Gallus' Tragedy

Rainbow Dash had spent several days on probation at Wonderbolt Headquarters as a result of Queen Novo's overreactive letter about how she treated Silverstream and the rest of the student six. But during this time, she couldn't help but sympathize with Gallus and his situation.

…

Rainbow Dash had known firsthand just how griffons could be.

Rainbow Dash was friends with one and was a jerk to two of her friends, making of them cry.

…

"Compounds all set, Spitfire," Rainbow Dash said as she walked into her superior's office.

"Good job, crash," remarked the leader of the Wonderbolts from behind her desk. "I hope now you understand that we don't tolerate angry letters from leaders of other kingdoms saying that one of our own was being hard on one of their subjects."

"Yeah, I will admit I was a little harsh on the students. In fact, Twilight and I both feel like complete idiots looking back on it now," sighed Rainbow Dash. "But, that's beside the point. There's something I have been meaning to talk to you about, Spitfire."

This caused Spitfire to stop whatever she was working on and look up at her most promising underling

"Were you ever friends with a griffon?" Rainbow Dash asked, much to Spitfire's surprise. "It's okay if you weren't."

"I can't really say that I have been, Crash. But we all know you were friends with one."

"And she was a jerk to my friends. Of course, not all griffons are mean. In fact, I can't help but sympathize with Gallus. Just the fact alone he doesn't have a family makes me feel even more like a jerk."

"Perhaps you need to see the situation from Gallus' point of view," suggested Spitfire, leaning on the edge of her desk.

"But how?" wondered Rainbow Dash. "It's not like I grew up an orphan. I had parents to call my own, even though they drove me up the walls."

Spitfire couldn't help but chuckle quietly to herself, remembering how Rainbow Dash's parents amusingly embarrassed her.

"Part of me can't really blame Gallus for doing what he did," continued Rainbow Dash, pacing back and forth in front of Spitfire's desk. "I mean, I know its his home, but who would want to go back to a place where you grew up around so much negativity? It's not cool, hey, it's not even 20% cooler."

"If I were you, crash," suggested Spitfire, taking off her sunglasses and placing them on her desk. "I would offer up as much support to your student as you can. Everything that has been told to me is saying that this creature has a situation that has been grave for a very…long…time. I'm not asking you, Crash. As your superior, I'm ordering it."

"Yes, ma'am!" replied Rainbow Dash, saluting Spitfire, before leaving her office and returning to her probation duties.

…

Later that night, all of the students at the school of friendship were sound asleep except for Gallus, tossing and turning as he heard voices play out in his head.

"Please don't do this!" cried a female voice, crying out in fear. "We can still live our lives the way we want to live them!"

"I have no choice," replied a gruff male voice. "There is no hope for us now! I refuse us to live amongst a corrupted kingdom. The time has come for us to leave this pathetic world: you, me, our son! I can't stand it any longer!"

"Please, Orbus, no!" the female voice shrieked followed by the sounds of bloodcurdling screams.

Opening his eyes, Gallus let out a loud scream as he shot up from his bed, followed by franctic panting and gasping. The rest of the students were also awakened by the griffon's scream.

"You had it again, Gallus," groaned Smolder, flying out of her bed to put on their bedroom lantern. "That's the second time."

"I can't help it, guys!" cried Gallus, rolling himself onto his cat like legs. "It's been playing out every night like a bad nightmare that I can't wake up from. The screams, the cries, it's nonstop!"

Each of the young creatures looked at each other with a nervous glance at one another. They hated seeing one of their own suffer in such a manner.

"Care to tell us what it is?" Ocellus asked.

"No, I don't want to talk about it," Gallus cried, hastily looking away from his friends. "Because it doesn't concern you."

"Yona worried about griffon," said Yona, walking over to Gallus' bedside.

"Well, you shouldn't be worried because it doesn't concern you," snapped Gallus, sharply glaring at Yona before realizing his mistake. "It only concerns me. I…I need to be alone right now. Excuse me."

The rest of Gallus' friends watched as the blue griffon flew out the window into the school's courtyard.

"This can't go on, guys," sighed Sandbar heavily as he looked over to his friends. "I mean, its worse than we all thought."

"I agree," added Smolder. "Gallus says whatever is plaguing him concerns him and him alone. Well, it concerns us too. We told Headmare Twilight and now we…"

"If Headmare Twilight says that we need to let Gallus have his space, then we have to let Gallus have his space," interrupted Ocellus. "It may be easier said than done, but it is the way it is."

"Nevertheless gang," interjected Sandbar. "He can't keep his feelings hidden forever. I'm sure we have all been in situations where we try to keep something hidden forever, but ultimately they come out. Gallus is no exception, no exception at all."

And the five multi-creature students looked out the window and saw Gallus staring down at the water underneath a small bridge in the courtyard. He remained in that same position for the remainder of the night until the following morning. Sure enough, Gallus' first class of the day was Rainbow Dash's loyalty class and he was struggling to stay awake.

"Um, Gallus?" Rainbow Dash asked, tapping the chalkboard loudly. "Gallus, might I interrupt your little nap? There's some learning go on here."

"Oh, uh, sorry Professor Dash," muttered Gallus. "Just…didn't get a lot of sleep last night. You know how it is."

But Rainbow Dash wasn't convinced. Immediately, the conversation she had with Spitfire the day before came back to her. Still, she had a job to do and went back to teaching, ignoring Gallus' exhaustion.

…

"He was falling asleep in my class again," Rainbow Dash said to Twilight in her office later that day. "I'm telling you, he is hiding something, Twilight."

"Maybe he doesn't want to reveal his secrets to anypony or anycreature," suggested Spike.

"Well, we can't just flat out ignore whatever is going on in Gallus' mind," remarked Twilight, looking over towards the table where the rest of the student six would be sitting at in a short period of time. Then, all of a sudden, she got a flashback in her mind. "Wait a minute, Rainbow Dash. Do you remember when I had to go with Princess Celestia to Griffonstone while you attended that Daring Do convention?"

"The one where I met Quibble Pants?"

"Yes, that!" cried Twilight. "When I was last there, I remember going by some kind of graveyard and there were two graves so close to one another."

"What about them?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"They were the only two graves that were so close to one another," answered Twilight, reaching into her desk and pulling out a picture she had taken while in Griffonstone. "All the other graves were like 30 feet from one another. I couldn't get close to the cemetery, but there is something about those two graves that somehow connects them to Gallus."

Just then, they heard a knock at the door and saw Gallus standing in the doorway.

"Hey," he said, flying into Twilight's office. "I, uh…just wanted to apologize for sleeping in your class, Professor Dash."

Gallus then saw the picture of the two graves on Twilight's desk.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, snatching the picture off of Twilight's desk. "It's…it's…it's my parents…"

Gallus' eyes welled up with tears and immediately, the memories of that fateful day in his life came flooding back to him. At that moment, the rest of his friends came into Twilight's office, but stopped when they saw what was happening.

"Gallus," cried Ocellus as she and the rest of the students looked sadly at him. "Is…"

"Go away," Gallus snapped towards his friends. "Get out of here!"

"We aren't leaving," said Sandbar as they all walked into Twilight's office and sat down. "This has gone on for long enough, Gallus! What is happening to you?"

Realizing that there was no other way to avoid the situation, Gallus prepared to relive the darkest day of his life, the day his life was changed forever.