Gallus' Tragedy

"So, you want to know the truth?" Gallus cried, confronted by his friends, headmare and one of his professors. "Well, my parents are dead, that's all that matters. What else do you want to know?"

"Gallus…"

Loudly yelling in sadness, Gallus flew out of the office leaving Twilight and the others flabbergasted.

"Poor Gallus,' said Silverstream, sadly building up sympathy for the blue griffon. "Can't imagine what it must be for him. Aunt Novo always said it's better to air your feelings than keep them hidden. No offense, Headmare Twilight."

"None taken," replied Twilight, putting the letter from Novo out of her mind. "Nevertheless, Gallus can't hide from the truth forever. If he won't tell us himself, then we need to go inside his mind to find out."

Immediately, the rest of the students looked over at Twilight in a confusing manner.

"Go inside his mind?" wondered Ocellus. "Isn't that what Princess Luna does when we are asleep?"

"Yes, Ocellus. That's what she does and it's Luna who is going to help us get to the bottom of the situation."

Sitting at her desk, Twilight began to draft up a scroll to send to Luna while the rest of the students watched in silence. After a few moments, the scroll was completed and was sent on its way.

"Hope Luna gets it in time," thought Twilight. "The sooner Gallus confronts his demons, the better."

…

Meanwhile, Gallus flew as fast as he could away from the school of friendship found himself in the throne room at the Castle of the Two Sisters. He needed to be alone, not wanting to face the demons of that dark day in his life.

"Why do they need to know the truth?" shouted Gallus. "It's not their business, it's mine! Dad, if you hadn't been so obsessed with making everyone in Griffonstone like each other…."

In a fit of rage, the griffon pounded the cracked floor, causing several of the ceiling's pieces to fall to the ground and break apart.

"…then, I wouldn't have been forced to live the life of an orphan!"

Going up to Celestia's old throne, he sat in the throne and looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't help but think of what could have been and it was beginning to take its toll on Gallus.

"Dad, why? Why couldn't you just accept the fact that you can't right all the wrongs in this world? It's…it's just a shame that I…"

Suddenly, the energy Gallus had used to unleash his growing frustration began to weaken him and he slowly fell asleep, collapsing onto the foot of Celestia's throne.

…

Back at the school, Twilight and the others were waiting to see if Twilight's message to Luna got through and sure enough, the Princess of the Night dashed into Twilight's office, causing the students to bow before her.

"You may rise," she said, motioning for the students to rise while looking over at Twilight and Rainbow Dash. "I received your message and came as fast I could, Twilight Sparkle."

"I thank you for coming, Luna. Gallus the griffon is being haunted by demons from his past and he won't tell us."

"I can assure you that whatever demons he has are demons that only he can defeat," replied Luna.

"How?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"By facing them head on, of course. I've been watching the torment that Gallus is going through and even though he may not want to believe it, he cannot fight these demons alone."

"That's an understatement," remarked Smolder. "What do you expect us to do, Princess Luna? Just go into Gallus' dreams and see what is causing him problems?"

This made Luna turn over towards Smolder and smile at her.

"Yes, young dragon," she said firmly. "But in order for you all to go into your friends' mind, you must all be asleep. Normally I would do this at night, but since this is a situation that is immediate, I must put you all to sleep immediately."

"We'll take the risk, Luna," said Twilight, firmly looking over at her fellow princess.

Acknowledging this, Luna closed her eyes and activating her horn, produced a sleeping gas that covered the entire office. Breathing in the fumes, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and the students all collapsed and fell asleep.

…

Suddenly, they all found themselves in Griffonstone amongst Griffons of all kinds.

"Wow, this is what its like to be in a dream?" remarked Sandbar, looking down and seeing the clearness he now was featured as.

"This is really cool," laughed Silverstream, managing to transform herself into a series of stairs at the foot of a tall structure. "Look ma, I'm stairs!"

"You and your stairs obsession," muttered Smolder.

"Look there!" called Twilight and all turned to see a young blue baby griffon in a small house, lying in a crib. Inside was a dark blue male griffon sitting in a chair in front of the crib. In his claws was a small knife that he kept placing at his throat. "That must be Gallus' father."

"It is my father," said a voice and there stood Gallus, watching from another window not even bothering to pay attention to all that were gathered. "One of the well-liked griffons in Griffonstone who wanted Griffons to be like ponies, sharing friendship with one another. After the Griffon civil war, all Griffons despised one another."

At that moment, they saw a light blue female griffon fly into the bedroom. She had a look of anger on her face and swatted the knife down from the dark blue griffon's claw.

"Orbus, this has gone far enough!" she cried, glaring angrily at him. "Why must you continue to obsess yourself over making everyone in Griffonstone love each other?"

"Because we need to start loving and respecting one another, Athena!" cried Orbus, snatching the wife away from her. "Don't you get it, you dumb broad? Griffons need to learn to let go of their animosity and move on with their lives!"

"Not everygriffon is going to listen! You know something? Ever since the civil war ended, you've been in denial of the truth!"

"What denial?!" Orbus snapped.

"The denial that by forcing everygriffon to bend to your will, you are ruining more lives than benefiting lives!"

A look of desperation befell on Orbus' face and the deranged griffon picked up his wife and threw him against the wall of Baby Gallus' room.

"No, no you're lying!" he hissed, placing the knife at Athena's throat. "Don't you see? I will never stop, I will never give into the animosity that now befalls us all. But, you've left me with no choice."

Realizing what was about to happen, Athena's face began to show urgent fear.

"Orbus, Orbus! No!" she screamed. "Please! Please, no!"

"I love you, Athena," he whispered and taking the knife, slashed it across Athena's throat. With her throat slit, the now lifeless female griffon fell to the ground. Right away, Orbus became overcome with guilt over what he had just did and proceeded to tower over his son's crib. The baby Gallus began to fuss in fear over the knife that his father had in his claws. Without saying another word, he pulled the knife away from his son and turned it towards his own chest. "Gallus, I love you and I hope you forgive me…for what I must do!"

Taking the knife, the deranged griffon stuck it deep into his chest and stumbled to where his wife's body was. With a final gasp of air, Orbus collapsed and died on top of Athena.

"So that's it!" gasped Rainbow Dash, her voice filled with shock and disgust. "He tries to make every Griffon like each other and…"

"Some creatures can't handle the truth," sighed Gallus, still looking at the murder/suicide that had just transpired before them. "My dad couldn't handle it and took the easy way out with my mother."

"Gallus, I'm so sorry," sympathized Twilight, flying over to him and placing a hoof on him.

"No, you're not," snapped Gallus, pushing Twilight away. "If you had known in the first place…"

"But we didn't know, Gallus," interrupted Silverstream. "We didn't know that something like this happened because you decided to keep your feeling hidden from us."

"Because it wasn't your burdens to bear," said Gallus, finally looking over towards his friends. "It was my burdens to bear. Unlike my dad, I didn't become crazed with making everycreature friendly to one another. You see? This is why I sabotaged the tree to keep all of you here with me, because I couldn't bear myself to return home and relive that moment all over again."

"When did this happen, Gallus?" asked Luna.

"On the Blue Moon festival," answered Gallus. "The one day where griffons are supposed to put everything aside and act friendly, is instead the day where my great tragedy began."

Right then and there, there was nothing but sympathy for the young griffon. But sooner or later, Gallus would have to forgive his father for what happened on that fateful day…