Gallus sighed as he tucked the last of his possessions into his bag. Not that he had much to his name anyway besides a few books and gifts from his friends, so it shouldn’t have taken as long as it did to get everything gathered up and packed away. Except Gallus had been purposely dragging it out as long as he could, perhaps out of some misguided hope that if he delayed even a minute longer he might somehow stop the inevitable from happening altogether.
No such luck.
Sighing again, Gallus walked up to his dorm room window and stared out at the snow-covered streets of Ponyville. Even now he could make out the sight of ponies happily bustling about, laughing and smiling together as they went about their business. It was Hearth’s Warming Eve after all, where friends and family from all across Equestria gathered together to celebrate their bonds and tell stories about the bonds that had saved their ancestors from the harsh winters of the Windigos, strengthening those bonds while wishing for good tidings into the next year. Truly, it was the happiest time of the year, a time of warmth, joy, and togetherness shared by all ponykind.
For Gallus, though, it was anything but.
To him, Hearth’s Warming Eve was little more but another reminder of how truly alone he was. True, he had friends now, but all those same friends had families to go back to during the holiday break. Even Sandbar was traveling elsewhere with his family for the holidays. Gallus had considered asking his friends if he could join one of them this year, but after the stunt he had pulled last Hearth’s Warming Eve, he felt it was best if he kept quiet and let them all go home for the holidays.
And now it was Gallus’s turn to do just that, slinging his bag onto his back and tightening his scarf as he left his dorm room. Soon he would be standing at the train station and not long after that he would be on a train back home. If he could even call Griffonstone a “home” at all, where everygriff looked out for themselves most of the time. Even those who had friends and family during this time of year instead chose to distance themselves from one other and just barely tolerate their presence while they shared a roof over their heads.
But Gallus had none of those things. Once he left the School of Friendship, he would have no friends, no family, and nowhere he could call home until classes began again in the spring. Gallus had thought he’d gotten used to being alone, but having friends had spoiled him as to what it felt like to have those who cared about him, those who depended on him and whom he could also depend on without question.
Too soon, Gallus found himself standing before the front doors. Walking up to them, he placed a talon against the rightmost door and pushed it open, stumbling back slightly as a blast of cold air blew in from outside and caused him to shiver at the chill that spread across his feathers as the door slammed shut once more. Bracing himself this time, Gallus reached up again to push the door open—
“Gallus, wait!”
Stopping in his tracks, Gallus let his talon fall back to the floor as he turned around to face whoever had called out to him. He couldn’t help raising an eyebrow slightly as Trixie Lulamoon came running up to him. “Counselor Trixie?”
“There… you… are… Gallus,” Trixie managed to say in-between gasps for air as skidded to a halt. “Trixie… Trixie was worried… you’d left already…”
Gallus was confused. “No, I was just about to leave for the train station. Did I forget something?” he asked, trying to recall if he’d packed absolutely everything he owned before leaving his room. What other reason could Counselor Trixie have for hunting him down before he left? To say goodbye maybe?
Taking a deep breath of air into her lungs, Trixie finally managed to catch her breath as she flipped her mane out her face before addressing Gallus. “No, or at least I don’t know if you did… whatever. Trixie came to tell you that Starlight wants to see you in her office before you leave. Trixie will lead the way, so do keep up!”
Gallus gulped as he followed behind Trixie as she led him to Headmare Starlight’s office. He was no stranger to being inside the headmare’s office considering the trouble he and his friends tended to get into, but he couldn’t fathom as to why Headmare Starlight wanted to see him now of all times. He didn’t have long to think about it either, as the pair quickly reached Starlight’s office.
Knocking, Trixie yelled through the door, “Starlight, The Greeeaaat and Pooowerful Trixie has brought Gallus to see you!”
“Come in,” Starlight replied from inside her office.
And so, the two of them strolled into Starlight’s office, the mare in question sitting behind her desk and facing the door. She smiled as she caught sight of Gallus, hopping out of her chair and walking up to him. “Gallus! So nice to see you. Sorry to call you in here on such short notice, but there was something me and Trixie wanted to talk to you about before you left.”
Gallus looked back and forth at Starlight and Trixie for a moment, the knot in his throat tightening ever so slightly. “Am… am I in trouble?”
“Trouble? Oh, no! Not at all!” Starlight quickly reassured him. “It’s just that… I was wondering if you had somewhere to stay for the holidays?”
“O-of course I do!” Gallus was quick to reply, letting out a half-hearted laugh as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, what kinda person doesn’t have a place to go back to for the holida—”
“Gallus.” Starlight interrupted him, her tone being both stern, yet compassionate at the same time. “I heard from Twilight what happened during last year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
“... Oh…” Was all Gallus could think to say, realizing that the jig was up. “You did, did you?”
Starlight nodded. “Gallus, I want you to be honest with me… You don’t want to go back to Griffonstone, do you?”
Gallus said nothing, hanging his head.
“I thought so…” Starlight sighed. “No one should have to be alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve, which is why Trixie and I–”
“But it was mostly my idea!” Trixie happily interjected, earning herself a sharp glare from Starlight.
“Which is why Trixie and I thought it would be a good idea if you came to stay with us for the holidays. What do you say, Gallus?”
Gallus opened his beak to reply, several excuses already popping into his head like, “I don’t want to be a bother…” or “Grandpa Gruff would be mad if I’m not home soon…”, but all of them died on his tongue as he thought it over some more. Starlight and Trixie had both proven time and time again how much they truly cared about Gallus’s wellbeing. While acting as the school’s guidance counselor, Starlight had always taken the time to listen to his problems without complaint while always offering advice to him. Then there was the time Trixie had stood up to Grandpa Gruff for him in her own special way, which was more than anyone had ever done for him before. Of course, there was also when both of them had jumped into action to protect him and the other students when the school was in danger from the combined forces of Cozy Glow, Chrysalis, and Tirek, so they had clearly earned his respect.
Considering all this… Gallus found he couldn’t bring himself to refuse. One of the lessons he’d learned from Professor Rarity’s class suddenly sprang to mind: Sometimes, the most generous thing one can do is be able to accept the generosity of others.
“I… I mean, if it’s not too much trouble…” Gallus stammered as he tried his best to form words, “I… I guess I could stay with you guys for a little bit…”
“Wonderful!” Starlight exclaimed, running up and hugging Gallus. To his credit, Gallus only slightly flinched at the sudden contact, having mostly adjusted to how touchy-feely ponies tended to be. “Just let me finish with a few things and then we can be on our way!”
“Sure, whatever…” Gallus muttered, watching as Starlight trotted back to her desk. He should have been ecstatic, but he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that whispered to him that he was just being yet another burden. It’ll just be for the holidays, then everything’ll go back to normal…
***
“Well, here we are,” Starlight said as the trio arrived at a modest-looking home a few minutes walk from the school. Like the rest of Ponyville, it was decorated with an abundance of lights that made it almost resemble a massive gingerbread house.
“I thought you lived in the castle?” Gallus asked as he pointed over his shoulder at the crystal structure in the distance.
“I did, but since Twilight moved back to Canterlot, I figured it was about time I found my own place to live. I think Mayor Mare is currently negotiating to turn the castle into a local landmark or something like that.” Walking up to the front door, she gestured for Gallus to come inside. “It’s not much, but it’s home.”
As Gallus walked up to the house, he couldn’t help but notice Trixie taking a separate path leading around to the back of the house. “Where are you going?”
“Trixie has everything she needs in her wagon,” she replied as she continued along the pathway. “Since Starlight decided to find her own place, Trixie figured it was time to seek out a change of scenery as well, so she graciously decided to join Starlight at her new place of residence.”
As Trixie disappeared around the side of the building, Starlight leaned in and whispered to Gallus, “What she really means is that she wasn’t allowed to park her wagon outside Twilight’s castle for free anymore, so she needed somewhere else to do her loitering.”
“Trixie can hear your lies you know, Starlight!”
Starlight just giggled to herself as she walked inside her home with Gallus following right behind her. As Starlight closed the door behind them, Gallus took the time to look around the home. It was certainly homey, with a decently sized living room connected to a combined kitchen and dining room. Off to the side he spied a staircase that led up to a second floor, but what really caught his attention was the Hearth’s Warming Tree in the corner of the living room. What struck him as off though was that it was completely bare instead of being covered from top to bottom in lights and decorations like the ones he’d seen around town.
“Your room’s this way,” Starlight said as she led him upstairs, walking up to a door and pushing it open to allow them to walk inside.
Stepping into the room, Gallus saw that the room had already been furnished with a bed, a nightstand, a small desk to the side, and a bookcase next to the window. “It’s… nice.”
“I know it’s not much, but feel free to make yourself at home.” Starlight said with a smile as she turned towards the door. “I’ll be downstairs making us something to eat, so take all the time you need to get settled in. If you need any help, just holler.”
“Thanks…” Gallus muttered as Starlight closed the door behind her, leaving Gallus alone once more. Tossing his bag onto the floor, he flopped over onto the bed and just stared up at the ceiling for a bit. Once that became boring, he sat up and glanced around the room, wondering to himself what he should do next. He briefly considered unpacking his stuff, but quickly discarded that idea. He was only staying until the holidays were over, so why bother unpacking all his stuff when he was just going to have to pack it all back up again pretty soon? However, there was one thing he figured he could do to “make himself at home”, as Starlight had said.
Going back to his bag, Gallus rifled through it for a second before he found what he was looking for, pulling out a small picture frame with a picture of him and his friends all smiling at the camera. Gallus still thought it was a rather silly gift, which he had outright said when Silverstream had given it to him as an early Hearth’s Warming gift, but right now it felt appropriate as he set it on the nightstand.
With that done, Gallus yanked the blanket off the bed and dragged it over to the window. Sitting down, he wrapped himself in the warm blanket as he just sat there, watching the snowflakes lazily dance across the sky.
***
Some time passed before Gallus eventually felt comfortable enough to leave the room to explore the rest of the house. As he walked downstairs, he could hear Starlight in the kitchen humming a song to herself as she worked, the aroma of food drawing Gallus in like a moth to a flame.
Starlight turned as he entered the room. “Ah, Gallus! All done unpacking?”
Gallus just mumbled a quick “Hmhmm,” as he pulled out a chair and hopped up onto it. “So… don’t ponies have a bunch of traditions they’re supposed to do on Hearth’s Warming Eve or something?”
“Actually—”
The loud bang of the backdoor being kicked open resounded through the home, followed by Trixie loudly declaring, “Trixie has returned! And she comes bearing Hearth’s Warming cheer!”
Both Starlight and Gallus glanced over as Trixie happily strolled into the room, a Santa Hoove’s hat bouncing up and down atop her head, and a large box held aloft in her magic.
“Ah, there you are, Trixie,” Starlight smiled as she trotted up to Trixie and took the box from her with her magic. Peering inside, she gazed at the plethora of Hearth’s Warming decorations held within, ranging from garlands, to ornaments of all shapes and sizes. “And I see you actually remembered to get the decorations like I asked you to.”
“Of course I did! When has Trixie ever forgotten to do something you asked her to?”
“I’d list them, but then we’d be here all day...” Starlight remarked, earning herself a smoldering glare from Trixie that she quickly ignored as she turned her attention towards Gallus. “Gallus, care to help us decorate the tree?”
Gallus made a show of thinking about it for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders. “Sure, why not? Not like I have anything better to do…” Hopping down from his chair, he followed the two mares into the living as they set about decorating the tree.
Time seemed to fly by as the three of them went to work. While Trixie and Starlight carefully levitated ornaments into place with their magic, Gallus worked to wrap several lengths of garland around the tree. Before long, the three of them stepped back to admire their work, having transformed the once bare tree into a festive display befitting the season.
“Still feels like it’s missing something…” Gallus muttered to himself, scratching his chin in thought. A tap against his shoulder prompted him to glance over at Starlight and Trixie, both mares wearing knowing smiles as Starlight levitated a golden star inlaid with a small heart-shaped jewel in the center over to Gallus.
“Care to do the honors?” Starlight asked.
Gallus was taken aback. From what he recalled from reading up on pony history and traditions in class, getting to place the star on top of the tree was kind of seen as a big deal. They’re probably just being nice while I’m here, he figured as he took the star in his talons. Spreading his wings, he flew up to the top of the tree and placed the star into place.
As soon as the star was in place, the entire tree seemed to come alive as a thread of magic began to encircle the tree from top to bottom, causing the lights and ornaments to activate and fill the room with a rainbow of colors. As the spell reached the bottom of the tree, it suddenly shot back up the trunk and stopped at the star, the heart-shaped jewel inside lighting up and projecting a facsimile of the Fire of Friendship at the top.
Gallus whistled in amazement as he flew back down and marveled at the light show. “Nice touch.”
The sound of a timer going off in the kitchen caused Starlight to look over. “Ah, right on time. Will you two be alright finishing the decorating without me while I go check on dinner?”
“Never fear, Starlight!” Trixie replied as she looped a hoof around Gallus’s shoulder and yanked the griffon in close. “Trixie will make sure Gallus doesn’t get into any trouble without you!”
As Starlight trotted back towards the kitchen, she whispered under her breath, “It’s not Gallus I’m worried about…”
Wasting little time, Trixie released Gallus and trotted over to the box of ornaments. Rummaging around inside it for a moment, she eventually pulled out a pair of button-eyed dolls, one made to resemble Trixie and the other made to resemble Starlight.
“I never got the whole ‘doll’ thing,” Gallus remarked as he watched Trixie place the dolls on the mantle above the fireplace. “How did that become a tradition anyway?”
Trixie shrugged. “No idea, but that’s just how Trixie has done it ever since she was a foal.”
As Gallus looked up at the dolls, his mind drifted back to an assignment Professor Rarity had given them a few weeks ago, showing them how to make their own Hearth’s Warming Dolls for the holidays. While Gallus would never consider himself to be any good at sewing, he had managed to construct a half-decent looking doll of himself thanks to plenty of help from Rarity and his friends. I wonder what she did with it afterward...
“Oh, but how could I forget?” Trixie suddenly said, grinning mischievously. “There seems to be one missing… Trixie knows just the way to solve this little problem!” Pulling off her Santa Hooves hat and turning it over, Trixie waved her hoof over it like she was performing a trick for one of her shows. “Tadaah!” With a flourish, Trixie reached into her hat and pulled out one more Hearth’s Warming Doll, this one made to resemble a certain blue feathered griffon.
Gallus squawked in disbelief, his beak hanging open as he stared wide-eyed at the doll in Trixie’s hoof. Not just any doll either, but the very same one he had made in class. “But… when… how…”
“Oh, Trixie has her ways…” Trixie replied with a smirk and wiggle of her eyebrows before rearing up and placing the Gallus doll beside the Trixie and Starlight dolls already resting on the mantle. “There, much better.”
Gallus remained frozen in place, still staring at the trio of dolls with his beak hanging open. He had assumed that the invitation to stay with Starlight and Trixie had been a spur of the moment thing, but now he was beginning to think otherwise. How… How long have they been planning this?!
“Dinner’s ready!” Starlight hollered from the kitchen, snapping Gallus out of his stupor. Realizing how hungry he was, Gallus decided to shelve that thought for later and instead made his way towards the kitchen.
***
Gallus sighed happily as he flopped back into the middle of the living room couch, patting his full belly. He couldn’t remember the last time he had ever felt this full. Sure, the school cafeteria served more than enough food to ensure that every student was well fed, but this had been the first time in a long time that Gallus had been allowed to gorge himself on so much food at once.
For a griffon who had spent more than a few nights going hungry on the streets of Griffonstone, this was pretty much a dream come true.
“Looks like you certainly enjoyed my cooking, hmmm?” Starlight asked as she strolled into the living room, carrying a mug of hot chocolate in her magic as she approached the fireplace. A quick spark from her horn produced a small flame that quickly ignited the logs inside the fireplace, producing a pleasing orange glow as warmth began to flow through the room.
“Yeah, it was gr–UUUURRRRPPPP!” Letting loose a loud belch, Gallus at least had the good sense to look embarrassed as Starlight turned to him with a disapproving look in her eyes. “... Excuse me.”
“Normally I’d make a comment about manners, but since it’s the holidays I’ll give you a pass... this time.” Hopping up onto the cushion on Gallus’s right, Starlight clutched her mug in her hooves as she raised it to her lips and took a sip of her hot chocolate. “It’s nice you agreed to spend Hearth’s Warming with us, Gallus. Even with Trixie around, this house can feel a little bit empty sometimes.”
“Uh… you’re welcome?” Gallus awkwardly replied, turning his attention towards the fireplace as the flames crackled and danced. “Say… how long have you been planning–”
“My, my, aren’t you two comfy,” Trixie interrupted as she walked into the living room, carrying not one, but two mugs of hot chocolate in her magic. “Care if Trixie joins in?” Instead of waiting for a response, Trixie just hopped up onto the remaining cushion beside Gallus. Holding one of the mugs in her hooves, she levitated the other one over to Gallus. “Want some?”
“Oh, thanks,” Gallus replied as he took the mug from Trixie, feeling the warmth of the hot chocolate radiating through the mug and onto his talons. After blowing on it a few times to keep from burning his tongue, Gallus took a sip, smiling as the taste of fresh cocoa danced across his tongue and filled his belly with a warm feeling.
Unbeknownst to Gallus, Starlight and Trixie shared a glance for a moment, both of them smiling mischievously. Slowly, the pair inched themselves closer and closer to Gallus until they had both pressed themselves against him, sandwiching him in an inescapable warmth.
Now, griffons were not huge on the concept of snuggling, or any kind of displays of affection in general. Gallus was normally no exception to this, as upon realizing he was being snuggled he briefly considered trying to wiggle his way out of it. And yet, in that moment, he was far too comfy right where he was to want to bother with moving. Perhaps being on the receiving end of so many hugs from his friends had slowly worn away his resistance to displays of affection, or maybe it was just the overall holiday cheer in the air finally getting to him. Whatever the reason Gallus just took another sip of his hot chocolate and resigned himself to his fate.
And so, the trio just sat on the couch in silence, enjoying the company of one another while warming themselves with hot chocolate and the warmth of the fire.
***
“Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Starlight was positively beaming as she held a colorfully wrapped gift out to Gallus, who hesitantly took it from her. He was still a little sleepy, but he was certainly well-rested if anything else, especially since his gracious hosts had been kind enough to let him sleep in until almost noon. When he had inquired as to why they had let him sleep so long, all he had gotten was a shrug from Starlight and a quick, “We didn’t want to wake you” in return. So, after a late breakfast of eggs and hay bacon, Gallus had been dragged into the living room for one of the most well known of Hearth’s Warming traditions: the gift exchange.
Part of Gallus felt guilty that he didn’t have a gift to give to either Starlight or Trixie, but another part of him was once again wondering just how long the two mares had been planning to have him stay over, especially since they had taken the time to even get him a gift. Still, Gallus was never one to refuse a gift, quickly shredding the wrapping paper with his talons and popping open the box. A smile spread across his face as he pulled out a brand new scarf from the box, one that was noticeably thicker and probably far warmer than the old flimsy one he had currently.
As he draped his new scarf over his shoulders, Gallus looked up as Starlight and Trixie opened their respective gifts to one another. Starlight was ecstatic as she held up the brand new kite she had gotten, and Trixie looked just as happy about the large box of fancy assorted chocolates she had received in return. An inescapable warmth seemed to fill the house at the displays of generosity and kindness before him, making Gallus feel like for the first time he felt at–
Home.
All the warmth Gallus had been feeling suddenly vanished, replaced instead by a cold realization that sat in the pit of his stomach, his smile dropping into a frown.
“Gallus?”
Gallus looked up to find both Starlight and Trixie staring at him with visible worry in their eyes. “Do… do you like it?” Starlight asked, her eyes glancing at his new scarf. “It’s not too small or anything, is it? I didn’t know what size you were so I–”
“No, no, it’s great,” Gallus quickly replied as he reached up and wrapped the scarf comfortably around his neck. “Thanks… I just…” Standing up suddenly, Gallus felt an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, one he usually only felt when confronted by his fear of enclosed spaces. “... I’m going to go stretch my wings, be back in a bit.”
Before either Starlight or Trixie could try and stop him, he was already gone, intent on putting as much distance between him and them as possible.
Gallus felt like he had been flying for ages before he finally touched down onto a snowy bank on the outskirts of Ponyville. The tightness in his chest had slowly subsided the further and further he had flown, and now he felt like he could finally breathe again. As his back paws sank into the fresh snow, Gallus flopped onto his back and slapped himself in the face.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Gallus loudly berated himself, thrashing angrily around in the snow like he was trying to make the world’s worst snow angel. This was supposed to be the happiest time of the year, and what did he do? Go and ruin it in his usual awkward fashion, especially after Starlight and Trixie had obviously gone to the effort of inviting him into their home for the holidays.
But that was the thing, wasn’t it? It was their home, not his. He was little more than an outsider that had been invited to stay for the holidays, and once that period was over he would go back to being alone once more. He might have had friends now, but at the end of the day they still had their own homes and their own families to go back to, and he couldn’t help but feel jealous of them because of it. That jealousy had been what had led him to try and sabotage last year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve so he wouldn’t be left alone again.
Sighing, Gallus rolled over onto his side and curled up into a ball, his head a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. He knew he needed to go back and apologize to Starlight and Trixie, but he couldn’t shake the fear that all that would result in was them putting him on the first train back to Griffonstone just to get rid of him. No matter how much he tried to tell himself that they would never do that, doubt still weighed heavily on his heart.
Even if it had been for a short time, he had finally found somewhere he could truly belong, and the thought of losing that prompted the first salty tear to roll down his face. One after another more tears continued to drip into the snow beneath him, until he was left a sobbing mess lying alone in the snow on Hearth’s Warming.
***
Gallus quivered as he stood outside the door to Starlight’s house, unsure of how to proceed. Should he knock first, or would it be better if he just walked in and got it over with? Several minutes went by before Gallus finally decided to go with the latter option, walking up and pushing the door open to step inside. Closing the door silently behind him, his throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper as he called out, “Headmare Starlight? Counselor Trixie? Anyone here?”
“In here, Gallus,” Starlight replied from the living room.
Doing his best to fight the urge to flee again, Gallus trudged into the living room. He felt the heat of the fire before he heard the crackling of burning coals, a pleasant warmth fighting back the chill in his feathers from having spent so long in the snow. This warmth did nothing to melt the ball of worry still in the pit of his stomach as he spotted Starlight and Trixie sitting on the living room couch, their eyes following him as he approached and sat down on the floor in front of them.
“How was your walk?” Starlight asked.
“It… it was… alright,” Gallus eventually replied, unable to look at either mare for fear of seeing how disappointed they were in him. “I’m… I’m sorry I ran out and ruined Hearth’s Warming for you after inviting me to stay. If you want me to leave, then I understand…”
After several agonizingly long moments without a response, Gallus finally worked up the courage enough to glance up at the two mares weren’t looking at him, but at each other as they shared brief whispers between them that he couldn’t make out. After a few more seconds, Starlight shared a glance with Trixie before nodding her head, her horn glowing briefly before she vanished in a pop of magic, leaving him alone with Trixie.
Stepping down off the couch, Trixie trotted up to Gallus. “Gallus, Trixie has something she wants to say to you, so she expects you to listen well because Trixie is not particularly fond of repeating herself, is that clear?”
Gallus simply nodded his head, bracing himself for an ear lashing.
What he wasn’t prepared for was Trixie wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.
“Gallus, you don’t have to leave if you don’t want to. Starlight and I both enjoy having you around, and Trixie couldn’t live with herself if she so heartlessly sent you back to Griffonstone and that boorish ‘Grandpa’ Gruff,” Pulling back, Trixie smiled as she patted Gallus on the head. “You haven’t ruined Hearth’s Warming for us, if anything you’ve made it even better just by being here.”
“R-Really?”
Trixie nodded. “Indeed. Which is why…”
A pop of magic caused Gallus to look behind him to find Starlight standing there with a smile on her face and a small colorful box held aloft in her magic.
“... We both have one more gift for you,” Starlight finished as she passed the gift over to Gallus, the griffon taking the box from her and staring at it as he held it in his talons.
“You… you didn’t have to–”
“But we wanted to,” Trixie said as she walked over to stand beside Starlight. “Go on, open it.”
Doing as he was told, Gallus lifted the lid off the box and saw, of all things, a seemingly normal rolled-up scroll inside. “What’s this?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Open it and find out, silly!” Trixie replied.
Are they messing with me? Gallus wondered as he undid the band holding the scroll closed and unrolled it to read it. As his eyes progressed further and further down the scroll, his expression became one of ever-growing confusion as he read the entire thing a second, then a third time just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Most of it was meaningless to him, though several words and phrases did jump out at him, especially the bolded words at the very top of the scroll:
Official Form Of Guardianship.
“I… I don’t understand…” Was all Gallus could think to say, his thoughts a scattered mess as he tried to fully process what it was he now held in his talons.
“You see... “ Starlight began, “... a few months ago, Trixie suddenly asked me to look into your family history.”
“Trixie didn’t trust that Gruff griffon one bit, something seemed off about him, and Trixie’s intuition is nev–” A look from Starlight made her pause for a moment before adding, “...almost never wrong!”
“I figured I might as well, both to put Trixie’s mind at ease and because I was admittedly kind of curious about your family in Griffonstone. However, the more I looked into it, the more concerned I ended up becoming, for I could find no record of you before you were enrolled in the School of Friendship. The Griffonstone Records is admittedly in a rather poor state of affairs, but there should have still been something to givesome insight into your family and where you lived while not at the school. This also meant that there was no record that Grandpa Gruff was even your official guardian, at least on paper. After learning all this, I contacted Twilight, who assured me that she would send a representative to Griffonstone to look into this.
“Not long after, I got a reply back from her which only confirmed what I had already suspected: that you had no family or home to go back to in Griffonstone. As the new Headmare of the School of Friendship, I knew I couldn’t just do nothing when one of my students was in such dire straits and Twilight agreed with me fully, but we were both unsure as to how to remedy this…”
“Lucky for you that you have Trixie around then!” Trixie proclaimed, beaming proudly. “Because Trixie had the perfect solution for everyone. If Gallus had no official guardian, then Trixie would be happy to fill that role for him!”
“I was skeptical at first, I will admit, but I couldn’t fault Trixie’s desire to help in such a big way, so I agreed to help her make it a reality. It took a bit to get all the forms and everything in order, sped along quite a bit with Twilight’s help, but as of a week ago Trixie and me are officially your new guardians. At the very least until you graduate and become of age and can choose for yourself what you want to do and where to go, anyway, but until then it’ll be our duty to make sure– Gallus?”
Gallus had been silent as he listened to everything Starlight and Trixie said, and the lengths they had gone to ensure he was well cared for. With each word, the ball of worry that had plagued him ever since he had accepted Starlight’s invitation to stay for the holidays slowly diminished until it had vanished completely to be replaced by pure, unbridled joy. Gallus thought he had left all his tears back in the snowbank, but it seemed he still had some tears left to shed as they slowly dripped down his face. “Does… Does this mean…”
Smiling, Starlight and Trixie both walked up to him and put their hoof onto his shoulders. “It means, Gallus, that you don’t have to go back to Griffonstone if you don’t want to. You can stay here, in Ponyville with Trixie and me for as long as you want. Our home is now your home.”
“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Gallus.”
There was that word again: Home. Only now instead of making him feel empty and longing for something he could never have, Gallus felt… whole, more whole than he could ever remember feeling. With a heaving breath and tears still running down his face, Gallus practically threw himself at Starlight and Trixie as he enveloped them in a hug that conveyed every ounce of gratitude and thanks he could muster, for there were no words in any language that could properly thank them enough for giving him the greatest gift he could have ever received.
For the first time in his life, Gallus truly had a home and a family he knew deep in his heart loved and cared for him. For the first time… Gallus had somewhere he could finally belong.
Author's Note
Inspired by this pic I found a while back:
Because Gallus needs some love too!
