Chapters Old and Forgotten for Good Reason
Silverstream the hippogriff was off doing her usual things. Flying around the School of Friendship with her bubbly attitude, saying hi to ponies she knew and ones she'd never see before. She great getting to know so many ponies, but she definitely had the best group with five creatures. A yak, a dragon, a griffin, a changeling, and an earth pony.
"Hi, guys," Silverstream said cheerfully sitting next to her friends in Pinkie's Laughter class.
"There you are," Ocellus said a bit relieved. "Professor Pinkie Pie was going to start our cooking lesson."
"I know I'm going to flunk," Gallus sighed. "I mean, griffon pastries taste like dirt. I wish I was joking."
"Yona never cooked before," Yona stated. "Pink pony help all creatures."
As if on cue, the pink party pony bounced into the room. "Hello, every creature," she said cheerfully. "I'm sure you can see I've gotten some ovens and baking goods just for today's lesson." Pinkie wasn't wrong, it was hard to miss the items, including a cookbook sitting on each stove.
"So, what do we do?" Ocellus asked.
"Simple. You have one hour to bake something from the book. I also got some recipes from other cultures." The foreign students smiled after hearing this. "I'll be right here if you need some help." After the pink professor explained who was teamed with who, the students got to work.
Sandbar searched through the cookbook almost as fast as a timelord. "What to cook?" he questioned. "Why are there so many choices?"
"Seriously?" Smolder asked. "Let's just try something from a different kingdom."
"Let me try," Silverstream said as her friends handed her the book. She looked through for a while until she gasped in excitement at what she found. "We can cook this."
She showed her friends a picture of dumplings that were made of seaweed. "Silver," Smolder said, "I don't want to sound mean, but that looks disgusting."
"Don't trash something you've never tried. Look." The hippogriff picked up a bowl that had the seaweed she needed, making her smile with glee.
The pony and dragon looked at each other, "We're not going to talk her out of it," Sandbar whispered. "Are we?"
"Nope," Smolder replied. Though they had their doubts, they helped their bubbly friend make the dumplings. "So, when did the seaponies make these?"
"Well, I'm not sure when they were made," Silverstream said, "But I help my parents make them when I was ten."
"But how did you boil them?" Sandbar asked. "Weren't you underwater for most of your life?"
"I think we used an underwater volcano."
"Volcano?" Smolder questioned as she started boiling water.
"Yeah. They're kind of far from Seaquestria." Silverstream helped her friends on what they need to make the dumplings.
Gallus, Ocellus, and Yona were trying to make a pastry from Yakyakistan. There was a bit of smoke from the oven as they took out the cake, or what that's the best they could call it, as the bottom was a tiny bit burnt. "Yona might be off by minute," Yona sighed.
"It doesn't look too bad," Ocellus said.
"Definitely looks like something some creature would eat," Gallus said. A timer went off as Pinkie bounced towards the students.
"Alrighty, times up," she said. "What do you have?"
"Friends make Yakyakistan special," Yona said making a gesture to their pastry that Ocellus was trying to fix up with some frosting. Pinkie cut off a slice and took a bite.
"Hmm, a bit crispy, but not bad for the first time." The pony turned to Smolder, Sandbar, and Silverstream who had some seaweed dumplings waiting for her. "What do you have?"
"Seaweed dumplings," the hippogriff said cheerfully holding up the plate of what she and her friends cooked.
Pinkie ate one of them and her eyes widened. Smolder and Sandbar started getting nervous until the professor's pupil got as big as her eyes. "These are amazing." Pinkie took two more as she walked over to the other students.
"See, what did I tell you?"
"I've been wrong before," Sandbar admitted.
Smolder took a bite of the dumplings they made and she got the same reaction as their professor. "Whoa-ho-ho," she gasped before her friends got closer to her. "I... Yuck, you guys wouldn't like them. I'll just get rid of them." Her friends reached for them dumplings so they get at least one.
"Yona like dumplings," Yona cheered.
"I'm glad you like them," Silverstream grinned. "I've been wanting to try out other recipes. Maybe we can combine some."
"Um, that doesn't sound like a good idea," Ocellus said.
"Who knows, maybe a spicy hayburger could be good with a cherry pie stuffed in it," Gallus said sarcastically.
Sandbar showed a bit of disgust hearing this. "I think those would be better apart," he said.
After class, Silverstream couldn't think of many different things to do. "Maybe I could do some art projects," she thought. "I think Professor Rarity would like that. She didn't look where she was going and accidentally bumped into Spike, who was carrying some books. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry."
"It's alright," Spike said as he picked himself up.
"I can help clean up." The hippogriff picked up the books that Spike had dropped.
"Thanks. I'm taking these to the library." The dragon and hippogriff walked to the library where Twilight was placing some other new books onto the shelf.
"Spike, there you are," the princess/principal said.
"Hi, headmare Twilight," Silverstream said. "I'm helping out, since I... Kind of bumped into Spike."
"It's alright," Spike said the books he was carrying down. "I'll handle the rest of these Twilight. These are the last ones."
"Okay," Twilight replied. "I'll be in my office." The alicorn flew away as Spike started putting the new books onto their shelves.
Silverstream was interested in what different kinds of books they were getting. Some were about the history of Equestria, others were about inventions non-unicorns created to make their lives easier. Then she found a one that looked like it was going to fall apart. The cover was dark orange and was being held on with tape, and it read, "Spirits' Spells.
"What this?" she asked.
Spike flew over to see what book Silverstream found. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a horror novel. I'm going to double check with Twilight to see if we got a book we weren't supposed to."
After the dragon left the library, Ocellus walked in and found the new books. "Wow," she gasped. "I didn't know we were getting new books."
"Yeah, they look really interesting," Silverstream commented. "Maybe not this one." She showed her friend the dark orange book she found.
"Then, let's just pick something else." Ocellus flew up to shelves to see what was new, but Silverstream was still curious about the book in her paws.
"Maybe I'll know it if I see what's inside," she thought to herself. Carefully opening it up as to not damage it anymore, she could see the book contain what seemed to spells. These weren't very common spells though, many of them were relating to spirits of the dead.
The hippogriff gulped at the topic of the spells, but she kept reading. Then she found there were some drawings in the book. They were showing some ponies bringing back spirits, some of the ponies weren't even unicorns. Then there was one photo that sent a shiver down her spine.
"THE STORM KING!" she shrieked grabbing her friend's attention.
"What do you mean?" Ocellus asked a bit startled. Silverstream showed her friend the image which the changeling quickly tried to calm her down. "The Storm King was defeated long ago. He won't be coming back." The hippogriff felt a little better from what her friend said, but she didn't know what this book was about. "You want to see this book about Starswirl before he and the pillars vanished for a while?"
The changeling read what was in the book she found, but Silverstream couldn't turn away from what she found. She kept going until she found a paragraph of what they needed to bring a spirit back.
You may be able to run but you will never hide, I will take over anything worldwide. You should never underestimate my power, even the dragons see me and cower. I will take over everything, you can never defeat the Storm King.
Silverstream had enough, tossed down the book, and flew out of the library. She had a shiver running down her spine as she flew down the hall. She was going so fast she didn't have time to avoid colliding with Gallus, making them both crash to the ground.
"Silver," the griffon groaned. As he got up, he saw his friend was in a complete panic. "You okay?"
"I think... So," Silverstream said catching her breath. "I just found this book that... I don't wanna talk about it."
"Alright then. Our next class is in five minutes."
"Oh, right. I was hoping I would get to draw some before then."
"Maybe after Professor Fluttershy could get you thinking of something." Silverstream followed her griffon friend to their next class.
"Alright every creature," Fluttershy said, "We'll learn about Phoenixes." The class oohed after hearing what their lesson was.
"Why does bird have fire?" Yona asked seeing that the drawing on the chalkboard had a bit of fire on it.
"Phoenixes are special kinds of bird. Once in a while, their feathers fall off and they burn into ash." Her class gasped at this, which the pegasus promptly tried to calm her down. "It's not what you think. Phoenixes spring back to life, soaring out of the ashes and come back as a new beautiful bird." To help back her up, she showed them two pictures of what a phoenix looked like. Before and after they burst into ash.
"So, they can control fire?" Sandbar asked.
"Sort of."
"I've seen them in action before," Smolder said. "Kind of annoying honestly."
"Yona like to have one," Yona said. "Help keep warm in snow."
"That looks so amazing," Silverstream cooed.
"Of course you would like it," Smolder said.
"They show dumb dragons like who's the boss." The hippogriff covered her beak from what she just said, which made her friend a bit offended.
"What was that?"
"I don't know where that came from."
"What's going on?" Fluttershy asked.
"It's nothing," Silverstream said trying to play it cool. Smolder was about to say something, but Gallus stopped her.
"Alright then." Though she was a little suspicious, Flutter walked back to the chalkboard to erase her drawing as she looked at some other picture of creatures. "Now, who wants to hear about manticores?"
After class, Silverstream flew out the door, but Smolder quickly caught up with and stopped her. "What the heck was that?" Smolder asked.
"I don't know," Silverstream protested. "It just slipped out."
"You're one of the last creatures to think of something like that," Ocellus said walking up to the hippogriff and dragon.
"Everyone has to be thinking something like that once. Right?"
"Well, I was a bit annoyed when Yona took the last pie at the cafeteria," Gallus said.
"Yona said Yona sorry," the yak stated.
"Yeah, after you drowned it in wiped cream."
"Look, let's try and forget what happened and just carry on with our day," Sandbar suggested.
"Right," the group agreed, especially the hippogriff.
Next up was gym class, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were waiting for their class. "Alright, y'all," Applejack said, "We're going to be playing classic buckball."
"What's buckball?" Ocellus asked, "I'm not the most sporty."
"Well, it works like this," Dash explained giving a ball to AJ. "Earth ponies are the offense." The farm pony showed this by kicking the ball towards the basket, which Dash just blocked. "Pegasi are defense. And unicorns are goalies."
"Sounds easy enough," Smolder said.
The ball was placed in the middle of the field as Sandbar and Yona took their places. Once Dash blew her whistle, the yak took her friend by surprise by smacking the ball towards the basket that Gallus was guarding. He whacked the ball and Sandbar kicked to the one that Smolder was protecting.
The dragon hit the ball back twice as hard and it soared into the basket that Ocellus was holding. The yak, dragon, and changeling cheered after getting their first point. Silverstream, who was on Sandbar and Gallus's team was annoyed. They tried another round, and the opposite team won again.
"Come on," Silverstream groaned. "Try harder!"
"I'm trying my hardest," Sandbar protested feeling uncomfortable of how his friend was acting.
The next round happened again and Gallus managed to toss the ball towards his teammate. The hippogriff got excited as she held her basket out to catch the ball, but Smolder smacked the ball into her team's basket. Silverstream screamed in anger and tossed her basket into the air. It smacked Gallus in the head and he promptly dropped to the ground.
AJ and Dash raced towards him, as did his friends. Silverstream was just shocked at what she just did. She didn't know what to do or say as her professors walked over to her. "Headmare Twilight would like to see you," Dash said.
Later, Silverstream was in one of the classrooms sitting at a desk that had a stack of paper, a quill, and some ink. "I want you to write 'I will not hurt my classmates' a hundred times," Twilight said. "I know you're frustrated you didn't win, but you can't hurt your classmates. Much less your friends." The student didn't reply and sighed in her guilt.
Twilight said nothing else and walked out of the classroom. Silverstream sadly started writing as she said the words out loud every time show wrote them down. "I will not hurt my classmates," she said multiple times.
When she finally finished writing her paw was cramped. She flew down the hallway with many of the students she passed whispering about what she did. The hippogriff didn't say anything as she flew back to her dorm and landed on her bed. As she let out a sad sigh, her friends walked in. Include Gallus, whose head was bandaged with an ice pack resting on it.
"Hey, Silver," Ocellus said only to get a moan as a reply.
"Told you she isn't wanting to talk," Smolder said with Yona bumping her in her chest.
"Silver, we're worried about you," Sandbar said. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I don't know," Silverstream replied. "I can get angry, but not like that."
"Look, you probably just had an off day," Gallus said.
"Friend no need to apologize," Yona said. "Yaks get angry a lot. No good when anger builds."
"I... Guess you're right," Silverstream sighed. "Thanks for forgiving me."
"No problem," Sandbar said. The friends turned to leave, but Silverstream stopped the griffon.
"Gallus... I'm really sorry."
"It's okay," he replied. "As Yona said, friend no need to apologize." Gallus chuckled as he closed the door.
The hippogriff yawned as her eyelids got heavy. "Maybe I'll feel better... In the morning." She closed her eye and let her mind carry off to her dreams.
Silverstream woke up to find she was in a locker room. She also found that she was wearing a Wonderbolts uniform, complete with even goggles. The hippogriff's excitement rose as she raced out of the room. She began running towards the cliff edge.
She jumped off and soared into the sky. She had a blast, though she was confused on why there weren't any Wonderbolts around, not even Rainbow Dash. Then without warning, she turned into her seapony form and fell out of the sky like a rock. Silverstream didn't have her necklace on her, so she couldn't turn back into a hippogriff. All she could do was freefall.
Her fear started to diminish as she could see a large body of water below. So, she braced herself and splashed into the water. The seapony swam around for a bit until she became to feel a little warm, in fact, it was hot. Boiling, it was boiling! The heat was becoming unbearable, Silverstream had to get to land, and fast.
The seapony looked around and saw a bit of land and she swam towards it as fast as she could. Her body was steaming as she leaped out of the water. The land she got to appeared to be Mount Aris. "If is any griff here?" the seapony asked. "I don't have my pearl piece, so I can't move."
"Is that so?" came a voice. Silverstream looked around. There was too much fog to see if anyone was around, but someone was walking towards him. A tall fuzzy figure was icy blue eyes, a figure that she knew too well.
"The Storm King!?" The figure chuckled as the seapony was right. Silverstream tried to crawl back into the water. She knew it was boiling, but she could swim to safety. The Storm King had other ideas. He grabbed Silverstream by her tail and picked her up. "P... Put me down!"
"Oh, who's going to make me?" the king asked. He carried the seapony into the fog which seemed to get thinner until they could see Mount Aris was taken over by the king's army. Seaponies were locked in cages as an extra measure so they wouldn't escape. Many guards stood out of the way so the king could walk past. Silverstream saw her family locked up as well, which made her want to escape even more.
"Let me go! What do you want!?"
"Well, I've gotten your home, I think Griffonstone would be a good place to continue. Or maybe Yakyakistan."
"That's where my friends live."
"Even better."
"This... This is just a dream. I'll just wake up."
"It's not that simple kid. I'm coming back to the real world, and you're going to help me do it." When they reached the top of Mount Aris, Silverstream saw what looked like a portal. The Storm King lowered his arms so the seapony tried to crawl away. "Let's go." With that, the king jumped into the portal and he and the seapony fell in, screaming.
Silverstream screamed as she woke up in her dorm room bed. She had never been more relieved. "Silver, what happened?" Ocellus asked running up to her friend.
"It was just a nightmare," Silverstream sighed. "Let's just get breakfast." Ocellus just shrugged it off and followed her friend to the cafeteria. The girls were surprised by the school's hallways, they were completely trashed. It wasn't just the hallways, the cafeteria was a mess too.
"What happened last night?"
"That's what I wanna know," Twilight Sparkle said walking into the cafeteria.
"Wasn't Yona," Yona stated. "Yaks can't fly." There was a bit of damage to the ceiling.
"Whoever did this will be in serious trouble."
Silverstream held her paws together and saw something on the ceiling that she didn't want to see. The Storm King emblem.
The frightened hippogriff could only just stare at her breakfast. She looked up to infamous emblem just seconds before Spike wiped it away without knowing. "What are you staring at?" Gallus asked.
"Nothing," Silverstream replied before stuffing her toast in her mouth.
"That dream must've really scared you," Ocellus commented. "You wanna tell us what happened?"
"No!" This caught the group off guard.
"You sure you are okay?" Sandbar asked.
"Just fine. Let's just eat." Not another word was said for a while.
Yona was the one to break the silence. "Friends excited for field trip?" she asked.
"Yeah," Smolder said. "I can't wait to see the Crystal Empire."
"You aren't going to eat anything made of gems, are you?" Ocellus asked.
"What? Of course not." A bit of uncertainty crossed her face. "The second I try, you'll stop."
"Got it," her friends said.
"I don't know who could've trashed the school," Ocellus said, "Or why."
"Maybe to get someone's attention," Silverstream said under her breath.
"What was that?" Gallus asked.
"Nothing. Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" The hippogriff drank her OJ, her friends were starting to get worried about her.
At the train station, Twilight was checking off everyone that signed up for the field trip. "Okay, Starlight will investigate every creature until we get back," she said. "If any of you did it, you're safe, for now." Everyone climbed aboard the train before it set off.
"Yona excited," Yona cheered stomping her hooves. "Yaks and crystal ponies good friends. Yaks pass through to get to train."
"Good to know," Gallus said.
"Maybe we get to see Princess Cadence," Silverstream said, "Or maybe even Flurry Heart."
"It could be possible," Ocellus said.
"She's recovering fast," Smolder whispered to the changeling.
"It was just a bad dream, let's just try and forget about it." Smolder wasn't so easily convinced. Silverstream might back to her bubbly self, but she also looked a little worried. Gallus also noticed this but said nothing.
"Maybe school go to Yakyakistan next," Yona said.
"Or maybe we could visit Canterlot," Sandbar suggested.
The friends continued to talk about places they might visit in the future as Silverstream noticed something about her reflection in the window. For some reason, her eyes looked blue, but only for a second, then they went back to normal. A sudden headache hit her, making her groan.
"Silver, are you sure you're okay?" Gallus asked.
"I'm fine!" Silverstream replied a bit annoyed startling her friends. "Sorry, it's just a headache." Not much was said until they got to the empire. Yona was the first one off the train, she waved at a couple of the crystal ponies, most of them around her age.
"Yona," Twilight called stopping the yak with her magic. "All students must stick together."
"Sorry, head pony," Yona apologized. "Students meet princess?"
"You mean Cadence? Of course." The students all followed Twilight to the castle. Outside, waiting for them, was Princess Cadence.
"Twilight," the Crystal Princess said, "We're glad you could make it." By 'we' she also met Flurry Heart, who flew up to hug her aunt.
"Oh, Flurry, you've gotten so big."
"Aw, she's so cute," Ocellus commented. Flurry landed onto the changeling's head and giggled.
Silverstream was looking at the two adult alicorns. She didn't know why she just felt angry. Her paw did feel wet, and that was the drool that was coming from Smolder's mouth. "Could you please stop drooling?" the hippogriff asked.
"It's not that bad," Smolder protested. Gallus begged to differ as he pointed to a path of droll that that lead back to the train station. "Hey, I can't help it. It's like a vampire at a blood drive."
"Just stay strong," Silverstream said placing her paw on her friend's shoulder. "You'll get through it." She placed her paw on her forehead as her friends started getting concerned.
"So, what shall we start with?" Twilight asked her sister-in-law.
"Well, there is how King Sombra was banished," Cadence said before hearing a groan from the students. "It's really exciting, trust me." As they walked into the castle, Cadence explained how the king of shadows was defeated.
Silverstream was excited to hear it, but after a while, she found hatred rising. She didn't know why an evil king was defeated by the Crystal Princess and "Spike?" Smolder questioned.
"It was a last attempt," Twilight said. "Cadence was weak, I was trapped."
"So, is that why there's a statue of Spike outside the castle?" Sandbar asked.
"Gee, I don't know, it could be," Gallus said sarcastically. "Maybe they have giant size statues of all the princess and her friends if they got nothing better to do." Some snickering was heard from the students but the princesses didn't find it so funny.
Cadence would've said something if Flurry didn't pass out. "Be right back Twilight," she said. The mother walked away to put her daughter in her crib.
Smolder just looked around the castle as her mouth flooded. She even bit her own tongue to keep her cravings under control. "Just a little longer," she said to herself.
"It's funny seeing you like this," Silverstream said before smacking herself. "I don't why I'm saying these things."
"Well, try and figure out why."
The class carried on with the tour of the castle and the history of the empire, which made a couple of the students drift off into sleep. However, Smolder noticed that Silverstream was going off course. The dragon followed her friend and made sure to stay out of sight. The hippogriff also seemed to move stealthfully. While the girls weren't exactly ninja material, the guards didn't see them.
Silverstream was heading towards Flurry Heart's bedroom, where the baby alicorn was asleep. Smolder was confused about why her friend was doing in a baby's room, but then she saw Silverstream break a piece of crystal off the wall. The shard was incredibly sharp, and the dragon knew it would make a good snack for her species, but she could see the hippogriff about to drop the sharp part onto the sleeping baby.
The dragon rammed into her friend, making her drop the shard onto the floor. This woke Flurry Heart up, and she immediately started crying. Smolder pinned her friend to the ground, as Silverstream seemed shocked to find herself in the baby's room.
"How did I get here?" she asked.
"You were going to hurt the baby," Smolder answered. Silverstream started getting nervous as the guards and Cadence ran into the room.
"Flurry," Cadence cried picking her baby up and cradling her, "Are you alright?"
"What are they doing in here?" one of the guards asked.
"I... I..." Silverstream was at loss for words.
Smolder thought for a moment as she got off her friend. "It was me," she blurted out. "I couldn't help myself. I just hid in one of the room and broke a part of the wall so I could eat it, but I didn't know this was your kid's room."
"It's hard to miss," said one of the guards, pointing to the crib, toys, and change station.
"Just come with me," Cadence said sternly. Smolder held her arm as she and Silverstream followed her.
"Whatever I did, you didn't have to take it for me," Silverstream whispered to her friend.
"Trust me, I did," Smolder replied. "If you don't know what you did, I think I should help you out a bit." She could see her friend was very worried. "Look, we're going to figure out what's going on. I'll just take my punishment and swallow my pride." Smolder was forced to stay at the train station until the class had finished with their field trip.
"Your punishment is to help clean up the rest of the school," Twilight spoke as she walked up to her. "I'm very disappointed in you." Smolder just sighed as she boarded the train with the rest of the students.
"If it makes you feel any better, not much happened," Gallus said as the train started moving. "It was just history of the place. Though a part of the garden's tree broke off." He tossed a piece of a crystallized tree branch to his friend, making her grin.
Before she took a bit, Smolder looked over to Silverstream, who looked a little scared. "You okay?" Smolder asked.
"Of course," Silverstream replied. "I made sure to stay with the group. Yona helped me, and I kept listening to the empire's history."
"It was boring, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
"No," Ocellus said. "What, I thought the Crystal Heart was very interesting and how King Sombra..."
"Was a complete idiot." Silverstream's friends were shocked by this. "He took his time and could've just flown in, killed the only thing stopping him and could've teamed up with some other powerful kings." Her eyes widened after saying this. "No, it's not true."
"Silver," Smolder said firmly, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Well, that nothing nearly made you kill Flurry."
"Friend do what!?" Yona gasped.
The five students looked at their friend with worry and frustration. "We can't help you if you don't tell us," Ocellus said.
"We're your friends Silver," Sandbar said. "Just tell us what's wrong."
Silverstream took a deep sigh explained to her friends the nightmare she had last night.
"And then I woke up to find the school trashed," Silverstream said finishing the last of her story.
"How can a dream make you act like this?" Smolder asked.
"Hippogriff think king is in real world," Yona suggested.
"But I didn't even remember going into the baby's room," Silverstream said.
"Maybe your just not thinking straight," Ocellus suggested. "Bad memory from history book added with a nightmare may through me off too."
"No, it wasn't a history book. It was a book to bring back spirits."
"Spirits as in ghosts?" Yona asked a bit scared with her friend nodding.
"But doesn't a ghost seem farfetched?" Ocellus asked.
Gallus knew what to say to this. "I'm part bird and loin, Silver's part griffon and pony and can also turn into a sea creature, you can change into any living species, and Smolder's a flying reptile that can breathe fire. I don't think ghosts are so hard to believe."
The train came to a stop and the students walked back towards the school. Smolder was trying to keep a smile, but Twilight's glare made it quickly disappear. Spike was still cleaning when they got back, Twilight walked up to him with Smolder right beside her.
"Spike, Smolder will be taking over cleaning for a while," Twilight said.
"Really? Why?" Spike asked giving his sponge and bucket of soapy water to the other dragon.
"She got into a bit of trouble at the Crystal Empire, so this will be her punishment."
"Alright. That works because, one, Starlight couldn't find the guilty student, and two, I get a well-earned break." Spike walked off back to the castle as Smolder started wiping the mess off the walls.
Meanwhile, the rest of her friends were in the library searching for the book Silverstream read yesterday. However, the book wasn't in the library. "Where is it?" Gallus questioned tossing orange books off the shelves.
"I don't know," Ocellus said catching the book her friends were just tossing.
"Book not on these shelves," Yona said.
"Same here," Sandbar added.
Silverstream saw a tired Spike walk in. "Ooh, Mr. Spike," she said, "Do you remember that book we got yesterday?"
"Which one?" Spike asked.
"It had a dark orange cover."
"I don't know, we have a lot of orange books."
"We noticed," Gallus said as he kept looking.
"Well, if it's that old one, we sent it back to Canterlot."
"WHAT?!" Silverstream cried.
"What's the problem? Was it about a story?"
"No, just history."
"Oh, okay. We've got plenty of those." Spike got some earmuffs and a blindfold. He then lay down a large pillow and fell asleep.
"What was that?" Gallus questioned.
"I don't want him involved," Silverstream protested. "I already got Smolder into trouble, I don't want to get Mr. Spike in trouble too."
"Well, she tried to put Flurry to sleep forever. " Sandbar said. The group didn't know what to say after that.
"He said the book is in Canterlot," Ocellus said breaking the silence. "We can't travel there and back in one day without missing our classes."
"What friends do?" Yona asked.
"How about we try and think of something else while we just do our class," Silverstream said,
"We don't have that many options," Ocellus agreed. The students, with not having many choices, carried on with their day as it was normal. Silverstream's friends made sure that she didn't wander off, but that didn't stop her from using her mouth to say things she would never say.
When night came, the hippogriff didn't say anything and just flopped onto her bed. "Silver?" Ocellus asked walking in.
"Go away," she replied. "It'll probably be safer."
"If it makes you feel better I made this." The changeling showed her friend a dream catcher, which the hippogriff found amazing. "It'll help catch your bad dream while keeping the good ones." Ocellus hung it on the wall as Silverstream felt much more comfortable. "Night, Silver."
"Night, Ocellus." The hippogriff closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Silverstream found herself outside of what seemed to be Yakyakestan. She opened to the gate to find multiple Yonas and Prince Rutherford, as these were the only two yaks she had really seen. Apart from the snow, which Silverstream was conveniently wearing winter clothing for, it didn't seem so bad.
Then all the yaks started running from a large black ship. Silverstream was about to run to but she found that her feet were coated in ice. She tried to use her wings to fly away, but they weren't strong enough. All Silverstream could do was watch all the yaks get locked up in cages.
"So, we're visiting our friends, are we?" came a voice the hippogriff didn't want to hear.
"Let me go," Silverstream cried as she frantically tried to fly away.
"Where's the fun in that. I still need you."
"Why?"
"We almost had a good run with that alicorn baby, but that dumb dragon got in the way."
"Don't call my friend dumb. She was trying to stop you."
"Which is why we're going to take care of her."
Before she could ask how, some words were heard. Silver. Silver!"
"No," the king growled.
"Smolder?" The mountain area then got very hot as shown by the snow melting.
"Silver! Silverstream!" Then, out of nowhere, Smolder landed in front of her. "Silver, wake up!" Smolder shouted.
Suddenly, Silverstream found herself outside school fighting with her dragon friend. It was still night time and the dragon only had a black eye as that was her weakest point.
"Smolder, what happened?" Silverstream asked a bit scared.
"You were sleepwalking," Smolder answered. "Well, more sleep-fighting. You were fighting me for an hour."
"Ididn'tmeanto,thestormkingwasinmynightmareagain,IwasinYakyakestanuntilheshowedup." Smolder grabbed her friend's beak to stop her rambling.
"Look, it's not your fault. Can we just go back to bed?"
"S... Sure." The two crept through the school to make sure they woke no one up. Smolder made back to her dorm and Silverstream crept back into her's. Once the hippogriff was back in bed, she didn't want to fall asleep. What if she slept walked again? What if she actually hurt some creature? Or worse. Did she mess up the school? Probably. Silverstream thought the best way to stay in control, was to stay up all night long.
When the sun shined across Ponyville, the students made their way to the cafeteria. Silverstream was notably tired when she showed up to her friends.
"Did you even sleep?" Smolder asked.
"No," she yawned. "The Storm King will take control again." She tried to keep her eyes opened but they were very heavy.
"I guess my dreamcatcher didn't work," Ocellus sighed.
"It was worth a shot," Sandbar said making his friend feel better.
"Thanks. Unless we find a way to get the book, I don't know how we're going to..." The changeling paused as the hippogriff grabbed her arm tight. "S... Silver, what are you doing? That hurts. Stop!"
The group noticed Silverstream's eyes were icy blue for a moment but they snapped back to her normal violet and she released her Ocellus from her claw. "Sorry," Silverstream said, "I don't know what..." She stopped when could see her paws were now black. Her friends noticed this too, and also saw the fear in their friend's eyes. "It's getting worse."
After breakfast, the young six met in Ocellus's dorm, where Silverstream was pacing and panting. "Okay, let's try and keep calm," Ocellus suggested.
"How?" Silverstream asked. "I'm being possessed by the Storm King and I lose control when I... I fall..." The hippogriff started spacing out with Gallus quickly smacking her across the face. "OW! Thanks, Gallus."
"No problem," Gallus replied.
"How are we suppose to fix this?" Smolder questioned.
"Friends get book back," Yona suggested.
"You're not wrong Yona," Ocellus agreed, "But we can't go to Canterlot and back without anyone noticing us gone."
"Couldn't you just take our place?" Sandbar suggested.
"Only if one of you can fly to Canterlot and back in less than an hour." There wasn't an answer to this. "I think our only option is to wait until after school so we can head to Canterlot, get the book, and hopefully find something to help us."
"You will have ways to help keep me awake, will you?" Silverstream asked nervously.
"Don't worry, Silver," Sandbar said. "We're going to get you through this." The hippogriff hugged the earth pony before they heard the bell ring.
Applejack's class was planting harvesting. There were many different plants, but the one that Ocellus had was nearly ready to produce... Whatever it grew. Ocellus couldn't find any books about plants before they got a new shipment, so she was still unsure what to do with it.
"What changeling do with plant?" Yona asked.
"I don't know," Ocellus replied. "Maybe I could give whatever it produces to the market. Or I could make it into something to eat."
"I think that my tree is coming along great," Sandbar said as he watered it. "Guys, what about you?"
"I think my strawberries are going to be great," Silverstream cheered. She picked one off the plant, but it wasn't quite ripe yet. The hippogriff spat it out and quickly felt anger building up. Silverstream looked over to the other students, whose plants were doing much better than hers. "Stupid ponies."
"What was that sugar cube?" Applejack asked.
"Nothing." She gave an 'innocent' smile as the professor went to help other students. Silverstream landed next to Gallus and sighed. "I can't do this."
"Yes, you can," Gallus said. "You've got us." The griffon placed his wing around his friend to help cheer her up. Silverstream smiled as she hugged Gallus, but the griffon felt the grip of the hippogriff's claws were a bit tight. "Silver, could you take it easy?"
She let her friend go as they heard Ocellus gasp. "What is it?"
"My plant's growing something," the changeling cheered.
Applejack walked over to her students to see what she grew. "Well, I'll be," she said. "Looks like you've got you some coffee beans. I'm sure those will make good coffee."
After class, the young six walked down the hall. "What is coffee?" Yona asked.
"It's something that helps ponies and other creatures wake up," Sandbar said.
Ocellus gasped. "So, we can use my beans to match coffee and keep Silver up," she said.
"What about your project?" Silverstream questioned.
"It's okay, I can always grow another plant. Besides, I think you need it more than I do."
"But it's going to take forever to have those beans to grow," Gallus said.
"I could use some magic."
"That's cheating," Sandbar said.
"Our friend is possessed," Smolder said. "I'm pretty sure we have the right to do this." Smolder could feel some scratching her tail. She looked and saw Silverstream was doing it. "Silver, stop that."
"Stop what?" Silverstream asked before she saw she was scratch her friend's tail. And not a scratch like there was a bug bite, she was trying to actually hurt her friend. Luckily, dragons like Smolder were built tough. "Oh, my gosh, I didn't notice."
"How could you not?"
"I was j-j-just tired from last night and I think I just passed out, so the Storm King must've taken control again."
"That why feather's white?" Yona questioned. Silverstream looked down to see the feathers around her claws were turning a dark blue-gray. She started to breathe heavily and was about to scream just before Gallus covered her mouth.
"Silver, don't panic," Sandbar said.
"Yona think we should tell headpony," Yona stated.
"No!" Silverstream cried nearly attracting other students' attention.
"Do you just not have an inside voice?" Gallus asked.
"Look, I've already tried hurting Smolder, I don't want to hurt anyone else."
"Silver, we're going to help in any way we can," Ocellus said. "Let's just get our next class over with so I can make you that coffee." Silverstream followed her friends to Rarity's class.
At lunch, Silverstream looked a little bit more awake after she ate. Gallus and Smolder were making plans in case their friend lost control again. While Yona, Sandbar, and Ocellus just sat and talked. The hippogriff stirred her soup around until she saw icy blue eyes in it. She looked up to the ceiling to find nothing was there.
"So, you're sure you can make your beans grow faster?" Sandbar asked Ocellus.
"Changeling magic is a bit different from unicorn magic," Ocellus said. "Silver, do you want to coffee later today or tonight?" The hippogriff wasn't listening as she was looking around for... Something. "Silver?"
Her attention was now grabbed. "Sorry," Silverstream said, "I thought I saw something. What are you talking about?"
"When do you want the coffee?"
"Tonight. I don't want to fall asleep tonight."
"Got it."
"That's why we're here," Gallus said. "Smolder and I've got your back."
"But she can't stay awake forever," Ocellus said. "She'll fall asleep soon. Look at her." The bags under Silverstream's eye were hard to miss, not to mention her yawning.
"Hey, wake up," Smolder cried slapping her friend across the face to keep her conscious.
"Thanks, Smolder," Silverstream said. The bell rang and they headed off to their next class. The hippogriff sudden felt a pain in her gut. She probably just ate something bad, which was just great. She already had enough to worry about.
"Alright, every creature," Fluttershy said. "We'll be learning about pony biology. Now, let's say we have two parents. A red pegasus with a black mane, and a yellow unicorn with a white mane. What would their child look like?"
"Orange and gray-maned alicorn?" Yona asked.
"Not really." Fluttershy showed her class a chart with a big S, C, and M on top, and a small S, C, and M to the left.
"But wait," Silverstream said, "My dad's feathers are blue and my mom's are yellow. Why are mine pink?"
"I'll get to that." Fluttershy explained to her class how genetics worked, Yona felt someone smack her in the back of her head. The yak looked to see who hit her, but the stallion behind her looked half asleep, and Silverstream was wide awake. Yona just turned back to her professor as she got smacked again.
"Who hit Yona?" she asked now annoyed grab the professor's attention. Yona spoke up. "Some creature hit Yona's head."
"Who did it?" Fluttershy flew up to get a better look at her class. No one said anything. "I don't know who did it, but when I do, you'll be staying after class."
"I thought I saw a bug," Smolder spoke up. "It got away."
"Alright." Fluttershy was a little confused, she didn't have any other leads, so she just went back to class.
Silverstream's friends looked at her. "What?" the hippogriff whispered.
"Friend hit Yona?" Yona whispered.
"But I'm awake. The Storm King can't control me if I'm not asleep."
"Maybe that's the reason your feathers are turning gray," Sandbar suggested in a whisper. "Why else would that be happening."
"I thought it was stress," Silverstream replied.
"And your claws turning black?" Smolder asked.
Silverstream gave her claws another look. "Okay, maybe Sandbar's theory holds some weight."
"So, he can control her body even when she's awake?" Gallus questioned.
"Please tell me we're wrong."
"We don't know," Ocellus said as she tried to pay attention to their professor. "Just be quiet and focus on class." The changeling managed to take a few notes as her friends listened to Fluttershy, but Silverstream just looked at her claws and her feathers that had turned gray. It wasn't spreading, which she was glad for, but she could feel her blood run cold.
Classes were soon over and Gallus, Smolder, and Ocellus were flying around the track to see who was the fastest. Silverstream sat on the sidelines as nervous as she could be as Sandbar and Yona sat next to her.
"Aren't you going to race?" Sandbar asked.
"I don't think I should be trusted until this is over," Silverstream sighed.
"Hey, it's not you that's the problem. You're being brave about this."
"I'm really in a complete panic."
"It doesn't look like it. You look more like you dropped your ice cream." The hippogriff replied with a sigh as the earth pony placed his hoof on her shoulder.
"Can't friends tell headmare?" Yona questioned.
"No!" Silverstream yelled. "I don't want any other creature to get in danger."
"How about we head to the pond for a swim?" Sandbar suggested. "You like that."
"Yona stay here," Yona said. "Not like water."
Silverstream smiled. "Thanks, Sandy." The two walked away to the pond with the hippogriff started getting excited.
"I've kinda been wondering what the other would look like if they had your pearl piece. I mean, we'd become seaponies, but what about Yona, or Gallus."
"I think Smolder would become some sort of fish." When they got to the pond, Silverstream activated her pearl piece turning her and her friend into seaponies.
"Whoa. This feels... Kind of weird. It's like my legs are smushed together."
"That's kind of what your tail is like." The two swam down into the pool. Sandbar was amazed at the animals swimming around.
"Wow. If this is what the pond is like, I can't imagine what Seaquestria is like." A couple of fish swam around the new seapony. He decided to fallow them until they came across some rocks. "How did these get here?" The fish didn't seem happy with the boulders either, but both they and Sandbar were taken by surprise when Silverstream rammed into him.
"Oh, my gosh," Silverstream cried. She couldn't say anything else as she rammed into her friend again. "I'm not doing this on purpose." She was losing control of her tail and forelegs, which were both white as the snow.
"Silver..." Sandbar groaned as he got rammed multiple times. "You can't..." He couldn't finish as got bruised more and more. He felt woozy as he slowly sank to the floor. Just as his friend swam towards him at top speed, Sandbar moved out of the way as Silverstream smashed into one of the boulders, knocking her out.
She and Sandbar turned back into a hippogriff and earth pony respectively. Since he could no longer breathe underwater, Sandbar grabbed his friend and swam back to the surface. Once there, he gasped for air, swam back to land, and ran back to the school with Silverstream on his back. All while blue-gray feathers slowly crawling up the hippogriff's legs.
"So, you're really giving up your project?" Smolder asked Ocellus at the school.
"It's upsetting," the changeling sighed. "But it's for a good cause."
"Guys!" Sandbar shouted running up to them. "Silver's out cold. I can't wake her up." He placed their friend on the ground as they tried to wake her. They tried shouting, shaking and even smacking, this was mostly from Smolder. "Silver, you need to wake up or..." The earth pony couldn't finish as the hippogriff gripped her claw around his neck. She flew a few feet into the air as Sandbar struggled to breathe.
"You don't get in my way," Silverstream ordered with a growl in her voice. Her eyes were icy blue with a glow to them as Yona got a running start at them.
"Yona don't want to do it," the yak said, "But Yona smash! " She rammed into her friend, making her release the suffocating pony as they all dropped to the ground.
Silverstream rubbed her eyes as she regained control. She looked to her friends, who were looking a bit afraid. "What happened?" she asked, "Weren't Sandbar and I at the pond?" She then saw the pony breathing heavily while also stepping back. "It happened again, didn't it?"
"Unforinettly," Ocellus sighed. They all noticed that Silverstream's fore and back legs were completely gray. "If it makes you feel better, I've got my coffee beans ready."
The hippogriff got close to her friend and grabbed her arms. "Please get it ready."
"I will. Just, don't come near me." Silverstream got upset at this. "Silver, I didn't mean it like that."
"Sandy, I..."
"Didn't mean to do it," Sandbar said finishing his friend's sentence. "Where's Gallus?"
"He's on his way to Canterlot," Smolder explained. "Meanwhile, I'm not letting you out of my sight this time."
That night, Silverstream flew back into her dorm with her friends following her behind. "I can't go to sleep," the hippogriff said.
"You don't have to," Ocellus said. "I've managed to make this." She held out a cup of liquid that Silverstream took. "I found out how to make coffee. It might not be the best, but it should work."
Just then, Gallus slowly walked into the room, panting. "You have... No idea... What I had to do... To get this," he wheezed as he showed his friends the deep orange book. "Please tell me... This is it."
"That's the one," Silverstream confirmed.
"Let's get you some water," Sandbar said walking out of the room with Gallus after the griffon gave the book to Ocellus.
"It's getting late," Ocellus sighed. "I'll have to look at this in the morning. You think we should keep watch on Silver?"
"No, I've got coffee," Silverstream stated. "I think I'll be fine." Smolder was a little suspicious but she and her friends left the hippogriff alone. "I hope I'll be fine."
"No, you won't."
"Who said that?" She went to drink her coffee but her arm wasn't moving. In fact, it tossed the cup across the room, making the liquid inside spill all over the floor. "No, I need that."
"And I need you."
"Show yourself." Silverstream only got stomach pain, much worse than before. "Guys, something's..." She couldn't finish her sentence as her claw grabbed her beak, preventing her from talking.
"It's cute on how much you try." The hippogriff used her pearl to turn herself into a seapony so her claws were now fins. This ended up backfiring as her white limbs started dragging her towards the door.
"Gallus. Sandy. Girls!"
"Shut it!" Silver's foreleg smacked her head into the floor which was as bad as her stomach pain. She suddenly turned back into a hippogriff. One claw held her beak shut as her other one threw her pearl piece onto her bed. "You don't disobey your king.
Smolder was pacing in Ocellus's dorm. "We need to keep an eye on her," the dragon stated.
"We should take back up measures," Ocellus said placing the book beside her bed. "We'll have to sleep in shifts..." There were some thumping and banging coming from their friend's dorm. They went to check to see Silverstream was gone and her window wide open.
They, as well as Gallus, Sandbar, and Yona ran out of the school to go find their friend. "I told you."
"Not now, Smolder. We'll need to split up."
"But if Silver's possessed by the storm king how are we suppose to know where she is?" Sandbar asked.
"We'll just fly and you and Yona search on the ground."
"Hold it," Yona cried as she and the group stopped. She pointed towards Sweet Apple Acers, where the barn was ablaze.
"Why is Sweet Apple Acres on fire?!" Ocellus questioned.
"I think the bigger question is if Professor Applejack and her family are out," Gallus said.
"Let's check," Smolder said. They picked up Sandbar and Yona and flew into the burning barn. Smolder flew inside, though she had to push past multiple beams that were broken from the flames. She came across the orange farm pony trying to buck down the doors as she coughed.
"Smolder?" AJ coughed. "What are you..." The smoke was too thick for her to speak.
"We're getting you out of here."
"Wait. We?"
Ocellus, who was transformed into a dragon to help her with the fire, ran up to the farm pony. "The others are getting water," the changeling dragon said. She took her professor out of the farm as Smolder smashed down the door to help rescue Big Mac, who helped her get Applebloom, Winona, and Granny Smith.
"Are you okay?" Sandbar asked.
"We're fine," Applebloom coughed while cringing as she stepped on her hoof. "I think my hoof's broken."
"That's just perfect," Applejack groaned. "We need to get the animals out."
"We're on it," Smolder said. "Come on, Ocellus." The two dragons flew in to rescue the animals."
"Stop that flame," Granny Smith ordered.
"How?" Gallus asked.
"There's a sprinkler system for the other products," Applejack stated.
Smolder grabbed some buckets. Big Mac unhooked the main pipe so they could fill up the buckets. Yona, Gallus, and Sandbar took the buckets and splashed the blaze as Smolder and Ocellus got the last of farm animal out of the barn. Miraculously, the animals were only a little burnt, which Yona helped with by (accidentally) splashing water on them. With everyone out, Smolder and Ocellus, who turned into a bugbear for the extra arms, they helped their friends fight the fire.
This kept on fighting until Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight showed up with some storm clouds to make some rain. "AJ," Fluttershy said landing next to her friend, "How did this happen?"
"I wish I knew," Applejack sighed. "I'm glad everypony's out."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash put out the fire, which left the barn in ruin. They landed as the alicorn saw her students catching their breath. "What are they doing here?" she asked.
"Hippogriff left school," Yona stated. "Friends look her."
"Why would she leave school?" Dash asked.
"Mmmaybe she's sleepwalking," Sandbar said. "We've gotta go." The five creature ran off before anything else could be said.
"That had to be Silverstream," Smolder said.
"I didn't know she was that fast," Ocellus said. "She could be anywhere."
"The longer she stays asleep, the more the Storm King takes over," Gallus said.
"Why king burn down barn?" Yona questioned.
"Maybe it was the coffee idea," Ocellus said. "Professor Applejack said that she got the crops from her farm. He must've been trying to get rid of any other crops that could keep Silver awake."
"Where can she be?" Smolder questioned.
"Closer than you think," said a familiar voice making the students stop in their tracks.
"Silverstream?" Sandbar questioned.
"Hey, king," Gallus called. "If you have the guts to burn a farm down, why can't you go up against some teens?" The griffon got his answered as his friend came out of hiding and smashed him to the ground.
"Don't you insult me," Silverstream ordered with her eye glowing blue again.
"Gallus! Silver!" These were both words cried out from the other for. They were about attack but the possessed hippogriff had other ideas.
"Go ahead," she said. "Beat up your friend. Bite her, smash her, burn her. It'll work either way for me." The four stood back as they didn't know what to do. Silverstream headbutted Gallus and then smashed him against the wall.
"Silver, we know you're still in there," Sandbar said. "Gallus is your friend, so are we. You have to fight him."
The hippogriff just growled as one of her eyes turned back to violet. She let go of a beaten up griffon and held her head as she screamed in agony. Her wings made her give flight just before her claws grabbed them, grounding her as one then grabbed her neck, making her choke.
The dragon and yak looked at each other before racing towards their friend. "Silver, if you're still in there, we're sorry," Smolder said. She and Yona smashed the hippogriff to the ground.
After she landed on the ground, Silverstream slowly stood up with her eyes back to normal. Her torso was partly gray, and her tail had turned partly white. Her wings and everything from her neck and up was normal. She looked towards Gallus, who Sandbar was helping up, then to the girls who walked closer to her.
"Stay away," Silverstream cried as she stepped back. "He's getting too strong."
"No, we can stop him," Ocellus said. "We're going to stay up all night to make sure you stay as you."
"Let's get back to the school," Gallus said. "Ponies have probably heard us." The six took off with Silverstream flying in the middle so her friends could keep her under control. The hippogriff felt pain again as words were repeated through her head.
"You can't get rid of me. You're mine."
Silverstream was lying on her bed, tied up by some rope to prevent her from moving. Her friends were all asleep except Gallus, who was keeping watch. They knew she wouldn't likely get out, but they weren't taking any chances. The hippogriff and griffon were talking about the Wonderbolts to keep each other awake.
"So, do you often get confused for one?" Silverstream asked.
"Only from ponies," Gallus replied. "Few griffons even know they exist." The school bell rang to wake all the students up.
"Finally," Smolder growled as she opened her eyes. "I thought those princesses would sleep in."
"This probably wasn't the best idea," Ocellus yawned.
"Friends tell headmare," Yona asserted.
"No, we... Can't," Silverstream yawned. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"You burn barn. How problem get worse?"
"Yona's right," Sandbar yawned. "We have to tell headmare Twilight. Maybe she can figure out how to fix this." Yona and Sandbar left the dorm to go looking for the princess of friendship as the other stay to watch the hippogriff, who Smolder smacked before she passed out.
Twilight was just having her breakfast as the yak and pony walked in. "Yona? Sandbar?" she questioned. "What are you doing here? Breakfast is about to be served in the cafeteria."
"Hippogriff in trouble," Yona said.
"She's possessed by the Storm King," Sandbar explained making Twilight gasp.
"How?" she questioned.
"Strange book bring back ghost," Yona explained. "Friend didn't tell. Not wanna cause trouble, but bad king burn apple farm."
"That was him?"
"It had to be," Sandbar said. "She flew out of her dorm last night. Plus, we think he's getting stronger."
"Tell me everything." Sandbar and Yona did so, hoping the others had Silverstream under control.
"Could you please stop smacking me," Silverstream begged as Smolder's claw just stopped before making contact.
"How else am I supposed to keep you awake?" the dragon asked.
"Make loud noises?" Gallus said. "Ocellus." The changeling nodded before she turned herself into a rooster and cried.
"Yep, I'm up now," Silverstream said cringing at the loud noise. "I'm getting hungry. Could you untie me?"
Ocellus changed back to her normal form. "Silver, we can't really trust you right now," she said.
"But I need to eat." The hippogriff's stomach growled and as she moaned.
"Alright, we'll sneak some food from the cafeteria," Gallus said. "Ocellus, you keep watch on her."
"Right," Ocellus replied. The griffon and dragon left the dorm as they slowly made their way into the cafeteria. Silverstream nearly fell asleep again, but her friend did her rooster thing, springing her back up.
"I'm awake," the hippogriff cried. She could feel her back legs starting to move. Her forelegs started pushing her back until she rolled off the bed. Once that was done, her legs touched her pearl piece, which was just lying on the ground. She then changed into her seapony form, since it was a bit more slippery than her hippogriff form, and managed to slip out of her ropes.
"Oh no." Before either one could, Silverstream's legs and tail made her swing around so she could grab her pearl piece. She managed to stay calm turned herself back into a hippogriff. Her wings were still under her control, so Silverstream just stayed aborn.
"I think we calm down now. I've still got my wings. Let's eat." Ocellus took caution as she and her friends went to get breakfast.
"I just really think that the king's an idiot," Smolder said to Gallus at their table.
"I know," Gallus replied. "If he had to power to control Silverstream and take care of one of the princesses, he didn't go after the princess of friendship or the princess of the empire, he went after a baby. Dumbest. King. Ever." The two then saw Silverstream, whose claws were trying to grab onto the wall, flew towards them.
"Aren't you suppose to stay in your dorm?"
"I was so hungry," Silverstream protested. "Plus, you know who is getting stronger, and I'm... So tired." The hippogriff's wings slowed down making her land on the floor as she passed out and her friends freaked out. They tried making as much noise as possible, which grabbed the attention of the other students.
Twilight then teleported in with Yona and Sandbar. The yak and earth pony ran over their friend who they tried to help wake up. "So, if what you told me is true," Twilight said, "She is..."
The princess couldn't finish as Silverstream's now ice blue eyes shot open. She grabbed Smolder by her arm and yanked her to the ground so hard she pulled it out of socket. Ocellus tried to make a break for it by fleeing, but the hippogriff grabbed her by her tail and used her to whack Yona away from ramming into her.
Twilight stepped in by using her magic to levitate Silverstream into the air, but she countered this by tossing Ocellus into the alicorn. The hippogriff began to beat up Gallus as Smolder tried to pop her arm back into place. "Is she stronger than before?" Sandbar questioned as he helped his injured friend.
"She has to be," Smolder said cringing as her arm was pushed back. "She only managed to hurt my eye before, now look at me." She cried out in pain as her friend fixed her arm.
"I know you want to get back at her, but she..." Gallus was thrown into Sandbar, sending them several feet away.
"Friend can't let king win," Yona cried as she grabbed Silverstream by her tail.
The hippogriff tried to shake the yak away, but her eye started turning violet and she tried out in excruciating pain. "Help... Me..." she groaned. Twilight regretable zapped her student with a beam. Silverstream's eyes were normal again but everything below her neck was gray or white. "Principle Twilight, I can't move."
The young six followed Twilight to her office. Silverstream was tied up again, while Twilight looked through the book to see if there was anything she could do. "Be careful," Ocellus said. "You might get possessed too."
"Which is why I'm not ready all the sentences," Twilight replied as she flipped through the pages.
The young six or five turned to Silverstream who was still trying to control herself had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she wept. "I should've told someone. Now you're all in danger."
"It's not your fault," Sandbar said.
"It is! We could've just told headmare Twilight before and have it fixed in no time."
"Come on, that's not the Silverstream we know," Gallus said. "You're still here. We're going to get through this."
"Friends will," Yona said. "Right headpony?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight said making the students worried. "I think I might have worse news."
"Now what?" Smolder groaned.
"Apparently, possessed beings like Silverstream slowly lose control of their bodies."
"You don't say," Gallus said sarcastically.
"It's not just physical possession, it's mentally too. Once Silverstream's body is under the storm king's control her mind will slowly... Melt away."
Silverstream's blood was now below zero as her breath was never as heavy as before. "I'm doomed," she said.
"There's still time. We just need to get the others so we can use our harmony powers."
"They'll be here soon," Spike said walking in using his fire on a scroll. "And I've just sent a backup plan."
The hippogriff's body started trying to break out of the ropes as Smolder and Yona held her tight. "King not take over," Yona said.
"If you were a real king you wouldn't be using our friend as a meat shield," Smolder said.
As they held their friend down, the rest of the mane six ran into the room. "What's happening to Silverstream?" Fluttershy asked.
"No time to explain," Twilight said placing her book down. "I think we'll need to use our elements to get rid of the Storm King."
"But he shattered," Rainbow Dash said.
"He's in Silver," Gallus said. "Just used your friendship laser." The hippogriff then cried in pain as she broke out of her ropes.
"She under his control?" Rarity questioned.
"Yes," Smolder and Gallus replied. Suddenly, Silverstream's eyes sealed shut as her feathers started turning white.
"SIlver!" the hippogriff's friends cried.
"Quick, get into place," Twilight ordered. "Kids, stay back." Twilight forced the students to stay out of the way as she and her friends charged up their attack.
In Silverstream's head, the hippogriff was frozen in ice from below her neck. She tried to break free, but the ice just climbed up to head, all she could move now was her eyes and mouth. "This is adorable," the Storm King said walking towards her.
"Please, let me go," Silverstream begged with tears in her eyes.
"I don't do favors kid. You're not the first sap who wanted something from and I didn't pay up." Ice was now all in the hippogriff's mane as she began to hear dripping. She moved her eyes the best she could and the Storm King even held up a mirror to show Silverstream that the ice was melting.
"No. Please, don't."
"Come on kid, this is my favorite part. You belong to me now." Silverstream couldn't scream as her head was quickly consumed by the ice.
In the real world, the hippogriff's feathers were all blue-gray, her mane and tail were white, and her claws and feet were black. Her sclera was icy blue and glowing and her pupils and iris were indigo. Twilight's magic lifted her into the air, but the possessed girl had a trick up her sleeve.
A green orb appeared in her claws, and before the mane six could react, the orb shattered and the dust inside turned them all into obsidian statues. "Do you except a ghost not to come back with any special abilities?" She looked over to see Spike and the young five trying to sneak out of the office. "Going somewhere?"
"RUN!" Yona shouted as she and her friends bolted.
"How adorable." She looked towards the mane six with a sassy expression as she grabbed the princess's horn. "Don't you go anywhere." She then ran after Spike and the students.
The rest of the school's students were asking Starlight several questions. "What's going on?" "Silverstream's not like this." "Is Ocellus's family playing a prank on us?"
"Everpony, settle down," Starlight ordered. "Twilight at the professors are taking care of things as we speak."
"Run for your lives," Spike cried as he and the young five came racing down the hall with Silverstream hot on their tails. The hippogriff tossed more of the green orbs which hit some unlucky students, but the young five and Spike managed to dodge them. Starlight wasn't so lucky, an orb hit her in the face and she got the same fate as the mane six.
"We need to hide," Ocellus said.
"Where?" Spike asked.
"What about Silver's pear piece?" Gallus questioned.
"I think we left it in her dorm," Ocellus said. They look and saw Silverstream couldn't find them through the panicking students. They slowly made their way back to the dorm and grabbed their friend's necklace.
"Where are you planning?" Spike asked.
"We just need to get to the front of the school," Gallus said.
"Silver getting closer," Yona said with her fear building up.
The hippogriff wasn't used to her new wings so she just stomped down the hall as she checked the dorms. "I know you're here," she said bashing the doors down. She checked all the dorms of the students six, even her's, but they weren't there. She searched the entire school and turned everyone in there into statues, but the last five students were nowhere to be found. "No matter, I just need to get to Canterlot. Time to test out my new wings."
She walked outside and gave her new appendages a couple of flaps before she got airborne. With a laugh, she took off towards Canterlot. From the pool of water in front of the school, a bright flash Spike and the remaining students swam out.
"Is she gone?" Spike asked.
"I think so," Gallus said as the stepped back onto dry land.
"That was weird," Smolder said.
"I think we should focus on something other than what water species we become," Ocellus said as she saw a gray blur flying away. "Silver's heading to Canterlot. If she can turn all of the school into statues, imagine what she can do the guards."
"Are we too late?" came a voice. The six look and saw King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember, who was wearing armor, landing near the school along with other changelings, including Pharynx.
"You took your time," Smolder groaned.
"You know how long it took me to find this armor?" Ember asked.
"Stop fighting," Spike said. "The Storm King has possessed Silverstream, and she's heading towards Canterlot."
"We've gotta follow her," Gallus said.
"No," Thorax cried, "You're staying here."
"But she friend," Yona protested.
"She's too dangerous," Spike said. "You're going to stay in the castle until it's safe."
"You can't do this," Smolder growled.
"I think we can," Pharynx said. He turned to a flying spider monster and pushed the five students into the castle.
"I'm beginning to like your brother," Ember said to Thorax, which the king wasn't so fond of.
"We better catch up with Silverstream," Spike said unfolding his wings. "Follow me." The dragons and changelings took off, with Thorax surprised by Spike's new appendages.
"Spike, did you get wings?" Thorax asked.
"I just had a bit of molting. It was pretty annoying."
"Tell me about," Ember agreed.
The teens could only watch the dragons and changelings fly away as they stayed at the castle. "This isn't fair," Smolder groaned. "We should be there helping Silver back to normal."
"But Thorax and Ember said it wasn't safe," Ocellus said.
"Screw what he said," Gallus said. "Silver needs us."
"But how do we get her back?"
"Think about last night," Sandbar said. "Remember what snapped her out of the king's control?"
"Yona and dragon smash friend," Yona said with a bit of guilt.
"Yes, but we also tried talking her. I think if we do it again, we might get her back."
"What if friends fail?" Yona asked. The group went silent.
"We won't fail," Gallus said. "We're going to save our friend." The five placed their paws or hooves in a circle.
The ponies of Canterlot were minding their own business. Several of them stopped and stared after Silverstream landed in the middle of the city making the ground crack quite a bit. "Hello everyone," she said, "I would appreciate your simple surrender now."
A snobby unicorn just laughed at the hippogriff. She tossed an orb at the snob making him turn into obsidian. All other ponies ran and screamed as the hippogriff heard someone from behind her. Spike landed behind the hippogriff, who just laughed at the dragon.
"Silverstream... Storm King..." Spike stuttered. "Whoever the heck is in there, you need to stop this."
"Who's going to make me?" The dragon pointed to himself with the hippogriff scoffing. "You and what army?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Spike flew upwards so the hippogriff could see Ember, Thorax, and the changeling army.
"We're going to give you a chance," Thorax said as he stopped his brother and Ember from attacking. "Surrender now, and we won't harm you."
Silverstream just gave a grin. "You wasted your chance," she said. Her claws glowed and as storm clouds formed. Lightning struck the ground to form some troopers of the Storm King's army. They as well as the changelings charged towards each other as the battle commenced.
The troopers and changelings clashed with each other, with the bug creatures changing into different species, like lions, tigers, bears and various other creatures. Silverstream tired tossing her orbs at the enemies, but the changeling's shape-shifting helped them dodge them. The hippogriff was hit by a pink beam that came from Shining Armor.
"Shining," Spike said flying down to him, "Silverstream can't help it, she's possessed." The dragon pushed the guard out of the way before they could get hit from another orb.
"I know," Shining said, "You sent me the letter for a backup plan. Where are Twilight and the others?"
"They're frozen in stone." Shining Armor gasped at this. He was about to charge a shot at the hippogriff who was distracted by the changeling charging at her, but Spike stopped him.
"You're right, I can't harm a helpless child. The princesses are staying out of sight. Not even I know where they are."
"Alright, let take care of these guys." They went to fight the troopers as Silverstream started upping her arsenal. She teleported around, shot out beams of light, and created forcefields.
"I have to thank that princess for her magic," she said using her levitation to toss her enemies away.
Ember, Thorax, and Pharynx were cornered as they fought the king's troopers. "Why are there so many of them?" Thorax questioned.
"They came back with a ghost," Pharynx said punching some of the troopers away. "I'm sure there'll be a lot."
Suddenly, they heard something fall from the sky, "YAK SMASH!" Out of the blue, Prince Rutherford dropped from the sky landing on a couple of the troopers. "Sorry, yaks late." In the sky, several yaks were dropping down from their balloons.
"Perfect timing," Ember said, "I thought you were going to miss all the fun." The leaders of the different areas charged at the troopers as a few creatures were flying towards Canterlot.
"Can't you go any faster?" Smolder asked Gallus as they both carried Yona.
"Sorry, our passenger is heavy," he replied, "No offense."
Yona just shrugged as they saw the battle in the city. "What's going on?" Sandbar questioned.
"My only guess is that the Storm King has some sort of power to create his army," Ocellus said. "It would explain how she created those orbs."
"There's Silver," Gallus cried pointing to their friend who was heading towards the castle. The flew down and tried to catch up with her.
"What the?" Pharynx gasped as he saw the students. He quickly flew towards them with rage building up. "We told you to stay in the castle."
"Silver is our friend," Smolder said. "If any creature is helping her, it's us."
"I'm really sorry about this, Pharynx," Ocellus apologized. "She needs us." Pharynx was going to keep following but he saw some changeling needed some help. Regrettably, he flew over to them as the students ran towards the castle.
Silverstream bashed down the door to the throne room after fighting past the guards and found the princesses weren't there. "Where are you?" she asked as she looked around.
"Silverstream!" Gallus shouted grabbing her attention to see him and the other students.
"You? Are you here to sign up?"
"We're not signing up for anything your behind," Smolder stated.
"Give friends back hippogriff," Yona demanded.
"Why would I give up this body?" she asked. "I'm the Storm... Queen. No one will ever get in my way, not even a couple of teens."
"Get out of our friend," Gallus demanded as he stomped towards her.
The Storm Queen had other ideas. She flew over to some sets of armor, grabbed a spear, and it up to her neck. "Stay back. You're the spear, your friend is my neck. Do you want to get closer?" Silverstream's friend stood back in shock. The hippogriff then used her levitation to keep them stuck in place and was about to toss an orb at them.
"Silver, listen!" Sandbar cried. The hippogriff stoped and lower the spear and orb. Her friends looked at each other then to the queen. "Silver, we know you're in there. You can't let him win."
"You're way better than that idiot," Smolder added. "Not to mention, a great friend." The hippogriff expression went from anger to sadness.
"You're a lot of fun," Ocellus said. "It's kind of funny how you get excited over every new thing you see."
"Yona like Silver," Yona said. "Wouldn't trade for anything." Tears started to form in the possessed being's eyes.
"Please," Gallus begged, "Stay with us. Remember everything we did together."
Silverstream's eye flashed as memories flooded back. The day they took a break from class, staying over on Hearth's Warming Eve, meeting the Tree of Harmony, stopping Cozy Glow, and building their treehouse. Her eyes returned back to their normal violet color as they started flooding with tears as she dropped the spear and the orb.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I could've stopped this."
"Don't talk like that," Sandbar said. "We know you're scared."
"But... Princess Twilight and the others are statues. What can we do?"
"We'll stay by your side," Smolder said.
"We'll figure it out," Ocellus said.
Silverstream looked at her friends and ran towards them to hug them. The second she did this, auras surrounded them. Sandbar's was yellow, Yona's was orange, Ocellus's was white, Smolder's was blue, Silverstream's was pink, and Gallus's was purple.
"What's happening?" the hippogriff questioned as the Storm King tried to take over again.
"This feels familiar," Smolder said.
"The elements," Ocellus gasped. "We must be connected somehow."
"We've connected to the tree before," Gallus said, "So this does make sense." They all started floating into the air as Silverstream's colors started returning to normal as the Storm King was pulled out of her.
"What is this?" the Storm King questioned as the six glowing creatures surrounded him. "This is impossible." The students spun around him as they glowed the color of their aura. The king's ghost roared as a large rainbow shot into the sky. As this happened, the troopers the king summon vanished into thin air and the ponies that were turned into obsidian changed back to normal.
As the rainbow faded, the six friends floated to the ground as the Storm King was nowhere to be seen. "Is it over?" Silverstream asked. Her colors were all normal as Yona tackled her.
"Hippogriff friend back," the yak cheered.
"Are you feeling okay?" Sandbar asked.
"Aside from Yona trampling me, I'm good," Silverstream replied. As they got up, some guards entered the room wielding spears.
"Hang on," Gallus said. "Let us explain."
The six students rode the train back in Ponyvillie, Silverstream wasn't in the mood for flying. "I'm glad this is over," Ocellus sighed.
"Y... Yeah," Silverstream stuttered, "Me too."
Spike and Yona came walking in from the other train car. "Yona like talking to yaks again," she said.
"Good to know," Spike said as he was a little bruised. "So, how are you guys doing?"
"Just fine," Smolder replied. "Kind of wish we got some of the combat action."
"Trust me, you wouldn't."
"I'm sorry," Silverstream sighed.
"How many times do we have to tell you?" Gallus questioned, "You don't need to say sorry. You were under his control."
"Because I let him."
"You thought it was a nightmare," Sandbar said.
"When I figured out he was a ghost I could've told someone to fix it."
"Look," Gallus said, "It's over. Forget about that guy."
"But what about that book?"
"Oh, we can take care of that," Smolder said. As the train stopped Spike and the students raced back to the school. Silverstream waved to a couple of the formerly frozen students, but they ran away from her.
"Are they color blind?" Gallus questioned.
"Silverstream!" Twilight cried running towards them. "Are you alright?"
"Been better," she sighed.
"Well, I'm glad you're back to normal." She placed her hoof on Silverstream's shoulder. "I'm sure that the other students will forgive you."
"Friend still has us," Yona said making Silverstream feel better.
"So, where is the book?" Smolder asked.
"Right here," Twilight answered showing them the orange book.
"We're going to get away from any creature," Gallus said. They took the book to the field with the hippogriff not understanding what they were doing.
"Just follow our lead," Smolder said. She took the book and punted it into the air. Gallus smacked book towards Sandbar, who bucked to Ocellus. The changeling turned into a bear and shook the book in her jaws. The book was tossed to Yona who stomped on it in typical yak action.
"Friend want to join?" Yona asked Silverstream.
"Really?" Silverstream asked as the yak passed the beaten book over to her. The hippogriff picked it up and tore out a couple of the pages, giggling a bit. The book kept getting passed around until Silverstream passed it to smolder, who burnt it to a crisp. "Aw."
"Sorry," Smolder apologized.
"It's okay. This was fun while it lasted. We'll be late for Professor Rarity class. I wonder what dresses we'll get to make. Maybe one I can wear as hippogriff and seapony."
"Oh, speaking of which," Ocellus said. The changeling flew away for a second and came back with the pearl piece that her friend lost. Gallus gave her a hand and tide the necklace around her neck.
"Thanks, guys." The hippogriff hugged her friends tightly.
"It's good to have you back, Silver," Gallus said. "Let's get to class."
"Beat you there." Silverstream flew off laughing with her friends following behind.
