The Way of the Play

Chapters

Auditions
First Day
Day Two
An Actress's attention
A Heart to Hear
The Show Goes On
Dancing & Dating

Auditions

Being a part of a theatrical play is fun. You get to be very creative with the works, wearing elegant costumes, get to be confident on stage, and more. It tells the audience a tale that they heard or not heard of. Sometimes, being part of a play is a tough job. Memorizing the lines of the role you’re playing, practicing choreography, lights & sound management, etc. It’s a very hard job. She did an impressive job for one pony, but her choice of the role is something that she complains about.

One bright sunny day in Ponyville, three creatures were walking down the pavement. There was a crystal pony that had violet fur and curly blue mane that matches her eyes. The second was a hippogriff that had orange feathers and a crimson red mane. The third was a tall dragoness with red and orange scales and short horns, with another one on her snout. These creatures were respectively known as Diamond Shine, Coral, and Pyther. They were each carrying their own bags with them and they all stopped outside of the Ponyville Dance School, which they’ll be taught to do ballet.

“I still can't believe I'm doing this,” Pyther sighed.

“What are you talking about?” Coral asked.

“I mean, my parents are going to be all over this. My mom loves it when I try new things, but I wish she didn't have to make it look like I'm the next Dragon Lord.” Pyther and Coral stopped their tracks for a while.

“She doesn't really have that many places where they could get a good view. Besides, this is our first time here.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” The hippogriff and dragoness looked to see Diamond Shine had already walked inside of the school. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Following her inside, the crystal pony had already taken out her leotard, tutu, and slippers, all of which were colored pink. Pyther and Coral did the same thing as well. Coral's ballet uniform was gold while Pyther's was black.

While they’re waiting for their dance teacher to come, they stretch their arms and back as a little warm-up to them. The ballet students were a little surprised to see foreign creatures were here trying ballet for the first time, especially Pyther since she’s a dragon.

After doing some stretching, their dance teacher walked into the room. She eyed the two non-pony students, something she wasn't used to. Still, she focused on the other students and spoke up.

"Good afternoon everypony," she said, standing in front of her students. "I understand that this is your first time that you are here to learn ballet. You've done some stretching and now it's time we learn the basics. I'd like to see how good your senses of balance are."

The students were instructed to hold onto the rail attached to the wall. Many of the ponies there had a bit of struggle to keep their balance, and so was Coral.

"Come on," she muttered. She held out her hind leg and she wobbled a bit. Pyther appeared to be having an easier time than the hippogriff, who had a theory of this. "You're lucky you only walk on twos."

"I'm having a hard time too," Pyther stated. "Don't you have to keep a good balance to fly?" Both girls turned to Diamond Shine, who didn't look to be wobbling at all. She had more experience than the rest of them. "How does she make it look so easy?"

Pyther tightened her grip on the railing, which gave a low groaning sound. Letting go, she saw that she had bent the railing.

“Hehe. Whoops,” she chuckled with guilt. The teacher and students looked at the damage that the dragoness had caused. Pyther felt very embarrassed and the teacher was far from pleased.

On the walk home, Pyther wasn't feeling too happy. Coral and Diamond Shine could see she was still down so they decided to help cheer her up. “Don’t feel bad, Pyther,” Coral stated, wrapping her arm around her waist. “It was just a railing. It's not like you broke the wall.”

"I know," Pyther responded. "I still felt bad though. I don't see how Diamond Shine could make those moves look so simple."

"I've been doing ballet for more than a year," the crystal pony explained. "I don't think the teacher can even think of other creatures aside from ponies doing pony activities."

The dragoness felt a little bit better as she began thinking about other things related to non-pony creatures. "That got me thinking. What do you think that dragons would do if they were to try working here in Ponyville?"

"Oh, uhh… I think they'd be good for heavy-lifting jobs," Coral guessed, "like in construction working, they can carry a ton of cement bricks, steel poles, chains, and so much more. If the yaks were working there, they would just break things they're supposed to move."

"Yeah, they may be prideful and strong, but they’re not the smartest creatures," Diamond Shine admitted.

"Still, some of them may surprise us," Pyther commented. "I mean, did you expect Smolder to have a liking for dresses?" Coral just simply shook her head as this thought still was surprising to her.

When they had returned to school, the three girls could hear some conversations down the hall. Investigating, they could see plenty of students surrounding the bulletin board. Getting a closer look, they could sign up with some heading reading, "The Mare & The Monster."

"Sweet, they're starting auditions?" Coral asked.

"Yeah. Looks like it," Silverstream confirmed. "You wanna sign up? I bet you’ll be good there on stage" Pyther and Coral were about to sign up if it wasn't for Diamond Shine pushing her way through to the bulletin board. She signed up, taking up two lines, making the students a little irritated.

"I'd say yes," Pyther said. "It should help knock someone down with a peg." She and Coral managed to get through the crowd in a much nicer way than the crystal pony and signed up for auditions. They took a look at some of the other names that had signed up. Some of which were surprising.

Coral took a closer look at the names, and she saw Yona’s name there, which makes her feel surprised. “Hold on,” she exclaimed. “Yona signed up as well?”

"I know," Silverstream admitted. "I signed up too."

“Nice.” She pointed to her name but some of the students weren't able to get to the sheet and sign up. Pyther and the hippogriffs got out of the way and began talking about what the play was even going to be about.

"So, what's The Mare & The Monster about?" Pyther asked.

“It's about a prince who gets cursed into a horrible monster,” Silverstream explained. “The only way to break it is to get a kiss from a beautiful mare.”

"Sounds kind of simple," Coral admitted.

"Well, so does did the school of Friendship," Pyther chuckled. "Then, we get buried under a mountain of homework. I'd rather get a thrashing from the Dragon Lord. Or even my dad."

"It's still going to be fun," Silverstream noted. "Our parents will be here to see that."

"How will the dragons get a good view? Our parents were as enormous as a castle in Canterlot."

“I'm sure our professors will find a way,” Silverstream said in a positive mood. “Anyways, how was your first ballet class?”

Coral and Pyther looked at each other feeling a little embarrassed. "Ehhh… It could've gone better," Coral admitted with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Still, you could say that Diamond was a show-off," Pyther whispered. Both girls giggled a bit as Silverstream was just a little confused.

A few days later, the students were minding their business until the P.A. was turned on. "Attention all students," Starlight announced. "Auditions for the Mare & the Monster will be held later this afternoon. Those who have signed up meet me outside in front of the school. We're very happy for all of you who’ve signed up to show off your talents, and we'll also be happy to see what you can do."

After hearing that, the students were getting excited. "It's about time," Coral commented with a grin.

"I know," Pyther agreed. "I can't wait to see what it's like to be in a pony play."

“Me too. I always wanted to show off in front of an audience.” Both girls looked over to Diamond Shine, who was walking over to them.

"You're going to love it," the crystal pony said. "We've had plenty of shows back in the Crystal Empire. I am a natural in them."

"How do you think we're going to do?" Coral asked.

"I'm sure that you'll be great. Still, there are a lot of students in this school. I recommend something that makes you stand out." This got the dragoness and hippogriff thinking.

While they thought about standing out, other students that had signed up were talking about the auditions. Grace, Gleaming Pearl, and Frida, a griffon, hippogriff, and yak respectively were chatting about it.

"I'm really curious about this story," Pearl spoke.

"So am I," Grace agreed. "We never had good nor interesting stories like that back in Griffonstone."

"Yak wants to see if pony stories as good as yak stories," Frida spoke. "Yaks have plenty of stories to tell."

"I’d love to hear them." The girls walked past Pate, a blue and yellow changeling, who was walking with his girlfriend Shimmy Shake.

"You really think I'd be a good actor?" the changeling questioned.

"I'm sure you will," Shimmy Shake reassured. "I'm sure acting is in a changeling's blood. I mean, you shapeshift all of the time."

This managed to bring a smile to the changeling's face. "Thanks. That does make me feel better."

"That's what a cheerleader does best." She planted a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek, making the changeling blush. "Besides, it'll help you come out of your shell. No pun intended."

“I get it.” The two chuckle for a bit and carried on down the hall as there was another group of friends talking about the play.

Sandbar was surprised by what Gallus had to say. "You signed up?" the colt questioned.

"Yep," the blue griffon shrugged. "I don't see why I shouldn't try out."

"Okay... I mean... Silverstream signed up too. Maybe you two could get the lead roles." This got Gallus thinking about it.

"That... She'd probably like it. I mean, she was obsessed with stairs. You think we're going to dress up as furniture?"

"Probably."

"How will that even work?"

"I heard that somepony dressed up like a disco ball." This sentence made Gallus speechless before he erupted into laughter. "Yeah, I know."

Later that day, students who’ve signed up were brought up to a stage. Starlight, Sunburst, and Rarity were sitting in front of the stage and had a list of the students' signatures and one containing the different characters in the play. They would have the students read off a line of fiction of their choice or just come up with something on their own. Each students were at the off right wing of the stage and would go in alphabetical order, starting with Coral, since she starts with a C.

"You think I can do this?" the hippogriff asked, feeling a bit agitated.

"You'll be fine," Diamond Shine reassured. "Now, break a leg." Coral took a deep breath before she walked onto the stage and looked at her professor and head ponies.

“Good afternoon,” she greeted.

"Alright, Coral," Starlight said, " You’re the first one here. Do you have something that you could reenact?"

"I know about this story. I've heard it back in Hippogriffa."

"Okay, you remember the lines?"

"I think so."

"Alright. Whenever you're ready."

Coral took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “The storm looks like it's clearing up. We can still make it.” She then took some steps back as her expression changed from excited to scared. “Oh no. Hard to starboard!” She started stumbling to indicate that the metaphorical boat was losing control. With a jump, she singled that she went overboard and fainted. After a couple of seconds, she got back up and looked at the three ponies. “How was that.”

"That was impressive," Starlight commented. “You did pretty well, especially with the emotions.” Sunburst wrote down some notes as Rarity looked at the character sheet. The hippogriff smiled and then walked off the stage. Diamond Shine was happy for her friend as she went next.

"Hello," the crystal pony said.

"Hi, Diamond," Starlight said.

"Okay, I've taken a look at the script and I think I've got it down."

"Very well. Just start when you're ready."

Diamond Shine nodded before she started acting, or more accurately singing. “Little town. A quiet village. Every day, like the one before.”

The students at the right wing were surprised by her starting with a bang. “She really wants a good part,” Gallus guessed. “Am I right.”

"No doubt about it," Pyther agreed. They just stood back and watched as Diamond sang her heart out. The three unicorns were admittedly impressed. Singing while dancing to her own voice, the crystal pony soon came to a stop at the end of her song. She simply took a bow then walked off the stage.

"Break a leg you guys," she said. Silverstream, who didn't fully understand the stage term, was confused.

"Why is she wanting us to get injured?" she questioned.

"It's an expression," Shimmy Shake stated. "It's a stage term for good luck."

"Why don't they just say 'good luck"?" The cheerleader pony simply shrugged.

Diamond Shine sat down with Coral, who had decided to watch the rest of the auditions. "How do you think the others are going to do?" the hippogriff asked.

"Hmm, I'm sure they'll do alright," the crystal pony shrugged.

She just stood back and was curious to see how the other students were preform. There were some who could act, some that needed a little more practice, and in the case of the yaks, some got carried away. Such as when Frida's Yakyakistan stomp knocked a trap door open and she fell right in it. It was a mixed reaction from most of the creatures. Some laughed, most of them were worried, but the yak was fine.

Soon, Gallus was up. However, he and Sandbar wanted to do their audition together. Sunburst thought about this. "There isn't anything saying that students can't audition together," he noted.

Sandbar and Gallus smiled as they took their places. The griffon pretended that his wing was injured as the colt pretended to look across the horizon. "We should be able to catch up with them if we cut across the river," Sandbar said.

"And how do you expect me to do that?" Gallus asked. He pointed to his wing, which was "dislocated." "They're too tough for us. Let's just try and find someplace to hide out until this blows over."

"Blows over? We can't let them get away with this."

"And what do you think I can do?! I'm a homeless griffon who grew up in a village where it's everyone for themselves. Those three have the power to make a tornado by blinking!"

"And if we just gave up, then what?"

"We'd probably get out alive."

"Or we could end up getting caught if we just hide. Either we hide and get a disturbing punishment, or we get our flanks kicked trying to knock them down a peg. What's the difference?"

Gallus looked at his wings and moved it around to make it look like it was being pushed back into the socket. "Okay. Let's kick some flanks!" The two shared a fist bump before running off stage. Then soon came back to see the unicorns writing things down.

"How was that?" Sandbar asked.

"Very good," Rarity commented. "You two will do great." The two boys smiled before getting off the stage for the next student to audition.

After a few hours, Starlight spoke up. "Okay, I think that's everyone," she announced. "We'll let you all know who will be playing which character in the Mare and the Monster." The Headmare, Sunburst, and Rarity soon walked away, talking between each other about the auditions.

The students began to disband as they began talking about what they went through. Gallus was one of these students.

"You really think we're going to get lead roles?" Gallus questioned.

"We were great up there," Sandbar reminded. "Besides, we did a lot at this school, we should get good parts." Gallus was just in deep thought about what kind of parts were available.

There were plenty of students that were excited and Silverstream was no exception. She was walking with Yona, Smolder, and Ocellus, each giving their opinions. "There are so many characters I could be," Silverstream spoke. "Which ones do you think we'll be."

"Yona wants to know more about mother pot," Yona admitted.

"What, you mean the kettle?" Smolder asked.

"I think she and her son will have a good dynamic," Ocellus commented. "She also gives good advice to Golden Aura." The changeling's friends were a little confused about the unknown name. "She's the main protagonist."

"Oh, right," Silverstream commented.

"Maybe you should check the source material before we start acting."

"Good idea," Smolder agreed. They were a little concerned, but there was one student who didn't have a care in the world at the moment.

Diamond Shine trotted downtown with Coral and Pyther by her side. "You think we'll get good roles?" Pyther questioned.

"Did you see my performance?" Diamond Shine asked. "I have this in the bag. They'd have to be crazy not to have me as Golden Aura." The aragonite pony trotted along with her friends getting a little sick of her boasting.

The next day, another sheet had been hung up on the bulletin board. It contained a list of the students' and the play characters' names. The students all crowded around it to see who would be playing who. Pate took a look and could see he was marked as a character named "Thick Block."

"Which character is that again?" he whispered to Shimmy Shake.

"That's Bronze Shield's sidekick," the cheerleader answered.

"Then who's playing Bronze?" They took another look and could see that part would be played by Moss, who looked to be rather pleased by this part.

As for Gallus, he was surprised by his role. "I'm playing as the monster?" he questioned.

"The prince actually," Sandbar noted. "And I see Golden Aura is played by..."

"Me!" Silverstream announced excitedly. Gallus was surprised by this and someone was very annoyed.

"She's the lead role?" Diamond Shine questioned. "Who am I playing?" She pushed over students to the side so she could look at the sheet. She couldn't see her name until she found it. "The old mare? But she's only in the first minutes of the story."

"And there's a problem with that?" Pyther asked.

"I was trying to be Golden Aura. She has the most important part of this play."

"Well, Silverstream has the part now, so that’s tough." Diamond Shine huffed as she couldn't accept that. She walked off to find Starlight to complain. Pyther and Coral just stayed behind to see if they got any good parts.

“I wonder what our roles are?” Coral said to herself, taking a closer look together with Pyther.

First Day

The next day, the students were once again on stage. It is the start of the rehearsals. Everything needs to be done in time, like creating props, costume making, advertising, stage performing, sounds, lights, etc. Since this is day one, there’s no need to rush. Starlight, Sunburst, and the professors were there helping to set things up.

"Okay everyone," Starlight spoke in front of the students on stage, "we have a lot of things to prepare before the play begins. Everything needs to be done. The props, outfits, posters, the list goes on. Therefore, we would like it if some of you helped up."

"I can help with the props," Rusty Wrench said, raising his hoof up.

"That's good," Applejack responded. "Anyone else who wanted to volunteer?" Some students like Terry, a young minotaur, rose their appendages, volunteering to help set the play up. Some students wanted to help prepare the outfits and students to hang posters around town, which left the students that were actors.

Each actor and actress was given a sheet of the script. For each student, their roles and lines were highlighted. "Okay, for the actors," Starlight continued, "you all take a minute to read your lines before we begin the rehearsals." The students each started reading their script. They could see their lines highlighted and Diamond Shine was already complaining. She showed her lines to Coral.

"Look at this," the crystal pony complained. "I've only got like eight lines in the entire show."

"And I'm just in the background," Coral responded. "You've got a better part than me."

"Well, look at how many parts Silver's going to get." She flipped through several pages that the happy hippogriff would be reading. "She's practically in 70% of the play."

Pyther had overheard the conversation. Given the tone, she had to join in. "You know, you couldn't have gotten a better role," she spoke. The dragoness showed the parts she had highlighted, which looked fewer and far between them than Diamond's parts. "It's our first play just like everycreature else."

“Exactly,” Coral added.

"Yeah, for you two. I've been in stage plays before. I have more experience than you." Both dragoness and hippogriff looked at each other as they began to feel like Diamond wasn't going to listen to them.

Gallus had read ahead of the script taking a look at all of his highlighted parts. Nearing the end, he saw something that surprised him. He wouldn’t believe it. “Psst… Sandbar,” he whispered, and Sandbar turned to his griffon friend. “Private talk.”

The two walked off stage so they could go somewhere to talk in private. “What's wrong?” the colt asked. Gallus sighed.

"It's the concluding part," Gallus informed. “Here, take a look.” He handed Sandbar the script, and he took a closer look at the paragraph his friend was looking at.

Goldie and the reformed prince embraced each other happy that the curse was finally broken. The prince wiped away the mare's tears as they both leaned closer so they could kiss.

Sandbar picked up why his friend was suddenly in a panic. Gallus and Silverstream were playing monster and Golden Aura, respectively, so they would do those actions. "Hmm, I can see the problem," he commented with a surprised tone.

“No kidding,” Gallus grumbled. “Silver and I have never had the kind of relationship like you and Yona had. How are we supposed to do something like this?”

"Calm down,” Sandbar said to him, “I'm sure there's a way we can get through this." Both stood there in silence waiting for the other one to suggest an idea. After about a minute, Gallus spoke.

"You have no clue, do you?"

"No.… Maybe we could ask Headmare Starlight to see if… Maybe we can have your parts swapped."

"Sounds good to me." The boys soon walked back to the stage, where they could find Rarity taking the measurements of some of the students.

"Are you sure that I've got the right part?" Pate questioned.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to fit it like gloves," Moss spoke. "You are more of a follower."

"Well, you and Bronze have egos the size of a dragon," Pyther joked. Moss felt a little offended, but Rarity kept him in place. Partly to keep a fight from breaking out and also for keeping him still for the outfit. Starlight was still observing everything when Sandbar and Gallus returned.

"Um, Headmare Starlight," Gallus said giving her the attention, and Starlight turned to see them standing beside her. "I have a bit of a… personal problem with the ending."

The unicorn was a little puzzled. "What do you mean?" Gallus just simply showed the ending part of the script that he was worried about. "I see," she commented. Diamond Shine overheard their conversation and started eavesdropping.

"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable doing this. It's nothing against Silverstream."

"I understand, Gallus. You’re just friends with her. I'm sure she's going to feel the same way as you are. Do you still want to do this part or not?"

“I mean… I'm not sure.”

“Okay then. I'll see what I can do. Notify me if you want to swap roles, I’ll give further notice." Gallus simply nodded as he and Sandbar went back to check their lines. Diamond Shine liked what she was hearing.

"Huh. Does this mean that Silverstream will have to have her part changed?" she asked herself. “I better check it out.” Curious, she went to find the hippogriff. Silverstream was slowly reading through her lines as the crystal pony walked over to her. "Hey, Silverstream,” she called.

Silverstream turned to see her standing in front of her. “Hi, Diamond,” she greeted, still reading the script.

“You know what I just remembered?”

"What is it?" Silverstream asked. The crystal pony flipped a couple of pages until they got to the part that Gallus was worried about. The hippogriff read the paragraph and her eyes widened. "You mean...?"

"Yep. You and Gallus are having a ‘special scene’ together."

"I... I thought we'd just be dancing and…”

“It is a play about romance,” Diamond said, interrupting her. “You really didn’t think that kissing would be involved.” Silverstream gave a nervous shrug. “I think that our headmare could probably change some of your parts.”

“Um... I think... Maybe...”

“Acting isn’t for everybody. Maybe if you have a smaller role, you won’t feel so awkward.”

“Diamond!” called a voice. Rarity was waving to the crystal pony. “I need some help with the color choices for the costumes.”

“Be right there!” Diamond Shine quickly turned back to Silverstream. “If you don’t want to go through it, you and I could always trade.” She walked away assist Rarity, leaving the hippogriff to think about herself and Gallus.

Rusty and Terry were already hard at work, preparing the backdrops. This involved painting them and sawing them into the right size. They also had to build some props that the students would be interacting with, such as bits of furniture. Some of the backdrops also had doors, so those had to be cut out too.

For the costumes, Rarity had brought her sewing materials to the stage so she wouldn’t have to take the outfits all the way from her boutique to the stage. Like Applejack, she had some of the students helping her. One of the most surprising to some was Yona. “How come you’re helping with the dresses?” Coral questioned.

“Rare pony helped Yona before,” the yak answered. “And Yona wants to help show creativity.” She then saw Silverstream approaching her, still looking a little worried about what Diamond Shine said to her. “Why Silverstream upset?”

“It’s... Uh... Kind of personal,” she admitted. “Can we talk about it in private?” Yona nodded as Smolder and Ocellus had overheard what she had said.

“What’s wrong?” the changeling asked.

“To backstage. Private chat.” Silverstream just led her friends back to the school, where there weren’t as many students around. “Are we alone?”

Smolder doubled by looking around the corners. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Great. Now, there’s a scene where after the curse is broken, Golden Aura and the prince hold each other while they kiss.”

“Uh-huh,” Yona commented. “What’s wrong with that?” It took a minute for the three friends to remember that Silverstream and Gallus played those two characters and then realized the problem.

“Oh, wait,” Smolder perked up, “You and Gallus were the main roles, and you were about to kiss Gallus at the end, right?” Silverstream nodded with an embarrassed look and a slightly visible blush on her cheek.

"Ooh, that's... Tricky," Ocellus commented.

"What do I do?" Silverstream asked. “I and Gallus have never had this kind of relationship like Sandbar and Yona. I never kissed him.”

"It's not too late for you to swap out for somebody else," Smolder suggested.

"That's what Diamond Shine suggested. I'm not sure if I'd want to force this on Gallus."

"Yona would like to have Silver's part," Yona proclaimed. "Maybe Sandbar could have Gallus's."

"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea," the hippogriff commented. "I'm sure you two would be cute as the lead roles." This made the yak feel proud. Silverstream handed her friend her script and Yona quickly started reading.

Gallus, meanwhile, was still going back and forth about whether he should drop out of the play or not. Sandbar could see he was still worried. “You know,” Sandbar spoke up, which made Gallus stopped his tracks, “Yona and I could be the lead roles.” the colt guessed.

"You'd really do that?" the griffon asked.

"We have a closer relationship than you and Silver. No offense." Gallus didn't mind this, though Sandbar was a little curious. "I know this is a weird question, but… have you… ever had feelings for Silverstream." Gallus looked to be a little offended by this question. However, his stuttering implied that he didn't have a straight answer.

"I... There were times I worried about her... But... We all did... So... uhhh… I'm getting a drink." The griffon promptly flew away, leaving his friend slightly puzzled.

A little while, the students were getting into place for one of the scenes in the play. Yona was about to go on stage, but Silverstream spoke to her first. "Yona, I think I've been having second thoughts about you taking my part, but I think I should still try it," the hippogriff said.

"Friend sure?" the yak asked, tilting her head.

"Maybe. Gallus and I can… find a workaround to… that scene." Yona handed her friend back the script and Silverstream walked onto the stage. Moss was also there, reading his lines before they started.

"Okay, you know your lines?" the changeling asked.

"I think so." Silverstream skimmed through her lines before she heard Starlight speak up. She was sitting on the bleachers with Sunburst.

"Alright, now, Moss are you ready?" the headmare asked, with her megaphone on. The changeling nodded before he placed his script out of the way. Silverstream was still looking for her part until Moss pointed it out for her. She read what she needed to say then placed her script out of the way. Both of them confirmed that they were ready. Moss walked to the other side of the stage and Silverstream pretended to be attending to something. “Places, everycreature… and… action!”

The changeling walked back and stomped his hoof on the ground, mimicking the sound of knocking on the door. "Oh, Goldie," he called.

Silverstream turned around and pretended to open the door and looked surprised to see changeling, who let himself in. "Bronze. I didn't expect... To see you," she spoke, stumbling over her lines. "What are you doing here?"

"I was thinking about since I'd be staying in this humble town, I thought I could use a loyal wife." Moss walked around as Silverstream just stood and watched. "Then, I saw you. A lovely griff. Beautiful, simply beautiful."

"Eh, that's nice of you to offer Bronze, but I'm not looking for anybody at the moment."

"Just think about it, Goldie. Me, a mighty changeling defending you from everything. Plus, there isn't a girl in town who would love to be in your shoes." Moss moved around a little bit, making his acting a little hammy. Silverstream did the same, trying to get Moss to move to the imaginary door. "Not mention the kids, playing with the dogs. We'll have six."

"Dogs?"

"No, kids."

"I imagine that."

"What do you think?"

"I'm... speechless." Moss hovered over Silverstream and held his hooves up, making it look like he was leaning on the door. While he did that, the hippogriff reached for the non-existent doorknob. "But... I just don't deserve you." With that, the pretend door flung open and Moss went sailing forward before it closed again. However, an unplanned crash could be heard followed by some shocked cries and a few angry ones.

"Watch it, will ya!" cried a voice that sounded like it belongs to Terry.

"Hey, I don't see you giving a performance." Silverstream and the unicorns went to investigate. They found Moss had crashed into a cart loaded with some wood, tools, and cans of paint. Thankfully, they hadn't spilled.

"Moss, I appreciate you giving this your best," Starlight said. "Just... be more careful next time."

"Will do," the changeling groaned. He was left pretty bruised after he flew off the stage. "Do I have time before my next scene?"

"How about we practice with some other characters?" Sunburst suggested. Moss and Starlight both agreed to this before they helped clean up the mess. "Though, I did like what you two did with the door. That would be good to see." This helped make Moss feel better.

Diamond Shine, who was sitting nearby, didn't like the sound of Silverstream getting praised for her acting. "I thought she would stop," she muttered. She groaned as she walked off to complain while Gallus, who had watched the scene from afar, was thinking.

"Silver's really doing this," he sighed. He looked down at the script he was still carrying. He was wondering whether he should stay in the play or not when he could hear the grumbling from Diamond Shine. Curious, he flew down to investigate. The crystal grumbled as she could see the blue griffon flying down to her.

"What do you want?" she questioned.

"Why are you so mad?" he asked.

"It's... How is Silverstream such a natural? I've been doing plays before she ever came to Ponyville."

The griffon gave a low brow before he landed in front of Diamond Shine, stopping her in her tracks. "Hold up a minute. Are you jealous of her?"

The crystal pony seemed kind of offended. "So what if I am? I would've been a better choice for Golden Aura."

Gallus was rather annoyed until he thought about this. "You can't be Golden Aura, because that's who's Silver's playing. Is that right?" Diamond nodded. "You know, I'm meant to be playing the prince and the monster too."

Diamond Shine wasn't too happy that she and Gallus would be acting together, given how they've been talking so far, but she was confused why he brought it up. "Where are you going with this?"

"I'm saying that maybe having the lead roles won’t be too bad if it shows creatures how the world works.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“I mean, the audience will love a star that gets excited over common architecture instead of one who gets angry sometimes gets more time on stage than her.”

Diamond Shine started to pick up something, but she wasn’t too sure. “Are you saying…?”

“Yep. I’m going to help Silverstream with her acting, so you don’t have to be in the play for so long. She’s my friend! And I’m not wanting to see her struggle.” With this spiteful information given, Gallus flew back to the stage to see if it was his turn yet.

Diamond Shine sieved. “Great. I already have an actress that's doing better than me now I have an actor who's against me.”

A little while later, they were ready for the scene with the prince and his staff was talking about Golden Aura, who was now being held in their castle. Sandbar was playing the role of Light Touch, who like the rest of the castle staff had been cursed into a living object.

Ocellus, who was playing as Sweet Tea, was still going over her lines as she had only been in one play before. She wasn't ready when she heard Starlight call out, "Okay students, places!" The changeling nearly jumped when she heard the headmare's voice. The boys had already put their script to the side while the changeling was still reading. "Ocellus, do you need a minute."

"Hold on," she responded in a panicked tone. She took one last look at her lines before she set her script down. “I think I'm ready now.”

“Action!” With that, the colt and changeling got into the background as Gallus pacing back in front of them.

"What's taking so long?" he grumbled. "Why isn't she here yet?!" His friends were surprised by how much effort he was putting into his character.

"Try to be patient sir," Ocellus spoke. "It's... Only been one day."

Sandbar, having a concerned yet supporting look, spoke up. "Have you ever wondered if she is the one who can break the spell?" he asked.

"Of course I have!" The changeling and colt jumped back from this outburst before the griffon growled. "I was a fool."

Smolder and Silverstream, who were some of the students watching from backstage were surprised how serious Gallus was taking his part. "He does know that this is a play right?" the dragoness questioned.

"Maybe he wants to look good for the audience," Silverstream guessed. They tried to go back and help Rarity with her designs, but they couldn't help but watch Gallus's performance.

"She's absolutely beautiful and... Well, look at me!" he cried.

Sandbar and Ocellus both looked at each other, with the colt simply shrugging. Ocellus sighed before talking to the griffon playing the monster. "You must help her see past that," she reassured.

Gallus sighed. "I don't know how," he muttered.

Ocellus tried to put on a stern face, but the next line seemed blurry. "...Ugh... Um..."

Sandbar took notice and whispered, "Did you forget your lines?" he asked. The changeling simply nodded and grabbed her script.

"I don't understand how I couldn't," she groaned loudly.

"It's okay Ocellus," Sunburst reassured. "This is only the first day. We'll get there eventually. Take a minute to read your script before we do this again." The changeling nodded before going somewhere to sit down and read her lines again. While she did that, Gallus decided to look around for Gus.

The grumpy griffon was checking a list before he and Ravi, a buffalo from Appleloosa, headed into town to grab some more supplies before he saw the blue junior year student. "Gallus, hey," Gus called, "How are you doing?"

"Much better than I was doing before," the blue griffon responded. "You think you can pick me something up from town?"

"Of course. Need any more steel rope or a pickaxe?"

"None of that stuff. Actually, I just need you to pick me up some breath mints."

This was a little jarring for Gus. "Why breath mints?" Gallus looked around and could see the other students were busy with something else to listen to them. Just in case, he whispered his plan into Gus's ear, which nearly made him burst into laughter. "So that's why you putting in so much effort. I like the way you think, bud. Just to show up that crystalized brat, the mints are on the house."

"Great. Thanks, Gus." The two shared a fist bump before Gallus walked back to the stage while Ravi was a little confused.

"What are you guys talking about?" the buffalo asked.

"I'll explain on the way to town." The griffon chuckled as he explained to the fellow freshman about Gallus's plan.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Yona were getting started on the outfits, which was making most of the students look like furniture. Smolder was one of the students who would be playing a character under the curse. "You think it's going to be weird that I'm playing a wardrobe?" the dragoness questioned.

"I think it's really fitting for you," Silverstream commented.

“Yona not sure how to make doors work on Smolder’s outfit, ” Yona admitted. She looked at Rarity’s sketches, which showed Smolder looking like a wardrobe. The sketch made it look like she was in a wardrobe instead of dressed like one.

“Don't stress too much about this, darling,” Rarity reassured. “There's still plenty of time before we perform in front of an audience. Now, could you cut out some gloves for Sandbar?”

The yak nodded and walked off to get the white fabric when she could hear someone talking. “You think that’s a good idea?” a girl asked.

“We’re supposed to look identical,” another added. “No offense, but you're going to stick out like a sore claw.”

“You have a point.” Investigating, Yona could see Pyther talking with Emerald and Peridot, the dragoness twin. They could see the yak approaching them. “Oh, hi Yona,” Emerald said.

“What dragons doing?” Yona asked.

“We’re going to be playing the triplets that are fawning over Bronze,” Pyther explained. “However, they're also identical. Emma and Perri have this in the bag, but I stick out like a sore claw.”

“Then what does Pyther do?”

“A theory was that we could cover my scales in something green.”

“Like with some powder?”

“That could work,” Peridot commented.

“Yona!” Rarity called, “Where did you go?”

Yona looked back as she had almost forgotten about the fabric. “Yak must go now,” she proclaimed.

“Do what you have to do,” Emerald said. “We’ll figure out our problem.” Yona grinned and ran back to do her job, leaving the dragons to find some green things to grind up.

Later that day, Ravi and Gus had returned with some more supplies. They were surprised to see many of the students leaving the stage. "What's going on?" Ravi asked.

Sandbar walked over to the confused buffalo and happily explained. "We're done for the day," the colt informed. "Some of them are just practicing one more scene before they're done."

"Then what do we do with this stuff?" Gus questioned, pointing to the items they picked up in the cart.

"Professor Applejack should still be behind the stage. Just leave the cart with her and she'll handle it." The griffon and buffalo nodded and walked to the back of the stage. While they did that, Moss and Pate were practicing their last seen before they were finished for the day.

"Come on Bronze," Pate said to Moss, "You'll do better."

"What's the point?" Moss groaned. He rested his head on the floor as he was rather depressed from Golden Arua's rejection. Pate was about to speak again, but he paused as like Ocellus did, he forgot his lines. He gave a frustrated groan as Moss gave a low brow to the headmare. "Can we take five now?"

"I think that's a good idea," Starlight confirmed. She could tell Pate wasn't the only one who was frustrated. The students on stage disburse as Shimmy Shake walked over to her upset boyfriend.

"I don't get it," Pate spoke. "Why can't I remember what to say?"

"It's only the first day," the cheerleader reassured. "You'll get it eventually. How about we get something to drink?"

"Sure. My throat does feel a little dry. Thanks," he smiled The two walked away as Gus found Gallus to give him the breath mints.

"Thanks, Gus," the blue griffon called. Gallus would use his mints later and be about to go off to do something fun when he could see Diamond Shine approach him. "And how's the number two actress doing?"

"Don't call me that," the crystal pony ordered.

"It's more true than you think it is. Silver and I are doing better. Besides, you don't really deserve the lead role. Anyways, I'm going to see if I can find my friends and hang out. You have fun sulking." The smug griffon flew away as Diamond Shine's blood began to boil.

Meanwhile, Silverstream had met up with Yona, Smolder, and Ocellus again. "I think we did pretty well," Ocellus admitted. "Little shaky, but still a good first day."

"It's got to be better than our first play," Smolder shrugged.

"Definitely. I have no idea how we weren't more injured from the crystal ball."

"It did feel a little weird being dressed like a pony," Silverstream added. "By the way, you think that Gallus and I can make that scene work?" The hippogriff's friends stopped looked between each other. Silverstream didn't have that much experience in dating compared to them.

"Maybe friend talk to Gallus," Yona suggested.

"You sure about that?" Smolder questioned.

"It works for you and Ocellus."

"She's not wrong," the changeling commented.

"I'm up for that," Silverstream added. "I don't want to make Gallus do something he doesn't want to." This was something the girls could agree on as they carried on with their day.

Day Two

Later that evening, during dinner at the cafeteria, Gallus got his meal. He then found Silverstream sitting with his friends. Since he already found out about the ‘scene’, he felt awkward. Still, he managed to sit down with his friends, who had changed topics to other things that weren't related to the play. He placed down his tray, sat between Sandbar and Silverstream, and grabbed a spoon to start eating.

“So,” Silverstream said while chewing on her meal, “what are the chances of a dragon moving into Ponyville?”

“Maybe between 30-35%,” Smolder, who’s right beside her, replied. “I mean, Garble's warming up to ponies since he helped save the dragon eggs. It'll be great to have him around more often.”

“I don't think it's just Ponyville that could have different creatures moving in,” Ocellus noted, adding to the conversation. “What about places like Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Vanhoover, or Canterlot?”

“Those places… They weren’t up for a dragon any other creature than a pony moving in there. The locals,… you know, they’ll be very uncomfortable.”

“What about yaks?” Yona asked.

“I think we'd have to reinforce some of the buildings for a yak to move in,” Sandbar admitted. “No offense.”

Yona simply shrugged as she then noticed Gallus was being awfully quiet. “Gallus have anything to say?”

“About what?” the griffon asked while holding his bowl of soup.

“Anything,” Smolder responded. “Just as long as it isn't related to the play. I’m getting a little tired of hearing it.” Gallus obliged and the rest carried on talking about the moving situation while other ponies enjoyed their dinner.

Diamond Shine might've been an exception. The crystal pony couldn't stop complaining about Silverstream getting a bigger part than her. With many of the students tired of her complaints, she was sitting by herself. Pyther and Coral sat with her in hopes to get her to quiet down.

“Diamond,” Coral said, sitting down beside her, with Pyther on the other side, “we know you're still peeved, but you have to let it go. It’s Silverstream’s role.”

“It just doesn't make sense to me,” Diamond Shine responded.

“And it sounds like you're not listening,” Pyther muttered to herself.

“What has Silverstream done that I haven't?”

“Let's see…” Pyther started. “She can fly, turn into a seapony anytime she wants, helped defeat three of the worst creatures in Equestria, and her species may be as fast as lightning…… Should I go on?” Diamond Shine gave a low brow as she can tell that Pyther was having fun right now.

"She's been at this school longer than you have," Coral explained. "Maybe that means she gets better perks. She's also on the cheer squad and has better connections to our professors."

"But what about the experience in acting?" Diamond Shine questioned. "I was natural at my old school."

“We know. You should give Silver a chance. She was having a lot of fun from what I saw.”

“Yeah, she’s right,” Pyther agreed, “If you stop being a stick in the mud and have fun with the part you've got, everyone will be happy. Then that play will be a success.” The dragoness was hoping that her friend would get the memo. Diamond Shine just rolled her eyes and sulked when she had her meal. This probably meant she didn't listen.

Pate meanwhile was venting to some of the other students that were in the play. Some of them included Tanzanite, a purple lanky dragon, Sunshine and Kelpie, a yellow and green hippogriff, respectively.

“I've read the script like five times,” the changeling complained, “How am I not remembering them?”

“I understand,” Tanz responded. “I'm really sure I understand my character, Clockwork. I know he's one of the castle staff that's been cursed but... It's the fact that he's a pony that has me confused.”

“I think Moss just ignores the pony angle. What about you guys?”

Sunshine was the first to speak. “I feel like I have a lot of weight on my part as Golden's father," he admitted. “I'm worried about the scene where I get captured. Kelpie, what about you?”

“I'm just playing one of the village ponies,” Kelpie admitted. “I have it pretty easy, to be honest. I'll also be helping out the others getting the props ready."

“That's good to hear," Tanz commented. "I don't really see why I didn't just volunteer to help with the props.”

“Shimmy says I just need to keep reading my lines I should memorize,” Pate added. “Hasn't been going too well, though.” The boys all felt this way, though it was only the start of the production. There was still a lot to do.

As the young six enjoyed their meal and their conversation, though Gallus’s heart was racing at the moment. Sandbar could see that he was nervous. He then made his move. “Hey, Gallus, I think we could use some napkins. You mind if you help me get some?” he asked.

Smolder was a little confused by this. “Why would you both...?”

“Sure, I’ll help,” Gallus spoke without hesitation. He and Sandbar both go up and grab some napkins. While doing that, Sandbar then looked around to see if anyone is close. He then whispers to him.

“Are you okay?” the colt whispered.

“What does it look like?” the griffon quietly uttered in an anxious tone. “Silver and I are going to kiss… on stage. If I mess this up, I’m never going to live it down. How awkward do you think it’s going to be for me and Silver if it goes wrong. Even if it goes right, how would we even hang out after that.”

“You’re going to be fine. Silverstream would be too happy that all of us are dating now.”

“Dating?” Gallus didn't want to think too much about this. He grabbed a talon full of napkins and flew back to the table with Sandbar following shortly. The griffon remained silent for the rest of the night.

The next day, all students were back at the stage to continue the preparation. Rarity had already gotten some of the costumes made and was helping the performers to try them on. Yona managed to help Smolder into her outfit, though it didn't look like to be finished.

“Yona, you sure this looks right?” Smolder asked. She was starting to look like a wardrobe with some drapes attached by needles to make it look like doors. However, they looked more like hammocks instead of doors.

“Friend's outfit still needs work,” Yona commented. She tried holding the bits of cloth up, though it still didn't look right. "Maybe doors need more depth."

As Yona was trying to figure out how the outfit worked, Emerald and Peridot had gathered blades of grass and were trying to make it into a paste. Pyther was sitting nearby not sure how to feel knowing that she would be covered in the said paste. “You sure this is a good idea?” she asked.

“I'm having second thoughts,” Emerald admitted.

“Me too,” Peridot added. They took a look at the green paste in the mixing bowl. It still had some chunks of grass in it and looked kind of disgusting.

“You want to try again and looked for a powder?”

“Good idea.” Peridot was handing the mushy grassy liquid and placed it beside a tree so they could look for another material they could grind up.

While they did that, Sunshine and Silverstream were on stage getting ready for their next scene. Sunshine placed on a saddlebag which had been filled with paper to fill in for letters and parcels. Trud and Ravi were helping set up a backdrop of a cottage, complete with a functional door.

"Okay,… a little more to the right," Rusty called. "Now... Back to the left." The students moved around a little bit until Terry was able to secure the drop in place.

"So, are we ready for our scene?" Sunshine asked.

“Just give us a minute," Applejack called. She and the students made sure that the backdrop was secure.

"Are we ready now?" Silverstream asked.

“Yes, we are,” Starlight confirmed. “Whenever you're ready,”. Both hippogriffs did so, acting out the scene where Golden's father left to make his deliveries, though he wouldn't return. As they acted out, Diamond Shine sulked from off stage. Getting tired of her complaints, Gus had volunteered to get her to stop.

“You sure you're cutie mark shouldn't be on your face?” the grumpy griffon asked.

“Excuse me!?" the crystal pony questioned.

“It feels like what you're talking out of.” Diamond Shine was offended. “Listen, I'm going easy on you, so unless Silver can't perform, I recommend you glue your little mouth shut, or I'm going to teach the others a new vocabulary to describe you.” With that bit of knowledge, Gus walked away to take care of more important matters. However, the words ‘can’t perform’ got Diamond Shine thinking.

“I could make a good understudy.” She looked over to the hippogriffs on stage. Aside from Sunshine's shaky voice, they were performing well. “I guess if there was... an accident.” Diamond Shine walked away forming a plan to ensure she would have the lead role.

After Silverstream walked off stage as Sunshine was acting out the scene where he arrived at the monster's castle. She met up with Peridot and sat down with her, who was still trying to find some mineral to grind up. "Hey, Perri, how are you doing?" the hippogriff asked.

“We're trying to make Pyther look just like me and Emma,” the dragoness explained. “We're supposed to be the identical triplets.”

“Hmm, have you tried mane dye?”

“I don't think that would work on dragon scales.”

“It's worth a try.”

“…If you say so." Peridot walked away to try and find her sister to tell her the idea. While this was going on, Diamond Shine found Terry checked on some ropes.

“Hey there, Terry,” Diamond Shine said. Terry turned.

“Oh, hi there, Diamond,” he greeted.

“What are you doing?”

“Just checking to see if the sandbags are working," the young minotaur explained. He pointed at the ropes that went to some pullies that were attached to the ceiling which lead to one of the backdrops that could be raised and lowered at will.

“Uh-huh. I know how this works. Don't you have any more background to hang up?”

“We still need to build more props, but this is important too. If you just let one of these cables loose, those backdrops are basically blunt guillotines.” The sound of falling wood could be heard followed by some surprising yells.

“Ugh... Terry!” Rusty called. “We could use some help here.”

"Oh my goodness, be right there!" He quickly ran off to see what was wrong. While he did, Diamond Shine looked up to see a couple more sandbags were hanging from the ceiling. She could see some of them hanging over the stage where actors would be visible to the audience. The crystal pony could see where all of the ropes were tied down, so she just needed to loosen the right one.

Sometime later, Silverstream came back on stage to act out the scene where Goldie would take her father's place in the monster's prison. Diamond Shine was still backstage as she could see Gallus walk over to the hippogriffs. The crystal pony started loosening the ropes. Soon, the sandbags started falling, narrowly missing the students, who were just as shocked as their headmare.

"What the heck?!" Gallus questioned. More bags started to fall and students quickly started getting out of the way but Sunshine has gotten his tail stuck on the hinge of the trapdoor. One last sandbag fell and would've landed on the stuck hippogriff if it wasn't for a yak running and ramming into the sandbag, splitting it open and sending sand everywhere. When everything calmed down, they all saw Orri, one of the smallest yaks, rubbing his eyes.

Starlight quickly got onto the stage to help check on the students. “Are you two okay?” she asked.

“I think so,” Sunshine said. “My tail’s stuck!” Gus came over to help get his tail unstuck while Sunburst saw that Orri now had sand in his eyes.

“Yak can't see,” Orri groaned.

“Let's just take you to the nurse's office,” Sunburst suggested. The yak and stallion walked as Starlight wasn't pleased with what happened.

“How did this happen?” she asked.

“We swear, Headmare Starlight,” Rusty said, "We made sure those sandbags were secure tightly."

“I didn't know they were there,” Ravi added.

Terry, meanwhile, was more curious than concerned. He does remember that Diamond Shine was there when he left to help with the mess. “Hold on. Has one of you seen Diamond Shine?” he asked.

“Why are you looking for her?” Gus asked.

“I feel like she might have something to do with this.” The minotaur went to check backstage, where Diamond Shine had disappeared. He explained that the last time he saw her, he had shown her the pully system. Starlight made sure that the crystal pony would be found, though it looked like the ropes had been cut by something sharp, something that a crystal pony wouldn't normally possess.

It wasn't until the stage had been cleaned up that Diamond was found. She had pretended that she didn't know what was going on, but most of the students weren't so easily fooled. Gallus was one of them. He flew up to the spoiled pony and got right in her face. "What do you think you’re playing at?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Diamond Shine questioned innocently.

“Don't play dumb. You already did that when you tried to crush us with sandbags. You're in hot water, little filly, so don't boil over.” Gallus walked away rather annoyed as Diamond Shine brushed his warning off.

The griffon found Sandbar, who had been fitted with his outfit. His gloves were white and he had a faux unicorn's horn that had flame made of plastic on its end. The only other clothing he had was a bronze vest, Rarity was still working on the rest. He saw Gallus approach and decided to talk. “Are you okay?” the colt asked.

“Not entirely. I've just talked with Diamond Shine the smart flank. I don't know what she was planning on getting out of that stunt.”

“We don't know if it was her.”

"If they don’t know if it’s her, then who else would do it?"

“It's... It feels kind of obvious, but still... I'm giving her one last chance.”

Gallus huffed. “Good luck with that. Anyways, have you seen Silver? I want to see how she's doing."

"I think Yona was helping her with her dress. She should..."

"Guys, take a look!" called a voice. The boys and Rarity looked over to see Silverstream flying over to them wearing a golden ballroom dress. It wasn't fully finished and it almost looked like it would fall apart, but it looked very nice. Gallus and Sandbar were amazed by this.

“Silverstream, you look marvelous,” Rarity commented.

“Astonishing!” Sandbar added. Gallus on the other hand was speechless by how the hippogriff looked. Rarity examed the parts of Silverstream's dress that didn't look secure.

“Silverstream, I know you're excited, but you really should be careful with flying in this.” The mare requested that the hippogriff took off the dress so she could make some adjustments while Sandbar took note of his friend's reaction to the dress.

"Gallus, are you okay?"

The griffon snapped back to reality and looked at Sandbar. “I was just... uhh… shocked by the quality we have. I mean... You remember the outfits we had during our first play?"

"I do. It's just that..."

"Oh, Gallus, while you're here, you could help us with the monster costume," Rarity informed. Gallus took a look at the cover of the script. It showed Golden Aura and the cursed prince in the ballroom. The beast had dark brown fur, fangs, ram horns, bat wings, sharp claws, and red-slitted eyes. It would probably be the most complex thing they would have to make. “I'm glad that Yona is helping me, but we need more than two dressmakers.”

“Right,” Gallus commented. He placed the script down as he sniffed a little bit. “What's that smell?”

“What smell?” Sandbar asked. He took a whiff and could smell something hard to describe. Silverstream and Rarity could smell it too, so they went to investigate it with the boys. After looking around for a minute, they found Pyther with Emerald and Peridot. The twins were helping their friend apply some green dye to her scales.

“Oh, how's my idea working?” Silverstream asked.

“The smell is something I wish I knew about before starting," Pyther spoke. Emerald and Peridot were still trying to rub the dye on their friend's scales. “How hard is it going to be to get this out.”

"It works better on manes rather than scales," Rarity noted. "Do you need any help?"

“No need, Professor. I think we're getting the hang of it,” Emerald responded. She grabbed the container of the green dye and doubled checked in the instructions as Rarity and the rest of the students went back to the costume-making station. They found Yona walking over to the sewing machines with various materials, brown fake fur, some plastic horns, fake bat wings, and other materials that looked like she would use to make the monster.

“Yona, you're already getting started?” Sandbar questioned.

“Yak has perfect vision of monster,” Yona proclaimed.

“And you remember what I taught you about the sewing machine?” Rarity asked. Yona nodded and was about to start until the mare spoke up again. "You know Gallus's measurements right?" Yona confirmed the information and got to work making Gallus's outfit.

"So, how am I going to have bat wings?" Gallus asked.

"They'll just slip over your normal wings," Rarity informed. "The horns will probably just be a part of a headband." Yona took noted of this and placed the horns to the side, but she left her hoof on the pedal, making the machine keep going and the thread got stuck. Rarity could see and hear the machine struggling so she got Yona to stop. The yak didn't look happy with her mistake but Rarity happily helped clean it up, even though the costumes would be delayed.

Yona wouldn't be the only one having trouble. Before his next scene, Pate kept checking his lines before he and Moss went on. “You sure you've got it this time?” Moss asked.

“I think so,” Pate responded. “I've read this by about five times.”

“Great. I'll meet you on the stage.” Moss walked off as Pate gave the script one last read before putting it down and flying to the stage. There, Moss was waiting with Gale, a white and gray griffon, sitting in a chair inside a dimly lit room. Pate sat down with them.

“Okay," Starlight said, “You remember the scene?”

"We go to talk with a guy who can help ensure the marriage of Bronze and Goldie," Moss responded.

“Perfect. And action!”

Gale cleared his throat before he spoke. “So, what brings you two here?” he asked, trying to sound old and ominous.

“We're here because I have my eyes for Golden Aura,” Moss informed.

“Shame it can't be said the other way around,” Pate said. Moss looked at the other changeling before giving a fake slap. Pate was a little slow to react and simply just leaned back. Moss let that slide and looked back at Gale.

“And how is that going to work?” Gale asked.

“Everyone knows that Goldie's father is insane,” Moss said.

“Yeah, he…” Pate paused as he tried to remember his lines again. The other two were about to stop until he continued. “He… He came in screaming about a monster. Crazy, right?” Moss glared at him before giving another fake slap, this time Pate reacted more appropriately.

"The point is, Goldie would do anything for her father's safety."

"Yeah, even marry him." Just when it looked like Moss was going to slap him again, Pate beat him to the punch by slapping himself first.

“So, you want me to lock him up in the asylum until Golden agrees to marry you,” Gale commented. Both changelings nodded in confirmation. “And what will I get out of it?” Gale asked. Moss tossed a small bag onto the table, to which the griffon opened up to find a bunch of plastic bits.

“500 bits,” he replied boldly.

"Hmm, It’s a deal. Bring... Goldie's father to me. I'll go prepare his room."

Both changelings left the room as the griffon counted the bits he was given. "Alright," Starlight commented. "That was great. Gale, I think you missed your line a little bit."

"What are you talking about?" the griffon asked.

Sunburst held up a copy of the script. “When you said, 'What do I get out of it,' you were supposed to say, 'And what's in it for me?'”

“They mean the same things.”

“True, but it doesn't really... fit with the old man's personality.”

“It's like if Chrysalis just went ‘booyah’,” Moss commented. "It would sound so out of place."

"What about me?" Pate asked.

"You're improving," Starlight said. "Keep up the good work." The changeling smiled as they walked off the stage and Trud, one of the yaks, helped move the furniture off the stage.

Sunshine was waiting backstage wearing a saddlebag that he would fill up with some maps and other supplies. "You're up, buddy," Gale said while passing him.

"Okay," the hippogriff responded. He saw the backdrops being changed from the dark room to the one outside of the cottage. Sunshine got to the back of it, as it had a functioning door.

"Action!" Starlight called. When she said this, the hippogriff opened the door and began heading away from the cottage, he was about to speak his line, but he was looking directly into the empty crowd. Sunshine could only imagine the size of the audience that would be watching them. He just froze on the stage, much to the confusion of everyone.

"What's he doing?" Ravi whispered.

"He's probably frozen with fear or something," Gus said. "I'm on it." He flew onto the stage and tapped on the hippogriff's shoulder, snapping him back to reality. "Dude, are you okay?"

"I'm... Fine..." Sunshine replied. "I just forgot my lines."

"You need another chance to go over them?"

"Yep... I'm pretty sure." Sunshine flew away to double-check his lines, leaving the others to wait on him.

A little while later, Yona managed to get the base of the monster costume completed. She had a couple of snags but was happy that it was finished. She handed it to Gallus, wanting him to try it on. When the griffon did so, he quickly found an issue that Yona had overlooked. "Yona, can you tell what's wrong with this?" he asked.

The yak took a look at her handwork and saw what was missing on the back. She brought her hooves to her face. "Yona forgot the holes," she groaned.

"Looks like it. My wings feel so constricted." He struggled to take it off as Yona grabbed a part of scissors. She cut out some holes for Gallus's wings. She gave it back to the griffon, who began putting back on. Just before the yak could get started on the headband, Gallus had to report something else. "You missed."

Confused, Yona looked back and could see what Gallus was talking about. She missed where the base of Gallus's wings and they were too far on his back. She groaned and banged her head on the table in frustration. She would try and patched it up and put the holes in the right spot, the worst-case scenario she would have to start over.

While she was working on that, Pyther's makeover was finished. Just like the twins, she was completely green. "How do I look?" she asked.

"Pretty good," Peridot commented. "I didn't think it was going to work that well."

"Yeah. I mean, change the horns and the head, anyone could mistake you for a triplet," Emerald commented.

"Fantastic. I hope I don't have to be like this for too long. I'm going to find Coral before she gets confused with what's going on."

"You do that." Pyther walked away, leaving the twins to check on other parts of the play.

Pyther looked around for a little bit until she found Coral chatting with Diamond Shine. Both of them were surprised to see the dragoness' new color. "What the... Pyther?" Coral questioned.

"Hey, girls," the dragoness responded. "Think I look like the twins?"

"I almost thought you were one of them," Diamond Shine commented. "How long are you going to stay like this?"

"Only until after the play. How about you guys?"

"They're a delay on some of the outfits," Coral informed. "One of the sewing machines burned out its mower, and now we've only got one working. Yona's struggling a bit without Rarity."

“I haven't seen her as the creative type,” Diamond Shine admitted.

“Whoever is making the outfits, I hope they aren't delayed,” Pyther said. "I didn't want to have myself colored green for nothing."

“It'll be sorted out. I mean, are they really going to let one error get in the way?”

“There were also those sandbags,” Coral reminded. “When you just disappeared.” Pyther was surprised then gave her friend a low brow.

“Where were you?” Pyther asked.

“I was trying to find a part Silverstream could switch so I could be Golden Aura,” Diamond Shine replied.

“Uh-huh, and that includes backstage, right?” The crystal pony didn't want to answer this and just walked away. The green-colored dragoness and hippogriff looked towards each other, knowing how things were likely going to end.

“Should we help her?” Coral questioned.

“She won't learn if we do. I want to see her get caught.” Pyther snickered as she walked away to explain her new look to the other students.

Rarity had returned with a new motor for the sewing machine that burnt out. Rusty was called over to help put it back together, but the generous mare could see that Yona was still upset. “Cheer up Yona, you haven't used it that long,” Rarity noted.

"It not that," Yona sighed. She showed her professor the base of the monster's outfit. It was now all patchy as she had struggled to find the sweet spot for Gallus's wings. Rarity could see the problem.

“Hmm, that's definitely a challenge in dressmaking. It looks like we'll have to start over here.” The yak sighed as she knew she had wasted all of her time on this one outfit.

Gallus wasn't aware of this as he was busy performing a scene with Sandbar and Tanzanite. They were performing the scene where Golden Aura discovering the monster's secret. Silverstream placed on a coat as she flew past the colt and dragon, who was surprised with the haste the hippogriff had.

“Madam, where are you going?” Sandbar asked.

“I'm leaving,” Silverstream responded. She opened the door of the castle and flew away, leaving the castle staff members upset knowing their last chance was gone. Silverstream began flying through the fierce winds of the snowstorm. It was a struggle for her, but things were going to get worse.

Out of the blue, Trud, Frida, and Dotta jumped out. The three yaks were acting like a pack of wolves that were threatening to pounce on the hippogriff. Silverstream would've flown away except the winds were too strong for her to fly. The yak wolves pounced at her a couple of times, each pounce narrowly missing the hippogriff. Just when it looked like she was done for, Gallus swooped in.

He delivered a blow to Trud, whose thick wool just absorbed the blow. The yak was confused. Gallus quickly whispered something into his ear. “You're supposed to go flying when I hit you,” the griffon informed.

“Oh, right,” Trud responded. He quickly jumped backward, hoping that he would make up for his mistake. Dotta and Frida were able to catch on with this and pretended that Gallus was stronger than he actually was. Silverstream just stood back and watched acting as if she saw the monster fighting off the wolves. However, Frida ended up overreacted and lept right off the stage, much to the shock of the students and their headmare.

“Are you okay, Frida?” Starlight asked.

“Yak fine,” Frida respoked. The young yak certainly left her mark on the ground which didn't go unnoticed. A small indent now stood in front of the stage.

“We should probably fill that,” Sunburst recommended.

“Good idea,” Starlight agreed.

Frida quickly made her way back onto the stage and resumed the scene with the yaks and Gallus. Eventually, Trud jumped onto Gallus and bit his arm. “OW! What the heck, Trud!?” the griffon cried.

“Script said to bite arm,” the yak responded.

“Not literally! Get off me!” Gallus's anger was almost enough to push the confused yak off of him. The scene was cut early so Gallus's new wound could be treated. It wasn't too serious, while there wasn't any blood, Trud still left his mark. Silverstream left the stage so she could help get some ice for her friend.

When she returned, Gallus was sitting on one of the chairs that had been freshly built. He was glad to have an icepack for his bitemark. “You know he was just trying to do as he was told,” the hippogriff noted.

“Uh-huh, I don't see you following the script so literally,” Gallus grumbled. He cringed a little bit when applied the ice to his wound.

Silverstream stood beside him and thought about something. “You know, I think if this was a little more serious, not too serious though, I think we could've practiced the scene where Goldie patches the monster up." Gallus chuckled as this did feel like a kind of coincidence. Gallus wasn't sure what to say here, given the scene he had concerns about. Silverstream could see the gears turning in his head. “What are you thinking about?"

“Um... Diamond Shine. Can you believe her behavior?”

“I know. I understand she wants to be in the lead role since she’s been a good performer before. She even offered to swap roles with me.”

“Did she?”

“Yes,” she replied with a nod.

Gallus knew the crystal pony was desperate for the part so he decided to give some advice. “Hey, you've been doing really good out there. You'd be throwing out all of that talent if you switch places with somebody now.”

“You think so?”

“Of course. You've got more energy than anybody else I know. You've been doing great so far.”

“You too.” Both griffs thought about that scene near the end of the play. It was still a little awkward for the two, so they tried to brush that to the side.

“You want to hang out and blow off some steam when the rehearsals are over?”

“Sure.”

“Good. I think I'm going to check on Yona to see if she's having better luck with my costume.” Gallus flew away while holding his icepack on his arm. The griffon soon found the yak being assisted by Rarity. With some extra help, the monster costume was coming along much easier than before. They saw Gallus and the bite mark he had been given.

“What happened?” Yona asked.

“Trud took his part too seriously.”

“Hopefully he doesn't try that again. He's already on thin ice after Winter Wrap Up,” Rarity noted. “Now that you're here, could you try this on?” She showed off the monster outfit, which appeared to a higher quality than the one that Yona had made. It even had a proper pair of holes for Gallus's wings. The griffon slipped it on and the costume appeared to be a great fit.

“Perfect,” Yona cheered. She then showed off the horns of the costume, which were attached to a headband. Other features the costume would have were some gloves for the sharp gloves and some bat wings. They easily slipped onto Gallus's talons and wings.

“How do I look?” he asked. He held his wings open so they could get a good look at his outfit.

“Griffon now look like scary monster,” Yona commented.

“I say we did a good job,” Rarity commented.

“Sweet,” Gallus said. "I'm going to show this to the others." So that's what he did. Silverstream was the first to see the griffon's costume.

“Wow, Gallus you look amazing,” the hippogriff cheered. “I think you just need some fangs and you'll have everything to complete it.”

“I'm pretty sure that any fangs would mess with my speech,” he chuckled.

“I’m just suggesting.”

“I know.” After showing off Gallus’s outfit and letting his injury heal up a little bit. They retried the scene of the wolf attack. This time the yaks had better reaction times to play punches, Trud didn’t actually bite Gallus’s arm, and the scene was able to wrap up with yak fleeing from the monster. Gallus, acting as if he was completely worn out, fainted. Silverstream was about to run off but could see the monster still needed help. Reluctantly, she helped the monster stand up and slowly walk back to the castle.

“Cut,” Starlight called. “That was perfect.”

“Was it?” Frida asked.

“Sure was. Now, I think it’s about time we call it a day. We’ll see you next time.” Many of the students agreed to this and started leaving to do their own things. Most of them that wore outfits, like Gallus, took them off and left them with Rarity before they left.

Silverstream flew beside Gallus as they were about to have some time to blow off steam. “So, what are we going to do?” the hippogriff asked.

Gallus thought for a minute before coming up with an idea. “How about some bowling?” he suggested.

“Great idea! How about we bring the others along?”

“Eh, sure, why not?” Though it would be nice for all of them to do something fun after rehearsals, the griffon admittedly wanted to hang out with Silverstream alone.

The young six soon met up at the bowling alley where they made up two teams, Smolder was on one team with the boys while the rest of the girls were on the other team.

They had already knocked over a set of pins, some getting spares while mostly missing just one or two. Smolder sat down with the boys while they waited for Silverstream to bowl. “Are we going to address the elephant in the room?” the dragoness asked.

“What?” Gallus questioned.

“You and Silver. You know, dating.”

Gallus was taken aback by this until Sandbar spoke up. “Smolder,” the colt said, “It’ll be best if Gallus handles this at his own pace.”

“Just saying, they’ve got to kiss some time.”

The griffon scowled. “Are you trying to help me or just to collapse from the pressure?” he asked. The sound of pins getting knocked over interrupted their conversation.

“YES!” Silverstream cheered, “I’ve got a strike!” She pointed to the pins that had been knocked over. Yona and Ocellus were impressed, so was Smolder’s team.

“You guys think you can match that?” the dragoness asked the boys. Sandbar would give a shrug as Gallus wasn’t too sure what to say to the hippogriff. Trying to think of something to say, he looked at the bit he had on him.

"You guys hungry?" the griffon asked. "I think I can buy some nachos or something.

“Sound good,” Smolder replied with a nod.

"Yona like extra cheese," Yona requested.

Gallus gave a thumbs up before walking over to the snack bar. Sandbar then whispered to Ocellus, who was about to roll the ball.

“Ocellus,” he whispered, “can you go check on Gallus? He felt very unsettled.”

“Alright,” Ocellus replied, “I will.” After rolling her ball, Ocellus walked over to Gallus, who sat at the bar waiting for the nachos. Meanwhile, without her noticing, Silverstream, Yona, Smolder, and Sandbar saw the bowling ball that Ocellus rolled knocked all of the remaining bowling pins except one that was rocking back and forth. The four leaned forward with suspense within to see that last pin kept rocking, until…… it rocks back to its standing position. They groaned.

“So close!” Smolder exclaimed.

Ocellus, meanwhile, sat down beside Gallus, waiting for their nachos. She could see him with his one claw bagging his cheek, and his talons tapping on the counter.

“So,” Ocellus spoke, “Sandbar told me about how you're feeling.”

The griffon sighed, and then turned to his bug friend. “How else would I feel?” he doubted. “Does Silverstream feel the same way?”

The changeling looked back to their friends, who were more focused on bowling than them. “Somewhat of the same way.”

“Okay. Love is your thing. What do I do here?”

Ocellus thought for a minute before she answered the question. “It's never easy. I'm not sure if I can really help as you or Silver will have to step up and admit how you feel.”

“That's what I'm afraid of.”

“Look, we've done some impressive things. Sandbar and Smolder both admitted their feelings to Yona and me. Hopefully one of you will be able to do it.” Gallus sighed as he wasn't too sure about it. They both saw the nachos were ready and they brought them back over to their friends.

Silverstream helped herself to them. Gallus decided to speak up. "Hey, Silver," he said, "How about you and I have some time alone after we're done here."

"Sure. At the school?"

"Yeah, that'll work." Gallus then saw it was his turn to bowl and flew over to grab his ball.

A little while later, the students returned to the School of Friendship after their game. Gallus and Silverstream separated from the others and stopped by the fountain and the bridges. Silverstream turned herself into a seapony so she could swim around for a little. Gallus sat down with his paws of the edge and claws holding the railings. “Do you know why we were picked to be Goldie and the monster?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Gallus replied. “Maybe it's because we're both griffs. You're a hippogriff, a legendary creature who's been boasted to fly faster than lightning. Meanwhile, me, a griffon, from a failed kingdom, who’s only after money.” Gallus sighed before lying down beside the water. Silverstream climbed out of the water.

“Hey, the griffons are doing better now that they're here. Especially you.”: That comment made Gallus feel a little better. "Plus, I like the opposites attract thing about our roles."

“It's kind of funny, to be honest. All I need is something like your pearl shard.”

“What do you think you would turn into. Maybe.... something fast like a cheetah.”

“Hmm, that'd be cool. Still, it's nice you have something that lets you breathe underwater.”

“You want to try it?” Gallus was a little hesitant as he was trying to keep things under his control.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Come on, it'll be cool.” Silverstream changed back into a hippogriff and sat beside her friend. “Smolder was against this too. Why is it so hard to try one magical object?”

“I guess some creatures take changes easier than others. Remember when we first came here?” The hippogriff giggled until she remembered the part where they ran away.

“Yeah…” she said with awkwardness. “Not our best idea.”

“Probably not. I doubt we're classified as normal teens.”

“That's true. Not everyone gets to talk with the spirit of harmony.”

“Or stop a filly too smart for her own good. Three times.” Both of them chuckled at their former classmate’s failures. Silverstream stopped as she tried to think of other achievements they had done.

“Remember those quests the spirit made us do?” she asked.

“Kind of wish I didn’t. What does escaping a room, that could crush me, have to do with friendship?”

“I don’t know. I just wish I didn’t have to remember…. the Storm King.” Just thinking about that name sent a shiver down her spine.

“Okay, how about we forget about that guy? Let’s just focus on other things. Like…” The awkward silence made both students remember the kissing scene. That made them both feel awkward.

“I think… I have some school work I forgot about,” Silverstream said. “I should take care of that first.”

“Ugh… Go ahead and do that. I know what it's like getting behind.” Both of them gave a thumbs up before the hippogriff flew away. When she was out of sight, Gallus banged his head on one of the bridge railings. He sighed in disappointment.

An Actress's attention

The next day arrived, and everyone was already at the cafeteria to get some breakfast. The students were very excited about it, especially creatures from beyond, for they get to experience it for the first time. When it comes to rehearsals, it’s a lot of hard work.

As Coral grabbed her tray of food, she carried it and met up with Pyther, who was still covered in green dye. She then sat down beside her. “Good morning,” Coral greeted.

“Mornin’,” Pyther greeted back

“How's the dye on your scales?” Coral asked.

“Doing fine,” the dragoness responded. "Emma said that I should be careful not to get it wet, or else it’ll be wiped away."

“You've got spare dye, right?”

“Of course. You thought I would try and go weeks without showers? I'd smell worse than a muddy yak.”

While the two friends were feeling cheery, Gallus wasn’t. He rested his head on his talons while stirring his cereal. Sandbar sat beside him as he was a little concerned. “Good morning, Gallus,” Sandbar greeted.

The blue griffon turned to see him sitting. “Oh, hey there,” he replied with a gloomy tone.

“Are you okay?” the colt asked.

The griffon just glanced at his friend again before going back to staring at his cereal. “I choked last night,” he sighed. “I had a good chance to have a nice talk with Silverstream, but I blew it.”

“How bad?”

“She just… left… to do homework.” The griffon sighed as he held a spoonful of his cereal up to his face. “This is soggy now.” He placed his spoon in his bowl and left it on the table to see if he could get anything else to eat. Silverstream watched him walk by and felt too awkward to talk with him. She simply flew over to where she saw the cheer squad and sat with him.

The girls could see their friend’s long face and Shimmy Shake decided to speak first. “What's wrong, Silverstream?” she asked.

The bubbly hippogriff who looked rather still took a deep breath before responded. “It’s just… uhh… Do you think I could have some… dating advice?” she asked. This was surprising to some of them, except for Smolder, Yona, and Ocellus, who already knew the predicament.

Shimmy Shake smiled as she continued. “I see. I can help out. Meet me in my dorm after breakfast and we'll talk.” This managed to bring a smile to Silverstream's face.

After eating, the girls met up in Shimmy Shake's dorm room to talk privately. “Okay, so how long do we have before rehearsals start?” Smolder asked.

“Only a few hours,” Shimmy Shake responded. “Anyways, Silver, who's the boy you're having trouble with?”

“It's… It’s Gallus,” the hippogriff muttered.

“Gallus!?” the girls gasped.

“It's true,” Ocellus confirmed. “He even told me that he was feeling the same way.”

“That's… interesting,” Shimmy Shake commented.

“So, what should Silver do?” Grace the griffon asked.

“A date... or hang out.”

“We already tried that,” Silverstream stated. “It got awkward, so I just bailed.” The hippogriff sighed at her mistake, though her friends were still supporting her.

“Yona remembers mess up at Pony Pal Dance,” Yona reminded. “Disaster then Yona and Sandbar get alone better.”

“That's true,” Smolder commented. “I mean, you saw what happened before Celly and I started dating.” The dragoness rubbed her head as she didn't exactly enjoy remembering ‘certain’ events.

“And I remember my first date with Pate,” Shimmy Shake added. “First time doesn't seem to be everything.” Silverstream could see that her friends were right.

“Yeah, I should try talking with Gallus again,” she said. “Maybe we can have a proper hangout.”

“After classes, of course,” Ocellus noted.

“Oh, I'm sure I'll be able to talk with him before they're over. Thanks, girls.” Silverstream smiled and quickly flew out of the dorm room as Lighthoof had a curious question.

“So, I know that half of us are dating,” Lighthoof spoke, “but what about you guys?” Peridot, Dotta, and Grace simply shrugged.

During their classes, Silverstream tried to talk with Gallus. However, the blue griffon was awfully silent and wouldn't respond. Silverstream thought he was just focusing on his lessons, though she had a feeling this wasn't the case. Most of the time, Gallus wouldn't even look at her.

When it was time for rehearsals, Gallus flew off backstage and got himself dressed up as the monster. Sandbar was also with him getting into his outfit as Light Touch as he had to ask why his friend was so down. “Look, you and Silver could've had it worse,” he noted.

“How?” Gallus questioned.

“You could’ve caused damage as Yona or Smolder did. I'm not trying to make them sound bad, but you get the idea, right?” The griffon nodded as he put on his fake wings over his real ones. Sandbar only had to put on his fake horn, gloves, and vest, as the rest of his costume wasn't finished. Rarity ran past them as she looked like she was in a hurry. “Um, Professor Rarity…”

“Sorry, Sandbar” the mare apologized. “I've been sent a letter that one of my employees in Canterlot has reported ill. Now, I have to come in and help out.”

“But… what about the costumes?"

“I've put Yona in charge of them. I've also told her to ask one of the other professors just in case she needs help. Now, I have to go.” Without another word, Rarity ran off to the train station, hoping to catch the next ride to Canterlot. Hearing Rarity said that Yona was in charge made Sandbar worried, so he walked over to the sewing station, where Yona was a little stressed.

“Are you okay?” the colt asked his girlfriend.

“Yona didn’t have luck last time,” the yak responded with a stressed tone. “Maybe, Yona just wait for Rare Pony to get back?”

“That could take a long time. Surely, you have to remember what she taught you.” The yak didn't seem to have a lot of confidence. “Let's start with something simple. How about something like a pair of pants, like for my costume.” Yona could see what he meant, looking at the unfinished costume.

“Yona will try.”

“That's more I like it. I'm going to check to see if I'm needed on stage. I’ll be back.” Sandbar walked away, leaving Yona to her work, which she wasn't wanting to do by herself.

Meanwhile, Pate was talking with Sulcus, who hadn't been on stage that much. “I haven't gotten that much practice,” the pink changeling said.

“I'm sure it'll be your turn soon,” Pate reassured. “Although I'm still having issues remembering my lines.”

“Well, I think I have the character, Flake, down. I just need my costume, and that’s it.”

“Same here.” Both had seen Rarity running towards the train station, so they would probably be in for a long wait.

“It’s going to be a long wait, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.” Ocellus walked over to them.

“Hey, Sulcus, it's time,” she called. The pink changeling smiled as he quickly flew to the stage, where Ocellus caught up with him. They doubled checked their lines before placing the scripts away.

“You two ready?” Starlight asked.

“Ready,” both changelings responded.

The two changelings got into their spots. Smolder and Silverstream were waiting for them to get ready. Silverstream rested her head on the unfinished bed and pretended that she had been crying. A knock at the door could be heard. Wiping her tears away, she went to answer it. Opening the door, Ocellus and Sulcus walked in, though they didn't have their outfits, Silverstream pretended they were a teapot and teacup, respectively.

“Oh... What?”

“We're sorry for the poor hospitality, dear,” Ocellus apologized. “It's been a while since we've had guests.” Since they were playing like a living tea set, the hippogriff was surprised.

“This isn't possible.” She ended up backing up into Smolder, who was once again dressed as a living wardrobe.

“It probably shouldn't, yet here we are,” the dragoness spoke. The hippogriff nearly bumped into a wall when Sulcus, playing as Flake, spoke up.

“I told you she'd freak out mom,” the changeling playing a teacup responded.

“Flake, I told you that attitude will never do.”

While they performed, Yona was still trying to make an outfit. She looked to be making progress on Sandbar's pants when she accidentally stitched one of the pant legs closed. The yak groaned in frustration as she didn't want to start over so she just grabbed some scissors and cut the stitching to reopen the hole. Sandbar, who was waiting for one of his scenes, could see the yak bringing over the finished pants. Sandbar slipped them on and could see something was missing.

“Um... Yona, I think Professor Rarity said there were supposed to be cutie marks on these,” Sandbar informed. Realizing her mistake, Yona rammed into a nearby tree with a grunt of anger. “Calm down, Yona, it’s an easy fix.” The two walked over to the sewing machine to fix this when they saw Diamond Shine muttering to herself.

“What Diamond Pony doing?” Yona asked.

“I'm waiting for my costume,” Diamond Shine replied. “I played as the old mare, remember?”

Yona gave a low brow as she wasn't liking the tone. “Pony could say 'please'.” Diamond Shine just groaned before she showed a picture of what the old mare looked like. It was with another pony that appeared to be a glowing alicorn.

“This is the mare’s true form,” Sandbar commented. The designs of their dresses were a little complex, more than Yona had made. “Maybe we should postpone the outfit first until Rarity gets back.”

“No, Yona can handle it,” the yak proclaimed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yona sure!” She picked up the pictures that Diamond Shine had left her and looked for the rolls of materials that matched the colors of the outfit.

Diamond Shine decided to inspect how the others were doing. Silverstream was enjoying playing the role of Golden Aura. She knew she wouldn't stop now, but the crystal pony wanted that part desperately. She looked around for anything that could get her out of the play. She could see Gus heading backstage with a couple of snacks, along with Ravi.

“You sure it's okay to spend those bits on these snacks?” the buffalo questioned.

“Hey, I was the one who got those bits,” Gus responded. “Besides, we volunteered for this, so this junk food will count as payment.” Diamond Shine went to investigate and met up with the boys. Gus simply looked at her before speaking. “Before you ask, we couldn't find anything that was priced in triple digits.”

“It's not that,” Diamond Shine said. “Why did you buy all of these snacks?”

“I bought these for the students going out of their way to put on a show for all the creatures coming over here.” He placed the snacks he was carrying down on a table as Ravi did the same thing. Diamond took a look at the variety of snacks they had to offer. The crystal pony thought for a minute before making a plan.

“You sure our professors won't be mad?” Ravi questioned.

“I think they'd be mad at me instead of you.” The boys walked away, leaving Diamond to pick up some of the goods they left behind and looked for an extra ingredient.

Later, Silverstream and her friends finished their scene and went to grab something to drink. Most of them got some water, though Silverstream took notice of the variety of snacks that Gus and Ravi had bought. “Guys, look at all of these!” the hippogriff cheered.

The students gathered around the snacks on the table and all took a piece. “Oh boy!” Sulcus exclaimed. “After all of that practice, I need to have a quick snack.”

“Me too,” Smolder added with a grin.

The hippogriff was having a hard time picking which snack she would pick. Diamond Shine tapped her shoulder and Silverstream looked towards the crystal pony, who was holding a chocolate bar.

“Hi, Silver,” Diamond Shine said.

“Hello, Diamond,” Silverstream replied. “What is it?”

“I know you're not going to drop off, so I'm just going to leave this for you, and I'll try and be the best witch I can.” She gave the chocolate bar to Silverstream, then walked away.

Silverstream was a little confused as she didn't know Diamond Shine would just ‘give up’ like this. Then again, she knew the professors wouldn't let her away easily. Instead, she just took a bite out of the chocolate bar, which she would find out would be a mistake. The chocolate bar was a little thick and she found out that the filling was peanuts. This promptly made the hippogriff panic. Silverstream was allergic to nuts.

“Celly!” she called loudly. Silverstream began wheezing as she could feel herself swelling up. Ocellus saw the bar her friend had taken a bite off and turned into a cheetah to grab her EpiPen. As she did this, Sulcus and Smolder witnessed Silverstream collapse to the floor.

“Silverstream, hold on,” Smolder cried. “Sulcus, get one of the professors! QUICK!” The changeling nodded and flew off to get help. Many students saw Ocellus ran by them and Applejack was informed about Silverstream's allergic reaction. The hippogriff was struggling to breathe as Ocellus returned with the EpiPen. She transformed back into herself and she jabbed right into her friend's arm.

“Smolder, help me get her into a cart,” Applejack ordered. The dragoness listened, picking up her friend and following her professor to a cart. While Silverstream was loaded up, Applejack hitched herself to the cart before racing off to the hospital. Gallus witnessed what happened and asked about the bar that Silverstream had eaten. Sulcus explained that he saw Diamond Shine give the chocolate peanut bar to Silverstream, which in turn made Gallus angry.

Diamond Shine was just walking around when Gallus came out of nowhere and picked her up by the tail. “Hey!” the crystal pony cried. “Wh…”

“No talking!” Gallus ordered. He carried her towards Starlight's office, but Diamond Shine was still confused.

“Why are you...?” Gallus dragged the mare's head on the ground for a few seconds.

“I said, shut up! I know what you did.” Not another word was spoken until they got to Starlight's office, where the headmare and all the remaining professors were waiting. “She’s here.”

“Thank you, Gallus,” the headmare said. “You may go now.” The griffon listened and flew out of the office, closing the door behind him. Diamond Shine looked at the professors and headmare, who didn't look pleased with her. “Do you mind explaining what you've been doing recently?”

“What do you mean?” the crystal pony lied.

“You gave that peanut chocolate bar to Silverstream,” Fluttershy informed. "And peanuts are what she is allergic to."

“How was I supposed to know?”

“You would know about the powder you put on the bottom of the bar,” Pinkie Pie said. She showed the bar that Silverstream took a bite out of and it had a dark blue powder on the bottom of this. The pink pony sniffled when she gave the bar a whiff. “This is sneezing... powder.” She placed the bar on Starlight's desk before letting out a sneeze.

“Were you trying to poison Silverstream?” Dash questioned. Diamond Shine wanted to say something, but she didn't have a valid excuse.

“Diamond Shine, this is very inexcusable,” Starlight noted. "Because of this, you're being taken out of the play for good.” The crystal pony felt heartbroken even though she had done this to herself. “Plus, I think we know who messed with those sandbags.” That made the crystal pony feel worse. “You're lucky we're letting you out with a warning and the fact those sandbags didn't land on anycreature.” Diamond Shine remained respectively silent.

Later that day, Gallus had gotten rid of his outfit and flew swiftly to the hospital to check with Silverstream. Most of his friends were already there except Yona and Sandbar, and the doctors managed to help her recover from her allergic reaction and she was doing much better. Lying on the hospital bed, she heard the knock on the door. “May I come in? I’m one of her friends.”

“Come in,” the doctor replied.

She saw the griffon walk in. “Hello, Gallus,” the hippogriff called.

“Are you okay?”

“Feeling better,” she replied with a sigh of relief. “And you?”

“Better as well,” he said and then explained the situation, “knowing that the professors are ripping into Diamond Shine.”

“Yep, I hope she gets what she deserves,” Smolder muttered.

“We're just glad that you're okay,” Ocellus said to Silverstream, and she smiled.

Nurse Redheart checked Silverstream's chart. “Miss Silverstream, I have good news: since it’s only an allergic reaction and you’re able to recover quickly, you should be able to leave later in a minute.”

“Okay. That's good. Thanks, nurse.” As the right time came, Silverstream's started leaving the hospital, going back to the school to continue the rehearsals. Others followed until Gallus was the last student left.

“Silver, I think this might be a little harsh, but…” He was then interrupted by her.

“I know,” Silverstream responded, “I should've checked the ingredients label first before eating it. I don't think that Diamond knew about my peanut allergy.”

"Then, I guess I should've let her off with a warning. You still want to play the role of Golden Aura?"

“Of course. I'll be fine. Just need to do whatever the doctors and nurses need me to do.”

“Right. Since she’s out of the play, who do you think is going to play Diamond’s role?” Silverstream simply shrugged as she didn't have a clue. “Hopefully it's somebody who deserves it.”

Coral was informed about the change in plans and she was surprised that she’ll be the new actress for the old mare. “Me?” she questioned in shock, “as the old mare?!”

“Yep. You do seem good for the role,” Sunburst informed. “Are there any concerns?”

“No. I'm honored. Will I still have time to rehearse?”

“Plenty of time. Just check with one of us if you’re having any trouble.”

“Okay. Thank you, sir.” Sunburst smiled before handing a copy of the script to Coral, which now had different lines highlighted. Excited about her new role, she flew off to find Pyther, who was with the twins at the sewing station, where Yona was struggling a little bit.

“Yona, you should wait for Professor Rarity,” Emerald suggested. “She can help you.”

“Yona getting the hang of this,” the yak protested. Pyther was about to give her opinion until she saw Coral trying to get their attention.

“Hey there, Coral,” the dyed dragoness said. “What’s up?”

“Good news! I've got Diamond Shine’s part now,” the hippogriff answered with glee.

“No way!” Pyther said with a surprised gasp, same goes with Emerald and Peridot.

“Yes, way! You think I'll make a good witch?”

“Oh, I'm pretty sure. From what I heard about the character, I think you'd be more fitting instead of Diamond Shine.” No question was true. Coral looked over to Yona, who looked very stressed.

"What's going on with her?" the hippogriff asked.

“She's been trying to do Rarity's work while she's away,” Pyther informed. “She keeps trying even though she probably shouldn't.” Looking at the yak trying to keep the machine at a constant speed and struggling to do so, Coral decided to speak up.

“We should help her. She can’t do it alone.”

“That's what Emma said. Still, Yona's…” She paused as there was a screeching sound, similar to a cat getting its tail stepped on. They covered their ears, including Yona, who was in the middle of sewing. When it stopped, they uncovered their ears. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Peridot replied, “that sounded like a cat getting his tail stepped on.”

Pyther wasn't the only one who heard it. Many of the students, professors, and even some of the townsfolk could see the screeches that could be mistaken for a banshee. Starlight walked out of the school and then took some earplugs out of her ears. Emerald quickly approached her to ask about the noise.

“That’s Diamond Shine,” the headmare explained. “The sound of a spoiled princess whose boundaries have been set and she isn't liking them.”

“So, she's trying to rip her throat apart?” Pyther questioned.

“While trashing her dorm room, which she will clean up and not her roommate.”

Pyther whispered to Coral, “Who I'm betting will move in with someone else.” Both girls giggled about this before focusing on Yona and giving her some help.

Meanwhile, Gallus and Silverstream were making their way from the hospital and could hear Diamond Shine's tantrum, which was still going. “Did somebody step on a cat’s tail?” Silverstream questioned.

“Sounds more like a brat,” Gallus admitted with a chuckle. “Anyways, I'm glad you're feeling better.”

“Me too. But... did you have to drag her body along to get her to be quiet?”

Gallus thought before he responded. He wasn't too sure why he explained this to his friend. “She just needed to be put in her place.”

“But that was our headmare's job.”

“Then... Then think of it as giving karma a boost.” Silverstream didn't fully understand this but just kept moving back to the school with her friend. When they got back, they could see things were getting back on track for the play. Gallus went to find his outfit as Silverstream saw Shimmy Shake, who was talking with Pate, who looked to be rather upset.

“I don't understand why I keep forgetting my lines,” the changeling vented.

“You should try flashcards,” Shimmy suggested. “You can write a part of the line in case you forget.” Both looked over to Silverstream, who was approaching them. “Silver, you're back. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thank you,” the hippogriff responded. "Are you guys doing better?"

“I'm trying to just remember what I have to say,” Pate responded. He gave a frustrated grunt since he was struggling to do something so simple. Silverstream looked towards the school, where Diamond Shine's tantrum could still be heard.

“Do you think Diamond has gills?”

“Why do you say that?” Shimmy asked.

“She should've run out of breath by now.”

The tantrum was just becoming white noise for most of the students, though the length was still impressive. Sandbar was helping Gallus back into his costume when the griffon had something to say. "You know what I’m thinking?" Gallus said.

"What's that?" Sandbar asked.

“Diamond's aging faster than us psychically than the rest of us and she's still a filly in her head.” The griffon chuckled to himself as he had his bat wings slipped on. He looked over to the dress that Silverstream would be wearing, which was on a mannequin. It still needed some adjustments as there were some loose threads visible. Coral flew past the dress and was impressed by it.

“Wow! Professor Rarity is doing a great job,” she commented.

“Tell me about it,” Pyther agreed. They both stopped by Yona, who was at her wit's end.

“… Yak quit,” she admitted in defeat.

“And this is where we help. Did she explain how these machines work?” Yona took a deep breath before remember Rarity's instructions. Pyther and Coral listened to what Yona had to say and learned how the sewing machine worked.

Now that Silverstream was feeling better, she got on stage where Gallus was waiting. The next scene they were going to act out was the one where Golden Aura was patching up the monster after fighting off the wolves. “Silverstream, you sure you’re ready to continue?” Gallus asked.

“The doctors said I was fine,” Silverstream responded. “Can’t we start already?” Gallus sat down on the throne that was only half-built as Silverstream stood beside him with some bandages. Once Starlight called for them to start, the two griffs got into character.

Golden Aura started wrapping up the monster’s arm, which he was growling from the pain. “Watch it!” he growled.

“Sorry, just stay still, it’d be easier,” Silverstream stated. “You didn’t have to fight those wolves.”

“You should’ve kept on flying.”

“The winds were too strong.”

“Then you should’ve stayed in the castle!”

“I would’ve if you didn’t scream at me to get out!” Gallus would’ve responded except he couldn’t think of a good excuse.

Sandbar, Tanzanite, and Ocellus were watching around the corner watching the two griffs interact. “Are you sure this is going to work,” the dragon playing the part of clockwork asked.

“If the prince didn’t see something in Goldie, he wouldn’t put himself in danger,” Ocellus noted while playing the part of Sweet Tea.

“Besides, he knows she’s the key to breaking the curse,” Sandbar said playing as Light Touch.

“Light, you know there’s more than that.” They watched Silverstream finish up bandaging the monster’s arm.

“There,” she said. “Now, I don’t see why else I need to stay here.” She began to walk towards the exit, only to stop at a window to see the snowstorm was getting worse. She sighed knowing it would be a hard trip home. Light Touch quickly raced over to her.

“Madam,” he said, “Please, you don't think you're it's safe to leave during this storm.” The hippogriff took another look out the window as the wind sounded worst than before. “Come on, I'm sure that Well Dress will be happy to have you stay a little longer.”

Silverstream just sighed as she followed the sentient candle stand upstairs back to her room. Gallus sighed, feeling that he had messed up. Ocellus and Tanz walked over to him. “What caused her to leave in the first place?” the changeling questioned.

“I lost it when she saw the west side,” the monster admitted. Both staff members gasped after hearing this.

“Did she saw the rose?” Tanz asked. The curse prince just nodded.

“… How can I fix this?”

Ocellus put on a brave face before speaking up. “The best thing you can do is give her something special,” she asserted. "If you listened to her, then you would get to know her better. Like her favorite hobby.”

“What hobby?” The changeling playing as Sweet Tea explained what the monster needed to know

Meanwhile, Light Touch and Golden Aura were back in the guest room. “Why do you put up with him?” she asked.

“You must understand, Miss Aura,” Light Touch responded, "The prince hasn't been the same ever since we've been cursed. He keeps blaming himself for what's happened to all of us. And when that last petal falls off the rose... well... we’ll be like this… forever.”

The hippogriff looked at how upset Light Touch was. Looking over to the sentient wardrobe, even Well Dressed looked depressed. “You're... not going to be inanimate, will you?”

“Of course not. The witch who cursed isn't a sociopath. Depending on your definition.”

“I'm... I'm sorry for what happened to you.”

“It's alright. You probably didn't know about our castle even existing. If you have to travel home, we won't let you stay any longer than you want. Either case, it's been a pleasure serving you.” This managed to bring a smile to Goldie's face.

Thank you for the service.” Light Touch felt happy knowing he helped do a good job. Well, Dressed even gave the hippogriff a bigger coat to help with the cold. What they weren't expecting was the monster knocking on the door.

“Uh... Goldie,” he said bashfully. “I was hoping I could show you something before you go.”

“And what would that be?” the guest questioned. The cursed prince took a deep breath before leading the hippogriff down the hall.

“I've heard from Sweet Tea that you're a bit of a bookworm."

"Of course. You'd be surprised how much you learn from one."

"Maybe I could learn some if you're willing to stay a little longer." The two made to a door, which opened up to reveal a large library. Goldie was amazed.

"This was here the whole time?"

"Yes. Sorry, I haven't been the best host. However… since this is your last night here, I figured I might help make it the best.” He tried putting on a warm smile that seemed to work with Goldie, who was trying not to be distracted by the vast number of books. The cursed prince looked back at the staff members, who looking please he took their advice.

The scene ended and Starlight was impressed. “Cut,” she called. “Well done. I can see that you are improving.” This made the students feel proud.

Eventually, rehearsals were done for the day. Gallus returned his outfit to where Yona was working. Pyther and Coral had been told how the sewing machine worked. “So, you finally got some help?” the griffon asked.

“Yes,” Yona confirmed. “Less stress, more dress.” Both of them looked over to Silverstream, who was looking for an activity to do. “Gallus going to spend time with Silverstream?”

The griffon looked down while he responded. “I don’t even know anymore,” he muttered.

Yona didn’t like the sound of that. “Gallus need confidence. Try dating Silver.”

“Seriously?”

“You two kiss in play. You’ve been friends for almost two years. Yona and Sandbar are dating, so are Smolder and Ocellus.”

“Yeah, I get what you’re saying. I’ll just… brace myself for the worst.” The blue griffon flew over to the hippogriff, who didn’t see him approaching her. “Hey… Silver.”

The hippogriff jumped when she heard her friend call her name and then saw how close he was. “Oh, Gallus,” she responded, “What’s up?”

Gallus sighed. “I was wondering… if you want to… hang out again. Just the two of us.”

Silverstream thought for a minute before she responded. “Sure…Where do you want to go?”

The two griffs pondered a little bit until Gallus concluded, “Our treehouse.”

“Good idea. It’s already been a while since we were there.”

The two flew away to the Everfree Forest where they could hopefully spend some time alone. They arrived at the treehouse. The crystals of the treehouse shine their light from the sun’s rays, making it the most amusing thing they’ve seen. They want in, and the two sat down by the balcony and got comfy. It was all silent until Silverstream decided to start a conversation.

“You know, Gallus,” she said, “we’re better actors than I thought,”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I mean, you put so much effort into the role of the monster. It almost sounded like you were him.”

“Well, you do have a lot of energy for Golden Aura. Though I honestly think you would’ve been a better Well Dressed.”

“You think so?”

“Her character is chatty and enjoys helping others get dressed up. That definitely sounds like you.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if I can swap roles now. We’re already getting good at our parts, and I don’t know who else could take my place.”

“You have point. How do you think everyone else is doing?”

“Sandbar and Ocellus are doing great. Though, I think Tanz is needing a little work on the tone. Did he sound flat to you?”

“You mean like he’s talking out of boredom?”

“Yeah, it sounds like that. Plus, Sunshine and Pate might need some more confidence. Pate keeps forgetting his line and Sunshine, from what I’ve heard, has stage fright.”

“How do you help him with that?”

“Beats me.” The two griffs sat around a little bit until Silverstream spoke up again. “Did you know any of the griffons before they came to the school?” the hippogriff asked.

Gallus thought for a minute before he answered the question. “Oh… umm… I’m pretty sure I saw some of them before,” he responded, “They were taken to the school, though I’m not a hundred percent sure. How about you and the hippogriffs?”

“Oh, I knew a lot of them. I’ve seen Gleaming Pearl swimming with the dolphins. Coral often makes her scales and feathers clean, depending on whether she was a hippogriff or a seapony. Not too sure about Deep Sea, I didn’t see him that much.”

“You know he doesn’t like being others. He’s an introvert, remember?” Silverstream nodded as she knew this was right. “What about Sunshine? Did you ever meet him before you came back?”

“...I don’t think so. His parents were pretty protective over him since he’s got bad vision. My parents were kind of similar. We barely would leave our homes and our parents would only leave to help gather food.”

Gallus was surprised to hear this. “What... What about after the Storm King’s defeat?” He was a little hesitant to ask this, considering Silverstream’s history with him.

After some awkward silence, most of that time remembering what the infamous king did. Finally, Silverstream found her voice. “It was a celebration for everyone at Mount Aris, ” she spoke. “Seaponies started moving back to Hippogriffia. Though, most preferred to stay in Seaquestria. Like my mom.”

“Didn’t your dad go back to being a hippogriff?”

“Yeah. That's when my brother and I started having some conflict. Terry managed to get used to moving back and forth but... I don't know what I'll do when I get back home in the summer.”

The conversation seemed to have taken a turn for the worst. Gallus was starting to regret bringing up the infamous king. “Silver, I'm sorry I reminded you of that. I...”

“No, it's okay. I mean... You... Griffonstone...” Judging by her face and those words, Gallus could tell what she was going to say next.

“That I probably have it worse?” Silverstream looked away, knowing the griffon didn't like his heritage. “You’re not wrong. Though, things were different during the last Blue Moon Festival. We didn't have to be back at school for about two weeks. Griffons usually are only nice to each other once a year but during the last festival, we had a lot more fun.”

“I see… What did you do?”

“First, we checked to see how fast we could get on Grandpa Gruff’s nerves, that was Gus’s idea.” Silverstream chuckled. “Second, Garry and Geena had a couple of races. We joined in a couple of those. I only won once. Gregoria tried to learn more about other cultures with Gabby’s help. Heck, Grace even managed to find some spots to sing privately. Never understood why singing was banned in Griffonstone.”

This bit of information helped Silverstream feel better. “I guess this school does work.”

“Even if we have a couple of spoiled students.” Gallus chuckled as he wondered if Diamond Shine was still having a temper tantrum. “I’m glad I came here. I got to meet you and the others.”

The hippogriff just smiled as she embraced him with a warm. “I'm glad I met you too.” Gallus just simply embraced his friend's hug. He had a feeling their relationship was getting stronger now.

A Heart to Hear

The next morning arrived, the sun was already shining its rays, Silverstream still seemed completely out of character for some reason. Her friends were trying to talk to her, especially Gallus, but still, no response. After waking up from her slumber, she stood up, opened the door, and slowly trotted around the school barely muttering one word. Her friends were already feeling concerned and trying to figure out what the problem was.

Gallus, Smolder, Ocellus, Sandbar, and Yona were at the canteen eating their breakfast. As they ate, they chat about the episode yesterday. There’s still no conclusion. They wanted to talk to her. “Did anyone else talk to her last night?” Gallus asked.

“Not from what I saw,” Smolder responded with a concerned sigh. “She just flew swiftly into our dorm and laid on her bed. Not to mention hearing the crying muffles from her.”

Gallus sighed. “That’s just great! There should be a reason why she’s feeling blue.”

“Maybe it’s somebody she met on the way back,” Sandbar guessed. “You think?”

“Yona don’t know,” Yona replied, “but who wants hippogriffs to be upset?”

“You’re telling me. Maybe it wasn't someone who talked to her,” Ocellus guessed. None of them could think of a logical reason why Silverstream would be upset.

“We’ll find out soon,” Gallus spoke up, “if she’s comfortable with herself, then we’ll get the answers.” They nodded and continued eating their meals.

Meanwhile, some of the students who’re doing rehearsals are improving themselves, such as Pate. He went through the flashcards he had read and memorized as his breakfast was starting to get cold. Shimmy Shake, who was beside him, tapped his shoulder to make him look up to her. “Pate, are you sure you want to have a warm breakfast?” the cheerleader asked.

Pate looked down at his breakfast and set aside his flashcards, realizing what she’s talking about. “Sorry,” he chuckled, “I was focusing on these flashcards. And guess what, I'm finally getting the hang of it, I'm now having an easier time remembering my lines.”

“That's great. I'm glad that works out. Anything else bothering you?”

“Nope, none so far.”

Tanzanite sat beside the changeling as he had overheard the conversation. “I see you're getting better at your part, right?” he questioned.

“Yes,” he replied. “Why do you ask?"

“I've been given some information, saying that my acting is… flat. You know what that means?”

“It means your acting isn't believable,” Shimmy Shake replied. “It sounds like you're reading the question to a test instead of playing a character.”

“Uh-huh. Sandbar told me about that. Do you have any idea how I could get better into character?”

Shimmy thought for a minute before she responded. “I do have a few ideas. So, listen carefully.” She began explaining several different methods of getting into character, to which Tanz started writing them down on the notepad he brought with him.

Coral was passing by when she overheard about the methods. “Hello. You guys talking about getting into character?” she asked.

“Yep, I’ve already written some down.” Tanz showed the methods that Shimmy Shake had told him to the hippogriff.

“If you wanted some acting tips, couldn’t you ask Diamond Shine?” Pate asked.

“Be honest, Pate, would you really trust her from the chocolate bar incident?” Coral asked.

“…Yeah. Fair point.” Coral sat and chatted with the group hoping that she would have a better performance. Then they looked over to Silverstream and invited her to sit with them, but the hippogriff just lowered her head, ignored them, and walked away.

“What's wrong with her?” Tanz asked.

“I have no clue,” Shimmy Shake admitted. “It might be something bad.”

“You have no clue either?” Smolder questioned. She had walked over to them as she was trying to get to talk with Silverstream.

“No. What happened?”

Smolder sighed. “Alright, let me explain the whole thing…” She then explained the whole mystery about the depressed hippogriff.

While most students were enjoying themselves, Silverstream was still down in the dumps, and she was lacking the energy she was usually known for. Nobody could understand why she was like this all of a sudden. Many students, and even the teachers, tried asking her what was wrong, but the bubbly enthusiastic hippogriff wasn't in the mood to talk. Of course, when they weren't given answers, creatures were beginning to make rumors and hypotheses, trying to find themselves the answers. They began gossiping with each other, even when it was rehearsal time again.

Pyther was talking with Emerald and Peridot, who were helping to reapply the green dye to her scales. They’re still thinking about the said rumors about Silverstream, and at the same time, feeling concerned for her.

“Say girls,” Pyther said to the twins, “You think she got a letter about a family disaster? Maybe that’s the reason why she’s like that.”

“I doubt it,” Emerald admitted, “The time she went from happy-go-lucky to depressed doesn't work, since the mail comes in the afternoon at the latest.”

“She’s right. Maybe it could be something like ruining those accessories,” Peridot guessed.

“You mean Yona and Sandbar getting furious at her?” Pyther asked. “All because of those damaged accessories?”

“Yona wasn't angry at her!” Yona boldly stated. She had overheard the conversation and was quick to shoot down their theory. “Silverstream just leave headband for Yona to fix with tie, then went to bedroom.”

“…Oh, I see,” Emerald said. She then saw Rarity walking over to them.

“Girls, it’s not a good time to spread rumors about that,” Rarity informed. “Focus on what you are doing.”

“Yes, Ms. Rarity,” the dragons responded.

“Now, Yona, we still have a few more outfits to work on. Come along.” The mare and yak walked away to leave the dragons to finish with their dye.

Yona still wanted answers. “Why is Silverstream upset?” she asked.

“I wish I knew, Yona. If we don't find out what's bothering her, we can't help her.” Yona sighed as she was frustrated with a lack of answers.

Gallus and Smolder were fed up too. They had been going around to other students asking them if they had done or said anything to upset their friend. So far, they haven’t gotten their answers. They just got ‘not me’, ‘I didn’t do it’, and ‘nope’ as their replies. That’s when they got to Gus, who was talking with Sunshine at the moment. He saw them walking towards him and Sunshine. The cranky griffon already knew what they’re going to say to him, so he spoke first.

“Hold up,” Gus said, halting them with his palm raised in front of them, “Before you say anything, I didn't do anything to Silverstream. I don't mess with other creatures unless they do something to tick me off.”

“Alright then,” Gallus said. “But did you at least see her before she was sad?”

“Nope, not really. I haven't seen her before this morning.”

“Same here,” Sunshine spoke. “Gus here has been trying to help keep me from stage fright.”

“And how’s that going for ya?" Smolder asked.

“It’s alright,” Gus replied. “I'm trying to get him to think of methods like having him pretend that there’s nobody there, or if he freezes, I'm going to do something that could blow up the school.”

Sunshine, Gallus, and Smolder just froze still when he just said something about blowing up the school. “You say what now?” Smolder said with a lowered eyebrow.

“I’m just kidding, alright?” There was a bit of silence as Gallus and Smolder proceeded with what they were told. “And yeah, that goes as well as you think. We stopped trying to use that idea.”

“Great,” the blue griffon noted. He turned his attention back to his dragon friend. “Alright, who else should we ask?”

“Have you talked to Diamond Shine?”

“We tried, but we haven't seen her since lunch,” Smolder informed. “Even then, Garry spilled some soda on our seats. Which was as fun as you could imagine.”

“Again? Well, I’ll be damned. If he does that with me, I'll duct-tape cups of hot water to his woodpecker beak.”

“…We're going to hear about you in the news one day, are we?” Gallus asked.

“Yes, you are.”

“Hold on a minute. How about we do something that'll keep us out of trouble?” Sunshine suggested, worried about Gus.

“Sure.” Gus then turned to Gallus and Smolder. “Good luck with your investigation, fellas.” With that, Gus left to calm himself down with Sunshine as Gallus and Smolder walked away.

“We can’t keep this up, Gallus,” Smolder disappointedly noted. “There’s no way we can find how Silverstream felt sad in the first place. We’ll have to get dressed a little bit for our scene."

“Look, Smolder, just one more student,” Gallus begged. “If Silver keeps up her sluggish attitude, she might…” Gallus paused as he saw Diamond Shine watching the propper being finished up. He then pointed this out to Smolder and quickly formed a plan. “Go around the other side of the school to corner her.” The dragoness gave a thumbs up and flew away, while her friend went to get the jump on the crystal pony.

Diamond Shine wasn't allowed to act in the play and was given to help with the clean-up as an additional punishment. She was waiting for the scraps to be thrown in a cart when she saw a blue griffon from behind sneaking towards her. As he got closer, she started walking away, but she saw Gallus was still following her. Thus, she ran inside and the griffon kept chasing her.

“Just stop running and this could be so easy!” Gallus cried. Diamond Shine didn't listen and kept on running. She would try to get to another exit, and that’s where Smolder is, she stood in front of her, forcing the mare to stop. Gallus caught up and locked her in a corner. “You really enjoy making things harder than they need to be, huh!?”

“You were the one who started chasing me,” Diamond Shine proclaimed.

“Just answer the question,” Smolder angrily yelled. “Did you speak with Silverstream yesterday?” Diamond Shine was a little concerned about this and didn't answer. Her silence was good enough of an answer with her facial expressions.

"What did you say to her?" Gallus asked, with flames in his eyes.

“Do you think I care…”

“Answer the question, wise guy,” Smolder ordered while she pinched the mare’s ear, which caused a little bit of pain. “You’re the only one we haven’t talked to yet.”

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay, fine. I'm only going to explain this once. JUST PUT ME DOWN!” And so, Smolder stopped pinching her ear and let her release to explain.

“Go ahead,” Gallus exclaimed, “speak up! What do you do to her?”

“Alright… It goes like this…”

Earlier that night, Silverstream was making a beeline for the School of Friendship with the wet tie and a damaged headband in her talons. She was in a rush, and she didn’t notice a sulking Diamond Shine until she crashed straight into her. After the two recovered, the crystal pony was nowhere near happy.

“Watch where you're going!” Diamond Shine groaned.

“Sorry,” Silverstream apologized. “I'm in such a hurry.” She looked around and found the tie that she had dropped and looked for her headband. Diamond Shine found it first and was confused.

“Can I ask? What were you doing with these?”

“I… got too excited and I thought Gallus and I could go for a swim. I’m trying to salvage them or at least get... I can't leave him on our date."

“Hold up, you two… dating? Like for real?”

“Yeah. It's pretty nice.”

“Really? But he said you were going to be in the lead role just so I couldn't.”

“What are you talking about?”

Diamond Shine smirked. “You're being used. Gallus hasn't kissed you yet, has he?” The hippogriff shook her head, which added to the mare's amusement. “You think that he's going to be dating you after this?”

“Of course he would. We... We've been friends for two years already.”

“Then how come it's taken him this long to ask you out?” Silverstream was about to tell her about Yona & Sandbar, but the crystal pony spoke first. “I think it might also be because you're not the brightest creature in Equestria.”

Hearing that phrase made Silverstream freeze and stutter. “W… What do you mean?”

“I've heard about things like Poison Joke. You just shoved that stuff in your friends’ faces.” Silverstream remembered how she and her friends suffered from the effects of Poison Joke. “Plus, you are super obsessed over stairs. They're everywhere, like over there, and that one… and that one. What's the big deal about them? What’s so special about stairs for you?”

Silverstream seemed to have lost her confidence and was now at the break of crying. Tears were seen flowing out of her eyes. “Gallus is only doing this so I can't be the lead role. Something that'll be tossed aside once the show's over.”

At the breaking point, Silverstream flew off crying, making an almost loud whining sound. She dropped off the accessories at Yona's dorm before flying to her room to cry on her bed.

After hearing this, Gallus and Smolder were super furious. They’ve finally found out why. “Oh my goodness! You. Are. The Worst,” Smolder growled through clenched teeth.

“As tempting as it is to smash you around like a ragdoll,” Gallus said, “There are more important things. Not including speaking to you. Come on Smolder.” The two left her to herself, but not before Smolder made a gesture that she would keep an eye on her.

Silverstream didn't want to go on stage. The other scenes were practiced during this, leaving the hippogriff in her slump. She had yet to tell anyone why she was like this and they were burning daylight in the process. Gallus and Smolder soon approached her.

“Silver!” Smolder called, which made her perk up. “Silver!” Silverstream then turned around to see Smolder and Gallus stepping towards her. “Silver, we know what she said to you.” The hippogriff looked rather surprised from what she heard.

“She only said that because she can't be in the play anymore,” Gallus added. Silverstream didn't like what she had heard from Diamond Shine and it seemed there was something else on her mind. “Come on Silver, she's a spoiled brat. Forget about her.”

Silverstream tried smiling, but she was still upset about something. Her friends both looked at each other, still wondering how they could help her. Even with what they said, Silverstream still didn't have enough energy to play the role of Golden Aura. Because of this, none of the scenes she was in could be done. Since Golden Aura was in a major part of the play, there weren't too many scenes they could practice.

Gallus and Smolder explained what they had found out to the other students, who were now angrier at Diamond Shine. It was only a matter of time until Starlight and the Professors found out. Because of this, the rehearsals were going to be cut short until Silverstream’s spirits were better. Now that they knew what was wrong, her friends could think of something to cheer her up.

“So, how about this, you think we just have to pull a pool party?” Smolder questioned.

“Yeah. That could work,” Sandbar said, and then turned to Gallus. “By the way, Gallus, did Silverstream use her pearl shard on you?”

“No, only on herself,” Gallus noted. “I’m worried to find out what it does to me.”

“Gallus needs to be loyal boyfriend,” Yona stated. “If Silverstream curious, Gallus must join in.”

“So, trying to cheer up your girlfriend after a brat talk down to her doesn't count?”

“Hey, this isn't the best time to argue,” Sandbar stated. “If Silverstream stays down in the dumps, she can't perform for the play.”

“Sandbar's right,” Ocellus noted. “Besides, I don't think we all need to swim with Silverstream. Just one of us has to.” They all looked towards Gallus, who could see where this was going.

“Okay, what’ll I have to do?”

Later that day, Silverstream was slowly strolling around Ponyville. She didn't say anything to the ponies that passed her. A few of them had seen the hippogriff's excitement, and they were puzzled as to why she was looking so down. Gallus wasn't too far behind and quickly flew beside his sad friend.

“Silver, we need to talk,” he said. The hippogriff just sighed as she only glanced at him. Gallus flew in front of his friend and landed to block her path, making Silverstream stop. “Please, Silver, you can't keep acting like this! Just talk to me. I'm worried about you. I know what Diamond said was ungrateful, but… something else has to be wrong. Tell me!”

The hippogriff looked down at the ground before looking back up to her friend and speaking. “Gallus,” she said softly, “Am I dumb?”

This confused Gallus a little bit. “What are you talking about?”

Silverstream took a minute to gather her words. “She said I made mistakes in the past and... I took some time to think about that. I infected us with Poison Joke, I made everyone worry about me when I went to the Everfree Forest when there were cockatrices everywhere. Not to mention... the Storm King.” This one seemed to upset her as she looked like she’s about to cry.

Gallus placed his claw on her shoulder. “How about we sit down and talk?” Silverstream nodded and the two walked away and sat down on a nearby bench so they could have a proper conversation. “Tell me, what do you mean by this?”

Silverstream sighed and started speaking. “What I”m saying is… Diamond’s right.” She held both claws onto her face, covering her teary eyes. “I make things worse when I get excited, and others have to clean up my mistakes. What’s worse, some creatures get hurt when I do it. Maud’s boyfriend got turned to stone when I went to research cockatrices.”

“Yeah, but he already turned back to normal. Right?”

“He did, but… it wouldn't have happened if I didn't make everypony panic. Even then, it's not as bad as the Storm King.” Tears began to form in Silverstream's eyes, which Gallus helped wipe away.

“It wasn't your fault. They said that book wasn't supposed to be at the library. We already destroyed it, so he won't come back again.” This was cheering Silverstream up a little bit, but she still kept thinking about her mistakes. Gallus looked over to a bridge that was crossing over a river. “You know, our friends thought we’d try something to cheer you up.” He pointed to the river which made Silverstream curious. “Wanna go for a swim?”

This seemed to brighten up her spirits given the smile on Silverstream's face. “Really? Sure, I love to!” She looked down at her pearl shard and held it in her talon.

“Go for it. I've been curious too.” Now, Silverstream was excited. She and Gallus flew over to the river and flew above it. Both of them took deep breaths as she held her pearl shard. Closing their eyes, a flash surrounded them and they felt themselves splash into the water.

Opening his eyes, Gallus could see Silverstream as a seapony floating in front of him. Gallus himself felt different and looked down at where his talons should be. Instead, he saw yellow fins that looked like blunt spearheads. He felt his face, noticed that he had missed his beak, and instead had a muzzle similar to Silverstream’s, though it was more fit for a male. Not to mention, all of his feathers had been replaced with scales. On top of his head, his crest looked thicker as they were fins now. Speaking of fins, Gallus’s wings were now clear fins almost like Silverstream’s, except his were thinner and longer. A dorsal fin now stuck out of his back, along with two smaller fins sticking out where his hind legs would be. Lastly, a long seapony tail with a matching shape to Silverstream was on the end of him, though it kept the color of his old tail tip. What’s weird is that he was able to breathe underwater. Gallus never had felt this.

Silverstream had a better look at his body than he did, and she was beaming. “Oh, Gallus! You look so adorable!” she cheered. She swam up and hugged her boyfriend, who was still processing his new body.

“This is… kind of what I expected,” he admitted with a chuckle.

“It makes sense to me. Hippogriffs are half griffon, so, naturally, you look so similar to me. You almost look like a shark, or maybe a dolphin.” Silverstream swam away from Gallus to give him some space. He tried swimming around a bit, but it looked like he was fish out of water. He just flopped his tail around, while he tried paddling with his arms as if he was still a griffon.

“Ugh, how do you swim like this? This tail felt weird.”

“Hold on, let me help you.” Silverstream swam up beside her friend who’s struggling. She began instructing him how a seapony swam. Once informed, Gallus started swimming slowly and steadily down the river with Silverstream by his side. After getting the hang of it, the two began picking up speed. Then they started playing around once Silverstream looped around Gallus.

“That was neat, let me try that,” Gallus said. He started around Silverstream the same way she did to him. He was a little bit slow and even with his carefulness, he still bumped into the seapony. “Gah, sorry!”

“It’s alright,” she said with a grin. “This is your first swim as a different creature.”

Both of them then stuck their heads out of the river and could see there was another bridge. Ponies were walking across it, and some stood by the railing. Silverstream got excited and quickly swam towards it pretty fast. She first dove underwater, gave her tail a boost, and jumped out of the water to leap over the bridge, astonishing some ponies that were walking nearby. Once she dove back into the river on the other side, Gallus caught up with her.

“Wow!” Gallus exclaimed in awe. “That was amazing! I didn’t think you could do that.”

“Thanks, I've been wanting to do that for ages. How cool was it?”

“Very!” Gallus looked back at the bridge and was wanting to try what he just saw. “Let me try that.”

And so he did, dove underwater gave his tail a boost, and jumped out of the water, but instead of leaping over, he bumped his head onto the bottom of the deck. Silverstream knew that was going to happen. Since he failed to do that, he backed down.

“I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Come on, let’s keep swimming.” The two carried on down the river underwater, with Gallus getting better at swimming along the way. Silverstream kept looking at Gallus’s new form and kept thinking how cute he was.

“Gallus?”

“Yes?”

“How does it feel to have a muzzle instead of a beak?”

“It's... pretty weird. I mean... How was it for you the first time?”

“You mean going between the beak and the muzzle?” Gallus nodded. “You get used to it after a while. It's like blinking.” She swam a little closer to Gallus and placed her fin against his muzzle. Both of them stopped in the process. “Ooh… It's soooo soft.”

“Please, don't touch me.”

“Sorry, I couldn't resist. You know, you’re not as soft without your feathers.”

“That's what happens when you're a fish creature.”

Silverstream snickered. “Maybe for us. Dolphins aren't fish, they're mammals. Though, I think you could be part shark right now since you don't have a blowhole.” Gallus scratched the back of his neck as he didn't know how a hole in the back of his head would feel like.

As the two began swimming around for a little bit as they both had questions to ask the other. “What kind of sea creatures have you seen in Seaquestria?”

“Let's see, dolphins, sea turtles, clownfish, angelfish, jellyfish. I haven't seen any kind of sharks though.”

“Maybe that's a good thing since they’re the threat.”

“Yeah, you're right.”

Gallus began to wonder how far they swam. So, he poked his head out of the water and saw they were on the outskirts of Ponyville. He dove back under so he could tell Silverstream where they were and they stopped. They dove back up again and looked at the town which was pretty far now. “Wow,” she said with amusement in her eyes “we made some good progress.”

“No kidding.” The two climbed onto the riverbank with their tails still resting in the water. Looking up to see that the sun was starting to see, they still had some questions for one another. “Say, have you ever wanted a cutie mark if you’re a pony?”

“Oh yes! If I were, then that'd be cool.”

“Right then. If you do have a cutie mark, what would it look like?”

Silverstream thought about this for about a minute. There were so many possible designs she would want, but she could only have one design by the sound of Gallus's question. “I think... if I could only pick one... it’d be water running down a flight of stairs.” The seaponized griffon chuckled as he knew she'd pick something relating to water or stairs. “What would you have as a cutie mark?”

Gallus hadn't exactly thought about having a cutie mark. He knew that Ocellus could probably have any cutie mark she wanted, and Silverstream would love to have one, but for him... he wasn't entirely sure. He thought about it for a minute, yet he couldn't come up with anything. “No idea. How about if you could be a different species?”

“Oh, that's an easy one. I'd be a changeling! They can shapeshift just like us, expect, we only turned to seaponies instead of any creature.”

“Yeah, they're pretty good. If I were a different creature, I'd be a dragon though. Strong, tough, and can survive all kinds of heat.”

“Don't forget fire breath.”

“Ah, yeah. That's probably one of the coolest parts. Man, I'd be such a cool dragon.”

“You think I'd be a good changeling?”

“If it needs a lot of energy, I'm sure you'd be perfect for a cute changeling.” Silverstream squealed with joy as she could only imagine what she could do as a changeling. Then she realized what Gallus said.

“Did you say that I'd be cute?”

Gallus blushed a little bit as he realized what he had said. “…Um… What I meant to say was…” He was caught off guard when Silverstream used her pearl shard to turn them back into griffs. Just before he could take in that his beak was back, the hippogriff hugged him tightly and started nuzzling him.

“Eeeeh, you admitted it! You don't have to be shy, my bluebird.” She nuzzled the griffon’s cheek until he started pushing her back a little bit. “Ah, Gallus, come on. Your feathers are so soft.”

“I know, but… a bit of a warning next time, please?”

“S... Sorry.” Silverstream covered her face with her wing as she looked to be a little upset now. Gallus was confused and tried to reach for her until the hippogriff stood up.

“Hey, Silver, come on, I didn't mean to offend you.” Gallus stood up as Silverstream explained herself.

“These are the types of things that Diamond might be right about. I just do things without thinking. I'm such an idiot.”

“That's nowhere near close.” Gallus made his friend turn around and look her in the eye, with his face close to hers. “You're one of the happiest creatures I've ever met. You're smarter than you think. You didn't hesitate to save Yona when she was drowning, you helped with random families after we were called by the map, and, heck, you tamed a cockatrice!" Silverstream smiled a bit which made Gallus happy. “I’m here for you, no matter what.”

“I needed that. Thanks, Gally.” She simply leaned against the griffon while blushing. Gallus then had an idea and told his date about it.

“Treasure chest.”

Silverstream looked at him, confused, almost like he had a third eye. “What? Is there a treasure chest somewhere?” She then looked around to see what he’s talking about.

“No,” he said with a chuckle. “I mean a treasure chest for a cutie mark. It has a double meaning. It could hold gems and bits, but it could stand for treasured memories. Like the ones we make right now.” The two love birds both smiled at each other. Both had their heads touched with each other, and Silverstream started leaning in. Gallus did the same thing and both of them embraced in a warm hug. Not just a warm embrace, they did what they haven’t done before: they kissed with passion. They did it!

Night time was almost on the horizon. The two made their way back to the school by flying while holding each other’s talons. Silverstream nuzzled against her boyfriend while talking lovey-dovey.

“Ah, Gally, you such a great griffon,” she cooed.

“And you're a lovable guppy,” Gallus cooed back.

They made their way down the hall passing a couple of the students, who were impressed with them. They soon went into the library and found Smolder and Ocellus having their study session.

“Hey,” Smolder greeted, “how are you two doing?”

“Great!” Silverstream cried, before realizing that libraries were kept quiet.

“So, I'm guessing that talk went well, did it?” Ocellus guessed. She could taste the love in the air.

“Sure did.” Silverstream hugged Gallus tightly before planting a kiss on his cheek, which made him blush.

“Oh, it’s so sweet that you're dating now. Plus, you’re looking a lot better than before.”

“She sure is,” Gallus noted. He nuzzled the happy hippogriff as Smolder wanted to ask something.

“You two aren't going to shower each other in nicknames, are you?” the dragoness asked.

“The only one Silver's come up with is bluebird. I haven't anything for her other than guppy.” Silverstream blushed after he said that. “Anyways, what happened to Diamond Shine?”

“Headmare Starlight ripped her a new one.”

“Aw, already. I didn't even get to say ‘Dead mare walking’.”

“Does it make you better or worse knowing that Moss said it?”

“Hmm, a little bit better. Do you guys know where Sandbar and Yona are? We want to tell them about this.”

“Friends found out already,” Yona called. She and Sandbar had entered the library and sat down beside their friends.

“We're glad you're feeling better, Silverstream,” Sandbar said.

“Me too,” Silverstream responded. “Sorry I delayed the play.”

“It's okay. We should be able to make up for the lost time. I’m sure your emotional state is more important than a show.” That made the hippogriff feel better. Just then, they could hear some voices outside of the library. Silverstream went out of the library to see Tanzanite and Coral.

“I just can't seem to get it,” Tanzanite groaned. He and Coral walked past the doorway of the library, holding their scripts.

“We've already tried half of Shimmy's methods,” Coral groaned as she dusted off some snow that was caught in her feathers. “Guess we’re not going to try method acting again.” Silverstream flew up behind them and got their attention. “Oh, Silverstream, you look better than you did earlier.”

“Yeah, Gallus helped me with that,” Silverstream responded. “What are you two doing?”

“We're trying our best to get into our characters,” Tanz explained. “Not doing very well though.”

“Maybe I could help. It would make up for how I was during rehearsals.”

“Ooh! That'd be great,” Coral said. "Okay, how about we try my scene first. It should be short. I only have one scene with Gallus.”

“Did someone call me?” the blue griffon asked.

“Ooh, Gallus, can you help us out?” Silverstream asked.

“I’d love to,” Gallus said. The teens began walking and talking down the hallway with the two love birds holding each other's talons again.

The Show Goes On

The rest of the rehearsals were rather uneventful compared to the others. While there were a couple of snags but nothing major, one of the hardest things they had to pull off was the curse scenes where the prince turned into a monster and then went back to normal. That took a lot of takes, but eventually, they’re able to do it smoothly. Not just that, the actors like Pate were able to memorize their lines confidently. The costumes were amazingly designed, and so are the props, some are just cardboard cutouts.

After weeks of preparation, the day has come. Everypony in town has arrived to see the show, also interested in seeing different creatures performing on stage, thinking it’s going to be good. Speaking of creatures, they’re here too. Creatures from different kingdoms came to see it, which includes the parents of those students, and leaders like Ember, Thorax, and Prince Rutherford, which they sat on the front seats to get a better view. Sitting at the back are the parents of the dragons, which, not surprisingly, are as tall as buildings. The ponies don’t even mind, at least they don’t sit in the front. Gilda, Greta, and Gabby are here as well, giving those griffons a lot of support. Sandbar’s parents are here too, even little Coral Currents, excited to see him perform. Not just Sandbar’s, even Silverstream, Smolder, Ocellus, and Yona’s family are here as well. All are excited to see the show.

Backstage, all the cast members are preparing for the last time, the actors and actresses wore their costumes and read their lines one last time. Some of the students poked their heads from behind the curtains to get a good look at the crowd. Coral was one of them. She was amazed by the quantity of them, there are a lot of them. Pate, who already wore his costume, walked over to her.

“Hey, Coral,” Pate said, “who do you see?”

“A lot of creatures,” Coral responded eagerly.

“Really!”

“Yeah! There are hundreds out there. Oh, I think I also see my parents and brothers.”

“Let me see.” Pate stood beside the hippogriff peaking out into the audience. Looking towards the back, there were a couple of dragons that were as big as the buildings. He was shocked. “Whoa, they’re huge!”

“I know! Tanz wasn’t wrong, they are as tall as a building.”

“Exactly. Good thing they didn’t sit in the front.”

“Yeah, if they do, all they’ll see is a giant scaly rear.” They chuckled. The two walked back behind the curtain, where everyone else was getting ready. The backdrop of the castle, before the witch’s curse was set, was just lowered and secure.

Silverstream looked at her reflection in a light-up mirror in the dressing room as she wore Golden Aura's everyday dress. She was taking some deep breaths when Gallus walked up behind her. The hippogriff saw her boyfriend dressed up as the prince before the curse. “You ready?” he grinned.

Silverstream inhaled and exhaled one more time. “I’m ready.”

“How are you feeling?”

“… Nervous,” Silverstream admitted. “I mean… everything's got to go perfect this time.”

“I understand. We managed to get both scenes of the spell down. Not to mention we don't have itching powder for the effects.” Both chuckled about this mistake that happened.

Moss approached them and got their attention. “Hey there, have you seen Sunshine?” he asked.

“Not really. What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find him.” Before they could suggest where to look, Gus flew in, dragging a worried hippogriff behind him.

“Sunny, it’s too late to back down now,” Gus stated. “We’ve prepared for your problem.”

“I know this,” Sunshine stated, “but habits die hard!”

“What happened?” Gallus asked.

“Stagefright,” Gus responded. “Sunny knew this would happen, yet here we are, unprepared.” He looked down at Sunshine who looked to be shivering with fear. “I'm not the best at being gentle, I’ll let you two do the job.” Silverstream and Gallus at each other sitting down beside Sunshine.

“Hey, Sunny,” Silverstream said, “We know how you feel right now. We have to get it perfect.”

“That's what I'm afraid of,” Sunshine exclaimed in fear.

“We’ve come this far,” Gallus said. “We've already dealt with delays, products that irritated us.”

“But still... my scenes,” Sunshine stated.

“Listen, compared to us, you don't have that many scenes. You won't have so much stress on your shoulders.”

“…When you put it like that, it doesn't sound so bad.”

“Exactly,” Silverstream added. “You'll have time to reread your lines.” Sunshine looked to have a little more confidence right now.

“Have you tried using flashcards?” Pate asked. “It's working for me.” He showed off the cards he had been reading to get his lines memorized. Sunshine smiled as he seemed to have his confidence back. Just as Rusty got him his outfit, Sunburst walked up to the students.

“Okay, everycreature,” the stallion called. “Take your places. We’ll be starting in a few seconds.” They listened to his orders and the actors who are playing the characters in the castle got ready. Coral flew off the stage and was given a black cloak to conceal her body.

“Break a leg, Gally,” Silverstream said.

“You too, …guppy.” She planted one more kiss on the blue griffon's cheek before running off to the stage. Gallus blushed a little bit as he got into his place.

Finally, the show began, starting off with elegant classy music to give a nice classical taste. Coming out from the right side of the stage, Rarity, who was the narrator for this, stood next to a microphone while levitating a fake book, which is made out of cardboard.

“Good evening,” she started, “Here’s a story that I wanna share with all of you.” On cue, the curtains opened up to reveal the background of a giant compartment with a throne. “A long time ago, in a faraway land,” the mare narrated, “there was a prince who lived in a shining castle. He was given everything he desired, thus the prince was spoiled, rude, and selfish. The castle staff would usually get the worst of it, especially during occasions like his birthday.”

Sandbar, Tanzanite, Ocellus, and Sulcus walked onto the stage as a throne was wheeled in. On that throne was Gallus, who was already getting into character. “Where's my present!?” he ordered.

Sandbar, who was in the character of Light Touch, approached him with the small wrapped-up present. “Your highness,” he spoke while kneeling down on one knee and held his present high, “I hope you accept this gift from the humble…”

“Just give it to me!” Gallus snatched the gift from the colt’s hooves without warning. He ripped through the wrapper with excitement, but it dissipated when he saw what’s inside. “A book!? Seriously!? You call this a present!?”

He wasn't pleased with the gift and just tossed it to the side as the staff had mixed feelings about this. Light Torch felt sad that it meant nothing to him, Clockwork just sighed as he was used to this behavior, while Ocellus, playing the part of Sweet Tea just scowled at this behavior. The prince got up to see if there was another better present, except he got distracted by a knock on the door.

“I wonder who that could be,” Clockwork questioned. The prince flew away ahead of anyone else as he didn't want any interruptions. Opening the door, Coral stood outside with faux snow falling on her. She was shivering and slowly holding up her talon to show a single rose.

“Please, kind sir… I've lost my way,” she shivered weakly. “Accept this rose as a gift from the bitter cold.”

The prince looked at the rose and scoffed. “Pphhtt, I don't need some flower,” he stated.

“Please my dear. I know my appearance isn't that well, but be a kind dear to see the beauty on the inside.”

The prince didn't care what the old lady had to say and the cold was getting to him. “Shut up and go away you wretched old hag!” He slammed the door which seemed to make the old lady angry. Before the prince could return to receive another present he likely wouldn't enjoy, a blinding flash appeared in front of him. Flying above him was a glowing hippogriff, played by Gleaming Pearl, in a flowing dress with a crown resting on top of her head. The staff members were in shock. “Who are you!?” he yelled.

“Thy heart is as cold as thick ice,” she addressed. “If thou cannot see others for what they can give thee instead of what thy can give to them, I shall curse thee.” The hippogriff held out a wand and some golden dust started flying around in the air. Backstage, the unicorns have levitated the powder in the air as it began to swirl around Gallus, who also started levitating it into the air.

Other unicorns that were hiding off stage had the monster costume ready to slip onto the griffon. Once the powder went from gold to black. Gallus growled as his ‘transformation’ into the monster had begun. The castle staff wasn't safe from the curse. Their outfits let the audience know they had been cursed into objects such as a clock, teapot, and various other items.

Ember, who was one of the dragons in the audience, sat back as she watched the transformation scene. She looked over to Thorax, who was sitting right beside her and whispered. “You think they could pull something like this off?” the Dragon Lord whispered into Thorax’s ear.

“I have no idea,” he responded, “I'll ask Starlight later. Just sit back and enjoy the show.” The dragoness listened to her boyfriend and kept quiet as the play continued.

“And this,” the narrator continued, “is where our story begins.”

The scene where Golden Aura, played by Silverstream, was minding her own business in town reading a book until Moss, playing the part of Bronze Shield, approached her. “Goldie, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Oh, hello, Bronze,” Golden Aura said. “You look genuine today.”

“I know. The same can be said about you.” He took a look at the book the hippogriff was reading. “How can you enjoy your time with these? There aren't any pictures in here.”

“So what? Where would be the fun in that?”

“Hmm, whatever pleases you, my lady.” He chucked the book into the air and Goldie just managed to catch it. “However, it's about time you move on from those silly things and focus on more satisfying things. Like me.” Aura gave a low brow and Bronze oscillating his eyebrows up and down while the dragoness triplet looked at Bronze in awe. Just as the hippogriff started walking away the changeling walked along with her, guiding her in another direction. “Why don't you join me at the tavern to look at my trophy collection?”

“Sorry, but maybe some other time.” Goldie sounded like she wanted out of this conversation, much to the confusion of the triplets.

“What's wrong with her?” Emerald questioned.

“She's crazy,” Peridot noted.

“He's gorgeous,” Pyther sighed eyeing Bronze with sparkles in her eyes.

From the back rows, the dragons were hearing the show just fine, though a couple of them needed opera glasses, which some had brought with them. Others had taken telescopes. One of the dragons, which was red and gold, looked at Pyther, but the color didn't look right to her. “Is that my Pyther?” she questioned. “Why is she green?”

Emerald and Peridot's mother quickly helped calm her down. “They just put some sort of stuff on her scales to change her color,” she reassured. “I'm sure she'll be fine.” Both mothers kept quiet as they watched their kids carry on in the play.

Soon, Sunshine’s scene of getting lost came up. The hippogriff was flying along with some sacks of mail as the weather looked to be getting worse. The hippogriff was muttering to himself to keep calm as the fake snow and wind picked up. “Gah, this is worse than I thought,” he groaned. “Maybe I should turn back.” He was about to head back to the village, except every direction looked the same.

He kept wondering around as the snowstorm looked to be getting worse. He was about to pass out until he could see something in the distance. It looked like a grand castle. He quickly got inside of it to get away from the cold. “Hello? Hello?” he called out. The castle was very dark with only a glow coming from a candle stand. “I'm sorry for bursting in. The weather wasn't what I was expecting.”

“Excuse me, sir,” called a voice. Sunshine could barely make out anything without any like until he could see some small flames approaching him. “We don't mind you coming in. It's been a long time since we had guests.”

Gilda was sitting with Greta and Gabby, who she whispered to. “If I had to pick between a storm or a castle that's completely dark with no visible staff, I'll take the storm,” Gilda whispered.

"Ditto," Greta agreed and winked at her.

After a little bit of freakout over the sentient objects, Sunshine was able to make himself at home. That was until the monster approached him. “What are you doing here?” he growled. Sunshine jumped out of his seat when he saw the monster. “Come here!”

“Your highness, please,” Light Touch said, blocking his way, “He just needed shelter…” He wasn't interested in listening and lashed out at the uninvited guest. Sunshine barely got out of the way before he could be scratched by the massive claws and then tried to get to the exit. However, just before he could get past the castle gates, the monster had caught him, pulling him back into the castle and making him drop his saddlebags.

Back in the village, Bronze was trying to sweet-talk Golden Arua into marrying him. However, the hippogriff managed to trick him into fall out of the front door and landing in a muddy ditch. Thick Block looked at him and just had to ask, “So…… How did it go?”

Bronze grabbed him by the collar of his coat. “Hear this, Blocky, Goldie will be my wife,” he declared, “One way or another.” He then chucked Block into the ditch before walking off in a huff.

When Goldie’s dad hadn't returned home, she started getting worried. She flew out to try and find him and soon came across the castle. She saw her father's saddlebags lying on the ground then looked towards the entrance. Walking inside, she looked around for her father. It was brighter than it was when Sunshine came in, so she had an easier time seeing than her father.

“Father?” she called out. “Father!?” She flew around a little bit until she went deep down into the castle dungeons. There, she found Sunshine, locked in one of the cells.

“Goldie!” he cried.

“Father, how did you get locked up in here?” she questioned.

“I may have made someone mad. Just get me out of here before he…” The trapped hippogriff paused as he heard other footsteps approaching. From the shadows, there stood the same monster that trapped him there.

“Trespasser, huh!?” He then grabbed his sword and ran towards her to stab her. Goldie was horrified by the silhouette but still tried to be brave.

“STOP!” The prince halted his tracks.

“What is it?”

“Please, let my father go,” she begged. “Right now!”

“Why should I?” he stated. “He trespassed somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. He can stay here for the remainder of his days. Some creatures just never learn.”

Goldie looked at her father before she came to a decision. “Wait! Take me instead of him.” Both the monster and Sunshine couldn’t believe what they heard. “I can’t let him die miserably here. He lived a happy life in the village. It can’t just end here.”

While Sunshine tried to talk her out of it, the monster thought about how they could break the curse. “Very well then,” he proclaimed. “Your request is accepted.”

“No, Goldie, I'm old,” Sunshine cried, “I've lived my life…” He wasn't able to let out another word before the cell door was open. He was pulled out of there and Goldie was forced inside. The monster took Sunshine out of the castle and tossed him outside. The monster then looked at a flock of crows and ordered them to take the first uninvited guest back to the village. They did so, swarming around Sunshine like a dark cloud before carrying him away.

As the monster made his way back to the stairs, Light Touch walked up to him. “Ugh, master,” he said.

“What?” the cursed prince asked.

“Since... this lovely lady will be staying with us for a while. Perhaps we shall give her a nicer room.” The monster snarled as Light Touch wasn't feeling so cheery. “Okay… Maybe not.”

Golden Aura was sitting in her cell feeling gloomy. She looked up as she could see the monster standing in front of her. He took a deep breath before he spoke. “Madam,” he sighed, “I'll show you to your room.”

Goldie looked up in confusion. "My room?" she questioned.

“Do you still want to stay in the dungeon or what?”

“No.”

“Alright. Then follow me.” Golden Aura did as she was told and followed the monster down the hall. Light Touch walked with them to help light the way, while also helping to make sure the monster said the right thing. He noticed that Goldie didn't like the ominous statues of gargoyles and dragons, not to mention being trapped here wasn't helping.

He nudged the cursed prince. “Say something to her,” the candle pony suggested in a whisper.

“I... Ugh... Hope you like it here.” He looked back at Light Touch, who gestured him to keep talking. “Thi... This castle is your home now, you can go anywhere in it. Except for the west wing.”

“Why not the west wing?” Golden Arua asked.

“It's forbidden!” The monster's voice echoed throughout the castle. They resumed their walk to Goldie's new room, where Light Touch whispered some more words to the monster. “You will... Join me for dinner. That's not a request.” He slammed the door, leaving the hippogriff in her room, still against her will. Goldie walked over to her new bed and wept into her pillow.

Back in the village, at the bar, Bronze Shield was still sulking after Goldie's rejection. Thick Block was doing his best to cheer him up with little success. “Come on, Bronze,” Thick Block said, “There's plenty of other ladies I'm sure are dying to be with you.” He pointed over to the triplets, who were eyeing the egotistical changeling.

“Hmph! That doesn't change the point,” Bronze scoffed, tossing a mug into the fireplace in frustration. "No woman ever rejects Bronze. Never!"

The dragoness triplets were about to walk over to the egotistical changeling until Thick Block got in the way. “You can't let one bad shot get you down. You're Bronze Shield.” Some music could be heard which wasn’t a good sign.

“Oh no. Are they going to sing again?” she questioned. Thorax simply nodded. “Okay, I’m going to get some more of the snacks they provide.” The Dragon Lord gently walked away to get something to munch on while trying her best to mute out the music.

The song that inflates Bronze’s ego was just finishing up once Ember returned to her seat. Sunshine burst into the tavern, still flustered about what happened at the castle. “Please, somebody help! A monster is imprisoning my daughter!” he cried.

The creatures in the bar didn’t take what he said seriously. A couple of them even laughed at him. Even when he tried explaining himself, Bronze decided to mess around with him. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you out,” the changeling said.

“You will? Oh, thank you.” Their definition of finding out wasn’t what Sunshine was expecting. Instead of going to rescue his daughter, he was thrown out of the tavern into the snow. With no one willing to help him, the hippogriff set off home to gather supplies. Still, what he said got Bronze Shield thinking.

“Block, come along,” he said. “I’ve just had an idea.” The two changelings left the tavern to make a plan that Goldie couldn’t say ‘no’ to him.

Meanwhile, Golden Aura had been let out of her room, much to concern about Clockwork. “No, no, no,” he cried. “You can’t go out! The master is angry as it is. This will make him boil over.”

“Clockwork, he said the castle is her home now,” Light Touch said. “If it’s her home, we’ll make her feel at home.” He walked up to Goldie and held her talon. “Right this way, ma’am.”

The candle stand pony led the hippogriff to the dining room. “Oh, I thought dinner was called off,” Goldie noted.

“We simply can’t let such fine food go to waste. Have a seat. Be our guest.” Goldie was sat down as another musical number started.

Sandbar's family was enjoying seeing their song be a lead in one of the musical numbers, unlike Ember, who was covering her ears. Goldie appeared to like the treatment she was receiving and then wanted to have a proper tour of the castle. Light Touch was more than happy to do so, along with Clockwork, to some extent. Halfway through the tour, she looked towards a hallway that led to the west wing. Despite what she had been told by the monster, Goldie ventured down the hallway.

She eventually found a room that was a mess. Furniture lay all over the place, most of them in pieces. Goldie flew past a ripped painting of a griffon when she saw a rose, which glowed under a glass dome. Curious, the hippogriff flew over and carefully removed the dome to get a close looking the glowing rose. However, before she could touch it, the doors slammed open. The monster pounced towards the stand the rose floated above before swiftly putting the dome back on it. He had a sigh of relief before turning to Goldie.

“What are you doing in here!?” he asked. Goldie tried to explain herself, but she could only stutter. “I told you not to go in here.”

“I know but…” Goldie was cut off by the monster again.

“You shouldn’t be here. This rose is more important than you could ever imagine. Get out!” In his anger, he slashed his claws at Goldie, who narrowly avoided them before they hit a broken chair. “GET OUT!” The angry roars of the monster were enough to make Goldie run for her life. After she flew out of the room, the monster realized he likely scared away his last chance of breaking the curse. Silverstream placed on a coat as she flew past Light Torch and Clockwork, who was surprised with the haste she had.

“Madam, where are you going?” Sandbar asked.

“I'm leaving,” Silverstream responded. She opened the door of the castle and flew away, leaving the castle staff members upset knowing their last chance was gone.

As Goldie flew through the snowstorm, she ended up nearly getting pounced by a wolf. A pack of yaks dressed as wolves soon surrounded the hippogriff. She would've flown away, but the wolves were too fast for her to avoid. Just as it seemed like she was done for, the monster jumped in and fought the pack. The wolves tried their best but the cursed prince was much stronger than he looked.

When they realized they were outmatched, the pack fled for safety. Goldie was about to do the same thing until she saw the monster's injuries. He looked too hurt to move. She thought back to how he acted in the castle, but Goldie didn't think he deserved to freeze out in the cold. Goldie managed to help the monster back to the castle with a long struggle, despite his complaints.

During the scene where Goldie patched the monster up, Silverstream's parents both took interest in Gallus. “Hmm, this does seem to be a play about romance,” Ocean Flow commented.

“You think that she and that boy would date?” Skybeak questioned.

“It seems to be one of her friends. They'd be a nice couple.”

“Hmm, from what Silver has said about him, I think he'd be a good boyfriend.”

Soon, came for the ballroom dance. Silverstream walked down one of the flights of stairs in her golden ballgown. She looked over to the monster, who wore a nice blue suit. He looked nervous and that wasn't because Gallus was acting. The two got closer and Silverstream whispered to the griffon. “You ready?” she asked.

Gallus took a deep breath for a bit and let it out. “I’m ready,” Gallus admitted. "This... isn't how I expected for our first dance.”

“Well, at least it'll be a good show for everyone.” The ballroom music starts playing in the background. Both griffs smiled and slowly started dancing around. Their relationship was a perfect fit for the characters they were playing. They each enjoyed one another's company as the audience watched them dance. Some of them, like Thorax, leaning closer to their special someone. Ember wasn't one for music, but it did feel nice having the changeling show his affection. With the hippogriff and monster warming up to each other, the cursed prince trusted her enough to explain the rose in better detail.

“I was a fool when I was young,” the monster sighed. They both stood around the glowing rose as another petal fell off of it. Goldie knew what would happen if the curse wasn't broken soon. The monster soon grabbed a hand mirror. It had a green glow from it and the monster seemed to smile.

“What is that?” Goldie asked.

“It's a special mirror. It's... the only way I can see the outside world without others screaming in fear of me.” He showed the mirror to Goldie. Instead of seeing her reflection, she could see a snowfield with jackrabbits racing about.

“Wow. How does it work?”

“Just simply say a location you'd like to see and it'll show it to you.” Goldie thought for a minute before she requested her village, she wanted to see how her father was doing. What she saw wasn't pleasing. Sunshine looked very weak as he could hardly stand. He soon collapsed onto the ground, horrifying Goldie. The monster could see what was happening.

“No! No! They can't do this to him. He did nothing wrong. He just wanted to help me.” Feeling partly responsible for what was going on, the monster knew what he had to do, even if it meant the worst for him.

“You must go help him.”

“What? But... The curse…”

“I know. We can survive like this, the staff always assumed we'd be stuck with this curse. There's still time to save your father. Take this mirror, it’ll help you get back home.”

Goldie looked at the mirror in her claws. “Hopefully it'll help me come back there in time.”

“Gather what you need and save your father.” The hippogriff nodded and quickly flew to the exit. She stopped by the door and looked back at the monster.

“…Thank you, for understand how much he means to me.” The monster simply nodded before Goldie flew off to pack up and leave.

Moments later, Clockwork approached his cursed master, who was sitting in front of the rose, which lost another petal. “Sir, did it work?” he asked. “Is the curse broken?”

The monster sighed. “Goldie had to leave before we could finish,” he informed.

“What?! But… We'll…”

“I'm aware of what will happen to us. Creatures will still look at me as a monster.” He stepped towards the window to see Goldie flying off back home. “I'm used to it.” This line seemed to hit home with most of the audience, especially the changelings.

Goldie flew as fast as she could and she found her exhausted father lying on the forest floor.

“Father!” she cried. Golden Aura then held his arms and put them on her waist to carry him. After taking him back to their cottage. Sunshine had a good rest and some warm tea before he and his daughter could talk.

“Did he just let you go?” the father questioned.

“That's what he said,” Goldie confirmed. “He told me to gather everything to save you. He wasn't a complete monster. He was a cursed prince and… I'm not sure if I'll make it back before we can break it.”

“I think there's still time. You have to do what is right.”

“But I can't leave you alone, dad. You fainted from exhaustion.” The hippogriff felt so conflicted with what to do, however, something else would make itself known to them. They heard something ruffling in the saddlebag and out popped out a little teacup and the magic mirror.

“Oh, I didn't think we'd see him again.” The little teacup hopped over to the two hippogriffs, one of which had a question.

“Flake, what are you doing here?” Goldie asked.

“I wanted to help you,” Flake said. “I thought you liked the castle.”

“I do, Flake. I enjoyed your hospitality, but my father is very important to me. I'm sure your mother is worried sick about you.” The young teacup knew she was right. Then, they heard a knock on the door. Golden Aura went to answer it and could see most of the townsfolk waiting for her outside.

“Good evening, Ms. Aura,” the asylum owner said. “We've been given word that your father is unwell.” Goldie was confused until she saw a cart that had the asylum’s logo painted on it.

“Are you saying that my father is crazy?” Goldie asked.

“He sounded crazy at the tavern,” Thick Block scoffed. “Going on and on about a monster.” Sunshine poked his head out of the door which Block saw. “Go on, tell us what he looked like again.”

“He…. He had fangs that could frighten a manticore,” Sunshine explained. The townsfolk just laughed, still think his screws were loose. “He had massive horns and bat wings…. I think it was nine…. ten feet tall.” The folks kept laughing as Garry and Geena picked him up and took him to the cart.

“No, stop!” Goldie begged. “My father isn’t crazy!” Then she noticed a smug Bronze Shield leaning against the cottage.

“Goldie, I can clear up all of this,” Bronze declared. “You have to do one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Marry me.” He wrapped his arm around Golden Aura, who was fuming at this point. She knew saying ‘no’ would have her father locked up, so she needed another way of stopping this.

Pushing Bronze aside, she walked inside and grabbed the magic mirror, and held it out to the crowd. “Show me the monster!” With a flash, the mirror showed the monster roaring, which probably wasn’t the best image to show. It frightened the townsfolk.

“See, I told you,” Sunshine spoke. “He is real!”

“A real freak of nature,” one of the folks cried.

“No, he’s not like that. Once you get to know him he’s actually very nice. He’s… a good friend.” Goldie smiled as she looked at the monster, something Bronze didn’t like.

“If I were to guess, I say you have feelings for this abomination,” he noted.

“That’s because he actually takes the time to get to know creatures. If anybody here is a monster Bronze, it’s you!” This was the final straw for the changeling.

“She and her old man are both insane. The monster has broken their sanity. Lock them up!”

Garry chucked Sunshine into the carriage as Geena grabbed hold of Goldie and chucked her in there too. Both father and daughter were locked inside of the carriage as Bronze took a look at the mirror. He thought about what Golden Aura had done and spoke, “Show me the location of the monster.” The mirror flashed again and it showed the castle.

Now, with a sense of direction, Bronze Shield and the townsfolk gather torches, pitchforks, and other items you'd find in an angry mob. Goldie and her father were taken away to the asylum, though the griffons taking them were unaware of their surprised passenger. Garry felt something land on his back and saw Flake, giving a smile. “Hi, I'm Flake,” he proclaimed.

Freaking out seeing a talking teacup, Both Garry and Geena caused the cart to swerve and crash. The lock broke off the carriage's door, allowing the two hippogriffs out. They grabbed Flake and quickly made their way to the castle, hoping to catch up with the angry mob.

The mob had made it to the castle and were now trying to break down the doors. Sweet Tea was wandering around looking for Flake until she came across the west wing, where the monster was still looking at the rose. She approached him as another petal fell.

“Sir, the castle is under attack,” the living teapot said. “What should we do?”

“What's the use?” he sighed. “I knew this would happen anyway. Let them break through.”

After a couple of more slams of a battering ram, the mob had broken into the castle. They couldn't see anyone, just a bunch of furniture lying about. Thick Block reached for a candle stand, which was Light Touch.

“Now!” the candle pony cried. All of a sudden, the furniture sprung to life almost wiping the floor with the mob after taking them by surprise. Bronze Shield was managing to stand his ground however and could see something upstairs. Grabbing a sledgehammer, he gave chase to the monster, who was heading to the top of the castle as a storm started rolling in. Rain poured down and lightning shot down followed by the roars of thunder. Bronze Shield made his way to the top of the castle where he could see what looked like the monster.

He swung the sledgehammer and shattered… a statue. Bronze looked around and could see plenty of statues that looked like the monster. Given the poor lightning he had, the monster was trying to blend in. “I know you're here,” Bronze said. “Come out and fight, you coward.” A low growl could be heard and Bronze smashed another statue out of fright. Then the growling got louder and it sounded like it was right behind him.

Turning around, the monster slashed at the changeling, knocking the sledgehammer out of his hooves. He pounced at Bronze, who quickly pulled out a dagger, getting a good slash as the monster. He roared in pain as he was just about to give up. Then, he saw something flying towards the castle. It was Goldie. She was fighting against the storm as Flake and her father stayed on the ground for their safety.

Seeing her again and knowing she wanted to come back gave the monster the strength he needed. Just before Bronze could get a good stab in, the cursed prince grabbed the blade and yanked it away from Bronze. Defenseless, Bronze tried backing up as the monster had to tell him something. “Leave this castle and never come back,” he ordered. Bronze quickly ran back inside as the monster looked to see Goldie was now struggling in the weather.

Opening his bat wings, the monster soared down and grabbed hold of the lovely hippogriff before bring her down onto the balcony, where she was safe. “You... You're alright,” she gasped.

“And you came back.”

“I was worried about you and the staff.”

“It's okay. We're going to be fine.” With the two of them at the moment, they didn't see Bronze Shield, who now had a spear in his hoof. Without warning, he impaled it in the monster's back, who roared out in pain. Bronze was about to take the finishing blow before Goldie tackled him to the floor. The changeling forced the hippogriff off of him.

“You know, I don't think I was thinking when I tried to marry you,” Bronze proclaimed. “You're not worth it.” Bronze was about to strike Goldie if it wasn't for the monster getting back up. He grabbed the changeling by his wings, crippling their flight capability. With no method of flying, he was thrown out of the castle and into the ravine. Once they couldn't hear him screaming anymore, the monster collapsed to the floor. Goldie ran to his side.

“G… Goldie…” He said weekly. The hippogriff looked in his eyes, almost at the point of crying. The cursed prince smiled. “Thank you, for making me feel happy… again.” With no more strength, the prince passed out with Goldie crying by his side. Some of the audience members are tearing up as well, including Ember. The other cast members from backstage felt the same as well.

Little did they know, there was one petal still clinging to the rose. It glowed so brightly it almost engulfed the entirety of the west wing.

A golden glow appeared around the monster as he slowly levitated into the air. Golden Aura backed up as she could see the monster was changing. His claws were losing their sharpness and his horns were shrinking into nothingness. Every bit of the monster was changing back into a nice-looking griffon, who was slowly brought back to the floor. Although he had no strength, he managed to stand up and turned to Goldie, who looked amazed.

The prince looked at his talons, amazed that they weren't as sharp as razor blades. “Goldie, look,” he gasped. The hippogriff was just as relieved as the prince was. The two embraced in a hug which soon involved a kiss. Loud applause then can be heard, some even cheered.

The rest of the castle was being lifted from the curse. The castle staff was being changed back into various creatures instead of animate objects. They quickly made their way to the prince who was overjoyed that they were back to normal. Even Flake came running towards his mother, being changed back from a teacup.

A timeshift accrued and Goldie had now moved into the castle, along with her father. Rarity spoke up again to help bring the play to a close. “Thus, with the curse broken, Golden Aura had someone to live happily ever after with.” The curtains closed as the crowd cheered for the show they had just watched. The students each gave a bow, then went to get out of their costumes.

Some of the audience came to talk with the students. Sandbar approached his family and hugged them, telling them that it was a success. They’re very proud, especially his little sister. Emerald, Peridot, and Pyther came to their mothers, telling them that it was a good and successful play. With Pyther wiping out the green dye she was coated in, her mother was happy. Gabby, Greta, and Gilda came to meet the griffons, telling them that they did a good job. Silverstream’s mother and father even came to her. “Mom! Dad!” Silverstream exclaimed, giving them an embrace.

“Silver,” Skybeak said, then released himself from the hug, “you did a great job. We’re so proud of you!”

“You think so?” Silverstream asked.

“Of course,” Ocean Flow said. "Not to mention, you had a very good partner on your claws.” They then turned to Gallus, who had a feeling he would be roped into a conversation.

“Um... Hey there,” the griffon said nervously.

"You don't have to worry about us," Skybeak chuckled. “We were hoping that Silver would have a loyal boyfriend someday. We're happy that you two have become a couple.” That helped Gallus feel better.

“Thanks. I'm… honestly surprised it took us this long,” he admitted. "I mean… our friends already started dating, so… it probably made sense that Silver and I got together.”

“Hey, dad, you want to see Gallus as a seapony?” Silverstream asked.

“Silver!” Gallus cried.

“I'm sorry, you look so cute as one.”

“I think we have some time,” Skybeak chuckled.

“Perfect. There's a pool of water in the middle of the school.” Gallus and the hippogriffs were about to go take a dip until they saw Diamond Shine walking with Applejack and some trashcans.

“What are they doing?” Ocean Flow asked.

“Don't pay attention to her,” Gallus requested. “She doesn't deserve it.”

“What’d you mean?”

“You’ll get the context soon.” Gallus chuckled. Diamond Shine didn't utter a single word as she went to help Applejack clean up the bleachers from the audience. Gallus went inside the school to have a bit of swimming with his bubbly girlfriend and her parents.

Now, with Gallus and Silverstream together, it’s the beginning of their relationship, just like Sandbar & Yona and Ocellus & Smolder.

Author's Note

One story to go.

Dancing & Dating

Later that night, everyone is already at the cafeteria to have their dinner. Another day, another rehearsal has finished. Pyther and Coral had gotten their bowls of soup and looked for a place to sit. They found Diamond Shine resting her head on one of the tables after burning herself out with her fuming tantrum. The two friends whispered between each other.

“Should we sit with her?” the hippogriff asked. “I felt bad for her.”

“I wouldn’t,” Pyther asked. “She’s still mad, but her body just keeps up now.” They looked to sit somewhere else as Sandbar sat with Yona, Smolder, and Ocellus. They both noticed that two of their friends were missing.

“Say,” Ocellus asked, “have you guys seen Gallus or Silverstream?”

“Yona think they go to the treehouse,” Yona spoke.

“They should’ve been back by now,” Sandbar noted. “It’s already dinner.”

He looked the door out of the cafeteria and could see Gallus and Silverstream flying towards them. The girls looked and they all saw both of them were holding each other’s talons. They both went to get their meals while they had a chat with each other.

“I think you’d be a great Wonderbolt,” Gallus noted. “Not too sure that I’d be interested in it.”

“Why not?” Silverstream asked. “You’ve already got the colors.”

“Yeah, I noticed that, but I think it’s just fine having you as a Wonderbolt. It’ll make you more special.” While she wanted her friend to join her in a future scenario, it would be nice to be special. Eventually, they got what they wanted to eat and sat down at the table where her friends were sitting.

Ocellus decided to speak up first. “How are you two doing?” she asked.

“Great,” the hippogriff responded. “Gallus and I had such a great time together. We talked about things we’d like to share along with flying around. I can’t believe we lost track of time.”

“So, you guys are dating now?” Smolder asked.

Gallus knew something like this would happen. He could see the smirk on the dragon's face. “…You can say that,” he responded.

“Ooh, maybe we can have special triple date plans.”

“How does triple date work?” Yona asked.

“Maybe some kind of event like the Pony Pal dance. Or maybe even a pool party!” Sandbar scooted closer to Gallus and whispered something.

“So, did the date go well?” the colt asked.

“Better than I thought," Gallus quietly admitted. "Kind of disappointed I didn't find out what happens when the pearl shard is used on a griffon. Plus... We haven't kissed yet.”

“Uh-huh. Just give it some more time.”

“Hope I have enough of it because we need to get that kissing scene down.”

The boys noticed that the girls hadn't heard what they said and just kept acting naturally. Silverstream was about to have her meal if it wasn't for Tarsi swooping in and snatching the tray away from her. The orange changeling sniffed the soup she had and even grabbed a spoon to taste test it.

“Hey!” Silverstream exclaimed. “What are you think you’re doing?”

“Testing for peanuts,” Tarsi explained. “I know you’re allergic to that stuff.” She then proceeded to place the tray back down in front of the hippogriff before flying off to get her a fresh spoon.

"...That was weird."

"She's being overly cautious since you ate that peanut bar," Ocellus guessed.

"Yeah, I should've checked where Diamond Shine got that bar. What’d you think's going to happen to her?”

“Probably being given the work nobody else wants to do for the play,” Gallus guessed. “I'm surprised she didn't get expelled, even though she has stayed here for a while now.” The friends shrugged this off and continued with their meals with Silverstream joining in as soon as Tarsi brought her new spoon over.

The next morning, during classes, the friends could see Silverstream showing her affection to her new boyfriend. Mostly by hold Gallus's talon, leaning against him, or even just nuzzling him. Gallus tried to play it cool, even with his blushing. There was still one thing they had to practice before they performed the play for real. As for Diamond Shine, not a lot of the students wanted to talk to her. While she didn't know about Silver's allergies at the time, the fact she had laced sneezing powder on the bar, with the addition of the sandbags she set loose, she could've been compared to other ponies such as the Flim Flam Brothers or even Cozy Glow. The only students that were willing to communicate with her were Pyther and Coral, who weren't happy with what she did.

The afternoon arrived, and all students were outside to continue their rehearsals for the play. Except, Diamond Shine was kicked out of her role, because… you know. Pyther and Coral were practicing their roles when the crystal pony approached her friends, they let her know how they felt.

“In what way did you think would happen to give that candy bar to Silverstream?” Coral asked.

Diamond Shine tried to speak except she wasn’t able to think of a good reason. Fortunately, Pyther spoke for her. “You were trying to get her sick so you could be Golden Aura, were you?” the dragoness questioned.

“…Yes,” the pony admitted sheepishly.

Neither one of her friends was happy with this bit of information. “Can you give us one reason why we should help you now?” Diamond Shine simply shook her head. “Thought so.”

“Okay, Diamond, I know you wanted that part, but you've got to have standards.” Diamond didn't have anything to defend herself and just watched her friends walk away to do other things. The young mare kicked the wall in frustration, though she had only herself to blame.

Meanwhile, Rarity had gotten to work on Silverstream's dress. She was putting the final touches on it so it wouldn't be at risk of falling apart. Silverstream is simply waiting for the dress to be finished as she saw a sketch on Rarity's notepad. It looked to be a suit for Gallus while he was in his monster outfit. She was about to question what it was until Rarity turned to her.

“Silverstream, I've heard about what happened,” the mare spoke. "Are you feeling alright?"

“I'm fine, thank you,” the hippogriff stated. "Is that Gallus's outfit?"

“Absolutely. It's the one he wears as the prince before the curse and also after it's lifted.” Rarity checked the color of the thread to make sure she had the right colors for Gallus's outfit. The blue griffon even flew over to see how the outfits were coming along. Silverstream was a little confused why he didn't have his monster outfit on.

“I was going to help practice the first scene where I tick off the wrong creature,” Gallus informed. “We’re doing it because Headmare Starlight wants us to practice the 'transformation' scene." He looked over to see some of the unicorn students practicing different types of light shows. Gallus and Silverstream watched them levitate some colored powder that was provided for them. It was certainly very nice to look at and the golden color would be perfect for the monster's reformation.

“Wow,” Silverstream gasped. “That was amazing. How's the curse spell suppose to look like?”

“We're about to find out,” Gallus replied. He flew to the stage where Sandbar, Ocellus, and Tanzanite were waiting for him. A royal looking throne was waiting for him and the griffon sat down in it. "You ready?"

“I am,” Tanz responded. “Coral, how about you?”

Coral was waiting off the stage as she wouldn't show up until later in this scene. She was reading her script as the role of the witch. “Ready when you are,” the hippogriff responded. She didn't feel quite ready. Coral had only just been given the script that day and had to catch up with the others. As she read her lines one more time, the scene began.

“Where's my present?” the griffon yelled in anger.

Sandbar, who was playing Light Touch, walked forward with a small wrapped present. “Your highness,” he spoke, “I hope you accept this gift from the humble…”

“Oh, just give it to me!” Without warning, the spoiled prince snatched the gift from the colt's hooves. He ripped through the paper and his excitement dissipated when he saw what was inside. “A book? You call this a present?” He tossed the book to the side as the staff had mixed feelings on this. Light Touch felt sad that his gift meant nothing to the prince, Clockwork, played by Tanz, just sighed as he was used to this behavior, while Ocellus, playing the part of Sweet Tea just scowled at this behavior.

The prince got up to see if there was another better present, except he got distracted by a knock on the door. “I wonder who that could be,” Clockwork questioned. The prince flew away ahead of anyone else as he didn't want any interruptions.

Coral quickly got into place as the prince opened a door to see her… standing. Kelpie was flying above them using a cloud to make it snow. Gallus looked at the hippogriff playing the role of the old lady, who didn't seem to be doing much. “Coral, start shivering,” Gallus whispered to her.

“What?” she asked.

“You're an old witch who's been out in the cold since sunset. Instead, you're just standing there.” While the hippogriff didn't like the griffon's criticism, she knew he was right. Coral looked over to Starlight, who knew the scene had already gone off the rails.

“Sorry, Headmare. Can we try this again? I’m not doing it right.”

“Sure,” the headmare responded. “Let’s try this again.” Gallus closed the door and Coral tried to shiver again. The griffon opened the door and looked down at her.

“Please take this rose in exchange for the bitter cold,” she said in the old lady’s crackled tone. While she just said this like she was placing an order at Sugarcube Corner, Gallus rolled with it.

“Pphhtt, I don't need some flower,” he scoffed. “Go away, you wretched old hag!” With that insult, he slammed the door. Coral just stood there trying to figure out how to act in this scene.

“Cut!” Starlight called. “Coral, I understand you're trying, but we have a lot of work to do. Just keep practicing.” The hippogriff nodded before the attention went back to Gallus. “As for you, Gallus, keep up to the good work.” The blue griffon grinned. Coral sighed as she knew she had to work on her character. “Now, Gallus, are you ready to try the transformation scene, where you become the monster?”

“Let her rip,” Gallus responded.

“Alright then. Bring in it!” The unicorn students walked in taking some baskets of different colors of powder. They began levitating some pink powder and Gallus. The powder swirled around his talons first then around his body for a little bit until the pink turned to black. His costume was being sneaked around so it could be placed on him. Firstly, they tried putting his wings on.

However, Gallus's wings were closed so the bat wings didn't have things to slip onto. Instead, they just slammed into his sides, knocking him out of place and causing the powder to get in his eyes. He cried out in pain and the unicorns quickly dropped him. The griffon's friends and Starlight quickly ran over to him. "Are you okay?" Sandbar asked.

“I've just… got some powder in my eye,” Gallus groaned. He tried rubbing the eye that the powder flew in, only it made things feel worse.

“Don’t scratch those eyes, wash it out with some water," Starlight suggested. "Go to the nurse's office." Gallus nodded and held his eye as he flew back to the school. Silverstream was feeling concerned about him and followed behind.

When the griffon got inside the school, he was surprised to see his friend beside him. “Silver, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I'm just making sure you make it to the nurse's office,” Silverstream stated.

“I've just got some powder in my eye. And it’s down the hall."

“… You wanted to make sure I was okay.”

“Well, that was an allergic reaction. I just need to wash it out.” Gallus's depth perception was a little off, thus when Silverstream took Gallus to the door, he bumped into it. Silverstream held his talon and guided him the rest of the way to the nurse's office.

While they were doing this, the other students were going to do their transformation scene as well. Just as a precaution, Gus had gotten some goggles for Sandbar, Tanzanite, Ocellus, and Sulcus to wear. "I question, where you get this stuff?” Tanz asked him.

“Some things are better left a mystery,” Gus noted. He walked away, leaving the students to take his advice.

Given his personality, it would be best not to question his actions. The unicorns prepared their powder and the costumes for the actors to slip into. The powder swirled around the four students, who were standing still for the test. When their costumes were slipped onto them some of the shirts managed to get one, but Tanz's caught on his horns and gave a surprise "RIP!"

The sound of ripping clothing made the students stop and the powder quickly fell to the floor and only part of the costumes was placed on the students. Sandbar pulled down his vest so he could see the damages done to Tanz's outfit. The sleeves had been rip, ruining the top half of the shirt. Rarity was alarmed. “Tanz, are you okay?” she questioned.

“I had worse,” the drake responded. He removed the ripped shirt causing as little damages as he could before handing it to his professor. Rarity sighed as she took the ripped clothing to the sewing station to be prepared. Tanz looked at the other actors, who seemed to have got their outfit on just fine. However, Ocellus and Sulcus could feel an itching sensation with something in between the fabric and their chitin.

"Ugh… What's with this powder?" Sulcus questioned.

"You guys feel itchy too?" Sandbar asked, feeling the same as them. Ocellus and Sulcus nodded. “Me too.”

Sunburst took notice of the students' discomfort and inspected the powder. He left some of it on his hoof and having it sit there felt a little irritating to him. “This powder is the issue, it’s itching powder,” he commented. Hearing this, the students began taking off their costumes and started brushing the powder off of them. “We won’t use this for the effects.”

“Then what else can we use?” Ocellus asked.

“Pure magic, perhaps.”

“But... we aren't that masterful in that,” November Rain, one of the unicorns, said.

“Exactly,” the red stallion unicorn added. “Just because we’re unicorns doesn’t mean we’re masterful in magic.” Rusty Wrench nodded with agreement.

“Then what else can we do?” Tanzanite asked.

“What if we used a different kind of powder,” Sandbar suggested. “The one that doesn’t irritate the skin like baby powder. And then add a little coloring pigment to it.”

“Good idea, Sandbar,” Sunburst commented. “We’ll take note of that.”

“I do have a theory of what the issue is,” Ravi spoke. Sunburst and the students looked towards him. “I was in a bit of a hurry and picked out the first kind of powder that I found with some dyes."

"So... Are you saying you bought itching powder without checking, didn't you?" Gus asked. The buffalo sadly nodded.

"Thanks for admitting your mistake, Ravi," Sunburst said. "We'll find a use for this stuff somehow." Applejack left the stage to find some powder that wouldn't be irritating to the students.

Back with Gallus, the school nurse had poured some water into his eye, washing the powder out. It still stung a little bit after he and Silverstream left the office. "How are you feeling?" the hippogriff asked.

“I'll be good in a little bit,” the griffon groaned. “Hopefully, I can still act.”

“I'm sure you will. You've been putting in the most effort out of all of us.”

Gallus chuckled. “Yeah. How about you? Do you think you can do the scenes where you have to be emotional?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like the scenes where you looked for your father, get stuck in the dungeon, head home to save your dad. Stuff like that?”

“I performed the scene where I met Sweet Tea pretty well. We're going to do great.” Gallus smiled and rolled his eyes as he knew Silverstream would bring plenty of energy to the table. While the griffon didn't notice, Silverstream leaned a little close to him. She wanted to get in front of him, but... She felt awkward right now and messing up what she wanted to do would make it feel worse. So she just kept walked with Gallus until they got to the stage. They had been told about the wrong kind of powder so they would have to do other scenes. After a bit of debating, they decided to go with the ballroom scene.

Gallus had just been given his suit that was specially made for him to wear even dressed as the monster. He then saw Silverstream walk out not only in her golden dress, but with gloves, and her mane tied into a bun. The griffon blushed as he tried to stay in character. He looked over to Sandbar, who gave a confident smile telling him to get keep going. The beautiful hippogriff and monstrous princess stepped closer to each other and held each other's talons.

“You ready?” Silverstream asked.

“Ready,” Gallus responded.

A music player was backstage and Rusty placed the needle on the record. Music that could've been heard at something like the Grand Galloping Gala started playing. The two griffs started dancing around slowly as they looked into each other's eyes. They stumbled a little bit as they had a lack of experience with ballroom dancing, something Rarity took notice of.

The unicorn whispered to Pinkie Pie, as to not distract the students. “Pinkie, did anyone remember the dance practice?” Rarity questioned.

Pinkie didn’t respond as she hadn't thought about dance practice until now. “…That'd be a no," she admitted. They could see Gallus and Silverstream stumbling a little bit more until Silverstream tripped, taking Gallus with her. Seeing their mishap, Rarity walked over to them.

“Perhaps we should do some practice with our dance skills. When you get out of your outfits, I'd like you to meet me in the gym.” She then walked away, leaving Starlight to double-check something she had missed before.

“She has a point,” the headmare noted. “Because of the events yesterday, we must've skimmed over dance practice.”

“So, which ones of us do have to practice?” Ocellus asked.

“Let's see…” Starlight took a look at the list having all of the students that were a part of a scene where dancing was involved. “Aside from Gallus and Silverstream, Moss, Pate, Ocellus, Sandbar, Tanzanite…” As the Headmare read her list, some of the students were a little concerned about how they'd do.

Later, in the gym, Gallus and Silverstream met up with Rarity, who had set up the room to look like a dance school. There was a record play, some mats with some hoof prints on them to help instruct anyone who was learning to dance. Rarity was taking a look at a book with some instructions before looking up to see the students. “Oh, good, you're here,” she said.

“Hey, Professor,” Gallus said. “So, do we wait for everyone else?”

“You two have a very important scene, so it’d be better if you two are first. Now, you and Silver step on the mat so we can start practicing.” Gallus and Silverstream both did as they were told to try and follow the steps on the mat they stood on.

Rarity started the music player and the two began performing the same dance they tried on stage. Gallus kept looking down at the steps to try and follow them. Silverstream kept trying to make eye contact with Gallus, because of this she ended up stumbling a little bit. “Silver, look at the mat,” Gallus spoke. The hippogriff looked down at the hoof prints she was supposed to be stepping on.

She tried to follow along with the griffon, but she started stumbling again. Trying to recover, Silverstream tried to look at the mat and Gallus, but fumbled up and fell over. “I'm okay,” she groaned.

Both griffs looked over to their professor, who looked concerned. “This is why we should've had the lessons yesterday,” she sighed. "Never mind, Silver, would you like some assistance?” The hippogriff nodded and Gallus stepped out of the way, so the generous mare could help her student. Both Rarity and Silverstream danced along to the music. The mare was going slow so Silverstream could keep up and learn the moves.

“Okay... Just keep an eye on the mat,” Silverstream muttered to herself.

“Try counting the steps in your head.”

The hippogriff listened to the advice and began counting to herself. “One two three, one two three.” Gallus watched as Rarity helped teach Silverstream how to dance while he waited for his turn.

Once Rarity was done with Silverstream, she turned her attention to the griffon. “Alright, Gallus, your turn.” Gallus’s practice was pretty much the same as Silverstream’s, he just counted the steps in his head.

When they were done, they could see some more students showing up. Smolder was the first one to ask a question while holding back her laughter. “You two having fun dancing?” she asked.

“I wouldn't laugh right now, Smolder,” Rarity warned. “Gallus and Silverstream have the easy moves to learn. You and the others have more complex ones to learn.” Smolder's cheeky smile vanished from her face.

“Oh… never mind.”

Silverstream looked at the dance mat they had used as Rarity began rolling it up. “Can we borrow this for a while, please?” the hippogriff asked.

“Sure,” Rarity replied, “just make sure you return it if you’re done.” Silverstream nodded and was handed the dance mat, and she and Gallus left to find a place where they could practice. All they can think of was the treehouse, that’ll be the perfect place to practice.

Rarity changed the record to a different song that better fit the theme of the dance that the other students would perform. Unlike the ballroom music that the griffs had, this music sounded a little more fast-paced. Rarity placed out a couple more dance mats and they look more complex than the one that was rolled out a few minutes ago.

“…You sure we can learn this in time?" Tanzanite asked.

“The play isn't meant to show so several days. You'll have plenty of time. Either way, I suggest you start practicing now.” Sandbar decided to start first since his character danced the most out of all the other students. He started slowly to memorize the steps on the mat. Tanzanite still wasn't sure how to feel about this, since dragons never really danced before to his knowledge. There were exceptions like Smolder and Peridot on the cheer squad.

He looked at Sandbar, who was starting to hit his groove and started speeding up to match the tempo of the music. “Come on, Tanz,” he said, “You're part of this musical number too.”

The drake wasn't as confident as the colt as he stepped onto the dance mat. The drake tried to dance along a little bit until he fell over embarrassingly. “I guess I have a lot more work to do than I thought,” Rarity muttered.

Meanwhile, Gallus and Silverstream had taken the dance mat to their treehouse and the hippogriff wanted to get started right away. Silverstream grabbed onto Gallus's talons. “Silver, take it easy,” the griffon cried.

“Sorry, Gally,” the hippogriff apologized, “I just really want to learn this dance. Professor Rarity said it was important. Let's just get started.” Gallus simply shrugged and the two started practicing their dance. Both of them tried counting their steps both out loud and in their heads. Both of them fumbled a little bit and it almost felt like something was missing.

“Hold on, Silver, could you stop for a minute?” Silverstream let go of the griffon's talons and looked a little confused.

“What's wrong?”

“Something is missing.” The two griffs could hear the awkward silence and the needed some kind of music. Then Gallus had an idea. “I'll be right back. You stay here.”

Gallus quickly flew away and left Silverstream by herself. The hippogriff waited for a couple of minutes until she saw Gallus flying back carrying a record player.

“Did you borrow the record player?”

“Actually, this is the one you got me for my birthday. I did borrow the record Rarity used when we were practicing.” Gallus placed the record down on the table and set the record on it. After placing the needle on the record, music began to play. “That's better. Now, where were we?”

The griffon and hippogriff both held each other's talons again as they now had something dance along to. They kept counting the steps as they slowly but surely got better at their dance. Both of them looked at each other and blushed a bit. Silverstream even tried to lean closer to Gallus. The griffon thought his friend was overcompensating to keep her balance and leaned back a little bit. Silverstream felt a little embarrassed about this and just kept dancing, trying to play this off as a mistake.

Back at the school, Tanz was still struggling to learn the moves. He kept on fumbling and Smolder was starting to get sick of it. “Okay, let's try doing it as a duet,” she declared.

“Excuse me?” Tanz asked. Smolder grabbed his claw and brought him to the middle of the mat.

“First of all, you're going too slow. If you can't keep up with the music, you're going to keep fumbling.”

“You sure?”

“Look at Sandbar.” Smolder pointed to her friend, who was keeping up with the tempo and rhythm of the music. “Try and keep up with me.” Tanz did so and soon found himself keeping his footing despite the speed of their dancing. “See, you're doing better.”

“Yeah, I see that.”

“Now, let go.” Smolder let go of the drake's claws to let him try and dance on his own.

“Okay, I feel more confident.”

“See, you're getting it.”

“Very well done,” Rarity gladly commented. She looked down the hall to see Pyther walking in with Emerald and Peridot. “Just a minute, girls. We're still working on the dinner guest dance. Besides, you have a lot of actors with you.” Rarity doubled check a list she was given to see how many students she would have to teach.

Later that evening, Gallus and Silverstream were heading back to the stage carrying the dance mat, record, and record player. Like the day before, they had lost track of time and were worried that they wouldn't be able to rehearse their scene again. However, they found that most of the students were practicing the musical number where Bronze Shield was the center of attention. Some of them were a little flat and a couple of them fumbled a little bit. Silverstream sat down and watched while Gallus went to put the supplies back.

Ocellus was watching them practice and looked over to her friend. “Hey, Silverstream,” the changeling said, “How'd you and Gallus doing?”

“Pretty good,” the hippogriff responded. “Gallus won't admit it, but he had fun. I wish we could've practiced other things.”

"Like what?"

The hippogriff blushed a little bit as she covered up her beak with her wing. "The... kissing scene." Ocellus understood how her friend was feeling. “Maybe it's because I did it at the wrong time. I tried to do it while we were dancing. I should've saved it for when we stopped.”

“Probably. Did he even know?”

"I'm… not sure."

Gallus had just placed his record player back in his room and was returning the record and mat to the gym when he passed by Sandbar, who was just getting some drinks. “Hey, Gallus,” the colt said. “How'd practice go?”

“Pretty good,” the griffon shrugged. "I mean… Silver leaned in a little bit and I thought she was losing her balance... Oh gosh.” Gallus placed his stuff down and groaned in frustration.

“What is it?”

“She was trying to kiss me.” Sandbar realized the problem and sat beside his friend to try and comfort him. “How is it so hard to do just one kiss? I've seen you and Yona do it all the time.”

"The first time is always the hardest."

"You think?"

“You and Silver are good friends and she's now open to the idea of you dating.” That comment got Sandbar to think about the situation. “Maybe that's what you need, a date.”

“By that, hangouts don't count, do they?” Sandbar shook his head left and right. “Great. Then what do you have in mind?” The colt thought about this as he would try and think about the things that both Gallus and Silverstream would like.

“Meet me in our dorm tonight. I'm going to talk to the girls about this.” Sandbar walked out with the drinks, leaving Gallus to return the borrowed supplies. “Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?” He just sighed as he knew there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

Gallus was soon waiting in his dorm room, tossing a ball at the wall. It bounced back and he caught it in his talon before tossing it again. He stopped when Sandbar walked in. The griffon tossed the ball to the floor before standing up in front of his roommate. “So, what you and the girls have planned for me?”

“Oh, just a simple date at Sugarcube Corner,” Sandbar informed. “Look, I even got you my best tie.” Sandbar showed his friend a navy blue bow tie, which Gallus just had a low brow on. “We couldn't get you guys anything too fancy.”

“Right then. How's Silver doing anyway.”

Silverstream was bubbling with excitement. She had put on the sea-themed headband that Yona had managed to make for her in a short amount of time. “I can't believe it,” she beamed, “A real date.”

“Yona happy for Silver,” Yona smiled.

“Maybe if it goes well, we can do a triple date.”

“I still don't understand how that’d work,” Smolder admitted.

Ocellus didn't question her friend's enthusiasm and decided to give some advice. “Just make sure you two have a great time,” she recommended. “Try and do something unique to make it memorable.” The hippogriff thought about what the changeling meant by that. Then she looked down at her pearl shard.

“Thanks, girls,” she said. “Wish me luck.” Silverstream flew out of the room excitedly rushing to Gallus's dorm. Once she got there, she found Sandbar helping the griffon put the bow tie on. Gallus saw his date waiting in the doorway and pointed it out Silverstream to the colt.

“Oh, hey, Silver,” Sandbar said. He quickly put the finishing touches on the tie before stepping aside. Gallus managed to put on a confident look before walking over to the hippogriff.

“Silverstream,” he said, "You ready?" Silverstream blushed as she saw the griffon hold out his talon. She held onto it and the two made their way to Sugarcube Corner. During their flight, both of them were pondering what they would do. The final scene was still on their minds. When they made it to Sugarcube Corner, they found that Pinkie was just placing down two slices of cake.

When the two griff sat down and could see each slice of cake had half a heart on them. “Gallus, look,” Silverstream said. She managed to put both their slices together and make the heart whole.

“Hmm, nice touch,” the griffon commented with a smile. They had their slices separated again and both began to enjoy the desert. “So, you think that some of them need work?”

“What? The cakes?”

“No, not that. I'm talking about our classmates. Has Pate managed to learn his lines without forgetting them?”

“I think he's got some flashcards. I saw him using a few during the Bronze musical number. He's starting to learn his lines properly.”

“Good for him. What about Coral? How's she doing?”

“She was practicing off stage. I mean… she only has one major part in the play. She doesn't seem to mind though.”

“Good to hear. I don't want another Diamond Shine making things harder than they need to be. Do you think that Headmare Starlight went too easy on her? I mean, she fed you peanuts.”

“She didn't know I was allergic to them.”

“I know, but she still put sneezing powder on it. She was trying to poison you.”

“Yeah, that was kind of despicable.” She took another bite of her cake as she and Gallus pondered. “You think minotaurs turn into seahorses?”

“Say what?”

“I’m curious about what happens to them when I use my pearl shard on them. Kelpie and Pearl told me what happened to Yona, Smolder, Tanz, and Sandbar. It’s just so curious.”

“To be fair, we didn’t know most of them existed.”

“That’s true. My species were hiding for crying out loud. Actually, now that I think about it, what if there are other gems that can change species? Like a ruby that turns any creatures into dragons, or what about a crystal makes you the size of an ant?”

“You think that gems like those could exist?”

"It's possible. What other magical items do you think are out there?"

"Well, there were those statues we found. One where we got younger and older, and the one where Smolder swapped bodies with the Dragon Lord."

“Yeah. I remember that. Do you think there could be a statue that can make us into different elements? Like you become living fire or me as a living cloud.”

“…A little weird but after everything we've seen, I wouldn't be surprised. Like that mirror.”

“You mean that one to the other world?”

“That's the one. I don’t think we should talk about that here.” Gallus looked around and outside of the building to make sure nobody heard them. “I don’t want to find out what happens when some creature finds out about another world.”

“You have a point. Although, I’m kind of curious about other worlds.”

“Here we go.”

“Like, what if there was a world that was both like the human one and ours. What do you think that would look like?”

“Confusing. You think we’d always have to wear clothes?”

“I wouldn’t mind. Terry says that female Minotaurs wear clothes all the time.”

“Eh, I’d get used to it.” The two griff chatted along until they had finished their slices and were wondering where to go next. Silverstream looked down at her necklace and wanted to go swimming and then grabbed Gallus’s talon.

“You want to find out what a griffon looks like after using the pearl shard?” she asked.

Gallus smirked. “I know you’ve been dying to know,” he chuckled. Soon, the griffon got tugged away to the pond. Though he wasn’t too sure, Gallus felt his tie was loose.

Silverstream couldn’t wait any longer. When she saw the pond she soared through the air and activated her shard. Because of her impulse, she only used the pearl on herself, leaving Gallus as a griffon. The two splashed into the water with only one of them able to breathe.

Gallus quickly started swimming back up to the surface as Silverstream saw his tie fall off. Not to mention, she felt her headband coming loose too. It seemed like both accessories didn’t like water as the tie sunk like a rock and the headband was falling apart.

Gallus resurfaced and coughed as some water had gotten sucked in his windpipe. After taking a minute to regain his breath, he looked over to Silverstream, who had brought up their accessories. The tie had soaked up a good amount of water and the headband was missing all of the accessories Yona had added on. “Oh no,” the seapony sighed.

“Geez,” Gallus commented, “I sure hope Sandbar doesn't mind a wet tie.”

“Yona's going to be upset over her headband.” Leaving the headband on land, Silverstream dove back underwater to see if she could find the pieces that fell off. Gallus tried squeezing the water out of the tie until the seapony returned empty hoofed. “I can't find the pieces.”

“It's too dark. I think Sandbar's tie's okay. I hope it's not one of those clothes that mold.”

“Oh, gosh, Gallus I'm sorry. I... I think I can get these fixed.”

“Hey, it's just a tie. I'm sure Sandbar will understand.” Silverstream didn't seem to think so, especially since the headband she wore was as dull as one she could buy at a bit store.

“Um... I'm going to see if... I can return these to Yona and... I'll be right back.” Silverstream changed back into a hippogriff, took the headband and tie, and flew away, leaving Gallus behind. Confused, the griffon stayed behind. He waited by the water for twenty minutes. He looked at the stars for a while until he got bored of waiting, and decided to find out where his friend went.

He traveled back to the school and looked around. “Silver? Silver!? Where are you?" Gallus walked around for a little while until he found Ocellus. “Hey, Celly, have you seen Silver?”

“Yeah, but…” The changeling paused as she looked a bit confused. “What happened?” she questioned.

“What are you talking about?”

“Silver's sulking in her bedroom and we can't get her to talk.”

“All I know was that we were going swimming and she accidentally ruined our accessories. I wasn't mad she left before I could say anything.” This just made Ocellus more confused. She brought Gallus over to Silverstream's dorm, where the hippogriff was lying on her bed with her head resting on her pillow. “Have you all tried talking with her?”

“Yeah. No luck. I don't know what's gotten her so upset.” The two of them left Silverstream in her room. She wanted to be alone. Gallus felt bad for her.