Wow, this chapter took forever to finish and rework. I didn't realize how long it was until I posted it in here. Sorry for the massive chapter, but I wanted to put all of what I had in one chapter.

Enjoy!

The sun had just been lowered, and a few stars could be seen from the window in room 204. The fireplace in the room was brightly lit thanks to a certain young dragon and the wood fully stocked thanks to the inn’s staff. There were small lanterns that hung just above the nightstands next to each bed which were also lit, illuminating the entire bedroom.

Everyone in the room was doing their own thing. Spike was reading one of the books he had brought with him which was titled Snow Ponies and Yaks: The Perfect Symbiosis? He was perfectly lost in it as it described the subtribe of earth ponies who lived up north near Yakyakistan. There were drawings that the author had made of the snow ponies, which depicted them as being almost all brown with very thick fur and manes. The author talked about how they lived in warm caves and managed to survive by digging up the grass that existed under the snow and eating that while they drank from large streams and rivers or by breaking the ice on a frozen lake or pond and drinking from that water instead. From what the author described, snow ponies had a very good relationship with the yaks. At least, they had when the book was published. Spike knew now that there had been no news of snow ponies for at least a couple hundred years. He hoped that they hadn’t all gone extinct and hoped that someday he could find out, or better yet, try and find a snow pony in the wild.

Applejack was sitting up in bed, pen in her mouth as she wrote in her journal about her inner thoughts along with the events of the day. Pinkie Pie was simply lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, her mind a thousand miles away as it had been for months. Fluttershy was curled up underneath her blankets, covering her face with the covers. Rainbow Dash was leaning against her headboard, throwing a small ball down on the ground, letting it fly straight up and catching it with her hooves, and Rarity was stubbornly sewing a purple scarf together.

The room was silent save for the constant thump, thump, thump of the ball as it hit the floor, the soft scratching of the pen in Applejack’s mouth as she wrote along with the sound of Rarity’s magic casting as she moved the needle with her magic. Twilight and Princess Celestia were still not there, for some reason, not that anyone seemed to notice too much.

Well, everyone except Spike. He would occasionally look out from his book towards the large door, wondering where the two princesses were. Despite how he felt about Twilight currently, there was always a part of him that was going to worry for her wellbeing. As poor of a caretaker as she had been to him, she had been the one who hatched him after all those years of him being an egg. It was strange, especially since while he lived with the Sparkle family he hadn’t really been treated as a member. Strange as it might have seemed, he still cared about her in some capacity.

He also really cared for Flurry Heart, who would always call her Un, which was her way of calling him Uncle. The cute baby alicorn always melted his heart, especially when he had taken her around the Crystal Empire’s main city with a couple of guards nearby. She had flown around and taken in everything she could. He’d gotten her a little bit of ice cream and a cookie near the end of their day trip through the city.

As for the other members of the Sparkle family? He was more ambivalent about them, but a part of him knew that eventually he would have to confront them about their treatment of him over the years. He just wasn’t ready for it yet.

He came out of his reverie when he heard Applejack put down her journal and say, “Rainbow, that there bouncin’ is getting’ mighty annoyin’. Can yah stop fer now?”

Rainbow did stop, but only gave Applejack a glare. “And why should I, huh? Why don’t you stop that chicken scratching you call writing, huh?”

“Ah got a right tah write, don’t ah?” Applejack retorted.

“And I have a right to do what I'm doing, cowgirl,” Rainbow replied through clenched teeth. Immediately she went back to bouncing the ball, but Spike noticed that it was a lot louder than before. He watched as Rainbow bounced it harder, sending it heading higher into the air. She caught it in her hoof and bounced it again, all while giving Applejack a glare.

Applejack grit her teeth, but went back to her writing, noisily dipping her quill into the ink and writing harder and louder, all while giving Rainbow Dash a look of contempt.

About half a minute passed before Rarity’s magic sound stopped. Spike watched as the now exasperated mare exhaled and looked over at the two. “Would you two kindly cease this ruckus at once!” she said in a calm voice, but Spike knew her well enough that there was barely contained anger behind her tone. “I am trying to thicken my scarf for tomorrow!”

“Back off, Rarity!” Applejack and Rainbow both said simultaneously.

“Well, I never!” Rarity snarled.

“This doesn’t concern yah, so back away,” Applejack clarified.

“It most certainly does concern me, especially when we’re sharing accommodations for the week!” Rarity shouted back.

“Oh yeah, because you totally need that scarf to cover that nose to hide all those so-called nasty smells of griffons around us, right?” Rainbow snarled as she jumped out of bed and stomped up to Rarity’s bed. She lifted her hoof and pointed it accusingly at the purple maned unicorn. “Don’t think I didn’t see you hiding your nose behind your scarf, priss!”

“My nostrils are none of your business!” Rarity replied, jumping out of bed and poking Rainbow’s chest. “Besides, I saw both of you flinch whenever we passed those stands where they were grilling meat! Meat!”

“Yeah, ah did, ah won’t deny that,” Applejack conceded as she got out of bed and stormed over to Rarity as well, “but that was just a reaction tah the smell! Ah couldn’t help mahself! Ah saw yah look disgusted! And don’t think ah didn’t hear yah call griffons ‘Uncultured birds’!”

“Griffons eat meat, accept it!” Rainbow shouted back. “Even Gilda had to eat it when we were at camp!”

“It’s that kind of attitude that got us into this mess,” a surprisingly angry sounding Fluttershy said suddenly. Everyone turned towards her and Spike saw that she was sitting up in bed, glaring at the three ponies, who looked back at her in stunned silence. “We aren’t the only creatures on Equus. Many of my animal friends need meat in their diet to survive.”

“Yes, but those are animals, dear Fluttershy,” Rarity said, “these are creatures that can talk, and they’re eating animals! How can that not bother you!?”

Fluttershy grit her teeth, got out of bed and stormed over to Rarity. Raising her wing, she slapped the unicorn hard, sending her sprawling. The room was silent at that, everyone staring at Fluttershy in complete shock. Even Pinkie Pie had turned her head to look over at the scene before her, eyes wide in alarm.

Fluttershy walked quickly passed Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both of whom were still too shocked to say or do anything. The butter colored pegasus loomed over Rarity. “If it bothered me, would I feed my more carnivorous animal friends?”

The stunned unicorn looked up at the pegasus before her, eyes wide with disbelief. Disbelief which turned to anger. “How dare you strike a lady?!” she said as she stood and brushed herself off.

“Some lady,” Fluttershy scoffed. “You’ve been acting less like a lady and more like a stuck up noble snob! You’re worse than Prince Blueblood!”

Rarity stormed up and got directly into Fluttershy’s face. “Don’t you dare compare me to that ruffian!”

To her credit, Fluttershy didn’t back down, only pressed her face closer to Rarity’s own. “Then stop acting like the biggest horse’s heel in the room!”

“No civilized creature would eat meat!”

Spike slammed his book shut, startling the four ponies who were arguing. They all turned to look at him. Spike was angry now. He’d read in one of the books he’d brought with him that many dragons ate meat and it was the meat that gave them more strength than even gems or plants. Sure, dragons were omnivores, but they needed meat in their diet. There was no other way. He turned to Rarity. “I’ve been eating meat for the past three months, Miss Belle, specifically fish,” he said with a frown. “Does that make me uncivilized in your book? Hmm?”

Rarity’s ears flattened at that, a look of guilt coming over her. “Spikey, I-”

“You don’t get to call me that, MISS BELLE!” Spike bellowed angrily, and his voice cracked slightly at that, briefly going deeper before returning to its normal pitch.

“R-Right, I forgot,” Rarity said, looking away.

“There’s one example of a meat eater who can live peacefully among ponies!” Fluttershy snarled.

Rarity’s anger returned and she whirled on Fluttershy. “Yes, but he was raised by ponies! Who says other dragons won’t want to do something monstrous?”

Fluttershy’s glare only increased, and then she said something nobody expected. “Fuck you.” Everyone in the room gasped. For dear sweet Fluttershy to use any sort of language like that was unheard of. However, before Rarity could answer, Fluttershy pointed at her with her wings and said, “It’s because of behaviors and thinking like that that Ponyville was destroyed! It’s because of that reason alone that Jason became what he is today! It’s because of OUR attitudes that Discord is dead!”

At that moment, the door opened, startling everyone. Standing in the doorway, the ponies and dragon in the room saw a stern looking Celestia and Twilight drinking in the scene before them. It was Twilight who spoke first, however. “What in Equestria is going on here?”

Celestia stepped in and looked around, taking in the scene before her more closely. “We heard the arguing from downstairs,” she said calmly as Twilight followed her in and shut the door behind her. “Fluttershy, I never knew you had that in you.” Fluttershy’s ears flattened and she lowered her head. Celestia then turned to Rarity. “And you, Miss Belle, have behaved quite atrociously throughout this trip. Even my nephew has you beat when it comes to being well behaved.” Rarity bristled, but lowered her head in shame after that.

“Girls, we all need to talk,” Twilight said. She walked over to her bed and sat down in it, then looked at each pony in the room. “Please take a seat.” Turning to Spike, she gestured him over. Confused, Spike did just that. When he was next to her, Twilight lifted a large bag towards him. “Here’s some money, Spike. The dining room’s still open, so you can go have some dinner if you haven’t already. I’d like to talk to the girls alone.”

Spike took the bag of bits, which was surprisingly full and heavy. “Thanks,” was all he said as he headed towards the door.

“May I come with you, Spike?” Princess Celestia said from behind him. Spike turned, looking at Celestia with an unreadable expression. Finally, his face softened and he nodded. Celestia smiled in relief, waited for him to join her, then put a tender wing around the young dragon before walking out and shutting the door behind them with her magic.

Once the two were out of the room, Twilight looked at her former friends. She could see incredibly tension on their faces, all except for the now worryingly thin Pinkie Pie who was now just staring at the ceiling with a blank expression. Twilight thought back briefly to the conversation she’d had with the human Chancellor Graystone earlier in Griffonville. His uncanny knowledge of events in Ponyville aside, he had made good points. She still could feel the overwhelming guilt of what she had done to Jason, but she had grown tired of her attitude towards it. Tired of letting it slowly eat away at her and destroy her from the inside. Her hallucinations of Jason aside, she wanted to try and move on from it, but to never forget the harsh and painful lesson her experiences had taught her. After all, it was because she forgot the lesson with Zecora that this had happened.

Besides, it hurt her immensely to see her former friends so affected by it.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and looked out at the other ponies. “Earlier today, I had a very…enlightening lunch with Chancellor Gregory Graystone down in Griffonville.”

That got everypony’s attention, even Pinkie’s. Their eyes all locked on her. There was silence for a brief moment before Fluttershy spoke up. “What…did you talk about?”

Twilight smiled slightly, which seemed to startle everyone else. “Actually, we mostly got to know each other. He treated me to lunch and we talked about ourselves.”

Twilight had a very good memory, especially when she was completely paying attention. It was how she managed to study so well. However, she had put this skill to good use when talking to Gregory. She’d learned many things about him. For example, she’d learned that he had a casual interest in geology and volcanology and that he could somewhat play the piano. He had a few other hobbies as well, such as hiking, video games from his world and reading certain genres of books.

He’d admitted that he brought many books of varying subjects with him when he traversed between worlds. Books about advanced technology he hoped to introduce to this world at some point in the future. Twilight had noted that his eyes had practically sparkled at the thought of introducing easier means of living to the world.

Snapping back to reality, she looked back out at the other five mares. “He told me about himself and about his world, and I talked about myself to him too. It was a very pleasant lunch.” Her smile faded as she added, “And it was something that we could have had with Jason.”

Just the mention of that name seemed to cast a spell on everypony there. Pinkie whimpered slightly and looked away, Fluttershy looked down at her bed morosely, Rainbow looked away, a self hating look in her eyes, Applejack’s ears flattened, but her expression remained stoic, and Rarity only seemed to glower at the floor like it was a disgusting mess that she refused to step on. When none of them spoke, Twilight sighed. “Girls, it’s been three months since the invasion. Three months since any of us even talked to each other! We can’t go on like this! We screwed up, yes, I’ll be the first to admit that. We betrayed everything we were supposed to stand for, but sitting around and feeling sorry for ourselves won’t do us any good.”

“What would you have us do, Princess Twilight?” Rarity asked through clenched teeth, slowly looking up at her former friend. “Should we go through the entire world searching for Jason and kiss his boots, begging for forgiveness? What would you have us do?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t keep going on like this,” Twilight said. She looked over the room. “Look at us! We used to be the best of friends! Now? Now we’re just six strangers! We’re falling apart!” She made a sweeping gesture with her right hoof. “We’ve barely spoken a single word to each other in three months! We’ve all been wallowing in our misery! Some of us are purposely killing themselves over it!” She turned and gave them all a glance, but her gaze lingered ever so slightly longer on Pinkie.

The night before, Twilight had gotten up late to get herself some water, only to stumble on Pinkie sticking her hoof down her throat. She’d been horrified to learn that her former friend was bulimic, but was also aware that it wasn’t her place to share this with the other. She would, however, take the time to talk to Pinkie about it alone.

Turning back to the others, Twilight continued, “I’m no better, I know. I’ve buried myself in my work and have hardly slept. I keep seeing him in my dreams…and when I’m awake…” She lowered her head solemnly. “I see him everywhere, haunting me…my biggest failure as a princess of anything…”

There was silence for a while as the other mares took in just exactly what she was saying. Finally, Applejack cleared her throat and stood up. “Twilight, we all screwed the pooch on this one,” she said. “Yer not the only one tah blame.”

“I might not have been the worst, but I was the first,” Twilight said as tears formed in her eyes. “I was the one who said, ‘I’ve had quite enough of humans. Go away!’ and slammed the door in Jason’s face.” She looked up at them. “As a ruler, my actions set an example, and everypony else followed it. They all followed my actions and mistreated and abused someone who just wanted to be friends with us. And because of what I said and did, he eked out a miserable existence in a cave in the Everfree Forest.” She looked up. “I’ve seen that cave. I wouldn’t even wish my worst enemy to live in such conditions.”

“I saw it too,” Pinkie whispered.

“I…I found it thanks to some of the creatures leading me there,” Fluttershy said softly.

“I’ve seen it too,” Rainbow said, her wings clamping harder to her side at that.

“Ah’ve taken a look at it a few times mahself,” Applejack said, her head lowered and her hat covering her face. “It ain’t fit fer anycreature tah live in.”

Rarity remained silent, which told Twilight all she needed to know. Her former fashionista friend had not gone out to the cave. It didn’t surprise the purple alicorn, but what did surprise her was that the rest of the group had gone out to Jason’s old cave. He’d even heard that Spike had made the trip, despite the fact that the young dragon had never once been involved in any of the abuse against Jason. Twilight stood up straighter, headed to the front of the room and looked out at her former friends. “Everypo-no, everyone,” she began, “I know how you’re all feeling. I really do. I have been wallowing in my own self pity and self loathing for months. But like I said, I’m getting tired of it. I want us to be friends again. I want us to become better ponies.”

“And what about the town? They all hate us,” Rarity said sullenly. “Half think that we were too weak to stop Jason and his changelings, the other half blame us for what Jason did because of how we treated him.”

“Ain’t yah been listenin’ tah what Twilight’s been sayin’?” Applejack retorted, turning on Rarity sharply. “This whole mess was our fault; Discord’s spell be damned!”

Twilight saw Fluttershy’s face contort with something she’d rarely seen on the pegasus’ face before: rage and hatred. “That monster,” she snarled under her breath. However, when she looked at Twilight, her expression morphed into acceptance. Looking down, she buried her face in her wing. “No…he wasn’t the only monster…”

“We were too,” Rainbow said as she quickly walked over and put a comforting hoof around her oldest friend. Fluttershy turned and threw her hooves around Rainbow, burying her face into Rainbow’s chest and starting to sob.

Twilight said nothing, not wanting to interrupt this moment for Fluttershy, but also because she wanted her to hear everything she needed to say. She could see that Fluttershy was taking this harder than most, and no wonder. Being the Element of Kindness, it was clear to Twilight that when she betrayed her own Element she punished herself by isolating herself from other ponies. She remembered when Pinkie Pie and Rarity had told her about how Fluttershy had taken a class by Iron Will and had taken his lessons too far, yelling at the two mares enough for them to run away crying. When Fluttershy had realized what she’d done, she’d boarded her house up and had Angel tie her up inside the house to keep herself from hurting those she cared about.

This was no different. Fluttershy was punishing herself. She might not have tied herself up, but she was avoiding others around her even more so than usual. Twilight guessed it was because she was afraid of making the same mistakes and so to avoid that she’d taken herself out of the picture.

After about ten minutes of nobody in the room saying anything save for the soft sobs from Fluttershy and Rainbow being unusually sympathetic and stroking her back, telling her to let it all out, the former pegasus finally stopped crying and broke away slowly from Rainbow. After thanking her, Fluttershy returned to her bed and looked back up at everyone in the room. “I’m sorry, everypony,” she said.

“It’s alright, sugarcube,” Applejack said in a surprisingly reassuring voice. “We all need it every now and then.”

Fluttershy nodded, then turned back to Twilight. “Go ahead, Twilight.”

Twilight inclined her head towards Fluttershy with a sympathetic smile before she turned to the others, the smile fading to become a more serious expression. “As much as I want to go find Jason and beg for his forgiveness in any way possible, right now we can’t do it. We don’t know where he is now. That, and I feel like many of the ponies in Ponyville have not learned the lesson from this. Which I claim full responsibility for. I will be rectifying that the moment we get back home.”

“Rectify it how?” Fluttershy asked.

“I will tell the entire town the truth.”

That left the room speechless. Everyone was now looking at Twilight, even Pinkie, with stunned expressions. Twilight waited for that to sink in before she continued. “We should have done it much earlier, but because we didn’t rumors are spreading through the town like wildfire. We need to put those rumors to rest.”

There was silence again as everyone chewed on that revelation. Even Rarity had a thoughtful look on her face as she pondered what Twilight had just said. Then, to nobody’s surprise, Applejack snorted and nodded her head. “Do yah need help talkin’ tah the other ponies? Ah’d be willin’ tah put in mah two bits.”

Twilight let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She looked over at the farm mare and nodded. “I think having you up there would definitely be helpful.”

“I’d like to help too,” Rainbow Dash said, and for the first time since the first day back in Ponyville three months ago, she actually extended her wing and raised it. “You’re right, Twilight…we should have told them. Some Element of Harmony I am…”

“And what’s to stop the town from throwing us out like we did to Jason?” Rarity asked bitterly.

“Nothing,” Twilight said plainly. “And if they wish me to leave, I will. I will take all of the blame for this, as I should have done.”

“No, Twi,” Applejack said, finally using the nickname she’d given the Princess of Friendship all those years ago. “Ah won’t let yah take this blame on yer own. Yer right.” She lifted up the journal that Twilight had seen her writing in every night before bed. “Ah’m sure yah’ve noticed ah’ve been writin’ in this here journal lately.”

“I did,” Twilight said.

“It was Big Mac’s idea, actually,” Applejack said, turning to the others. “Believe it or not, it’s actually helpin’ me. Y’all know that ah don’t particularly like tah talk ‘bout mah feelings. But this? This helps me tah sort out mah thoughts. Ah know we’re all tah blame and ah know ah’ve been feelin’ lower than dirt. Ah broke Jason’s ribs when ah first saw ‘im. Ah doubt ah can really forgive mahself fer that, but ah’ll be damned if ah let mahself go tah pieces anymore. Ah will never forget what happened and ah’ll learn from it. Ah’d love tah make things up with Jason and try and prove how sorry ah am, but fer the moment, ah want to git out of this funk ah’m in.”

“And just ignore what we did?” Rainbow said almost automatically.

“Ah ain’t ever gonna forget what happened and what ah did,” Applejack said, glaring slightly at Rainbow, “but ah can’t be stuck like this no more. It’s hurtin’ me and mah family. Don’t yah ever wanna stop mopin’ around?”

Rainbow looked down, blinking rapidly. “I just…I want…” Twilight saw a single tear fall from her eyes but said nothing as the cyan pegasus struggled to get her words out. When Fluttershy walked over and put her wing against Rainbow’s back, she jumped but leaned in against her friend. “I…I want to find Ja-Jason and apologize too…I want to prove that I’m be-better than what I was…” she stammered out.

“We all do,” Fluttershy said, before she gave Rarity, who was looking at the floor still. “At least, almost all of us,” the pegasus added, but quietly enough that Rarity didn’t hear it.

Twilight, however, with her alicorn hearing, did. “Unfortunately, like I said, we can’t find him. We don’t even know if he got that letter Princess Celestia sent to him.”

“He did…” Pinkie said, looking forlornly up at the ceiling still. “At least, if my Pinkie Sense is right…” she added with a scowl.

“Pinkie…” Twilight said. She could only imagine what the dull pink mare was thinking at that moment. To have something so close to you as a Pinkie Sense betray you like that must have devastated the poor mare. To have something that you considered infallible result in the continued abuse of any creature would have shattered anyone. And especially Pinkie.

“He hates us,” Pinkie added.

“Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn’t,” Twilight acknowledged with a nod, “but Pinkie, we can’t just let that affect us like it has been. I’ve been hated by a few other ponies in my time, and especially now. If we ever meet him again and he never forgives us, we have to be willing to accept that. And…we’ll have to live with that for the rest of our lives. But!” and at that she stood and stamped her hoof on the ground to emphasize her point, “But, I am just so sick and tired of living like this! We can’t just mope around and hate ourselves!” She softened her expression and looked around. “I’m not saying things will get better overnight, but I’d like to try and rebuild things between us.”

Once more, the room went silent. Applejack looked thoughtful, Fluttershy looked down at her bed expressionless, Pinkie and Rainbow still had guilt ridden expressions on their face, but less so than before, and Rarity had a sullen look on her own face. She was the first to speak. “So, you want things to go back to the way they were, huh? Brush everything that happened under the rug, as it were? Make things all hunky-dorey again?” There was a bite to her words, an edge that everybody in the room couldn’t mistake. She looked up quickly and glared at Twilight. “You think things can ever be the same again?!”

Twilight’s ears flattened. She knew that Rarity was taking the loss of Ponyville hard, but she was also taking the loss of her livelihood even harder. She had worked very hard to build up her boutiques, only to have that all taken away from her in only a week. “Rarity, I know things will take time, but if we face this head on instead of just hiding behind our misery-”

“Don’t you dare talk to me about misery!” Rarity shouted angrily. “Did you have your entire life destroyed by this?! You’re still a princess! I’ve lost so…so…” her angry face morphed into one of grief as she grabbed a pillow, shoving it into her face and screaming into it.

Every other pony in the room looked away from the display from the former fashionista. Twilight’s heart reached out to her former friend. Her behavior aside, Rarity had lost so much in the last three months. Both of the out of town boutiques, the ones in Canterlot and Manhattan, had all their employees quit once they learned of the true events in Ponyville. Twilight suspected that Sassy Saddles had spoken to the manager of the Manhattan branch, one Coco Pommel, since Sassy would have been privy to the trial that had taken place. Then again, she couldn’t be absolutely sure until she actually spoke to one or the other. With no employees, both boutiques had quickly been shuttered and sold, their assets quickly liquidated.

Before hearing about this, Rarity had been rather stable and been trying her best to use her skills to prepare Ponyville for the winter by sewing thick blankets and protective coverings for the tents to keep them warmer as the temperatures dropped. Ponyville was rather high above sea level, just above four thousand hooves, but it was located on a large plain, meaning that, pegasi interference aside, the weather was perfect for the farmers around the town, including Sweet Apple Acres. Winters in Ponyville were less severe than they were in Canterlot, but the snowfall was still particularly deep. Even the occasional snow pony who traveled down from the north had commented on the snow.

However, when Rarity learned of the losses of both her boutiques, something she had been counting on to help her buy more materials to help Ponyville, she’d become more bitter than before, at least from what some of the few ponies who talked to Twilight still had told her.

Twilight finally spoke up as Rarity’s crying session finally slowed. “Rarity, I’m sorry. I know you’ve lost a lot, but we can’t just sit around and feel sorry for ourselves.” She pointed to herself. “I know I’ll feel that guilt for a long time, and we all need help in working through what happened.”

“Twi, what made yah realize this?” Applejack asked curiously.

Twilight took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I actually, well, I had lunch with Chancellor Gregory today, and he pointed out a few things to me. And earlier, Princess Celestia told me that she’d talked to him last night. According to her, he made some good points about what we could do going forward.”

“Like what?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight told them about the brief serious conversation she’d had with Gregory near the end of the meal, and then she told them about the conversation that Celestia had with the human the night before. Everyone, even Rarity, listened in as Twilight recounted, nearly word for word, the conversation between Gregory and Princess Celestia. Being an alicorn, she and her mentor had rather good memories. When she finished, Twilight looked out at them. “Jason isn’t the only one we owe an apology to. We owe an apology to Ponyville and many more.”

Everyone in the room looked down at their beds with grim faces. All save for Rarity who was still glaring up at Twilight. “And when the ponies kick us out of town, what will you do then, oh most glorious Princess of Friendship?”

“Is that all yah have tah focus on, Rarity?” Applejack asked, glaring at the fashionista. “Bein’ kicked out of Ponyville?”

Rarity whirled on Applejack. “Don’t pretend that you haven’t thought about this too!” Rarity shouted. “You’re one of the faces of your farm! Ponies bought apples from you because they trusted you and the quality of your work! You and your family! Ponies were willing to spend a bit more on your apples because they trusted you! And what will happen when they learn of what you did to Jason?! All those bucks to the chest, breaking his ribs! How do you think they’ll feel when they learn you’re a hypocrite!?”

“Girls…” Fluttershy said in a soft voice, but neither unicorn nor earth pony heard.

Applejack stood and stomped her hoof on the ground. “Ah know we dun screwed up! We made Jason what he became! Our fears! Our cruelty! We did it! And ah’ll accept any punishment necessary!”

“Um, girls…” Fluttershy called out a bit louder.

Rarity was about to reply, when Twilight stood and stamped her hoof on the ground as well. “Enough, you two! This isn’t what I wanted to happen!”

“And what did you want to happen, darling?” Rarity asked, using her last word like a weapon, much like she had done that day in Ponyville. Turning to Twilight, she stood. “Make things all right with us again? Maybe we can all go out and have a picnic or something like we used to do, or have an animal playdate!?”

Twilight’s ears flattened, but before she could say anything, Fluttershy stood and faced Rarity, her wings spread wide behind her in an instance of pegasi instinct, making her look bigger than she actually was. “Rarity Belle! What is wrong with you?! You think you’re the only one who’s lost anything?!” There was an anger in Fluttershy’s eyes that Twilight had rarely seen before. “We all lost something! Our homes, our livelihoods, and more! How dare you stand there and accuse us of not knowing what loss is like!”

Rarity was seething now, but Twilight could see the wheels turning in her head. Fluttershy had made an extremely valid point, and it looked like the unicorn knew it. She snorted, used her magic to grab her winter gear and quickly wrapped them around her. “I’m going for a walk,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

“Rarity, wait-” Twilight began, but the look of utter rage that the unicorn gave Twilight sent shivers down her back. Maybe it was a good idea for her to take some time to cool off. She clamped her mouth shut and just nodded silently. “I’ll leave the door unlocked,” was all she could muster.

Rarity nodded, strode over to the door, opened it and closed it with a slam. The room was silent as they heard the purple maned pony stomping away from the door and down the stairs. Even when her hoofsteps could no longer be heard, there was silence. Slowly, every other pony in the room exchanged glances of worry and confusion. Finally, Applejack spoke up. “Ah should apologize tah her when she gets back. Ah said some things ah shouldn’t have.”

“AJ, she’s being a stubborn, stupid bitch,” Rainbow said, “if anything, she needs to apologize to you!”

“Girls, enough,” Twilight said firmly. “Rarity aside, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done if we’re ever going to rebuild things between us.”

“What about Spike?” Fluttershy asked suddenly.

Twilight’s ears flattened. That was one of the biggest mistakes and sins of hers that she wanted to fix. “Yes, him too…”

“Is the little guy alright?” Rainbow asked. “I’ve never seen him this upset at us before.”

“Girls…we did a lot to Spike that hurt him,” Twilight admitted. “Me worst of all. I’ve treated him less like a friend and more like a poorly paid employee. Worse than a slave, even. We all have. Remember our first Winter Wrap-Up?”

Everyone in the room immediately nodded. They had laughed at Spike as he’d floated in the water on top of the one remaining ice patch. As they thought back to the young dragon, they remembered other instances that caused them immediate regret. He had hardly ever been included in any of their outings, always left home to do the chores. Being pranked in a rather cruel manner by Rainbow and/or Pinkie, and various other instances throughout the years of all of their mistreatment of him.

“Why didn’t he say anything…?” Rainbow asked with a hoarse voice.

“He…he probably never knew any better,” Twilight said, “and that’s my fault. I…I should have treated him like family. And I want to make it up to him somehow…and talk to the rest of my family about it too…”

“Ah know he’s made friends his own age,” Applejack said. “Apple Bloom tells me that he spends a lot of time with the Crusaders and their friends. Especially Sweetie Belle. Ah reckon the young guy’s got a crush on her, but ah ain’t too sure about it. Just mah observations.”

Twilight was a bit surprised to hear this, but if it was true, she was glad. He deserved to have friends his own age. Not only that, but she really should have sent him to school. She made up her mind that once the winter break for the school was over, she’d ask if he wanted to go. “That’s good to hear,” she said, and a small smile formed on her face. Looking up at the four remaining ponies in the room, she continued, “Girls, I know things will never really quite be the same between us. I kept on trying to deny what happened up to the last. Or rather, I tried making excuses because I didn’t want to face the guilt. But what I want to say first and foremost is this.” She lowered her head and bowed, closing her eyes. “From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry about everything that’s happened. I have no excuse for it. I mishandled the entire Jason situation from start to finish, and it ended in complete disaster.”

Twilight couldn’t hear anything for a while. Then, one of the ponies walked up to her and put a hoof on her withers. “We all fucked up,” the quiet and raspy voice of Rainbow Dash said. As Twilight looked up, she saw that Rainbow wasn’t just standing before her, but had her wings outstretched, looking at them. “I used these wings to almost kill him. Kill a fan. Kill a potential friend…” They furled back up to her side and she looked down at Twilight. “I…I’ve even thought about having them cut off.”

A gasp went up from the room. Even Pinkie looked horrified at that. Twilight moved closer and put one of her wings over Rainbow’s back. “I…I had no idea…”

“Well, how could you know? We haven’t spoken in months,” Rainbow retorted somewhat harshly before her ears flattened and she looked down regretfully. “No…I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair.”

“No, it was completely fair,” Twilight said. “I’ve been avoiding all of you, but that stops now.”

“We’ve all been avoiding each other,” Fluttershy said as she slowly stood and walked over to where Twilight and Rainbow were, “but I’m glad we’re starting to talk like this.”

“Me too,” Applejack said as she walked over and joined the other three ponies. “Ah’ve missed y’all.”

Pinkie was the only one who hasn’t moved. Twilight looked over at her with concern. If Pinkie truly had been forcing herself to vomit up everything that she’d eaten for weeks on end, she might not have been able to walk too much. Twilight watched in surprise, then, when Pinkie slowly got out of bed and shuffled over to them, her head lowered, ears flat, and her mane matted and tangled, but mostly straight. She saw the patches of fur on Pinkie that had fallen out, a clear sign of malnutrition.

Pinkie sniffed, and Twilight saw a tear fall to the floor. Fluttershy was immediately by her side, letting the former party pony lean against her and placing a wing around her. Pinkie was soon softly crying, tears flowing down her cheeks as Applejack moved to the other side and put a hoof over Pinkie’s back. The worryingly thin pony was led to the nearest bed, which happened to be Twilight’s, and was placed on it. After a while, she sniffed and wiped her eyes with a hoofkerchief. She tried to speak a few times, but each time nothing but whimpering came out. Finally, she seemed to give up and leaned against Fluttershy, eyes clamped shut and teeth clenched as she tried holding back more tears.

“So…how do yah wanna go about doin’ this, Twi?” Applejack asked as she rubbed the broken pink mare’s back.

“We need help, big help,” Twilight admitted. “We need to find someone to sit down with and talk about what’s happened and about our biases. I’m thinking someone who isn’t a pony might be a good idea.”

“Are you talking about a shrink?” Rainbow asked hesitantly.

“No no, not a therapist,” Twilight said, “I mean more like a counselor. We all let our biases and fears get the better of us. I know I did. I let my fear and revulsion of humans get the better of me, and I passed that on to all of Ponyville. Even if Discord hadn’t done anything to us, I can’t say for certain that things would have been any better for Jason or for all of us. We need to start coming to terms with all of our innate biases and attempt to overcome them. If Jason is an example of what a kindhearted human can become after being treated like a monster, then I think Gregory is an example of how a human can become when treated with the respect and kindness anycreature deserves.”

And with that, the room went silent yet again as the other ponies digested her words. Twilight wasn’t sure just who they could talk to in regards to their own issues and biases, but she knew that if they didn’t talk to somecreature, there was a chance they’d be swallowed up by their self loathing and grief.

And she refused to let that happen to those around her who she still cared for and loved.

Spike sat on one end of the corner booth, nibbling carefully on one of the slices of warm bread that the waitress had provided for them before ordering. The bread was warm and soft, and the butter was surprisingly delicious as well. Across from him, sitting serenely and sipping on a glass of ice water with a lemon sitting in the middle, Celestia regarded him with a kindly and warm paternal gaze.

Not many words had been exchanged between the two after they’d left the others upstairs to come down to get something small to eat before bed. While Celestia had ordered a small bowl of pasta and a chocolate cake slice, Spike had ordered something that he would never be able to get in Equestria: a small steak, mashed potatoes, a small bowl of assorted gems and some sweet iced tea to wash it all down with.

Celestia hadn’t flinched when he’d ordered the steak at all. She was well used to serving omnivores in the past in Canterlot, especially the griffons who had visited along with the occasional dragon or hippogriff, both of whom did eat meat, but mostly fish. She knew that everycreature had their own diets, and that with rare exceptions, none of the meat eaters in the world ever ate anything that could reason or talk despite the old pony’s tales about dragons eating ponies. While there were creatures that did eat talking creatures, such as the timberwolves or even sometimes manticores, the vast majority of sapient creatures on Equus were anything but cannibals.

Eventually, their server brought them their meals, bade them enjoy, and rushed off to deal with other customers, of which there were few at the moment considering the lateness of the hour. As Spike took the steak knife and fork and began slowly slicing into his meal, Celestia finally decided that it was time to clear the air and break the silence. As he was chewing, the princess quietly cleared her throat and said, “Spike, is it okay if we talk?”

Spike stopped chewing for a bit, looked up at Celestia with an expression that she could clearly read as being contemplative. He slowly continued chewing, that look never leaving his face as he grabbed his iced sweet tea, took a gulp and swallowed it and the steak. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I want to talk about your relationship with me and the Elements of Harmony.”

Spike let out a long sigh before starting to cut into the steak again. “What’s there to talk about? They’ve treated me like nothing more than a servant these past six years. They stay at home while I get the privilege of cleaning up after Twilight. They get all the fun while I’m all alone.”

Celestia’s ears flattened slightly at this. She couldn’t hear any anger in his voice as he spoke, only sadness. And she couldn’t blame him. Perhaps she should have taken more of an invested interest in the young dragon’s upbringing instead of letting a little filly and her family raise him, because apparently even the family had excluded him. “Spike…”

“I’m sixteen now,” Spike continued. “Sure, I’m still a ‘baby dragon’,” and here he used air quotes with his claws, “but if I was a pony, I’d be a teenager!”

Celestia remained silent as Spike raised his voice a bit louder than he had before. As he stabbed the fork into the steak, picked up a piece and shoved it into his mouth, the princess lowered her voice. “You have not had the best life. Like I did with Jason, I put you into a position where you have suffered and been mistreated by the ponies around you. I have no excuse for it, and I will make things right between you and me, and I hope that someday things will be right between you and the Elements.”

Celestia watched as Spike took a spoonful of mashed potatoes, stuffed them in his mouth and chewed on it and the steak. It took him about a minute before he swallowed everything. “Princess, six years of that treatment isn’t just something I can just brush aside easily.”

“Nobody’s expecting you to,” Celestia said. “I know that there’s a lot of anger buried inside you. But I also know that Twilight has been beating herself up over it.”

Spike looked down at his food, a blank expression on his face. Finally, he began cutting into the small steak again. “I know,” he said softly. “I’ve seen the way she looks at me whenever we pass by each other in the hall. But I’m still angry…”

“And you have every right to be angry,” Celestia said. “Angry at them, and me too.”

“I’m…not as angry at you as I was before,” he admitted.

“Will you ever talk to Twilight about this?” Celestia asked. “And no, I am not asking because I’m trying to get you to. I’m just curious.”

“I…yes, eventually I will,” he said as he took a half bite of the steak on his fork, chewing it slowly and appearing to savor the flavor. “I just don’t want to now because I know I’ll say something I regret.”

“And that’s perfectly understandable,” Celestia said. “Believe it or not, I’ve been angry enough that I’ve said things I regret. Remember at Cadance’s wedding when I told Twilight that she had a lot to think about? I regretted it and have really never apologized for it. Her behavior aside, I should have sat her down and discussed it with her. And then there was my words to Sunset Shimmer…I regret those words so much. I spoke to her in anger and in return she ran away from me.”

Spike’s expression turned into an odd one, and Celestia saw a small smile forming on his face. “Sunset’s actually doing really well in the human world,” he said. “I’ve been talking to her a lot lately.”

Celestia’s ears perked up at that, a hopeful expression on her face. “Is she? What has she been up to lately?”

“Last I heard, she and the girls are going on a sea cruise,” Spike said. “It’s summer over there, so they’re probably trying to escape the heat.”

Celestia smiled. “I’m glad that she’s doing alright.” Her smile faded. “I heard what she did to Twilight and what she said about her and me.”

Spike made a grimace and sighed. “She’s the biggest pony expert on humans, and she’s really attached to her friends. I’m not surprised she was so angry.”

“Neither am I,” Celestia said. “Sunset always had a volatile temper. She once called me a hypocrite for not having any friends when I practically forced her to make some while she was still my student.” She took a bite of pasta and chewed on it thoughtfully. She remembered that day all those years ago when her student had run off. Celestia had found her in the restricted archive studying the mirror portal. There had been two guards beside her, spears aimed at Sunset. Heated words had been exchanged before Sunset had teleported away in anger. “Even if she never forgives me for what happened, I’m really glad she has friends that will be there for her through thick and thin.”

Spike swallowed another portion of his food and nodded. “The human versions of the Elements have been there for her for years. There was one hiccup, but they came out of that stronger than before, from what Sunset said.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Celestia said. Taking a breath, the princess steeled herself. “Spike, could I ask you to do something for me?”

“Um, what is it?” he asked, his mouth open with a piece of steak nearly inside.

“When you next talk to Sunset, could you mention that I’m so sorry about everything. For yelling at her, for failing her, and for what happened to Jason on my watch.”

Spike once more had a thoughtful look on his face, but it didn’t last long. “Yeah, I can tell her,” he said as he took a bite of the steak. She watched as a satisfied look washed over the young dragon as he savored the bit of meat.

“Thank you,” Celestia said.

“Sure,” Spike said as he took a sip of the iced tea.

Looking down at Spike’s plate, Celestia saw that there was less than half of the small slab of beef left. Over the course of her life, a part of her had always been curious as to what animal meat tasted like, but because of her position, she couldn’t just ask any of her staff to make her some meat. She saw this as a golden opportunity as she asked, “Spike, may I try a small piece of that steak?”

Spike’s eyes shot open wide in astonishment. He looked up at her uncomprehendingly as he stammered out “Wh-what?!”

Celestia cast a magical bubble around their table as she nodded at his steak. “I’m curious as to what it tastes like. Non-sapient animal meat, of course,” she added quickly, “but I’ve never had the opportunity to try some until now. But if you don’t want to, that’s alright.” And she meant that. She would abide by whatever Spike said.

Spike was opening his mouth and shutting it, his mind apparently unable to understand just what Celestia was asking. Finally, he regained his voice. “I-I was always told that ponies couldn’t eat meat because it’d make them sick.”

“And that is true, if a pony eats plenty of meat at one time,” Celestia explained. “However, back in times when ponies were much taller and wilder than they are today, there were times when they would have to, by necessity, eat meat. In small doses, of course, but enough that it would fill their stomachs. Back in the cavepony days, proto-ponies could somewhat digest meat, but nowadays we can’t get nutrients from it, and our teeth aren’t really made for tearing into meat like omnivorous races are. A little bit of meat won’t hurt anypony in the long run.”

“Oh, I see,” was all Spike could say. He looked down at his steak thoughtfully. Celestia waited as he made up his mind. With a shrug, he cut through the steak, making a small chunk of it, then moving it away from the rest of it. “Is that enough?”

Surprised at how quickly he’d acquiesced, Celestia nodded. “That will be more than enough, thank you.” With that, she lifted the piece of meat and sniffed at it experimentally. She was well acquainted with the smell of meat, but this piece had a smell that was different than one she’d smelled before. She had always served fish to her omnivorous guests at Canterlot, mostly because there was no other meat available nearby. This piece of meat, however, had a strange smell. She couldn’t exactly describe it. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth and bit down on the meat.

Instantly, she could feel some liquid flowing out of the meat and onto her tongue. It was a very odd taste, to be sure. Since she didn’t have the canines necessary to tear up meat into sizable chunks, she used her magic to cut it up into small slices, and then simply put them in her mouth and swished them around experimentally.

She may have been over a thousand years old, but she didn’t exactly have the right vocabulary to really describe what she’d experienced. She did chew on the meat carefully, not swallowing but just experiencing the taste. It wasn’t like anything she’d tasted before, and she’d had tofu that was said to have been made to mimic the consistency of meat.

If there was anything that she could gain from this, it would be a new word added to her vocabulary: meaty. In the back of her mind, she wondered if the changelings were meat eaters as well, considering they had sharp canine teeth.

Finally, she had managed to grind up the meat into a sort of paste in her mouth which she swallowed with the help of her water. When all the beef that had been in her mouth was gone, she lowered the magical shield around them and let the sounds of the quiet tavern back in. Looking down, she saw Spike gawking at her, eyes wide. She took another drink of water and swallowed the rest of the meat taste out of her mouth before putting the glass down. “That was certainly quite the eye opening experience.”

“You…I can’t believe what I just saw,” Spike said.

Celestia giggled as she went back to her pasta. “Believe it, little dragon,” she said playfully.

“I…did you like it?” he asked.

Celestia pursed her lips. “I…I’m honestly not sure if I liked it or not,” she admitted, “but I’m glad I tried it. It wasn’t unpleasant like I expected, but it’s not something I’d eat on a regular basis. Does that make sense?”

“A little,” Spike said. “Honestly, when I first went fishing to try meat, I was nervous that I wouldn’t like it, but I found a very old cookbook in the Castle of Friendship that taught me how to cook meat properly. And ever since I tried it, I’ve felt a lot better than I have in years. I even think I’m growing.”

Celestia nodded. “You have been growing,” she said. “and you look rather handsome. Especially in the clothes you’ve been wearing.”

Spike looked down at the thin long sleeved shirt he was wearing and actually blushed a bit. Pulling a bit at the fabric, he looked up at Celestia and asked, “Do you think so?”

“Any filly your age would be a fool not to see that,” she said honestly. Spike had grown more in the past three months than he had in the past sixteen years, and Celestia attributed it to the new addition to his diet.

He looked down at his steak and began cutting into it, cheeks red as he muttered, “I hope you’re right…”

Celestia might not have been the Princess of Love, but she’d been around long enough to know the look on Spike’s face. The young dragon had a powerful crush on someone. However, she wisely decided not to ask about it since she was still trying to rebuild the trust between her and him. Instead, she changed subjects. “What do you think of Griffonstone so far?”

“It’s a lot different than Canterlot,” Spike admitted, “or even Ponyville. Not in a bad way,” he added quickly, “I mean, it’s a beautiful city, but I admit I’ve gotten a bit spoiled back in Canterlot and Ponyville. Modern plumbing, electricity, stuff like that.”

Celestia nodded. “True, but that doesn’t mean that this land is any less impressive. Even before the Chancellor came along, Griffonia hung on by a thread. And now look. Their capital city is coming back to life and the griffons are regaining their former glory. Just because they might not have the technological advantage we have doesn’t make them any less than us.” She sighed and began twirling her pasta in her fork. “Something I wish I could share with my ponies…”

“Well, why don’t you?” Spike asked.

Celestia turned back to Spike. “How so?”

“Why don’t you tell the ponies about other cultures and races?” he asked. “Remember when I mentioned sending some ponies out to explore other cultures like they did a thousand years ago? Do that, and then share their findings with Equestria. I don’t know how the school system works, but maybe you could have a required class in schools around the kingdom that talk about other foreign cultures? I’ve been reading about the snow ponies up north and how they have, or had in the past, a good relationship with Yakyakistan.”

Celestia was about to reply and explain why she couldn’t do that thanks to the EEA, when she stopped. She realized that she was quickly falling right back into the same problems that had made her cave to the nobles. She might not have authority over the EEA, but she did have the authority over her own school. As a slight grin formed on her lips, Spike asked, “Princess? What are you smiling for?”

“Just…thinking about what you just said,” Celestia said.

“Oh, alright,” Spike said as he went back to eating.

As they ate in comfortable silence, Celestia made the decision then and their to pull her school right out of the EEA. She didn’t care about their speciesist ways of thinking. All she cared about was the education of her little ponies. Neighsay was in for quite the surprise when they got back home.

She was so deep in thought that neither she nor Spike noticed the heavily bundled up Rarity walking out into the cold winter night…

The dining room at Gregory’s house that evening was bustling, as per the usual. Dinner, which Gregory and Gabby had made for everyone, consisted of a hearty dish Gregory called fettuccini alfredo. For sides he had bought a long and freshly made baguette from the market on his way home along with butter, cheese, deviled eggs and some sweet berry juice to wash it all down with.

The table was crowded with all manner of creature that evening. Human, pony, a large number of griffons and a zebra all sat around the large oaken table eating and talking. Zecora and Starlight were both discussing something animatedly, Gracie and Gallus were talking about their respective jobs and how much they sucked, just like teenagers were wont to do, and Gilda and Gabby were discussing something quietly, stealing furtive glances at Gregory every so often.

The only two who weren’t really talking at the moment were Gregory and Gideon, the latter of whom Gregory had invited to join them at the last minute. The older than Gracie but still young Gideon slowly ate his meal, looking around a bit nervously. The few times when Gregory had tried to start a conversation with him, he’d only replied in brief sentences. Because of that, Gregory had decided to leave him be so he wouldn’t be so scared.

As he took another bite of his fettuccini, he thought back once more to the events of the day. After a few hours of more work on the council that morning, with some surprising headway made in the ongoing relief efforts to the outermost towns and villages in the empire, he had taken Daenerys on an afternoon flight before he had to return to the meeting, only to find Twilight Sparkle being yelled at by one of Ponyville’s former residents, a young mare named Roseluck. He chewed thoughtfully on his pasta as he thought back to that discussion.

When he had revealed that he knew about Jason Wright and Ponyville’s treatment of him for three years, Roseluck finally broke down and confessed that when she first saw him, she was afraid that he would take revenge on the ponies emigrating from Ponyville if he ever found out. Therefore, an unspoken agreement had been reached to be better than they had been and treat Gregory much better. At first, it had been out of fear, but when the stories of how kind and friendly he was spread among the growing pony community in Griffonstone, more specifically in the lower level community called Ponytown, that fear quickly turned to confusion and even more regret. However, seeing a fellow pony being so friendly with him got many of the ponies to try and be more genuine with him.

To say that Gregory felt disappointment once again would have been an understatement. He was hurt that they feared him, but after a few minutes of reflection, he understood why they would feel that. He had said all of this to her, and the poor mare had nearly broken down, apologizing left and right. However, Gregory knelt down and hugged her, telling her that he did understand, but to pass on a message to the other ponies in town: to learn from what happened and try their best to get along with their non-pony neighbors. She swore she’d tell every pony she knew.

When she’d asked if there was a way to make things right with Jason, it had broken Gregory’s heart to hear the despondency in her voice. But, not wanting to give false hope, he’d given her the most truthful answer that he could.

His lunch with Twilight had been rather eye opening for him. For the first time since meeting her in person, he’d actually seen her spirits lighten, if temporarily. Despite his feelings about her treatment of a fellow human, he had set those feelings aside when she’d wanted to get to know him. He had no reason to hide anything from her, and he actually learned a few things from her that had not been revealed in the show.

For example, he learned that, aside from the relatives he knew from the show, she had many more that hadn’t been mentioned. On her father’s side, she had an aunt who was Night Light’s younger sister. She was named Emerald Sparkle and she was married to her uncle, a pegasus named Comet Flash. Both lived to the very far south of Equestria in a town called Hay Valley, so they weren’t able to meet often enough. Sapphire and Comet had two children, a unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare named Storm Chaser and Crystal Lotus respectively. On her mother’s side, she had two older sisters named Violet Blossom and Amber Twist, neither of whom had married. Both older siblings lived in a small northern town named Shoal Falls.

Both pairs of her grandparents were still alive, of course. Her father’s parents lived in Hay Valley as well and were both named Shining Star and Pearl Drop. Her mother’s parents lived in Shoal’s Falls as well and were named Twilight Song and Summer Breeze. When Gregory had asked why many of the names were reused, Twilight had explained that on her mother’s side, the name Twilight was an old family name that stretched back for longer than any of her mother’s family knew. For her father’s side, Night Light had wanted to honor his father for his service in the Royal Guard, so he had named his son Shining as well.

He also learned more about her personal interests. While she was a lover of books and was proficient in magic, she had another unusual special interest: old keys. She didn’t have much of a collection, but she did have at least seven keys she’d purchased from odd shops in Canterlot during her time as Celestia’s student. She loved pretending to be off on adventures with these keys, which she imagined would open secret vaults full of ancient tomes or something like that. But the one key she had hoped to find despite it being an impossible enterprise was the key to the ancient unicorn fortress where Princess Platinum had once lived. Many had tried to enter the old abandoned castle, but there was a powerful magic at work there that prevented anyone from entering. Even the windows had not shattered despite the many abandoned houses and huts having had their glass shattered in the years since their abandonment. It was the holy grail of key enthusiasts like herself.

When he’d heard about this, he’d almost pulled out a large ring with old keys on it which had been given to him for safekeeping the day he’d become Chancellor, but decided against it since these keys belonged not to him, but to the empire. Instead, he agreed that old keys had a charm about them that modern keys had lost. He’d even pulled out some of the keys he’d brought from Earth, including keys that he technically had no use for, but wanted to keep as keepsakes.

Something that had gained his attention was how Twilight’s eyes had briefly flashed with some determination near the end of their talk in the restaurant. There was something there that he’d only ever seen in the show. Something that made him smile inwardly when he thought back to it.

After his meal with Twilight, he had headed back to the council for his afternoon meeting with them. There, he had finally relayed the message that he had gotten from both Princess Celestia and Twilight about the possibility of opening negotiations between the two nations. Each griffon member of the council had reacted in their own way.

The two most senior members of the council, Grandpa Gruff and Ambassador Geoffrey, had somewhat similar reactions. Grandpa Gruff had been set against it for the most part while Geoffrey was a bit more ambivalent to the idea since he had seen some of the way ponies had treated non-ponies while he had been an ambassador in Canterlot and later in the Crystal Empire. Even crystal ponies, while nicer in general to non-ponies, still held onto the fear of other races.

The younger members of the council, Ginna and Gael, were less opposed to the idea. Gregory got the impression that they had only good interactions with ponies, especially since ponies had begun emigrating to Griffonia. They were well aware of how ponies were skittish to other races, especially a predator race like the griffons or dragons, but they hoped to try and smooth some of those fears.

Gwendolyn had no reaction one way or the other, that is, not until the meeting ended late that evening. She pulled Gregory aside and told him her personal thoughts on the subjects, and what she said and showed him afterwards surprised him to his core…

“I know about Jason Wright.”

Gregory froze in alarm at those five blunt words. The expression on Gwendolyn’s face was cool but grim as her eyes locked onto his. The two of them were standing in the now empty and now fully restored throne room of the Keep. The windows had been replaced and depicted old griffon history, but a new window had been made, showing the form of Gregory holding the Idol of Boreas in his clutched hands while he put it back on the table, which Gregory now knew was called the Table of Kept Memory. The sun shone through that particular window onto the human and the young and beautiful griffoness.

Opening his mouth to say something, he paused, unsure of what to say. Gwendolyn was altogether a bit of a mystery to him. She acted as the council’s secretary, taking down the meeting notes with incredible speed and accuracy. Her handwriting was always pristine and readable. Whatever magic had been used on Gregory when he came through the portal that allowed him to read the lettering of this world made him recognize that her writing was the equivalent of cursive. She was one of the kindest and gentlest griffons he knew, always seeming to be looking out for Gregory’s wellbeing like she had the night before. She was also the only member of the council who had made a home for herself in the Griffonstone Keep after construction crews had finished their work.

Finally, he spoke. “How?” The words sounded pathetically small coming from his mouth. He had meant for it to be more of a proper question, but his shock was still enough to make his question sound more subdued than he’d meant for it to sound.

Gwendolyn looked around, as if looking to see if anyone was around. Looking back up at him, she put a single talon over her mouth. “First you must swear, by all you hold secret, whether by the Maker or whatever the strongest form of promise you can muster, that what I am about to show you will only be known to you and me. Not even your new henfriend can know about this.”

Gregory stiffened. That was a tall order for him, and it was obvious by the look in Gwendolyn’s eyes that she knew this. But he could tell she wouldn’t budge. She might not have shown it as openly as many other griffons, but she had her own stubborn streak within her, subtle though it might have been. Well, Gregory may have been just as stubborn, but he also knew Gabby well. She was smarter than he initially had thought after the brief glimpses he’d gotten of her in the show. She was also incredibly understanding about him not being able to tell her about some of the things that went on in the council.

So, he did the only thing he could go. He raised his hand. “Even though I don’t believe in this Maker of yours, I will swear by her and hold that promise close to my heart.” Taking a deep breath, he used an ancient bonding promise he’d learned from Gabby. He raised his middle and index finger and held the others closed while he said, “By the great Maker Eurynome Herself, she who was born from the primordial Chaos, Creator of All under sea and sky and she who hatched the Universe Egg from which Gaia, the sea and sky came from, I do swear this oath: that what will be shown to me by the griffoness Gwendolyn before me shall never escape my lips, shall never be recorded in any tome, and will be kept secret until either the day I die or until I am released from this oath by the griffoness Gwendolyn.”

Gwendolyn raised both eyebrows in alarm. Gregory knew that this oath, at least according to those who believed in this Maker, was stronger than any other oath in the world, possibly even more than a Pinkie Promise. From what he had heard in tales, if this oath was broken, woe be to them who broke it. Gwendolyn’s alarm only seemed to grow, but she cleared her throat and forced her expression to become more serious. “I never imagined that you’d know the oath,” she said, “or that you’d even invoke it.”

“My girlfriend, or henfriend as you called her, taught it to me and I’ve memorized it,” Gregory said. “My belief in this Eurynome might be lacking, but I know how highly you regard her, even those of you who don’t believe. I’d be a fool to simply ignore it. I’m a citizen of Griffonia now.”

Gwendolyn sighed softly, then looked up at him. “I…wow, Chancellor, thank you.”

“Call me Gregory, please,” he said with a chuckle.

With a smile, Gwendolyn turned. “Then follow me, Gregory.”

“Right behind you.”

She left the throne room, but not before grabbing an unlit torch from the spare torch sconce near the entrance to the throne room. She lit one and then began heading down the main set of stairs. Gregory had explored a bit of the Keep itself, but had never gone this far down into the keep before. The farther down he had gone, the darker and danker it had gotten, and he’d always had a slight fear of the dark, especially after having watched shows like Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. It was one reason why he liked sleeping with an eye mask.

The further they went down, the less of the glowing crystal sconces they saw. Finally, Gregory noted that while there were sconces on the walls, they were either empty or had dull and dead looking crystals in them, mostly cracked. Gregory pulled out his phone and turned on the light, helping to further illuminate the stairs. There was a musty smell coming up from the bottom, but it wasn’t completely overpowering. Still, he pulled out a facemask and put it over his nose to block the smell and anything else that might be down there.

They went down level after level until they finally reached the bottom. There was a single solitary door down there. Gwendolyn reached into her saddlebag, pulled out a keyring full of varying keys, stuck one older looking key into the lock and turned it. Gregory could hear a creaking noise from the keyhole, then the sound of a door unlocking echoed through the area around them. Pulling out the key, Gwendolyn grabbed the door handle and pushed it open.

As the hinges creaked open, the light from the torch and Gregory’s phone illuminated a small room. There was only a table inside with an unlit candle standing directly at the center of it along with a fully stocked bookshelf against one wall. There were no windows as the room was below the mountain itself, according to Gwendolyn. Lifting up the keyring again, the griffoness turned and closed the door behind her, locking the door from the inside, then putting the bolt on along with a wooden bar against the door. Then she walked up to the bookshelf. Following close behind, Gregory watched as she reached out with her claw to the second highest shelf and pulled a nondescript gray leather bound book from its place, then reached in and pressed the back of the bookshelf in. There was a click, then a dull thud from behind the bookshelf. She gave a push and the bookshelf moved inward, revealing a dull red light behind, and a hallway lit by some sconces with glowing red light within.

“What is this place?” Gregory asked.

“Not here,” Gwendolyn said. “Even the walls have ears. I’ll explain later.”

Gregory nodded and followed her down a low hanging hallway after she pulled a lever on the side of the wall which made the bookshelf slowly move back into position. The hallway itself had many different doors on either side, giving it a creepy dungeon look to it. Each door was closed, but he could see some symbols on each door. They looked, strangely enough, like Nordic runes or something like them.

At the end of the corridor, they came to a large wooden door. Lifting the set of keys again, she put a key in the lock and turned it. Unlike the door at the other end of the hall, this one didn’t creak or groan. All Gregory heard was a soft click as the door was unlocked. She pulled the key out again and pushed the door open into darkness. Lifting the torch in her claw, she headed into the room and lowered it towards a large circular stone table with a large set of crystals sitting on the center of said table. The moment the flame touched the crystal, the torch went out, but the same glow began emanating from the crystal. In fact, the ruddy firelike glow was double in strength.

Gregory turned off the light on his phone and slipped it into his jacket pocket, zipping it up so it didn’t come out. He was standing inside a massive room. It was circular in shape with a domed ceiling. Hanging from the apex of the dome was a large chandelier that resembled an upside down tree with various crystals acting as leaves.

Around the room were various bits of furniture and other objects. There were bookshelves full of ancient looking books and scrolls, a desk with papers strewn about, a large table with vials of different colored liquids inside, a cauldron, a small section of wall with different sized staffs and swords, and various other instruments that might very well belong to a witch or wizard.

Including a very familiar staff that caused Gregory to nearly stumble back in shock. “The Staff of Sacanas,” he muttered before he could stop himself. What’s it doing here, he thought quickly. Shouldn’t the Storm King or Twilight have it?

Gwendolyn immediately looked up at Gregory in alarm, then looked back at the staff. “How do you know what that staff is?” she asked.

Gregory looked down at Gwendolyn. She was giving him a suspicious look now. Clearing his throat, he said, “That is a secret I can’t share with you right now. And yes, I’m aware of the hypocrisy behind what I just said. Here you are, sharing something with me, but I refuse to share my secret with you. At least…at least for the time being.”

Gwendolyn stared at him for a few more seconds before she looked away, sighed, and ran her claw through her plumage. “I get it,” she said softly, looking back up at Gregory with an understanding look in her eyes. “It took many a nearly sleepless night for me to muster up the courage to show you this place.”

“One day, I swear that I’ll tell you exactly how I knew about that staff,” Gregory promised. “You’ve trusted me so much with this room.”

“And when that day comes, I shall swear by the same oath you’ve sworn to me,” Gwendolyn promised. “But that staff isn’t what I wanted to show you. Here.”

Turning, Gwendolyn walked over to one of the work tables against the wall. Sitting in the middle of it, without anything else on it, was an opaque white sphere sitting on a pedestal that resembled a golden tree. Turning, she beckoned him to follow, which he did. When he was standing next to her, she turned back to the sphere. “This is the Eye of Osiris,” she said. “It was found a thousand years ago it in the ancient ruins of a city in Egrypt called Clawbydos.”

“Egrypt? Isn’t that the ancient fallen kingdom east of here in the Sahayra Desert?” Gregory asked. He had been trying to spend at least thirty or so minutes per day learning more about the geography of Gaia, but especially the continent of Griffonia. He learned that ancient griffons once had a powerful kingdom to the east of Griffonstone called Egrypt in the modern tongue, and Clamet in their old tongue. The kingdom had long since been abandoned and only a handful of ruins remained along the shores of the Baḥr Al-Naīl river, or the Naīl River as it was called. Much like its Earth counterpart the Nile, the Naīl flowed south to north with its origins coming from the same inland ocean where Nova America had once existed.

“That’s the one,” she said. “It was found in a hidden chamber in the Temple of Osiris,” she went on to explain. “There was a stone tablet next to it which told that this was a gem which was used by ancient griffons and sphinxes who lived together during those times to look into the past. Well, I say both races used it, but in truth only a sphinx was able to utilize the sphere. It was used in times of great need. Listening in on enemies during wartime in order to learn their plans, looking back at heinous crimes, things like that.”

“That’s a powerful artifact,” Gregory said in awe. “And if it was ever lost or got into the wrong hands, it could be used for nefarious purposes.”

“Correct,” Gwendolyn said. “Which is why my family has kept it and other ancient artifacts from Griffonian history safe down here for the longest time. Only once ever five to seven generations is somegriffon from my family born who can wield this ancient magic and utilize the Eye.”

Gregory looked at her with a stunned expression. “Wait…your family…?” he said.

Gwendolyn looked at him fully before she spoke. “I may look like a griffon, and I am one, but the blood of the ancient sphinxes run through my veins. My ancestors lived in Egrypt ages ago.”

Finally, realization dawned on Gregory as she looked at the orb, then back at her. “And you can use it, can’t you?” Gwendolyn didn’t respond with words. Instead, she only nodded. Curiosity got the better of him. “Can you show me?”

Once more, she didn’t reply. Instead, she turned back to the orb, reached up and put her claw on the orb. The opaqueness vanished, to be replaced with a dark swirling interior almost identical to the way the idol’s gem constantly moved. In a way, both reminded Gregory of those swirling globes full of liquid that looked like gas giant planets he’d seen in places like Spencer’s. A bright light suddenly shot out of the top of the orb, going through Gwendolyn’s claw and stopping about a foot and a half above the orb. A larger orb formed and a scene began to form. He saw a dungeon begin to form, old marble floors and bars rose out of the forming misty orb. And in that dungeon he saw figures.

There were many different cells in the dungeon, but seven had ponies in them. All covered in some sort of gelatinous goop and each had looks of either despondency or guilt on their faces.

And standing above a horrified looking Discord, who lay sprawling on the stone floors outside each cell stood a man.

“Jason Wright…” Gregory gasped. Then the horror hit him because of what he now saw.

Jason had horrific scars all around him. There was a large scar that ran down one of his eyes which was a milky white. He had torn open his tunic, revealing a terrible scar from a lightning bolt that stretched across his chest. There were also larger scars that matched a hoofprint. But what he noticed was the look of pure unadulterated rage on Jason’s face.

“Humans don’t have magic, you fucking moron!” Jason was shouting down at Discord, pointing at his chest and face. “We have nothing! Every single buck, every single strike, every single attack, it’s all here! It’s all still here!”

Gregory’s jaw dropped. It was the first human voice he had heard since arriving on Gaia. He had mixed feelings about hearing it, though. Especially with what had happened to the human, but also with what he’d done to exact his revenge.

Within the mists of the past, he saw Discord’s eyes widening, the draconequus opening his mouth a few times as he stared at the bare chested human. “I…I didn’t know…”

“That’s all you have to say!?” Jason shouted. “Five years! Five years of hell! Of pure agony! Of feeling betrayed by the ponies I thought I loved, of having to build up a place to belong with my own blood and sweat, all because of your stupid, irresponsible bullshit! And that’s all you have to fucking say!? You didn’t know!?”

“I…” Gregory watched as Discord finally just lowered his head. “Yes. That’s all.”

Gregory watched as Jason’s hand went to his head, breathing heavily. He was no medical expert, but Gregory could see the signs of a panic attack coming on. As Jason stumbled backwards, he said, “My God, oh my God, I was going to…I just…oh my God!”

“Just…leave them alone,” Discord replied with his eyes closed, gesturing to the ponies in the cages. “It’s me you wanted all along. They were just…my tools…”

“Wait, no!” Twilight’s voice called out, standing in her cell and looking up at Jason with pleading eyes. “Discord just turned the volume up on what was already there! I’m the Princess of Friendship and I thought nothing of slamming that door in your face! It was all of us, Jason! We all did this to you!”

Jason glared back down at Twilight for a few seconds before shaking his head. “He’s the one who saw the pieces. He could’ve ended it at any time. I’ve settled up with the pawns, now it’s time to take down the king!”

With that last word, Jason slammed his boot into Discord, sending the lord of chaos sprawling back. The ponies around him gasped and began pleading with Jason to stop, but he didn’t. Instead, Jason leapt onto Discord and slammed his fists one after the other into Discord, roaring in absolute rage. “All these years! I spent weeks crying myself to sleep, screaming to God why, why the ponies I loved didn’t return that love, why I was the only one in a land of peace and harmony to know only pain and loneliness!”

“Please,” Discord begged, his paw and claw weakly rising in an attempt to defend himself, only to fall back down.

Jason grabbed Discord’s goatee and pulled him up, slamming his head down on the hard marble floor. As Jason continued unleashing his hatred and anger out on Discord, he screamed, “I’ve done things that can never be taken back! I’ve hurt ponies, changelings! I’ve been beaten, tormented, hated! I had to stand there while the ponies I loved jeered at me, felt my heart crushed with every blow, every hit! Do you have any idea what kinda hell the last five years have been!? I don’t even remember what that love feels like anymore!”

“Enough! I’ve seen enough!” Gregory shouted, backing away in horror.

Gwendolyn slowly removed her claw from the orb. The scene above vanished and the orb returned to its normal state. Slowly, she turned back to him. “I have seen much more than that,” she said. “I have seen how this human was treated by the ponies of Ponyville. I have seen his suicide attempt. I have seen him claw his way to the top to seek revenge.” She looked up at Gregory with an apologetic look in her eyes. “I’m sorry I had to show you such a scene.”

Gregory slowly shook his head. “No, it’s alright…” Looking back at the orb, he walked up and put his hand on it. It was cool and smooth to the touch. “Can I pick it up?”

“Go ahead,” Gwendolyn said.

He did so, slowly lifting the orb in his hands and looking it over. There wasn’t a single blemish on it from what he could see. Placing it back on its pedestal, he took out his phone, turned on the light and got a better look at it. Even in the bright phone’s light, there was nothing there but the milky white surface.

Finally, he put his phone away, turned back to Gwendolyn, and looked at her carefully. “Who are you, Gwendolyn?” he asked. “And what are you?”

She smiled, then turned and gestured to the room around her. “I? I am the only remaining Imperial Mage of the Griffonian Empire.”

Gregory had learned a lot about the old Empire’s Imperial Mage division. Apparently, there were rare circumstances where griffons were able to utilize magical artifacts such as the ones she had shown him earlier. They weren’t able to use magic like unicorns did, but they could command magical objects with practice. Most of these griffons had sphinx blood flowing through them which is what granted them these special abilities. These mages, also known as Sphinxborn, used many various magical means to keep their empire safe from outside threats.

However, after the death of the final emperor, the mages seemed to vanish from history. It was only about five years ago when Gwendolyn, once a secretary from the small town of Wing’s End near the former borders of Egrypt, had been told by her grandmother a month after her parents’ deaths about the secret of her family from a book that was written by one of her ancestors from that time. Apparently, that ancestor’s offspring had hidden the fact that their family were part of the mages out of shame at being unable to defend their kingdom or family.

She and her grandmother had moved to Griffonstone where Gwendolyn took a job as a secretary for a small business. During her free time, her grandmother showed her the ancient room and had helped teach her to use her innate talent with the control of magical artifacts. As it turned out, Gwendolyn was one of the most gifted Sphinxborn mages that her grandmother had ever heard about, and quite possibly the last one on Gaia.

Over the next five years, she had spent every hour of her free time studying the ancient magical tomes in the room and learned about the many artifacts she swore to protect. Her grandmother had sadly passed away a year ago, but had left Gaia knowing that her granddaughter was taking on the legacy or her forefathers.

What had surprised him further was that she had offered him copies of the keys that led down to the secret underground mage’s office as a sign of great trust. At first, he’d tried to deny it, saying that he didn’t feel worthy of them, but she had insisted. However, he’d continued to refuse until they’d come to a compromise. Twice a week, she and he would go down and she would teach him about each and every one of the artifacts and what they did and how to either use them properly since some could be more readily used as they were magical items with their own magic, but she would also teach him how to destroy them or at the very least incapacitate them if they ever fell into the wrong hands. According to her, the only other griffon who owned the second set of keys was the Emperor, but she had placed so much trust in Gregory that she was willing to give him the second set of keys that traditionally belonged in the Emperor’s keeping.

He was so lost in thought that he forgot where he was for a bit. That was, until a male voice called out to him. “Mister Chancellor sir?”

Gregory jumped in alarm. Blinking a few times, he turned back to the source of the voice, which happened to be the newcomer Gideon, who was looking up at him with a concerned expression. “Ah, sorry, I was a bit distracted,” Gregory apologized. “Could you repeat that, please?”

“I asked what your old homeland was like,” Gideon repeated.

“Oh, right,” he said as he took a napkin and wiped his mouth. “Well, that depends on what you want to know. It’s extremely different from Griffonia, I’ll tell you that much.”

“How so?” Gideon asked.

“My curiosity of that is great, as well,” Zecora added, putting down her fork and turning to Gregory. “I’d like to hear what you can tell.”

“You gotta admit, you don’t really tell us much about your land, aside from those movies we watched,” Gracie said. “Especially all those Star Wars films, and you claimed those were fiction and not real worlds.”

Gregory chuckled, mostly at the irony of Gracie’s words. He had not only tried the portal on the My Little Pony world, but on a few other worlds as well, taking images and videos of a handful of other worlds just to make sure the proof of concept worked. “Yeah, I guess I do keep my old land’s secrets pretty close to the chest. I mean, it’s so different that you could almost swear it’s another world altogether.”

He saw Starlight, Gabby, and Gilda briefly react to this, but fortunately nobody else noticed. “What do you mean?” Gallus asked.

“Just that,” Gregory replied. “It’s so different that it might as well be another world. Where I’m from, we have technology that far surpasses even that of Equestria. We have means of communicating instantly over long distances, trains that can go hundreds of miles an hour, machines that can fly through the air higher even than the hardiest of dragons, and we have even gone beyond the atmosphere of the planet. Our life expectancy is up thanks to advances in medicine and technology, too.”

“But why leave that and come here?” Gideon asked. “It sounds like a paradise compared to many places here.”

Gregory looked over at the griffon. “Believe it or not, I have more here than I did back where I came from.” He looked around the table. “I have friends who care for my wellbeing, for one,” he said before looking over fondly at Gabby, “a girlfriend who I love dearly, and a beautiful house that the entire city funded for me. Back home, I had pretty much nothing. I was just a cog in a machine, going to work at a job that treated you more like a product than a person. I lived in a really small apartment that was on the verge of falling apart, but since I couldn’t find a better paying job anywhere else I had no choice in where I stayed. But here I have everything I could ever possibly have to make me happy.”

“That’s good to hear,” Gideon said, licking his beak a bit and going back to his food.

Gracie licked her beak a bit as well, smiling at Gregory. “You’re definitely a very happy man,” she said.

Gregory nodded, then turned back to his food. Despite the events of the past couple of days and the inner destruction of his hero worship of the Mane Six, he was truly happy. Incredibly so. He felt like he could take anything on.

Gregory sat against the headboard of his bed a few hours later, wearing his normal pajamas, some thin long sleeved shirt and pants that he’d gotten during winter at his town’s local Costco. He’d packed them, along with the rest of his clothes, in vacuum sealed bags before traveling between dimensions, and he was glad he did. In his hand, he held a book that he’d brought from Earth called The Tower of Geburah by John White. While he had brought a Kindle full of plenty of other books, he preferred the feeling of actual books in his hand. And this particular book, the first in a series of books called The Archives of Anthropos (which were books that were like The Chronicles of Narnia) were unavailable for download no matter how hard he looked.

Beside him, Gabby sat, leaning her head against him, eyes closed as Gregory read the book aloud to her. Ever since they’d become a couple, he had welcomed her into his bedchambers. So much so, in fact, that she’d begun wearing some of his clothes. At least, she would wear them to bed with him. And only his shirts.

“‘Blue light is true light,’ she repeated to herself,” Gregory read, “Yet she felt a strange curiosity to know what lay down this second left-hand passage. Certainly it looked brighter than the one she was already pursuing. The walls were lined with colored jewellike stones. Moreover, a smell of baking bread assailed her nostrils reminding her how very hungry she was. Warm air brushed the skin of her hands and face as she approached the entrance of the purple tunnel.”

Gabby opened one eye. “Lisa’s making a mistake,” she said with a tired sounding voice.

Looking down, he saw just how tired his girlfriend was. The arm that was around her squeezed her and he reached up to stroke her plumage. “You’re tired. We should stop here for the night.”

She shook her head. “Mmm no…at least wait until we finish the chapter,” she said with a pout, giving him the most adorable puppy dog eyes she could muster.

“You said that last chapter, and I’ve had to reread things a half dozen times,” he sighed. “But fine. This is the last chapter.”

“Thanks, love,” she said before moving up and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Gregory blushed, and continued. He was only a couple pages into the chapter, and Gabby did her best to sit up and listen. However, he did have to stop a few times to reread a few passages that she’d missed. Finally, however, the chapter was over and he put a bookmark in it. “Okay, that’s it for the night,” he said as he put the book down on the nightstand before reaching over and turning the oil light at the side of his bed off.

“Mmhmm,” was all she said as she snuggled in closer, putting one arm around his chest as he moved to lie down. In the dark, he could feel her head lying on his chest, nuzzling affectionately into him. “Comfy…”

He blushed and groaned. “Nnng…Gabs, I’m not a pillow,” he said.

“But you’re so comfy,” she whined as she nuzzled in further.

“Oh, I give up,” he sighed as he pulled the covers over them. From the curtained windows, he saw the shadow of the Houseoak tree moving in the early night wind as it moved against the curtains. The thicker winter curtains were not closed yet, but he was unable to move thanks to the griffoness snuggling on top of him. His warm, soft and hoodie stealing griffoness girlfriend. Relaxing, he pulled her closer, caressing the plumage on her head.

As he began to drift off, the revelation of who and what Gwendolyn passed briefly through his mind. However, he made a promise to himself that he would talk to her one on one at length about this.

After all, he was a part of this secret, now. And he wanted what was best for Griffonia.

The Princess of the Night sat on the secondary throne next to her sister’s larger central throne, eyes closed. If any of the guards were to approach and look closely at her closed eyes, they might notice a bright white glow coming from the brief patch of eyelid that remained ever so slightly open.

However, her consciousness was very far away, looking through the dreams of the many ponies across Equestria. She stood in a large starry lit nighttime sky that surrounded every bit of her, only the stars weren’t stars at all, but small orbs showing glimpses into the dreams of the ponies around her. They swirled around her like gently falling snowflakes, small sounds coming from each of them as they neared her and swirled past.

Her consciousness might have been there, but her mind was elsewhere. The news about another human on Equus had shaken her to her core. Not only that, but what the young mint colored unicorn named Lyra Heartstrings had reported on what she had overheard the three voices discuss. She was horrified to hear that three ponies would beat an innocent zebra to within an inch of her life, but after what had happened with Jason Wright, she could no longer claim to be surprised.

Apparently, the ponies of Equestria had developed a nasty xenophobic habit while she was gone on the moon.

Luna thanked Lyra and her companion Bon Bon for the information, and offered for them to spend the night at Canterlot to rest in something other than a cot in a tent, which Bon Bon gratefully accepted. However, to Luna’s surprise, Lyra instead begged the princess to allow her to travel to Griffonstone that very night in order to attempt to warn the human about the danger he was now in. Bon Bon had attempted to talk Lyra down, but the poor unicorn had become frantic, pleading and begging before finally breaking down and sobbing. Luna could hear the guilt in Lyra’s screams of pain and despair. The poor mare wanted to try and make up for it, and since Jason Wright was no longer anywhere they could find him, Luna suspected that she wanted to make things right with this other human.

Luna had put Lyra into a peaceful sleep at that moment. She was proud of the young unicorn for her determination to try to make things right in any way possible, but from what Bon Bon had told her, she was just a civilian, not any sort of agent like Bon Bon had once been.

That night, Luna had warned her sister about possible rogue agents on their way to Griffonstone. Celestia was alarmed by this, but promised to keep a sharp lookout for anypony suspicious. At the same time, she asked that Luna look into who might have hired the three, as she suspected that there was a noble responsible.

The next morning, after eating breakfast with the princess, Lyra had softly apologized for her actions, for which Luna immediately forgave her. The two had headed back to Ponyville after that, leaving Luna to her duties. The first thing she’d done was to ask Raven to find somepony to investigate the nobles on the story. Raven nodded and set to work. All that day, Luna dealt with increasingly agitated nobles who were going on about unimportant drivel, but for the sake of maintaining the peace, she had to play the negotiator, something she had little practice with. As the day went on, she began to appreciate the hard duty that her sister had to undergo each and every day. For the longest time, she had thought that her sister had it easy, only needing to smile and have fun with dignitary ponies all day, but now she was beginning to realize that her duty as day princess was anything but fun.

As she thought back on the events of the day, she sensed something unusual. Something passed through the air, gently nudging the dream orbs as if they had been underwater and struck by an underground wave. She could see the wave as it passed through her vicinity, a bright violet colored wave of strange magic.

Something had entered her dream realm.

Whirling around, she tried to triangulate the source of the wave. Only to pause and gape at a massive structure that stood below her. From above, it looked like a massive stone doorway, but she needed to fly down in order to get a better look, and what she saw when she arrived stunned her.

She found herself standing in front of a massive set of wooden arched door with a golden keyhole surrounded by a massive stone archway. On either side of the archway on two stone pedestals sat a pair of statues, identical in nature and depicting a massive drake which stood on its hind legs, wings spread, and mouth open in a threatening manner. The archway above the door had words written in an unknown language carved across it. However, as she cautiously approached, the words on the top translated themselves into Equestrian, eventually settling to read GREGORY EUGENE GRAYSTONE DO NOT ENTER.

She jumped back, stunned. She knew the name of the second human in Equestria from her sister, and had hoped to have better luck in finding his dreamscape one of these nights. She had tried for months, when she’d had the free time, to find Jason Wright’s own dreamscape, but despite searching everywhere and using every scrying spell she could find, her search had been fruitless. Eventually, she came to the conclusion that, since Jason was a human without a single shred of magic, his dreamscape would never be accessible.

Seeing this doorway, however, only confused and alarmed the princess of the night. There was a powerful magic at work here, she knew. Straightening, she boldly approached the doors and put her eye up towards the keyhole. However, all she could see was complete blackness. She could also hear nothing when she tried putting her ear to the keyhole.

“No enter friend’s dream,” a booming female voice suddenly. It sounded like it came from one of the statues. Luna jumped back and looked at the aforementioned statue, only to see nothing had changed. Suddenly, a second wave of magic washed over her, only it came from behind. Whirling around, she came face to face with a small orb of a dream, much like the others around her. However, unlike the others, it was standing perfectly still, and the being that was dreaming within was looking out directly at Luna.

Approaching cautiously, Luna peered at the dreamer, and her eyes went wide. She saw a large drake with black scales, blonde spines and piercing purple eyes. Eyes that were definitely those of a predator, but there was no malice within them. Instead, Luna noted a protective glint in the drake’s expression.

Luna was well aware that many animals dreamt, of course. She had made a promise to Fluttershy to keep an eye on the dreams of her animal friends before she and the others had left Canterlot after Jason’s invasion. However, she was unaware of any kind of animal that could lucid dream and was even less aware of anycreature that could peer into the dream realm that was her domain. But this creature, which greatly resembled the drake that was apparently the companion of the Griffonian Chancellor according to the images Celestia had brought up during their dream conversation, was apparently able to do so.

Luna knew very little about drakes, if she was honest with herself. She knew they were like dragons in many ways. If she had to make a comparison, a drake was to a dragon much like a horse was to a pony. Similar in appearance, but the former was less intelligent than the latter. Not to say they weren’t intelligent, but they lacked the ability to speak in real life. In dreams, however, it was another story.

Luna raised her horn and the bubble expanded, as did the image of the drake within. When the bubble was as tall as her, the princess spoke. “Who are you?”

“I am Daenerys. I am friend of owner of the dream door.” The now named Daenerys pointed to the door behind her.

Luna looked back at the door, slowly realizing now what it was now. She had read about this in an ancient tome when she was studying the art of entering the dreams of others. The author, a unicorn who lived in the Pre-Equestrian Era named Dream Walker ironically enough, had written that during a few of his travels into the dream realm, he would come across locked doors similar to this. They varied in design, and he had even drawn a few from memory, but they were all similar in many regards: they had drake statues guarding them on either side and had unusual names written on them. She closed her eyes and the memory of one of the drawings appeared. The drawing showed a large rectangular door with two drakes, both sitting and staring out serenely. It was a double door instead of the single door she saw. Above the door was an inscription written in older Equestrian that read DAVID JOHNSON DO NOT ENTER.

Turning back to the dream version of Daenerys, Luna said, “Tis a pleasure to meet thee, Daenerys. We are Princess Luna.”

“I know. Friend sees you in dreams sometimes, with other cartoon ponies,” Daenerys said.

Luna’s eyes widened. During one of Celestia’s talks with Luna after Jason’s invasion force left Equestria, she had revealed that Jason had come to Equus because, on his world, he had seen the adventures of the Elements of Harmony in something known as a cartoon, a sort of moving comic. He had become enamored by them and wanted to meet them. The thought of an entire world knowing about Equus through a fictional means had thrown her for a loop. And it had arisen so many questions in her mind. She straightened up and refocused her attention on Daenerys. “So, this Gregory Graystone knows about us?”

“Yes.”

“And you are the guardian of his dream realm and won’t let us venture in to speak with him?” Luna asked.

“Yes.”

Luna frowned. She wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. On instinct, she thought about what her sister might do. She sighed as the answer came to her. She was not too proficient in this area, but she at least knew she had to try. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Daenerys. “Can we at least speak with him? We have heard many good things about this Chancellor and wish to enter into a discourse with him.”

“No, you no see friend’s dreams,” Daenerys replied.

“What do you mean by that?” Luna asked.

“No enter friends dream,” the drake repeated. “Dreams private. You interloper. Invader.”

“Invader?” she repeated, now more confused than before. She was the warden of dreams. It was her duty to see that dreams were peaceful so her little ponies would have a restful sleep. “I’m not an invader,” she said.

“Dreams private,” the drake said with a frown forming on her face. “Even nightmares private. I guard.” So saying, the orb moved around Luna and hovered in front of the door. “You may not enter.”

“But what if the dreamer is having a horrible nightmare?” Luna insisted. “I have to help if that’s the case.”

“This not pony. Friend not want anyone seeing dreams,” the drake said.

“Can you speak to him on our behalf?” Luna asked.

“Friend no let me in either,” Daenerys said. “Dreams private.”

Luna could see the stubbornness in the drake’s expression and knew she had failed to convince her. Sighing, she looked back at the drake. “We understand. May we ask something else of thee?”

“What is it?” Daenerys asked.

“Can you show us what this friend of yours looks like?” Luna asked.

Daenerys tilted her head a bit as if considering it. However, finally she stepped back and closed her eyes. Instantly, the image of a bipedal creature appeared in front of the drake’s dreamscape. Luna drank in the form of the human before her. He was unscarred, unlike what she’d seen of Jason in the dreams of her ponies. He had long brown wavy hair, piercing blue eyes, wore a long black overcoat, gray pants, a pair of thick boots, warm looking gloves for his hands, had a pair of goggles strapped over his forehead, and was wearing a kindly smile. Luna nodded in appreciation. This human looked much more peaceful and happy than Jason did, at least the version he saw in the nightmares of the Elements of Harmony, her sister, and the ponies who bore the overwhelming guilt of their treatment of him.

But as she watched the image of the human before her, she saw his features briefly change. Well, two features only changed. His hair became pale blonde similar in color to the spines on Daenerys and his eyes changed from bright blue to a bright purple which matched Daenerys’ own eyes. However, it was only for a moment. Curious, Luna turned back to Daenerys. “Miss Daenerys, does that happen to your friend often?”

“What you mean?” Daenerys asked.

“His mane-er, hair-and his eyes. Do they change color?” Luna asked.

Daenerys shook her head. “They no change color.”

“But we saw them change just now, in thy image of your friend,” Luna insisted.

“They no change color,” Daenerys insisted.

Luna was about to reply when she heard a nearby dreamer screaming in terror. She turned and saw a dream bubble approaching her, one of the ponies from Ponyville within running away from a monstrous bipedal form which was throwing garbage and rocks at the stallion. He was trying to duck from the assault, shouting out “I’m sorry, Jason! I’m so sorry! Please have mercy! Please forgive me!”

Turning back to Daenerys’ dreamscape, she saw that the image of Gregory was gone. Daenerys stood where she had before, looking expectantly at Luna. Knowing she had to act quickly, she nodded towards Daenerys. “We thank thee for thy time and hope to see thee again soon. Please forgive our abrupt departure. We have duties to attend to.” And without waiting for a reply, she turned and flew towards the nightmare.

As she flew into the dream to banish it and speak to the stallion, there was one thought at the back of her mind: Just what manner of man was this Gregory Graystone?

Dusky Heart, Jade Seed and Lady Serenity stood in Dusky’s room, standing in front of the lone table in the room. For the most part, the building they were in was silent and the lights of the buildings outside were all out. The only light in Dusky’s room came from the solitary candle that stood on the center of the table, which illuminated a map of Griffonstone that Jade had bought earlier from one of the shops. The mood in the room was tense, especially since Jade had come to report that she had spotted Princess Celestia herself in the sky above Griffonstone late that afternoon. They had, of course, known that one of the Elements of Harmony was in the city on some kind of Friendship Quest, but they hadn’t counted on the ruler of Equestria herself being there as well. When she had reported this to the others, Dusky had called for a retreat back to the Groggery and to remain in their rooms, pretending to sleep until midnight, when they could be sure the Equestrian Princess of the Sun would be asleep.

“How did they find us already, sir?” Jade asked, looking over at Dusky. “We were careful to disguise our identities.”

“Does that really matter?” Lady asked as she looked at her hoof nonchalantly before looking back at Dusky. “What matters is that she’s here. She could easily identify us if she wanted to. So, what do we do now, sir?”

Dusky frowned. Unlike Jade, who used that word with respect, Lady always wielded that like a weapon, trying to get under his fur. During the beginning, it had gotten under his fur, but he was used to her flirtatious way of things and it hardly bothered him. However, currently, it did. Their client had never mentioned that there would be one of the princesses in the same city that they were in, and especially one who could easily identify them.

His mind was a whirl. Their mission here was in jeopardy now. They would normally have been in town for a couple of weeks to assess things and then act accordingly, but with the Princess of the Day here, he had to make a quick decision. Do they go on with the second part of the plan, or abandon things altogether.

He knew that this human was high up in Griffonian government, but he was confident that once the griffons realized just what a human was capable of that things would be alright. He wasn’t delusional enough to believe that they would be thanking him and his team for what would be done, but the griffons here apparently had no idea what species the changeling emperor really was or what he was capable of.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward and looked at his team. Lifting the large bag from its corner where he’d put it upon first arriving at his room, he set it on the table. This was the biggest decision he’d ever had to make in his life, but somepony had to do it. Steeling his gaze at the two, he said, “Phase Two will be initiated immediately.”

Jade, not surprisingly, immediately saluted, but Lady looked alarmed. “Dusky, is that a good idea? Our client said-”

“He also said that we were to use discretion when using these,” Dusky interrupted, tapping the bag with his hoof. “And I’ve heard and seen enough. Starting tomorrow, we go out as one, not splitting up. We find this human Gregory. And we deal with him.”

“Commander, this is Agent O reporting in.”

“I read you loud and clear, Agent O. Go ahead.”

“Agent T has arrived safely and without complications. He was invited by the subject to dinner at his house earlier this evening. He is currently at our safehouse, settling in and will begin looking for work tomorrow.”

“Excellent work, Agent O. The Emperor himself has heard about your hard work and he sent you a gift with Agent T. Did he give it to you?”

“Yes, Commander. I did receive the gift. How can I repay the Emperor’s kindness?”

“Keep on doing the work you are doing. Is there anything else to report?”

“The subject did seem a bit distracted this evening during the dinner, but perhaps that’s because he is tired? Oh, either that or he has been distracted by his new henfriend.”

“Henfriend? The subject has acquired a lover? When did that happen?”

“A day or two ago.”

“I see. Is the love you’re sensing from them powerful?”

“Sir…I have never felt love like that from anycreature. The subject has a strong love and desire for his new mate. I had to rely on all my training not to revert to form.”

“I see. Be cautious then and make sure that you remember your training, Agent O.”

“Yes sir, I will do just that.”

“Good. Is there anything else you wish to report?”

“Only that I overheard a couple of pegasi in town mention something about feeling a shift in the weather. They said something about a storm possibly coming.”

“Well, then just be on your guard. Griffonstone storms are some of the deadlier types, from what the reports say. Anything else?”

“No sir.”

“Good work then, Agent. I will see you later. Long live the Emperor!”

“Long live the Emperor.”