“Explain why we’re doing this?” Flare asked.
Flare and Tanzanite walked down the hall going towards the classroom. There’s an after-school activity on Chemistry with Sunburst and a special guest. This is for the students who want to have extra credit.
“You said you wanted help with extra credit,” Tanz reminded him in an annoyed tone. “Since you were too lazy to sign up for one of the assignments, I signed us up for Chemistry.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because this activity has a partner system. If I did the extra with you, I’d be doing all of the work.”
“...You’re not wrong.”
They both entered one of the classrooms, where several other students were waiting, including the bookworm herself, Ocellus. Inside the classroom, there are instruments that are used for the activity on the table, like the Bunsen burner, beakers, types of flasks, watch glasses, thermometers, etc. There’re also brown books on each desk that’s all about making potions.
“Flare, Tanz,” Ocellus said in surprise, “I didn’t expect you here.”
“Well,” Tanz started, “Flare said he wanted some extra credit, but he forgot to sign up,” Tanz explained, then turned to him. The tubby drake groaned. “Hey, you would’ve signed up for cooking class, but you didn’t sign up for that. I signed you up for this, and you’re going to do it.” Flare was about to speak up, before Tanzanite interrupted. “And before you ask,” he stopped him, “No, I’m not going to be your partner.”
“Why not?”
“If I’m your partner, that means I’ll be doing most of the work.” Flare looked to Ocellus, who just shook her head.
“Smart move.”
Eventually, Sunburst and a small yellow filly with red mane and tail walked into the classroom.
“Hello, every creature,” the vice-principal said, “I’m hoping that you’ve already found a partner to help you. If not, Applebloom here will assist two of you.”
Flare held up his claw, but Applebloom got to assist Kelpie. Flare managed to team up with Tarsi. Each duo was given a book which showed various different potions and their ingredients. Though many students had already chosen what they wanted to make, Tarsi and Flare were still flipping through the pages of their book to find theirs.
“Which one do we do?” Flare asked.
“I don’t know,” Tarsi remarked, “I’m still looking.”
She stopped flipping through the pages when she saw a pink potion. “Hey, this one looks good.”
“What is it?” Flare asked her.
“Love Potion.”
“Yeah, I can work with that.”
Once they found what they were going to make, they gathered the ingredients they needed. Flare looked at the book and read the list of ingredients.
“It says: Get a tuft of cloud, a bright rainbow’s glow, stir with a pegasus’s feather, stir fast not slow.”
“That’s all it says?” The drake nodded and they gathered what they needed. “You know, it’s kind of weird that we have those ingredients?”
“Hey, if we need them to make the potion, we're using them.”
After mixing their potion by “borrowing” a pegasus feather from one of the students, their pink potion was finished. They were one of the first duos to finish, then Tarsi felt something off, she tasted something bitter.
“Flare, do you taste something...…bitter?”
“I think that’s just a changeling thing.”
“Probably.” Tarsi wasn’t the only one who was tasting the bitterness, Ocellus cringed once she tasted it.
“What’s wrong?” Emerald asked Ocellus as she poured some liquid substance into a vial.
“I just tasted something really bitter,” Ocellus explained. “It’s bad.”
After a few minutes, the students finished making their potions. Sunburst started inspecting what they made.
“Very good,” he commented on one of the duo’s potions.
When he got to Tarsi and Flare’s potion, he looked very concerned.
“Is there something wrong, Headmare Sunburst?” Tarsi asked.
“I don’t see the potion you’ve made in the book. Can you show me what you were trying to make?”
Flare looked through their book and showed their vice principal what they found. Applebloom took a look and screamed.
“What? What’s wrong?” Flare asked.
“That’s love poison!” the filly cried.
“What’s the difference?”
“Just get rid of it!” she shouted.
“Okay, Applebloom, calm down,” Sunburst requested. “She is right. This poison is quite dangerous. I’ve heard about a certain set of friends who used this before.” Applebloom blushed remembering that event. “I’ll dispose this right away.” He took the love poison and promptly poured it down the sink.
“Sorry about that, Flare,” Tarsi apologized.
“It’s fine. You just misread it.”
“...…Maybe I should’ve been his partner,” Tanz muttered.
After that, the students went out of the classroom to do their own things since it’s already dismissed. Tanzanite was very worried about the “poison” made by Flare and Tarsi. He knew that he should’ve joined him in the first place.
“Flare, you could’ve done something really dangerous,” Tanz said.
“You think I don’t know that?” Flare remarked. “I thought it said “Love Potion”. Why would a poison even be in the book?”
“That’s a good question,” Ocellus commented. “Which book were you looking at?” The drake just shrugged and walked off.
Out of curiosity, Ocellus looked towards the stack of books that was on one of the desks. The book that stuck out was on the bottom and was a little bit bigger than the others. She managed to get the other books off and looked through the biggest one. She flipped through the pages she eventually came across the one containing the Love Poison. Then she took a look at the poison’s bio.
“Oh, there was a prince and princess,” Ocellus commented, “I see!”
“Hey there, Ocellus,” a voice called her.
Silverstream flew into the room to see her reading a large book.
“What are you looking at?” the hippogriff asked.
“Something that we made by accident. What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for something I could use for some milk.” She looked towards some empty vials that looked to be empty. “This will work.”
Before Ocellus could say anything, Silverstream picked up four vials and flew away. What Silverstream didn’t know is that one of the vials still has some little bit of leftover poison. Sunburst must’ve disposed of it incompletely.
The hippogriff flew back to the room where Peridot, Smolder, and Lighthoof are, each had a muffin on their claw (or hoof because there’s a pony in that group).
“You’re back,” the mare cheered, then saw the vials that Silverstream held on. “Why science vials.”
“They looked to be the biggest ones I could find,” Silverstream said.
She got the carton of milk and poured it into the vials. She wasn’t anywhere one of them had something they shouldn’t be ingesting. With some bites of their muffins and sips of milk, Lighthoof started feeling lightheaded.
“Hey, girls,” Gallus said.
He entered the room with Gale and Moss. When Lighthoof looked towards the blue griffon her eyes widened. “Why’re you drinking milk from science vials?”
“We were out of glasses,” Silverstream answered, “That’s why.”
“H-h-hey, Gallus,” Lighthoof stuttered.
“Um...Sup?” the griffon replied.
“Is there something wrong with Gallus?” Moss asked.
“Of course not,” Lighthoof said. "He's so cute."
"...Say what?" Gallus questioned.
The cheerleader walked closer to him, adding to the uncomfortable feeling Gallus now had.
"What are you doing?!"
"Getting a better look at the blue birdy." Gallus wasn't the only one confused at what was going on.
"…...They've been dating?" Peridot asked.
"No," Smolder replied. "This is new..."
Gale noticed that Moss was wiping his mouth.
"What's the matter with you?" Gale asked.
"I can taste her love," the changeling replied, "But it's really bitter. I feel like I'm licking a filthy shovel."
"Lighthoof, are you feeling okay?" Silverstream asked.
"Never better," the mare replied. She gave a loving grin to Gallus, who was trying to back away.
"Listen, Lighthoof," Gallus said, "I... Gotta go!"
With that, the griffon bolted. Lighthoof pranced down the hall after him, leaving their friends confused. Ocellus was heading their way and was surprised to see the way Gallus and Lighthoof left.
"What's wrong with that mare?" Gale questioned.
"Maybe I could help," Ocellus said. "Care to explain?"
"Lighthoof just started going gaga over Gallus," Smolder explained.
"She said she was feeling lightheaded after drinking her milk," Peridot reminded.
Ocellus looked over to the half-empty vile and gasped.
“Uh oh,” she gasped.
“Uh oh?” her friends asked.
“What do you mean, ‘uh oh’,” Silverstream said, in a confused look.
“A while ago, we were working on extra credit by making potions, but one of them, made by Tarsi and Flare, was a love poison.”
“Don’t you mean love potion?” Smolder asked.
“No, love poison.”
“What’s the difference?” Moss asked.
“From what I’ve read, a prince and princess had that poison a long time ago, because they can’t get their eyes out of each other, their kingdom fell into chaos.”
Ocellus looked down the hall and was worried about Gallus.
Gallus managed to get Lighthoof off his tail, but he thought a good hiding spot would help. He looked around until he came across the library. Sandbar was just minding his own business while reading a book until his friend burst in while panting.
“Gallus, what’s wrong?” the colt asked.
“No idea,” the griffon replied. “Help me hide!”
Gallus heard some footsteps approaching them. He grabbed Sandbar and flew behind some bookshelves. He looked towards a grate which led to the tunnel under the school.
“Help me get this thing up!”
“Gallus, why...”
“JUST DO IT!” he shouted.
“Okay, you don’t have to shout at me!”
After getting shushed by some of the other students, the boys lifted the grate up and Gallus dove into the tunnels. The grate was moved back by Sandbar just as Lighthoof pranced into the room.
“Hi, Sandy,” the mare cheered in a sing-songy tone. “Have you seen Gallus?”
Sandbar looked at the grate and before turning back the mare who wasn’t herself.
“He was just here a while ago,” the colt replied, “I’m not sure where he went though.”
Lighthoof quickly got upset.
“Okay. Let me know if you see him.”
She slowly walked away. Once she was gone, Sandbar looked down into the tunnel.
“She’s gone now. You can come out now.”
“No way,” Gallus said, “I’m staying down here until she learns about personal space. I’m not risking it.”
“...Suit yourself.”
Sandbar walked back to continue his book as Gallus decided to make himself comfy in the tunnels. Since rocks weren’t that cozy, he decided to walk around and see if he could head into town or maybe one of the other kingdoms.
Lighthoof slowly walked down the hall until she came across Shimmy Shake.
“Lighthoof,” her friend said. “...Why such a long face?”
“Gallus doesn’t want to see me,” Lighthoof sighed with a tear in her eye.
“...Why are you so upset?”
“He doesn’t love me!” She quickly ran off leaving her friend confused.
“...Did I miss something?” she asked herself.
“Hey, Shimmy,” Ocellus called. She and the other friends who witnessed Lighthoof’s strange behavior were walking towards them. “Have you seen Gallus?”
“Not really, why?”
“Did you notice Lighthoof is acting weird?” Smolder asked.
“Well, she was crying about Gallus for some reason.”
“Yep, she must’ve drank a love poison,” Moss said.
“Wait... Poison!”
“She’s going to be fine,” Ocellus reassured. “As long as she and Gallus don’t make eye contact for an hour, she should be back to normal.”
Then Silverstream gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Gale asked.
“I forgot to clean out that vial of milk,” the hippogriff answered.
Realizing what could happen, Silverstream, Peridot, and Moss raced back to the room with the milk vial. In that same room, Emerald, Pyther, Geena, and Coral had found the milk vials.
“What’s in this stuff?” Pyther asked.
Emerald took a sniff of the liquid.
“It’s just milk,” she commented.
“If that’s the case, how about we have some?” Geena asked.
“That’s disgusting,” Coral commented.
“Look, I’m thirsty.”
The griffon picked up the vials and poured the milk from one to another to balance out the amounts.
“Bottoms up!”
Without hesitation, Geena drank the milk in the vial she was drinking. Pyther just shrugged before she just grabbed one of the other vials.
“This milk tastes weird,” Pyther commented.
“Girls don’t!” Silverstream and Peridot cried.
It’s already too late as both girls had drunk their milk and Geena looked towards Moss. Fuzzy feelings were now developing inside the griffon.
“Uh oh.”
“What’s wrong?” Emerald asked.
“I hope nothing’s wrong with my Moss Wossy,” Geena said.
“...I’m outta here!” Moss declared before booking it out of there with a loud scream. Geena quickly skipped after him.
“Did someone just scream in here?” Garry asked.
He and Tanz walked into the room as Pyther gazed at the griffon. Before anything else could be said, she pounced on Garry and hugged him.
“Oh my gosh!” she cooed, “He’s so soft!”
“What’s going on? I’m frightened, yet at the same time I’m enjoying this.”
Tanz and Emerald looked at each other before they remembered what happened earlier.
“Did they drink the love poison somehow?” the drake asked.
“Probably,” Emerald replied.
“It’s true,” Silverstream confirmed.
“What’s a love poison?” Coral asked.
“It’s like a love potion,” Emerald said. “But it’s much worse.”
“Well, how do we fix it?” Peridot asked.
“From what I thought, we’ll just have to keep them from looking at their...lovers...I can’t believe I just said that……from making eye contact with them for an hour.”
“Doesn’t sound too difficult,” Tanz commented. “We just have to keep them away from each other.”
“Right, Perri and I will go help Moss,” Emerald said, “You and Silverstream, you go help Garry.”
“Right, let’s go!” Silverstream said.
The twins took off as Silverstream and Tanz tried to help get Garry and Pyther apart.
“Pyther,” Tanz shouted, “let go!”
“NO!” the dragoness cried. “Don’t take my little Garry away from me!”
“Guys, no!” Garry wheezed, “It’s not just because I’m kind of liking this, but you’re causing her to choke me.”
The drake and hippogriff stopped knowing that this would likely end in disaster.
“You’re rude! We’re leaving.” Pyther carried Garry away from the “rude” creatures.
“This is going to be harder than we thought,” Silverstream commented.
“Yeah,” Tanz agreed, “Totally agree.”
Tarsi and Flare were minding their own business until a yellow blur rushed past them.
“What was that?” the drake questioned.
“HI!” Geena said with a sing-songy tone. “Have you seen my Mossy-wossy.”
“...Mossy...Wossy?” Flare questioned.
Tarsi didn’t question it and just pointed out where she saw the blur fly by.
“Thanks!” Geena skipped away as Emerald and Peridot flew past.
Pyther and Garry then showed up. The griffon was still being held above the dragoness’s head.
“Why are you carrying Garry?” Flare asked her.
“We’re going to be spending all day together,” Pyther responded, “Right, Garry?”
“Yeah, I’m perfectly okay with this,” Garry admitted. “See ya.”
The two left the drake and changeling feeling very confused.
“We...did see Sunburst pour the poison down the drain, didn’t we?” Tarsi asked. Flare nodded. They then saw Tanz and Silverstream heading towards them.
“What’s going on?” Tarsi asked them.
“Lighthoof, Geena, and Pyther all ingested some of the love poison,” Tanz explained. “Some of it must’ve been left in the vial and it mixed in with some milk.”
“Wouldn’t that dilute it?” Flare asked.
“That’s what I thought, apparently not though. Listen, just help us keep them from looking at each other in the eyes. That’ll snap them back to normal.”
“You think that’ll work?”
“Just help us stop them.”
The four carried on down the hall to see if they could catch up with the girls who weren’t themselves. Geena and Pyther seemed to have left the building as they couldn’t be found in the school. After getting their winter wear, the four went to go and find the girls.
“I hope Ocellus is doing better than us,” Silverstream said.
Ocellus, Smolder, Gale, Coral, and Shimmy Shake were wandering down the hall before they came across a frantic Lighthoof. She was literally tearing up the halls looking for Gallus.
“Where is he?”
“Um... Lighthoof?” Shimmy Shake asked a little worried.
“SHIMMY!” she freaked out. She got right into Shimmy’s face, making her flinch. “HAVE YOU SEEN GALLUS!?”
“...Still haven’t.” The mare under the love poison grunted and ran off with her friends giving her a chase.
“How long has it been since she asked you about Gallus?” Gale asked.
“Only like six minutes,” Shimmy Shake.
“Just fifty-four more minutes to go,” Coral sighed.
“Gallus can’t hide forever,” Ocellus stated.
“Well, if we can’t find him, he’s doing a good job,” Smolder commented.
“Does it have to be the real Gallus she has to avoid eye contact with?” Gale asked.
“...I think so. What are you thinking about?”
“We need a changeling.”
He looked to Shimmy who started to realize who the griffon was talking about. They met up with Pate and explained what they really need him to do.
“And why am I taking Gallus’s place?” the changeling asked.
“You just need to keep Lighthoof away from the real Gallus,” Smolder replied, “He’s hiding somewhere.”
“...Okay?”
“We’ll explain the scenario later.”
“Don’t worry Pate, I’m not going to hold this against you,” Shimmy Shake reassured.
“Okay, thanks. That’s what I was worried about.” Now that he wasn’t going to upset his mare friend, Pate turned himself into Gallus. “Wish me luck,” he said in the griffon’s voice. He flew away to see if he could find Lighthoof.
“Wait, why didn’t you choose Ocellus for this job?” Smolder asked.
“The deed is done,” Gale responded. “Plus, I think Lighthoof would be suspicious if we used Ocellus.”
“True,” Ocellus agreed.
They decided to follow Pate to make sure he’d be okay.
They found him being hugged by Lighthoof. “Oh, GALLY!” the mare cheered. “Where were you?”
“Just, wandering around,” the fake Gallus replied.
“Don’t ever do that to me again.” She gave the disguised changeling a bigger hug, which was promptly causing problems.
“GAH! Choking!”
“Okay, Light,” Shimmy said, stepping in. She tried to push them apart but only got the same results Silverstream and Tanz got with Pyther and Garry.
“We have so much to do.” With her hoof around his talon, Lighthoof skipped away with ‘Gallus’ beside her. Or so she thought.
Meanwhile, Emerald and Peridot had seemed to lose Moss and Geena. They double-check nearly every object and room in the school.
“You sure he’s not just in disguise?” Peridot asked.
“Usually when a changeling disguises themselves as objects, their eyes are still visible,” Emerald responded.
She placed a book back on the shelf before landing on the ground. “Welp, he’s not here. He’s probably gone into town.”
“But we’ll never find him out there.”
The twins heard a loud thud. Looking out the window, they could see Geena tearing things up outside.
“Moss?” she questioned looking through a barrel. “You’re not the barrel, are you? Come out!”
“Though, it doesn’t seem to be stopping Geena,” Emerald said. “Let’s get our winter clothes.”
After getting dressed for the cold weather and flying off to find Moss.
“He could be anywhere in Ponyville,” Peridot said.
“I know. The best way to find him is to split up.”
Geena quickly flew past them, causing the twins to crash land.
“Or maybe we should follow that crazy griffon and look around where she is and find Moss before she can.”
And that’s what they did. Geena was quite a fast flyer, but her speed appeared to be much greater than normal. The three looked around to see where or what Moss was right now. The twins kept following Geena until they got to the train station. The engine was having its cowcatcher removed to be swapped out for a snowplow.
The girls looked around the station to see if they could find Moss. Emerald looked into the sky to see some more dark clouds were being moved into place.
“Don’t ya think that Moss would be able to fly in that weather,” Emerald examined. “And the train hasn’t left yet.”
“Where is he?!” Geena questioned. She was in a panic now. She decided to look in the office. Geena pulled on the door so hard, she ripped it clean off the hinges. The door landed on some luggage, where a loud “OUCH!” could be heard. The girls stopped and looked at the luggage. Looking at the different shapes and sizes, one of them seemed to have bug eyes. “Mossy?”
The suit changed back into a changeling before taking off. The girls gave chase.
“Get away from me!” Moss demanded.
“But I just wanna love you!” Geena cried.
“There has to be a way to keep them apart,” Emerald said, then she had an idea. “Perri, you keep an eye on them. I’ll be back.”
Emerald split up from her twin sister and flew back to the school.
There, Trud, Dotta, Frida, and Yona were trying to get to know Deep Sea. He was a hippogriff that had navy blue feathers with a dark mane and blue eyes. He wasn’t a very social creature, but the yaks were determined to fix that.
“Yaks wish snow like snow home,” Dotta spoke, “Though ponies and friends wouldn’t stand snow. Yaks snow too thick.”
“How long does she talk?” Deep Sea asked. Trud and Yona just shrugged. Then the male yak sniffed the air.
“Yak smells something,” Trud said.
He kept sniffing as he followed the scent. His friends and hippogriff followed him until they found the room which had the vials filled with milk.
“How long these been here?” Yona asked.
No creature had an answer. That didn’t stop Trud from drinking from one of the bottles though.
“Trud, that’s just gross,” Deep Sea groaned.
“Yak knows milk,” Trud said. He stopped drinking when he heard some talking outside and looked towards the window.
“Where did they go?” Silverstream questioned.
Trud didn’t hear who she was talking to as he suddenly couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He tossed the vial to the side towards Deep Sea. The milk splash on his face, getting some in his mouth.
“Ah, man!” he groaned. “Girls, can you...” He paused when he looked at Yona. “Go out with me?”
“...What?” the yaks asked.
They were confused as his mood turned on a dime.
“What’s wrong? You look so cute.” The girls would have more questions as Trud jumped right through the window. The broken window now let in a nasty draft.
“What just happening?” Frida asked.
“Girls!” Emerald cried as she flew in. “I’m so glad I found you. Listen, I... Need... Oh boy.” She could see Deep Sea giving Yona a funny look. “Him too?”
“What friend by ‘Him too?’” Frida asked.
“I’ll explain on the way. Frida, come with me. Dotta, make sure Deep Sea doesn’t look at Yona.” Frida didn’t question this, she just followed the dragoness as Dotta turned Sea around. That didn’t stop him from looking at Yona.
“Listen,” Dotta reminded him, “Yona already have boyfriend,”
“Doesn’t stop her from looking so cute,” Sea chuckled.
“...Yona got to go,” Yona said.
She tried to smile as she made her way to exit. The second she was in the hall she ran away as fast as she could. Sea gave chase and Dotta did the same to him. Emerald quickly flew back and grabbed the vials.
“I should probably get rid of these,” she noted.
Outside, Silverstream, Tarsi, Flare, and Tanz were looking around for Pyther and Garry.
“Darn it, how could we lose them?” Tanz questioned.
They could hear some thumping from behind them. Looking back, they could see Trud skipping towards them.
“Why is he following us?” Flare questioned. The four tried to go faster, but Trud did the same thing.
“Did any of you get rid of the milk?” Tanz asked the three.
“I don’t think we did,” Silverstream remarked. “Maybe we should go faster.” The four were now at a running speed now, but Trud was still following them.
“Is this what the love poison is like?” Tarsi asked.
“Yep,” Tanz confirmed. He stopped to try and block Trud, but the yak ran right into him. The drake was now taking a ride as Trud wasn’t stopping for anything.
“His love tastes so bitter,” Tarsi commented as the yak got closer.
“Okay, guys, new plan!” Tanz declared. “Fly straight up.”
He, Flare, and the girls flew higher into the air. Since he didn’t have wings, Trud couldn’t follow them.
“Think we’re clear,” Flare asked.
“Good,” Silverstream sighed. “I think he was looking at me.”
“Let’s just find out where Garry and Pyther are,” Tanz said. The four flew above Ponyville looking for the one-sided relationship.
After flying around a bit, they found the griffon and dragoness sitting on a cloud. Pyther hugging Garry tightly, which the griffon was finding uncomfortable.
“Okay, Pyther,” Garry said. “Can we try something other than hugging?”
“Maybe,” Pyther said.
She thought for a minute until she heard a voice.
“There you are,” Silverstream sighed. “Where have you been.”
Pyther replied with a hiss. “Get your own boyfriend! Garry’s mine.”
“Oh, please no,” Tanz hoped. “Not dragon’s greed.”
“You know what?” Silverstream asked, “Just pretend we weren’t here. We just wanted to check on you.” She gave a nervous laugh as she pulled Tarsi away. Tanz did the same to Flare.
“Why are we backing away?” Tarsi asked.
“We’re not risking another round of dragon’s greed,” Tanz explained.
“Like what happened with Smolder drinking that energy drink?”
“Yeah, don’t remind us,” Silverstream shivered. “How are we supposed to get them apart without setting Pyther off?”
The four thought for a moment before Flare spoke up. “I have a plan!” he declared.
“What is it?” Tanz asked, a bit concerned.
“We could use the love poison on some creature to fall in love with Pyther. If they fall in love with her, she’ll be distracted from Garry and her spell would be broken.”
“Okay, a good idea on paper, but then we’d have someone in love with Pyther until we can get them separated.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“What about we have her fall in love with an earth pony?” Silverstream suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Tanz remarked. “Dragons are pretty strong. I think I’m not the strongest of them, but I don’t remember Pyther being that strong.”
“And I was helping you.”
“Exactly. The potion appears to give whoever drinks it.”
“Then what do we do?” Flare asked.
“I don’t know. What we know is that we have to fix this, Garry doesn’t seem to be enjoying this anymore.”
He was right. Given the griffon’s expression, he wanted this to stop.
“Pyther, can we go back to school?” Garry asked. “I’m getting cold.”
“Oh, just a little longer,” Pyther cooed. She nuzzled against the griffon, who felt she was overstaying her welcome.
“Hey, Pyther, could you do something for me?”
“Anything for you.”
“Could you... Get us some cocoa?”
“Why don’t you come with me?”
“I’ll... Keep this cloud warm...”
“Okay. Be right back.” Pyther hummed a tune to herself as she flew down towards Ponyville.
Once she was gone, Garry quickly flew in the opposite direction. Tarsi flew over to the cloud and transformed into the griffon that was trying to get away.
“You’re one step ahead of us,” Silverstream commented. “We’re going to check on Garry. Just pretend to be him until Pyther’s back to normal.” Fake Garry gave thumbs-up as Silverstream and the dragons flew off.
Back on the ground, Moss was still trying to get away from a love-struck Geena. Peridot was struggling to catch up as Emerald flew up to her with Frida by her side.
“Sis, you’re back,” Peridot sighed with relief.
“Yak here to help,” Frida declared.
“Alright, Frida,” Emerald explained, “Just run up to Geena and slow her down.” The yak nodded. Frida ran faster and got beside the griffon before tackling her to the ground.
“What are you doing?” Geena asked.
“Friend not acting like herself,” Frida spoke. “Friend just wait for hour to be over.”
Geena watched as Moss flew off into the distance.
“MOSSY WOSSY! COME BACK!!!”
She stood up and threw Frida off of her. She as well as the twins were surprised at how strong she was. This didn’t stop Frida from falling towards them. The yak landed on the twins.
“Ow...” Peridot groaned.
“How griffon get so strong?” Frida questioned.
“Love poison,” Emerald groaned. “Please get off of us.”
“Sorry!”
Yona walked down the hall with Deep Sea skipping behind her. The yak felt uncomfortable until she saw Sandbar walking towards them.
“Yona, what’s...?” Sandbar spoke.
“Sea acting weird,” Yona replied. Sandbar looked at the said hippogriff.
“Why is he acting like this?”
“Yaks don’t know,” Dotta replied before turning the hippogriff around.
“Yona, why won’t you notice me?” Deep Sea asked.
“Sandbar, help,” Yona whispered.
Sandbar thought back to Lighthoof looking at Gallus the same way Deep Sea was looking at Yona.
“Let me try something,” he said.
He got closer to know before they went in for a kiss. Sea looked and just went blank. He started stuttering to himself as he didn’t know what to think.
“Did it work?” Yona asked.
Sandbar was shoved out of the way and went to kiss Yona himself. The yak reacted by shoving the hippogriff into the wall.
“Wow,” Sea gasped. “What a yak.” He was a little dizzy from the impact.
Yona coughed and sputtered from the surprise kiss.
“Hippogriff can’t understand ‘no’,” she coughed.
“Okay, plan B,” Sandbar said.
He led Yona towards the library while Dotta kept Deep Sea in place. When they got into the library, they removed the grate leading into the caves.
“Just hide down here.”
“Can Yona have books?”
“Sure, I’ll send you a couple down.”
Yona crawled into the caves and her colt friend handed her a couple of books to read to pass the time. Sandbar was just placing the grate back into place before Deep Sea flew over to him.
“What are you doing?” Deep Sea questioned, startling Sandbar.
“I... Thought this looked out of place.” Yona carefully tip-toed down the tunnel so the hippogriff didn’t see her. What he did see were the books Sandbar tossed down into the tunnels.
“What are those books doing down there?”
“I think they... Slipped through the cracks. Look, you just look for Yona and I’ll take care of those books.” Deep Sea nodded before flying off.
“Yona! Where are you?” Sandbar finished covering the rest of his tracks and walked off.
Yona wandered around the caves until she came across Gallus.
“You too, huh?” the griffon asked.
“Yeah,” Yona replied. “Yona don’t know why friends acting weird?”
“Don’t know either. I’m just hiding down here until it blows over.”
“Anyways, Sandbar sent down books.”
“Oh, good. I’ve just come back from the Dragon Lands. Very warm there.”
They walked back to get the books and waited for things to go back to normal.
Lighthoof was still with the fake Gallus, who wasn’t enjoying being around her right now.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” ‘Gallus’ asked.
“Of course,” Lighthoof cooed.
She came across Pyther, who was carrying two cups of cocoa. “Hi, Pyther. What’s with the cocoa?”
“I’m giving my sweetie Garry some cocoa,” the dragoness said. “I can’t stand being around him any longer.”
She quickly flew off as Lighthoof trotted away with the disguised changeling. Suddenly, she felt lightheaded again before she looked around.
“Gallus, weren’t we just at the school?”
“Um, we were,” the fake Gallus replied.
“It must've worn off,” said a familiar voice. Lighthoof looked behind her to see Ocellus, Smolder, Coral, and Shimmy Shake came out of hiding. She then looked to Gallus who turned out to be Pate after he changed back.
“Girls, what’s going on?”
“You were under the effects of a love poison,” Smolder answered. “We’ll explain all the way when we get back to school.” They were about to head back until...
“COMING THROUGH!” Moss screamed.
They could only tell it was Moss by the sound of his voice because he was nothing but a blur as he rushed past. Geena wasn’t too far behind and neither were Frida and the dragoness twins.
“We’ll catch up later,” Ocellus said. She turned into a jaguar before she and Smolder ran off to catch up to their friends.
The twins were running out of breath as Smolder and Ocellus caught up to them.
“Any luck?” Smolder asked.
“She’s……stronger than she looks,” Emerald panted.
“Okay, how about we swap Moss out with me?” Ocellus suggested.
“I’ll try telling him that,” Smolder said. “Just try and slow Geena down.”
Smolder and Ocellus raced ahead as Frida and the twins did their best to slow down the love-struck griffon. Smolder and the changelings were soon out of Geena’s sight long enough for two changelings to swap places.
Geena flew up to ‘Moss’ who seemed to have come to a stop.
“There you are,” the griffon said without the hint of exhaustion. “I thought you would never stop flying.”
“Well, I just needed the exercise,” ‘Moss’ remarked.
“How about we get some sweets?”
“Sure.” The two walked off as Smolder looked behind a corner.
“Okay, you’re clear,” she said. Moss, who was disguised as a barrel, changed back to his base form.
“Finally,” Moss sighed. “Do you know... How long... I was fleeing from her?”
“Too long giving how you’re panting.”
The two slowly made their way back to the school as Moss was now off the hook.
Silverstream, Flare, and Tanz were close to the ground. Silver was trying to cover her face with her mane just in case Trud was around.
“Silver, you know that’ll not work,” Tanz commented. “The yaks manage to see through their hair somehow.”
“Yeah, how do they do that?” Silverstream questioned.
“It’s just a mystery.”
“...Maybe a blindfold!”
“Silver?” asked another voice.
“Uh oh,” Tanz and Silverstream gasped. The hippogriff picked up the pace with Trud skipping behind her. This caused the ground to shake a little bit. The two dragons quickly picked Trud up to prevent him from getting any closer.
“Put yak down!” Trud ordered.
“I think I can see a way of keeping him away,” Flare said. “How long has he been chasing Silver?”
“About... Ten minutes,” Tanz estimated. “Just fifty more to go.”
“Seriously?”
“Well, nothing else is keeping him away.”
This didn’t stop Trud from being so heavy though. The yak kept wiggling around in order to get out of the dragons’ grip. As he kept swinging, he managed to kick Flare, causing him to let go. Tanz couldn’t hold Trud up all by himself. He lost his grip from the weight and the yak fell back to the ground and face-planted before the dragons could catch them.
“OH CRUD!” Tanz cried.
“Is he dead?” Flare asked.
Trud just jumped back up and ran away like nothing ever happened. The two dragons felt relieved.
“Okay, he’s fine.”
“But he's not going to leave Silverstream alone.” They chased after the yak as they made their way back to school.
Trud was practically tearing the school up looking for Silverstream.
“Hey, Trud,” Sandbar said, looking a little worried. “Something on your mind?”
“Where griffon pony?” Trud asked. Sandbar just looked confused.
“He means Silverstream,” Flare affirmed.
“Oh,” Sandbar replied, “Yeah, I haven’t seen her.” Trud ran off down the hall. Sandbar turned his attention to the dragons. “Are you guys a little close to finding out how to stop this?”
“We’re working on it,” Tanz stated.
He and Flare flew after the love-struck yak, who was taking his rampage to the library. He nearly knocked a few bookshelves over if it wasn’t for the dragons stepping in to stop them from falling. Trud ended up tripping over the grate which looked like it had been moved. He moved it to the side and fell into the caves.
“Where did that come from?” Flare asked. He and Tanz decided to investigate and followed behind.
“Was this always here?” Tanz questioned. They walked on for a while until they found a few books lying on the floor.
“I feel like someone’s been down here before.” They kept going until they came across five different paths. Trud was also there, wondering which way to go.
“Where Silver?” the yak questioned.
“Where do these tunnels go?” Tanz questioned.
Then they heard something from one of the tunnels. Trud didn’t hesitate and ran down the tunnel with the drakes following behind. After running for a little bit, they could feel the temperature rising.
“Hey, it’s getting warmer here.” Flare said.
“Yeah, it is.” Tanz replied.
They found the tunnel came to a dead end, or so it seemed. There was a little crack that Trud was able to push open to reveal the Dragon Lands. Tanz and Flare were both confused about how they got there until they saw something across the plain.
“SILVER!” Trud cheered.
He ran towards the hippogriff, who had her back turned to the yak. With the speed of Rainbow Dash, the yak raced towards the hippogriff, just before he fell into a hole right in front of him.
Gallus and Yona walked out of hiding from behind the other side of some rocks.
“It worked!” the griffon cheered.
“Will yak be held down there?” Yona asked. She looked down in the hole that Trud was trying to get out of.
“It was originally dug to hold Lighthoof, but I think a yak like Trud should be held down there. I’ve gotta thank Garble and his friends for helping us dig this.”
“Gallus, Yona,” Tanz said. He and Flare walked over to them. “How did you get a tunnel from the Dragon Lands to Ponyville?”
“Actually, Dragons Land not only location,” Yona affirmed.
“What?” Flare said in shock.
“We’ll explain on the way back,” Gallus said.
“What about him?” Tanz pointed to Trud, who was trying to ram the side of the hole to try and get out.
“I think he’ll be fine.”
Silverstream flew around the hole while not making eye contact with Trud.
“Silver?” the yak asked. “Silver!”
After an hour, Pyther and Tarsi returned back to the school.
“So, you’re saying that I threw all logic out of my wings and started loving Garry?” the dragoness questioned.
“If it makes you feel better, he wasn’t really enjoying it,” Tarsi said. They then noticed Geena and Ocellus walking up behind them.
“...You too?” Geena asked. Pyther simply nodded. The girls walked back into the school when they came across Deep Sea, who looked a little embarrassed.
“Deep Sea? What happened to you?” Ocellus asked.
“I...think I kissed Yona,” the hippogriff replied.
“You did what?!”
“Hippogriff wasn’t himself,” Dotta reminded.
“Thank you, Dotta,” Deep Sea said. “That makes me feel better.”
“Okay,” Ocellus said, “That makes Sea, Pyther, Geena, Lighthoof... Who’s left?”
“Trud’s in the nurse’s office,” Gallus said, flying towards the gang.
“What happened to him?” Geena asked.
“I think he was in the Dragon Lands too long.”
“How and why were you in the Dragon Lands?” Pyther asked.
“Look, he’s doing fine now. He can tell you himself.” Gallus looked back to Trud, who walked up beside him.
“Yak feel better,” Trud spoke. Tanz and Flare were beside them.
“Hey, ugh, guys,” Tarsi said, “I’m... Sorry, we started this problem in the first place.”
“It was just one letter,” Ocellus said. “I’m pretty sure it could’ve happened to any creature.”
“Isn’t that right, Flare?” Tanz asked. Flare could see everyone was looking at him.
“If you can forgive Tarsi, you can forgive me, right?” he asked.
“Don’t worry, nobody was going to beat you up,” Gallus said.
“I might,” Geena said.
“What did you say?” Sunburst asked.
The students were quite surprised to see the vice principal was listening to them.
“Oh, we...…weren’t talking about anything,” Geena said. “Later!” She flew off before she could get into trouble.
“I thought I got rid of the love poison.”
“It’s a bit of a long story,” Ocellus sighed.
“What matters is, it’s over,” Gallus said. “I’m going to my dorm.”
“Yeah, me too,” Ocellus agreed. The students walked off to do their own things, but Tanz had something to ask Ocellus.
“Ocellus?” Tanzanite called.
“Yes, Tanz?”
“Did you know about the tunnels under the school?” he asked.
“You found out about the tunnels?” the changeling questioned.
“Yeah, Trud found it first and went in, then Flare and I went in as well. I was shocked, I questioned myself if this tunnel was here like a whole time. Then I told Gallus and Yona about this tunnel that leads to my hometown and Gallus told me that each path goes towards different locations aside from the Dragon Lands. I wonder how long those tunnels were?”
“My guess, since my friends and I started at this school. I’ll explain while we’re on our way.” She gave an explanation as they carried on with the rest of their day.