tacobob

“Oh yes.”, the red mare smiled back. “I’ve already done a few of these gift exchange parties during the last few days...Always a hoot.”, she quickly made her way over to the drink ‘bar’. “Is there anything you would like?”, she briefly considered the first thing on the ‘bar’. Good ol’ fashioned eggnog. The rather colorful and very dashing griffon was already enjoying a cup of the milky stuff. The ‘Crimson Hearths Warming Eve’ punch looked pretty tasty. Per the recipe card, it had raspberry sherbet, ginger ale, and apple, cranberry and cherry juice. Hmm. And there was also a large bottle of ‘Surley Trample’. Usually available at all family parties. Once she secured the drinks, only the way a pony could, she returned to the bat-pony's side and hoofed over her drink. "Yep. The Twilight Guard, which might not exist anymore...Considering all the crazy stuff that has happened over the last few weeks." Maybe she would get lucky and a new princess were to be found in the south. Then the guard would have to move to some awesome island and stand guard while wearing a royal bikini. Dreams could come true. "Even without the guard, I'm still part of the R.E.A. Just like my family." She nodded her head as the mare spoke of her job. "Maps are always important and always need to be updated...Just like training manuals.", she took a sip from her glass. "My mother Write Stuff writes and updates some of the R.E.A training manuals. We're all R.E.A, but we do more than just march around the street and say...Oh..." Her beloved was here. Did she mention she would be attending this little event? She could only assume her Swift stopped at the house, only to be told that she would be here. Hmm. He seemed to be slightly miffed at the blue mare. Wow. She almost forgot about the set of lungs he had. Guy sure could yell in 'fancy'. There was a good deal of drama she must have missed while she did her rounds. She had attended at least three different 'Hearth's Warming Eve Pageants'. Thankfully she saved the best, in Canterlot, for last. There was a few different family parties. Work parties, and soon the on at Muggo's. She also spent a good deal of time buying gifts for everyone. She could only wonder what had gone on with her hubby-to-be, 'Blue' and Blueblood'. Thankfully she avoided only the tail-end. "Nah, that's not till later.....You want anything to drink.", she pointed to the 'bar'. "Oh, this sweet young lady is Miss Rose. she makes the maps." The good Princess managed not to get involved in the drama. Good. And it was gift time! Ho-Boy! Once her glass was empty, the mare returned her glass and quickly scooped up her gift and went to find an 'Iggy'. Hmmm. Not familiar with that name. /====================\ | Iggy/Firewalker | \====================/ With her trusty gift back on her back, the officer scampered over to the gift-giving area, which was marked with an sign. "Looking for an Iggy". Her gift was probably not an previous year's 'White Elephant'. Which was an 'Yodeling Pickle' Swift ended up with that one. Or did Dunder get that? Since he was a chef, that would actually make sense for him. Once she found her Iggy, she plopped the festive looking gift box onto his table. "Behold, my gift. I am Captain Fire Walker". She really had no idea what this gift was. Her mother purchased it during her last shopping trip to Canterlot. Hopefully it wasn't underwear.

“Erm.”, Fire Walker nearly lost control of her own wings after the rather loud sneeze came out of nowhere. Well, it wasn’t nowhere, but the blue mare. Pixie? Mixie? She also had wings? Were these just being hoofed out nowadays? Equestria went a few thousand years without having a new Alicorn, at least one known to the general public, but now they were practically falling out of the sky. First it was Princess Cadance who beat up a witch to earn her wings. Then it was Princess Twilight who mastered a rather ancient spell that was never finished till then. At least that was what she had heard. Second-Hoof. Princess Cadance later had a foal, who was born an Alicorn. And now there was another new Alicorn? What in the world did she do to gain her wings? And why was she hiding them? This was all none of her business. She just hoped the sassy mare kept on the pathway of goodness and did not try taking over any more villages. As she had entered the school, the officer had heard a familiar name called. Martini? Was Martini Paradise here? She was one heck of an gifted bartender, although she wouldn't get to make her signature drinks here. Could the islander even stand the cold weather? After glancing around the room, she did not see the skilled mare. Maybe she had just misheard someone. Seeing that she had caught the changeling's attention, Fire waved back at Flux. She was the first Changeling she had met where it wasn't necessary to try to subdue the shape-shifter with her disarming blades. Fire would have to catch up with her and see how she was doing. Before this could happen, a...oh dear.....Her husband to be would be most disappointed with her. She wanted to say 'Bat-Pony'. It was more fun to say than...er.....Aerion..That was it. One of her trainers was an Aerion and she didn't seem to mind being called a Bat. Captain Ember Skies retired far too young and ended up with an rather large family. None were in the R.E.A so far. She was rather cheerful for an bat. This was good. "Hello and Happy Hearth's Warning Eve'", the red mare gave the cute mare an friendly smile. "I'm Captain Fire Walker....R.E.A...And Twilight Guard." Was that even a thing? Within a few years her boss went from student to librarian to village princess to ruler of all of Equestria. She'll probably be ruling the whole world soon. Planet Sparkle! There was something slightly familiar about the mare. Was she one of Ember Skies' kids? Would this be the second mystery of the evening? "Happy to meet you Miss Rose." She really wanted to ask who her mother was, but there would be a time and place for that. "Interesting sort of party we have here..." A party in Ponyville without the Pink one? Was this possible?

It was time for another Hearth’s Warming Eve, and as the years before, the Pegasus pony known as Fire Walker had a ton to do! Most involved getting gifts! Getting gifts for her family. Gifts for her hubby-to-be and his family. Gifts for her friends. Gifts for her co-workers. Gifts for her neighbors. A few gift donations to the local ‘Favors For Foals’ charity. She also had to purchase an gift for Princess Twilight’s Festive Hootenanny! And since this was in an actual school, this was going to be one of those rare dry parities for her. The eggnog would be milk, cream, sugar, whipped egg whites, egg yolks, and nutmeg. No rum. No bourbon. And no Cognac. This was a safe party. Thankfully she had a trip to Fillydelphia for a holiday visit to her old friend Muggo' at his family tavern coming up later this week. So she would have to trudge through this little party for the time being. "Hmm.", she muttered to herself as she entered the rather impressive school. She really didn't know any of these creatures. Many of different species. There was a small dragon, that might be a little friend of Spike's. An Kirin, Changeling, a rather skinny Hippogryph...And that blue mare that took over Ponyville not that long ago. What was her name? Tipsy? There was sweet little Flux. The first changeling the royal guard wasn't sent to beat over the head with something unpleasant. Prince Blueblood was in his female form. This was still something she had yet to get used to. The Pegasus pony kept an rather generic looking gift wrapped with a big red bow. What was it? Who was it for? Soon all would be revealed. And there was Princess Twilight, a mare that was always in the center of attention. Wow. Things had sure changed over the last few years. Seeing that she had her hooves full, the mare nodded politely at her occasional boss and found a spot to put her gift. As she did so, Fire admired the well decorated hall. Now who was she going to talk to?

The feline cracked open her right eye to see what this ‘gargoyle’ was before she quickly switched back into character. Weird. That didn’t look like the gargoyle she saw at her circus. That statue was a creep, squat little goblin like creature with wings. The real one was a slender, shapely beauty that performed an rather impressive routine known simply as ‘sky ballet.’ As she stayed in ‘faint’ mode, she pondered why it was so rare to see them in Equestria. Maybe the squat gargoyle carvers scared them away? The dragon shrugged her shoulders. Didn’t they just have a big meal? And would the pretend food from this pretend world actually fill them up? Magic was weird. She wasn’t really a pro when it came to magic. She could barely understand it. She was not really in a old mansion. She wasn’t even wearing these clothes. But she could feel the floor through her shoes and felt the clothing on her scales. If they decided to search through the fridge of this house that probably hadn’t had any living residents in decades and found food, would it be good? Probably not? Unlike jewels which could last forever, pony food had a rather short shelf-life. Still, she would have to avoid gobbling any imaginary gems as that was something her pony character would not do. And if you go against character, you loose points. What sounded like a stone being kicked awoke the little dragon from her daze. “Ah sure big brudda.” A rather devious idea popped up in the little creature’s little brain. “I’m sure your yecky girl-friend” She was playing a young colt. Young colts usually hate girls. Especially those who wasted time with their dumb hippy pony nonsense and could probably spend more time with their loving daughter who is getting a little tired of being left to fend for herself. Whoops. “Should be awake to see this....And since you’re always calling her yer princess, why doncha wake her up like one?” There was something behind the dragon that could be considered funky. Was it an phantom? A funky phantom? Would she see it in time? Who could it be? In moments it got closer to the three......The creature appeared closer with every flash of lightening and sound of thunder until it appeared right behind Bratty.

“That mansion?”, Still hurting from her name and the rather small, tight shoes she was forced with, the cat managed a perfect whine, “That sure looks spooky and it’s probably filled with g-g-ghosts!”, she shivered. “I think we should head back home before the spooky spirits get their mitts on us!” Unfortunately for ‘Boopsy’, the world of the comic book only went as far as the haunted house and the surrounding trees around it. Go to far, and one would hit an 'invisible wall'. "Ah shucks! No ghost is a match for my 'Big Brudder'.", Knife continued to be surprisingly good at this. "If they try picking a fight with Golly, he'll give 'em such a whooping!", just as she started another round of shadow-boxing, lightening seemed to come very close to striking the little dragon. This was the comic's 'friendly' way of telling the group to move on. There were others waiting in line. "Lets move on...shall we...", the dragon squeaked out losing her bravado and a few points, for just a moment. The two quickly caught up with their brave 'leader' at the door. Before the fearful feline could utter another word, the doors opened by themselves! "Jinkies!", Boopsy uttered. This would probably be a good time to enter the house. Like now. Golly made sure they quickly entered the place without any further delay. Once the three had entered, the doors quickly slammed back into place, causing the cat to promptly faint. With the next strike of lightening, candles on an overheard chandelier, along with an few sconces, all light up at once. Now they all could get a good look at the 'creature'. "Dwaah.", the little dragon groaned, "It's just an old broken gargoyle.", she paused to wake the downed cat who fainted upon seeing the creepy stone statue. It appeared to have been broken off. Small stones could be seen leading into one of the larger, wooden doors. Would they DARE follow them?

Wow. Smolder never realized she was funny either. Was her teacher just being polite? “Ah shucks Miss Applejack, I didn’t come here for the apple-ause!", she gave a little bow, "But if you're offering it, I'll be more than happy to take it." It was nice to be appreciated, even if she only had a few corny jokes or puns to say. And she at least had an teacher approved title for her paper. Always a good start. There was just those three thousand words she needed to come up with between the title and the conclusion. Easy peasy! Once the bits were handed over, she waited for the pony to make her move. The dragon had half-watched the previous kisses and the farmer seemed to always pull....yikes....Smolder knew she was turning a little red in the cheek area. There was not fighting it! That pony was fast! Once she received her kiss on the forehead, right below the fin, she managed to return to her feet. There was also her apples. Which would soon find their way onto Silverstream's wagon. "Thanks Miss Applejack.." There was the need to start on her paper...But there was an awfully shady tree not that far from where they stood. And she really wanted to see how her 'little brother' would handle a smooch for the Earth Pony.

And danger that filly wandered into. Fire Walker didn't know it, but this probably wasn't the first, second or even twentieth time Apple Bloom had wandered off alone and into danger. And while It was rather rare to see a child die in a horror movie, those who rushed off to save an filly or colt were usually the first ones to snuff it. Once the deer was back on his hooves, the officer turned to Fluttershy....The others mentioned an Basilisk? Seriously? She only knew the most basics about the creatures. They can poison you and they could also turn you into living stone. Neither things one would consider fun. Since it was living stone, there was a chance one could be converted back to flesh. One also needed to be an unicorn and could use magic. And there was only one pony here that could do that. "I hope you know some restoration spells.", she turned to the shadowy pony, "Does anyone have a mirror or something that reflects?", as she asked the others, the mare looked for hoof-prints to lead her to the little farmer. Hopefully the little pony managed to avoid such a dangerous creature. Hopefully. Once she found the prints, she followed the others....Right to the sick kid. "Oh dear.". She had a small first aid kit with anti-venom lotion, but it was made for snake bites. Would it work against Basilisk bites? Would this 'Sombra' save the day? With a worried look on her face, she pulled out her kit...

Pocket Change’s ears perked up. Somepony was cackling! Didn’t the guild have a strict code against cackling? Especially as hags and hedge-mages enjoyed a good cackle or two, and nopony wants any of those miscreants gamboling about a good, stately guild-house! He would need to look into this! The unicorn caught sight of a pony that was the exact opposite of hedge-mage, the dignified and astute Silver Belle. She probably would have made an idea leader for the guild. He could see her dressed in a proper wizard's robe and hat adorned with all matter of great magic. Few would dare stare into her icy blue eyes and give her any trouble. But like the majority of the guild, its members were usually very busy and had real jobs to attend to. Being all together was just so rare nowadays. Now if Starswirl would only respond to his letters! Heart Island? The unicorn now wished he had taken a good look at the place when he was on the air-ship. Wouldn't it be cool if the who place was shaped like a big heart? Not an actual heart, cause those were gross, but the usual Hearts and Hooves ideograph heart. He would have to check when they leave. But for now, there was their host, and she was quite the looker. But even she was no match for his beloved Moony. Only the Princesses could compare, and they were still a distant second and third. These sometimes would switch places, depending on his mood. Princess Luna's adorable, kid-sister charm never grew old, and black always looks good. Wonder if she kept her Nightmare Moon costume? Being the far superior speaker, Moony would speak for the guild. She had the gift of the gab. She could talk, not squawk. She had technique to speak sleek that nopony could critique! Compared to her, the stallion was absotively blunderous with his words. And she was whispering. Oh-Oh! Had she been drinking those tiny little bottles of rum they had been hoofing out on the air-ship? How many of those would you need to drink to become drunk? And Sweet Celestia! She was drunk! And this was Heart Stopper. Yep. There was one of those wacky set-ups! He knew it! Moony was sure she was an 'evil, ugly ole’ assassin'. Which would have not been a good type of pony to meet as most generally don't enjoy being stabbed. Not fun. But here she was, possibly drunk. But even a tipsy pony could maintain her dignity, so Pocket moved close to her, so she wouldn't stumble. There was a detoxify cantrip he knew of, but never learned. With luck, maybe some of the more experienced members would know it. He would speak, but it looks like their new recruit was already talking. Kind of rude. But she might prefer somepony who was straight to the point. "It is a great pleasure to meet you, Lady Heart-Stopper." the unicorn could manage a proper, Canterlot greeting. "And I look forward to seeing more of your Heart Island." Wait. Wasn't this a movie? Ponies arrive on an island. Meet a dignified stallion all in white. Live out their fantasies or die trying. If so, where was her Prench mini-pony?

Really expensive apartments.

"Well....She was..", the dragon huffed, "But when she said the word 'apple'. I sort of freaked out when I remembered that I needed to finish a report, and it involved me being here..Checking things out..", feeling like an down-on-her-luck detective with a hunch, Smolder whispered to the farmer. "Thinking about calling it 'Sweet Apple Acres: The In-Cider Information'", she really thought this was clever as she waggled her eyebrows up and down as she said the name of her report. She turned to Silverstream who handed over her voucher. She didn't think it would have worked, but it was worth the try. "I'll catch up and drop these off on your wagon once I'm done....I need....Oh.", she turned to the pony with many a job. "I need to wander around your farm and take some observation type notes...As long as you don't mind...I won't touch anything...Promise...", she winked at the mare. "I also have answers to these questions I need to fill out on my form here....They're not the kind of answers you can find in any book....Need to be at an actual farm...." The young dragon REALLY needed to pace herself a little better. Enough with the procrastination! Thankfully one thing she wasn't going to delay was payment. "Here you go.", she pulled out the needed bits. Now it was time for der-smooching! Or at least a smooch. From her teacher. Hopefully no creature had a camera with them. She waited patiently and wondered what it was going to feel like.

Both the cat and dragon gasped at the same time. “Really? You missed the best ride in the whole park. Even better than ‘Nightmare Moon Mountain.”, Knife added. “And this nerd-talk, I’m gonna be the best at this as I have my parents as role-models. While you two probably have cool parents.”, she nodded at the cat, “Your folks are high flying trapeze artists, and your parents.”, she turned to the Pegasus pony, “Not sure what your parents are, but they have to be cool to have had you.” While the comic gave one group point total, there were side scores for each players. If the group won with a high score, they would get a prize, and the player with the most points would get a BONUS prize. Once the threesome were ready, they slowly made their way into the fist page of the comic. Would they survive? The group were standing near a large mansion. It was rather late in the evening and the wind started to pick up and within moments, a rather nasty storm started. “Ah cra....I mean, Oh no!”. it took the cat a moment to get into character. “That storm is going to ruin my pretty dress! We better see if someone’s home and maybe they’ll let us stay until it all blows over.” it was very hard to talk the way she did, but she managed without breaking into giggles. ‘Bratty’ was having none of that. “Ah shucks!”, she growled, “I an’t afraid of no storm! Lemme at ‘em!”, she started to swing her fists around, hoping to punch the rain. “Take that! And that!”. While Bratty was brave, for every rain drop she punched away, five more would take its place! “Golly!”, the cat whined, “What are we going to d-d-do?” Both were already doing a fine job and points were probably already coming their way. Bratty was ‘fighting’ the rain, and Boopsy was looking up at the rain, with her mouth open in shock. Even with the house being just a few feet away. They could just walk, but the pair needed to be useless. And unless Golly did something, the pair probably were going to either drown, get hit by lightening, or both!

Smolder could not help but chuckle to herself as the Hippogriff mentioned all those who she either kissed or were kissed by. And while she would never admit it to any creature, that Terramar wasn't such a bad looking fella. One worthy of a few scrorchy dragon-kisses from a certain dragon. Then it dawned on her. She was WAAAY behind her class-mate in the smooch-department. She wasn't even near the Smooch-Super-Market. Even her brother got to kiss his pillow. Which was kind of sad. She had also considered checking out Seaquestria as Spike had mentioned how awesome of a place it was. However, he also mentioned that they used some sort of magic pearl thing so they could breath under water. He said that he was turned into a freaking blow-fish! No! She would be something cool. Like a shark. Or an break-dancing, sun-glasses wearing Dolphin. NOT A BLOWFISH. She needed to get that out of her head. That vision. Wormy, squirmy, bottom of the food-chain blow-Smolder. Till then, other thoughts found their way into her scale-covered head. She could file 'Terramar' for 'later'. And she bits in her coin-pouch. Where did she get her bits? As much as she enjoyed her schoolyard pranks and shanaggings, sometimes those came with a price. And after the library fiery fiasco, she had to replace things...And things cost bits. And her beloved Dragon Lord wasn't gonna pay. She had to learn her lesson, and this lesson involved a job. And what sort of company would hire a young dragon with no prior experience? Why, the local Hay Burger, that's who! She got a terrible uniform, the need to wear a hair-net when cooking the burgers and she had no hair! But it paid. Poorly. And after paying for new book for the griffon and few other things that turned into dust, she had a few coins left over. Still, it could be worse. She could be picking apples for her teacher! And speaking of apples. It was her turn. She needed to pick the right apples. And there were several variations. No Zap Apples. "Erm.", she thought, "Got any Honeycrisp?" Ha! Take that Professor Applejack! She was only sleeping in her class.....Most of the time....But not all of the time.

Once the comic was in it’s place, an assortment of magical lights appeared and disappeared. In moments, the three were no longer in the room, but they were staring at the first page of the comic with the “Blood Death Manor 2” logo and the image of a creepy old house. Both the dragon and cat’s eyes light up as they saw the home. “Oooh!”, Knife was the first to react. “I know this place! Oooh!”, the dragon bounced up and down. “This is the creepy Haunted Stables ride at Whinny World!”, this caused the cat to react in surprise. “My big brother Dagon and I rode it a bunch of times.....”, she was very happy to see the old house, “Mom and Dad took us to Coltifornia for one of their conventions, and let us go to the nearby theme park...And while they had Sploosh Mountain which was fun, we kept coming back to the creepy old house.", There was a small set of instructions by the flat image of the house. "This is really cool. This couple move into this big mansion and one finds out.....", she was quickly cut off by the cat. "Hey!", she growled. "Don't ruin it..", she pointed at the rules. "Not sure if Daze has been on the ride yet....So don't spoil it.", she pointed to the board. "This is one of the comics that gives us extra points for playing our parts as this isn't just us going to a haunted house, we are playing characters from the original, family-un-friendly version of the ride that Claude Goats wanted...Spooky, but they watered it down a bit to make it suitable for every creature", she sighed. "Claude later published his original story in both book and comic book form." The three were now wearing different clothing than before. Daze was now wearing an horizontally striped yellow and blue t-shirt and blue short-pants, with white socks and red horse-shoes along with an red cap with a blue bill. "You're now Golly Hooves. An happy-go-lucky teen with a dream of playing it big at Hoof-Ball. You're super brave and more than ready to take on a bully and give him 'what-for'." The dragon started to chuckle. "Heh. Golly Hooves." The cat continued, "Knife, you're his little brother, Bratty Hooves.", this caused the dragon to let out a groan. She was wearing similar clothes to her 'big brother', except her shirt was white and red. She also wore her cap backwards! "You're an rambunctious kid who is kind of er....", she was trying to find the right word. "Er. Dumb. You're more than happy to blunder into trouble, which only your big brother can pull you out of." "I am.", she glanced down at her clothing. She wore an plaid pleated skirt, with a pair of white bobby socks, a pair of Penny Loafers and an nice dress shirt. "Just says I'm the girl...Ugh. Golly Hooves' number one girl.", she cringed as the name was read. "Boopsy Belle. Oh sweet mercy.", after giving the dragon a horrible glare, DARING her to laugh, the cat continued to read the instructions. "We get more points if we act like this characters. And this story was written years ago..Back then when ponies would attend sock-hops and said "Gee-Whiz" a lot. So Golly. You're a hero.", she turned to the Pegasus pony. "You're always saving our useless behinds from all kinds of danger and you're full of Pep and Vinegar. Whatever that means. While, I'm the 'Girl'. I'm actually a good deal more useless than Bratty...Everything scares me, and I have to whine constantly....Bratty.", she looked over at Knife. "You're not afraid of anything and will constantly go running towards spooky sounds, creaky doors and squeaky floors. If you see a ghost or other monster, you have to charge towards it while shouting, "Let me at 'em" "To win this comic, we have to survive the house till sunrise. We loose a ton of points if Bratty or Boopsy dies...But if all three of us die, we lose. Got it?" Once Daze was ready, they entered through the first page and into the comic.....

“I’m pretty sure that ‘Gunter Glieben’ bit was from that one Abyssinia rock band.", the mare tried to move her wing, but only received an rather nasty bolt of pain..."Deaf Leopard...Ow..... gonna start a fire...come on...rise up gather round...rock this place to the ground.", she sang-groaned. Seeing that the pain wasn't going to go away anytime soon, Pocket Change broke out his first aid kit and grabbed a few bandages along with a small red bottle with Princess Celestia's sun on it. "I'm an student over at the University Of Fillydelphia..", she started to point to her sweater, but it was in such bad shape, she realized the logo was now unreadable. "I'm a business major...All on a TEMPEST scholarship. As long as I keep my.....", she paused as the helpful unicorn went about patching up her wing..."Chee....Grades up...I'll end up with a job at one of Fillydelphia's largest companies...", she squirmed, "My dumb ex was just a dumb jock who also attended the same school.....He's a good drinking buddy and Culbatizing pro...heh.....ouch!", she turned and glared at the unicorn before turning her attention back to the big dog. "I don't have any issue with that...", Pocket Change finished up bandaging the Pegasus pony's wing. "Also, don't use this...Like for at least a day...And Mister Hogo-sha....Please tell her what we're looking for."

Next year’s trip to Whinny World will probably involve her happy little group being chased by the weird animated statues they have there, but for some reason, have become evil! Or maybe the costumed characters that would normally be anticking about the many themed lands were replaced by evil pirates? Instead, her next vacation would have her hiding under her bed for the entire week with a bottle of Coltswords Whiskey? Nah, there was probably an gateway to another world under her bed that she would fall into and have to escape. This would all be very amusing to the mare if she wasn't in so much pain and there was also the chance she would just freeze to death. There was also now a very big wolf creature nearby. This removed the chance of her ending up as an ponicicle, but instead becoming a snack to the beautiful creature. Thankfully it spoke, and it called her 'Moto'. And only Swift calls her that. For reasons. This was far better than a 'roar' and then a few moments of 'Nom-Nom-Nom'. "It's actually Fire Walker.", the red mare REALLY did not need to correct the wolf. But she really was not in the mood to be called 'Moto' even more. "And thank you..I'll just wobble over to meet him...Ouch...", the Pegasus pony appeared to have injured both er right wing and leg and had an awful limp. With each step, the pony let out an curse word. Each word getting worse, the longer she walked. "I really hope you're real and not something I'm just imagining.....Cause I lost too much blood..." Well, she at least could imagine something very pretty. That was a good sign.

Seaquestria? Seriously? That sounded so made up. And she mentioned -dry- ground? Did her kind escape that bloated snow-baboon by hiding in the clouds? Or did she mean she lived under the sea? Like a sea-pony? But she was an.... Ugh, it was far too early to be thinking so much. She just needed to be patient and wait in line like a good little birdie and soon she would have her fancy pony apple juice and then her friends would shud-up about it already! It was like this every year! Did you go to the opening day of cider season? No. I had to work. Did you go to the opening day of cider season? No, I want to sleep in that morning! This was supposed to be the best of the best! Something to make your feathers stick up! The black griffon did roll her eyes up a little when the pink gal mentioned something about vampires. Oye. A somewhat familiar voice called out to her. She turned. "Oh.". Yep. Fire Walker wasn't messing with her. What was his...her name now? Donnie? Dander? Danny? Dunnie? Drander? Flanders? Oh crap. The big griffon gave her old friend a hug. "Hey...Haven't seen you in ages....", she purred. It took her a moment to figure out what she was doing with Blueblood, when she remembered the little job he..she...Fire and Muggo went with him all those years ago. She wanted to say a few more things, but someone, or somepony was trying to get her attention. "Oh. Last mug?", were the others going to have to wait until the next day to have their cider? Holy Moley! "Thanks kid.", she handed over the bits and took the glass. "Hey Brownie...If you want half my glass, just ask...Feel odd drinking this right in front of you.." She took her sip. "Mazel tov!"

Oh. dear. Fire did not even have to look directly at the beloved Princess of Love to know her perfect ears had drooped down in slight shame. “But...”, The Pegasus pony could not bare the thought of Princess Cadence's day being ruined. "Things were rather exciting with the caribou and no creature actually...technically was hurt.." She smiled back at the Alicorn. There had been slight bruises. The officer usually fought using the dull side of her blade, and the weapon was meant to disarm, not harm. And once a foe was disarmed, it was generally an unwritten rule that an enemy is a friend you haven't made yet. Although the mighty creatures were still very deadly even without their weapons. Thankfully Swift tried his best as well. But as much as she liked the Crystal Empire, it was not her idea of the perfect honeymoon destination. Hers involved an nice, sandy beach. A rum drink housed in a pineapple and nothing to do, but just to soak in Princess's Celestia's sun while slowly running her hooves in the sand. Maybe wear that one piece she had purchased last month. No adventures. No plans and no worries. Fire Walker could not help but frown a little as Swift mentioned the single track that lead to the Empire. This was actually rather new. A sad, single little way to get to what had been the Crystal Empire. It was built in hopes that one day, the ancient empire would return after vanishing into thin, cold air. And it did, after a full thousand years. When she was younger, she would sometimes join a surveying crew that would slowly make its way up the tracks, making sure everything was still in place, and she would make sure no wild beasts would be able to harass the train workers. She later learned that an tribe of white coated griffons also watched for the 'return' from an ancient tower they all lived in. And her beloved's heart was in the right place, but the outside was not the type one would go out and enjoy festive, winter activities, but was the type of weather you need to get out of now. Not later, but as soon as you stepped hoof into it as the weather, you were going to die if you lingered. Shining Armor was also very correct that they did not have an full weather team that could handle such a storm. Could any team contain such an beast? "Good evening Lady Applejack....Rainbow Dash.", Princess Celestia really needed to knight Twilight's companions. They were honest to goodness heroes, and a title always looked good on one's mailbox. The mare thought it rather funny that her work-friends all seemed to be having kids by the bushel. Foalshel? While her friend-friends were avoiding kids altogether. She could only imagine how adorable Pressy's kid would be. Her entire family were a bunch of lookers, from her stately mother, to her rather pretty brother. Considering her friend Zelda the Griffon...She usually partnered up with ponies. Would she have an hippogriff? The officer had only seen a few of those before. There was an pretty pinkish one in Ponyville that attended the nearby school. An stocky brown and white on that she was pretty sure was Discord, and one she met at an woodcraft store not that long ago. "Wedding is up....Still in the planning stages.."

Miss? Had she ever been called an 'Miss' before? Wasn't that reserved for really old creatures? "It's Smolder.', she tried her best to be polite, which was a rather new sort of thing for most dragons to do. "I attend the new school here....School Of Friendship...Which is basically a school for creatures in my age group where comradery is infused in each of the classes.", It sounded sort of weird when she spoke it out-loud, but that's what she had heard someone describe the school before. They had to learn how to play nice with others, but there was still the usual stuff. Biology. Prench classes. Trigonometry. History. Even in those classes, friendship and teamwork was all still part of these classes. "There's plenty of ponies that are attending, but they allow just about any race in...From dragons like myself, Hippogriffs, like miss pink patootie over there..", she pointed to a rather animated young mare that was slightly ahead of the pair in line. "Yaks, Changelings, griffons.", they all needed to learn how to play nice together. "As for the line....Ah...", she shrugged her shoulders. "There's not a ton of stuff to do here...We have a movie theater.....Only two screens I think...The market sometimes has something interesting going on....Right now, the 'thing' to do is buy apples and get kissed by Applejack....I did not actually plan to do this, but I had a class assignment that needed to be done, and it involved this farm. According to our history class, this village wouldn't have existed if the Apple family never stepped hooves here..." She noticed an familiar face in the crowd. Her 'brother' from another mother. "Hey Spike!", she waved at the smaller dragon. Weird. He looked a good deal more like her than her actual brother.* And hey! They were now talking about her! Like she wasn't there...."Hey! I didn't mean to...But that look on Gallus' face when I accidentally fried his book...Wanted to apologize but the expression made me laugh...Almost looked like he was stuck in mid-sneeze....And you know what happens when dragon's laugh..."

Was this even the same bag her tent originally came in? Somehow the large tent that could fit two full griffons came out of a bag that would be too small for one single apple. Setting up had been easy. Just pull tab A. Walla! You got yourself a tent. However, there was no simple tab to put it back in. You had to fold it up like sixty times to get it to fit just right. Just as she was on fold number forty two, an excited mob of creatures rushed in....”Hey!”, she growled. Too late! The poor griffon and her tent were carried along with the thirsty mob and promptly planted a little closer to the farmers and their apple cider machines. She gave any creature an nasty snarl if they dared to cut ahead of her. Still, the cute blue griffon continued to grab her attention. He had an old griffon name. It meant someone who was bold...daring...reckless. One with full chutzpah! A proper hero. One who would look rather impressive in a pair of her armor once he got a little older. Gold and blue. She could see it. Golden armor. Not that awful steel armor that breaks apart with one hit! She managed to hear a little bit of his conversation? He didn't have anything to do? Really? He should be fighting off all the gals who wanna give him smooches! A pleasant voice snapped her out of her train of thought. It was the adorable bat-pony. There was an proper, restful word she had heard her friend Fire Walker and her goofy husband to be, Swift Squall said to call them. But she forgot it and bat-pony was fun to say and easier to remember. So the heck with Fire and her big red flank and Swift with his snooty, snooty snout. "Oh hey....", his little odd show did cause the griffon to pause as well. He almost looked like he wanted a kiss. Once he was finished, the black bird continued, "Yeah. This thing just doesn't want to go in the bag. Almost want to just chuck it in the can over there, but then I'd loose my deposit. I....er...the hay?" as ponies would say. The Hippogriff was getting her claws allover the poor guy. "Hey you pink shmendrik!", she growled. The blacksmith was starting to say 'hey' a lot today. What was with that? She wanted to scare her away with a swipe of her claws, but there was a good chance she would hit her, and that would not look. Hitting a teenager and all. Or young adult. She was not sure. "You don't go grabbing a guy's wings! Especially if you don't go asking first!", she cawed.