Chapters Chapter 1: "He's Hiding Something"
Hearth's Warming break had ended and the school of friendship was back in session. But for Twilight Sparkle, there were questions running around her mind. Even though she seemed happy to be welcoming her students back, there was something inside of her that was off.
It wasn't herself.
It wasn't her dragon assistant, Spike.
It wasn't any of her friends.
It wasn't even her own former student, Starlight Glimmer.
It was one of her current students that made her mind set off.
"I can't understand it," she thought to herself as she sat in her office. "There is something more to Gallus' actions than meets the eye. I know Griffons don't like each other, but I have a feeling it goes more deeper than that. Otherwise, how else would he go so low to sabotage school property and keep creatures away from their families? It doesn't make any sense at all. Still, at least I can start to get some leadway."
Twilight looked up and saw a small circle shaped table in the center of her office that had just been brought in. A few moments later, the doors opened and in stepped Starlight Glimmer with five of the six multi-creature students.
"Thanks for coming," Twilight said to the students. "Have a seat."
So they all sat down and Starlight stepped outside leaving them alone with Twilight.
"We aren't in trouble, are we Headmare Twilight?" asked Sandbar, the lone pony in the group. "I mean, you calling us down here and…"
But a nudge from the dragon, Smolder, stopped him from saying another.
"Don't you remember that Headmare Twilight wanted us to have these group meetings after the whole tree situation?" remarked Smolder.
"I did, Smolder," interjected Twilight as she sat down at the head of the round table. "There is something about the six of you that reminds me a lot of myself and my friends. Of course, it did have to take you delaying your own school breaks to prove that to me."
Twilight then pulled over a small note from her desk and handed it over to Silverstream, the hippogriff.
"Still, I had my own consequences to deal with," she sighed. "Your aunt wrote this to me, Silverstream. She threatened to pull you from here because I kept you all from returning home."
"Don't worry about it," chuckled Silverstream, not even opening the letter. "Aunt Novo really gets riled up when these things happen."
"Nevertheless, it was hard on us all, Headmare Twilight," added the changeling, Ocellus. "You…you did your job, but before Gallus confessed…"
"It's all in the past now, Ocellus," Twilight interrupted with a smile. "The only reason why we kept you all is so we could find the one responsible and Gallus confessed to his involvement."
But Twilight's smile disappeared with what she said next.
"Still, ever since then, hasn't any one of you noticed that Gallus seems to be…I don't know? Hiding something from everycreature?"
"Gallus been acting weird," said Yona, the female yak. "Yona notices it."
"I did see him starring off into oblivion a few times during Professor Rarity's class," added Ocellus. "He always seems to have a look of despair deep in his face or something like that."
"We tried talking to him about it," added Sandbar. "But, he'll just brush it off like it is nothing. I know he didn't want to go back to Griffonstone for the Blue Moon festival, but it seems like there is something else."
"And that's why I wanted to bring you all here," said Twilight. "I've been to Griffonstone for royal summits and the animosity is so tense, you can cut it with a knife. In regard to Gallus, he just tries to hide it. Didn't any of you notice during our Hearth's Warming feast that he just said nothing?"
"He was probably drained from confessing his actions," remarked Ocellus. "I mean, that was a lot of guilt he was hiding inside of him. Or something happened to him in his past that he just doesn't want to talk about it."
Twilight took in what her student had said. She knew very well that a creature's past determines their present character.
"You don't think that maybe…" Sandbar started to say only to stop at midsentence. "Oh, dude…"
"Nevertheless, we are all concerned about him, Headmare Twilight," said Ocellus. "We want to help Gallus, but we just don't know how. He just has this scowl on his face that he usually keeps on him for a good hour or so. None of us can ask him because we are just too scared at how he is going to react."
Twilight took in what the young female Changeling had said and sat back in her chair in deep thought. Everything that had been told to her was more than enough to confirm her suspicions about Gallus.
"Has he done any actions to further his troubles?" Twilight asked.
"He does keep muttering something over and over again," answered Smolder, catching Twilight's attention. "Something about his parents and how he misses them."
"Griffon has no family?" Yona cried, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
"Of course, he doesn't have a family because he told us about it," said Smolder. "Still, he never told us the circumstances surrounding what happened to his family. Sooner or later, the truth is going to come out."
"What can we do about it?" asked Silverstream.
"I will say this," said Twilight, getting the attention of her young pupils. "When you feel that the time is right, I want you to approach Gallus and offer him whatever support you possibly can. If he feels like he doesn't want to tell you about what happened to his family, then I ask you to respect his wishes."
A pained look on Twilight's formed as she said what she needed to say.
…
Meanwhile, Gallus the Griffon arrived in his dorm alone and reached underneath his bunk bed, pulling out what appeared to be a picture frame. He looked down at the pictures and tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
"Mom…dad…I miss you so much," he silently cried to himself. "Why did you both have to leave me so soon?"
Chapter 2: "A Picture of Two Graves"
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.
Chapter 3: "Going into Gallus' Dreams"
"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…
Chapter 4: "To Forgive or Not to Forgive"
It was becoming more and more clear to Twilight, Rainbow Dash and their students of how damaged Gallus' personal lives was. Seeing Gallus' father murder his mother and then kill himself was just as painful as hearing him tell the story of what happened.
"Gallus," Twilight stammered, walking over towards her student and throwing a hoof around his shoulder. "I'm…I'm so sorry this had to happen to you."
"Well now you know why I did what I did, Headmare Twilight," Gallus snapped, pushing her away and facing the group that was in front of him. "My father was supposed to be my mentor, the griffon I would turn to whenever I had problems. And what does he do? He takes the easy way out and takes my mother with him!"
A few tears flowed from Gallus' eyes as he spoke. The pain in his voice was evident, there was no denying that this dark episode of his life was haunting him.
"He just got…he just got so caught up in trying to make griffons like each other after the civil war that he was just too far gone to be reasoned with," Gallus cried. "It seemed like he was trying…to create his own world that he wanted every griffon to be a part of."
"No creature can't force another to live according to their way of life," sighed Luna, remembering how it felt when she was Nightmare Moon. "I was in your shoes once, Gallus and when I tried to make everypony live their lives according to my vision, I ended being banished for a thousand years."
"You're lucky then, Princess Luna," remarked Gallus loudly, bitterly looking at her. "You got a second chance to live your life but my mom and dad will never get a second chance because they are dead, don't you get it? Dead!"
The pains and cries of the blue griffon continued to grow and grow. At that moment, Twilight realized that there was only one way for Gallus to ease his pain.
"Look Gallus," Twilight suggested. "You may not like what I have to say, but…"
"But what?"
Realizing what needed to be said, Twilight sighed deeply.
"Sooner or later, you are going to have to learn to forgive your father. A wise pony once said that it's better to destroy your enemies by making them your friends."
Gallus was aghast by what he had just heard.
"Make my father my friend?" he cried. "Why should I forgive him for what he did?"
"Because that's what I have already done," Twilight replied, nodding to Rainbow Dash who nodded back. "Do you remember how I met Counselor Starlight? Do any of you remember?"
"Yeah, Yona remember Counselor Pony was mean pony before."
"Because she was afraid of friends being taken away from her and I had to talk her talk out of changing the future according to her will," Twilight said. "There have been plenty of others that I have given a second chance to, Discord among them, for Fluttershy's sake."
"Yes, for her sake, Headmare Twilight," Gallus remarked. "But my dad isn't Discord and he isn't like Counselor Starlight. If I was in your shoes, Twilight. The only reason I would bring my dad back from the dead…is so I can send him back myself!"
Clutching a fist in one of his claws, Gallus punched the wall of his house with a loud thud that caused everyone to flinch.
"Violence is never the answer, Gallus," added Rainbow Dash. "Even though Griffons don't like each other, what your kind did was not the answer."
"You were friends with one, Professor Dash. You were friends with Gilda."
"Yes, that's true. But I didn't just take her out and beat her after she was such a jerk to my friends. It took time for me to reconcile with her and now we are on good terms, even though she can still sometimes be a jerk."
"Well, good for you, Professor Dash!" Gallus cried again. "You're lucky to have made amends with Gilda! What happened to you doesn't mean it will happen to me!"
It was becoming very evident to Twilight that the more Gallus resisted, the more the damage Gallus was inflicting upon himself.
"Look Gallus," she sighed. "I know what I mean when I said that the guilty party would need extra friendship lessons as punishment for ruining the hearth's warming tree during the break."
"So, you are finally going to give me extra friendship lessons after all?" Gallus retorted. "Go ahead! I don't care! Anything's better than being back in Griffonstone!"
"Gallus," said Twilight, firmly. "We are going to go back to Griffonstone and you need to make peace with your father."
Gallus couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was being told to face his past by his own headmare.
"But, Headmare Twilight," suggested Ocellus. "Didn't you say that we…?"
"I did, Ocellus," interrupted Twilight. "But it seems clear to me that if we are going to get past this, Gallus needs to find common ground with his father. Gallus, we're going to the cemetery in Griffonstone and visiting the graves of your parents."
Exhausted, Gallus could no longer protest the denial that he was under. Twilight's mind was made up and he wasn't going to do anything to change her mind.
"And don't worry," she added. "We're all going with you, all of us."
Silverstream stepped forward and hugged the blue griffon tightly in support. Then Ocellus followed suit, then Yona, then Smolder and finally Sandbar. Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched them all embrace one another as Luna transported them out of the dream and back into reality.
"Wh…what happened?" murmured Silverstream as she woke up. "Are we…?"
"We're back, Silverstream," answered Twilight. "And we know what we need to do for Gallus. We are going on a field trip to Griffonstone and we are going to support Gallus as he makes peace with his past."
…
Just then, the door to Twilight's office opened and in stepped Gallus with a look of acceptance on his face.
"I'm ready, Headmare Twilight," he answered in a tired voice. "I'm ready to confront my past. When do we leave?"
It didn't take long for Twilight to give her answer.
"At daybreak tomorrow," Twilight said. "We'll take the first train to Griffonstone."
…
