Freeing Gallus

Chapters

Chapter 1: Of Plotting and Milkshakes
Chapter 2: Autumn Wave and Spring Tide
Chapter 3: Dinner with a Princess
Chapter 4: Breakfast with Applejack’s Neighbors
Chapter 5: Troy and Canvas
Chapter 7: The Ice Cave
Chapter 8: Hearts and Hooves
Chapter 9: Tango de las Strippers
Chapter 10: Wedding Day
Chapter 11: Of Cards, Dancing, and Yak Cakes
Chapter 12: Grandpa Gruff
Chapter 13: Starry Reflections
Chapter 14: Rite of Passage
Chapter 15: New Dawn
Chapter 16: A Matter of Perspective
Introduction
Chapter 6: Of Ice Skating and Wedding Traditions

Chapter 1: Of Plotting and Milkshakes

“You wanna run that by me again?” Smolder stuck a claw into an ear to make absolutely sure that nothing was stuffed up. “You want one of us to do… what?”

It was the next morning after Hearth’s Warming and Sandbar called in his friends for a private meeting. All of them were there except for Gallus, as his idea to set his friend free needed a couple of other opinions before presenting it to him. Crammed in that small room, the girls looked on with disbelief that the dragoness had voiced.

“I know this is a lot.” Sandbar explained. “But after hearing his other reason why he doesn’t want to go home, I just had to figure out a way to free him. I mean, I’ve thought about this long and hard. Adopting him is a no go, there’s no one related to him by blood to perform that coming of age ritual. So, the only option to have him set free is to have one of us marry him.”

The girls shared an uncertain look, from the Changeling to the Yak, Hippogriff to Dragoness, there was an uneasiness in their expression.

“You do know that none of us are adults… right?” Smolder pointed out.

“Yeah…” Silverstream rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean if my parents found out that I decided to get married this soon… I’m pretty sure it might start a war.”

“Gallus good friend…” Yona admitted. “But don’t see as husband.”

“My reasons are all the above,” Ocellus said, “plus with the fact that if I did this, not only will I have my parents to answer for, but to King Thorax as well. Besides, even if any of us did have feelings for him, and even if one of us married him temporarily, along ignoring the fact that it’ll be next to impossible to agree to marry a couple that’s underaged, why would marrying him help?”

“Gallus said so himself.” Sandbar got off from his bed. “The only way for those other griffons to accept him as an adult is if he undergoes that ceremony by an adult who is related to him by blood or marriage. I figured that if one of us enters into a marriage, we can have our parents carry out that ritual to make him his own guardian. Then just like that, we’ll get a divorce and Gallus would be free to move here.”

“So, in other words…” Silverstream scratched her head. “Marry him, perform the ritual, then divorce him.”

“Pretty much.” Sandbar nodded.

It was then, that Ocellus got an idea. “Why don’t you marry him?”

The earth pony paused for a moment. He blinked. “Come again?”

“I mean… Why don’t you marry him? I mean, besides the fact that Equestria has same-sex marriage, I think that you can still do this legally, despite your ages.”

Yona raised an eyebrow. “How does Ocellus know this?”

“Well, even before we Changelings have been reformed, it was best to be versed in other country’s marriage laws for the sake of strategy. I mean, Queen Chrysalis’s first invasion through the Royal Wedding wasn’t an accident. It was planned out, and knowing those laws was a factor in that.”

“Okay, setting that aside…” Sandbar turned to her. “How would me marrying him be considered legal?”

“Simple,” she closed her eyes and recited, “‘Nopony under the age of twenty-one years can be wedded unless one of the parties parent/guardian shows up to a priest, judge, city-official or a member of the Royal Family to express that he/she has given their permission to wed.’” The Changeling opened her eyes and said, “Which is why that out of all of us, that the only way this scheme to work is if you got your parents to okay this.”

The others looked at her for a moment before Smolder broke the silence with, “Lady Encyclopedia everyone! But joking aside, I guess that it probably makes the most sense.” She put a claw to her chin. “After all, us girls have some ties to our leaders in one form or another so if any of us did it, chances are it would raise too many eyebrows. But with you… there would be nothing political attached.”

“It would be interesting to see.” Silverstream smiled, “I never heard of two males getting married before. Oh! Do you think I could get a camera to take pictures to send home? I’m sure that none of the other griffs have seen that kind of wedding before.”

“Would pony go through it?” Yona questioned and all eyes were on Sandbar.

The earth pony sat on his haunches, rubbing the back of his head. “I mean… I don’t exactly know how Gallus would feel about this… However, if I explain it to him, and he does agree to do this, I guess I will marry him.”

The young yak nodded her head solemnly. “Then Yak will prepare feast when Sandbar and Gallus wed.”

“Really?” Ocellus was taken aback by this. “Uh, not to be prejudiced here, but I didn’t take it that out of all of us, you would be okay with this.”

Yona laughed. “What Ocellus talking about? Yaks encourage such union before Equestria did! Especially males being warriors. Such arrangement an honor for one be in. Sandbar, in yak eyes, is doing this for honor. Yona will make big feast!”

“So the snow-loving, smash-everything-in-sight Yaks are surprisingly progressive with gay couples.” Smolder shrugged her shoulders. “Who knew?”

“Still,” Ocellus said, “I guess it all comes down to what Gallus says about it. Especially for the part when the two of you will be a married couple for about a month.”

“Of course, I’m gonna have to ask…” Sandbar trailed off when that bit of information reached his brain. “Say what now?”

“Well, according to Equestrian law, ‘A couple, once wed, will not be allowed to divorce or annul the marriage within a month and a day of the wedding unless there is evidence of domestic violence.’ Which means that once you two do get married, then neither of you can’t get a divorce until about a month after the ceremony.”

“Oh…” Sandbar blushed in embarrassment. “And here I thought that it would all happen in a matter of days, but…” He shook his head. “But no matter. If it still means that it would end up freeing Gallus, then I’ll still do it.”

“Question is,” Silverstream asked, “would Gallus?”

To Sandbar’s mind, the best way to present his plan to free his griffon friend would go well with a milkshake. After all, it made sense, right? To scuff down some comfort food, getting one nice and full before hitting the detonation button that might send someone in shock at the mere mention of how to get Gallus out of legal and cultural limbo.

“So I got your note to meet you here,” Gallus said approaching the booth. “Ya know, I was curious to know what Sugar Cube Corner looked like on the inside.” Taking a seat across from the pony, he studied Sandbar’s expression. “Hey dude, is something wrong?”

“Huh?”

“You have that… look. Like the kind that you have something really heavy on your mind.”

Mercifully, Sandbar didn’t have to answer that when a scrawny yellow stallion carrying a tray of two green shakes with plenty of whipped cream and a straw in each appeared. “Two grasshopper milkshakes for ya fellas.” He said placing the tray down on the table and serving to them. “Would there be anything else?”

When told no, the yellow stallion left them as Sandbar immediately took hold of the frozen treat to start sucking it up.

Gallus, however, raised an eyebrow. “Okay seriously dude, what’s going on?”

Gulping, the young stallion set his shake to the side. “Well… remember what you told me the other day how you’re not considered an adult over there?” He nodded. “So… what if I told you that I may or may not have figured out a way for you to… get out of it.”

The griffon’s eyebrow refused to lower down. “But that’s impossible. I’m practically untouchable over there.”

“Not exactly…” Sandbar drew in a sharp, deep breath. “I figured out how to set you free… but I doubt that you’re gonna like it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean… well… I’ve talked to the girls about this and they all agreed that it can work… but there’s a catch.”

“Well spit it out! What did you come up with?”

There was an awkward pause.

“Just… promise me to hear me out.”

Gallus folded his arms and harrumphed. “Fine. I do want to move out of my dump of a home as soon as possible. I don’t care if I have to sell my soul to Discord himself, at this point, I think I’m willing to do pretty much anything.”

“Okay…” Sandbar breathed in a calming breath before saying: “Marry me.”

Another, but this time, very uncomfortable pause. For a long couple of minutes, neither of them said anything as the ponies within the shop carelessly chatted away without taking notice of what was going on in the corner of the room. Sandbar studied his expression to get some sort of hint of what was going on inside his head. However, Gallus was motionless. For a few minutes, not even his eye twitched as he just sat there, processing what he just heard.

“Say what?” He finally said.

“Yeah, before you jump to conclusions, just let me explain.” Sandbar told him of his discussion of the girls from why they couldn’t do it to the marriage laws that Ocellus brought up. When he was finished, he added, “If you agree to do this, all that’s left is for me to get ahold of my parents to convince them to do this and before you know it, you’re free to move here!”

Gallus ran a claw through his head. “I don’t know dude… I… I guess it could work… but…”

“You don’t like the idea.”

“I’m not saying that I’m against it. When you explain why I guess it kinda makes sense. But… I mean it’s one thing to get married when I’m a couple of years away from being eighteen, but to get hitched to you, a guy… This plan is just… weird.”

“Dude, I know. Even if I was older and a guy asked me to get married… I wouldn’t be quick to jump on board with it too. However, we have to face the fact that this might be the only way out. It’s not like once we’re married that we have to… you know… We’d be just together on paper for about a month. In the meantime, I can have my parents do that ritual thing so you can be a legal adult in Griffonstone. Once it’s all over, we’ll get divorced and you can finally move out of there without anyone else saying that you can’t.”

Gallus sighed into his claws. He reflected on this for a moment before saying. “I’ll do it—but on one condition.”

“Okay… what’s that?”

“I will get married to you, only if you can convince at least one of your parents to let us get married. If you can, then let’s do it.”

Somehow, in the back of his head, out of all the things that Sandbar wasn’t prepared to do, it was that. No doubt that once he does tell someone like his dad that he wants to get married to a male griffon, he could envision the tidal wave of questions that would no doubt he’ll have to answer for. Not to mention that engaging in that conversation could immediately change his parents’ view of him.

“Uh yeah… it’s a deal,” Sandbar said with an uneasy smile.

Chapter 2: Autumn Wave and Spring Tide

A few days later, Sandbar waited anxiously at the Ponyville railway station. He paced back and forth, looking up and down the rail line for any sign of the 2:45 train to arrive at any moment. Despite how cold it was, it didn’t stop the young stallion from being any less jittery. There were a few times where he had to adjust his sea blue scarf as the bitter wind kept untying the simple knot around his neck. The cold didn’t bother him much underneath his woolen hat and earmuffs, but being out in the open still tempted him to retreat into town.

Then, his ears perked up when he finally heard the sound he was waiting for. A steam whistle from the south, and there down the rail was the Friendship Express coming towards his direction. At once, Sandbar felt the excitement to finally see his parents for the first time since he came to the School of Friendship—and also icy dread for what was about to happen.

In a matter of minutes, the locomotive slowed to a halt and the rail cars were opened. Sandbar waited and watched as ponies got off. Then, he saw them.

“Mom! Dad!” Sandbar galloped straight towards them. With open hooves, he wrapped them around a middle-aged green stallion with blue dreadlocks and a yellow mare with a messy pink mane and a seashell necklace around her neck. Riding on the mare’s back was a small green filly. “I’ve missed you guys so much!”

“Hay Sandbar,” the older stallion said as he hugged him back.

“It’s so good to finally see you again,” his mother said as she did the same.

“Sand!” The filly leaped off her mother’s back and onto her brother’s face.

“Ugh! Aqua!” Sandbar broke the hug just so he could pry his baby sister off his muzzle like a facehugger.

“She just misses you,” his mother said, reaching her forelegs to pick the foal up. “We all do.”

“How’re studies going?” his father asked.

“I’d say things are going pretty well.” Sandbar told them, a gust of wind made a chill run down his spine. “But right now, let’s get to the school where it’s a good deal warmer.”

“Have you been waiting out here all this time?” his mother questioned as they began to follow their son.

“Not long, I promise. But I don’t wanna hang out in this weather for long.”

“I can see why,” the older stallion chuckled.

The family hastily made their way directly towards the School of Friendship. Along the way, Sandbar went through his head to try to think of how to break his plan to them. Once they passed through the school doors, Sandbar ushered them towards the student lounge where, thankfully, no one was in sight. After closing the double doors behind him, he took in a deep breath and turned to them.

“First of all, thank you guys so much for coming up here.”

“Well you did miss Hearth’s Warming,” his father, Autumn Wave, said as he took a seat on one of the couches. “You’ve missed quite a bit.”

Spring Tide, his mother, nodded, putting the filly down on the floor. “Like the time I almost spilled gravy on the tablecloth.”

“That was quite the doozy.” Sandbar sighed in relief. “I almost thought that it was going to stain it for a moment there. Still, good thing that didn’t happen.”

“Yes. But let’s not forget, Sandbar,” Spring turned to him, “your letter said that you have something important to tell us.”

Sandbar gulped. “Yeah… It’s uh… kinda hard to explain, actually.”

“Ooh, something really serious then.” Autumn nodded. “That probably explains why you didn’t just tell us through the letter. But don’t hold it in son, you need to let all of that flow. I promise we won’t judge. You have two pairs of ears listening—well three if you count Aqua here.” He waved a hoof at the foal who was nibbling on a throw pillow. “So let it out, what’s on your mind?”

“Well…” Sandbar shifted from one hoof to the other. “You guys know about my friends, right?”

“Totally!” Spring smiled. “And with other creatures too. I still think that it’s so awesome that you’ve finally come out of your shell to interact with others.”

“Uh-huh,” Autumn agreed, “we are so proud of all the leaps and bounds you’ve made in these pasts few months. Not only with good grades but being friends with such diverse creatures and sending us what they and their cultures that we didn’t know about—why you’re the talk of the town!”

Sandbar blinked. “Really?”

“You know our neighbor, Ms. Driftwood?” his mother asked, and he nodded. “She told me that she was impressed of all the things you’re able to do here at this school.”

“Wow…”

“But we’re getting off topic,” Autumn pointed out. “So, what were you saying?”

“Oh, right… Um… Anyway, as I was saying. You know about my friends, right? Well, do you remember me mentioning about Gallus? The griffon?” They told him that they did. “You see, on Hearth’s Warming Eve, Gallus pulled a prank that nearly got us into trouble, and after a while, we found out why.”

“What do you mean?” his mother inquired.

“For starters, Gallus has no family at all in Griffonstone. But more than that, I also found out that over there, he’s not considered a real adult or his own guardian because no one related to him took him through a coming of age ceremony. Over there, he has no freedom at all. He can’t even move here to Equestria because to them, they still see him as nothing but a kid.”

“You’re joking,” Both parents said in unison, equally disgusted.

“I know.” He nodded, “When I heard about this, I just felt so bad for him that… I wanna figure out a way to help him. To free him from all of that. He told me that he can’t be adopted because there’s no close relative to allow that. However…”

“Yes?” Autumn pressed on when his son trailed off.

“I, uh… I figured out a loophole. A way to set him free, which is where you guys come in. I’ve talked to my friends about it, and they said that through at least one of you, it can work.”

“Well what is it?” his mother asked.

Sandbar braced himself, cheeks turning a shade of pink. “Mom, dad… I need for you guys, to give us permission, to uh… marry, each other…”

Autumn’s mouth hung loosely while Spring put a hoof over hers, both wide-eyed. For a long, uncomfortable moment, neither said a word as they both shared a glance. Meanwhile, Sandbar’s little sister was wrestling with the throw pillow, rolling on the floor. Finally, his father raised a hoof. “You do know that you’re not twenty-one yet… right?”

He nodded. “Turns out, the law says that, yeah I can’t until then. However, I could get married sooner if I had your guys’ permission to do so. But I swear, this will only be—”

“Oh Sandy!” Before he could register what was happening, Spring rushed up, quick as lightning to embrace her son into a bearhug a couple of inches off the floor, “My baby has found love!” Sandbar would gladly interject if the air weren’t currently being squeezed out of his lungs. “This school is more incredible than I thought! I knew this was a good investment!”

“Hon!” Autumn called out, “Let him breathe.”

Mercifully, she let him slip through her iron grip to let him gasp on the floor. “You… what?” Sandbar wheezed.

“Just to clarify,” his dad said, “this Gallus, it’s a he, right?” Their son nodded and he smirked at his wife. “You owe me twenty bits.”

“Am I missing something here!?”

His mother rolled her eyes. “Sandbar, we sent you to this school so that you would expand your horizons to meet others. I mean, let’s face it, back home you didn’t have much room to let you come out of your shell. Baby, we’re proud of you for befriending those that not many ponies would call friends. Now, I will admit, there was a small hope that, maybe, you would have the means to find yourself. Of course, we didn’t think you would find a special someone this soon, but this is far better than what we could hope for.”

“That,” Autumn said, “and your mother and I made a playful bet of what you might be into. And by the looks of it, I won.”

Sandbar’s cheeks glow bright red. “W-Wait a minute! I-I’m not… I-I-I mean…” he let out a frustrated sigh. “The point is! If I have any hope of freeing Gallus, I would need at least one of you to say yes to marrying him long enough to perform that coming of age ritual thing and divorce him so he can be free.”

“Ooh…” His father acknowledged. “When you put it like that… not only does it make a little more sense. And this is something you came up on your own?”

“Yeah.”

His father got up from the couch to put a hoof on his shoulder. “Sandbar, this is the most selfless thing you’re willing to do for another, and for that, I’m the proudest father in the world. I mean, that you thought this up to liberate your friend is mind-blowing. You really are an incredible friend that he is very lucky to have.” He hugged him. “And for the record,” he added, “that either way, you have my blessing.”

“And mine too!” Spring put a hoof around her son. “Although, are you sure this is the only reason you want to marry him?” she asked with a smirk.

“Huh?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I agree with what your dad says. However, are you sure there are no other alternative motives for wanting to marry your friend? Like you might be dating him in secret or something?”

“Uh… no?”

“So where is Gallus?” His father asked.

“I think he’s in his room now, why?”

Autumn smiled and said to his wife, “How about we invite him to have dinner with us to discuss the details of the wedding.”

“I better start writing invitations.” Spring went over to pick up her daughter.

“Uh… What are you guys talking about?” Sandbar questioned. “I said that this marriage thing will only be temporary, we don’t have to make any grand plans or-”

“Sandy, baby,” Spring interrupted him, “it’s a wedding. This is an important milestone for all of us. I mean, did you really think that we’re gonna allow you to get married without any witnesses, or the atmosphere, or cake, or any of that stuff?”

“Well… yeah.”

She huffed. “I know we go with the flow, but I cannot have my baby colt get married without a celebration to go with it! And don’t you dare try to debate with me, it’s final!”

“But we won’t be married for long.”

“We know that,” Autumn told him. “But that’s no excuse to not making a big fuss over. Now come on, let’s go meet your fiancé.”

“But…” he sighed. “Fine…” He knew that there was no possible way out of it. Mentally he told himself that this was just part of the plan to free Gallus. “Although, if we’re seriously going to do this, I think I have somepony in mind to officiate the ceremony.”

“Who?” they both asked.

“My Headmare, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” As an afterthought, he added, “And I think we should probably talk to her too.”

Chapter 3: Dinner with a Princess

“Between you and me,” Gallus commented, “I’m surprised that you got your parents on board with this so quickly.”

“Yeah…” Sandbar nodded. The two friends were a few steps behind the earth pony’s parents who were chatting away, bouncing ideas off one another on their way towards dinner. Knowing what was available in town and his parent’s tastes, he had suggested a place called the Foxhouse Kitchen. One of those hole-in-the-wall places that, although of small size, provided very good food. In Sandbar’s mind, it was a stroke of brilliance. It accommodated to both his parent’s attitude of eating what’s locally around and Gallus’s taste in seafood.

“So…” the griffon began to break the awkward silence between them. “Did you invite the Headmare over?”

“Huh?” Sandbar snapped back into reality and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. She knows and she’s excited about both meeting my folks and the food. But at the same time, I didn’t exactly tell her my real reason for bringing her along.”

“I was gonna ask you about that.” Gallus raised an eyebrow. “So why the Headmare?”

“Well… I mean Ocellus said that for this to work we need somepony important like a city-official or a member of the Royal Family. Since she’s a real Princess I thought, ‘Hey, if there’s anypony that would most likely willingly to officiate the marriage, it’s her.’ Besides, if we explain to her about your situation, I’d bet it might give us some extra credit for going the extra mile in our friendship.”

“Ah, good thinking!” he chuckled. “But… yeah… I won’t lie to ya dude, to have you actually do this for me… It’s amazing. You should earn a medal for this.”

Sandbar chuckled. “Yeah, like a ‘Best Bro of the Year.’”

“No kidding! One more step closer to freedom, and there’s nothing, not even stick-in-the-mud Grampa Gruff could do a bucking thing about it.”

“Yeah…,” his green friend nodded. “Still… Gallus, can I ask you a very personal question?”

“What?”

“Well… if you don’t mind of me asking this, what are you into? Like do you prefer—girls, guys, or what?”

The blue griffon went quiet but continued to walk behind Sandbar’s parents. His eyes were turned away from the pony’s to focus on the snow on the rooftops. Finally, Gallus inquired with a “Why do you ask?”

“Partly because for the obvious fact that we’re gonna get hitched soon and partly because… well… you’re pretty much a mystery to us, dude. I mean, none of us had a clue that you didn’t have a family until Hearth’s Warming Eve. Despite any of us getting to know you for the past couple of months, I feel like there’s much more to you then meets the eye.”

“To be fair, I know I have been keeping things to myself.” Gallus shook his wings to warm himself up. “I’m not used to having others pry into my problems before.”

“Okay but you still haven’t answered my question.”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

Sandbar blinked. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I-I don’t know. When you’re untouchable, you can’t really pursue a girlfriend. Not to mention that Griffonstone isn’t exactly the haven for gays either. So, I can’t exactly know who I like when practically everygriff avoids me.”

“Oh, that makes sense…” Sandbar nodded.

“And you?”

“Huh? What do you mean, like what I’m attracted to?”

“No, I was asking if we should buy a couch—yes that’s what I’m talking about, Sherlock.”

“Oh… Well… Between you and me, it’s kinda… complicated.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“It’s… how do I explain this…?” the young stallion asked himself. “My family, as you can see, are pretty open-minded on most things. You could say that they’re kinda like hippies but with a brain. They’re pretty much open minded to most things except when it’s illegal. I mean, to be honest, I thought the deal breaker would be because that neither of us is twenty-one yet. But when it comes to what I might be attracted to, they gave the impression that I would figure things out for my own.”

“Let me guess,” his friend deadpanned, “you don’t know either.”

“Quite the opposite.” He gave a nervous chuckle. “I think I tend to be drawn towards personality than anything else. I suppose with me, it doesn’t exactly matter what they are, just that it’s better than I got to know and have a connection with. You know what I mean?”

Gallus paused in the middle of the snow. “So where do I fit in all of this?”

Sandbar looked around for a moment (especially at his parents who were unknowingly were walking further away from them). “I’m going to be honest with you, Gallus. While I don’t know if I consider myself gay, but if there’s anyone that I would be with, it would be you.”

It was a statement that was so unexpected that the young griffon felt compelled to try to catch up to Sandbar’s parents to spare the surprise blush on his cheeks.

The family plus a griffon made their way through the streets and into the doors of the Café. When they entered, it was busy with ponies having loud conversations and clanking of silverware against plates. There were only a few tables to spare and the bar area where the chefs cook in the open were full. Sandbar followed his parent’s gaze around of the decor of having a farm theme but spotting a fox motif that seemed to stare at the customers from the walls in seemingly at random places. Here an antique plate of China, there a baking tin, on that wall a ticking clock and on the other a calendar that shows the face of the orange furry creature.

But the aromas that greeted them, of brown butter, garlic, baked bread, cinnamon, and apples seemed to welcome each of their senses to stay, take a seat and see what they have to offer.

“I see our Headmare.” Gallus pointed towards the back of the crowded space where a purple alicorn sat, her back against them with only a glass of water and a menu to keep her company.

Sandbar’s parents took a couple steps towards Twilight, but Sandbar darted in front of them. “Mom, Dad, before you say anything to our Headmare, do you think that I and Gallus could at least talk to her a little bit?”

Autumn tilted his head. “I guess you can, but why?”

“I think it would be best to us explain the situation before anything could happen.”

His father turned to Spring, and with a knowing smile, she nodded. “Do you want to be left alone with her?”

After thinking for a minute, Sandbar decided that his family didn’t have to go anywhere as long as he and Gallus got to talk first. So, side by side, the pony and the griffon approached their alicorn Headmare. “Professor?” Gallus was the first to get her attention.

“There you guys are. I was beginning to wonder what was taking you.”

“Huh?” Sandbar tilted his head.

“Well you said that you want to have me to meet with your parents at seven, and it’s a good ten minutes after.” She got up from her seat and offer a hoof to the other ponies. “You must be Sandbar’s mother and father?”

“That’ll be us, Your Highness,” Spring said as she shook her hoof.

“Please, just Twilight is enough. So, you don’t have to call me ‘Princess’ every five seconds.”

“A fair point.” Autumn nodded while shaking her hoof. “Still, you’re here for a very special occasion.”

“Oh?” Twilight tilted her head. “And what’s that?”

While the family took their seats, with Sandbar and Gallus taking theirs between their Headmare, Sandbar started. “Well, you see Professor, we were hoping to ask a… very, big, favor from us.”

Twilight sat back down. “What do you mean?”

“Okay, before any of us go any further.” Gallus raised a claw. “I want you to promise us that you’ll at least hear us out. Because it’s… really important to me.”

She gave her word that she would. “Although if you’re asking me to make either of you into alicorns then I’m afraid that I can’t really do much of anything there.”

“No.” Sandbar shook his head. “It’s not that at all, I promise.”

“Do you want me to explain it or do you care to do the honors?” Gallus inquired. Sandbar told him to go ahead. Thus, the griffon explained to Twilight of his real position as an orphan in Griffonstone, of how that he wouldn’t be considered as an adult until he underwent a coming of age ceremony that could only be done under certain circumstances.

“I’m very sorry to hear that.” Twilight patted his back sympathetically. “Still, what does this have to do with having Sandbar’s parents being here?”

“About that…” the young stallion rubbed the back of his neck. “I uh… figured out a loophole. I’ve already talked to my friends earlier about it and they said that as long as my parents give their permission, that I can set Gallus free legally.”

“And what course of action would that be?”

Both griffon and pony looked at one another where at once, they said in unison, “We want you to marry us.”

Their Headmare’s wings sprang open as her face contorted in surprise. “What—really!?”

“At least temporary,” Gallus immediately added in. “We just need a legitimate reason for me to undergo the ritual so that I can get out of Griffonstone. But after that, I swear that we’ll separate once everything is said and done.”

“I know we’re asking a lot from you.” Sandbar pleaded. “But the fact is that we can’t wait until we’re old enough. If we did that, by the time that happens we’ll be out of your school and it’ll be too late to get him out. I promise, we won’t take advantage of this, just let us get married for a while and then undo it like it never happened.”

For a moment, Twilight looked between the two boys before turning to the parents. “Is this true?” They told her that it was legitimate. Upon hearing this, she opened her wings and wrapped it around both of them in a hug. “This is the greatest act of sacrifice, selflessness, and kindness that I’ve seen in a while. I will be honored to officiate the wedding, just say when and how, and I’ll make it happen.”

“Great!” Sandbar’s mother smiled broadly. “Now we got that out of the way, let’s get down to business!”

An appetizer of bread and soup, several entrees, three types of desserts and several cups later, the two students, parents, and Princess all came to an agreement. Although there was still much left to discuss, they all planned out the when and where the wedding will occur. The time would be the first day of Spring at noon. The place would be in the at the Castle of the Two Sisters (something that the colts were insistent on).

The only thing that Gallus insisted on above everything else, was that this should be kept a total secret from everyone in Griffonstone, especially from Grandpa Gruff. He insisted that if this was to work, absolutely no one from there should know. Otherwise, he might be sent back home before any of them could do anything about it.

They agreed.

“I’ll make a note of that,” Twilight told them. “With that, I promise that when I do have to report to Grandpa Gruff, I’ll keep that important detail out of it until after the fact. By then, he or any other griffon can’t do a thing about it.”

“You know Professor,” Gallus said, “I really appreciate hearing that you’re willing to stick your neck out for me.”

“It’s nothing,” she said with a wave of a hoof. “This would be the second time I would be doing something like this.”

The whole table went quiet for a moment. Sandbar raised a hoof. “What do you mean, ‘second time?’”

“Well to make a very long and complicated story short,” she replied, “this technically won’t be my first time to not only officiate a couple that are both males but one that happens to be both a pony and a griffon too. However, the only difference would be your unique circumstance.”

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!” Gallus waved his arms. “You mean that this type of thing has already happened before?”

“If you’re referring to a stallion and a male griffon getting married, then yes. In fact, they’re still together and their house is here in Ponyville.”

“Well, this is news to me.”

“Same here.” Sandbar agreed.

“Ah, I see,” Twilight nodded. “In fact, I’ve heard that there might be a possibility for one of them to come to teach out our school in the near future. Although I can’t say if this will happen or not given how busy they can be. But we’ll see what happens.”

Once the meal was concluded and Sandbar’s parents decided to go find a hotel, the students returned to their rooms back at the school. That night the young griffon sat in contemplation. With his thoughts of the future ahead of him, his curiosity was piqued. Who was the couple that Twilight was talking about? What would they say about all of this?

‘It would be nice for once to actually meet a fellow griff here,’ Gallus thought. ‘Hopefully, whoever the guy is, he might be a little more open minded than anyone back home.’

Chapter 4: Breakfast with Applejack’s Neighbors

Author's Note

Warning: The following story you are about to read is currently unedited and contains M/M shipping. You have been warned.

Chapter 4: Breakfast with Applejack’s Neighbors

School started up again a few days after the new year. The students filled up the halls again and the teachers returned to their lessons. For now, the students returned to the mechanical seclude as they moved from one classroom to fill out an assignment to the next.

For Gallus, ever since that day meeting with Sandbar's parents, he was mentally counting down the days to freedom. Only a few months away, only during Spring Break can he take that important escape of being tied down to Griffonstone. And yet, only several weeks away from getting hitched to his best friend.

The latter of that thought comes back to haunt him in every class that he and Sandbar share. That very reality was a constant reminder at every glance at the green pony sitting next to him. As much as he tried to comprehend what each teacher was trying to say, or his time focused on whatever task that demanded his attention, he always fell into that temptation of taking a sneak peek at his friend.

‘He might be thinking the same thing.' He mentally told himself. ‘Sandbar is probably wondering what happens after we get hitched. Sure, we wouldn't be together that long but… between that and that ritual… what do we do then? Do we just go on being friends…? Hold on, what am I thinking here? Of course, we'll still be friends, even when we do get married and separate afterward. We'll probably still hang out, while the girls are gonna tease us for it. Can't say I blame them, this isn't something anycreature lets slide without so much as talking about it…'

That last thought dampened his mood. Ever since that day when they planned the wedding, he hadn't been speaking to Sandbar for a while. However, he noticed that neither did Sandbar try to start up a conversation. Although the young griffon reasoned that he was probably just as focused on school work as he was, he felt that he had to do something to make up for it.

So that Saturday morning, when the students were given a few days to breathe, Gallus waited outside of Sandbar's room. When the young stallion did finally emerge out of it, the griffon immediately said, "I have a bit of an errand to run over by Sweet Apple Acres, you wanna come with me?"

"I… guess? Why? What's over there?"

"Oranges," he deadpanned, "I'm actually gonna see if Professor Applejack has any of that jam. I was gonna make toast this morning until I realized that the jar of that stuff was completely out. So, you wanna come?"

So, wrapping themselves up in whatever winter clothing they had, the two of them venture outside of school grounds. Once again, silence followed them, letting the frosty wind do all the talking for them. At first, both of them tolerated the awkwardness as they went past Twilight's crystal castle, the market place, Townhall, and down ice-covered streets and avenues. Simply because they pass by ponies that fill in that space with snippets of small talk and big conversations.

However, by the time they walked past the town's borders where houses became fewer and further apart, that the stalemate had to be broken.

"So…" Sandbar began with a pause in between, "you doin' okay?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I am. You?"

"Same."

Another pause.

"I take it that you've been busy?" Gallus inquired.

He nodded. "Yeah, I just got a reading and an art project from Rarity's class that need to be taken care of."

"Oh, I see…" After a brief pause, the griffon asked. "So… About the wedding, are you gonna be okay with this?"

Sandbar tilted his head. "What are ya talking about? I'm the one that thought of it."

"No, I mean, are you going to be okay with the idea that you're going to be marrying me." He stopped, leaning against a fence post. "I may be desperate enough to take up the offer, but what about you though? I know it'll be for about a month, but doesn't the idea of having me as your… you know… weird you out at all?"

Sandbar leaned up against the fence that separated the road from the wintery orchard. "Ya know, when I heard about what you've been going through, marriage was pretty much the last thing on my mind. I didn't think that I would be… you know… ready, for something like this. I thought that if or when I do it would be later like when I'm in my mid-twenties or thirties. Then suddenly, you came along and… well… all of that changed. The girls couldn't do it so it was pretty much up to me to step up and do something."

"So, I take it that you're not entirely looking forward to marrying me."

"That's… That's just it," this got Gallus's ears to perk up, "as weird as this is going to sound, I can't find anything wrong with it. I mean, when school started up, I kinda try to think what it could be like having you as my uh… spouse. And you know what dude? In a strange way, it kinda makes sense to me."

"How so?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know. This is something I have been trying to figure out why, but so far, the only answer I can come up with is that… it just does. I don't know how much of a difference marrying you would do, but it just makes sense for me to do so."

Gallus hummed in thought. "You know, I don't have many friends in my life, but I can easily say that what you're doing for a nobody like me still amazes me. I owe you for this. How I'll be able to repay, I still don't know."

"But you don't have to-"

"You're giving me my freedom." He interrupted. "No one has ever come close to what you're willing to do. For the first time for so long, I go to bed at night with the thought that you care enough to go through this effort. I finally feel like I'm important enough to someone besides myself. You understand that?"

Sandbar nodded. "Yeah, you're just grateful-"

"I don't think it's that…" Gallus shook his head. "I mean, yeah, it's part of that, but… for me, there's more to it that I don't know how to explain…" He paused to sniff the air. "Hey Sandbar, am I the only one that's smelling that?"

At first, the young stallion was confused before he too sniffed the air. "Yeah but…" another sniff, "what is that?"

"Something I thought I would never smell again," Gallus said, spreading his wings to take flight. "It's coming from over there." He pointed down the road. Taking off with the pony after him, the griffon followed his nose like a bloodhound that pointed him towards that heavenly scent. Every so often, he would have to pause whenever the road splits, before deciding where to go. After going this way and that, the sent he found was coming from a barn that wasn’t on Sweet Apple Acres.

Plopping down in front of the gate, Gallus heard Sandbar’s hoofsteps behind him. Craning his head back, he asked his friend, “Was this always here?”

Sandbar took a couple of moments to catch his breath to take a look at the place where the strange smell was coming from. It was a curious barn that stood out among the snow and skeleton-like trees. Not because of how small the property was compared to the surrounding Apple farm, but its walls were like a collage of murals adorn if a variety of colors, designs and faded sketches. Almost like half of the barn was an unfinished sketch from an eccentric artist that used bright colors that graffitied the entire length and height of the building. In front of the barn was a pair of double doors with a sign with the word “Closed” on it.

“No idea.” Sandbar said at last when he was able to talk. “Maybe they’re Professor Applejack’s neighbors or something?” Gallus pushed through the wooden gate, heading towards the barn’s double doors. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” he asked, “I’m gonna meet the neighbors.” He then knocked on the doors.

At first, nothing happened when the griffon knocked on the door a few times. However, before Sandbar suggests that they should leave, they heard someone unlocking the door and saw it open. A head stuck out of the opening, a stallion’s face peeked through. One that had a long, brown, messy mane, who had sky blue eyes and a coat that, in Gallus’s eyes, was about a shade or two darker than Sandbar’s.

“Sorry, I’m not open until this afternoon.”

“We’re not here to buy anything… whatever you’re selling.” Sandbar said.

“Okay…?” The stallion looked between the two of them. “Then what are you here for? I was cooking breakfast.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “You’re cooking bacon?”

“What’s bacon?”

“Smell that?” the young griffon took another whiff at the air, “That right there, is the smell of bacon and maple syrup with… is that rosemary?” He turned to the stallion in the door. “Sorry for bursting in like this it’s just… I haven’t smelled bacon in a really long time and I’m just… shocked that someone here is cooking the stuff.”

A chilly wind blew through, and the green stallion glanced in between the two. “Would you like to come in for a minute? Just to get out of the cold for a while.”

They thanked him as they were let in. As soon as they passed through, they stopped suddenly at the open space they found themselves in. It was a space that seemed to fill half of the barn, but everywhere were canvases, paints of nearly every type and color, along with brushes, spray cans, that were collected together in a chaotic, organized madness among the finished products. It was like stepping inside the cross-section of an art museum where there were a variety of styles on the walls and on the floor. From crisp landscapes to Impressionist portraits, from imitations of street art to the abstract pollocks that were drying on the floor.

“Again,” Gallus spoke up as the stallion behind them closed and locked the doors, “was this always here?”

“This is my studio.” The stallion informed them. “It’s been here for a couple of years now. The name’s Canvas, by-the-way.”

“Sandbar.”

“Gallus.” The Griffon turned around in a full circle. “Are all of these yours?”

Canvas smiled. “Yep! Every single one of them. Of course, there’s still a couple of things that I should get around to finishing, but yeah! Everything here is mine."

Sandbar gave a low whistle. “This place is amazing! I don’t think I could do any of this.”

“Aw, don’t say that. I don’t have unicorn magic or pegasi wings, but I can still make great art. But let’s get you two to the warmer part of the house.” Canvas lead them over towards a door in the back where they entered into a place that more resembled an actual house. The pony showed them the kitchen where Gallus’s mouth watered at what was on the stove. Strips of bacon frying and caramelizing in sweet maple syrup with twigs of rosemary were being infused. On the side was a stack of pancakes with fried eggs being set aside. It was a sight to make the blue griffon tear up.

“So, what are you guys doing out here this early in the morning?” Canvas asked as he took out a pair of tongs to carefully lift the bacon out of the pan and onto a plate.

“Getting breakfast,” Gallus answered. “We ran out of apple jam from our dorms so we’re going out to get some.” The stallion gave a confused look. “We’re students, from the School of Friendship.”

“You’re Twilight’s students?”

“Well, yeah,” Sandbar nodded, “she’s one of our professor’s, if not the headmare.”

Canvas dished out the rest of the bacon. “Huh, small world. My spouse has been thinking about becoming a teacher there.” He paused for a moment, “Hey, would either of you want some? It wouldn’t bother me if you do.”

“Oh no, you don’t have-”

“Yes!” Gallus interrupted his friend, giving Sandbar a reason to roll his eyes. “What? I hadn’t had bacon in eons.”

Their host chuckled. “Fine by me, but I’d gotta let Troy know that breakfast is done.”

Before either of them could ask who Canvas was talking about, he shouted out his name. Then within a moment, the one name Troy came into the kitchen. Both students looked up… and up at the rather large gray griffon. This giant of a creature looked down at them with his golden eyes and a raised eyebrow.

“Who are they?” The enormous griffon questioned.

“Students from Twilight’s school,” Canvas answered. “One of them apparently wants my bacon.” He went over to the fridge to pull out a block of bacon wrapped in paper.

“Hold on, do we have any more?”

“Troy, we have enough pig’s butt to last for a couple of weeks, I think we can spare a few strips for the little guy.”

“Just make sure you don’t plan to overstuff ‘em.” He commented and Canvas snickered. “You know what I mean!”

“I know, I know.” The stallion chuckled as he pulled out and placed a couple of strips of bacon into the pan.

While Troy picked up his plate, Gallus and Sandbar exchanged a look. The other had the same question in their eyes, ‘Was this the same couple that the Headmare mentioned a while ago?’ The giant of a griffon invited them over to sit at the table.

“You know neither of you have to be intimidated by me,” Troy said. “I know that I’m a big guy and all, but I promise that I’m harmless.” He took a bite out of the bacon. “So, who exactly are you two?”

“I’m Sandbar, and this is Gallus.”

“Okay,” another bite and turned his attention towards the smaller griffon, “I’m guessing you might be from the ye old Griffon Kingdom?” Gallus nodded. “Okay, are there any other griffons that go to that school?”

“You’re looking at him.”

“Oh… I see…” He took a bite from the eggs. “So how’s Twilight’s school?”

“We’re doing pretty good over there.” Sandbar answered. “If anything, the school has gotten better.” There was a pause. “So… What do you do?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Troy tilted his head. “I sing on Bridleway.”

This took the young stallion by surprise. “As in, Manehattan Bridleway?”

“No, Dodge Junction,” he laughed, “Yeah! I sing over there and earn the leading role a couple of years back for Hinny of the Hills.”

“The musical?”

“Yep.” He said with a proud grin. “And I’ve been keeping myself busy with theater on the side. Well, both of us are really, between my work in theater and my husband with art, we’ve always been keeping ourselves busy.”

“So we’ve heard.” Gallus muttered.

“What was that?”

“Headmare Twilight has mentioned about you.” Sandbar explained while Canvas was setting down a plate in front of him.

“That makes sense,” Canvas commented, “Twilight has helped us quite a bit in the past, so to have her mentioning us in her school ought to have come up at least once.”

“Speaking of which,” Troy looked at the clock, “isn’t she coming over to pick up your stuff?”

“Yeah! For a charity auction next week.” Then there was a knock that was coming from the back of the barn. “Huh, she’s here early.”

Within a minute, Twilight came into the kitchen. “Hey guys!” she went over to her students. “I didn’t think you two would be here.”

“The sent of bacon compelled me,” Gallus said and the husbands snickered.

Their headmare smiled. “I’m glad to see the spouses-to-be meeting you guys.”

Both Troy and Canvas paused when they processed what was said. “Twi, what are you talking about?” the older griffon questioned.

“Don’t you know?” She wrapped her wings around her students. “These two are getting married soon.”

Another pause.

“Uh… how old are you two again?” Canvas asked.

Chapter 5: Troy and Canvas

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7: The Ice Cave

One of the more interesting things about taking Professor Applejack’s class is that the subjects she teaches go beyond the basics of farming, apples, and honesty. The things she taught have a practical edge to certain things from cooking basics to learning useful knots to tie. That early February, she taught the class about basic survival skills from how to start a fire and keep it running, where to find clean water, building shelter, and first aid.

In Professor Applejack’s class, the only test she gives you aren’t in the form of a paper asking questions, rather she has her students demonstrate those basic skills to her. As this lesson was about survival skills, the farmer taught them how to build a snow cave. It was important as the students were going to go on a class field trip for the sake of their exam. She made it clear that in order for them to take this test, is that they pack the essentials they would need for camping in the snow overnight and for the class to pair up with a buddy.

Sandbar immediately chose Gallus as that buddy. And so, after planning out what exactly to take with them, they were ready to set out to towards the Foal Mountains. On that Saturday morning, Applejack’s class were set off early in the morning by train to reach their destination. By noon the train stopped at an icy trail before they began their trek up the mountainside.

“One thing Y’all have ta keep in mind,” their teacher leading the group called out, “is that it’s important ta try ta read the weather. See those cloud over yonder?” She pointed a hoof towards dark clouds that stretched from horizon to horizon that was moving towards their direction. “Rainbow Dash would tell ya that when a cloud is that dark a color, it means that it’s ripe fer it to release some water. In other words, we’d best try ta get to our campin’ spot before that doozy of a storm hits us. Otherwise, it’ll be hard ta see, so let’s get goin’.”

They followed the class from the back. Above them, they can see jagged peaks of the mountains that almost resembled broken glass. Below was the tree line of pines that stretched out as far as the eye could see. Before them was the trail the curled tightly around the rocky wall like a thin snake, and behind them was the wind that slaps them mercilessly with loose snowflakes, making it a little hard to see except for the outline of the other students.

“How much longer?” Gallus asked, a claw still clinging to the potato sack that he was carrying.

“I don’t know dude.” Sandbar answered, breathing heavily from both the hike and the saddlebag. “But we must keep going. I’m sure we’ll reach the campsite soon.”

The griffon shuttered. “Gods I hope so! I don’t know how much of this wind I can take.”

“Just keep moving.” His friend said. “Professor Applejack said that it shouldn’t be too far from the rail stop- AH!” The pony slipped on an icy rock, collapsing on the ground.

“You okay?” Gallus stopped to pick his friend up.

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded, “I just slipped is all. Now come on, let’s try to keep…” Sandbar’s words faded among the wind as he looked down the trail. Gallus notices this too and saw that the outline of the other students has disappeared. “W-Where did they go?”

“C’mon,” the blue griffon snatched his foreleg, “Let’s hurry up! I’m not interested in getting lost in the middle of nowhere.” As quickly as they could, the two of them went into a gallop up the winding path. However, the winds picked up a screen of blinding snow that further limited their field of vision.

“I can’t see!” Sandbar tried to shake his head but didn’t slow down his hurried pace. “I can’t-”

What happened next was so sudden, that neither pony or griffon realized before it was too late that they had stepped off the path, feeling nothing underneath their hoof and claw before tumbling off into frozen white air.

“SANDBAR!” Gallus screamed as upon instinct, he let go of his sack and propelled himself towards the pony in freefall. Although he could barely see except for an outline, he flew down to snatch his midsection, but the momentum of the fall made it impossible to stop it, and the weight of the saddlebag made it too heavy to slow down. Just as quickly, the griffon saw the black and white ground approaching and, thinking quickly, he wrapped around the young stallion, embracing for impact.

They hit the snow, but the mountainside was steep, so they rolled downwards screaming. Fortunately for them, the saddlebag that Sandbar had on took most of the blunt among the rocks as it stabbed and tore it while they barrel rolled down. Tumbling and turning, there was no way for them to stop until the mountainside started to level out. Just when Gallus’s arms and forelegs couldn’t hold them in place, they finally slowed enough to stop, nearly buried in the snow.

Two frightened, heaving faces stared at one another before Sandbar sat up. “You okay?”

“I…” Gallus breathed deeply, “Yeah… I’m fine.” Both of them got back up to look around at where they have landed. From what they could barely see, they have fallen onto a plateau that was between where they were and the tree line. Tumbling down to them was their supplies that had been scattered during the fall.

“Oh, Goddesses…” Sandbar started to panic, “What are we gonna do?! Gallus, where are we?! How are we gonna get back-” A claw covered his muzzle.

“Dude, I get that you’re freaking out, but I shouldn’t risk screaming my head off. You might cause an avalanche. Just take a deep breath. ” He did so. “Now, are you hurt?” Sandbar shook his head. “Okay… remember Professor’s Applejack’s number one rule?”

The pony pushed his claw away. “What? That anything except apples are evil?”

“No! The one about survival.”

“Oh… Don’t panic.”

Gallus nodded. “We need to think about this logically. Sooner or later, they’re gonna realize that we’re missing so they’re going to search for us as soon as it’s clear enough to see and when that storm passes over. But right now, we need to get out of this and fast.”

Nodding, Sandbar looked around at their surrounds. “I think we should get whatever stuff is ours together before making a snow cave to get out of this wind.”

And so, the two of them went up the steep mountainside and picked out whatever supplies they could find. A hoof shovel here, a scarf there, a torn sleeping bag on the rocks, a canteen in the snow, a small tin oil lamp near and a box of matches far. It became apparent for the two that neither of them has all of their supplies and few to spare. So once their things were gathered up, the set upon their task of digging out their shelter.

The two of them took turns with the hoofheld shovel to ding into the steeper side of the mountain. Remembering from what their Professor had said about crafting a snow cave, they dug downward at an angle until they were out of the wind before digging a “T” shaped hole. It took them several hours to carve out their shelter and use the snow to block off the entrance until there was a small hole, along with smoothing out the ceiling into a dome shape, but in the end, they have a place to reside in. They carved out the inside where there was a floor and above it by a few feet was a space for them to lay themselves and their supplies in.

“Lend me your scarf,” Gallus said once they were able to move what remains of their supplies in.

“Why?”

Picking up the shovel, he said, “Because if there’s any way for them to find us, I think we need something like a flag, or in this case, your scarf to let them know where we are.”

After giving him his scarf, Gallus tied it on the handle part of the shovel before going outside one last time to pin their impromptu flag right outside of their cave.

“That’s really resourceful,” Sandbar commented when his friend reentered into the cave, “I don’t think that I would have thought of that.”

The griffon blew into his claws. “I guess it’s something you learn to do when you’re practically homeless.” He chuckled but looked around at the space they created. “I just really hope this thing won’t cave in on us. Its unnerving being in here as it is.”

Sandbar raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Just.” His wings fluttered, “I don’t like being in tight spaces is all.”

“Should we try to carve out more space?”

Gallus shook his head. “I’m tired as it is, dude. I think this’ll be…” He took notice that Sandbar was shivering. “Hey, you okay?”

“J-Just a little cold.” He said.

The young griffon paused for a moment before getting up. “Here,” he said, “scooch over.”

“W-What are you?”

Gallus climbed up to him where they were side by side before spreading a wing to cover the shivering stallion. “I’d figured that it’ll be best that we should share some body heat.”

“Thanks.”

For a long moment, they fell silent while the winds seemed to get louder, no doubt that storm Professor Applejack was talking about had arrived. It was made clear to both of them that their chance of rescue would most likely are going to wait until it clears up.

“This is my fault.” Sandbar finally spoke up.

“What?”

“If I hadn’t slipped up back there, none of this wouldn’t be happening.”

“I don’t know, we’d probably still be tired out and freezing our flanks off regardless.” Gallus chuckled but his friend didn’t respond. “Look, don’t take this personally. What happened back there was an accident. It could have happened to anyone.”

“Yeah but… It did happen.” A claw reached over to pick his chin up to face his friend’s eyes.

“That doesn’t matter now.” He said. “I know things look grim, but we can’t spend all that energy on feeling sorry for ourselves. No creature is here right now so we have to focus on making sure we don’t die up here. I promise that I’m gonna do everything I can so that we can go back home, one way or another.”

Sandbar blushed. “I see… so what do we do now?”

Gallus shrugged. “I guess until the storm dies down or help arrives, do you wanna… talk?”

“About what?”

“I dunno, anything I guess.” When there was an awkward pause, the griffon tried to figure out how to start up a conversation. “So… What’s your home like?”

“Huh?”

“Ya know, where you and your folks are from. Before you came to the school, what is home like over there?”

“Have you ever been to the sea?”

He shook his head. “Not really. I mean, I flew over them when I left Griffonstone, but that’s pretty much it.”

“Really? You’ve never been to a beach or anything like that?”

“Again, flew over them, but never stopped at one.”

“Oh, dude… You would love the beach.” Sandbar smiled. “I come from a town that’s a little south of Applewood, right there by the sea. The beaches have this powdery white sand that stretches on for miles along with the palm trees. And the water… oh… even on the hottest day of the year, the sea is never too warm but just cool enough to relax in. In fact, as soon as I learn how to walk, my parents taught me how to swim.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh. It’s just… paradise, ya know? I would say it’s the most beautiful place in Equestria as it’s always green with swaying palms and blooming tropical flowers. Where it’s always warm. And at night, just listening to the waves coming and going on the shore is like being rocked to sleep.”

Gallus lowered his eyes towards the icy bed. “Must be someplace. Beats being cooped up in this icebox.”

Sandbar laughed. “To tell you the truth, this is my first winter to actually see snow up close.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Where I come from, the most we can expect out of our winters are some cloudy days with rain – that’s it. I’ve heard about snow and seen pictures of it, but a couple of months ago, it was my first time actually seeing it up close. In fact, I’m kinda surprised by how many uses for there are for this stuff.”

Gallus lay his head down on his arm but still looked up to Sandbar. “I think that’s the kind of place I want to move to.”

“Huh?”

“Your home, in how you describe it, that’s the kind of place that after telling Griffonstone to go screw itself for me to head towards. I mean, compare that to Griffonstone, it doesn’t have a prayer to a paradise like that. Just to get away from the gray mountains where nothing grows. Away from the griffs that spend their day moping and arguing in the ruins. Away from the cold nights and cloudy days. And away from the hopelessness of just staying there. When I move, I’m going to a place where there’s nothing to remind me of that prison.”

“You mean after we get through with school.”

The griffon waves a dismissive claw. “Naturally, the school is the only place that with you guys there, is where my real home is now. I’m just thinking ahead is all.”

Silence came once again as the winds continued to blow outside. A minute later, Gallus’s stomach started to compliantly growl. He uses his free claw over the area of the empty organ. “Sandbar, you didn’t happen to find anything to eat, didn’t ya?”

He shook his head. “All I can find was my canteen and that was it.”

“Crap… What was it that Professor Applejack said?”

“About what?”

“Where she said that anyone can survive within three’s.”

“Oh! I know what you’re talking about. She said that most creatures can live with only three seconds without hope as most would freeze in an emergency; three minutes without air as few can hold their breath for that long; three hours without shelter when the weather is really bad; three days without water; three weeks without food; and uh… oh right! Three months without companionship or love before being driven insane.”

Gallus laughed. “Yeah, I bet I’ve beaten everyone’s record on that bit. I went years without anyone else to care about helping me.”

Sandbar’s ears fell back against his head. For a long few minutes, he debated with himself if he should ask before giving in. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“As if I have anything better to do. What is it?”

“About your parents,” he said, “what happened to them?”

The blue griffon looked away, towards the entrance where the light was slowly fading. “Like, how did they die?” Sandbar told him yes but followed up by saying that he doesn’t have to talk about it if he didn’t want to. “I get it, dude, I haven’t been the most vocal about my past unlike the rest of you guys. But I guess it’s time for someone that actually cares to know.”

He moved his claws together, breathing warmth into them. “When I was… oh… eleven, there was a plague that swept through Griffonstone one winter. Everywhere griffons were getting sick as they became weaker to the point they couldn’t move out of bed. There were some that managed to recover at that point after a couple of days, but my parents…” Gallus went quiet for a long moment. “I remember the last thing they said to me was to go to the well to fetch them some water. It took me a couple of minutes at most, but by the time I came back…” He clenched his eyes tightly. “Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.” He scolded himself, “Not here… Not now… Don’t…” But the tears refused to be kept in.

A pair of forelegs wrapped around him and Sandbar’s head resting beside him. The young stallion didn’t say a word as his friend silently wept. Faced with such suffering from someone that he had gotten to know, the earth pony had no idea what to say to him or if he should say anything at all. But in that shelter of snow with a storm outside, the only thing that Sandbar knew that above all things, he should still be there at his side while the griffon cried what might be the first time in years.

Eventually, begrudgingly, Sandbar had to get up as the cave became much darker. So, he fetched what very few things from him he had – a tin oil lamp and a box of matches. After lighting the wick, he laid back down next to Gallus, placing the tiny flame in front of them.

“Sorry…” His friend said. “I didn’t mean to get emotional.”

“No,” Sandbar shook his head. “I should be the one to be sorry for bringing something so painful up.”

Gallus shook his head. “Don’t be… As weird as it’s gonna sound… It’s like I needed that. It’s been five years since they’ve passed away and looked back to what I’ve been through without them, I often times wonder what they would think of me now. What would they say if they knew that I’m gonna get married to a guy so that I can move out of a joke of a kingdom?”

“I wouldn’t know dude.” His friend replied. “You have problems that I don’t have the answer to. My parents aren’t dead, and they’re thrilled that I’m getting married soon. Because the truth is, I can’t speak for your past, but only for our present. And you know what dude? As soon as we do get married, I’m gonna make you a promise, right here, right now, that until the day we separate, I’m gonna try everything I can to make you happy. I don’t know how, but from what I’ve heard, that happiness is long overdue for you.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“So? Gallus, I don’t know what Griffonstone has done to you, but even an outcast like yourself is entitled to some happiness. If your parents were here right now, I would promise them that regardless of how long this will be, you will not suffer while I’m around.”

The blue griffon looked into his eyes. “W-Why are you doing this for?”

Sandbar paused, trying to scrap out an answer. “It’s in my nature, I think.” He said. “You and the girls have given me a friendship that I didn’t have back home. I never told any of them this, but since we became friends, I feel like that I can finally be on the same level as you guys. Sure, all of you come from different backgrounds, but even so, there is a connection there. With you especially, it’s like I can freely share things that I wouldn’t have to worry if you’ll understand. So, because of that, when I hear that you’ve suffered, it… I would be forever damned if I just sit on the side and do nothing to help. And I know you didn’t ask for this but… please… let me help.”

Despite being encased in a hole underneath ice and snow, Gallus felt warm hearing those words. That same sensation from the pond weeks ago returned as he found that he’s unable to say anything. His beak opened and closed but no words came except for a single question: “Wha… What do I say to that?”

“You don’t have to.” Sandbar replied, resting his neck over his friend’s shoulder.

The first thing they’ve noticed as they began to wake up were muffled voices. Gallus’s ears perked up, trying to register the confusing sounds of whispers and stomping. However, as he opened his eyes, he eyed the entrance of the cave of something moving in the light. Pushing himself up, he used his claw to shake his friend gently.

“Sand, what up. I think someone’s here.”

Eyes flickered open as Sandbar too woken up. “What’s happening?”

“I think we’re getting rescued, now wake up!” Gallus rolled off and into the coldest part of their makeshift cave to pull out the snow that the snow had piled over the previous night. He clawed away towards the light until his arm penetrated through.

“Hold it!” He heard someone say as he pulled himself out of the ground. With his head poking out, he shook the snow off of him to see the class and Professor Applejack above him. He noticed the crater he popped out from where all of them had a shovel on them. “Oh, thank Celestia!” he heard his professor in relief, “Are ya okay? Where’s Sandbar?”

“He’s here.” Gallus pulled himself out of the ground before turning around back into the hole to pull the pony out of it. Almost immediately they were asked a thousand questions regarding what happened to them. “Basically, we fell too far back behind, tried to catch up, fell off a clef, landed here, and build a snow cave to get out of the weather.”

Their professor was surprised by this. “Ya know, if it weren’t fer the scarf stickin’ out, we’d probably wouldn’t find any of Y’all. We’ve noticed that none of ya fellas were at the camp and assumed the worst. But with the storm goin’ on we couldn’t exactly do anythin’ about it until it cleared up.”

“Yeah.” Sandbar nodded. “Hey, does anypony got anything to eat? We’re starving.”

Gallus looked around and took notice of the hoofheld shovel that still had the scarf on. As far as he could see, there were traces of snow that covered most of it except for a portion of it that stuck out among the slope. “Good thing I had put that thing out before finishing the cave. Oh! Professor, would you like to see our-”

“Y’all already passed.” She interrupted him. “If ya build a snow cave, able to spend the night while puttin’ a marker ta let us know where ya are, Ah’d say that ya know how ta survive in the wilderness. But fer now, let’s get the both of ya back to the camp and get ya somethin’ warm in yer bellies.”

Chapter 8: Hearts and Hooves

Once Gallus and Sandbar had returned back to the school, the griffon suffered from a rather nasty cold. For weeks, his body ached, nostrils being stuffed up, sneezes wouldn’t let up, and continually felt miserable just getting out of bed. His illness was so bad that he was excused from his classes until he fully recovered. However, being sick at the School of Friendship wasn’t exempt for not doing one’s homework.

So Sandbar, along with their friends, decided to take up the task of not only providing their bedridden comrade the essential notes from their classes for him to study from, but for them to lend him some help when it came to the homework. However, when it came to actually be looking after the sneezing griffon, the young stallion was the one to really step up.

Every morning, Sandbar would check up on his friend and pick up the discarded wadded up tissues and the boxes of snacks he brought the previous night off the floor. After waking Gallus up, he would bring him some breakfast and his cold medicine. He would go to class until lunch where he rushes from the school’s cafeteria to bring the ill griffon something to much on (usually some fruit like oranges and bananas). Then after all classes were concluded for the day, he and his friends would go to him for their study group until dinner. From there, Sandbar would travel up to Troy and Canvas’s home to fetch a soup that was made for Gallus that had the most essential foods he needs. After that, the two of them would talk before Sandbar had to go to bed.

It was one evening, while Gallus was reading through his textbook, sniffing and barely focusing on the endless parade of complex words that he heard a knock on his door. “It’s open Sand.” He said in a nasal voice.

As expected, Sandbar pushed open the door and in his teeth was a bag that held his dinner, along with a small box on his back. Gallus raised an eyebrow as the pony walked in and set the bag down. “Canvas said that he made some chicken soup with cheese biscuits for tonight.”

“What’s with the box?”

“This?” He carefully set the box down on his bed. “This is also from them, something for us to snack on.”

“What is it?”

“Well… you do know what today it is, right?”

Gallus tilted his head in confusion. “Tuesday?”

Sandbar chuckled. “No, I mean yeah that, but do you know what holiday it is today?” The blue, sneezing griffon only stared at him. “Today is Hearts and Hooves Day. I know you don’t exactly celebrate it where you’re from, but the other day, I asked Canvas to do this favor that I just thought it would… ya know… be nice for me to get something for us.” He flipped open the box, and inside of it was a small heart-shaped cake that was covered in mostly red icing and a little bit of decorative white frosting on its edges.

The young, coughing griffon looked between it and the stallion next to his bed. “You asked the guy to bake a cake for us that’s in the shape of a heart?”

“H-Hey!” Sandbar blushed, “It’s tradition, alright? On Hearts and Hooves day you always get sweets that are heart shaped. I mean, it’s just a cake. Don’t read too deep into it.”

“So… what are you trying to say with cake?”

He shrugged. “Just that I… care for you. I mean, you did save me on our last field trip and… I just… ya know…”

“Fair point.” He pointed over to the bag. “Can you pass me up that soup?”

Out from the bag was a thermos that held the still hot soup. Sandbar unscrews the lid and carefully poured the liquid into it. Gallus picked it up and held it in his claw and spotted what was in the soup. Shredded chicken swam in broth, bumping up against thinly chopped carrots, celery, green onions, and noodles. Here and there, herbs floated to the top, no doubt a subtle touch from the couple that created it. Although the blue griffon couldn’t smell a thing, he imagined it to be heavenly it tasted when he sipped on the broth.

“Ya know,” Gallus remarked, “that Troy is really lucky to have a spouse that can cook this. If he were to set up shop in Griffonstone selling nothing but this, he’ll probably buy the place in a matter of days.”

“I’ll be sure to pass the message along.” Sandbar told him as he gave him a paper bag that had the biscuits. “He said he made enough for both of us to snack on so may I…”

“Help yourself.” As the young stallion opened up the bag, a passing thought came to him. “So… what do your parents do?”

“What do ya mean?”

“I mean, do they have jobs or what? From I’ve heard, living anywhere near Applewood can’t be cheap. And you said that you live near the beach so, what did they do so they could live there?”

“Well, dad’s a marine biologist.”

“In plain Equestrian please.”

“He’s a scientist that studies sea creatures.” He clarified, taking out one of the biscuits. “We live where we do because the beach in our back yard is in a way, his office. He would study what living things would hang around near the shore. Especially the sea turtles.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “So, I’m guessing that’s probably where you got your mark?”

“Actually, yeah!”

“Is it just as exciting as the time you nearly spilled grape juice on the couch?”

Sandbar laughed. “Actually yeah! Ya see, where we live, the sea turtles at a certain time of year lay their eggs in the sand, and on the day that they hatch, we help the little guys to reach the sea. And for good reason. Because on the day that they’re hatched and crawling into the sea, flocks of black frigates are there to eat them.

“It’s very difficult work not only trying to keep the birds away for the nests to make it out into the open water but just trying to make sure those turtles are going in the right direction. I remember very early one morning after dad woke us up that we were out on the beach where he set up these wall things, so it helps the babies go in the right direction. We were out there, keeping one eye on the dark sky and the other on the ground for movement. However, the sun hadn’t risen yet so we couldn’t see where the birds were, but we can hear them.”

He sat on the edge of his bed and continued on with the story. “We had only lanterns on us, watching and listening until we noticed the little dudes poking out of the sand, making a dash towards the sea. But as soon as they did so, we saw the frigates swooping down. So, we try to get these birds out to give them enough time to make it to the water. But then I noticed that there were three turtles had gotten over the wall and were moving away from us. So, I went after them, trying to get them to move in the right direction.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, I tried to get them to go towards the ocean, at first by standing in front of their path so they would have to move in another direction. However, those frigates try to keep swooping over them and right over my head. I tried to wave a hoof in the air to try to get them to go away, but they kept coming back. So, I decided to right there and then to pick up those three turtles and made a run for the sea. Those birds tried to claw at my head, I even dropped the lantern, but I still ran until my hooves touched the water. I cast them out into safety before those birds could try to take a bite.

“I didn’t realize that I earned my cutie mark until the sun was up and dad noticed it.”

Gallus sniffed. “So, what? Does your mark mean that you’re good at rescuing baby sea turtles?”

Sandbar shook his head. “I think there’s more to it.” He looked over at the image of the three sea turtles on his flank. “To me, my cutie mark is about trying to help others out when they’re in trouble.” He heard his griffon friend laugh before coughing. “What?”

“It really suits you.” He said. “I mean, your cutie mark, you’ve always tried to help us whenever way you can. Even with me.”

“Hey, if the same thing were to happen to the others, I’d probably still try to help.”

Another thought came to Gallus. “So if you’re so helpful… why are you sent here? I mean, from what I can make out from your folks, you don’t seem to be the kind of guy that would need to learn about friendship.”

Sandbar became quiet while he sipped on his dinner. “Actually, there is a reason.”

“Yeah?”

“Well… I’m not sure if I told any of you guys this before, but back home, I don’t exactly connect with others that well.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “How? You’re probably the most easy-going guy on the planet. How can you find it hard to connect with anyone?”

He rubbed his foreleg. “For one, there are not many ponies that are around my age, most of them are either really young foals or full-grown adults. There’re no teens for miles where I’m from. And never mind the age gap either! Over there, there are not many ponies that have the same interests that I do or a connection that I could sit down with and talk to. So, in a way, my parents sent me here for a couple of reasons, not only so that I can learn how to make friends, but given the lack of teens, I’m basically sent here to earn my high school education, and probably college too now that I think of it.”

The griffon finished up on the soup and turned towards the biscuits. “You must have been pretty lonely in your paradise, huh?”

“You’re not wrong. I mean, I still had my family, sure. But actual friends… For a long time, I didn’t see the point as there wasn’t many within miles that I could laugh with, hang out with, do stuff that’s actually fun that doesn’t need to be dumbed down or too smart that goes over my head. Friends that are interesting, and that they wouldn’t mind of me taking part in the stuff they talk about. Until I came to this school and meet you guys, I never had that.”

“But don’t you miss your paradise? Your beaches and reasonable weather?”

Sandbar laughed. “Of course, I do! Every now and then I tend to get homesick to be with my family and all. But I think that if I left this school tomorrow, I’d probably miss it more. I would miss hanging out with you and the girls. I’d miss the stories all of you would tell about your homelands and learning about what other creatures do. There’s a reason why I didn’t go back home after the school was shut down and me trying to hide all of you. I’ve gained real friends that I didn’t want to lose so quickly. While I do miss the waves and the swaying palms, just being with you and the girls, I feel like that I’m already home.”

Gallus smiled. That feeling in his chest was present again, but this time, it wasn’t as harsh nor offsetting. Rather, it was a warm, comforting rush in his bloodstream that was welcoming. But his mind turned to other things. “So… have you heard any news from your parents about the wedding?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Mom has already sent out the invitations to the family and they wanted us to finalize some details about what the wedding and the reception are going to look like.”

“First off, how big is your family anyway? I’ve already met your mom, dad and baby sister.”

“Well…” He heavily exhaled. “If we’re including family on both sides… let’s just say that there’s gonna be… a lot. Maybe not exactly Apple family big, but… there’s gonna be lots.”

“So we’re expecting a family reunion at this point.”

Sandbar nodded. “Yeah. Pretty much. But hey, they’re going to be your family too.”

Gallus paused and let what he heard sink in. He hadn’t thought about it, but he was right. When he does marry him, his family would also be his as well. One with not just a mom and dad with a sister to boot, but one that had uncles and aunts, nieces and cousins, and maybe grandparents. All this time he had to make do without a family, yet here, in the coming month, he’s going to be a part of that once again.

“You okay?” the young stallion waved a hoof in front of his face, snapping back into reality. “You kinda drifted off there.”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. You wanna go ahead and cut up that cake now?”

Sandbar got up to pick out a butter knife out of the bag as well as a fork for each of them. After cutting half, he carefully placed one of the pieces on the cardboard lid and sat it on his friend’s lap. “Happy Hearts and Hooves day, Gallus.”

“Thanks, dude.”

A week later, Gallus felt well enough to get out of bed and breathe again. On a Saturday evening, he was flying alone towards the apple orchards towards the home of Troy and Canvas. He circled around the colorful barn until he reached the backdoor of the home where he knocked on it. Some moments later, the backdoor opened up to the very large griffon who looked down at him in confusion.

“Gallus? What are you doing out here?”

“Sir, can I have a minute to talk to you?”

“We’re just about to have dinner.”

“It’s important.” The young griff said quickly. “Just hear me for a minute and I swear I’ll be out of here.”

Looking over his shoulder, Troy stepped out into the snow and closed the door behind him. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“Well it’s about the wedding itself, so since you’re about to have dinner, I’ll just get straight to the point.” Gallus took in a deep breath. “You know that piercing ceremony we griffons have?” He nodded. “Since you’re the only Griff that I know, so I’m gonna ask you to do this favor for us. Would it be possible for you to perform that at our wedding?”

Wide-eyed, the older griffon looked down at the younger for a moment. “Uh… why?”

“Because my friends have a point. They said that if I have any chance to be free, the marriage has to be legitimate in the griffon’s eyes. If we did it the pony way, those from the Griffon Kingdom would think that what we’re doing isn’t serious. But if we had our ears pierced, then it would give them proof that what happened, actually happened. Look, I know that we’re nowhere near related, but if this is gonna work, I need you to do the ritual. I mean, it’s clear that you and your spouse have done it.” He pointed it out at Troy’s ear.

The grey griffon lifted a talon up to the golden ring in his right ear. “Are you sure kid? Sure, this thing is traditional and all, but the ritual that Canvas and I underwent was painful.”

“Sir, I’ve already talked to Sandbar about this, and we agree that it’s the only way to show that our marriage is legit. And I know that this thing is usually done by family, but looking around, all I can do is ask to do this for us. Please. If you do, I’ll never ask another favor from you again. I’ll try to pay even!”

A claw was pressed up against the blue griffon’s beak. “Okay. I’ll do it. Just be sure to tell whoever is getting the rings to make absolutely sure that they’re earrings. I’ll have to talk to Twilight about this. And you can keep your bits kid. You are in need to get out of a messed-up place and I’ll offer what I can to do just that.”

Gallus sighed in relief. “Oh thank gods! Thank you, Mr…” He trailed off. “Sorry, I just realized that I don’t think I’ve caught your last name.”

“Clawston.”

“Okay, thanks Mr. Clawsto…” The young griff’s eyes widened. “Hold on! Clawston?” He nodded. “You don’t happen to be related to General Jonas Clawston by chance are-”

“He’s my dad.” There was a pause between them. “I take it that you know him?”

“Know him? He’s the only respectable griffon out there! The closest thing we have to a king without being one.”

Troy chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far, but I get that he’s known in military circles. Although I’m surprised you’ve heard of him.”

“It’s rather hard not to. I mean in Griffonstone, his troops were the closest thing to a police force we have to prevent it all going up in flames. While there’s very little that I like about my home town, I do have to give credit in that. So… I guess speaking from one griff to another, it would be a huge honor to have you carry it out at the wedding.”

He smiled. “Don’t mention it, kid. Now if you excuse me, there’s a buttery shrimp pasta with my name on it.”

“Got it.” He spread his wings. “Still, thanks for agreeing to this.”

“See you around.” Troy waved at him as the blue griffon took off into the sky.

Chapter 9: Tango de las Strippers

Many weeks went by, Gallus and Sandbar have kept themselves busy from both school assignments and the letters they’ve written to the pony’s parents with the details about the wedding. As the days drew closer towards Spring, the young stallion and griffon always set enough time for themselves. The girls teased them of being an actual couple, regardless of how many times either denied it.

What neither of them knew, that as all this was going on, Silverstream was making plans of her own. In secret, she wrote a request to her aunt to bring about the enormous favor of recreating the pre-wedding party from what she remembered. Her aunt, in reply, wrote to her that while she will do it and prepare for it, only right after Ponyville finishes their Winter Wrap Up that they’ll set everything up.

On the day before the wedding, once the ponies wrapped up winter, a train arrived with a caravan of hippogriffs who came with supplies, trunks, and carriages that came quickly towards the town’s pond, and just as fast they departed, only to leave a patrol of guards to circle around while curious onlookers notice the tent that was being set up on the sand.

That night, Gallus lay on his bed in his room with a book assignment of Roanio and Filliet for his literature class, and a mind that was distracting him from it.

‘It just seems surreal.’ He thought. ‘Tomorrow’s the day that I’m gonna get married. To my best friend… And it’s actually gonna happen.’ Looking up from the book, he glanced over at the suit that hangs from the doorknob. It was one that Professor Rarity had made for him a few days prior. A dress shirt that had a light blue vest and bow-tie, and a sea green suit that matches Sandbar’s fur. ‘I’m going to be married to Sandbar. Even now it’s still strange to think that I’m gonna have a spouse when I’m only sixteen! I never thought that I would be something like this so soon, and yet… it’s my only ticket to freedom that I got. Besides, I guess it only makes it awkward as I don’t think I’m attracted to him… well… is that true? I mean respect him… and care for the guy… and-’

A knock on his door interrupted his train of thought. Closing the book, he rolled over till his claw and paws were on the floor. He picked the suit off the doorknob before opening it. Only… there was no one there. Confused, he stuck his head out into the hallway, looking left and right, but still, it was empty.

“Huh… weird…” He muttered before closing the door again. It was strange, without a doubt, enough to raise an eyebrow as he turned around towards the bed before a sack had quickly engulfed him. “H-HEY!” He yelled as he was knocked down to where his claws and paws were stuffed in. “What’s going on!?”

“What does it look like?” He heard Smolder’s voice say. “We’re here to basically kidnaping you.”

“We?”

“Sorry about this Gallus,” replied the unmistakable voice of Ocellus, “But we kinda have to do this.”

He felt the bag being dragged out underneath him. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.” They said in unison. After being dragged out into what he thinks is the hallway, the griffon heard a commotion coming from one of the rooms before he heard a door open.

“We have Sandbar.” Yona said. “Now quickly before anyone notice.”

“Sandbar?” Gallus called out.

“Gallus? Where are you?!”

“Shh!” Silverstream hushed them. “Be quiet. It’s not a good capture if you tell the whole world that we’re capturing you.”

Right then as the bags were being dragged, that it clicked for Gallus. “I think I know what’s going on.”

“You do?” He heard Sandbar’s voice.

“This is a Griffon tradition.” He said. “We’re being kidnapped to be taken to our bachelor party. I’ve seen this happen before in Griffonstone, but I’ve never seen as to where they’re taken to.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Smolder told them. “Now if you two try to be quiet for the next couple of minutes, we’re gonna try to get to your guys' party as quickly as possible. And the sooner we get there, the sooner you’ll be out of those bags.”

The girls dragged the young stallion and griffon across the floor and through the courtyard, over the drawbridge and over the grass. From that point, neither of them had any idea where they were going, but it did take a long time just to get there. They tried to listen to any clues as to where they might be headed. At first, they heard voices from the townsponies, but even then they faded further and further away. The only guess they could come up with is where ever they’re going to, it must be somewhere outside of town.

“Are we there yet?” Gallus asked. “I’d rather get out of a bag that smells like a wet dog.”

“We’re almost there,” Silverstream replied.

A couple more minutes of being dragged around later, they came to a sudden stop and the sack opened up where he was dumped unto a carpet. Shaking his head and blinking, Gallus focused his sight on where they were dragged to. They were carried into a large, colorful tent that had Saddle Arabian like lanterns that hang from above. Around him beside himself, the girls and Sandbar that was being dumped out, there was in one corner of the room hippogriffs with musical instruments, and at the other even more near a table that had an array of snacks and drinks. But what piqued his curiosity was what was in the center of the tent. On the ground, there was a square wooden stage that is surrounded by brightly colorful carpets and pillows to sit on. However, he noticed that the ground wasn’t completely covered as he noticed there were patches of sand.

“Where the hay are we?” Sandbar asked.

“Where else do you think you are?” A new voice answered. The six students turned to where it was coming from, and there at the entrance was a large light-pink hippogriff who had a dark purple mane and tail with three blue plumages that stuck behind her golden crown. “This is your boys' bachelor party.”

“Auntie Novo!” Silverstream rushed forward to hug her. “I’ve missed you so much!”

She hugged back. “It’s good to see you, Silver. How’s school doing ya?”

“It’s going great!” She smiled. “Thanks for setting all of this up.”

“Aw, don’t mention it.” The Hippogriff queen turned towards the young stallion and griffon. “So, I’ve been told that you two are going to be married tomorrow.” They nodded. “My niece has told me about this curious practice, so I felt that I’d better come up here to see it for myself. Also, she asked me to set this up, and if we’re doing this, I must attend to give you two my blessing. So, in honor of this occasion, we’re having your bachelors party according to our traditions – with a few twists.” She said with a wink.

“Oh… well, thank you, Your Highness.” Sandbar nodded his head.

She waves a dismissive claw. “Don’t mention it! I haven’t been to a good Pre-Wedding party for way too long. Now come!” She clapped her talons twice. “Let us feast! Play us music for the young couple!”

With these commands, the hippogriffs swarm around them. Offering a seat to being presented a parade of trays that the students found appetizing. From salmon sushi to exotic flower salad, the omnivore menu provided something for all of them with new flavors that they never knew existed before. All the while, the musicians in the corner were accompanying the background noise of seductive strings, thumping drums and sweet tuned winds, playing melodies from a distant land.

As this was going on, Sandbar and Gallus couldn’t help but notice something interesting of all the Hippogriffs that were serving them. Apart from the Queen and Silverstream, all of them were males. From the pourer of their drinks to the musician that beat on the bongos, there wasn’t a single one that was female. Not only that, but they could swear that they seemed rather… flirty. Not just to the girls, but more so to them.

“Stuffed peppers for you, hot stuff?”

“Care to have me quench your thirst?”

“More honeysuckle to suck on, sweetie?”

This was only the small portion of the flirtatious questions that was seemed to be targeting them.

“Queen Novo,” Sandbar questioned, “how come everyone here is a guy?”

“And flirting with us?” Gallus added.

The Hippogriff queen chuckled. “To be honest, this sort of party is traditionally meant for the soon-to-be brides. However, given the unique circumstance of your marriage, it wouldn’t make sense to me to have them all be female. Also, the flirtation is all part of the tradition too. It’s all in good fun, I assure the both of you.”

One of the servants with a tray of sausages lowered before the Queen. “Another succulent sausage, My Queen?”

“Oh, don’t mind if I do!” She said picking up one of the tubed meats before stuffing it all in in one go.

“Excuse me, Queen Novo,” Ocellus piped up, “But didn’t your niece said that there was supposed to be a traditional dance or something?”

“Oh!” She facepalmed, laughing. “Where did my head go off to? I nearly forgot.” Raising her arms, she clapped three times. “Bring out the dancers!” She turned to the pony and griffon. “By-the-way, since there’s nobody in the Hippogriff Kingdom has done the dance since our departure to the sea, I was forced to find some substitutes that come the closest to the actual dance.”

“I guess that’s fine.” Sandbar told her. “Who did you get?”

“Oh, a couple from a place in Las Pegasus.” She paused in thought. “I think it was a dance company with a funny name. What was it again?”

“And now, Ladies and Gents!” A voice called out. “The Las Pegasus Giddy Up Gentlecolt’s Club proudly presents a reacreation of a Hippogriff dance. Starring Diamond and Rough.”

“Gentlecolt’s Clu…” Sandbar instantly realized something, immediately turning to Novo. “You hired strippers!?”

She shrugged. “What? They’re the only ones that know how to dance with clothing.”

Then across from them, a curtain was pulled aside and out stepped out were two figures that stepped into the light of the square stage. One was a golden griffon who was at least ten years older than Gallus that had emerald eyes that can easily hypnotize anyone just by looking at them. He was wearing a white dress shirt and pants with a black tie and trench coat. He was joined up by a stallion. A silver coated, handsome face that had blue eyes with a slick back royal blue mane. He wore the reverse colors of his partner, a black dress shirt and pants, a white tie and overcoat.

When they entered onto that square flooring, they circled around the staging while those in the tent applauded to welcome them. The dancers took a moment, however, to wink at the young griffon and stallion sitting near the stage before they took their positions at a corner of the square space on opposite sides.

There was a moment of silence within the tent as the golden griffon raised a talon up and began to snap a rhythm. A rhythm that the queen clapped too and the servants provided the percussion. Yet, all eyes were on the dancers while the musicians began to add a melody on top of the rhythm. A seductive violin like instrument cast a spell of lust as the dancers looked over their shoulder to the other.

Then, right before their eyes, the griffon turned, with steps methodical, confident and with purpose approached the stallion from behind and lifting him up to where he stood on his hind legs. With one claw over the other’s heart and the other pulling the overcoat off while he nuzzled and necked at the pony’s neck. Meanwhile, the stallion used a hoof to loosen the griffon’s tie. At first, they sway and the stallion grinded up against the griffon’s form in the rhythm of the muisc, much to the wide-eyed, slack-jawed and blushing students.

Novo giggles, “Oh you’ve seen nothin’ yet.”

Indeed, when the music suddenly kicked up into a passionate, heart-thumping tempo, the stallion flipped himself around, facing the griffon to pull off his coat. Yet with each step they took, in time to the stomping rhythm, one could not keep their talon and hoof off the other. Here a tie is disregarded, there a button was undone, but as they danced, they necked, they caressed, and another piece of clothing is played with before tossing to the side.

“Woo!” Smolder called out. “Take it off!” The other students looked at her. “What? C’mon, am I the only one that finds this hot?”

She wasn’t wrong. For Sandbar and Gallus, their gaze was transfixed on the dancers. Perhaps it was the gaze of desire in the eyes of the strippers or the provocative moves as one undressed the other. Either way, there was something hypnotic about this display that neither of them could explain. There was something… stirring once the shirts were loose open and draped over to where they can see the muscles that seemed to be carved out like classical Pegasi statues. Something burning about how the other caressed and rubbed between the legs, and occasionally allow the other to slip right into their pants.

In their minds where hormones kicked in, they fantasized themselves into that erotic role. A moment where Gallus could see himself groping at Sandbar’s most private parts while Sandbar can see himself pulling down the griffon’s pants. But it was within that moment where lust was prominent when the strippers were still moving in time to where they only had jock-straps… and nothing else – where they could see practically everything, did they realize that this was seriously turning them on.

“O-Oh my…” They heard Ocellus say, her face turning bright red. Only she wasn’t looking at the dancers.

“What?” Gallus asked sharply.

“Um… guys… look down.”

Both young stallion and griffon did, before letting out a shriek of embarrassment and each grabbing a nearby pillow to cover themselves. All the while, they shared a look to one another. The kind that they both realized about themselves to where their erections were the absolute proof of what it was.

“I…” Sandbar was at loss for words.

“U-Uh…” And neither could Gallus.

That was before both of them rushed out of the tent, yelling simultaneously: “I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!!”

The music died down when the husbands-to-be had rushed out of the tent, heading off to Celestia-knows-where. Even the dancers on stage found the sudden change in mood awkward to continue. Meanwhile, the girls, their faces still pink after witnessing the entertainment turned to Queen Novo. She tilted her head, “Huh, that’s funny, they’re supposed to run out until after they take off the jock-straps.”

Chapter 10: Wedding Day

To anyone else in Ponyville, there seemed to be an unusually large influx of tourists coming in and through the town. All morning, even before the crack of dawn, the train that comes to every half-hour seemed to get waves upon waves of ponies. But to those who really know what’s going on, these travelers are really relatives of Sandbar’s. Each of them carrying with them some of the final touches for the ceremony to occur in the afternoon at the ruined castle of the Two Sisters.

On that morning, tents and tables were set up just outside of the steps of the castle. Inside, however, inside of the ancient throne room where ancient tapestries of Celestia and Luna hung, chairs were being organized in rows. Every chair, underneath the antique, fractured glass ceiling were facing towards the remains of two thrones of the Royal Sisters that, despite the cracks and pieces of it missing, were still magnificent upon the twin staircase and a short bridge that connected the two. Nearby towards the pale-yellow throne, a podium was being set up where the marriage certificate was placed on it, waiting for those important signatures. Near the back, speakers were being set up and a DJ was flipping through the playlist of songs to memorize.

While the family was setting up, speaking to one another to catch up how the other is doing, what’s new and trying to keep the younger ones under control, the husbands-to-be were preparing themselves in different rooms of the ruined castle. Sandbar with his parents and Gallus was joined up by Troy and Canvas.

“Ya know, you should have considered yourselves lucky.” The larger griffon commented as he stood behind Gallus in front of a stand-up mirror, tying his bowtie. “Our bachelor party didn’t go anywhere near as smoothly.”

“Troy, don’t remind me,” Canvas said, shivering. “I still can’t unsee all that stuff that happened.”

The younger griffon raised an eyebrow. “Do I wanna know?”

Both husbands glanced at one another. “Let’s just say that the less you know, the better off you’ll be.” The pony picked up the blue vest and hoofed it over to his husband. “Still, I would say that I’m rather surprised that you were able to have the Queen of the Hippogriffs to organize it. That sounds really fancy to me.”

“It was… if a little… awkward.”

“Why?” Troy raised an eyebrow, helping him slip into the vest.

“Well for one, the servants there were all dudes that while they were passing out the food and stuff, they seemed rather… flirty. Not on the level of ‘Let’s go bang in the back’ but it was kinda close enough. And the fact the Queen hired strippers to do a dance that the Hippogriffs themselves had forgotten how to do…” A blush appeared on the blue griffon’s face.

There was a very long, concerning pause before Canvas asked, “Did anyone at that party do anything to you guys that you weren’t comfortable with?”

“I don’t… think so…? I mean, we weren’t molested or anything like that but… well…” Gallus tugged at his collar. “Like the servants, both of the uh… dancers were male. And in the end, Sandbar and I didn’t realize that our uh… (Gods, how do I say this…?) Our… swords were unsheathed, in front of everyone, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh…” Both husbands quickly got the meaning.

Gallus nodded. “Between you and me, I think both of us realized something last night.”

“You think that you’re gay?” Troy inquired and he nodded.

“Yeah. And you know what? I still haven’t told Sandbar this, but when they were dancing like that… I kinda… ya know… daydreamed that we were up there doing it. And that thought didn’t exactly go away when we rushed out in need of a bush…” Gallus confessed, buried his face in his claws. “I-I know, it’s weird but I couldn’t help it.”

Troy hugged him. “Kid, there’s nothing wrong with having thoughts like that. I know that this might seem a little bit scary to you at first, but the fact is, you have no control over who or what you find attractive.”

“Do you think Sandbar’s having the same idea?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Canvas told him. “After all, if what you told us is true, I’d think that both of you getting that… aroused would be proof that’s difficult to deny. Chances are, he might be just as traumatized as you are.”

“Gee, thanks.” Gallus deadpanned as he focused on buttoning up his vest. After he was being presented with his suit, a thought came to him. “Okay, so we’re gay to some degree. But even then… There’s something else that’s gotten me thinking.”

“What’s that?” Troy asked.

Turning around, Gallus asked the two husbands: “Do you think that it might be possible that Sandbar might actually love me – and if so… would he want us to get divorced?”

Canvas, with a raised eyebrow of his own, asked, “What makes you think that?”

“Well… a couple of things really. For one, ever since he came up with this idea to free me that… I noticed we started to hang out more often. Not just that, but he’s gone above and beyond with helping me from our homework to when I was sick. There hasn’t been a day gone by where he checks up on me to see if I’m doing alright and when I wasn’t, he stuck there until I was better. So, this got me thinking, that if he is falling for me, what would happen on the day after I undergo my coming of age ritual and we’re about to sign those divorce papers… would he really want to at that point? Would… I be able to?”

“Hang on, are you saying that you love him?”

Gallus remained silent. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. After all he’s done, the last thing I wanna do is to hurt him.”

“Mom! My mane is fine!” Sandbar wave a hoof to drive away the brush his mother had in her mouth.

She spat it out. “But I wanna have my baby look his best when he’s up at the altar.” Spring put a hoof on her son’s shoulder, the two of them looked directly into the ancient looking glass. Sandbar at this point has on his suit while his mother had on a flowing, tropical dress. “Is it unreasonable for me to make sure my colt is as handsome as possible for your soon-to-be hubby.”

Sandbar gave his mother a weird look. “Do you kiss dad with that mouth?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just let me brush your mane a little to where you look good.”

“I find that odd that you want to brush it now as you never wanted to do so before.”

“Well, that’s because those other times you weren’t about to get married.” Before her son could respond, the heavy door to the room was pushed open and Spring’s husband came in. “There you are. How are the girls?”

“Smolder has finally put on the dress, begrudgingly, I might add. The others have their dresses on.”

“And the marriage certificate?”

“The Mayor is on her way here and should be here on time. Plus, Yona has us covered with the food for the reception. And I’ve already given the list to the DJ.”

“Beatles or Beach Colts?” Sandbar asked.

Autumn chuckled. “For your wedding march? Nah, I don’t think so. I went with something else that’s more… modern. But trust me,” he quickly adds, “it fit. The other stuff I had it save for later.” He went up to his son. “So, how are you?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, this is a pretty big day for all of us.”

“Dad, I’ve already told you guys that-”

“This’ll be temporary, we know.” He nodded. “But it doesn’t make this any less significant. Being married to someone is life changing, regardless of how long it lasts. We should know, it’s kinda intimidating at first.”

Spring laughed, “Oh I remember. You had a panic attack right before either of us marched down to the altar.”

“I was under a lot of pressure.” Her husband protested. “Your parents were royally pissed I got you pregnant.”

“Yours too, if I remember right.” She kissed his cheek. “But even so, you don’t regret marrying me, don’t you?”

He shook his head. “I’m just really lucky that we’ve found a way to make it work.” He turned back to his son. “Point being, once you do get married, it’ll bring things into perspective. When I married your mom, I realized not just the responsibility it comes with it, but I really looked into why I fell in love with her. All I’m saying for you, that regardless of how you think about your friend Gallus, it’ll bring things into perspective of not just him, but also yourself too.”

Sandbar turned to his reflection in thought. “Mom, dad… do you guys think… this plan of mine would backfire?”

“What do you mean, baby?” his mother asked.

“I mean… what if on the day that we get the divorce that, maybe, he doesn’t want to? I mean, I know that we’ve known each other for less than a year but… what if Gallus really has feelings for me and I ended up breaking his heart when we’re not married anymore? As much as I uh…” He stopped himself to choose his next choice of words carefully. “Care, about him, and that I do want to see him free, what if in the process I ended up hurting him?”

After exchanging a knowing look, his father wrapped a hoof around him. “I can’t tell you how to live your life, nor do I have an answer for that. But if something like this is bothering you, I would highly suggest that you should sit Gallus down and be open with how you think and feel over the whole situation. Regardless if he does have feelings for you or not, communication is key to figure out what is best for the both of you. Just be sure that whatever you two end up deciding on, that it’ll be done for the right reasons.”

Sandbar sighed, “I really hope so.”

His mother hugged him. “You and Gallus are going to be fine. Just by doing this to free him, I think you already are doing it for the right reasons. Now, come on,” she picked up the brush, “Let mom straighten your mane out.”

It was time.

The family and guests sat waiting in the throne room of the dilapidated palace. In front of them, Mayor Mare had placed the marriage certificate on the podium, giving a nod over to the DJ to begin the ceremony. In the back of the room, the DJ picked up the record and placed it on the turntable, turn on the speakers, and place the needle down.

As the music began, Spike came up the aisle holding up a velvet pillow with two golden rings. Next were Silverstream, Ocellus, Yona and a grumpy looking Smolder that marched towards the front where they split, with the Hippogriff and Changeling going up the side towards the Solar throne while the Yak and Dragon up the Lunar throne. Next to come was Princess Twilight with her polished Royal Regalia where she flew up towards and landed on the bridge that connected the two thrones. Even among the ruins, she stood there, dignified and proud, with her gaze towards the back of the throne room to which, everyone stood up.

Sandbar, after breathing in deep, took up the courage to walk down the aisle with his parents beside him. The parents, for the occasion, had pulled out the very clothing that they had when they got married in. His father, on his left, had on a white dress shirt with a colorful, tropical tie while his mother, on his right, came in with the flowing flowery dress with a bird of paradise in her mane. The young stallion walked forward, despite how many eyes were on him. Even though most of them were supportive, Sandbar felt that he was the starring role of a surreal play that he was suddenly thrusted onto. But upon walking up the steps towards the Solar throne, his mother gave her son a kiss on the cheek and a hug from his father before they stepped aside.

Then up came Gallus, and next to him was Troy and Canvas, there were whispers in the room, but the blue griffon did his best to ignore them as he went forward, ever forward towards the front. Towards Sandbar. His liberator. He could feel his heart beat faster at the realization of how serious and real this situation was getting to him. But he mentally told himself that it was due to the remainder of Troy’s talons and the bowl of disinfection that Canvas was carrying on his back. The three of them walked up the steps of the Lunar throne and past Mayor Mare. With the two spouses-to-be present, Sandbar and Gallus step up onto the bridge where Twilight was.

The two of them gazed at one another. “Uh… hey.” Sandbar nervously began, much to the amusement of everyone in the room.

“Hey.” Gallus nodded back. “You look good.”

“Thanks… So… are you sure you want to do this?”

The young griffon reached out his talons out for the pony’s hoof. “I’m willing if you are.”

With a smile, he placed his hoof in his claw, turning towards Twilight.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Fillies and Gentlecolts. Griffons and Ponies alike. We are gathered today in celebration of the joining of two close friends that out of sacrifice and selflessness have come to join together in the sacred bond of marriage.

“But before I could begin, I am aware that these two are not at the legal marriage age, so therefore I must turn over to one of the parents for their permission to make this official.” She turned towards Sandbar’s parents which they stepped up. “Would you state your names and whose parents you are?”

They nodded. “I’m Autumn Wave, Sandbar’s father.”

“I’m Spring Tide, Sandbar’s mother.”

“Do you give your consent to have your son to be wedded to Gallus of Griffonstone?”

“We do.”

“Thank you.” She then turned back to the crowd. “Sandbar and Gallus, two souls who have bonded together when the School of Friendship was a new idea, and they have forged a strong tie during a desperate time. Here today, through an act of incredible valor, self-sacrifice, honor, and generosity, they come together so that one can be set free.

“In all of my years of learning what friendship could be, it astonishes me of what one friend is willing to do for another. Today, Sandbar has come here with Gallus to helping overcome the restrictions to help him become, in the eyes of Griffons, an adult. Even if this bond of marriage is meant to be temporary, I can be both proud of my students, and the unbreakable friendship that should be a testament of their devotion.

“Now, I’ve been made aware that due to the unique circumstances, both of you have asked to make your own vows. Do either of you have any preference of who’s going first?”

Sandbar and Gallus looked at one another. The griffon raised his claw. “I have something to say.” Trying his best to block everyone out of his thoughts, he looked at his friend in the eye. “Sandbar, I have a confession to make. After my parents had passed away, I had no hope left in me. For the longest time, I honestly thought that I’m forever trapped in the place of Griffon society that deems as untouchable. For years, I thought I was beyond the help of anyone. Before I came to the school, I had no friends, no family and no future for me. I… I had thought about just ending it all until I met you. All of you. For the first time, I wasn’t seen as a diseased, cursed thing that’s doom to misery. You gave me a clean slate and looked past the stuff that has happened to me and just saw what I really am – your friend.

“Sand… this past couple of months at the school of friendship, it changed my life. You, just doing this to free me, have changed my life for the better. I guess, what I’m trying to say here is… Sandbar… thank you. I don’t have a clue how I can repay you for doing something that next to nobody would ever do, for going above and beyond with just helping me. So, in the meantime, I’ll promise you this: Whenever you are sick or just need of saving your flank, I’ll be there. When you feel like the whole world has turned your back on you, I’ll be there. Whenever you find yourself hungry, or without a drop to drink, that no one will give a roof over your head or a place to rest your head on, I’ll be there. When you’ve reached garnet rock bottom, with no hope and no one to turn to, why, I’ll be there too.”

The entire throne room let out a “Dwaaa!” before the blue griffon took notice of them and called out, “Ah shut up!” Thus, getting the room laughing.

“So, I guess it’s my turn now, huh?” Sandbar asked and Gallus nodded. “Okay… well Gallus, when all of this started, I honestly didn’t expect that it’ll end up like this. Like you, marriage was the last thing on my mind. Being sixteen, all I could ask for is a comfortable place, some really good friends and a good meal. Coming to the school, yeah, I will say that it’s been the best thing to happen to me in just meeting friends like you. But, after you told me of what life really is like in Griffonstone, I just felt compelled to help you in whatever way I can. I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again, with all the stuff you had to put up with, I think you’re overdue to have some happiness. And I did promise you that even though this’ll be temporary, I’m gonna put in the effort that you’re safe and happy.

“The truth is I don’t exactly know how things will play out the day after. I don’t pretend to know how us entering into a marriage would or could change us. But I do know that even after this is over, I still want to be your friend. A best friend. The guardian angel you never had. So, with that being said, I do have some promises of my own. I promise that I and my folks will help you through that coming of age ritual so that you’ll be free. I promise that every day, regardless of what happens, I’ll do what I can to make it better. I promise to do everything I can so that when you do move here to Equestria, you’ll have a path to success. So, don’t worry dude, from here on out, you’re in good hooves.”

Gallus smiled. “Thanks, dude.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Now then, if there is anybody here who feels that these two should not be wedded, please speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

The young stallion and griffon looked over out the rows of ponies, almost half expecting for something like an army of angry griffons to come busting in. Thankfully, however, the room was silent.

“Alright then,” Twilight said, catching their attention, “Sandbar, do you take Gallus of Griffonstone to be your lawfully wedded husband; through richer or poorer; through sickness and health; till death do you part?”

Sandbar took in a deep breath, looking staring into Gallus’s eyes. “I do.”

“And Gallus of Griffonstone,” Twilight continued, “do you take Sandbar to be your lawfully wedded husband; through richer or poorer; through sickness and health; till death do you part?”

There was a pause as Gallus lifted a claw up to Sandbar’s jaw, looking directly at him. “I will.”

Smiling happily, Twilight turned her head over towards Spike. “May I have the rings, please? And Mr. Clawston? I believe I’d allow you to take over this part.” As the dragon and the older griffon came onto the bridge, Twilight explained to the crowd. “Mares and Gentlecolts, Sandbar and Gallus have agreed to take part in a sacred Griffon ritual that will be conducted by Troy Cawston.”

There were some mummers from the ponies looking on as Twilight stepped aside for the grey griffon to take her place. Spike lifted up the pillow with the rings while Canvas carefully held the bowl of disinfectants. In a cautious tone, Twilight added. “Just to give all of you a fair warning, if there’s anypony here that is uncomfortable with the sight of blood, now will be the time to exit the throne room until further notice.”

Troy gave those onlookers a moment to escape for what was about to happen. He lowered his head to their eye level and whispered. “I know perfectly well that this part is scary. But be brave. You have my word that I’ll make this as quick as possible.” Raising back up, he doused his talons into the disinfectant. “Gallus,” he said in a serious voice, “you first.”

The young griffon and stallion looked at one another, gulping. But Gallus obeyed as Troy had his head lowered and his ear raised. Using his left talon, Troy held his right ear while bringing his right towards the tufts of his ear. “Repeat after me.” He said as he recited the oath, “Blood may spill, and skin may break, but my bond I won’t forsake.”

Gallus shut his eyes tight and felt the sharp talon against the free part of the skin of his ear. “Blood may spill… and skin may break… but my bond… I won’t forsake.”

As quickly as he could, Troy pierced the lobe. There was a high-pitched yelp from the younger griffon that almost wasn’t heard over the very audible gasp from the crowd. Twilight quickly told them that this was part of the ritual while her horn lit up to use her magic on Gallus’s ear to cover it.

After the crowd was calm enough, Troy had already washed his claw in the disinfectant before turning to Sandbar. “Okay, now you.”

“You okay Gallus?” Sandbar whispered.

He nodded. “I’ll be fine, just… brace yourself.”

Although clearly scared, he shakenly lowered his head down to offer up his right ear. While Troy was getting ready for the second piercing, Gallus held onto Sandbar’s hoof. “Repeat after me.” He said, “Blood may spill, and skin may break, but my bond I won’t forsake.”

Gulping, Sandbar looked into Gallus’s eyes, those eyes that gave him a look that pleaded for him to be brave for him, even for just a moment. “B-Blood may spill…” he said in a whimper, “and skin may break… but my bond, I won’t forsake.”

Interestingly, while Sandbar did have a look of pain upon his face as his teeth gritted tightly and breathed heavily, not a sound came out of him as Troy punctured his ear. Even though there was a good amount of cringing, especially among the girls who were up there, or (in Mayor Mare’s case) looked away, there was something impressive of how much pain this teenager was trying to withstand.

But just as quick, it was over. Twilight had too quickly used her magic to Sandbar’s ear imminently when Troy pulled his claw away. After the Princess announces that the piercing was over and for those ponies to take their seats, the numbing spell took an effect to ease the young griffon’s and stallion’s ears.

Then the rings that Spike was holding were lifted up above the couple where, in Twilight’s magic, they glowed brightly until those rings had started to break off at one end. It was as if the gold was being melted right in front of them. However, as she floated them down to the couple and inserted into their pierced ears, neither of them felt any discomfort or heat.

When those rings began to close and Twilight’s horn still lit, she announces proudly: “By the power invested in me, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and the great land of Equestria…” With one final spell, she sealed the rings completely as if they never were broken to begin with. “I hereby pronounce Sandbar and Gallus of Griffonstone to be lawfully wedded as Stallion and Griffon!

“You may now kiss.”

There was an awkward pause between the two. “Um… kiss?” Sandbar asked nervously.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Uh… Don’t you think that this is enough? I mean, we’re already married and all, so is this really-” Gallus rolled his eyes.

“Oh for the love of…” Right there, in a quick motion that before Sandbar could react, he kissed Sandbar on the lips, and the ancient throne room applauded in stopping of hooves and cheers. But something interesting happened when Gallus kissed him. He didn’t notice the applause or much of anything. Although Sandbar was caught completely off guard, there was no resistance as his wide-eyed surprise drifted shut. There was something about it, that although neither one could explain, that it felt… right.

After they pulled away did, they realize the applause dying out. There were congrats given left and right, but they ignored them and focused on one another.

“You uh… you alright?”

“Yeah.” Sandbar nodded, wiping his mouth. “I didn’t think that you would…”

“Sorry…”

“Just so you know, that was my first kiss.”

“Oh…” His eyes shifted, “Uh… congrats?” The two of them were being shown over towards the podium, where Gallus whispered. “By-the-way, that kiss… it was… you’re a good kisser.”

Sandbar blushed. “Thanks… so were you.”

Chapter 11: Of Cards, Dancing, and Yak Cakes

“Ya know,” Smolder commented, looking around, “if I didn’t know that this was supposed to be the reception for a wedding, I would have mistaken it for a fair.”

It had been hours after the wedding, Sandbar and Gallus had already signed their names away. They are now an official, married couple. The two of them had to force to endure the endless parade of pictures taken by Sandbar’s family that tested their patience. Fortunately, they were set free like everyone else towards the old castle grounds. There was a carnival-like atmosphere with its many tents and shaded booths, bouncy castle, and games that string about like a web. Here a game of ring toss, there a cotton candy machine.

“Gallus and I thought that we wanted our reception to stand out.” Sandbar explained. “We didn’t exactly want to be just ponies doing nothing for hours at a table, listening to somepony making a long speech and then watch them eat a slice of cake without them getting a bite.”

“Yeah,” Gallus nodded, “we just wanna have some fun, ya know?”

“This is the best wedding ever!” Silverstream exclaimed, carrying with her a giant teddy bear on her back. “I entered into a ladder-climbing game and they give me this! Look at its button eyes!”

“I’ll have to admit,” Ocellus said, flying up to the fuzzy face of the oversized toy, “it is rather cute.”

“Has anyone seen Yona anywhere?” Smolder asked.

“Last time I’ve heard,” Sandbar answered, “Mom told me that she was helping out with the feast tonight – like she promised.”

“Feast coming along fine.” The students turned to find Yona, out of the dress and partly covered in flour. “Yona taking break. Yaks continue on until perfect.”

“So what is the feast?” Gallus inquired. “All I know that it’s gonna be Yak style, whatever that means.”

She shook her head. “Yona keeping feast secret. No one can know until later. For now, let Yona and friends have fun.”

“Sounds good to me,” Smolder said, taking to the air. “So what do you guys wanna do?”

As they looked around, the young stallion’s eye caught a particular booth that had a mare with an orange bandana on her head and a hoop earring shuffling a deck of cards. “Is that…?” He walked forward a little. “Guys! I think my aunt’s here!” He galloped towards the booth with his friends and husband following. “Aunt Fortuna!”

The mare looked up from her cards and her smile went wide. “Sandy! Long time no see!” She got up from behind her table to hug him. “Look at you! All grown up and married! How’s my nephew?”

“It’s been a long day.” He said, waving a hoof towards his friends. “Aunt Fortuna, these are my friends and my, well, husband.”

“Ah,” she went up to them, shaking each hoof and claw, “in all of my travels, it’s very rare to have so many creatures to be here in one place. My name is Fortuna, or Madame Fortune as I go by now.”

“What pony do?” Yona asked.

“I’m a Tarot card reader and part-time Gypsy. I roam the lands freely and would give readings to anyone who could spare a coin. But, as this the wedding of my nephew, today only, I’ll be giving my reading for free.”

“Tarot card?” Ocellus tilted her head, “I’m afraid I don’t quite know what that is. What is it?”

“In the most basic of explanations,” Fortuna explained as she got back behind the table, “ponies often times refer to them as ‘fortune telling cards’ but they have many uses. Not just about foretelling the future or the past, but even identifying one’s own innermost conflicts. I use different methods depending upon what exactly those who seek me wish to hear.”

“Oh! Oh! Can I try?” Silverstream thrust herself at the table. “I’ve never seen anyone reading fortunes before.”

“Very well,” the mare smiled, “what do you wish to know?”

The hippogriff gave some thought to this question. “How about… if you can read fortunes, why not tell me about myself.”

“This should be interesting,” Smolder commented, “as I’m pretty sure none of us (except for Sandbar) have ever met you before. Let’s see how accurate you are.”

“In that case.” She took out her deck of cards and scattered it on her table. “How about I tell you of your past, present and future?” Silverstream nodded. Fortuna then reorganized the cards before spreading them out to her, face down. “Pick three, and we shall see what fate has in store for you.”

Silverstream did so, picking each at random and the part-time Gypsy organized the cards before her, setting up the cards up in a row. The first card she overturned showed a wheel that had a griffon, a fish, and an eagle spinning. “Interesting…” Fortuna muttered. “The Wheel of Fortune. This tells me that in your past, there has been a new, unexpected good fortune that was the beginning of a new cycle in your life. Something I can imagine as quite eventful for either you or your species as a whole.”

“The defeat of the Storm King.” Silverstream nodded. “Yeah! That was the great change for us to come out of hiding under the sea and back onto land again. That, and the fact that I was chosen to attend Twilight’s School.”

The fortune teller turned over the next card. An upside-down picture of a stallion in a jester’s costume and jingling cap, walking down the road with a nap-sack over his shoulder. “The inverted Fool…” Fortuna rubbed her chin. “Seems to suggest that at the present, you most likely have been seen as naïve or foolish.”

“She’s got the naïve part down.” Gallus muttered to Smolder who both of them chuckle.

“Ah! I wouldn’t be so sure on that.” The mare said after she turned over the last card – a picture of an alicorn, complete with a crown and a shield. “Apparently, in her future, she shall experience growth and creativity. The marks of one who is capable of becoming wise, naturally.”

“Do you hear that guys!” Silverstream exclaimed in excitement. “I’m gonna be smart!”

Gallus rolled his eyes. “That’s nice lady, but am I the only one who finds it a little bit suspicious in how vague your readings were?”

The fortune teller only smirked. “Is that so? Perhaps you’d like a reading that’s more in detail? Very well! I’ll do one better! How about I read your and my nephew’s fortune?”

After Sandbar had insisted, Gallus begrudgingly agrees. Fortuna let her cards be tossed on the table, jumbled up before she told them for each to pick out seven cards. After they did so, she cleared away the table before asking for them back.

“First, let us see what the current moods and circumstance you two have now.” First, she picked up a card from her nephew’s deck and flipped it on the table for all to see. It was a stone tower that was on fire. “It would seem, Sandbar, that you are undergoing a radical change to something new that looks like you’re welcoming it.” Then she flipped over the card in Gallus’s deck, a picture of the sun with its rays. “The symbol of satisfaction and contentment because of an achievement of a personal goal.”

Sandbar nodded, “Seems pretty accurate so far.”

His husband frowned. “Well, that’s just luck.”

“Is that so?” the fortuneteller raised an eyebrow. “Then let us see what the cards say about what kind of mask you put forward. Starting with you.” She pulled out one of his cards – it had an image of an empty chariot. “You want to give the world the impression that regardless of the situation you’re bridling disparate wills in order to get ahead. Only doing what is necessary to move on forward, ever forward. But, underneath that mask.” She pulled out another card, paused, and smirked before placing it on the table. It showed two hearts being pierced by an arrow. “You are stricken by affairs of the heart while reflecting on your inner harmony.”

“A-Affairs of the heart?” Gallus’s eyes shifted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Basically, what she’s saying,” Smolder pointed out, “That you may appear to be begrudgingly going through this wedding thing, but deep down, there’s a part of you that wants it to happen.”

“Y-You’re just making this up!” The griffon said defensively, his cheeks turning pink.

“Enough teasing,” Aunt Fortuna spoke up as it was Sandbar’s turn. “Let’s see…” She picked up a card from her nephew’s deck, a stallion that was hanging by his hindleg by a rope. “Sandbar, this tells me that although you are giving up the impression that you are doing this out of self-sacrifice…” she turned over another card, this time it was a picture of a stallion in sacred robes, lifting a hoof up as if giving a blessing, “inside, this event has brought peace and harmony of mind to you. Which is interesting, it’s as if the cards are saying that while you’re showing your different reasons for this event, that whether you’re aware of it or not, you both wanted this to happen.”

Now both newly-weds avoided each other’s gaze while the girls giggled.

“Let’s move on to what exactly both of you want in life.” She picked up Gallus’s cards first and flipped it over to an upside-down image of Discord, holding a chain in a claw with two other miserable ponies connected to it. At first, those who looked on it were worried, but Fortuna raised a hoof. “Ah! No fear, this is a good sign! As this is upside-down, it means that what the griffon greatest goal in life is to be released from what is binding him. But how exactly do you feel about it?” She flipped over another card, this one has an old griffon holding up a lit lantern. “Interesting… While you want to be free, you deep down feel that you should cross-examine yourself to make sure that you’re making the right decisions and are willing to seek advice.”

Gallus went quiet for a very long moment, “How in Tartarus did you know that?”

“Apart of you saying it, the cards did.” Now she turned to Sandbar as the image got an immediate reaction from the students. It showed the picture of a pony skeleton with a reaping sieve. “No no, this is not what you think it means.” She said quickly. “This is actually fascinating. This card means that Sandbar’s goals in life are a transformation, to get rid of something old to make way for the new. But what’s his feelings on the subject?” The next card she turned was that of a magician in a wide-brim hat, and a table that has a verity of swords, cups, and coins. “You feel confident in that ability to achieve your goal.”

“Well…” Sandbar nodded, “You’re not totally wrong.”

“Ah, but let’s get to what we’re really here for. Your future, or at least, what will be soon to come.” She picked up another card from her nephew’s deck and frowned before placing it face up. There was an upside-down image of a mare pouring a picture of water in a stream while above her are many, glittering stars. “Oh… Bad news I’m afraid, in the future I see, it is filled with self-doubt and unfulfilled dreams. As if there will come an event that will bring your confidence to ruin.” She flipped over his final card. This one having a Pegasus blowing into a trumpet. “Huh… Now, this is interesting.”

“What is?” Sandbar leaned forward.

“This final card says that how this event will mean to you, is that you’ll be able to accept what will happen and have the ability to let it go.”

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged. “How would I know, I’m a card reader, not a psychic. But anyway, let’s see what’s in your husband’s future…” She turned over a card that on it has a wheel where three different creatures, a griffon, a fish, and an eagle are caught on it. “Oh…” She shook her head. “This is not a good sign.”

Gallus paled, “What are you talking about?”

“This card,” she tapped on it, “is the Wheel of Fortune, and what’s concerning is that it’s upside-down. Meaning that in your foreseeable future, you will experience an unforeseen change, but for the worst.” The final card she pulled out from Gallus’s deck was the picture of a crescent moon and sighed in relief. “However, there is good news. As this card is upside-down, it means that regardless of what will happen, things will turn out well in the end.”

Ocellus, after listening to all of this, tilted her head. “Is it me, or do some of these readings between you two seem rather… connected.”

“Changeling right.” Yona nodded. “Almost as if Pony reading one fortune, not two.”

“I know.” Silverstream agreed. “It’s almost as of those card things are shipping them.”

Both husbands left immediately with a groan.

It had been several hours, and the sun had finally gone down to where the grape lights lit up the space. By now, family and friends have gathered near the center of this caravel like reception towards where a dance floor was set up, along with the tables for them to have dinner. Much to Yona’s promise, there was indeed a feast that was held – of course, all provided with some help. Yona for the occasion of the wedding had asked to summon Yakyakistan’s finest chefs to show these ponies what a traditional Yak Wedding feast looked like. For many, they were trying flavors and foods that they didn’t know existed from baked sweet onions to cloud soup, from rose beats to thousand-grain bread.

At this feast, right before the dance floor was the table that the newly-weds and Sandbar’s parents ate. Behind them was another table that was piled with wedding gifts for the couple. In front were the plates and bowls that most still had some traces of the food that they only have taken a couple of bites from. Besides an all-around was chatter on top of the music that’s been playing out by the DJ.

But after the sun had disappeared beyond the mountains, Yona, still covered in flour, weaved her way through the tables and ponies up to Sandbar’s father and whispered something in his ear. He stood up, put a hoof in his mouth and let out a loud whistle. “Everypony! Can I get your attention?”

It took a while for them to quiet down enough for him to continue. “Due to the cake not exactly ready yet, we’re gonna have my son and his husband have their slow dance as our chefs make the final preparations.”

Gallus and Sandbar looked at one another as the air became lively with seeing them dance. The young stallion leaned over to his dad. “Just to be clear, it’s gonna be a slow dance – right?”

“Don’t worry,” he told him, “None of us are expecting for you to be professionals, just go out there, and go at it at your guys’ pace.”

Looking at one another, the griffon raised his claw, pointing towards the dance floor. “You ready to go?”

“I… I guess so.” He said getting up before adding to him, “Did you practice?”

“Eh… a little. At least, I have some idea what to do.” The newlyweds walked out the wooden floor. “Here, I’ll take the lead. So stand up on your hind legs.” They did so, and Gallus raised his right arm. “Take hold of this. Good. Now put your other hoof on my shoulder. No, lower than that. Right. And let me put my claw here…” With his left claw, he placed it near Sandbar’s waste.

“Okay so…” the pony asked, “now what?”

Then over the speakers, a waltz began to play out its dream-like rhythm on a piano. Not knowing what to do, they let their senses take over as they began to sway back and forth. Gallus put his right leg forward, gently pushing Sandbar’s left back. Eventually, the two of them found a workable rhythm as they slowly turned. But even so, they weren’t paying attention to the steps they took, but on the other’s face.

“Gallus,” Sandbar began, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“It’s something that Aunt Fortuna said. Especially with those cards, she brought up.”

“Oh, c’mon Sand, you can’t believe everything anyone says just by a deck of cards.”

“That’s just the thing… What she said, she wasn’t wrong about me.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t bring this up because I didn’t know how you’ll feel about it but…” Sandbar bit the inside of his cheek. “I uh… may or may not have wanted this to happen.”

“What are you talking about?”

The young stallion took in a deep breath. “Gallus… do you think that it might be possible to… well…”

“Spit it out, what is it?”

“Is it possible that given what happened last night, that we might, actually, love each other?”

Gallus blushed. “W-What brought this up?”

“I… I don’t know dude. I mean, forget that we’re actually married and all. Just… do you think that it might be possible that you could start develop feelings for me or vise-versa?”

Once again, that warm blood that the griffon’s heart returned. “Sandbar…” he said, “I uh… I don’t know if this is the right time and place to…”

“Yeah?”

He took in a deep breath. “What if, for the sake of augmenting, that over the past couple of months, give or take, that I uh… um… Gods! Why is this so hard?!” He muttered to himself.

Sandbar stopped the dance. “Gallus, are you saying what I… think you’re saying?”

“That depends on how you’d react to it.”

“Dude, we’re already hitched.” He deadpanned. “And while I think I might have an idea what’s going on in your head, I want you to say it.”

Gallus looked around. “What? Here? In front of everyone?”

“You know what? Yeah. I’m listening.”

Sighing, the griffon had them resume the dance. “Sandbar… This isn’t easy for me to say this… But… what if I told you… that I might be…” His cheeks deepen into a scarlet color. “I think I have a crush on you…”

Now it was Sandbar’s turn to blush. “Then I would say that I wouldn’t be that surprised.”

“What?”

“Well… what if I told you that I think… I could be in the same boat as you?”

Gallus blinked. “Then I’ll say that we’re pretty much stuck up here without a paddle.”

Sandbar laughed. “I mean, my Aunt was right, there’s a part of me that’s overjoyed that we actually did it but…”

“…. This is going a little too fast.” His husband nodded. “It’s kinda pointless for me to lie now, but yeah, while I think I have feelings for you, I want to take this slow. One step at a time, ya know? And yeah, it’s obvious that it’s seriously way too late to ask you this but… After all of this, do you wanna… go out with me?”

His husband gave a gentle smile. “Actually, yeah. I would like that.”

Before they knew it, the music had ended and there was applause from those who saw it.

A couple of minutes after they returned to their seats, Yona returned. “It has taken long,” she told them, “but Yaks have finally done it! We have traditional wedding cake for Pony and Griffon.”

“About time,” Gallus rubbed his talons, “I’m in the mood of having something sweet.”

With a proud grin, Yona told them to wait here while she and the other Yak chefs to go fetch the cake. After she left, the newlyweds had an expectation of the cake they were going to see. The white cake that had taken hours with its complex icing alone that had on the top two little dolls that look like them.

However, what was brought in… was enough for the adults to cover the eyes of the foals there. Upon several Yaks, there was a towering brown cake that, although there was a complicated design of white icing on this towering behemoth, the shape of it was rather… phallic in design. As gently as possible, the yaks placed the cake right before their table.

“Uh…” Sandbar asked, “What’s that?”

“This,” Yona waved a hoof proudly, “traditional wedding cake. Good luck charm of fertility. But go ahead,” she grinned wider, “touch it.”

Hesitantly, the two of them reached their appendages out to this dirty cake, and with a slight poke, the very top of it started to pulsate a foamy, white liquid.

The only thing for the newlyweds could do, was laughing in horrific embarrassment.

“Ya know,” Sandbar’s mother said after she took the last bite of her slice of phallic cake, “despite looking like something out of the most pretentious artsy clop film, this stuff isn’t half bad.”

Autumn Wave looked around. It was late in the evening and by now a good chunk of the family have either left or are still cleaning up. The cake, despite having a… controversial introduction, there was a consensus once pieces of it were passed around that it was surprisingly good – much to the pride of the Yaks who made it. “Still, today was a good day.”

“It was a lot of work,” Gallus admitted, “but I’d say that overall, it was actually fun. Right Sand?” But when there was no response, the Griffon looked over to see his husband, asleep in his chair.

“Aww, he’s all tuckered out.” Spring Tide said. “I mean, who could blame him for the day we all have.”

As Sandbar softly snored, Gallus got up, “Maybe I should take him back to the school. Back to his bed.”

Autumn put a hoof on his shoulder. “You go do that; we’ll clean up things here. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss further on that coming of age ritual that needs to be done.”

“Thanks, sir.”

He shook his head. “Just for now, call me dad.”

Gallus was stuck into silence, but as he picked up the sleeping Sandbar in his arms, he bid them goodnight before taking to the air towards the school. It took him longer to get there as he didn’t want anything to disturb his husband’s slumber. But when he got to the open draw-bridge of the school, he walked down its hallways, through courtyards, and into their dorm rooms. He had to maneuver his talons just to open the doorknob, but once had the door to be loose, he gently kicked it and carried Sandbar over to his bed.

From there, he undressed him, taking off his suit, tie, vest and shirt before laying him down in his bed. The sheets and covers were pulled over him, but before Gallus left the room, he paused. Looking back at his husband, his crush, he felt that it wouldn’t be fair that after all they’ve done for today, it wouldn’t be fair to let him wake up in the morning without him being there. So, peeking his head out, looking this way and that, he closed the door and got up on the lower end of the bed. Like a cat, he circled around that spot before laying himself down, letting his tired eyes to close.

“Goodnight Sandbar.” He muttered softly before drifting to sleep.

Chapter 12: Grandpa Gruff

A few days after the wedding, with all the cleaning up and work that was done, both Gallus and Sandbar’s parents had agreed that they all needed some rest before they could do the traditional griffon coming of age ceremony. It was understandable, both from the near exhausting work and partly to prepare for the sacred rite to be performed. So, it is because of this that since it was still Spring Break, the husbands decided to take it easy and do nothing for a while.

In the courtyard at the School of Friendship, the two of them lay in the soft grass in the sun. Sandbar lay on his stomach, flipping through a comic book about Supercolt while his husband was on his back, his talons behind his head and a content smile on his face. He was looking up at the sky, watching the clouds drift by the breeze. With the sun beaming down on them with its warm rays, the griffon sighed out of relaxation.

“Are you excited?” Sandbar asked him.

“What? The initiation tomorrow?” He smirked. “The sooner I become an adult to rub in Grandpa Gruff’s face and telling him to suck it, the happier I’ll be!”

A thought came to the earth pony to where he looked up from his comic. “But wouldn’t he be mad though? I mean, Headmare Twilight did say that she wouldn’t write about us until after the wedding so…”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “So what? At this point, I doubt there’s anything he could do about it. I mean, even if Twilight does tell him that we’re married, what’s he gonna do? Bring a militia over and forcefully take me away?” He chuckled as he closed his eyes. “That would be stupid.”

“Gallus!” Those eyes were shot open when a grumpy, screeching, gargling yell rang through-out the courtyard. The two husbands looked up to the rooftops of the school to find the vulture-like griffon with a fez along with six other younger, stronger, armed and armored griffons carrying crossbows, spears, and swords. The elderly griffon flew down to them, a glare aimed directly at Gallus before grabbing him by the arm.

“Let go of me!” but the vulture grabbed hold of his ear where it was still pierced, and the ring was firmly in place. Grandpa Gruff touched it, felt the gold pieces as if checking and checking again to see if it was, indeed, real. He at times looked between Gallus and Sandbar with a look that was a mix of betrayal, shock, anger, and (at least towards the young stallion) pity.

“You are coming with me.” He said, dragging Gallus by the arm towards the school.

“What are you doing?!” Sandbar tried to go after them but two of the armed griffons blocked him, staring down with glares at him.

“Let go of me!” Gallus cried out.

“We need to talk.” Grandpa Gruff said as he dragged the younger griffon down the hallways and up the stairs towards the most important room of the entire school – Headmare Twilight’s office. Regardless of what the alicorn was doing, he suddenly burst in. “How could you!” He shouted, flinging Gallus in. “How DARE you go behind my back like this!!”

Despite the mountains, hills, and valleys of paperwork she was organizing, signing, and weighing their importance on, Twilight looked up from her work. She was alarmed as she looked up in time to see the blue griffon being tossed in. “Grandpa Gruff!”

“I had placed my trust in you.” He said coldly as he entered into the spacious, library-like office. “When I had him being sent here, we had an agreement: that he would do his work and you give me reports on what he’s doing. To let me be the first to know of whatever activities he does.” He slammed his tight-clenched claws on her desk, sending a few loose papers to scatter. “Now that I find out that you not only let this child get married, but you allowed it to wed someone that isn’t remotely female! Have you lost your mind?!”

Despite the eye twitching from the runaway papers that were on the floor, she closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and with her magic she calmly placed those papers back in their rightful place. Instead of responding to the enraged griffon, she turned to Gallus. “Where’s Sandbar?” He told him that he was blocked by a couple of armed griffons. “Have him be brought here. I think it’s best to explain to him what precisely is going on.”

Soon, Sandbar was brought into the office, and Twilight had placed three padded chairs before her desk in which she cleared off the paperwork so that she may talk to them directly. At the door to the hallway, a pair of armed griffons stood at attention.

“Before we start,” Twilight began, she pointed a hoof at the guards, “why are they here?”

“Originally so that if Gallus here would be sent straight home.” Grandpa Gruff answered. “After I finally got that report you so now graciously decided to send me, I was hoping to come in to see that the boy’s marriage was illegitimate and that he would be forced to come back to the Griffon Kingdom. However, it just makes things even more complicated when I can see from their piercings that they got married the griffon way.” His eyes narrowed. “And since it is legitimate, I for one am appalled at you that not only you let this happened – but you carried out the ceremony yourself!”

“Actually-” Sandbar began but was immediately interrupted.

“Quiet! I still have so many bones to pick out of you, but first thing’s first.” He turned back to Twilight. “What in the nine circles of Tartarus was going inside that head of yours?! I mean… Even for Equestria, this shouldn’t be anywhere near legal!”

Twilight nodded. “In any other case, you're absolutely right. Normally the legal age for marriage is twenty-one. However, I allowed the marriage to become official because Sandbar’s parents have given their full permission to let it happen. If both of them told me that this should not happen, I would have to obey that and refuse to do it.”

“Sandbar’s par…” The vulture trailed off, his talons pitching that bone between his eyes. If one looked closely, they could see steam coming out of his ears. “But what about us? Never once did anyone think that maybe, just maybe, we should be informed before the wedding?”

“The law is very clear in Equestria,” Twilight told him, “that in order for a marriage to occur where both potential spouses that are underaged, then at least one parent must give their consent. Since Gallus is an orphan, it was on the decision of Sandbar’s to make. Although you’re the closest thing to his legal guardian that he has, there was a suspicion that, even if you were informed, you would have refused and done everything you could to prevent it.”

“You’re damn right I would!” He screamed. “Gods! Why would you do this!? Why go behind my back and have them get married?”

“Why not you ask them?”

Immediately, the vulture glared his good eye at Gallus. The younger griffon sinks into his seat while the other waited impatiently for an answer that looked like he was ready to beat him. Sandbar spoke up.

“It was my idea.” That glare was now turned to him, but gaining the courage, he continued. “I… I know what being an orphan is like in Griffonstone. I know that he’s stuck in limbo since his parents passed away before they could have him undergo that coming of age ritual. If he goes back home now, he’ll never be free from you or for you to allow him to become his own guardian.” That stare became sharper as if the ancient griffon was ready to stab him with it.

“You dare…” He growled. “You foreigner, you roped a fellow griffon into something so… so… blasphemous, at such a young age, just so he can become an adult in the most unconventional, immoral, unnatural way conceivable!”

“And I still took up the offer,” Gallus interjected, now getting Gruff’s attention. “In case you haven’t figured it out, this marriage thing, it’s my only ticket out! I’m going to undergo the whole ritual thing in a few days with Sandbar’s parents watching. And when I enter into adulthood, I’m gonna denounce my nationality and move to the place where I have not only real friends but the closest thing to a family that not one in the old Griffon Kingdom could ever bother to give. You could go ahead and be angry all you want, you’re already too late. This marriage thing, while weird, is only temporary for me to become an adult.”

“You… conniving, little BRAT!!!” Although his claw was raised high, his talon aching to give a sharp striking slap across Gallus’s face to be the first of many, many blows he wanted to deliver, he found it stuck in the air, only to find Sandbar’s hooves and Twilight’s magic holding it in place. Gallus, all the while, winced and covered his head with his arms trying to protect himself.

“Don’t you dare think that you could beat one of my students in front of me and get away with it,” Twilight said to him in a serious tone. “Sandbar, let go.”

The young stallion obeyed.

After Twilight released him, Grandpa Gruff suddenly got out of his chair. “Stupid kids, you don’t a clue what you’ve just done!”

“It’s called outwitting you,” Gallus said.

“By outwitting you mean forgetting one tiny little detail about this so-called ‘brilliant’ plan of yours,” Twilight asked him what he meant. “What these youngsters seemed to have forgotten, is that with us Griffons, there’s no such thing as divorce.”

The spacious office became deathly quiet, where the only sound that was heard was the ticking of the clock overhead and the mental shattering in Sandbar’s and Gallus’s minds.

“What?” Sandbar asked softly.

“Think about it, numbnuts,” the vaulter griff raised a talon, “did you by any chance did the marriage ceremony the Griffon way?”

“Well… yeah?”

“And you took that oath too.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember what that sacred vow was?”

Sandbar had to think back to that wedding for a moment. “‘Blood may spill, and skin may break, but my…’” He trailed off at the sudden realization.

“‘My bond I won’t forsake.’” Grandpa Gruff finished. “To us, once that promise is made, you’ve already gone past the point of no return. Even if you’ve managed to have Gallus here undergo the rite of passage, even if he does move way, neither of you can break your marriage bond until death do you part.” His eye narrowed. “You have focused so much into whether or not you could you haven’t stopped to think if you should.”

“But they also got married the pony way too.” Twilight pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter! Don’t you see what has happened here, Princess? Even if they do get divorced the pony way, you’ve officially made the both of them outcasts on so many levels that I don’t know where to start! Now because you have given into their stupidity, they shall be seen in our eyes as something unclean, something so thoughtless,” he turned his fiery gaze at Gallus, “that I’d bet his ancestors, if not his parents would be forever ashamed.”

“Don’t you talk about them like that!” Gallus suddenly got up in anger. “If they were alive, they wouldn’t let me be chained up in a dump like Griffonstone! Nor would they let your stupid traditions tell me how to run my life!”

“ENOUGH!” Twilight's voice shouted out like a clap of thunder. So sudden was this that the room became still. After taking in a deep breath, she added in a calm tone. “Grandpa Gruff, is there anything else you wished to address beyond belittling my students? If not, I suggest you leave my school at once. You have no power here.”

“Just one.” He turned to the newlyweds. “All I have to say is this: congratulations. You’ve invented a new kind of stupid, a damage you can never undo kind of stupid like opening all the cages in a zoo kind of stupid; for becoming the embarrassment of us Griffons. Also, for becoming bounded together until the end of your days for a thoughtless attempt to change something that shouldn’t have.” He marched towards the door to the hallway in which those guards stepped aside as he opened it and they followed through. And before he slammed the door so hard that the glass nearly shattered, he said one last word with a glare as coldly as the snows of Griffonstone.

“Congratulations.”

Chapter 13: Starry Reflections

That night Sandbar couldn’t sleep. Between what was about to happen at the crack of dawn to the news that Grandpa Gruff delivered, going off to dreamland wasn’t much of an option. He tried to distract himself by reading, even warm milk, but with what happened, his mind was resisting to hold still. So as quietly as he could, he took his pillow with him to sneak out of his room and headed towards the upper floors of the school. He didn’t do this very often, but on nights like this where insomnia was the order of the evening, he would go out onto a particular balcony where one of the school’s gables were low enough to climb up on. He hopped onto the roof and made his way up until he was able to see the stars.

With only a pillow underneath his head and Luna’s moon for light, he gazed up at the million points of light that twinkled and flickered like candles. Although it was the most unorthodox place to be, it was one of those places where he could be at peace.

“I figured I’d find you up here.” Sandbar jerked his head away from the sky, not realizing that Gallus had flown up on the roof. “Can’t sleep either, huh?”

“No, not really.”

The griffon, in the dim light of the moon, rubbed his neck. “You uh… You mind if I join you?”

Sandbar waved a hoof, and Gallus lay beside him, both facing up at the constellations that silently watched. At first, neither of them said anything. The crickets played their nocturnal concert of unending chirps while the waterfall at the school entrance provided the white noise for them to be lost in thought.

“I’m sorry.” Gallus finally said.

“Huh?” This snapped Sandbar’s attention. “For what?”

He sighed. “I completely forgot the whole issue with divorce and us griffons… It’s something that I honestly didn’t think about. A microscopic detail that I’m so stupid to overlook.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, dude.”

“Well, what else can I do? I’ve had you be dragged into a marriage that, let’s face it, we’re not entirely ready for yet, and we’re stuck pertinently.” The young griffon paused, looking towards the moon. “I know that it was your idea, and you wanted to help me out in whatever way you could. But by doing so… I’ve unintendedly trapped you into something that you can’t get out of. It’s completely unfair to you, that by freeing me, I’ve ended up imprisoning you. Sandbar… I’m so sorry.”

A hoof touched his arm, Gallus looked over to Sandbar’s eyes. “You’ve nothing to apologize for. Even if I did know beforehoof, I would still have gone through it.”

“But not at the price of your own freedom.”

He shook his head. “I think you’ve underestimated me. My calling is in compassion, to help those that need it. What happened to you in Griffonstone… it’s appalling. No one should have to go back home to a place where you don’t have a say over your own life. For someone like you, not only would I trade places, but offer my life so that you can breathe free.”

“Sand,” Gallus took hold of his hoof, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’ve been doing for me. Despite what Grandpa stick-in-the-mud might say, I think you would have made my parents proud for what you’re doing. But at the same time, however… it’s not fair for me to trap you forever in this.”

“What are ya talking about?”

“Dude, we’re sixteen. Despite what your shippers of parents would say, we shouldn’t be married this young. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do have feelings for you and all that mushy stuff. However, since we just decided to start, ya know, date, I honestly don’t know for sure if you’re the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. And don’t you dare say otherwise because I know you’re thinking of it too!”

Sandbar’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“Who knows,” Gallus continued, “maybe we were really meant to be. But in the off chance that we’re not… I don’t think I’ll be able to live with myself knowing that I trapped you into a marriage where you can’t find happiness. Even when you have feelings for me now, who’s to say that it wouldn’t fade, and you might have your eye on someone else?” He squeezed the hoof a little tighter. “What kind of life would that be that you won’t be free to be with the one that you would actually love?”

“But… what about you?”

He sighed. “Stop worrying about me. You’ve already done so much for me, and I did say that I owe you a debt. All I care about, right here and now, is that you would be given that same freedom that you gifted me.”

“And if…”

That pause from Sandbar made Gallus sit up. “What?”

“Just… hear me out. What if this permanent marriage thing is a blessing in disguise? Sure, those Griffons in your homeland would see that we’ve done something taboo, but let’s face it, we don’t have to go and live there. Plus, my parents are officially your parents now too. Regardless of what you do here in Equestria, you have a family here that welcomes you with open hooves. Plus,” he scooted closer over to him, “you are a good guy, Gallus. Sure, I don’t exactly agree with everything you say or do, but looking past it, I’m still willing to be more than just a friend.”

“Even though we have no idea what we’re doing?” The Griffon deadpanned.

“Hey, we’re not exactly the first… couple to do something like this. Applejack’s neighbors made it work, so who’s to say that we can’t have that?”

“We could, but… should we? Now that this thing is permanent, how do we know that this, what we have now, will be? Gods, we’re teenagers, Sandbar, we as an age group don’t exactly have the best track record for making the best decisions that we won’t end up regretting.”

“Hmm… True.” Sandbar flipped on his side, facing him. “But let’s face it – we’re not exactly normal teenagers, aren’t we?”

Gallus opened his mouth for a moment or two, but nothing came out of it.

“I mean,” the young stallion continued, “maybe it’s because I don’t know much about Griffons, but over the past several months, you’ve been becoming… what’s the word?... Selfless? That whole, ‘I don’t want you to be trapped by me’ thing, that you were more concerned about my wellbeing than your own… that says something.”

“Oh c’ mon,” Gallus chuckled, “after doing all of this for an orphan from Griffonstone that doesn’t have a bit to my name… because you want to…” He too turned on his side, facing his husband. “Now that, is worth something beyond gold or jewels.”

Sandbar smiled. “Awe, are you finally admitting your feelings for me?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just… Well… Uh…” After trying to make a charge of his thoughts and failing, he only looked at him in the eye to say: “Damnit… Yeah… But how exactly. This might sound corny, but something from literature class comes to mind.”

“Yeah? Which one?”

“Give me a minute, let’s see if I can remember it…” the young griffon shut his eyes, trying to remember the words stored in his mind that seemed to whisper like a ghost. Opening his eyes, he laid on his back, towards the moon to recite. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alterations finds, or bends with the remover to remove: oh no! It is an ever-fixèd mark, that looks on tempest and is never shaken…”

He turned his head, back to Sandbar as he is fully entranced by these familiar words. “It is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come; love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” He reached out his claw underneath the pony’s chin. “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor I had ever loved.”

“You just quoted Shakespur’s poem to me.”

“Yeah? And?”

“That was both incredibly touching and I have no clue what half of that meant at the same time.”

Gallus laughed. “It means that although I do have my doubts if time would change what we have, this moment, this thing we have now… is a memory that might outlast us. Although we shall age, and death to come so our mortal bodies are turned to dust – this scrap of tenderness, this sweet nectar of your kindness, underneath the candlelike twilight, shall never be forgotten. This moment we have is in my eyes immortal and flawless…” He blinked. “That sounded incredibly cheesey, didn’t it?”

Sandbar chuckled, “Or, you could just say what has been on my mind.”

“That being?”

The young stallion leans forward but paused just within kissing distance. “I want to hear you say it. No poetry, no flowery words, but the essential truth of it all.”

Gallus gulped, his face burning and that pulsing feeling in his heart coursed out like veins of a volcano. “S-Sandbar… I… Is it weird to say that… I think… I might be falling for you?”

“No.” The pony closed that gap between them and pulled him into a kiss. Although this time it wasn’t as aggressive as Gallus gave at the wedding, this was something gentle, something pure enough for the griffon to kiss back.

It was the young griffon that had to push him away, to catch his breath. “Sand… We should really get to bed. We have to be up before sunrise.”

Sandbar nodded. He gathered up his blanket and the two of them climbed down, back into the school’s dark hallways. Although both of them went to bed that night feeling peace, there was that whispering doubt in their minds if what they have could really be as eternal as the stars they looked up to.

Author's Note

I know that we're in finals week, but since I had a little bit of time, I figured that I release a little bit of something.

Chapter 14: Rite of Passage

In Equestria, there are a few ponies that would be up before dawn. Bakers to make bread, the Lunar Guard to patrol the streets looking for crime, Baristas to prepare coffee, Mailponies to organize and make deliveries, newspaper colts, garbage collectors, and farmers. Before Celestia could wake up to raise the sun over the horizon, not many ponies in towns and cities are up at such an hour.

On that spring day, however, when all is still cold and dark, a griffon and two ponies walked into the empty market place where only a small number of ponies were preparing to open up shop. Autumn Wave, with a mug of coffee in hoof, dragged himself following Gallus behind while his mind was trying to catch up with him. “So…” He said, “How exactly do you know how this thing works?”

“It’s always held in public for all to see,” Gallus explained. “That’s the point, really. If you wanna show the community that you’re becoming an adult so that there’s absolutely no doubt of it. Besides, I’ve seen it happen plenty of times.”

“But all you’ll be doing is just flying… right?” Sandbar inquired.

“Kinda. It sounds simple, but it’s more of an endurance test than anything. Regardless of the weather, I have to keep myself off the ground from sunrise to sunset. Which means that I’ll be completely in the air the whole time.”

“So why do you need us for?” Gallus’s now father-in-law questioned. “I mean, if this ritual thing is meant for all to see you do it, why have us be here the whole time?”

“In the old Griffon Kingdom, the family members are like reliable referees. If I’m able to become an adult, I have to do it in front of you so that I won’t be able to cheat or keep me alert. Once the sun peaks over those mountains over there, it’s your guys' job that I don’t make any contact with the ground or anything that’s touching it. Which means that I can’t sit down for rest or go to the bathroom. And I can’t exactly pick anything up from the ground unless you guys toss me up a canteen or a snack.”

“What about clouds?”

“It’s considered cheating.” Gallus stopped; his face turned towards the east as the sky there was starting to change into brighter colors of blue. “This should be a good spot. So how long do I have until sunrise?”

Sandbar glanced over at the clocktower. “The sun should be peaking out in a few minutes.”

“So, are you actually going to do it?” The three of them turned to a new voice – Grandpa Gruff holding a lantern in one talon and a folding stool in the other.

“What are you doing here?” Gallus questioned coldly as the morning.

“Believe it or not, I’m here to watch.” He flipped open his seat, setting it on the ground. “I just wanna see with my good eye if you could actually do it.”

“Did you forget that I had to fly across an entire ocean just to get here?”

“I didn’t.” The old vulture deadpan, “This, however, is a different matter. What you’re about to do isn’t easy, even for the youngsters. Only the mature could withstand such endurance to keep off the ground while the sun is still in the sky.”

“Good thing I’m here to prove I’m not a kid anymore.”

Grandpa Gruff’s eye narrowed. “We’ll see.”

Gallus felt a hoof on his shoulder, his husband, despite how obviously tired he looked with his reddish eyes, still offered a compassionate smile. “You can do this.”

The young griffon shook his head. “I must do this. By sunset, I’ll be free. And I won’t come this far only to fail.”

“Would there be anything you need?” Autumn Wave asked.

“Just be sure to keep me feed and to toss up me something to drink when I need it. But otherwise, I’m ready.”

Gallus did some last-minute stretching, especially with his wings as the last thing he needed was to have it cramped up when he’s hovering four hours on end. Then over on the horizon, rays of the morning sun had ascended above the mountains, painting the sky in pinks, oranges, dark blue with light. Then, as soon as that bright orb itself was spotted, Gallus jumped up off the ground and hovered there above the ponies beneath him.

The trial of persistence had begun.

“Kid, you must find shelter.” A Pegasus from the local Weather Team said. “There’s a storm coming from the Everfree Forest that’s on its way here now.”

It was noon when Gallus was told this. But despite the sweat that dripped from his face and how numb his wings were, he dares not stop. His lungs felt they were on fire, and regardless of how many bottles of water he gargled down, he refused to land – not with his husband, father-in-law, or Grandpa Gruff especially were watching.

“We can’t stop this thing.” The Pegasus told him. “The winds are too strong, the rain too blinding and there’s a good chance that you might get struck by lightning. So, you need to leave.” From where the young griff could see, the mare wasn’t exaggerating. From his point of view up in the air where he could look over the thatched rooftops, dark rumbling clouds from the forest rumbled and loomed over the town like a tsunami.

He shook his head.

Seeing this was pointless, the mare flew down to the other two ponies and Griffon to take shelter until the storm passes – but the Pegasus had to move on to warn the rest of the town.

“Sandbar,” Autumn asked his son, “do you know anyplace that has umbrellas?”

“I think Professor Pinkie Pie might have a few, and her place isn’t too far away.”

“Go fetch a couple for us and Grandpa Gruff over here. I think we’re gonna need it.”

Sandbar nodded before rushing off towards Sugar Cube Corner.

Autumn Wave glances over to the old Griffon. Ever since the start of the ritual, he noticed that the vulture hadn’t moved or said anything. For several hours, he sat there on that stool, arms folded and head upward. It was as if he was waiting, and Autumn could already guess what he was waiting for.

“I think he’s gonna pull this off.” The pony in dreadlocks said to him. “He’s still up in the air for about six hours now and still going strong.”

“But he still has about eight or nine hours to go.” Gruff replied, still refused to look anywhere else except on Gallus. “So, he’s not done yet.”

“Still, you got to admit that his endurance is already impressive as it is.”

“We’ll see.”

Autumn frowned. “What do you got against him anyway? Do you want him to become an adult by your own rules?”

“Believe it or not, I think it’s about time that he’s finally able to do the ritual. I couldn’t care less if he’s able to pull it off so he could renounce his own nationality.”

“Funny, my son told me that you were upset the other day.”

“Oh, I was, and still am. Not for this, but for going behind my back. I’m still mad that they had the audacity to trick you into getting married so that he could be able to do this.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Autumn shook his head. “Never once did my Sandbar tricked or manipulated me into giving my consent. My son did it out of selflessness and compassion for a creature that would be trapped unless he did something about it.”

“Did he also tell you of what they were getting themselves into?”

“What do you mean?”

“In our culture, the practice of divorce doesn’t exist. The moment one swears the oath, their fate is sealed. There are married until death takes them. It’s the other but the bigger reason why I’m upset. Forget the fact that they’re both male – something that’s considered taboo to us, by-the-way, but because they got married so fast and so young that we just see it as reckless. Which is why I was shocked that you’ve allowed two children to get married as they could never undo what they’ve just done.”

“So what?” Autumn raised an eyebrow. “If Gallus is gonna renounce his nationality, why should you care?”

“You don’t understand! Even if he’s able to pass this sacred rite to become an adult, and his own guardian, just saying that you’re no longer part of the Griffon Kingdom still won’t excuse you from what other Griffons would do. Regardless of where we’re from, there are just certain things that we just don’t do. Forget about the whole gay thing, if he does succeed, than Gallus would have to face being married to someone that’s considered underaged is fundamentally wrong and disturbing. At best, he would be forever known as a pedophile. Mark my words, one of these days, your boy and his husband are going to have to encounter other griffons that would only see them as deviants, disgusting degenerates. This isn’t an opinion either, but a fact that later on they will be harmed or outright killed over something like this – and there’s nothing, not even this kingdom’s laws could do about it.”

“Are you saying that that they're in danger?”

“For their sheer stupidity? Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s exactly the reason why I’m upset. Just telling Gallus that he could just go ahead and get hitched to someone that, even for Equestria isn’t old enough to get married – you might as well paint a target on his forehead.” A clap of thunder was heard. “Yes. There’s a part of me that hopes he might succeed. If he does… he better move to a place where he won’t encounter another Griffon in his lifetime.”

At this point, Sandbar gallops back into the empty marketplace with two umbrellas in his teeth. As soon as he was near enough, Grandpa Gruff snatches one of them to open it. Autumn put a hoof around his son, opening an umbrella for the coming storm, and their eyes turned towards the sky.

Gallus was convinced that he knew what his personal Tartarus was like. Aching wings screaming for rest that will never come. Up in the air shivering in the blinding wintery rain, the brunt wind that kicks and punches in every direction, and the risk of being strike by lighting that could easily kill him. The rain had come down so fast and thick that not only could he see, but he felt like he was being drenched underneath a waterfall that refused to let up. On top of all of this, with his wings being dampened, with each flap of his wings becoming heavier as if each of them had to lift up a house over and over again.

Yet, from below, although he was blinded by rain, he could hear the voice of his husband cheering him on. “You can do it!” He would say. “Don’t give up!”

For the griffon, his own body was telling the opposite. That his wings couldn’t take it anymore. He needs to stop. Give his wings a break or he’ll collapse. Let himself breathe. Yet, Sandbar’s voice inspired in him not confidence, but a realization. If he fails this, he would be letting his husband down – after the amount of planning, of getting his parents to perform an elaborate ceremony, and the sheer amount of compassion and sacrifice the earth pony has done for him – he must pass this trial. After all the effort being put in so he could do this at all, he could not let his own wings bring all what Sandbar has done for nothing.

Frosty winds blast against him, nearly knocking him over as he tried to stay upright. But with his eyes closed, he couldn’t tell if he was right side up or upside-down. Even the rain, no matter what direction he turned to didn’t give him a chance to see. And the constant thunder that echoed in the valley, he felt like he was a lightning rod just waiting to happen.

“Gallus, watch out for that tree!”

“Huh?”

“Just stop!”

He hadn’t realized that he was moving until he forced an eye top open, and through the blur of the water in his eye, he saw the branches that were coming up too quickly. Instinct took over in which he tried to fight against the wind to make him stop from touching what was connected to the ground. Flipping around to face the wind, he flapped harder, his breaths in short painful gasps while his beak was being filled with rainwater.

“Guys!” Gallus called out. “I can’t… see!”

“Dude!” He heard Sandbar’s voice right below him. “Do exactly as I say and go down!”

“Why?”

“The wind is too strong! You need to get to a place where you can get out of the rain! So come down!”

“But if I… touch the… ground-”

“You won’t! Trust me!”

Gradually, Gallus started to lose altitude letting each flap of his weary wings to lower closer to the earth.

“Stop!” Sandbar commanded this time it was close, almost right in front of him. “Now follow the sound of my voice! I’m going to lead you to a place where you can get out of the storm.”

The Griffon obeyed and followed his husband’s voice as he directed him away – still being mindful of keeping him up in the air all the same. He felt the stabbing winds dying down, and before he knew it, the rain had stopped but the sound of it and thunder was still all around him. Using his claws to clear the accumulated water aside, he was finally able to see. Sandbar, as drenched as he was, had led him to underneath a bridge that connected two buildings. He can also see Autumn Wave and Grandpa Gruff following behind carrying their umbrellas.

“Should this still count?” Autumn asked the old vulture behind him. “I mean, he’s not touching the ground or anything.”

“It does. He didn’t touch that tree back there so it’s all still qualified.” Folding his umbrella as he walked underneath the arch, he looked up at the young griffon. “Not so easy now, isn’t it, kid.”

“Screw… you!” Gallus gasped.

Sandbar’s farther looked between the two boys. “Listen, I’m going to go get some towels so at least you two can get dry. Stay right here, I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

Autumn Wave, still with an umbrella in hoof, galloped off into the storm, leaving the three of them underneath the bridge. Gallus still hovered above them, dripping wet and panting like a dog. All Sandbar could offer up was a smile. “You’re still doing great dude.”

“For once, there’s promise.” This caught both young griffon and pony off guard when Grandpa Gruff said this aloud. “Not many Griffs that undergo the ritual during a storm would last five minutes. Yet, you were up there for at least an hour.”

“That… long?” Gallus asked, out of breath.

He nodded. “I still don’t know if you’ll make it to sunset, but you’ve got endurance. There’s no denying it. You may already get a good distance up the mountain already, but you’re not at the top yet.”

“Excuse me, Grandpa Gruff,” Sandbar asked, his legs and his body shivering from the cold. “What’s the point of him to stay off the ground when the sun’s up? How does it make him an adult when to me it looks like torture?”

The old Griffon huffed. “Of course, you wouldn’t understand, pony. I mean, finding out what your talent is and just like that, you get a magical butt tattoo that says that you’re all grown up. Blah! How soft are you that all you have to do is find something you like and that makes you a stallion. This,” he waves a claw at Gallus, “you may see as torture, but in my good eye, a Griffon who could endure being in the air when the sun is in the sky shows that they can get through anything! This is important to us, so much so, that there’s a reason why this has to be done in the open. It sends a message to weaklings like yourself.”

“And that being?”

“It doesn’t matter what you do to us today, tomorrow, or after all of that – by doing this, it shows that we’re not so easily put down! That even though it hurts, that often times we’d beg for our personal Tartarus to stop, we keep going to show that we’re capable of doing hard things. Any Griff that could do just that is not a child that’s so easily a pushover, but an adult that stands his ground. Or in this case, never let his own body to touch the ground.”

About an hour later, the rain had ceased and howling winds had died down. By then, Autumn had returned with a couple of towels on his back with Spring Tide with Aqua joining him. With the whole family present, they did whatever they could to refresh Gallus and toss up enough snacks to keep his energy going. For the griffon, however, although the weather had improved, he kept one eye on the ground, and the other to check where the sun was. To him, the seconds had turned to hours, minutes into years, and the hours into eternity.

There were times where the griffon was convinced that the sun wasn’t moving at all, that time has disappeared altogether. Or perhaps time had gone so remarkably slow that it only makes his own torture all the more tedious. It was as if just being up there for nearly all day was playing tricks on his own mind. That the sky seems to stay still while below, ponies had come out and buzz around at remarkable speeds. At other times, he could have sworn that there was more than just Sandbar and his family to cheer for him to keep going. The latter almost as if there were more voices; distant, ghostly ones that encouraged him to stay up just a little longer.

He kept a watchful eye on the sun, on time itself as it crawled across the wide sky towards the west. It would be over soon. Freedom was just beyond the horizon and all he had to do was to ignore the rebelling aches in his wings just a little longer.

“You’re almost there Gallus!” He heard Sandbar called out. “Just a few minutes more.”

Normally he would love to make some sort of comeback. However, even his own brain was running on fumes like the rest of his body. He had his eyes on the sinking golden disk that was finally touching the mountains. Moment by enteral moment went by, watching Celestia gently place the eternal child into its cradle for the night. As he watched, for a brief second when the rays were waving about at the gentle clouds and the rocky sloping mountains with its trees – that he saw something. Perhaps it was the way the light was casting light and shadow. Maybe it was the placing and shapes of the clouds – or more likely that his mind was probably gone at that point – he thought he saw them lowering the sun beyond the horizon. That the cloudy leftover of the storm looked like his mother and the rocky forest was his father. Both lowering the sun to rest.

“Gallus!” Autumn Wave cried out. “It’s sunset! You can come down now!”

And down he came, hitting the ground with a thud.

“Gallus!” The griffon’s husband rushed over, calling his name, feeling his neck for a pulse. Thankfully, there was one.

“He must be completely exhausted.” Spring Tide said. “Autumn, Sandy, lift him up, let’s get him to bed.”

As the two Earth Ponies left the griffon up and onto their backs, Grandpa Gruff approached the unconscious Gallus, lifting a chin up in his claw. “I don’t know if you can hear me.” He said to him. “But you’ve done it. You’re no longer a child, that you’ve already proven. You may have earned your freedom and the ability to leave the Griffon Kingdom behind, but since you’re an adult married to one who isn’t… I hope that the cost you paid was worth the price from this moment on.”

“Let’s go.” Sandbar said as he and his father took him back to the school, back to the young griffon’s room so he may sleep.

That night, Sandbar feel asleep at the foot of his husband’s bed, so that he may be there when he wakes up.

Chapter 15: New Dawn

The first thing to come to Gallus as his consciousness was firing up the engines and reconnecting his senses was the smell of bacon. As if a spell being cast to make him rise for the dead, he opened his eyes to the bright sunlight that flooded his room. For once, the very act of it was very welcoming, if not strangely refreshing. He shifted over to where Sandbar was – on the floor eating pancakes while a covered plate, complete with a glass of orange juice and silverware was waiting for him.

Sandbar was in the middle of chewing when he noticed his husband was looking at him. A quick swallow later, he got up to hug him. “Gallus! You’re finally awake!”

“Huh?”

“I was hoping you’d be up like yesterday.”

“Yester…” He pushed Sandbar out of the hug. “Hold on… How long was I out for?”

The young stallion did a quick calculation in his head. “After the whole ritual, you’ve been sleeping for… about thirty-six hours. I mean, after keeping off the ground for that long, you needed all that time snoozing.”

“So… I passed?”

“Yep!” Sandbar smiled. “You’re finally an adult! So get up, I’ve brought us a victory breakfast.”

The griffon rolled off the bed and went over to take off the lid from his plate. He nearly busted into tears at the meal he saw. Eggs benedicts on salmon and toast, caramelized bacon, smoked sausage with hash browns. With tears forming in his eyes, Sandbar had to ask if something was wrong. “No…” He sniffed. “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

“You can thank Canvas for it.” The young stallion sat back down to his pancakes. “I was gonna give this to ya yesterday, but you were pretty much comatose. Still, I’m glad you’re awake.”

“And I feel great too!” Gallus said, stretching a little before picking up the plate. On Sandbar’s end, the only way he could describe what happened in the next few seconds was that at one moment the food was there, and the next, the griffon made that food disappear.

“So… what now?”

“Huh?” The griffon asked, his tongue licking the plate.

“I mean… you’re free now. An adult. So… what happens next?”

The griffon paused for a moment. “Well… Apart of me pretty much moving to Equestria, live at the school until I graduate, I’d figure that maybe I could temporarily move in with you and your folks temporarily until I get a job that’ll make me stable.”

“Okay, but… what about us though? Do you really want a divorce?”

Gallus frowned as he set his plate down. “Do you? I mean, from what I could pick up from the roof that night, something tells me that you’ve changed your mind.”

Sandbar sighed. “Well…” He trailed off, trying to find the right words. “The thing is, yeah, when all of this started, I wanted this to be temporary to have this be the end goal. So that you can have that freedom without anyone telling you what to do. Ya know? But then…” His cheeks turned pink. “I started to like you more and more. At the wedding you asked me out, then Grandpa Gruff said that we can’t really get divorced and… There is a part of me that’s okay with it.”

“Because you love me.”

Sandbar nodded. “Could you blame me?”

“No, I guess I really can’t.”

“But what about you? Do you still have doubts?”

“If you mean that I think I might be falling for you back? I think that kiss on the roof answered that question. But if we should be married still…? That I don’t fully know.”

“Do you remember what Grandpa Gruff said during your ritual?”

“You mean besides being an ass? Not much. Why?”

“Well…” Sandbar rubbed the back of his neck. “Dad told me that since you’re officially an adult, to the griffons, we’ve made ourselves more or less open for any other griffon to hurt us.”

“What? Why?”

“Something about that you, an adult, are married to someone who’s considered… well… not.”

Gallus blinked. “How does that make sense? We’re practically the same age!”

“I know. But to their eyes, if any other griffon found this out about us, they would see you as a pedophile. Come to think of it, I think even ponies wouldn’t exactly be that open-minded to it either.”

The young griffon sighed. “Maybe… we should get divorced after all.”

“What!”

“Dude, listen. I don’t know if us being in love has any relevance now. If Grandpa Gruff has come to this conclusion, then there will be others that’ll follow. Even if we never run into a griffon ever again, I doubt the ponies would tolerate having me, an adult, having someone who is underage as a spouse. I mean, what if one of us gets hurt, or worst? I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive myself for you having to free me only to put yourself in danger.”

“But we’re not in danger. All we have to do is lay low until I’m old enough-”

“For the next five years? That’s absurd dude!”

“No, it’s not. I mean, not everypony needs to know we’re married.”

“Sand, being married isn’t something that you can hide. Newspapers would already put out a notice that we’ve just got hitched. Your family might let this little fact spread in open gossip. And not to mention that Grandpa Gruff has a bit of a loud mouth when he a griffon to complain to. We could deny it all we want, but this sort of thing can only spread. And I’m afraid that this piece of news might land onto someone that might use it to target one of us. Probably me most of all.”

“Are… Are you saying that you don’t want to be-”

A loud exhausted sigh escaped his beak, followed by his talons covering his face. “And you wanna know what the most damning thing of all is? As much as I worry about our safety, I don’t know if I want to get divorced. I can go on with all the stuff that you’ve done for me. That you’ve reached out to me when no creature would. It’s tearing me apart that I have to choose between staying married and risk being lynched, or somehow divorce you so that you wouldn’t be harmed.”

Sandbar got up from where he was sitting and walked around to Gallus, wrapping a hoof around him to embrace him in a hug. “We’ll work something out.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“But I can try. We’ll figure something out.”

Gallus suddenly got up, picking up the plate and glass of orange juice. After downing the drink, he told him that he’ll take the dishes back to the Clawston’s.

Author's Note

To TheVClaw: I'd like to have a word with you.

Chapter 16: A Matter of Perspective

A hurricane of thoughts, worries, fears, and anxieties blew around Gallus’s mind as he made his way towards Applejack’s neighbor’s. Whispers in his head of prophecies that spoke of dread and uncertainty. Was any of it true? Even if it was, what does it mean for them now? How would he guarantee for their safety? Or did Sandbar hear it right? Maybe he misunderstood and he’s freaking out over nothing?

And to top it all off, Sandbar doesn’t want to get divorced. Part of him was relieved to hear this, but at the same time, if any of this was true, could it be possible that they were making a mistake? Or what if Sandbar was being shortsighted by his own emotions?

In his claw, he carried with him the dishes, silverware, and cups as he approached the colorful barn. As expected, the sign on the double doors read “Closed” as it wasn’t noon yet. He knocked and waited for a moment before he heard hoofsteps approaching. Locks were undone, then Canvas’s face stuck out.

“Hey there!” He opened one of the double doors wider. “I’ve heard you did your coming of age ritual not too long ago.”

Gallus couldn’t help but be proud of this. “Well yeah, finally have been able to pull it off. And by the way,” he held up the dishes, “thanks for breakfast.”

“And thanks for bringing them back. Let me take those.”

The young griffon gingerly placed the dishes onto one extended hoof, making sure that the stallion was able to balance it. Canvas invited him into the studio but warned him to watch his step as he was working on a Pollack painting. Gallus stepped in and noticed the rather large canvas on the floor. While the pony took the remains of breakfast away, the griffon looked at the confusing spread of color being displayed. Here splotches of metallic copper, there tangled line of turquoise, in the middle rings of black and at the edges a drunken attempt at geometry in white.

“It’s not quite finished yet.” Gallus looked up from the floor at Canvas who returned from the kitchen. “There’s still a good amount of colors that need to go into it before it’s done.”

The young griffon raised an eyebrow. “And you know this… how? All I see is a confusing mess.”

Canvas laughed. “Believe me, I get it. I don’t do this kind of art often, but when I do have it displayed, I often get responses that ‘My cat can do that.’ Often times I hear that with these kinds of paintings that they look like they weren’t given any thought to make. But that’s the point.”

“What do you mean?”

The stallion didn’t answer right away, but instead opened up a can of pink paint and took out a stick in which he dipped it into the liquid and pulling it out, letting the dripping lines fall onto the canvas. He held his end of the stick by his teeth, letting his head movements guide the direction of the falling paint. The only time he spoke was when he placed the stick down.

“The idea is that it’s supposed to be abstract. Without form or method. In theory, just these movements and where the paint splats on reflects my subconscious. Sure, anypony can do what I do, but with this, only I can actually do it as the movements are mine alone.”

“Uh-huh…” Gallus at this point had taken notice of how quiet the barn was. “Where’s your spouse?”

“Should be in Manehattan by now,” Canvas replied. “After your guy’s wedding, he had to leave so he could catch that audition being held over there. In the meantime, I’m working on this commission you see here.”

“Oh…”

Canvas paused at how distant the young griffon was. “Is something wrong?”

“Remember a couple of months back that you said that if I needed someone to talk to, I could come to one of you guys?” He nodded. Gallus sighed. “I uh… I need help.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, it’s kind of a long story. There’s so much on my mind that it’s not even funny with so many complications to the point where it’s ridiculous.”

“Hey, I got all morning,” Canvas said, choosing out a new paint can, “so how about you begin at the beginning, go on until you get to the end and then stop.”

So Gallus went on to tell him as much as he could of the past week. From the wedding to his breakfast with Sandbar, he told him the details of his troubles. Canvas listened, occasionally flicking paint on the piece he was working on. He listened to the young griffon as he described the changes and complications to the original plan, including going into detail as to why they might be in danger.

When they reached that part, the artist paused and raised his eyebrow. “But aren’t you guys the same age?”

“Yes, but apparently that doesn’t matter now! To the griffons, I’m an adult that’s in a relationship with someone who isn’t.”

“But that’s stupid.”

“I know!” Gallus flung his arms and wings. “And to top it all off, now I found out this morning that Sandbar has changed his mind and doesn’t want to get divorced, even if it means saving his own hide!” He plopped down on the ground. “I just… I don’t know what to do anymore. Even if we wanted to, they wouldn’t see us as divorced that, to us griffons, there’s no such thing as divorce which… you know, now that I think of it, how come neither of you brought that up to begin with?”

Canvas shrugged. “It’s not something that we would think about doing. I don’t know about you, but I and Troy aren’t planning to separate anytime soon. Either we’ve forgotten all about that or just didn’t think about it as it’s something we never considered. So with that being said,” he placed a hoof on his shoulder, “don’t you think that you might be making all of this more complicated than it needs to be?”

“What are you talking about?”

“For one, let me just say that coming from me and knowing Troy, there’s no possible way in Tartarus that we would consider you as a pedo. Now would older griffons have an issue with what you and Sandbar are in? Sure. But let’s face it – how likely are you gonna have to deal with this kind of prejudice or bigotry in Equestria? As far as I’m concerned, you’re both the same age. I mean, as long as you don’t have sex until the both of you are old enough or do anything inappropriate in public, I think you should be fine.”

“Sex…” He rubbed the back of his head. “Ya know, I don’t think either of us had brought that up yet. I mean, we didn’t exactly well… do it but I don’t think we have a clue how to bring it up. And frankly, I don’t think I’m exactly… well… ready yet.” He shook his head to try to stay on topic. “But even if what you’ve said is true, that’s not why I came here.”

“Oh?” Canvas put his paint-covered stick down. “So what exactly did you come to know about?”

Gallus took in a deep breath. “The thing is… there’s a part of me that wants to stay married to him. I think… I think I might love him back. But at the same time with all that I’ve heard, if I did somehow find a way, should we get divorced out of our safety? Now before you say anything, believe it or not, I don’t want to do this. At all. But if we’re an open target for any griff or bigot that might find us out, I still want to protect him by any way I can. Even if I’m way over thinking this, or that maybe none of the crap that Grandpa Gruff has said would happen at all. However, after giving me the chance to be free, can you blame me if I would sell my soul if it means keeping him safe? And not just that, but let’s face the fact that we’re 16, we don’t have the best reputation of making the best decisions. Even if we were guaranteed protection, I don’t know if we’ll still love each other in a few months or years from now. The truth is…” he rubbed his arm, “I’m just scared.”

“Scared? Of what?”

“That even if we were absolutely safe and all, what if he falls in love with someone else but I’m the one that’ll keep him captive in our marriage? For Goddesses sake, we’ve been kinda dating for like a few months without realizing it. I mean, he freed me after all, I can’t live with myself thinking that I ironically imprisoned him in a relationship that he couldn’t get out of. What if later on, he develops feelings for one of our friends like… I don’t know… Yona let’s say. Even in his heart would yearn for someone else, we both know that I would be that barrier that would trap him in guilt or whatever. Sure, he loves me now, but I’m looking at the bigger picture here. But with all of this going on… I just don’t know what to do.”

Sympathy compelled Canvas to bring him into a hug. “Deep down, you’re afraid of losing him, aren’t ya?”

He nodded.

“Before I say anything, let me just say that I’m honored that you trust me enough to come to me with something like this.”

“Well you’re the only couple I know that’s like what Sandbar and I have, so I didn’t much of a choice.”

“True. But telling me about this at all is still admirable. You might not know it, but you’ve taken your first step about being an adult."

“What’s that?”

“Just because you’re an adult, doesn’t mean you have to do things completely on your own.” Canvas smiled. “It’s good to take advantage of what support you got to help you out.”

“Yet somehow, I’m sensing a gigantic ‘but’ in all of this.”

He nodded. “A couple of things, but one thing at a time, starting with the whole protection thing. First off, you said that you’re planning on immigrating over here anyway, right?” Gallus nodded. “Once you become a full-fledged citizen, I don’t think there’s much anything the griffons could really do to you. Besides, in case you’ve forgotten, you have allies, probably the most important would be from Twilight. Even if that Grandpa Gruff’s warnings became true, do you honestly think that someone like her would allow anything to happen to you or your husband? Plus, from what Twilight has told me about you guys, you have friends that are too connected to powerful individuals. I mean, if they were about to go to war because you guys disappeared, do you really think they won’t do anything if word gets out that someone has attacked either of you.”

Gallus blinked. “I… I didn’t really think of that.”

“Second.” Canvas went on. “While I have to give you points for self-awareness about your relationship, I for one don’t think it’ll turn out disastrous.”

The young griffon raised an eyebrow. “And how would you know?”

“How long do you think that Troy and I were dating before we got engaged?”

Gallus shrugged. “I don’t know… a couple of years maybe?”

“Nope!” Canvas laughed. “Two and a half months.”

The artist enjoyed watching the griffon’s eyes widen in surprise. “You’re kidding!”

“It’s the truth! We were a couple for a few months before we’ve decided that we should get married. I met Troy when I was fresh out of High School, a little older than your age but it still stands. My point is that I totally get where you and Sandbar are coming from. However, to be blunt, I don’t think that you’re giving your husband enough credit here.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Sandbar that we’ve been told about, and the pony that we’ve met, is someone who is much more mature than most teenagers at his age. And he can be smart when he needs to be. I mean, who would have thought about that loophole so you can undergo that coming of age ritual? This is someone who would bend over backward and twist himself into a pretzel for you.

“So, if you really want my advice, it would be this – every successful marriage is based on two things: love, and trust. Of course, as a couple, you should have a healthy communication between you two to decide on whatever you both wanted to do. Of course, at times you will find something that you’ll disagree, and you’ll fight for the sake of being in the right. If you’re gonna go down that route, your relationship will end pretty quickly. The important thing here is that you have to learn to trust the other’s judgment. With a pony like Sandbar, sometimes you have to take that leap of faith and trust him when he says that he wants to keep the marriage going.”

“And if it doesn’t work out?”

“Well, if Sandbar wants to have a divorce, you should trust in him that he would ask for it first. Of course, feelings will change over time, but you have to realize that this goes both ways too. If you have a gut feeling that this relationship is going nowhere, surely Sandbar would come to that same conclusion to calling it off. But as long as you keep an open communication between you and maintain that trust, that love won’t go away. The real question is – do you want this marriage to keep going?”

Gallus’s cheeks turn pink. “I don’t want to lose him… I don’t want this to end.”

Canvas patted him on the back. “I think what matters most is how you feel for each other, and whether they’ll have that support for your friends and family to stay true to who you are without judgment.”

The griffon looked down at the painting, his ears folded back against his head. “All this time… I’ve been doing things on my own for so long doing things the griffon way that… I’ve become blinded by it all. All these traditions, these hoops that had to jump through. I’ve spent so much time worrying about what the griffons that have looked down on me would do that I’ve forgotten about those that truly helped me. And Sandbar…” He suddenly stood up. “I need to find him. And uh, again, thanks for the breakfast. And the advice.”

“Hey, you can always talk to me with these sorts of things.”

“Yeah… Ya know, maybe you should consider being a teacher at our school.”

“Me?”

“Why not? This whole thing on trust… I think you’ll fit right in. Still, I gotta go. Thanks for everything.”

After telling each other goodbye, Gallus went out of the barn, wings spread and taking flight.

Gallus was speeding through the air towards the school, but along the way he looked down at the town park, he was flying over and spotted a certain sea green pony. He had to pause for a moment to register that it was indeed Sandbar before flying down, calling out his name. Landing in front of him, the two of them paused in awkward silence.

“…. H-Hey…”

“Hi.” Sandbar nodded.

Another pause.

“Sand, can I talk to you?”

“Sure.” He looked over at their surroundings before pointing. “How about under that tree over there?”

The husbands walked over together and took a seat, their backs against the bark of an oak tree. At first, neither of them said a word until Sandbar spoke up. “Hey, I uh… I thought about what you said this morning and-”

“Before you start.” Gallus interrupted. “I just want you to hear me out on something, alright? Before you say that I was right and we should probably figure out how to get a divorce, just stop for a moment and hear me out on something, okay?”

“Okay…? What is it?”

He took in a deep breath. “I want to apologize.”

Sandbar tilted his head in confusion. “What for?”

“Oh, let me count the ways.” He held up his claw as he raised a talon to list off. “For taking you for granted. For being blinded by doing everything the Griffon way. For not placing my trust in you. Really, all this crap just to make me an official adult is all on me. I was so focused on earning that freedom and thinking that I have to do all of this alone that I have forgotten about the friends and family that made it all possible. I’ve forgotten about our friends that supported us and throw us that bachelor party that I don’t think either of us are gonna forget. I’ve forgotten about the family that not only made the effort of putting together the wedding but seem to accept me as one of their own. But most all, I’ve forgotten about you – of the amazing pony that was smart, kind, selfless, mature, charitable that has done everything to help me. And this morning, I had no excuse for doubting you and the trust you placed on me that we could be together. For all of this, Sandbar, I’m so sorry.”

He felt a hoof touching his claw.

“Dude, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“But I do! I mean, I think we got both of us worried over what Grandpa Gruff said that I’ve forgotten about the resources that I have now. Not just you, but your family, our friends, and Headmare Twilight. I’ve been so blindsided to the point where it’s stupid. No, correction, I’m stupid for not realizing this sooner.” He looked over to Sandbar’s eyes. “I’m going to become an Equestrian citizen, and with the friends that we have, it should send a clear enough message to anygriff that if they mess with us, no one will get away that easily. They can grumble all they want, but as long I have friends like what we have, I think we’ll be okay.”

“You really think so?”

Gallus smiled. “We almost started a world war over us disappearing, I think if any griffon so much as lay a claw on us, they have entire nations to answer for.”

“Agreed.”

“But there’s one thing I need to know though. Above all else.”

“What’s that?”

The young griffon scooted closer. “I need you to be honest with me here because I’m going to place my trust in what you’re about to say. If given the chance, do you want to have a divorce?”

Sandbar shook his head. “No. But I thought you wanted it.”

“Only because I thought it was the only way to keep you safe. However, after speaking to someone who’s been down this road, I realized that I had nothing to be afraid of at all.”

“Afraid?”

He sighed. “Yeah… I hate to admit this, but I was scared after hearing that threat. I was scared of losing you one way or another. If the lynch mob didn’t finish us off, then perhaps time would. I was scared of trapping you in a marriage that won’t allow you to realize who’s your special someone really is. I mean, what if down the road you have your eye on someone else that isn’t me? The last thing I want is for you to be miserable and restricted… like I was. I don’t want to be the same creature that you’ve freed to be the one that imprisons you. I was afraid that regardless of how I feel about you, that I’m eternally damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”

“Gallus.” The griffon felt a hoof on his cheek, turning him towards the stallion’s eyes. “You’re my friend. My best friend, and if you allow me, more than that. When I came up with the idea, I wanted to make sure I didn’t cause any harm to you. But by the looks of it, I didn’t exactly do a good job at it recently.”

“No. You’ve done an amazing job. I just let my own mindset blind me. I should have placed more trust in you when you said that you don’t think we should separate. But then again, even when I don’t want to either, what about the future? I mean, we’re still teenagers, and chances are that we might want to date someone else.”

“Well, why not?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, on that you’re right. We may be married but there’s still a bunch of stuff that I think we still need to figure out. Such as can we could be attracted to girls too or find someone that might be better suited to us. I think that as long as we let each other know that we want to date someone else, we should be fine.”

“So like a… what do you call it?”

“An open relationship?”

Gallus shrugged. “I guess. But what if we do decide to separate?”

Sandbar thought about this for a moment. “Tell you what: how about instead waiting until the end of the month, let’s extend it until both of us are twenty-one? We can still date each other and, as long as we let the other know, other ponies or creatures. If we think that maybe what we have won’t last any longer, then we can try to divorce. But if not… at least we still have each other.”

The griffon thought about this for a moment. “Would you be okay sticking to this? I mean, you won’t get jealous if I decide to go out with one of our friends, would you?”

“Just as long as you tell me first, then not really. If anything, I think I might cheer you on. Only if you do the same for me.”

Gallus lifted a claw to the back of Sandbar’s head, letting his messy mane run through his talons. “Deal. Still, for taking you for granted, is there anything I can do to make it up.”

“Well yeah,” Sandbar smirked. “I can think of one way.”

“A kiss?”

“You really do know me.”

Gallus leaned in his beak against lips. On that quiet afternoon in the park, underneath the shade of a tree, they shared an honest embrace that was without fear, worry or anxiety. There was blissful peace between the two husbands. Even after they parted, cheeks red and smiles, they had nothing to be afraid of.

“So…” Gallus said lifting his husband up. “You doing anything for tonight?”

“Well, I was hoping to ask you if you wanted to go see that new spy movie that just came out. That is unless you got something better to do.”

The griffon unfolded a wing and placed it on the stallion’s back, with the two walking out of the park, Gallus told him. “I’m a free Griffon, Sand, I think I have plenty of free time for you.”

Author's Note

The End.

Well, this has ended a whole lot sooner than I expected. But since I could sense that my audience was getting restless, I figured it was time to end it before this story had a chance to sink. All I can hope on my end is that at least you the reader would like it.

Introduction

For the blue griffon, it would be his first Hearth’s Warming. Although it was technically his fault that he and his friends were staying in Ponyville over the winter holidays, a part of him was relieved that at least he didn’t have to go back to Griffonstone. When he woke up from the frantic knocking on the door of his tiny room, he forced his eyes to open to the view of falling snow.

“C’mon Gallus!” exclaimed the instantly recognizable voice of Sandbar. “It’s Hearth’s Warming!” he said, before doing the same to the rest of his friends in their dorm rooms.

Slumping off his bare mattress that had only a blanket and pillow, the young griffon peeked out of the window towards the town clocktower. He frowned. ‘It’s not even seven yet and already he’s waking us up?’

“Gallus!” Sandbar shouted.

“Coming!” he called back. Turning away from the curtainless window, he took a few steps across the bare room towards the door where he could hear the others that were already in the hallway. Sure enough, there they were. Smolder the dragoness, Ocellus the Changeling, Silverstream the Hippogriff, Yona the Yak, and Sandbar the pony—the latter of which was vibrating in place.

“C’mon! Let’s head over to the tree!” With that, Sandbar led the way.

Gallus followed behind the group, down the hall, across the snowy courtyard, into another hall, then making a few turns towards the students’ lounge. As they made their way, the griffon couldn’t help but notice how quiet the school was. All of the students and most of the teachers had already gone home for the week, leaving the building nearly abandoned. He silently questioned if any of the professors were here at all, what with how early it was. If anything, he didn’t expect to find anything from the room that he and his friends were forced to clean after from his little prank the other day.

But those doubts were silenced when they entered the student lounge. Underneath the evergreen tree with the still-burning heart right above it were wrapped presents. Gallus certainly remembered that there was a good deal more of it compared to what he saw yesterday. Extending from the tree, the colorful, shiny, bow-wrapped presents seemed to have increased several times in quantity that had their names on them.

Naturally, the students rushed in for their gifts.

“Where did all of this stuff come from?” Smolder asked as she picked up one of the gifts and gave it a shake.

“Hey! This one is from my family!” Ocellus said as she held up her present.

“Yona too!”

“This one from my Aunt!”

But hearing this, it only confused Gallus further as each time he picked up his gifts, that although they had his name on them, they never gave any hint as to where or who it came from.

“I’m glad we’re just in time.” The students turned to the voice of their headmare Twilight Sparkle. She entered with her friends and number one dragon assistant. “Since you’ll be staying with us over the course of the break, we’d had the gifts from your families be shipped overnight.”

“Uh, Headmare?” Gallus raised his claw. “Where did my gifts come from?

“They came from us.” This answer came from the small dragon that was next to Twilight. “I know that it was at the last minute, but we just hope that you’d like them.”

“Us?”

“Part of this is from us,” Professor Applejack told him, “and part is from yer friends.”

“Huh…” He smiled, “Thanks, I guess.”

“Now what are you waiting for!” Professor Pinkie Pie dove into a mound of gifts. “Let’s open these up!”

All around the room, wrapping paper was torn, bows were tossed aside, boxes were opened, and the room was flooded with various reactions from surprise to joy. A sight that put a genuine smile on Gallus’s face to see such happiness from them. At the same time, however, there was a voice in the back of his head that told him that while this was nice, he did have to one day return to Griffonstone. Such a thought that curbed his moment of joy.

“Hey!” The griffon jerked his head up to find Sandbar there. A hoof extended out to him with a small box wrapped in newspaper and twine. “Happy Hearth’s Warming.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow but took his friend’s gift in his claws. After pulling on one end of the twine, it became undone. Even the newspaper fell off, leaving only a white box behind. Pulling the lid up, he tilted the box over to have something fall into his open claw. It was a ragdoll, one that was hoof-stitched and done in a hurry. It was of him. From the blue folded wings to the awkwardly made claws and beak, even the blue button eyes suggested to be him—if admittedly a bit deformed.

“What’s this for?”

“It’s your Hearth’s Warming doll.” Sandbar explained with a smile. “I know that you don’t exactly celebrate Hearth’s Warming, but I thought that it would be nice for you to have it as at least you have us here in Equestria.”

“So like a memento?”

“Pretty much.”

The griffon flipped the doll over. “And you made this?” Sandbar nodded. “Gotta say… your sewing skills kinda suck.”

That got Sandbar laughing. “Hey, I put effort into it, that’s what counts, right?”

“Can’t argue with you there.” Gallus shrugged. “Besides, if I had a choice, I would easily move here to live in Equestria.”

This comment confused the green earth pony. “Had a choice? What are you talking about?”

There was a pause before the griffon waved a dismissive claw. “Forget it.”

“No. What’s this about? Of course, you can move here. There’s no one to stop you from doing it.”

“But I can’t. It’s just not possible.”

“Why not?”

Realizing that he is not going to drop it until he gives him an answer, Gallus pulled Sandbar out of the lounge, a way out of earshot from any creature to hear. “Okay, you wanna know? Fine. But just remember, the conversation we’re about to have, never happened.”

“Uh… okay?”

The griffon took in a deep breath. “Sandbar, as much as I would love nothing more than to renounce my citizenship from Griffonstone, I honestly can’t because… I’m an orphan.”

Sandbar tilted his head. “What does that got to do with anything?”

“A whole lot, actually,” he said as he folded his arms. “You have to realize that in Griffonstone, things are very different. That over there, everygriff undergoes a coming of age ceremony at the age of fifteen that would make you not just an adult, but one that’s capable of being their own guardian. When that happens, you become equal in their eyes and one that is allowed to make their own choices without a parent to make that for them.

“There’s just… one tiny problem with that… my folks passed away before I was fifteen. And with no family related to me by blood or by marriage, there’s absolutely no one I can turn to perform that ritual. In a way, it’s kinda another reason why I don’t want to go back to Griffonstone over the break because there, I’m not free. They see me as just a child with no rights whatsoever. The only reason why I’m allowed to come to this school was that partly they wanted to get rid of me and partly so that I would have adults to ‘look after me.’” He huffed at that last sentence. “But you know what sucks? Even as I grow up, I do so knowing that I’ll never be free.”

Sandbar’s jaw hung from his face. “Are you kidding me?”

“Oh, I wish!” He leaned up against a wall. “The truth is, unlike the rest of you guys, I’m pinned in place, forever as a child that has no way of overcoming this stupid custom. I mean… if I was adopted or something and an adult just go through the steps of turning me into a grown-up, then I would use that power to move to Equestria in a wingbeat. But as of now… I don’t have anyone to do that, and I highly doubt that someone like Grandpa Gruff would do anything like that.”

“Dude… I’m so sorry. But why couldn’t Grandpa Gruff do it?”

“Because again, I have no living relative. In Griffonstone, you have to have one of the family member’s consent to have someone adopt their kid.”

Sandbar wrapped a foreleg around Gallus’s neck. “I wish there was some way I can help.”

“There’s nothing you can do.” The griffon pushed aside the half-hug. “I don’t want to focus on this. Right now, we have a holiday to celebrate with those that I care for. So come on, let’s see if there are any other presents with our names left over.”

That night, after the feasts, songs and stories were over, Sandbar was awake in his bed with his thoughts. Despite the holiday away from his family, he still had a pretty good day all things considering. However, finding out that piece of information from Gallus still wouldn’t go away. He turned this way and that, trying to get into a position where he would be comfortable enough to fall asleep. Yet, that nagging thought still wouldn’t let him be.

‘There’s got to be a way to help him,’ he thought. ‘There has to be some way to get him to be an adult so he can move. But what? He said so himself that those in Griffonstone won’t help him. Still, there’s got to be something that we can do. I mean, Silverstream’s aunt is a Queen, Yona and Smolder know their leaders, so maybe they could do something… Oh, what good would that do?’

He flopped over on his back, opening his eyes upward to stare at the blank ceiling. ‘Still, if there’s a will, there’s gotta be a way. Come on Sandbar, think! Adoption is off the table apparently. And he has no living relatives… as far as any of us know. Plus he said that the only way for anycreature to give him that stupid coming of age ceremony is by someone who is related to him by blood or by…’

The young stallion sat right up, eyes wide. An idea came to him. It was an insane one at best. There was no way it could work. There were a couple of issues that would make said idea useless. ‘It’s an incredibly crazy, stupid idea… So crazy… and so stupid… that it just might work.’

Chapter 6: Of Ice Skating and Wedding Traditions

It couldn’t be helped by the girls to notice that there was something different about Sandbar and Gallus the passing weeks after the New Year. Every Saturday, regardless of what needed to be accomplished, the young griffon and pony were starting to spend more time together. Their hangouts tend to be just the two of them doing something different around Ponyville from watching something new at the movie theater to grabbing some hot chocolate for breakfast.

Naturally, whenever the two of them are vacant from their dorm rooms, the girls tend to joke that they’re off to another date. Even so, they couldn’t help but notice that apart from the days where they all team up as a study group, none of them had got the chance to spend some time with either Sandbar or Gallus. So, on a cold late January day, they roped the two in for an afternoon of ice skating at the local pond.

The six creatures, after having the professors rent them skates, made their way towards the mirror-like sheet of ice where the surface was polished. As soon as that blades of their shoes touched the slick floor that it quickly became apparent which among them was the more experienced. Gallus and Yona circled around their friends who had trouble finding their balance before falling on their faces.

Ocellus at one point fell on her rump before the Yak skated over to her. “Changeling’s blades not be parallel. If standing still, Changeling will fall over. Try this.” She helped her friend up on her four hooves before using one of her skates to tap hers at an angle. “Point blades away from self. More stable this way.”

Sure enough, with the others watching, she along with Sandbar, Silverstream, and Smolder copied the technique to where they too were stable. They listened as Yona instructed how to move forward, turn and stop. It took several minutes and several tries for them to find their balance and gain the confidence to move – in fact, Sandbar when he was unable to stop, Gallus had to get a hold of him so that he didn’t slide right off the ice.

“How are you this good at skating?” the pony asked.

“I live in a place where it’s winter nine months out of the year,” Gallus told him. “There’s a reason why winter games are popular where I come from.”

“Okay, that makes sense and uh… you can let go of me now.”

The blue griffon blinked when he realized he hadn’t let go of his hoof since he caught him. Feeling embarrassed, he let go of his friend to give him a moment to find his balance.

At this point, Smolder, propelled by her wings, slowed herself down enough to make the comment. “Ya know you don’t have to be self-conscious about holding your coltfriend’s hoof in public.”

Gallus glared at her. “And you know perfectly well that he isn’t.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” She smirked. “Especially when you two disappear every Saturday.”

“I just wanna hang out with him.” Sandbar said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Although, I guess it does make sense.” Ocellus chimed in, skating over to their direction. “Considering that you two are about to get married soon.”

“I wonder if there’s anything else you guys need to do before the wedding,” Silverstream asked as she flew over to them.

“What do you mean?” Sandbar questioned.

“Like…” The pink hippogriff thought for a moment before giving out her question. “Are the rules different for every creature before they get married?”

“You mean proposing?” Gallus wondered aloud.

“Hm… Yes and no. I mean are there certain customs between proposing and officially becoming spouses?”

“We don’t anything like that,” Smolder said. “Us Dragons don’t exactly have the same idea as marriage as you guys. Oh sure, there’s having a mate where you could just pretty much stay with as long as it’s not family or someone who’s younger than say… me. Besides that, we don’t care much about who you be mates with or how long you spend with them.”

“Yaks have tradition,” Yona spoke up, stopping in front of them. “Marriages aren’t formed by love, but by honor. In Yakyakistan, if a Yak wishes to wed another Yak, they bring a log from evergreen. Yak then gives reason to be together, mostly strengthen ties or help family out of bad situation. If other Yak accepts, they smash log! After that, Yaks are kept out of sight for one season. If they do, they bring great dishonor. But after season over, Yaks be wedded in wedding hut in middle of night where hut is brightly lit inside. Then once wedding is over, we smash wedding hut!”

Gallus deadpanned, “Somehow, I’m not that surprised by that.”

“What about you Ocellus?” Sandbar asked.

She skated over towards more solid ground before sitting on her haunches. “Well… traditionally, we Changelings preferred to attend other weddings then our own. It makes sense as events like that tend to have the most potent love. But when it comes to us, like Smolder, there isn’t any big ceremony. However, the closest thing we have is when one Changeling packs up all his things, goes over to the one they’re interested in and ask if they can move in. Simple as that.”

“Wow, that’s completely different from how we do things,” Silverstream said. “When I was growing up in Seaquestria, my parents told me of how they got married. Even before the Storm King came, marriages were arranged by families that are done depending on how close they were to the Queen, how respectable they are, and most importantly, if the spouses to be can get along. If all goes well, like my parents had, they then get a pure white pearl and the name of who they’re being betrothed to. After that, while they can see each other, they can’t really talk to one another until the wedding.”

“So pretty much straight forward from there.” Ocellus commented.

“Ah! But it wasn’t always like that!” The Hippogriff added. “There used to be a tradition the night before the wedding that pretty much died down after the Storm King invaded. My aunt said that before anyone because official spouses, both soon to be wife and husband are taken to a tent by the beach where their friends and family would have a party while watching a couple do a traditional dance involving clothing. However… since we moved under the sea, we lost the need for clothes and the dance itself is pretty much lost to time. Except, my aunt Novo might still remember how it’s done…” Her eyes went wide, and her wings pushed her off the ice. “Oh! Oh! I just had the best idea ever! Why not we have that party?”

All of her friends looked at one another. “Uh, how?” Yona questioned. “Hippogriff said dance was extinct.”

“Maybe I can ask my aunt to find someone who could do that dance. I mean, there has to be someone that knows how to dance involving clothes. Oh! Maybe I should ask if she could find that couple where one is a pony and the other a griffon. Even if us Hippogriffs had forgotten the dance, perhaps they could use what my aunt remembers and try to recreate it.”

“I think we have something similar in Equestria.” Sandbar told her. “I think it’s called a… bachelor’s party. Only I don’t quite know what goes on in these parties, but hey, if you wanna throw one for us, I guess it could be fun.”

“So what about you two?” Silverstream inquired the colts.

Both of them glanced at one another before the griffon shared, “We have only a few traditions where I come from. There’s no engagement ring or pearls where I come from as anything made out of gold is extremely valuable over there. So the only thing that I guess comes close to a proposal would be to exchange one of your primary feathers. After that, they set a time and place where the wedding should take place. And before the ceremony itself, we Griffons have something called, ‘The Capture,’ something that’s only for the groom. It’s when his friends basically foalnap him to drag him into a bachelor party. And since I’m still considered a kid over there, I have no clue what happens there either. However, I do know that at the wedding itself, there is a ceremonial piercing.”

“Wait- what?” Sandbar questioned, completely off guard by what he heard.

Gallus nodded. “Yeah, the couple gets their ears pierced, says a promise that they’ll at least tolerate each other, and like that, they’re married.”

“How come you didn’t bring this up before?”

He shrugged. “I dunno… I’d figured that since I’m not technically an adult in Griffonstone, that the traditions over there wouldn’t apply us as if I remember correctly, we’re doing this the pony way.”

“Yeah, but even still, you are still a Griffon, from Griffonstone. If I’m gonna free you, it has to be done in a way that they know that this is serious.”

“But we don’t have to get ear ears pierced.”

“Pony is right.” All eyes were turned to Yona.

The young griffon was taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“Sandbar has point. If griffon is to be freed, he must do it by griffon ways. Having ear pierced show proof that Gallus has wedded.” Her friend continued to stare at her. “What? Yona has opinions too.”

“It actually does make the most sense.” Ocellus nodded. “If someone from Griffonstone were to hear about you two got married, they probably would want solid evidence to say that you have indeed done just that. Otherwise, they will call you a liar at best and illegitimate at worst.”

Gallus groaned but glanced over to Sandbar. “Every piercing at every wedding I’ve seen tend to hurt. A lot. I didn’t want to bring it up because the last thing I wanted to do is to have anyone inflict pain on him.”

Sandbar wrapped a foreleg around him but taking care of the blade of his skate not to touch him. “Gallus, I think you’re underestimating me on this. When I said that I’ll do what I can to set you free, I meant it. If it means marrying you, I would do it. If it means to endure a moment of pain just so that you can escape Griffonstone, I’ll still do it. No matter what it takes, I’m not gonna give up on you that easily.”

The Griffon was stunned into silence. His claw reached up to his chest over where his heart was. He felt it thump against his ribcage, pulsing something both icy and warm at the same time. What was happening that made him ignore the chill around them? However, he was still aware that all eyes were on him, expecting to make a reply. “But you don’t have to.”

“I know. All I’m saying is that for your sake, I still do it for you.”

Gallus pushed the foreleg off of him, part of him wanted to flee from this alien sensation that was swimming through his veins. He wanted to fly somewhere away from where he could at least let whatever this was subside. But… there was another part that was convincing his wings to stay at the frozen pond. Although he kept his mouth shut as he skated a short distance from the group, he knew perfectly why he didn’t leave.

Sandbar cares for him.

Sandbar will endure anything, even pain, for him.

“Dude,” he heard the young stallion skate up to him, “are you okay?”

“I…” He took in a deep breath. “Yeah. Just needed a moment is all.”

“So…” the pony went skated around until he was at his side, “since I think I got the hang of it, you wanna race?”

After thinking for a moment, the griffon eyed a log where half of it was encased in the ice. “See that?” He pointed, “First one to touch that wins.”

“And don’t use your wings.” Sandbar quickly said. “I don’t want you to cheat.”

‘As if I would around you?’ That thought went through Gallus’s head, catching himself in surprise of what popped up in his mind. After shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he replied: “Fine. Ready?”

Sandbar crouched his front half low as if he was about to pounce. “Ready.”

Gallus did the same before yelling “GO!” where they took off.

Meanwhile, the girls looked over to Ocellus.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Smolder asked.

The Changeling watched as the colts skated their way across the pond. “I’m afraid that the jury is still out on this one.”