..."

I took training days like this extremely seriously,  as each new generation of weapons made by the University from my original plasma cutter had behaved like Earth weaponry, becoming increasingly more powerful. After a while I finished the procedures, and alerted the group to the fact that soon they would be tested for entry into the full Guard, and so informational days like this were of high importance. I went over to talk to Power and Spyro afterward. Spyro spoke before me.

"Oh hey Gramps. Sorry, but me, Power and some of the other recruits are gonna study up for the tests and stuff. See you later!"

With this the two rushed of, and I sighed and shook my head. They seemed to be well enough. Now for the final matter of he day, checking the borders. A while back the University had constructed what was known as a scrying mirror, made of technology and magic together. Currently there were sets in most Guard posts of mirrors, to allow communications between different parts of the Empire. Ever since we started getting rumors of unitologist activities in other countries I made sure to check up with the border posts with Luna. I entered the room and was greeted by Luna.

"Hello Jack, how are y-"

A wave of crackling static came from the mirrors, and one of them formed a scrambled image that reformed into the image of one of the outposts.

"Hello!? Hello!? Anyone there!?"

I stepped in front of the mirror.

"Yes, this is Commander Jack. What's going on down there?"

The guard on the other side saluted.

"Sir, it's the griffins! There's an army of them gathered and their King is at the front demandi-"

The guard was cut off by someone else in the room grabbing him and puling him off screen. The mirror turned to face a large griffin, the mirror barely able to fit him. He was a royal griffin from the look of him. I hadn't met him before, but I kew he was the King. His body was covered in armor made of the crimson metal of those either empowered or possessed by the Marker, and had a crystal marker on his chest like the one that was in Sol Demonius' armor. His claws were wrapped in golden claw-gauntlets and a crown of gold and ruby sat on his head. On his back was a massive broadsword, sitting in a sheath. He spoke in a deep voice.

"I am King Graaf of Griffica. For the recent actions of Equestria against us on the borders and in the lands around such, I hereby issue a challenge of war on the behalf of my kingdom. You have one chance to settle this dispute, in the field of battle between two warriors. In five days may your country send out one champion to represent you against me. The winner of this will decide how this will be settles, be it war, discussion, or otherwise. I have spoken. You have five days."

With this the message cut out, leaving Luna and I in silence.