Breach and Clear

"Thunder! Thunder, were here!" Shane was awoken by Greaten shaking his shoulders.

"Ponyville?" Shane asked, wiping his eyes.

"Yes!" She exhilarated.

"Give me a sec OK?"

"I'll wait outside!" Greaten jumped from her seat and proceeded to exit the train cart

Shane climbed out of his seat and jogged outside.

"Where now?" Shane asked.

"Get on and I'll take you!" Greaten was smiling with an overly excited grin.

"What?" Shane asked bewildered.

"Climb on my back and I'll fly us to Griffonville!"

Shane thought this was beyond bizarre but did as he was told. The next thing he knew, a giant swoosh took him to the clouds. Greaten made the clouds exploded where as Shane passed right through them. In mere minutes of Shane getting on, he saw a large collection of houses on top of a mountain with clouds surrounding it. Greaten sped up as Shane stayed on for dear life. She was a little shaky in the air and it made Shane nervous.

Shane closed his eyes as tears flew out of their ducts. She began to slow down as Shane saw the mountain get bigger and bigger. The clouds were part of the town. in all, the total area was about four miles. Griffon from all around were landing and taking off. It looked like a flying lion pit stop.

Greaten slowed down on her approach . She landed on all four and gave Shane a little bit of time to climb off. As if she knew how stunned Shane was.

"Reminds me of being on a helicopter."Shane whispered while smiling,"That is going down."Shane's grin turned to a dark frowned.

"Were here!" she cheered.

Almost immediately, other griffon males began to see Greaten and started to get... excited. One whistled like she was a supermodel.

"Hey Greaten!" were shouted and a few,"Welcome back!" were yelled.

"Hey, I have an idea, let's get you to your home so you can do what you need to do." Shane suggested, standing in front of Greaten to protect her from overly excited griffons.

"Sounds good!" Greaten agreed.

The two slowly tried to walk away. The crowd grew larger and larger until. Shane and Greaten couldn't escape.

"You fly up and find a place to stay for a little, I'll find you after what happens next." Shane whispered.

"OK, wait, what is happening next?" Greaten asked curiously.

"My way of giving you space to fly!" Shane pulled Greaten's head in and he kissed her in the most passionate kiss he could fake. Shane wrapped his arms around Greaton's body as she went along with it by wrapping her talons around him in a love hold.

She broke the kiss,"How does this get me room to fly?"

"Because." Shane backed away and pulled out his M-4,"They will be too preoccupied on killing me."

A swarm of colors pounced on Shane as yelling and rioting. Greaten took off towards her "home". The truth was Greaten wasn't the richest of griffons. She could purchase a house, but not a mansion. She was more lower class than middle.

Greaten didn't feel right, it felt as if she had more weight to her. She lifted her  legs, nothing. She lifted her wings and a familiar looking black item fell out.

"Shane's weapon!" she gasped out loud . It fell on her dirt floor. She picked it up and held it for a moment,"Why did you give me this?" She asked out loud, not knowing Shane was actually in the door way.

"Just in case I didn't make it." Shane limped in, nearly collapsing on to the floor,"Damn, those guys had sharp claws." Shane laughed. He threw his hand onto his gut,"It hurts when I laugh." Shane's voice had turned scratchy than it's ususal enthusiastic tone.

"Don't worry, I'll be right back!" Greaten zoomed out the door and off the mountain top town. There was a forest below. A small hut with smoke popping out a hole in the top sat plop on the edge of the forest near Ponyville.

"Zecora!" Greaten screamed as she sped up to the hut. She promptly landed in front of the door to the hut. She busted through the door,"Zecora! Zecora!" Everything in the hut shook violently. The zebra had to hold onto the potion she had with both hooves.

"What is it Greaten my friend? How will out paths cross again?" Zecora asked, putting the substance on a table.

"My friend needs help! He got scratched by a bunch of griffons and now he is hurt badly!" Greaten was out of breath.

"Sounds like your problem is a dark one in deed. use this potion to fix your noble stead." Zecora grabbed a bottle with her hooves and carefully gave it to her friend. The potion inside was like a baby blue with a slight glow to it.

"Thanks!" Greaten grasped the glass bottle in her talons and tried to exit but only managed to bump into a shelf and another potion dropped down from the ceiling. It looked the same as the baby blue liquid in the bottle she was originally carrying. She put one of them down on a counter and then zoomed into the sky. The one she put down had a label that read

Healing Serum Zecora could only facehoof.

Shane pulled himself on to the bed in Greaten's den. He was so irresistibly tired, he closed his eyes. The next thing he knew, Greaten exploded into the doorway.

"Drink this!" She exclaimed as she shoved the potion into Shane's hand. He poured the liquid down his throat with all the strength he could muster. He burped a massive belch like he just drank a large thing of soda and went to lay back down. He closed his eyes again and relaxed. Greaten climbed up and sat next to Shane. He would have been on the verge of dying  if she didn't go to Zecora's and she knew it. Shane was a tough person and held onto life as a human being.

He dreamed he was in a dark room. He was looking into a mirror. Nothing was happening, just a marine staring into a mirror. Suddnely Shane's reflection started to speak

"I'll see you later." It said as it waved goodbye. Shane tried to stop it.

"Hey! Come back!" He pleaded."I don't want to be alone!"

"It's OK, I'm here." shane turned from the mirror and saw the outline of a Griffon.

"You are not me though."

"I am now." It said before flying into Shane's torso. Shane fell back.Something was happening to his body. He tried to stand up. He inspected himself. First his hands and then his feet and then his body everything was normal. He looked into the mirror. A griffon's body was staring back at him. Shane screamed.

"Thunder? Thunder!" Shane heard. He jolted awake. Greaten was looking at him. He tried to shake his head. He put his hand up to try to soothe the throbbing in his head. He felt as if he had more hair on his hair than when he went to asleep. He looked at his hand... claw.

"AHH!" Shane screamed."What happened!?"Shane looked all around his body, only to be staring at a griffin's body like the mirror in his dream. The exact same body!

"I don't know! I heard you mumble something and when I turned to see, this was you!"

"OK, I just need to stay calm!" Shane exercised his breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Shane tried to concentrate on something but his mind raced at light speed to try to comprehend his new body. Why was he like this? How long will he be like this? When will he figure all these questions out?

"Thunder?" Greaten asked, looking over his new body. Shane looked towards her,"I just want you to know, I'm here for you!"

"Thanks." Shane smiled. Some of Shane's fingers felt like they were on fire. Maybe because they weren't there anymore. He did feel something new. He didn't know what they were, but it was on his torso. He tried to focus on that region to find out what is was. Wings sprouted out. Shane was scared shitless at this point. He noticed his vest was still around his claws and body. His wings could just lie over top of it,"At least my team can somewhat identify me."

"I don't think showing them your body and saying your their leader is a wonderful idea." Greaten warned.

"I might wanna train my fighting first." Shane shrugged.

"That is a start." Greaten barely agreed.

"I think it is a little to dark out to start so I'll try to go back to bed."

"I'm right here for you." Greaten was greatly concerned for her friend.

"Thank you." Shane said before actually lying down on the bed. Greaton tried to get as close to him as possible."What are you doing?"

"It's cold out."

`"Oh, didn't even think about the temperature."

"You don't mind, do you?"

"Go ahead. I think I'm starting to get a little cold too."

Greaton cuddled as far as she could into Shane's new body. She snuggled her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He couldn't help but sling one arm around her body.

James looked from his friend's house window. He looked behind him. The three people who stayed with him all lie asleep. Chuck sat on a small chair. Mark and Carly decided to lie down on the bed. James had a sleeping bag. and decided to stay up.  He opened the front door ever so slightly and left. He sat on the ground, thinking, concentrating, brainstorming.

James wanted to know where his friend was. He stood up and walked. He didn't care where, he just walked. Past a few houses and James still wondered. Past a random boutique and he still wondered. James didn't realize he was in front of a bar when he walked in. No one really payed much attention to him except one pony in the far back.

"Shane! Shane over here!" James walked over,"Wait, you're not Shane. You must be his friend." The same night guard from Canterlot was sitting with a mug of foamy apple cider.

"Do you know where he is, I imagined what he was doing in Canterlot would have been solved by now."

"The last I heard, he was hired by one of my friends to be a bodyguard."

"Where?"

"I think Griffonville. I'm not sure."

"OK, thanks."

"Tell him I said hi!"

James sprinted out the door, across Ponyville and into his friend's house. All three of them awoke with anger.

"What the Hell, man!" Mark exclaimed pissed."I'm trying to sleep!"

"Shane isn't in Canterlot anymore!"

"Where is he then?" Chuck asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Someplace called Griffinville."

"We can go there in the morning. Let's get some sleep first."

James looked out the window. He didn't want to leave his friend another hour, but he was forced to.

~~~~~~~MORNING~~~~~~

Shane slowly escaped from his unconscious dream world and came back to reality. Greaten was gone from the bed and it was a nice and warm day outside. Shane tried to climb on all fours. It was easier than when he used to do it as a kid when he watched Lion King and when he used to watch Courage the Cowardly Dog.

Shane missed the old Earth. He wanted his team's safe passage home if he couldn't go.

He stumbled out on all four legs and walked across town. Greaten was nowhere in sight. No one really cared for Shane . They were only interested by the vest and knife. The M-4 still had a full clip. Shane didn't hurt any of them.

He wanted to learn how to use his wings. He spread them out and practiced flapping them. Each time a little harder than the last. He managed to get a foot off the ground. He wasn't as tired as he thought he would be.

"Thunder?" Shane heard his name called. He turned around to see Greaten hiding behind a building. She looked panicked. Shane became suspicious. Because of this, he walked over on his hind legs, holding his knife pouch just in case.

"Yeah?"

"Hurry up!" A hushed voice called up behind her.

"Hey! Who is back there?" Shane called out.

Greaten paled. She quickly tried to get him to stop. Shane became a little closer. That was when he saw an arm around her neck. In Shane's mind, this song started to play

Youtube Video

.

I wear this crown of thorn

upon my liar's chair

Full of broken thoughts

I cannot repair.

Shane heard a click behind him. A gun. He put his claws up.

"Get on your knees!" A different voice called out.

The Griffon holding Greaten walked out, holding a shard of glass to her neck.

"Shane, Shane, Shane. The changelings have quite the bounty on your head."

"I'm not Shane." Shane said with a sly smile.

"Then who are you?" The griffon asked taking a knee in front of Shane. The song played freely.

"I'm your worst nightmare." That instant, Shane grabbed the arm of the unsuspecting Griffon and tossed him onto the other. He pulled up his M-4 and started to fire warning shots at them. The griffon with the glass jumped at Greaten. A round went straight through his head and into the dirt.

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

Greaten hid in the building shadow. The last griffon took the M9 and tried to shoot Shane. One bullet hit the armor where it was absorbed and the bullet ricocheted off. The griffon was now frightful and quickly got up. He ran to the edge of the mountain and jumped. He only got a few flaps in before Shane took a shot into his back, sending him flying down to the Everfree.

Greaten ran to him and gave him a huge bear hug. She was kissing him all over his face repeating the same words of "Thank you!".

"Hey, it's my job!" Shane insisted."Let's get you situated somewhere else than here. Huh?"

"Yeah sure, there is only a few things I need before we go!"

Greaten decided to sprint to her house. Shane decided to practice his flying. He counted 3...2...1... He pounded the ground with a sudden thud and a whoosh. He was at least thirty feet in the air. He started to flap his wins to calm the descent. He had a soft landing and was completely psyched.

Greaten came back with a small handbag. It was old leather, a small started to rot.

"Are you ready?" Shane asked.

"Yeah. Ready when you are."

Shane began to sprint on all fours. He was followed by Greaten. It was hard but it payed off when he made a leap of faith and opened his wings.

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

If I could start again,

a million miles away.

I would keep myself.

I would find a way.