Inky and I had lunch with Pish Posh, Zits, whose name I learned was Daffodil, (apparently his acne isn't his only problem, though the name does match his coat's colour) and Snot who's name was 'Winter's Chill' by the blue tinge on his coat, and I now know why his nose is always running. We walked next to each other as she lead me to the eatery, where there was a plethora of hay based food, meant to be scrumptious as well as nutritious to the ponies dining on it.
...
...
...
I had a salad, which I picked at using my usual lack of enthusiasm.

"I miss Maria's cooking." I sighed.

"I miss my family." Winter sniffed.

"I miss mother and father as well." Pish Posh said sadly. "And doughnuts."

"I miss not listening to losers whine." Inky, er, 'Black Tattoo' sneered.

"And how are you dearies doing today?" Our little group was approached by a faint yellow unicorn mare, somewhere in her mid forties, with a slightly graying honey mane, and a warm smile. "I see our little group has a new member, I hope you've all been getting along well." Was... that a spiteful glare at Inky?... "I'm Miss Merryweather, and I look forward to seeing you all after lunch during empathy class."

...
...
...

She's a kindergarten teacher. And we're her class. She's going to teach us how to play together... Can I go back to doing sit ups?

"Tat, I thought you said Chrysalis was our empathy coordinator." I whispered to Inky.

"She is, but Miss Merryweather is the head of the class. The bug is kind of like an assistant." She whispered back.

"Oh? I see you two are getting along rather well. Only just met and already found a special somepony. Oh, I just knew you had some love deep down in your heart Inky." The very creepy pony fluttered her eyelashes.

"... S/He's not my mare/coltfriend!" We both shouted. "You really shouldn't jump to conclusions." I continued. "I am already dating someone. She just so happens to be away on business right now."

"Oh. I'm very sorry if I offended. Sooo, what does she do, your marefriend who is away on business?" She smiled at me with a creepy wide smile.

"There are things that go bump in the night, things that would take our friends, family, and loved ones, take them away to a dank, dark hole and work them to the bone. And when they're no longer useful, they feed them to monsters. My girlfriend kills these things and puts families back together." I said in as dark and sinister a tone as I possibly could. "I got her into the business." I perkily added.

"Well, that's pleasant." Miss Merryweather said without skipping a beat. "But please save it for our session today. I'm sure you'll have lots to share." And then she walked away.

"Round one, Griffin."

"What are you talking about?" Daffodil asked.

"Did you see the way she looked at me? She's clearly challenging me. She'll try to make me break down, while I try to resist. It's psychological warfare at it's finest, and she's obviously a professional, but I will not succumb so easily."

"You're crazy." Inky replied.

I turned to look at her, squinted my eyes as I thought of a reply, then simply said,

"Yes."

*Achoo!*

"... you... sneezed on me." I said blankly, looking at the ice blue unicorn who was now lacking the usual snot ball hanging from his nose, which was now located on my chest.

"Oh, yeah." He wiped his nose with a hoof. "Sorry about that."

My eye began to twitch as I scooped a giant, slimy booger off my feathers. "You... sneezed on me." He began backing away from me, quite clearly frightened as I approached. "Ignis!" My entire body became wreathed in purifying flame, the all consuming blaze cleaning me of any thing not under my protect spell, namely, the giant loogy Snot just hit me with. Everyone started staring at me, and not just from my own table. At the realization that I was making a scene, I quickly muttered "Extinguo." and snuffed myself. "There." I huffed. "Much better."

"Are.. you alright?" Inky asked with a look of shock on her face.

"Yeah, I just threw up in my mouth a little is all." I turned to look at Winter. "Cover your mouth next time. Or, maybe learn a permanent barrier spell and place one a half foot in front of your face." A few awkward moments of silence took place, after which he finally processed what I has said and asked,

"Is that an option?" He looked at me with intense interest and sincerity. "Because that would deal with the sneezing AND the other colts trying to hit me."

"I was talking about the fire!" Inky reamed. "You just lit yourself on fire."

"Yes. Protect spell. They said I was being paranoid, having a protection spell active at all times. That right there is precisely why I do it, speaking of which, yes, the barrier spell is an option, I'll teach you after empathy class." I then inhaled my bowl of salad, (everyone else was done their food as it was actually flavorful to them), emptied the remnants of my tray into the garbage and rejoined the group. Inky rolled her eyes at me.

"Alright, here's the deal." Inky began. "Chrysalis is cautious because if she bucks up then she'll have the princesses on her case. It's her probation, and if it goes well, changelings will be allowed into the pony population, taking on unique, non copy identities. She has to prove that her kind can be sensitive and loving and bleurgh." Tat stuck out her tongue. "Miss Merryweather though is a completely different story. She's an expert at finding cracks in the wall and breaking you down. If I were you, I'd just fake a breakdown and get her off your case."

"That would be too easy. I have to make her work for it. If I just fake a break down, then I won't get better." I replied.

"Eh, your emotional funeral."

We opened the door to find a number of ponies laying on 'floor pillows', with their hooves neatly tucked under their bodies in a semi circle with Miss Merryweather and Queen Chrysalis at the arc's focus. There were five empty pillows, all right next to one another, indicating that they were waiting for us before starting. We took our places, Pish Posh on my right and Inky on my left. I wasn't comfortable with having them so close to me, but there wasn't much of an option. I looked around at the other members of the session, to find that they were all nervous wrecks, twitching, shivering, flicking their tails. The changeling, upon seeing me, immediately became tense as well.

"Welcome, everypony... and griffin. Well, that's a mouthful. Is the proper term 'everyone'?" Merryweather asked. I nodded. "Ah, yes. Welcome everyone. As we have a new member of our little group, I'll explain a little of what we do here. Though it is mandatory for all serving forces, these sessions are not exclusive to the military, and many ponies of all race come to talk about their problems. One steps forward and speaks, the others listen, and then we offer words of comfort, a hug and such. Griffin, as you are new here, perhaps you'd like to begin?"

"Oh.... no. I don't think so." I shook my head.

"Why not?" The leader tilted her head.

"I'm not comfortable opening up to so many strangers, and I'd probably take up the whole period. That would be unfair to everyone else."

"Well, I suppose it would be too much to ask for to to tell us your life story on the first day. I thank you for being so considerate. In.. I mean, Black Tattoo, how would you like to begin?"

So, Inky put on an emo face and started talking about her problems. After her sister Pinkie discovered parties and became the popular child, and Blinky went on to become an expert in light fixtures, she was left at home with her rock farmer parents who continually pressured her into finding something she was good at. Eventually, she learned tattoo artistry. Of course, since this catered to non pony clients, she began spending time with griffins, diamond dogs, dragons, minotaurs, gremlins, boggarts and the like. Her parents weren't supportive, and didn't like her 'new friends' as they were old fashioned and didn't care much for anyone who wasn't an earth pony, much less those who weren't ponies at all, and the last straw was when she set up a tattoo parlor in their house. They kicked her out, and she spent her time traveling from place to place, giving people tattoos. At one point she met with her parents and tried to reconcile, only to be constantly interrupted by a foal who constantly asked why she wasn't like other ponies and various other annoying questions. She pushed him over so he'd leave her alone, which resulted in the foal crying to his mother, Inky's parents being embarrassed, blaming her attitude on hanging out with non-ponies and sent her to boot camp to 'fix' her. She broke down at the end, crying, asking why they couldn't just be happy for her for who she was, Merryweather gave her a hug while Chrysalis gave her a wink, and she sat back down.

"Chrysalis is in on it. She knows how damn annoying these ponies can be with all their lovey dove junk. Anyone who isn't like them must have something wrong with them, and that's a load of garbage." She whispered to me.

"So wait, was all that stuff true, or were you just making it up?"

"Oh, no, that was true. I just faked the breakdown. Really, I don't care what anyone says. I am who I am, nobody is going to change that. I'm just pretending to let them 'heal' me so I can get out of here and back to my life. My group has only been here a week and already Merryweather drives me nuts."

"I can see why."

"Alright, Daffodil, you're up next." Our private conversation was interrupted by Chrysalis calling on the next person to share. He stepped up in front of the group nervously, looking at the ground and tapping his hooves on the floor.

"Um. Hello. I've been here a week and um, this is my first time sharing so, please don't laugh. Okay.. here we go. My parents named me Daffodil because of my coat's colour, but I'm a boy and that's a girl's name. A lot of the other foals made fun of me, and when I reached my teenage years, I got a really bad acne problem. That made it even worse. I was never really good with magic either, so, I decided to join the military to make something of myself." He began to sniffle and hung his head again, while a number of others got up and gave him a hug to make him feel better.

Next up was an army pony. Stark white unicorn, though he had his helmet off, he was wearing his armor.

"I'm Silver Shield. I was in Willow creek. Nice, quiet town. It's outside Stalliongrad, but normally nothing ever happens there. Most we get is complaints of public disturbance by an old biddy, because the neighbours are being loud when they really aren't and she's just got her hearing aid turned up too high. I was on duty, just patrolling around, when I heard a muffled scream. I ran to investigate, and I found this poor mare being... violated... by a dirty looking stallion, probably from the city. I got him off her and tried to knock him out but, I don't know. He must have been on drugs or something because he just would not stay down, no matter how much I hit him. I kept trying to reason with him, get him to calm down. When he pulled out a knife I... I... zapped him. I zapped him, and I kept zapping him so he'd stay down and... when the other guards got there... he didn't get back up he..." The guard buried his face in his hooves. "It's all my fault. He was just a lost colt with a problem, he needed somepony to help him and I..."

Merryweather came up, putting her head on his neck like a mother would. "You did what you had to do. Once he took out that knife, it wasn't just a crime anymore. You did what you needed to do to protect yourself and that mare. As sad as it is, these things happen." She patted his back, then they broke apart and he laid back down.

"Alright, Griffin, would you like to try? You've seen how it's done, perhaps you'd feel more comfortable now?" Merryweather gave me that same, creepy, insincere smile. It's like she had pony Botox and her face froze like that.

"*Sigh* Fine." I got up in front of the crowd and began. "My father despises me because my mother's pregnancy lead to a divorce between him and his previous wife, who was wealthy and didn't ask much of him. He sees me as the reason why he's not living the high life. My mother worked non stop to provide for the both of us, as he was a raging alcoholic, and would squander everything we had on drowning his sorrows. He was also a violent drunk, and would hit the both of us in his stupor. My mother was bone tired from working overtime to try and provide, and came to see me as the reason she was trapped where she was. Because she had to care for a child early on, she couldn't go to school and make something of herself. Both of them frequently told me I would never become anything, since I came from them, I had to be like them. I grew up hating them because they didn't love me. I was scrawny, and didn't know how to make friends, so the other kids at school saw me as an easy target for bullying. I grew up being beaten, insulted and abused, and up till now, I dealt with it by being violent. When I realized what I was doing was wrong, and I had turned into the exact thing I hated, I came to get help. Also, somewhere along the line I got thrown into a world I thought was fictional, swallowed by a dragon, partly eaten by his adopted daughter after he choked to death on me, drugged so I would satisfy my 'in heat' girlfriend and another crew member, and had the Zebrican demon of vengeance in my head temporarily, all while waging a war on kidnappers and slavers, managing a newly born island nation, and coming up with practical applications for existing scientific and magical knowledge to kick start the industrial era, as well as discovering a lost magical art." I said this all quickly and without emotion, [I apologize for the wall of text, but in this case it was actually meant to be like that]

"So... are we having any fun yet?" Inky smirked.

"Griffin, how does that make you feel?" Merryweather asked, ignoring Inky's comment.

"Well. Mad. I never asked to be born. I never asked for any of it. They blamed me, but it was their fault. They hated me just for existing. And I know that it's not right, but that doesn't change that it happened. And, a while after I came here, I realized my mother did love me, because if she didn't, she wouldn't have worked so hard to make money so I'd be able to eat and have a roof over my head. She was just frustrated with my father, but couldn't bring herself to leave him, and between work, sleep, and constantly fighting with him, she just... never had time for me."

"And your father?"

"He's a worthless leech on society that blamed an infant for his problems because his brain was swimming in booze and couldn't tell up from down. If I ever see him again, I'll do everyone a favor and put him down. It'd end his misery, he'd stop being a detriment to society, and my mother could finally have the life she never got."

Merryweather shook her head and made a 'tisk tisk' sound. "Now Griffin, violence never solved anything. You know that."

"Pfft, maybe here, but on Earth, violence has solved innumerable problems since the dawn of time, more than any other method of conflict resolution. Remove the source of the problem, problem solved. In other words, sometimes, people just need to be shot in the head." I retorted.

"Then who does the shooting? Who decides who gets shot? You? Are you qualified to make that decision? You've caused your fair share of trouble since you showed up. Should you be 'put down'?" Merryweather replied with disappointment in her voice, like a scolding mother.

I stood there for a moment in thought, before laying down and half closing my eyes. "Maybe that would be best." Through the slants in my eyes I could see her back away and her eyes shoot wide open, before she rushed up to me.

"Oh no, sweetie, I didn't mean that." She started rubbing my head with her hoof, so I opened my eyes, rose, and stared right into hers.

"Then why did you say it?" I replied angrily. She stood speechless, with her hazel eyes quivering. "Let me guess, you just wanted me to think about my philosophies, and how I'd feel if it were me, right?" She nodded silently. "Well guess what? I HAVE thought about it. I think about it every day." I yelled.

I took a deep breath to calm down. "They say hindsight is 20/20, meaning once it's too late to fix them, the mistakes of the past are abundantly clear. When I think about what I do, I think of all the people I've killed, and all the ones I couldn't save. What would have happened if I wasn't there, I had done nothing, or what if I had done things differently. My head is FULL of 'What ifs'. THAT is why I try so DAMN hard! Because I want my life to mean something!....

....because I don't want to be a nobody who's better off dead." Tears started welling up in the corners of my eyes. "Because then my parents would be right, and when my dad got drunk and violent, and started swinging around a broken beer bottle, I shouldn't have hid in the closet." I paused to let them think of the implications of what I was saying.

"Those who witness a crime and do nothing though they are able, are as guilty as the ones who committed it. Every day, I saw countless people stand by and watch as I was tormented, humiliated, excluded, or beaten. They saw something they KNEW was wrong and didn't do anything to stop it and you know what? I hate all of them." I walked over to the guard stallion who had just laid down. "Silver Shield, you're a hero. You took a stand when nobody else could. It might have been your job, and it may not have ended the way you wanted, but you still did something. You made someone's life better. Stand proud." He stood up and looked me in the eye, before slowly walking up and putting his face into my chest feathers. I just stood there and let him cry.

"Aw FUCK! Ember was right! I am an emo! I HATE IT when she's right!"

Author's Notes:

Any philosophical policies discussed are not the views of Blackwing, CGotG authors, Fimfiction, MLP, Hasbro, or anyone else. Everyone has the right to life, despite what they may do with it.

'Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgement. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.'

-Gandalf.

NEW YEARS EXTRAVEGANZA! After new years, im hoping to have a chapt once every week/2 weeks, but till then, woo hoo lets go!

Gandalf is a wizard who was played by the same actor who played Magneto.

Gandalf=Magic Magneto=Magnets
Therefor, if Gandalf=Magneto, then logically, Magnets=magic.

My Little Pony, Steven Magnet Is Magic. It's mathematically proven!