Equestria Undone

The city of Canterlot looked brilliant in the light of the sunset on the eve of the victory ceremony. Not a single trace of the battle remained in the glorious city after the unicorns used they're magic to begin clean up efforts. The only difference in the city from before, and after the battle was the newly added battle memorial. Across a large multicolored wall of crystal were the names of all those who lost they're lives in the battle, those who were wounded, and a special section for those who didn't have to fight but did so regardless. Syllabus had survived the battle, and was currently awaiting punishment in the Canterlot dungeons under heavy guard, her wounds healed save for her horn.

The ceremony was to be not only a celebration of victory but a remembrance for those who died, and those who were wounded for Equestria.

Medals of honor would also be distributed to those who showed great bravery during the battle. The city was decorated in banners, streamers, and other party favors. The ceremony would be held in the Canterlot ballroom, inside the ballroom a massive stage was set up on one side. On the other side of the room were over a dozen tables lined with apple cider, and snacks of all kinds. Large flags lined the wall from every city in Equestria. Dignitaries from every city in Equestria were present, even representatives from other kingdoms like Yakyakastan, Saddle Arabia, and Griffonstone. A dozen griffons were standing near one of the tables holding drinks, they were looking towards Gary, and Zecora who were talking with Fluttershy. The doors opened, and three ponies trotted in, Cedric, Sunny May, and Annie.

Cedric still had a bandage on the stump of his wing, the stump was less than three inches long a mockery of a true Pegasus wing. He was wearing a tuxedo, Sunny May was wearing a elegant black dress, with matching shoes. She had a golden locket around her neck. Annie was wearing a simple black dress, and was wearing a black hat on her head.

Cedric walked forward towards the cider table flanked by Sunny May, and Annie. Without his armored horseshoes Cedric's hooves were a darker shade of blue than the rest of his legs. The three of them got they're drinks, and tried to enjoy the performance by Sapphire Shores on the other end of the ballroom. Cedric's hair was sparking from the music but not fully ignited. Gary, and Zecora were now speaking adamantly to Doctor Hooves, who had a large flat box strapped to his back. The dignitaries from Griffonstone were watching them with peculiar intensity, one in particular an old griffon woman was staring at Gary with disturbing intensity. The performance ended, and Princess Celestia stepped onto the stage, then went behind a podium set in the center. She called for attention, and the room went silent. "Today we are gathered here to honor those who lost they're lives in the grand battle of Canterlot.

However we are also here to thank those who fought in the battle, and lived, more specifically the hoof full of ponies, and otherwise who could have fled but did not. Even those who traveled from other cities on they're own initiative to assist the EUP guard in holding Canterlot, and in the end defeating Collosus, and saving Equestria from his eternal rule. Let us begin." After this Princess Celestia called name after name, ponies who fought bravely in the battle stepped on stage to accept a medal, and meet each dignitary. "Gary the Griffon" Celestia called, and Gary walked briskly onto the stage. He stopped before the princess, and bowed, she touched her horn to each of his shoulders then said, "For your bravery, and valor I award you with the Lunar Medallion" she placed a medallion with a crescent moon on it around Gary's neck. She continued "And for taking a step further, by saving princess Twilight, princess Cadence, and prince Shining Armor you did Equestria a great service. For that I award you the highest honor I can, the Celestial Ring" she used her magic to place a golden ring on his middle finger, it had Celestia's cutie-mark engraved on it. "Normally, this would be placed on a horn but only minor alterations had to be made for you to wear this. Now go forward, and meet those who have come to honor you" the ponies stomped, the griffons clapped, and Gary walked nimbly to each dignitary then shook their hooves. He went from pony to pony(then yak), greeting the various representatives of Equestria's cities, and other nations. Gary stopped to greet the Griffonstone representatives, he reached out to shake the old Griffon's talons when she hugged him tightly in front of everypony, and griffon, and Zebra. The old griffon's coat was light gray, her feathers a dark blue, and her eyes were yellow. Her beak, and talons were a slightly lighter shade of blue than Gary's. Gary decided it was time to speak "I need an adult, I need an adult!"

Gary said this in such a serious tone that the whole room burst with laughter, the griffon hugging him even started laughing. The old griffon whispered "I knew you'd come back" that confused him, he'd never met her before. She released him from the hug, and he shook talons with the other griffons before returning to his seat next to Zecora in the audience.

Celestia cleared her throat "And finally, we have a very special pony who gave up his wing for princess Luna, and I. A pony who is loyalty personified, a pony who has a gift I've never seen. Cedric, if you could come on stage" she finished, and the crowd cheered as the light blue Pegasus trotted to the stage, and climbed onto it. He walked to the podium, and bowed. Celestia touched her horn to each of his shoulders, and placed a Celestial Medallion around his neck. "Everyone, I give you the Hero of Canterlot!" The crowd cheered, and Cedric shook hooves with each dignitary before heading back to his seat. "Now everypony, let us celebrate our victory!" Celestia shouted merrily, and everypony and griffon left they're seats to begin discussing the nights events, Gary looked smugly at Gilda showing off his ring, and medallion. Gilda was wearing a purple dress that she looked distinctly uncomfortable in. She rolled her eyes, then went to talk with Rainbow Dash. Cedric was sitting in a corner of the room with Sunny May, Annie was speaking adamantly with a gray unicorn at the cider table. Cedric was looking from his wing-stump to the medallion around his neck. The expression on his face revealed Cedric's melancholy, the loss of his wing had deeply wounded him no matter how happy he tried to appear. Sunny May was trying to console him, to little effect. Twilight Sparkle, and pink unicorn with a purple, and turquoise colored mane, and tail walked over to where they were talking.

"Hello" the princess said. Cedric responded "Good evening Princess" After a moment of uncomfortable silence later she said "This is a friend of mine, Starlight Glimmer" she indicated the unicorn next to her who waved. "Nice to meet you, Starlight Glimmer. My names Cedric, and this is Sunny." Cedric replied, "Hello Starlight" Sunny May said quietly. They talked a little about Canterlot society, when Doctor Hooves trotted over to the corner they were speaking in. He stopped, and smiled cordially. "Hello there everypony! You're Cedric right?" He said. Cedric nodded, and Doctor Hooves continued "Excellent! Now old chap I have something I'd like to show you, you seemed a bit sad, and I figured this would cheer you up." He showed the box to them, then turned, and waved a hoof for all of them to follow. At first Cedric wasn't going to follow but just sit in the corner, but Sunny May Nuzzled him, and said. "Come on let's see what's in the box". Reluctantly Cedric stood up, and followed Doctor Hooves. They followed him outside into the castle garden, Doctor Hooves stopped in front of a statue of a pony waving a flag.

He turned, and said, "Okay, Cedric I need to close you're eyes, and not open them until I say. Alright?" Cedric rolled his eyes then nodded, closing them. Doctor Hooves opened the box, and Cedric heard Sunny May gasp. He wondered what made her do that but he kept his eyes shut. Suddenly he felt a very sharp pain in the stump of his right wing eliciting a shutter from him, but he still kept his eyes shut. After a minute or two of pinching, and hisses Doctor Hooves said, "Okay, open your eyes" Cedric did, and looked at his right wing. Attached to the stump of his wing was a wonder, a metal wing exactly like his old one. It was silver, and the detail was amazing, each feather looked completely real. He tried flap pin it and it obeyed his every command, it was just like his old one. He slowly hovered off the ground, he could fly again. His gaze lingered on his new wing for a full minute before he shouted to the heavens above "I CAN FLY AGAIN!!!!" He laughed doing loops in the air, he rushed to the ground, and asked urgently"Sunny, my headphones are in your purse. Can you give them to me?" She nodded smiling brightly, and gave Cedric his headphones. He laughed maniacally, putting them on quickly, and turning them to max volume, then rocketed into the sky. He flew up to the skyline, his mane, and tail erupting into blue flames. He flew faster, and faster back, and forth across the sky over the glorious city of Canterlot. Dozens of ponies including all the princesses, and princes came into the garden to watch, Annie had come out of the ballroom, and stood next to Sunny May, who had tears in her eyes as she watched her true love. He did a series of barrel rolled, and then a massive loop to loop before launching himself upwards. He flew up to an altitude over ten miles over the city before diving straight down, he left a trail of blue fire behind him while flying.

He was plummeting towards the city, he was halfway to the ground, when a cone of air surrounded him, crackling with energy. Sunny May looked at him, and said, "No way!" Cedric was one hundred yard from the ground when a crack like lightning split through the air. From Cedric erupted a sonic boom ringed with blue flames that spread out across the sky over Canterlot. The ponies watching could feel the heat wash over them as Cedric flew through the sky trailing flames behind him. He shouted "Whooooohooooooo!!!!" As he sped through the air, he did one last loop, and flew downward, dropping to his hooves in front of Sunny May, and Annie. Sunny May galloped to him, and hugged him tightly. He looked into her eyes, and she into his ,then they kissed passionately. The crowd cheered, and whooped as the two embraced, Cedric flapped his wings lifting them both off the ground without apparent effort. They hovered twenty or so feet off the ground for a minute or two before slowly drifting back towards the ground. They landed, and by order of Princess the crowd dispersed except for Doctor Hooves, the princesses, and Annie. Princess Celestia said, "I see that your experiment has born fruit Doctor. Very good, Now Cedric I have a question for you that I have saved until you were in high spirits. Did you really think you could defeat Collosus?" Cedric smiled proudly, and replied. "Nope!" Princess Luna stepped in, asking "They why did you say 'If you don't surrender I will kill you both'? " Cedric shrugged " I was bluffing, to be honest I thought I would just dodge them until you two healed. I only did it to buy time. Syllabus was different though, she was overconfident, and slower then me. She just got her wings so she wasn't exactly an adept flyer." Celestia nodded then said, " I want you Cedric, Annie, and Sunny May to meet me in the throne room at the end of the celebration. I have an offer for you." the three of them agreed, then returned to the party to enjoy themselves a little more. Dozens of ponies congratulated Cedric on his new wing, and he didn't mind showing it off to anypony who asked.

Gary was talking to a purple mare at the cider table when the Griffonstone dignitaries walked up to him. The old griffon woman spoke quickly, and urgently. "Meet us outside, and don't let the Zebra follow you" she said 'Zebra' with a tone of distaste. This angered Gary, dignitary or not nopony or griffon spoke about his mother that way. He spat " Whatever you want to say to me you can say to my mother!" he puntuated the sentence with a stomp, which drew Zecora's attention to the conversation. The old griffon's feathers bristled, ash she yelled "But that Zebra is not your mother!! My daughter is your mother, whether she is living or not!!" Zecora heard her words, and galloped over to them, Gary sat down on his haunches so surprised by the news that he couldn't continue standing. Zecora reached them, and said venomously " Get away from my son you old harpy!!" She turned to Gary, and commanded "Lets go, Little One!" Gary didn't move however, he sat there unflinching then said, "Is it true?" Zecora didn't answer, she stood there tapping the floor with a hoof, and staring at the old griffon with anger bordering on seething hatred. The old griffon smirked, then said " Yes its true. I have a picture of your parents, and uncle." she pulled out a picture, and showed it to Gary. Three griffons were standing around a tree next to a straw house on a large branch, the griffon in the middle was a girl with a small griffon cub in her talons. Zecora looked into the eyes of the griffon in the middle, and she instantly flashed back to the day with the hydra. She wouldn't back down however, yelling "Coincidence!! That could be any griffon, and their cub. You are senile, you old dodo!" The old griffon bared her talons at Zecora, as she retorted "You are wrong, he's my grandson stripey!!" The two continued to argue until a large crowd had gathered around them. The two hadn't even noticed when Gary stood up, and walked away. Gary left the ballroom, and flew away. at first he was heading to the Everfree forest but the more he thought about it the more he hated the idea. After flying for a few minutes he decided on a course of action. I'll go home, get all my bits, then leave a note, and fly to Manehatten. He was satisfied with the plan, and had almost reached the hut when somepony tackled him out of the sky. They landed in a jumble on the ground, and by force of reflex, Gary spun, and kicked his attacker in the muzzle. "Ow! Damn it!!" Gary cringed, he just kicked Rainbow Dash in the face. "Oh shit Rainbow, I'm so sorry!" He said quickly. Rainbow Dash scowled and spit a tooth out on the ground with some blood on it. She held a hoof to her muzzle, while the two of them flew into the hut. Gary quickly stirred together a bunch of ingredients and after a few minutes of simmering he poured some in a cup and gave it to Rainbow Dash. She drank it and watched in a small mirror as her tooth regrew, she worked her jaw to make sure it was in the proper position before she spoke "You know running away isn't going to help anything. Zecora was a mess when she realized you left, and that crazy old griffon left with the other dignitaries from Griffonstone." Gary looked at his talons, then said " I know, its just so confusing" Rainbow Dash went to his side and put a hoof on his shoulder, saying "Just talk to Zecora, she will tell you the whole story"  Gary scowled and looked right into her eyes "How much do you know about it?" he asked venomously. Rainbow Dash looked at her hooves nervously. "All of it" she admitted reluctantly. She tried to put a hoof on his shoulder but he shrugged her off, then said "Tell me" Rainbow Dash shook her head "Ask  Zecora, she will tell you. Zecora will be here in a few hours, I'm heading back to Canterlot" she stood up, and left the hut then flew away. Gary stared at the cauldron in the room contemplating what to do next. Finally he thought allowed, "I'm getting some answers when she gets here"