"Whoa..." Alex mumbles as he slowly approaches Rainbow and the other ponies. I continue looking at them, noticing all of their expressions. Rainbow looks cocky and hopeful with that smirk of hers, but the other five of her friends look so pissed, almost like they're about to explode. I'm gonna go out on a whim here and guess that Rainbow rallied them together and told them about what happened to Star.

"I take it you're all here to help out?" I say as I lean against the wall and cross my arms, glaring at them from the corners of my eyes.

"You know we are. Rainbow is like family to all of us, and nopony messes with our family." Twilight says as she steps past Rainbow and into the room. I give her a smile, glad that I've got some more support on the matter. It feels good knowing I have all of these friends to back me up.

"So, uh, what is the plan exactly? We don't even know where to start really." Alex says from across the room where he is standing next to Applejack. They seemed to really get along last time they saw each other, so I guess they're closer friends than I thought.

"I say we search the city until we find Star and Matt's sister, then take them back from whoever took them." Twilight says as she walks in a circle to talk to all of us.

"That sounds like a good idea, but I just don't think we should do that today, probably tomorrow. I still need to sort some things out before we form some big search party." I say as I sit back down in front of the computer. "Alex, can you take everyone downstairs while I look at this some more? Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." I say as I wave over my shoulder while looking at the computer.

"Got it, okay guys, lets go think things out downstairs." Alex says as they all leave the room.

"Not you Rainbow, c'mere." I say as I turn around and wave for her to come back into the room. She trots over to me, and I can tell that she seems much more hopeful now. Too bad what I'm about to show her will probably crush that happiness. But she deserves to see the security footage as much as I do. She jumps up onto my lap, and I wrap an arm around her chest as I start the video from the point where they first broke in.

She gasps a little seeing my parents get the shit beat out of them, but when the scene where Emily and Star are attacked comes on, she about loses it. She actually lets out this little growl when they hit Emily, but it is when Star gets involved that she flips out. I almost close my eyes to skip the scene, but I watch it anyway. One of the men picks Star up by her wing, and she starts to scream and kick at the guy's hand. I know how sensitive pegasus wings are, so I know that must hurt like a bitch to be completely lifted off the ground by just one wing.

"NO!" Rainbow almost tackles the monitor, but I hold her back against my chest. It takes both arms and all of my strength to contain her, but eventually she falls limp in my arms. She turns around and buries her face into my shirt, which quickly becomes soaked with tears.

"Shhh, Rainbow calm down, c'mon." I say as I rub my hand down the back of her neck, smoothing out her hair. I try to hold in my own tears as I do so. I watch the screen which now shows an empty room. I reach a hand over to the mouse, and fast forward about half an hour, and stop when another figure enters the room. Alex.

I watch as Alex looks around the room, holding his hands on top of his head before pulling out his phone. This must have been when he called me while I was in Paris. To think, he was just half an hour later, thirty minutes. If he had been driving by just thirty minutes earlier, he could have done something to help. Maybe it is for the best though, he could have gotten hurt if he messed up.

"W-We have to find them Matt, we have to!" Rainbow's muffled scream vibrates through my torso as she somehow grabs my shirt with her hooves. I pick her up, wanting to get downstairs with the others, but also knowing she wasn't about to let go of me any time soon. I push the office door open with my shoulder, and begin walking downstairs.

I slowly walk around the corner, and into the living room where I find Alex and the five other ponies sitting around discussing this and that. I cough rather loudly to get everyone's attention. They all stop talking, and even begin to tear up when they see Rainbow still practically screaming into my chest. I even see Pinkie try to blow her nose on Alex's sleeve, and he almost slaps her in response. Ah Alex, never change.

"Oh, I can't..." Fluttershy shoots off the couch pretty quickly, and the next thing I know, she is hovering behind Rainbow, hugging her around her chest. I place Rainbow on the floor, and she buries her face in hooves. All of the other ponies in the room surround her, ending in a giant group hug as Alex and I stand back and watch.

"Dude... I never cry, but this?" Alex chokes out. I place a hand on his shoulder and try to give a reassuring smile.

"We can do this man. Look, we have six other friends helping us, and two of them are super strong, three can fly, and two can use magic. Then there is us. We're both really smart, we know this city like the back of our hands, plus, we have this." I say as I lift my shirt to reveal the gun. Alex wipes one eye with a thumb before looking up and smiling.

"Yeah, you're right. The eight of us are an unstoppable team! We can totally do this." Alex says as he pats me on the back.

"Alex..." I sigh out.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks... for being here. I really couldn't have done this without you, and if you hadn't driven by when you did, I'd still probably be in Paris, unaware that my sister and daughter were missing. You're the best friend I could ask for."

"Oh God... Oh damn it, c'mere!" Alex says as we embrace in what I refer to as a "bro hug", which lasts about four seconds.

"O-Okay, what now?" I hear from across the room. I look up to see Rainbow staring at me with bloodshot, red eyes. Still breaks my heart any time I see her like this.

"Alright, everyone sit down, and I'll formulate a plan." I say as I sit down on the couch. There is one couch, which can sit three, and two chairs in the room, so three of us will have to sit on the ground.

I sit in the middle of the couch with Rainbow to my left, and Twilight to my right. Rarity takes a chair, and so does Fluttershy. Alex, Pinkie, and Applejack sit on the floor.

Alright, so, I say we split up while searching, obviously this will be a lot faster and easier than searching as one large group. Now, there are eight of us, so I think we should split up into groups of two." I explain as I lean forward and fold my hands on my lap.

"So four teams of two?" Rarity asks.

"Yes, and I think I already know what the groups should be." I say as I place a hand on Rainbow's back.

"And those would be?..." Alex says while spinning his hand in a circle.

"First, I want some eyes in the sky. Rainbow and Fluttershy, you two will take the to the skies over the city, scouting out anything that might lead us to some answers." Rainbow looks up at me, somewhat shocked that I wouldn't take her with me. "Okay, next, I want Rarity and Pinkie to search the north west part of town, Applejack and Alex, take the north east side of town, and Twilight and I will take the entirety of the south side. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why can't I go with you? Twilight can fly too." Rainbow says as she looks up at me. I knew she would ask that.

"Because, no offense to Twilight, but you are such a better flier. I need you in the skies, your eyes and flying skills are just to valuable. Trust me, if I could fly, I'd go with you, but right now, I really need you in the sky." I explain to Rainbow. She sighs, but nods in understanding.

At this point, the only group I am worried about is Rarity and Pinkie. The air team will be fine in the sky, nobody can really get to them there. Applejack will be safe with Alex, and Twilight will be okay with me, but those two have no human escorts, any neither can fly. I'm sure they can take care of themselves, or at least I hope they can.

"Alright, so now what?" Alex asks.

"Good question... Okay, I say we go home now, rest up, and prepare to search tomorrow. I can take probably four of you guys home with me, two of you will have to go with Alex." I say as I begin to stand up.

"Okay, who's going with you?" Twilight asks from behind me.

"Well, obviously Rainbow. I guess I'll take you, Rarity and Applejack." I list off the other names randomly, not really caring who comes with me other than Rainbow.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow then." Alex says as he walks past me, slapping a hand on my shoulder. "C'mon you two, let me show you around my place." Alex says as he leads Fluttershy and Pinkie out the front door.

The five of us left in the room gather ourselves up, and head outside a couple of minutes later. Having left my truck at home, we have to walk home. That reminds me, I left my motorcycle at the airport... Oh well, I can pick it up later.

We all walk down the sidewalk with me leading in the front.

"Wow, this world is... beautiful. I've only seen your capital, but these houses look so nice." Twilight observes as we walk down the sidewalk.

"Oh yeah, I forgot this was your first time really seeing my world other than the White House. Well then, welcome to the shit hole that I have come to know as Earth." I say as I raise my hands up above my head. Still not feeling to happy right now, so my response probably came across pretty rude.

We continue walking, the four mares behind me making conversation. I walk alone in front of them, keeping my hands in my pockets while looking down at the ground it front of me. I almost walk past my house because I wasn't paying attention, but thankfully Rainbow flies in front of me and stops me. We walk up to the front door, and I fish the key out of my pocket. I say one last thing before turning the key and opening the front door.

"Get settled in guys, you're in this for the long haul."