Chapters Ever since Twilight’s School of Friendship was established, the Young 6 made their very first friendship mission back then, just like their professors. Gallus and Silverstream were the first ones to be called by the magic map, that was way before the new freshmen of their species arrived at school, and made their trip to Manehattan to fix a family problem with an older brother and a young sister. Then, there is Sandbar and Smolder, also made their very first mission, this time regarding the relationship with Dragon Lord Ember and Thorax. And finally, there’s Ocellus and Yona, who also made their first friendship mission at Canterlot, regarding a stallion being ‘flirty’ to the three unicorns. Although like their counterparts, they always face scenarios that are really difficult to overcome, and at the end, it was a success. Today, it was happening to them for the second time. Based on their first experience, they’ll know what they can do.
Right now at the school, it was already afternoon, and it was in the middle of just finishing its sessions. Gallus was on his desk, just laying his claw on his cheek while grumbling that this class wouldn’t end.
“Ugh,” Gallus groaned. “I thought that would never end.”
“Excuse me, Gallus!? You nearly fell asleep,” Ocellus reminded. “Like……Twice.”
“Exactly,” Gallus said. “It still feels like it’s been taking forever.” Just then, the school bell rang, signaling the session had ended. “Oh, finally!!!”
Once the bell stopped ringing, the students packed their stuff up and left the room. They carried on until they came across Pinkie Pie, who’s carrying a bag full of mail.
“Hey, guys,” she said. “Some mail just came in for you. Here you go.” She handed the letters and a package to the students before bouncing away.
“Ooh, Yona got letter from parents,” Yona said. She used her horn to help open the letter so she could read it. “Dear Yona, parents hoping you have good time at friend school. We hope you and sand pony getting along well.”
“Sand pony?” Gallus felt confused.
“They’re probably talking about me,” Sandbar commented. Yona then continued.
“To help make you and yak feel at home, we sent cake from Yakyakistan.” Yona put down the letter and opened the package. Inside that package, it’s a cake made traditionally in Yakyakistan. Yona gasped at the cake inside.
“Wow. That was nice of them,” Ocellus commented. Yona took out the cake and took it to the lounge. A couple of other students were there and they were surprised to see the cake Yona’s parents had sent. The yaks there were also surprised to see that cake that Yona carried.
“Is that Yakyakistan cake?” Frida asked. Yona nodded as the yak and some of the other students raced over to her.
“Is this what cakes are like in Yakyakistan?” Sulcus asked.
“Yep,” Dotta said. “Cake makes yaks feel at home along with snow.”
Pyther then got her mail from the bag.
“Nice,” Pyther commented. “I got a couple of gems from my parents. And a note.” The note Pyther’s holding was a stone tablet that was as big as her head.
Sandbar and Ocellus were surprised by this. “...Ugh...”
“I know. We don’t really have paper in the Dragon Lands.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Ocellus commented. “With all that lava combined with fire breath, it should probably be a no brainer. Anyways, what does the note say?”
Pyther then read it, then faced her classmates back. “It’s said that they’re hoping I’m having a good time here. The basic parent things parents worry about.”
“What are your parents like?” Grace asked.
“They’re not too bad. My dad’s got a few anger issues and my mom can...sometimes get on my nerves, but I can’t help but love them.”
“Yeah. Same here,” Emerald agreed. “It'll be good to be with them in the Dragon Lands again. I’m starting to get tired of the snow.”
“So, will it just be you guys and your parents?” Silverstream asked.
“Well actually, I have a few siblings,” Pyther said. “I’m the middle child. Got two brothers, one’s younger, one’s older. My little brother hasn’t molted yet.”
“How often are you guys together?”
“Oh, we hung out all the time. It wasn’t all that good as we dragons weren’t the best with friendship.” Pyther words would soon start falling on deaf ears. Silverstream was starting to think about her family and how often they spent it together. Suddenly, her beak started glowing.
“Whoa! What the heck?”
It’s not just Silverstream’s beak, Yona’s horns started glowing as well.
“Yona’s horns glowing,” Yona spoke. Just like Silverstream’s beak, the yak’s horns started glowing.
“What’s going on?” Sulcus questioned.
“Maybe it’s the map again,” Grace said.
“What map?” Emerald questioned.
Suddenly, images of Yona and Silverstream’s heads appeared above them. They flew out of the window and the Young Six quickly made their way to the castle with a couple of other students following them. They quickly got to the map room and found the yak and hippogriff’s heads floating over a part of the map they haven’t noticed before. It was something new.
“What’s that place?” Ocellus questioned. The location appeared to have a few old fashioned houses built in between some hills with a large open plain not too far away.
“Huh. This might be a first for you guys,” Sandbar said.
“We’re going to discover a new village?” Silverstream questioned, her excitement was starting to show.
“Could be,” Gallus commented. “Really wondering what the spirit has in store for you,”
“How does this thing even work?” Sulcus questioned.
“I don’t know. I’m thinking it’s just a pony thing,” Peridot guessed.
“Yeah. They do use magic a lot,” Emerald commented.
“Well, we should probably prepare for our journey,” Silverstream said.
“Friends save Yona cake slices,” Yona declared. The students made sure of that.
“Let’s try to get you prepared,” Ocellus said. “Let’s hope you can solve this before you have to go home for the holidays.” The students quickly left the castle to help their friends pack. Silverstream was excited to see what the village could have in store, but the mention of going home gave her a sinking feeling.
Because of Yona's inability to fly, of course she’s a yak, she and Silverstream had to hitch a ride on the hot air balloon along with Applejack to keep them in company. Still, this didn’t do much to dampen Silverstream’s excitement. “What do you think this village is going to have?” the hippogriff questioned, as she, Yona, and Applejack walked towards the hot air balloon, with Sandbar on Yona’s side. “Do you think it’ll have a different kind of pony? Maybe it’ll be one with talking animals.”
“Now, calm down Silver,” Applejack said, “We'll find out later when we get there.”
“Yona confused why Silver and yak were picked,” Yona admitted.
“Well, maybe the map does know more about the situation than us,” Sandbar commented. “Just make sure you guys are careful, okay?”
“Don’t worry, Sandbar,” Applejack said, “I’ll make sure they stay safe.” With that, Sandbar and Yona shared a quick hug and said their goodbyes before the yak got into the basket with her professor. Then Silverstream landed beside them, Applejack opened the burner of the balloon, and they took off into the air. The mission begins.
They flew around for about an hour, and Yona was starting to get bored. She looked over to Silverstream who was the only one that could fly. “Could Silverstream make basket...” But Yona was cut off by Silverstream’s excitement.
“What do you think there’ll be at this new village?” the hippogriff questioned, still holding her excitement.
“You asked that when we were at the school before,” Applejack commented. “We’ll find out when we get there.”
“Can’t hot air balloon go faster?” Yona sighed. She lied down and gave a frustrated sigh. “Silver fly ahead and look for village?”
“...Yeah, I think I could do that,” the hippogriff replied. Silverstream then flew out of the basket and headed ahead of the yak and pony in the basket. She looked around and could see something down below. It looked like the village that was on the map. She found it. She flew back and told Yona and Applejack about what she saw and they started bringing the balloon down.
Landing nearby, they got out of the basket, and Applejack turned off the burner, got a wooden stake, hammered it down and tied a rope to prevent it from flying away in case there’s a wind blowing hard.
Silverstream and Yona walked closer to see that the village had minotaurs. Tons of them. They all had similar colors, grayish cobalt blue body and dark cobalt blue mane. Not all of them were male. There were also some females. They were wearing their clothing that helped cover up their chests, which appeared to have some mounds. There were also some males that had clothing, but they looked to be more of a way to keep warm and a hobby to them rather than women.
They all looked like bulls and cows that were walking on twos like the dragons. Yona and Silverstream now noticed they were all being looked at for being uninvited guests. The yak and hippogriff both gave nervous smiles as they waved. "Alright girls," Applejack said. She walked up to them after making sure of the balloon was fine and was surprised to see the minotaurs in this town. "Well, I'll be."
One of the minotaurs walked towards the three visitors. "Hold up. What are you three doing here?" he asked.
Applejack spoke up. "Well, these two young fellas right here, are here to help with a friendship problem."
"A friendship problem? Is that it?"
"It's what the map said, sir," Silverstream said.
"You have a map of this place?"
"Iron Will figured maps would be made," said a voice. The minotaurs and the three looked over to see one Minotaur that they seemed to know too well. Iron Will. There were several cheers for him as Applejack just gave a lowbrow.
"Of course," the farm pony sighed.
Silverstream and Yona whisperly commented between each other. "Hey, Is that one of the teachers that Discord brought on?" Silverstream asked.
"Yes. Yona remembers," Yona shivered.
"Still, he had to be a better teacher than that dragon sneeze tree." The two looked over to Iron Will who was now standing next to them. This made the girls jumped back in surprise.
"You two look familiar to Iron Will," he said.
"Same to Yona," the yak replied. She and Silverstream looked at each other before speaking to the minotaur. "Does Iron Will see problem?"
"Not around here. Iron Will show students around."
"What about her?" the other minotaur asked, pointing to Applejack.
"I'm just here to keep an eye on these two," Applejack explained.
"Iron Will can watch over yak and hippogriff," Iron Will notified.
"Hey, listen here..."
"You're really talking to Iron Will like that?" the minotaur questioned. "He's incredibly famous around here."
"...Seriously?" Several of the minotaurs backed him up. Yona and Silverstream were quite impressed with Iron Will's fans.
"Iron Will pretty popular," Yona commented.
"Yeah," Silverstream agreed. "Probably even more with his own kind around." The hippogriff flew up to the popular minotaur so she didn't have to keep looking up at him. "So, Mr. Will, can you show us around?"
"Of course," Iron Will responded. "Students follow Iron Will." The minotaur led the way through the village as the hippogriff and yak followed him.
The village had some square huts with straw roofs, quite similar to the ones in Ponyville. Though, these ones looked like they were built with function over form in mind. There were a couple of buildings, like a bakery, a clothing store, a small hospital, anything that a normal village would need to function.
"This is pretty nice," Silverstream commented. "It would probably look amazing if there wasn't so much snow."
"Iron Will agree. Snow gets annoying."
"Yona do love snow," Yona stated. "Iron Will just needs to get used to it."
"If you say so. Iron Will might not change his opinion." Yona just gave a low brow. "But it's still possible."
"So……where do you live?" Silverstream asked.
"Glad you asked." The minotaur pointed over to one of the houses.
"It... Looks like all of the other houses."
"Let Iron Will show you inside." He led the two visiting students inside of his home and they looked around. There was a room that had a shelf filled with a few trophies as well as some photos of him on the wall.
"Wow, those are some great photos."
"Thank you. I..."
"Wilbert, is that you?" called a voice. The minotaur, yak, and hippogriff looked over to an entrance to another room where a female minotaur walked out. She had blonde fur with some white fur around her hips and legs. Her horns, muzzle, and limbs were quite dainty compared Iron Will, and her hair was black and tied into a dutch braid. She wore an orange apron dress.
"Annie," the famous minotaur responded. The female minotaur walked over to him and they shared a hug. Iron Will looked towards the guests and decided to introduce them to the other minotaur. "Annie, I would like to show our special guests. Um..."
"Yona and Silverstream," Yona explained.
"Oh, it's nice to meet you," the female minotaur said. "My name is Annabelle, but you can just call me Annie. I see that you've already met Wilbert."
"I thought he was called Iron Will," Silverstream commented, confused.
Iron Will blushed as Annie explained. "Well, his fans may be able to call him that, but he's my boyfriend, Wilbert." She hugged the big minotaur again, who was starting to blush with embarrassment.
"Your real name is Wilbert?" Silverstream questioned.
“Yes. But that stays between us,” Iron Will ordered.
“Wilbert please, be nice,” Annie said.
“Sorry. I’ve got an image to keep up.”
“Well, Yona and Silverstream have friendship problem to solve,” Yona spoke. “Has Annie noticed anything wrong?”
“Hmm, well,” Annie pondered. “I have noticed Terry has been having a few issues lately.”
“Who’s Terry?” Silverstream asked.
“He’s our son. He should be at the library by now."
"I see. And where is the library?"
"We'll show you the way. Let me go get my coat, I’ll be right back." Annie went to get her coat as Yona noticed that Iron Will was starting to look a little upset.
A little bit of walking later, the two minotaurs led the students to the town's library. Inside, was quite a nice interior with carpeting and some lights. It wasn't as nice as Ponyville, it wasn't too bad. A few minotaurs were inside reading as they could see Iron Will walk in.
Since this was a library, they kept quiet but still whispered between each other of the idol being in the same room as them. "Excuse me, madam," Annie said to the librarian, "have you seen my son, Terry? He came here about half an hour ago."
“I think I saw him,” the librarian replied, “he was in the back,” Annie thanked her and they walked towards the back of the library. There, they found a lanky looking minotaur who looked to be a teenager. Like Annie, he had short black hair but also had beige fur and longer horns.
He looked up from his book and was surprised to see his mother. "Mom, what are you doing here?" he questioned.
"Now, Terry," Annie said, "I know you wanted to be alone, but we have a few visitors to our village." Annie then showed Yona and Silverstream, who quickly introduced themselves.
"Hi. I'm Silverstream," the hippogriff said. "You're Terry, right?"
"Um... Yeah. What are you?"
"I'm a hippogriff. I'm part griffon, part pony."
"Wow, that's cool. And what about your friend over there?"
"Oh, this is Yona. She's a yak." Yona gave a wave as Terry stood up he could shake the yak's hoof.
"Nice to meet you," Yona spoke.
“So am I,” he replied.
"Oh, this is nice," Annie cooed.
"Mom, come on," Terry groaned.
"I think its good you're starting to make friends." The young minotaur groaned as he put his coat on and picked up his book. He then walked off with his mother following him. Iron Will let out an upset sigh.
"Is something wrong?" Yona asked.
"Iron Will's just fine," the big minotaur replied. He looked over to some other minotaur who pretended not to look at him. Guessing that they were fans, Iron Will went to talk with them.
Silverstream gasped. "Yona," she said, "We just found our friendship problem!" The hippogriff was quickly shushed by the minotaurs in the library. "...Sorry." Given this, the hippogriff and yak quickly took their conversation outside. "Okay, so obviously it's Iron Will, Annie, and Terry."
"So, what Silver and friend do?" Yona asked.
"Well, we've seen you were pretty much the closest thing to Iron Will. You got along best with him at school."
"Definitely better than bugbear. Do you think that yak culture similar to minotaur culture?"
"Probably, based on the background though. Maybe we should stick around for a little while longer. I really think you and the minotaurs are going to get along well. We'll figure this out." Soon, they saw the three minotaurs walk outside. "So, do you have anywhere else to go?"
"Well, I think I need to stop by the market," Annie responded. "I need to buy some groceries. Care to come on?" Yona and Silverstream nodded.
"Iron Will will tag along too," Iron Will spoke. "Visitors deserve best service." Terry let out a quite frustrated sigh.
"Yona would like to see more of minotaur town," the yak spoke.
"Well, let's go then," Annie said. The two minotaur adults led the way with Terry, Silverstream, and Yona following behind. The hippogriff was just excited to see what was new, however, the yak realized that the young minotaur was just having a bit of a sulk.
Walking towards the market, Silverstream looked around at the different sights of the village. Again, the minotaurs appeared to be more function over form, so there wasn't really much to look at. However, what she and Yona could see was the culture of the minotaurs. They could see many of them trying to show off their strengths, either by being able to lift larger items or to defeat others in contests like arm-wrestling contests. Yona was very impressed with the minotaurs' strength and wanted to get involved, but she had experience with how yak’s strength worked. She looked around to see if there were any minotaurs closer to her age.
They eventually arrived at the market, where there were quite a lot more minotaurs than Yona and Silverstream were expecting. “Wow! Look at all of them,” the excited hippogriff cried.
“Yep, there are quite a few of us,” Annie commented. “I'm guessing they're getting what they need for the Celebration of Strength.”
“What's that?” Yona asked tilting her head.
“It's a special holiday for us minotaurs. We take great pride in our strength, not just with our muscles, but with our minds and bonds as well. This holiday commemorates the day where we got our pride and strength.”
“Ooh! That sounds nice,” Silverstream commented.
“And not to mention it's the first Celebration we're having together. Right Will.”
“Indeed,” Iron Will confirmed. He looked towards Terry, who still didn't seem to care.
“Can Yona and Silverstream join in Celebration?” Yona asked. Silverstream nodded in agreement and excitement.
“Hmm, well you can stay for a while,” Annie said, “But most of the events take place over a week.”
“Well, we don't really know when we need to go back,” Silverstream noted. “Maybe if we don't want to go back.”
“What was that?” Annie asked.
“...Nothing important.” Strolling around the market, Annie got to one of the stands and started placing the items she needed in her basket. While she did that, Yona noticed Terry looking for a place to sit and read his book. As he looked around, a stray snowball hit him in the ball.
Looking behind him, Terry could see some other teenage minotaurs who looked much bigger than him. "Hey, Terry Twig," one of them called, "You really think those sheets of paper."
"Yeah, well..." Terry seemed to be stumbling over his own words.
"Why are you picking on him?" Silverstream asked.
"What are you?" one of the bullies questioned.
"Silverstream hippogriff," Yona spoke. "Leave Terry alone."
"Um... Maybe you could be like Yona," Terry said. "She has a better vocabulary than you."
Before the bullies could throw more snowballs until Iron Will walked over to them. "What's going on?" the minotaur idol questioned. The bullies quickly hid their snowballs when they saw him.
"Iron Will," one of them said, "We're such huge fans of yours. Could we…have your autographs?"
"Of course." One teenage minotaur gave him a sign pen and he started writing it down. Terry didn't say anything to this. He just walked away to find a seat while Iron Will signed their autographs. Yona and Silverstream saw the young minotaur walk away and decided to follow him.
Terry just found a good spot to sit next to a stand with winter clothes hanging for display. Yona and Silverstream caught up with him. "Hey," the minotaur said glumly.
"We saw you had some trouble with those bullies," Silverstream spoke.
"Yeah, I know."
"Then why didn't Terry stand up?" Yona asked.
"I wanted to, but they had me outnumbered. And if you think I could've just asked Will for help, you saw how they played innocent."
"How long have you known him?" Silverstream asked.
"Only for about a month. I haven't gotten on the same point as Will though. We don't have anything in common."
"Have you tried to get to know him?"
"Ugh. He keeps trying to keep his ego inflated. He's just too loud for me."
"Iron Will can't always be loud, can he?" Yona asked.
"I……I don’t know. I honestly don't spend too much time in the same room as him. I hide in my room sometimes to read my books."
"I think our friends would understand how that is," Silverstream commented. "Yona and I both have roommates back at the school. Mine's a dragon named Smolder."
"And Yona changeling friend named Ocellus," Yona spoke. "Ocellus prefer quite rooms and enjoys learning. Yona honestly prefer smashing and showing yaks best."
"Uh-huh," Terry commented, although Yona's English was confusing him a little bit.
"Yeah, well, Smolder tends to snore on nights where she's stressed," Silverstream said. "Not to mention she can be a little stubborn sometimes. But Yona and I still love spending time with our friends even with their flaws. You just have to know what their good sides are like."
"Right," Terry responded. "So, are you guys closer in age?"
"Yeah."
"Then I think you might've had an easier time than I would. Will's like three times older than I am. How am I supposed to get onto his good side."
"Iron Will seems like nice minotaur," Yona said. "He proud when Yona smash through wall."
"...What?"
"I don't know," Silverstream admitted. "Listen, if you just start getting to know more of Iron Will, maybe you'll start getting along."
"It's gotta be better than just sulking in my room and having nothing change." The young minotaur stood back up and walked back to where his mother was.
Annie was just starting purchasing the items she needed before paying the vendor behind the stand. She could see the teens walking over to her. "There you are," she said. "Where have you been?"
"I was just looking for a place to read my book," Terry stated. "Can we go home now?"
"Not yet. I just need to stop by one more stand and then we can go." The young minotaur let out a frustrated sigh. He slowly followed his mother through the market. He looked over to Iron Will, who had caught up with Annie. Terry looked back to Yona and Silverstream motioned him to talk to Iron Will and Annie.
Terry sighed and walked closer to his mother. "Hey, mom, I was wondering if Will and I could... Do some bonding."
"Really? I thought you would never ask. I've been waiting for you boys to spend some father and son time together." Terry tried to keep up a smile as Iron Will was more than pleased.
“Iron Will loves that idea,” he cheered. “The Celebration of Strength will be much better this year.” Terry tried to keep up a smile for his mother but he wasn’t still feeling keen on spending time with Will.
When they finally got back home, Silverstream and Yona were able to take off their winter clothing along with the minotaurs. “So, what do you guys have around here that’s fun?” Silverstream asked.
“We do have a few board games stored in the closet,” Annie said. “Wilbert, could you get them for us?”
“Sure thing,” the famous minotaur said. He walked over to one of the home’s closet and found a set of games inside. “Take your pick.”
Most of the games that Yona and Silverstream hadn’t heard of before. Board Smashing sounded like something a yak would celebrate, Titan Champ sounded like something would be a little violent, but Yona seemed interested in Landslide.
“How do you play that game?” the yak asked. She pointed to the game that she was interested in.
“Ooh, that’s a good one,” Terry commented. He took the Landslide box and started setting up the game. The board wasn’t flat like most games instead, it was two wooden pieces that were painted to look like a mountain road that connected together. There also eight wooden figures two of each were the same color, red, blue, yellow, and green.
“So, how do you play this game?” Silverstream asked.
“It’s very simple,” Terry explained. “You play as a duo of minotaurs who are climbing to the top of a mountain. However, you have to move using cards, which are randomly shuffled. Some of the cards are labeled ‘Landslide.’ When that card is shown, these balls, which are boulders, will roll down from the top of the mountain.” Terry then showed one of the balls that came with the game. He placed it on top of the path and it rolled all the way down, colliding with the wooden figures at the bottom.
"That looks kind of hard to avoid."
"Well, a way you can avoid it is picking a certain path. If luck's on your side, the ball will just roll right past you."
"Sounds like fun," Yona commented.
After a few minutes, Terry helped set the game up. "So, who goes first?" Silverstream asked.
“I think either you or Yona goes first,” Terry commented.
“Okay,” Yona replied. She quickly drew a card and moved one of her pieces. Then it was Silverstream’s turn. Then Terry’s, and then Iron Will’s. The game carried on for a while until Terry drew a card titled, “Landslide.”
“Oh boy, here we go.” Terry pressed a button that released one of the boulders. The boulder ended up knocking over almost all of the figures, except for Yona’s and Iron Will’s.
“Darn,” Silvertream sighed.
"Back to the start for us," Terry sighed. He moved his and Silverstream's pieces. Yona and Iron Will were pleased to see they now had a massive lead. A few more drawn cards later, Will was nearly at the top of the mountain. That was until Yona drew a landslide card.
"Uh oh," the yak gasped. She pressed on the button to release a boulder but ended up launching two of them. All of their figures got hit and sent back to the start. “Gah! Yak so close.”
“So was Iron Will,” the older minotaur groaned. He slammed his fist on the table in frustration, making the figures jump up from the force.
“Back to the start guys,” Terry said.
“Maybe Terry’s friends try different game.”
“Yona not liking game,” the yak spoke. “Can friends try Titan Champ?”
Terry just sighed. “Sure,” he responded. He started placing the pieces of Landslide back into the box while Iron Will got the other game.
Titan Champ came with some blocks that could be built into some castles, some marbles, and some catapults. “So, how do you play this one?” Silverstream asked.
“It’s pretty simple,” Terry explained, “You simply fire these marble at the enemy tower to try and knock it down.”
“Sounds easy,” Yona commented.
“Well, it’s a little complex as these catapults aren’t really the best to aim with. So, it’s going to take a bit of trial and error to knock these towers down. There are enough blocks to be built into four castles and there are four catapults. So, get to your battle stations and we can begin.”
Yona and Silverstream did so and they all placed their marbles in their catapults. They and the minotaurs started launching their marbles at each other’s castles. Marbles were flying all over the place, many of the them falling onto the floor.
Annie was nearly finished with putting the items she bought from the market away. She could hear some of the marble rolling on the floor and could see them rolling to her feet. “Boys,” she called, “Could you be a little careful?”
“Sorry, mom,” Terry apologized. They stopped their game and started picking up the marbles that had fallen onto the floor.
“That was more fun than I thought it would be,” Silverstream commented. She helped out clean up all the fallen marbles as she began to think. "Maybe we should try something that won't cause such a mess."
"Well, I guess Board Smashing is off the table," Terry said.
"What else could friends do?" Yona asked.
"You could help me with some of the pastries," Annie said.
"Pastries?" Yona and Silverstream questioned.
"Ooh," Terry cooed with interest.
"Oh yes," Annie said, "I bake some cakes for the Celebration of Strength. I think I'll make it a little more special now that Will is here." Iron Will smiled at this.
"Annie need help with cake?" Yona asked.
"That's kind of you to offer girls, but I plan on making this cake later tonight after dinner."
"Aw," Silverstream sighed.
“There are different events that happen throughout the week for the Celebration of Strength.”
“Like what?”
“Like the weight challenges,” Iron Will said. “They should be setting them up by now.”
“Can Yona and Silverstream see?” Yona asked.
“Well, I don’t normally watch this advent considering that Terry doesn’t like taking place in it,” Annie admitted. “But since Will’s here, we could probably check it out.” Iron Will and the visitors were excited about this, but Terry was far from thrilled.
Downtown, several minotaurs were setting up some equipment so others could test and show off their strength. There was some equipment that looked like it was from a homemade gym. Yona and Silverstream were pretty interested in what the gear could do. They could see some minotaurs testing them out. One of them turned out to be a pully system to lift some weight.
Many of the minotaurs were excited to see Iron Will again. Terry was starting to have another sulk. "So, what other events are there for this celebration?" Silverstream asked.
"Well, we often have older minotaurs helping to boost the strength of younger ones," Annie explained. She pointed over to a minotaur calf trying to lift some heavy stones with its guardian giving it a hand.
"Aw, that's nice." Iron Will looked over the calf and its guardian and then looked over to Terry.
"Hey, how about Iron Will helps with your strength?" Iron Will suggested.
"I don't know about that," Terry mumbled.
"Come on. Celebrate your strength." He decided to take Terry over to one of the strength testers. Will gave the weight a couple of tugs and they lifted into the air like they were balloons. He decided to lighten the load a little bit so Terry could give it a try.
The young minotaur just sighed and tried to lift some of the weights. He clearly had a harder time than Iron Will did. He barely managed to lift the smaller ones up. “How’s that?” Terry asked, not really sounding interested.
“Pretty good. How about we give you a bit more weight?” Iron Will changed the setting on the machine that Terry was using. The young minotaur gave it another pulled but he was barely able to get the weight upwards.
“Yeah... I’m not cut out for this.”
“You just have to give it a few more months.”
“Months?” Terry just dropped the weight and started walking off.
“Wait, give it another shot.”
“Whoa, is Iron Will testing those out?” one of the other teenage minotaurs questioned. A crowd of fans started surrounding the famous minotaur while Terry kept walking away.
“Terry, wait!” Annie cried. She ran over to her son as Yona and Silverstream could see things weren’t going as well as they hoped.
“Heh heh,” Iron Will chuckled. “Listen, Iron Will loves his fans but... Iron Will has business to attend to.”
“Hey, can’t you help us get started?” one of the teens asked.
Terry only glanced back at the crowd as he could see his mom running towards him. “Terry, couldn’t you give Will another chance?” she asked.
“I did,” the teen minotaur sulked. “With those board games, he just gave up after the first landslide he got caught in.”
“But... You were having fun with the Titan game."
"Because it's the only one where we both get to destroy stuff."
"Terry, you just need to give him a chance."
"I did. And I'm not sure that it's worth it." He quickly ran off, leaving a distraught mother behind. Yona and Silverstream looked very worried.
“Wait!” She gave up.
"Silver follow Terry," Yona spoke. "Yona try and talk with Will and Annie."
"If you say so Yona," the hippogriff replied. Silverstream took off to catch up with Terry while Yona stuck around the other two minotaurs that were sharing his problem.
It took a lot of convincing to get Iron Will's fans away from him. Once they did, they headed back to Annie's home. Yona had followed them home where Annie sat down on her bed in her bedroom.
"Annie feel okay?" the yak asked.
"I’m fine. Terry's just having one of his bad days," the female minotaur sighed. "If I try talking to him now, I feel I might make things worse." She brought her hands to her face.
"How long Terry been upset?"
"Actually, he's not always been like that. Just until my husband left." Yona was surprised at this. "It's… not something I like talking about."
"Maybe Annie should talk about it."
"I suppose you're right.” Annie breathed in and out for a bit, and started explaining. “You see, when Terry was still a calf, his father wasn't very impressed by his lack of strength. I was happy that he had such a liking for literature, but his father was so focused on him getting physically stronger. We had... a couple of fights and we were at each end. Soon... he left me and Terry alone.”
“But... Annie fine right?”
“Of course we were. I managed to get a good job to help pay for the roof over our heads and we got along fine for a couple of years. Then one day, I met Wilbert. We started getting along and then you came along."
"So, what Annie do now?"
"I think I'm going to wait for Terry to calm down, and hopefully, I’ll get him to talk with Wilbert."
Yona was a little curious about Iron Will and could see that he wasn't in the same room as them. The yak left her room, and decided to look around for a little and soon found the famous minotaur reading a book. Yona looked at the cover and found it was titled, "Parenting for Dummies." Iron Will noticed the yak trying to look at the book and he quickly tried to hide it.
"What's yak doing?" he questioned.
"Yona was just looking at book," the yak spoke.
"Don't yaks know about privacy?"
"You teach yak to break through walls. What would Iron Will know about privacy?"
"What's going on in here?" Annie questioned. She walked into the room while Iron Will hid the book under the couch cushion.
"Uh... Nothing," Will fibbed. Yona gave a low brow as she tried to dig through the cushions. Iron Will tried to stop her, but Annie quickly got involved.
"Wilbert, what are you hiding from me?" The famous minotaur began stuttering until Yona showed the mother the book. "Parenting for Dummies ?"
"Ugh, well... Yeah. I wanted to see if I could be a good father figure for Terry. You know, try and get something in common with him. It's just... I'm so used to getting along with creatures that are more like me. Big, strong, I'm not that used to having subtly and books and... And stuff like that."
"But what made you make an effort? Why did you start with Terry?"
"It was kind of with you. I enjoyed our time together and I thought I would try and enjoy my time with Terry too. Though, it doesn't look like it went too well."
"Yona not too worried," Yona spoke. "Silver talking to Terry. Hopefully, friend find him."
Silverstream flew around trying to look for the teenage minotaur. She eventually found Terry sitting nearby a frozen lake. There were a few minotaurs around, there were young ones playing in the snow while some older ones were on the frozen lake ice fishing.
The hippogriff landed next to the moody teenager, who didn't look like he was in the mood to talk. “Terry?” Silverstream called.
"Silver, just leave me alone," he muttered.
"Terry, you sure you don't want to talk?" the hippogriff asked. She looked around and guessed that the other minotaurs that were around weren't close enough to hear them. "Now would be a good time to let something off of your chest."
Terry let out a long sigh. "He's just like my old dad," he admitted. "Always boasting about getting stronger, not really caring about books or other things besides exercising and showing off your muscles."
"But you should be happy, you had a new dad."
"Why? My first dad walked out on me and mom."
"Well, Iron Will didn't. Maybe he actually wants to try and get to be a part of your family. It's not good when the family isn't together."
"How would you know?" Silverstream let out a sigh. She held her pearl shard as she quickly turned into a seapony, much to Terry's surprise.
"Long ago, there was a tyrant known as the Storm King. He caused the hippogriffs to flee from our home, Mount Aris, and into the sea. We did that by using the pearl of transformation to turn us into seaponies. We lived there for a couple of years until Princess Twilight and her friends stopped that horrible king."
"Well, that's good, right? Where are you going with this?"
Silverstream used her pearl shard to change herself back into a hippogriff. “After the Storm King was defeated, some of the hippogriffs moved back onto land. However, some of the seaponies got used to living underwater, including my mom. My dad was one of the hippogriffs that moved back onto land and my brother Terramar goes back and forth on where he lives.”
“Where do you stay?”
“Well, I spend most of the time at the School of Friendship. I couldn’t really pick. I wanted to explore more of Equestria, but I didn’t want to leave any of my parents alone. It was just too hard for me to choose. Maybe you’re lucky that you have a chance of having a family that’s together.” Silverstream let out a sad sigh.
“I... didn’t know about that.”
“It’s not like my parents hate each other. They just enjoy different ways of living. Still, I wish they could live together. The only time they’re together now is during the Three Days of Freedom.”
“Is that a holiday that hippogriffs and seaponies celebrate?”
“Yeah. I just wish they were together more often.” Terry felt sorry for the hippogriff.
“Silver, I wish I could help with your problem.”
“It’s not too bad. I just think you should be happy you get to have another father. One that’s probably wanting to get to know you.”
"...I suppose you're right. I probably should give him another chance. I'm sorry about your family."
"It's not too bad. As long as they love each other, I'm happy." The hippogriff and minotaur shared a hug as they both started to feel a little bit better.
"Hey, Terry Twig!" called a voice.
"Ugh, now what?" the minotaur questioned. The last thing he wanted was somebody ruining the moment.
"What was that trick your bird friend pulled?" one of the bullies questioned. "We saw her turn into a fish."
"...It's called a seapony," Silverstream stated. Though, the minotaurs weren't really listening to her.
"Of course since you can't get stronger you have to befriend freaks."
"Hey, she's not a freak," Terry stated as he stood up. "And don't you have anything better to do?"
"You know the last time there were around creatures stronger than us?"
"Look, just leave Silver alone."
"You know, how about we just go back to Will?" Silverstream suggested.
"Yeah, that's another thing," one of the bullies said, "How could someone as lanky as you end up as a step-son to Iron Will?" The hippogriff could see things were likely going to get ugly, so she tried to grab Terry's arm and drag him away.
Suddenly, a snowball nearly hit her. "What was that for?" Terry questioned.
"We're not letting someone like her control us," the bullies said.
"She was taking me away from airheads like you." The bullies didn't like the sound of that and chucked some snowballs at Terry. One of them hit him in the eye. Silverstream was shocked at what happened.
Lucky for them, the minotaurs that were ice fishing could see the fight breaking out. They ran over to them and stopped the snowballs before things could get out of control.
Annie and Yona managed to help Iron Will to talk when they heard the front door open. Silverstream and Terry walked in, with the young minotaur being rather bruised. “Oh my goodness!” Annie cried. “Terry, what happened?”
“I ran into a couple of bullies,” Terry answered. “I’m okay. Don’t worry.” That didn’t stop the mother from running over to check on her son. "Mom, I'm fine, really."
"He was so great," Silverstream said. "There were some bullies that were picking on me because of my pearl shard. I'm okay."
"That's good to hear," Annie commented. "Terry, do you need me to get anything?"
"I'm fine mom," Terry grumbled. He looked over to Iron Will, who Yona nudged him to step forward. The two male minotaurs looked at each other before the older one spoke up.
“So, would you like some lessons in... Exercise?” Will asked.
“I don’t think that’s my thing.”
“Ah. I thought so.” Will rubbed his arm feeling a little embarrassed. He looked back at Yona, who simply nodded. The famous minotaur sighed. “Listen, I’m not really good at talking about feelings. I’m good around creatures like your mother, but when it’s someone like you... I don’t know. I just wanted us to get along.”
“Yeah, Silver told me about that. You seem... better than my old dad. You’re actually trying to be nice to me. My dad didn’t really care.”
“Then I guess he and Iron Will are more different than Iron Will thought.”
“What’s with the third-person talk by the way?” The bigger minotaur simply shrugged. “Look, I probably shouldn’t have given you the cold shoulder. I guess I just kept comparing you to my old dad. I... don’t want to risk having a bad time with you.”
“Iron Will understand your situation. Iron Will just wants to be a good father. Would you like that?"
Terry looked over to Annie, who was crossing her fingers as she hoped for the best. "Yeah, I think I probably should've given you a chance from the start," Terry admitted. He let out an embarrassed chuckle before giving Iron Will a hug for a second. Annie was proud of the boys and walked over to hug them.
Silverstream and Yona smiled in delight. Their beak and horns soon started glowing, signaling their job was finished. “We did it!” Silverstream exclaimed, giving Yona a fistbump.
"Um, do all yaks and hippogriffs do that?" Annie questioned.
"Just us," Silverstream responded. "Our work here is done."
"Yona hope to see family again," Yona sighed.
"Same to you," Annie sighed. "We could probably visit you sometime. Where do you live?"
"We mostly stay at the School of Friendship that's in Ponyville," Silverstream explained.
"Iron Will knows where that is," Iron Will spoke. "Silver and Yona will get visits." This made Yona and Silverstream happy.
Applejack was helping some of the minotaurs set up their events when the two students walked over to her. "There you are, girls," the farm pony said. "Was your mission a success?" The yak and hippogriff nodded.
“Terry’s got a new dad who’s much better than his old one,” Silverstream explained. “That and I told him about some issues I might be having.”
“What issues?” Yona asked. Silverstream held her talon as she let out a sigh.
“It’s about my family.” She began explaining to Yona and Applejack her situation as they went back to the balloon to fly home.
As they did that, Annie was placing her cake into the oven as she looked over to the boys, who were about to start playing Landslide again. The mother left the cake to bake as she sat down with her boyfriend and son to join in with their game. The family of three began enjoying their game together.