A Griffon's Gang

Chapters

A Clean-Up Kidnapping
Journey Beyond Equestria
Behind Enemy Lines
Whipped into Shape
Plotting Plans
Sleeve of Tricks
Think Fast
Fools Gold

A Clean-Up Kidnapping

Author's Note

Here it is folks, my 50th story. Special thanks to Great White Prime for suggesting the idea. And incredible thanks to Gregory Griffon for being my editor. Couldn't do this without you buddy.

A Clean-Up Kidnapping

Another normal day at the School of Friendship. Everything was just as usual. Students hang out or read books for assignments, or something else. But for one griffon, Gallus, it is still as normal as usual. He was on a couch at the school’s lobby, just relaxing by himself with his back pressing against the seat cushions, his head on the sofa’s arm, and his whole body slouching as he stays there. He was only minding his business. When he turned his head, he saw Smolder approaching him.

“Hey, Gally,” the dragoness greeted.

“Oh, hey there, Smolder.”

“What are you doing?"

“Just chilling,” he responded. “I have nothing in mind. You got anything planned?”

“Eh, just a nice date with Ocellus, that’s all. I was wondering about how you and Silverstream are doing.” Gallus blushed.

“I know, that was only for the play.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” Smolder said sarcastically. “You know Silver was all for it.”

“I know that, but…” The griffon groaned as he knew his friend was right. “Okay, so it's happening. What should I do?”

“How about a private pool party? Silverstream’s crazy to find out what happens when other creatures are affected by the pearl shards. She thinks Ravi would turn into a dolphin."

“Yeah… What about Terry and other minotaurs?”

Smolder simply shrugged as she didn't really know what would happen. “I don’t know. It’d be kind of cool seeing what it would be like to breathe underwater.”

“It’s weird. I’ve been affected by her pearl shard before. I mean, Spike told me he turned into a pufferfish, while you… a shark!”

“Yeah, a tiger shark to be precise.”

“Hello there,” Sandbar said. Gallus and Smolder turned to see him walking towards them.

“Hi,” they greeted.

“What’s up?” Sandbar asked.

“Oh, we’re just talking about what’ll happen if some creatures were affected by the hippogriff’s pearl shard,” Gallus answered.

“Interesting. You remembered what happened to Yona, right?”

“Oh, I remembered that,” Smolder grinned, “she became a walrus. I was with you, and her,… and Pearl, Kelpie, and Tanzanite after we got our runaway wings. Man, also, that chocolate milk was delicious!”

“Exactly,” Sandbar chuckled. “Anyways, I came here to tell you guys something positive. I bet you, Gallus, would love to hear this.”

“Really!” he exclaimed with interest.

“Go ahead, tell us,” Smolder said.

“They're finally putting Griffonstone back together.”

“They are?” both griffon and dragoness said in shock.

“Yeah, there’s a sign-up sheet and everything. Come on and take a look.”

Smolder wanted to see where this was going and followed her friend down the hall. Gallus wasn't too far behind, though he wanted to stay in the lounge. Walking down the corridor, Sandbar showed them both the sign-up sheet asking for volunteers. Not too many students had signed up though. “What's with the lack of students?” Smolder questioned.

“Seemingly because nobody wants to fix it up,” Gallus muttered. Sandbar overheard this and looked a little concerned.

Garry and Genna were flying by when they saw the sign-up sheet. “How long was this here?” Garry asked.

“A little earlier today,” Sandbar informed. “Say, are you guys interested in doing this?”

Both griffons just looked at each other before flying away, not even looking at the sheet.

“There's your answer,” Gallus commented. He seemed to be just as caring as Garry and Geena and just walked away. Both Sandbar and Smolder knew how he felt about Griffonstone, but it didn't make sense why nor did Garry and Geena want to make Griffonstone a better place.

Gallus made it to the school’s entrance and laid down right beside the moat. He looked down at his reflection in the water until somebody covered his eyes. “Guess…… who,” said a familiar voice in a singing tone.

“Silverstream, I’m not in a good mood right now.” The happy hippogriff removed her wings from the griffon’s eyes and sat beside him.

“What's wrong?” she asked as she sat down beside him. “Is something bothering you?”

Gallus sighed. “It’s that sign-up sheet I saw, saying that Griffonstone is going to be rebuilt. Students are allowed to sign up right now.”

“Oh. That’s good. Isn’t it?”

“Sure, the buildings getting the proper rebuild they needed for so long is great, but it’s the residents who are the problem. You’ve heard what they’re like. They don’t care what happens unless it does something good for them.”

“But having a roof over your head is a good thing.”

“Yeah, but how long is that roof going to last when they tax you a bit for every breath you take, huh?” Gallus looked back down at his reflection in the water as Silverstream kept trying to comfort him.

“Griffonstone isn't for everybody. You could always move somewhere else. My parents won’t mind if you stay with us for a while.”

“Hmm, that's nice of you, Silvy. I still think that I want to move to Canterlot though.”

“That's kind of pricey.”

“I know. Still, it’d be a good place to be.” Silverstream wrapped her wing around her boyfriend before nuzzling against him. Gallus smiled as he felt her cheeks rubbing against his cheeks. “Thanks, Silver. I really appreciate this.” Gallus repaid his girlfriend’s affection by kissing her cheek, making Silverstream blush.

Despite how the griffons were feeling about the plan to restore their home, a couple of students did sign up. They were willing to help give their friends a good and proper home. With enough of them signing up to help, the school had gotten the supplies they would need for Griffonstone's makeover. It soon became a popular topic and a couple of the students even tried convincing some of the griffons to tag along with them. Emerald was one of those students who was trying this on Gus.

“Come on, Gus,” Emerald said, “what would we convince you to try and fix up your home?”

“Make the griffons care and then we can work something out,” Gus responded.

“Try and think about griffons like Peter. They’d want to have a new home.”

“A home is one thing, but if your parents are better off behind bars, then you’d be better being an orphan.”

“I heard that!” Gallus cried. He had some of the worst past experiences in Griffonstone and did not want to talk about it. The students and teachers were wanting to help out, but they also understood the major issues with the griffons’ home. As the blue griffon went to get a drink, his friends sat at the table talking about the issue.

“You know what I'm thinking?” Ocellus asked.

“Yeah. Why do most griffons’ names start with G?" Silverstream asked.

“Yes, but also the fact that the key problem is the parents of Griffonstone. The students started caring once they came here and they actually learned about creatures that care about them.”

“I still remember how they tried to hide in our treehouse during Hearth’s Warming,” Sandbar noted.

“I know. We've never met their parents, and I don't know how we can change the others’ minds about fixing Griffonstone.”

Gallus soon came back hearing the end of his friends’ conversation. “I'm glad you guys are trying, but it was a struggle to get them to stop the Mean Three,” he explained. “You know, the three that nearly destroyed Equestria.”

Smolder was pretty amazed by what she heard. “That bad?” she questioned.

“Sure is. If I struggled to convince them to save the world, how are we going to make them better parents?”

“Maybe we need to trick them to think they want to be better?” Sandbar suggested. His plan did sound a little shaky, and even he didn't seem to believe it would work.

“Guys, there are some things you just have to accept as pointless. The parents of the griffons are one of those things.” This sounded pretty harsh, but they understood what Gallus was feeling. They knew they would break records if they kept suggesting ideas. Instead, Silverstream decided to change the subject.

“So, random question, if you’re a pony, what would you guys have for a cutie mark?” the hippogriff asked.

"Yona don’t know what cutie mark would be,” Yona admitted.

“You’re asking me,” Sandbar said, “I’m a pony, and I have 3 turtles as my cutie mark. But… if I were in an alternate universe and have a different cutie mark, maybe it could have something to do with snow.”

“How about a snowflake embedded in the cracked ground?” Gallus suggested. Yona didn't like the sound of that at first, but the more she thought about it, that design did sound like her.

“I'd just go with a ladybug,” Ocellus admitted. “They’re adorable little bugs. Smolder, you?”

The dragoness pondered a little bit until she had a guess. “Anything to do with fire,” she said.

“Like a teacup?” Silverstream asked.

“…Yeah. A teacup. Of course, it’s because I like wearing dresses and attending tea parties.”

Ocellus placed her hoof on Smolder's shoulder. “Smolder, we all know that you like dresses and tea parties,” the changeling spoke. “There's nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I honestly thought you'd be more embarrassed playing Well Dressed,” Gallus chuckled remembering the play that wasn't too long ago. Smolder blushed again as the friends were happy Gallus was feeling better now.

A couple of days later, the students that had signed up were ready to start the restoration of Griffonstone. They made up the clean-up team and were just waiting for the train at the train station. Out of all of the students that signed up, only four of them were griffons; Gale, Gus, Grace, and Gregoria.

“I still don't know how they roped us into this,” Gus groaned.

“You try arguing with a yak,” Gale noted. They both looked over to the girls to hear their reasons for coming.

“I'm going with Dotta and Peridot,” Grace said. “And Emma's coming along too.”

“So's Gleaming Pearl,” Gregoria added. “She seemed happy to help.” They heard some loud hoof steps and turned to look at Applejack.

“Listen up, y’all,” the farm pony called, “The train will be here in any minute. Now, we’re happy that you’ve chosen to help fix Griffonstone because the future is in our hooves… or should I say claws. I’m sure the future generation of griffons will be very thankful for your actions. If it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t be the happiest creatures on earth.” This made the students feel confident, then they heard the engine’s whistle. The train stopped at the platform and everyone got on board.

“Isn’t it wonderful, Gregoria?” Gleaming Pearl squealed, as she and Gregoria got onto the train. “I can almost see the beauty of the new Griffonstone.”

“Yeah, I could see that.”

“What’d you think this job might have for us?” Rusty asked.

“If they have demolition,” Trud stated with excitement, “then Trud in!”

“I can see that,” Gale snickered a little bit, and got onto the train together with Rusty and Trud.

“Hey, Emma,” Peridot said while getting on a train. “Could you imagine how dirty and chaotic that place is when we start doing the work? I’d imagine like a lot of old houses with loose and cheap material, and trash littered all over the streets.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Emerald smiled, “but we can handle that. It’s for the sake of the greater good. What could possibly go wrong?”

“You’re right, sis.” The twins chuckled and went onto the train.

The train whistle blew one last time before leaving. Nearby, Gallus and Sandbar watched as the train puff away to Griffonstone.

“You sure we couldn’t help them out?” the colt asked.

“It’s fine,” Gallus responded. “Also, I think I heard the other tribes were sending over some of their subjects to help since most of the students don't want to do it.”

“There looked to be plenty on the platform.” The boys started walking away from the train station to find something else to do.

“You know, Sandbar, I've been wondering what we'd be like if we were born as different species.”

“How so?”

"I mean, if like… if I were born as a yak, Yona and I would get to know each other much faster.”

“Would you guys still go to school?”

“Maybe… Maybe it depends.”

“I’m sure Silverstream would be completely different if she was born as a griffon.”

“What if Smolder was a changeling?”

“Oh! That I would love to see. Has Silver been rubbing off on you?" The colt just shrugged as his friend grinned.

Speaking of Silverstream, she is at her dorm, busying drawing what she and her friend would all look like if they were ponies. She had made herself and Gallus as pegasi and Smolder and Ocellus into unicorns. Yona was an earth pony and had been drawn sitting right next to Sandbar. As she drew their alterations, Smolder was looking at the dresses in her closet. She picked out the one she got for Hearth's Warming.

“What do you think Griffonstone is going to look like after it's rebuilt?” the dragoness asked.

“Hmm, I don't know that much about it,” Silverstream admitted. “Maybe it'll be like the home in Hippogriffia. Hippogriffs live inside of trees, like hollow ones.”

“Aren't those cramped?”

“They're bigger on the inside. Besides, you dragons simply sleep in caves.”

“Hey, it's simple yet effective. Not to mention roomy.”

Silverstream had another question. “Do they enjoy sitting on rough terrains?”

“It's a matter of opinion. I know some dragons who love to sleep on pillows while I hear some of them get back pains unless they have a hard flat surface.” A knock on the door got their attention, so Smolder placed her dress on her bunk and answered it to find Ocellus waiting outside.

“Smolder, do you think you could help me?” the changeling asked.

“What is it?”

“Yona had a bit of an accident and now there's a mess in the lounge.” Smolder sighed as she and Silverstream followed Ocellus down the hall to the lounge. Yona was already there cleaning up some spilled juice.

“Oh, man,” Smolder groaned. “Yona, what did you do?”

“Yak getting juice before tripping over rug,” Yona explained. She pointed to the corner of the rug that was unfolded. Just then, Gallus and Sandbar walked in, seeing the mess.

“What happened here?” Sandbar asked.

“Accident,” Smolder replied.

“I see,” Gallus said. “We’ll help you clean up. C’mon, let’s go.”

They left to gather rags, mops, and tissue paper to clean up the mess Yona made. As they worked, Yona had one question for Sandbar and Gallus. “Did boys see train to Griffonstone leave?” she asked.

“Sure did,” Gallus confirmed. “Hope they get it over with.”

“Gallus, you sound like Griffonstone has no good reason to be rebuilt,” Sandbar noted.

“A building’s wall can be built out of something that can survive an attack from a centaur, but they'll fall in seconds if the foundation is unstable.” Sandbar sighed as he knew his friend wasn't going to change his opinion. Deciding to drop it, they finished up with the juice spill.

Time went on, and Silverstream decided to show Gallus the drawing she had made of them as ponies. He was in the school’s lobby reading a book. When she found him, she sat down beside him. She then tapped his shoulder to get his attention and showed the drawing she made.

“What do you think?” the hippogriff asked.

Gallus looked impressed. “That’s nice,” he commented. “I like that you’ve made each couple the same race of ponies,”

“I’d like to be a unicorn. Except I still love my wings.” Then Silverstream gasped. “What if I was an alicorn?”

“Then I think you'd have a blast.” Silverstream giggled a little bit before placing her drawing down. “How do you think Smolder and Ocellus would be like as unicorns?”

“I think they’ll show some cool magic. Smolder would definitely keep some of her firepowers.”

“Definitely. You know, I was about to start drawing what we all look like as different species. Sandbar the yak, Smolder the changeling, and even a hippogriff version of you.” Gallus rolled his eyes. He was interested in being a hippogriff, but aside from the part pony thing, he didn't mind much of a difference between griffons and hippogriffs.

Just as Silverstream was about to start drawing her beak gave off a glow, much to her amusement. “Hey, Silver, you see this?” Gallus asked. Looking behind her, Silverstream saw her boyfriend’s beak glowing just like her’s.

“Ooh, we’re both going on a mission!” Silverstream squealed

She pranced out of the lobby and saw Yona run past her with Sandbar riding on the yak's back. Surprised, the hippogriff flew up to catch up with her hoofed friends. She could see Sandbar's cutie mark and Yona's horn were glowing just like her beak.

“No way,” she exclaimed. “You guys are getting called too?”

Sandbar took a look at his friend's beak. “Yeah! It seems like it,” he affirmed. Gallus managed to catch up with the group as they got outside and saw images of their heads and Sandbar's cutie floating into the air only to fly away from the castle.

“Where are they going?” Gallus questioned. Orange and blue silhouettes flew past the friends as Smolder and Ocellus caught up to them with their spines and wings glowing respectively.

“You too?” Smolder questioned.

“Yeah. Why all of us?” Silverstream questioned.

“If that's the case, it's gotta be serious,” Ocellus noted.

“That doesn't explain why we're not going to the castle,” Gallus noted, pointing in the direction their silhouette had flown. “Follow them!” Still unsure what the reason was, the student raced in that direction and found themselves running through the Everfree Forest. Eventually, they made it to their treehouse.

“The treehouse?” Sandbar said in a confused tone. “Why at the treehouse?”

“You’re telling me,” Gallus said. “Let’s go in.”

When they walked inside, they could see their silhouettes and Sandbar's cutie mark spinning around in a circle.

“…Okay, now what?” Smolder questioned.

The answer would come when the floor beneath them lit up. It was a little bit blinding at first until the brightness died down. Now that they could actually see, the young six gasped at what they saw. Beneath their feet was a giant holographic map. It showed the locations of Equestria, and possibly beyond considering some of the locations looked unfamiliar to the students.

Silverstream was of course excited about what she was seeing. “No way! We have our own map!?” she cheered. She began flying over the various locations while her friends were a little confused.

"Why would we have a map in the treehouse?" Ocellus asked. "There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the one in the castle."

“Maybe this one works differently,” Sandbar guessed. He looked around the map until he saw Cloudsdale. “Oh look, there’s Cloudsdale.” He walked over to it and when he placed his hoof on the said city in the sky there was a flash. Within seconds, clouds, buildings, and ponies appeared around the students, though they were translucent. Yona saw one of them walk towards her and phased through her like a ghost.

The yak jumped into Smolder's arms out of fright. “What happened?” Yona shrieked. As Smolder set her down, the friends looked around getting a sneak peek of the city in the sky.

“Is this something in the past?” Silverstream asked.

“I don’t think so,” Smolder said, and then pointed to somecreature she knew. “Hey, look, there’s Peter,” Smolder pointed. The young griffon was flying around with his older brother and pet cockatoo, they weren't wearing any winter clothing and the weather had to be warm because Ricky the cockatoo wouldn't even be out of the house.

“This is all happening right now, at the exact time?” Gallus questioned.

“It looks like it.” The preview of Cloudsdale dissipated and the map on the floor had returned.

“Okay… That's interesting,” Ocellus commented. “I wonder where we’ll go for our mission?” Looking back at the map, they saw their silhouettes and Sandbar’s cutie mark floating over Griffonstone, much to the frustration of Gallus.

“Really? I'm going to help out in Griffonstone whether I like it or not, am I?" he asked.

“Seems like it,” Sandbar commented. “Come on, we can take a shortcut at the school and we'll be there in no time.” The students all rushed back to the school to get to the tunnels.

When they jumped through the hidden tunnels from the library, Gallus was still hesitant to help on this mission. “Who would we even help here?” he complained. “All of our friends are there doing their relief program.”

“I guess it has something to do with the griffons who volunteered,” Ocellus guessed.

“Volunteered is a strong word.”

“It could have something to do with one of the griffons that live at Griffonstone that we don't know of,” Silverstream guessed. “Maybe a romantic problem.”

“Yona wishes friends use new preview mode,” Yona admitted.

“Oh yeah, we should've done that in the first place,” Ocellus said with a sigh. “That could’ve helped give us more prep time.” The team stopped when they could see the slab above them waiting to be removed.

“Let us do this,” Smolder declared. “Yona, give me a hoof.” She and Yona pushed it aside and both looked at their surroundings which shocked them with a frightened yelp.

“What happened?” Gallus asked.

“Uhh, you might want to see this for yourself,” Smolder said with an unnerved tone. Helping their friends out of the tunnels, they were horrified by the sight of Griffonstone. It was in a worse mess than it was when they went to clean it up. More buildings had collapsed and it looked like there was a fire.

“Oh no!” Ocellus exclaimed in horror. “What happened here?” The six of them looked around and couldn't see any creatures around other than themselves. They walked around to see if anybody was around.

“This is like Tartarus,” Sandbar commented, “but a 100 times worse.”

“Or how Hippogriffia became a ghost town,” Silverstream added.

“Hello?” Gallus called. “Hello? Is anybody here?” There’s no reply, none but the sounds from the flames. “That’s just great, there’s no…” Suddenly, a lasso wrapped around them. “Fantastic… a booby trap.”

They then were pulled into one of the few intact buildings. Worried about what was going on, they saw Applejack who was with some of the students.

“Professor Applejack?” Sandbar questioned. He was about to ask about what happened until the farm pony interrupted him.

“Hold up. Before you continue, why and how are you here?” Applejack questioned. “You weren’t one of the members who signed up for this.”

“We know, professor,” Ocellus said, “we’re here because we got a call from the map.”

“I see…”

“Not the one in the castle.”

“What? You mean there's another map similar to ours?”

“Yeah, from our treehouse,” Silverstream informed. “It’s more… extensive than the other.” Applejack was fairly confused as Emerald helped untie the students.

“Better if you let me see it for myself.”

“Deal.”

Emerald finished untying the lasso and letting the Student Six release themselves. “You should count yourselves lucky you didn't choose to come here,” Emerald informed.

“We would if we knew what happened just right outside,” Gallus said.

Emerald looked back at the other students, including her sister who looked afraid. “We didn't get a good view of what was going on, but we only heard it.”

“Then who saw it?”

“All we remember is Grandpa Gruff forcing us in here,” Peridot informed.

“Let me talk to him.” Gallus walked back outside to find the old griffon despite the students and Applejack warning him not to go outside.

Gallus flew around for a little bit until he saw the old grump cautiously walking around. He picked up the pace as he saw Gallus approaching him. “Gallus?” Grandpa Gruff said, felt surprised to see him. “What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here.”

“Believe me, Gramps, I don't want to be here, but I do want to know is what happened here,” Gallus said. Grandpa Gruff started walking away except Gallus wasn't going to let him go away that easily. He flew in front of the old griffon every time he tried to walk away. “Please, Gramps! My friends and I want answers.” The rest of the young six approached them and Gruff had a feeling that he had no choice but to talk.

“Alright, fine. Just listen carefully because I’m only going to tell this to you once.”

Applejack led the students up the path leading to the kingdom that had lost its glory. The griffons were still against all of this, yet they were already here. They could see Gilda, Greta, and Gabby waiting for them. “Glad you finally made it,” Gilda said.

“Sorry Gilda,” Applejack apologized. “Some of these kids weren’t willing to come here.”

“That’s okay. At least they’re here now. Thank you so much for coming here to help us restore the home that lost its glory. So, without further ado, let’s clean this place up.” The three griffons led the students to where they needed to go. They started work with the buildings that were beyond repair and falling behind, which were a lot more than the students were expecting.

Emerald picked up a door that had fallen off its hinges. She looked over to Gus and Sunshine, who was looking at the building trying to figure out if it was a house or a store. “Hey, Gus, how could you guys live like this?” Sunshine questioned.

“I have no idea. It’s a miracle we’re alive,” Gus admitted.

“I’d say,” Emerald agreed. He ripped apart some wood from the building to find it was rotting.

“You think we could get a yak over here?”

“Professor Applejack went to get a cart,” Sunshine informed. He flew over to the broken building and helped rip off a piece to start making a pile.

As they did this, Greta was showing one of the intact buildings to Gregoria, Grace, and Gleaming Pearl. “You know, it’s kind of weird to see a griffon with hooves instead of paws,” Greta said to Pearl.

“I had a similar feeling once I saw a griffon like you,” Pearl admitted. “So, what do we do here?”

“Simple, I just need help taking some old stuff out of this shack. Put them in a pile over there if they’re salvable.”

“And if they’re like broken furniture, we chuck them in another pile?” Gregoria questioned.

“Exactly. Let’s get started.” They went inside the old shack and cleared out what they found.

As for Gabby, she had shown Gale, Trud, and Tanzanite to one of the buildings that needed to come down. As per Gabby’s instructions, Trud rammed into the wall at full force, running right through both of the building’s walls. Without proper support, the building crashed to the ground.

“That probably could’ve gone better,” Tanzanite commented.

“Hey, he knocked the building down,” Gale stated. “It is as weak as rubble.”

“That’s true, but... I don’t think we thought it through,” Gabby commented. Looking at the remains of the building, they likely had more work to do, much to Gale’s annoyance.

Gilda had shown one of the salvageable buildings to Rusty, Terry, and Peridot just as Applejack had turned with a cart and her toolbox. “So, what do we have to do here?” Rusty asked.

“Well, there’s a hole in the roof of this place,” Gilda stated.

“That doesn’t sound too difficult,” Applejack commented. “Let’s start loading up this cart and...” They were interrupted by a loud explosion. The sound caused panic as nobody knew where it came from. “What in tarnation!?” Applejack quickly unhitched her cart and she ran off to help the students calm down.

Gabby was just as confused and scared as the students when Grandpa Gruff slowly walked over to her. “What’s with that noise?” he questioned.

“I wish I knew,” Gabby admitted. Gregoria, Grace, and Pearl didn’t know what to do other than hiding in Gilda’s bakery. Gabby was about to go in after them until Grandpa Gruff saw a giant airship flying towards Griffonstone.

“Gabriela, come with me!”

“But the students...”

“There’s no time! They’ll have to hope they don’t look in their hiding spot.” Gabby wouldn’t have time to question as the old griffon pulled her aside and hid in one of the houses that were hard to see given how it was sandwiched between two other buildings.

From the airship, a silhouette figure flew down to the kingdom. As they landed, it was clear they were griffons, one that did not look friendly. One had gray feathers and black fur that matched his talons and beak, which was covered with a red scarf. Another had light gold fur and feather with white markings around his eyes and his beak matched his talons with a gray color. He looked at a belt around his waist with some small sheath on it. Lastly, there was one with white feathers and fur with some yellow patches. His beak and talons were yellow and he wore some goggles, but the most eye-catching thing about him was his red wings, which looked like they were made of metal.

The gray and black griffon looked around to see the town looking abandoned. “Sir,” the male griffon with metal wings called, pointing to the chimney of Gilda’s bakery, which looked to have some smoke coming out of it. “That building hasn’t burnt down, plus it looks new.”

“Good observation, Glynn,” the gray and black griffon commented. He turned to the golden griffon with the belt. “Gram, care to join me?” The golden griffon smiled as he pulled out a white dagger from the sheath on his belt. When they got to the door, without warning, they bashed it down. They looked around to see who was hiding inside. The two walked into the bakery closet and found the girls hiding inside of it.

They forced Gregoria, Grace, and Pearl out of the bakery as the airship was coming in for a landing. Gus, who’s at his hiding spot together with Sunshine and Emerald, could see the girls getting taken away and then noticed a broken bottle on the ground. He knew that he can’t just stay and watch them getting kidnapped. Without thinking, he charged out to smash it against one of the griffons, taking Gregoria, Grace, and Pearl away back to their hiding spot, not in the bakery this time. All of a sudden, Gus saw a familiar bipedal figure pounce at him before getting jabbed in precise parts of his body before falling limp onto the ground.

The figure landed on the ground and looked at the leading griffon. That familiar figure is a kobold, that same guy who attacked the dragons at the Ponyville Cafe. “Very well, Onyx,” he said.

The kobold smirked as he looked down at the paralyzed griffon. The kobold known as Onyx looked over to Gus’s hiding spot. When he looked over, he saw familiar faces, the same victims whom he attacked before. Sunshine and Emerald were frightened to see him, having flashbacks of that incident. Something isn’t right.

“Hey, boss,” Onyx called, “he wasn’t alone. He has company with him.”

The black griffon walked over to the hiding spot until Emerald made her move. She jumped out and tried to give him a surprise attack. In a flash, the griffon ripped open a powder bomb which made the dragoness cough and made her nostrils sting.

“Not again!” Emerald groaned.

“Ignore her. She’s too small to be of any use to us. Take that griffon there.”

“Uhh… it’s called a Hippogriff,” Onyx corrected.

“Whatever, just get him.” The kobold forced Sunshine out to the airship. The black griffon stopped outside of their hiding spot and requested the dagger that Gram had. Holding the dagger in his claw and grabbed Emerald up by her horn, called out to the other students.

“Alright, pussies!” he yelled. “If any other griffons or hippogriffs are hiding here, come out now. If not, this little dragon here will be cut inside out.” Peridot was horrified at what she heard, so was Applejack and the rest of the students. Wanting to keep Emerald alive, Gilda, Greta, and Gabby came out with the rest of the griffon and hippogriff students, pleasing the griffon holding the dragoness hostage.

“Hold it!” Gilda shouted furiously. “We’re out! Now, put her down!”

“Very well,” he then slammed her out hard, almost tumbled to the ground, then ran to the hiding spot where her sister is hiding. Peridot hugged her, knowing that she’s already safe.

“You better watch your back,” Gilda growled. Greta looked like she was wanting to hurt them.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll let you two stay behind,” the griffon leader noted. “You’re just going to be a mess we’ll have to clean up.” Gabby and the students were then harshly taken onto the airship.

“You should let me stay in charge of the griffons,” Onyx recommended. “I’ve learned that the one with a short fuse can be dangerous.”

“Whatever you say,” the leader scoffed. “You know more about those… hippo… hippopotamus… whatever you called them. Just make sure we can sell their necklaces. I’m sure our buyers would love them.” They went back inside the airship as the door closes behind them. The airship started taking off and while Gilda was tempted to chase after them, but then, a ball of fire barreled towards her. While she managed to avoid it, the fireball crashed to the ground destroying a couple of (thankfully) empty buildings.

There were only some minor injuries from the students that poked their heads out of their hiding spot. Gilda quickly landed and a couple of shurikens embedded themselves in the ground beside the griffon telling her not to follow the airship.

“They kidnapped the griffs?” Sandbar gasped, after hearing that story.

“Exactly. Now, if you don’t want to end up like them, get out of here,” Gruff ordered.

The young six were a little conflicted. Gallus, on the other hand, was curious about one detail from what they heard. “Gramps, do you know those griffons?” he asked. Gruff looked towards the blue griffon, not liking what he heard. “You know something we don’t. Who were those griffons?”

The students all looked at the elderly griffon with a fez. “What… You don’t think I would hide from a gang?”

“You gave accurate details about how they looked, including the ones with metal wings. Tell us. Who are they?”

Gruff had a feeling Gallus wasn’t going to get off his back until he answered the question. “Alright. They call themselves the Gold Gang. They’re a gang of griffons who abandoned Griffonstone after the Idol of Boreas was lost. All I know is that they gather up a bunch of the young griffs and train them into thieves.”

“Our friends aren’t like that,” Silverstream stated. “Neither is Gabby.”

“Then they’re not going to last long.” This didn’t sound good considering how the gang made themselves known.

“Just… where did they go?” Ocellus asked.

“I hid after saw the fireball coming down. Everyone else just kept hiding until we know it’s safe.” Gallus decided to see if Griffonstone’s ambassador.

Gilda was in her bakery with Greta, grumbling about what happened. “I could’ve done something right,” she muttered, slamming her clenched claw on the counter.

“Gilda, we have no idea what they could do,” Greta reassured. “I mean… they had a ninja, a pretty good one. Not to mention that fireball.”

They heard a knock on the door that was no longer hanging on the hinges. The girls looked to see Gallus walking in. “You two okay?” he asked.

“Physically,” Gilda sighed. “We just… let those guys take them.”

“Hey, there probably would’ve been more griffons on that ship than there could fit in Griffonstone. Besides, didn’t you almost get shot down?”

“Yeah, by these stars.” Gilda placed the shurikens that almost hit her onto the counter so Gallus could get a good look at them. The shuriken didn’t look like they were made of metal and were oddly colored white. The rest of the young six walked into the bakery with Grandpa Gruff just behind them.

“You got the shurikens?” Ocellus questioned.

“Sure looks like it,” Gallus responded. He showed them off to his friends, still confused about what they were made out of. They were all being careful as they didn’t want to cut themselves on the points. Smolder thought she’d be fine given her thick scales when she grabbed the shuriken…

“Ow!” Smolder cried. She dropped the shuriken so she could hold her claw.

Ocellus could see the confused and painful expression on the dragon’s face. “Smolder, what’s wrong?” she asked. She walked closer to see a small cut on the palm of Smolder’s claw.

“How is this possible?”

Grandpa Gruff walked closer to the shuriken on the floor and picked it up. “It’s what these things are made of,” he said, “Dragon bones.”

The room went quiet as they couldn’t believe what they heard, including Smolder, with her jaw dropped. “Dragon bones?” Sandbar questioned.

“Indeed. I’ve seen them use weapons made of this material before. Like daggers and swords. Your dragon friends should be happy that they’re small and young, can’t make too much out of teenage bones.” Smolder felt sick thinking about this, and Yona almost fainted.

“Now I know they mean business,” Gilda shuddered.

“Yona think friends go home,” Yona spoke.

“Then you’re probably the wisest of your friends,” Gruff noted.

“But we’re not leaving our friends in their control,” Gallus stated.

Gruff scoffed at the idea. “And how do you suppose you’re going to follow them? Two of you can’t fly.”

“We’ll carry Sandbar and Yona, duh.”

“Yona would prefer a balloon,” the yak spoke.

“Well, we have to get our friends back somehow. Gilda, did you see where they went?”

“They were heading south,” Gilda explained. “And also, you’re not going after them.”

“Seriously?”

“You heard what Gruff said, they have weapons that can kill dragons. You’re not going to stand a chance and I’m not going to take the blame from the other kingdoms if get hurt.”

“You’re already in hot water when the hippogriffs got kidnapped. You might as well get some guts and get them back.” Some conflict between Gallus and Gilda was starting to develop and Sandbar was quick to try and stop it.

“STOP!” he yelled. “Let’s just calm down for a while,” he suggested.

“Sandbar’s right,” Ocellus agreed. “We should alert the guards of the other kingdoms about this.”

“Hmm, you’re right, blue bug,” Gilda commented, and then turned to Greta. “Greta, you keep an eye on the kids, I’m going to the Dragon Lands to warn Ember about what happened. We’ll alert the other kingdoms and start a rescue team.” Greta nodded in confirmation as the ambassador of Griffonstone took off to the Dragon Lands.

Gallus wasn’t planning on staying still though. “Hmm, we're going to need some supplies,” he muttered.

“Gallus, are you nuts?” Sandbar cried. “They're right about those griffons. Better if we stay.”

“And the map called us for this important mission. If you want our friends to suffer who knows what with weapons strong enough to kill dragons, go ahead and sit on your flanks. I'm going back to Ponyville to gather supplies and do the right thing.” With that, Gallus forced his way out of the bakery and back to the tunnels. His friends thought about what he said. These griffons were a force to be reckoned with and they weren't going to be nice to the kidnapped griffons.

“Gallus is right,” Smolder admitted. “I'm going to help him pack.” She walked off to the tunnels hoping to catch up with her friend. Silverstream didn't say anything and simply followed the dragon.

“Have you kids lost your minds?” Grandpa Gruff questioned. “Do you even listen to what they teach?”

“We know the risks that we’re about to take,” Sandbar spoke. “But we have to help our friends. And I know that I can’t let them suffer like that!” Despite knowing the risks, Sandbar walked out of the bakery. Yona wasn't letting her boyfriend go along and quickly ran out to lift him onto his back before getting to the tunnels. This left Ocellus as the last student in the bakery.

Gruff just groaned as he knew what would happen. “Come on, ladybug, you know you're going to do it. Go and try to keep up.” The changeling just nodded before getting up and leaving the bakery. The old griffon looked towards Greta, who didn't like what happened.

“Aren’t you going to stop them or what?” she questioned.

“You're the one who has a back that doesn't need constant support. You're telling me you couldn't catch the big one?” Greta was about to object, but she facepalmed instead knowing the Gruff was right.

The Young Six worked fast to gather the supplies they needed. Since the ambush had happened in Griffonstone, no pony in Ponyville was aware of why they were getting the stuff they needed. Gallus and Ocellus were just passing the town square when they saw a hot air balloon coming in for a landing. The blue griffon looked at it while thinking, something Ocellus noticed. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

“You're going to be the only one who can carry Yona single hoofed,” Gallus explained. “However, if we had a balloon like that, she and Sandbar could ride in it. Not to mention, it could help carry out supplies and us if we need a rest.”

Ocellus thought about Gallus's plan, balancing the pros and cons that came with it. They would have an easier time traveling, but balloons weren't exactly known for fast traveling. Between flying until their wings had blisters and a slow journey, the slow speed would probably be a better option. “I guess we can have a balloon for the journey.”

“Perfect. I'll try and strike a deal with that pony. You try and find some rope.”

“Why a rope?”

“Because, if we pull the basket, like a cart, we should be able to move it swiftly.” Ocellus thought this would probably be a good idea and went to get the rope as Gallus tried to talk to the pony in charge of the balloon.

Meanwhile, Smolder and Silverstream had gotten some tents and cooking supplies that could be used over a campfire. “We should be able to save on the matches since I'm a walking firefighter,” Smolder proclaimed.

“Right,” Silverstream agreed. “If we didn't have to rescue our friends, this probably would be a fun camping adventure.” The two friends agreed as Smolder checked a list that they had prepared.

“We're almost finished. If Sandbar and Yona have gotten the food and water, we should meet them back at the school." The dragon and hippogriff set off back to the school feeling that time was at the essence for the griffs.

When they got there, they could see Sandbar and Yona waiting for them with plenty of canned food and bottles of water. “Friends ready to go?” Yona asked.

“We've got what we needed in case that we have to sleep outside,” Smolder informed.

“Where are Gallus and Ocellus?” Silverstream asked.

“They should be here,” Sandbar noted. Just then, they noticed a shadow hovering over them. Looking up, they could see Gallus and Ocellus flying with the hot air balloon right behind them. They landed just in front of their friends.

“All aboard,” the griffon called.

“You rented a balloon?”

“Yep. We can't fly all the way to the rescue. Not to mention carrying all this stuff is going to be a strain if we push ourselves.” Ocellus started placing their supplies into the basket to which the rest of the students did as well.

“You sure we'll be able to find them?” Silverstream asked.

“We’ll see. The spirit chose us for this mission. Besides, we can't just wait until another team goes to save our friends.” Gallus looked up at the sun to judge what time of day it was. “Let's go while we still have some light.” The students agreed and Sandbar and Yona go into the basket. Gallus then showed the rope which he tied around his waist. After a quick explanation, Silverstream did the same thing.

Soon as everything was set, the team set off in the direction they had been told about the airship. They were a little slow to start but eventually picked up some decent speed and flew into the horizon.

The mission begins!

Journey Beyond Equestria

The Young Six had been flying in a hot-air balloon for several hours. With Gallus, Smolder, Silverstream, and Ocellus the only ones that have wings, only two of them will fly, with ropes that are attached to the balloon tied to their torsos, and when they get tired, they switch places. As they have already passed Griffonstone, they carried on for a few miles. Gallus and Silverstream were the ones hauling the hot-air balloon first, with Gallus holding a compass on his claw, making sure that they’re heading south. Once they got tired, they swapped places with Smolder and Ocellus.

“Your turn,” Gallus said to Occelus and Smolder, as he and Silverstream untie themselves and gave the ropes to them. Smolder and Ocellus once again tied themselves tightly, flapped their wings, and flew off the basket to haul the balloon.

“How much further?” Yona asked.

“If we knew that, I’d have a good guess,” Gallus noted while holding his compass. “Instead, we just have to go by a single direction and follow a compass.” They looked up to see the sun was starting to set. Looking down, they could see what could be best described as a desert. There wasn't really much to see down there, just mounts of sand.

“Hey, Ocellus!” Sandbar called.

“Yes?”

“How much longer before we land?”

“We can carry on for another hour,” the changeling estimated. “If we don't see any kind of village, we'll have to camp out for the night.” She and Smolder began scanning the area for any kind of life. It was getting dark, so it wasn't getting easier for them to scan. “Maybe we should land sooner.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Smolder said and turned to her friends from behind. “Hey fellas! We’re coming in for a landing, so prepare yourselves.”

The dragon and changeling started bringing the balloon down for a landing as their friends started to look through their supplies: tents, sleeping bags, bottled water, canned food, medical kits, plastic utensils, and piles of logs for a campfire. They had everything for them to survive. After a quick landing, everyone got out of the basket with the needed supplies, while Smolder and Ocellus untie themselves from the rope and carefully deflates the balloon so it won’t fly away. As they do that, the other four had set up a campfire with the wood they had packed.

“Good thing we bought wood,” Silverstream commented.

“Indeed,” Sandbar said in agreement. He looked around not being able to see anything that would burn for very long. Then a cold breeze blew by, making them shiver. Smolder and Ocellus have finished deflating the balloon, and they noticed that they finished building up a campfire. They then approached it, and Smolder breathed out flames on the logs starting their campfire. They now felt warm. Sandbar then set up the grill grate and a pot over the fire to start cooking some of the food. “You know, this kind of reminds me of when my parents and I used to go camping.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Silverstream said. “How'd that go?”

“It was fun. Maybe if things go well, we could have Headmare Starlight arrange some sort of camping trip.” This made Silverstream excited.

“I'm going to set up the tents,” Ocellus proclaimed. “Hey, Gallus, can you give some help?”

“Sure,” Gallus responded, “right away.” The changeling and griffon got to work as Smolder helped open one of the cans with her claws. She opened it up then got a good look at her claw that grabbed the shuriken with the help of the flames. While it had healed up a bit with a scab, but it still looked pretty bad.

“How many weapons do you think those griffons have?” Smolder questioned. She handed the open can to Yona, who poured the chili into the pot.

“You’re telling me,” Sandbar said, “I knew nothing about this Gold Gang, nor am I not part of them. So, stay calm, Smolder. We're going to get through this.”

“Yes. Smolder have friends by side,” Yona proclaimed. “Friends together strong!”

“Yeah!” Silverstream agreed. “We're part of the Elements of Harmony. The spirit will be looking out for us.”

“I sure hope so,” Smolder muttered while she started opening another can of chili.

While they’re doing that, Ocellus and Gallus started setting up the first tent. “We're in some unknown territory,” the changeling muttered. “I'm not sure what we'll do before or when we find the griffons.”

“I don't think they’ve had much experience with changelings,” Gallus guessed. “They don’t know what hippogriffs are. Judging from what Gruff told us, they know nothing about how their pearl shards work either. Even if they did, I’m don’t know how they would use it to their advantage?”

“Fair point. Still, they could try and control the changelings.”

“They're not going to have good luck with that. Changelings like you aren't inanimate objects, so unless those guys have leverage, they're not going to get much work done.” Ocellus took her friend's word for it and continued with their work.

A little while later, the students all sat around the campfire, eating the chili that had been cooked. It wasn't the fanciest meal given how they were eating out of paper bowls with plastic utensils and drinking bottles of water, however, it was better than nothing. Three tents had been set up and they just had to place their sleeping bags in them. Silverstream could tell things were awkwardly silent, so she decided to start up a chat.

“So, what kind of creatures do you think we’ll meet out here?” she asked.

“Maybe ones that adapted to live in the deserts,” Sandbar guessed.

“Like camel?” Yona asked.

“Exactly, a camel. They do live in the desert.”

“I've never seen it before,” Silverstream spoke. “Isn’t that they have humps on their backs?”

“Yes, they do.”

“Guys,” Gallus called, and they turned their attention to him, “normally I’d be loving to explore other creatures’ cultures, but this is not the time to talk about it. We have a serious mission to do.”

“Gallus is right,” Ocellus agreed. “We're going up against a gang we barely know anything about to rescue our friends. We can't risk playing around.”

Smolder, Silverstream, Sandbar, and Yona knew that both of them were right. Given how a simple shuriken pierced Smolder’s scales and the fact their airship itself was armed was meaning these weren't like the rest of the villains they had faced.

“What do you think is stopping us from using our friendship laser?” Smolder questioned.

“Probably not a good idea to use our ultimate attack when we don’t know how to trigger it. Usually, it only happens when we’re about to die.”

“Uh-huh,” Yona commented. She didn't think this was really a good attack. “What friends do if we don't find griffons?”

“We’d rather start heading back once we start running low on food or water,” Gallus proclaimed.

“It would be best if we only eat at three periods per day while we’re out here,” Ocellus noted. “No snacks nor anything.” The friends agreed to this as Sandbar took a look at the pot of chili. There didn't seem to be that much in there.

“Yeah. I think we’re each going to have to deal with two servings each,” he guessed. The friends would have to plan out the meals smartly if they were going to find the griffons and return home safely.

After finishing up the food, they each went into the tents they had set up. They only packed three so they would share them in pairs, Sandbar & Yona, Ocellus & Smolder, and Silverstream & Gallus. The two griffs were getting comfy in their individual sleeping bags as Silverstream had to ask something. “Gallus, why are you so obsessed with this mission?” the hippogriff asked.

“Why shouldn't I be?” the griffon responded, “It’s very serious.”

“I know that but… it sounded like you had something you weren’t telling us.”

“And what would that be?”

“…Like… It’s with you and Griffonstone in general.” Gallus just sighed as he thought about that.

“It's not only that. Remember those portals?”

“You mean the ones to the human world?”

“No, I mean the one to where the Storm King won.” Silverstream went silent after hearing that. “Knowing that there's a team that’s almost like he is too much for me to bear. Grandpa Gruff said they were formed after Griffonstone fell, so who knows how long they formed.”

“And you don't want our friends to be tortured.”

“Exactly. I can only imagine how they’re doing right now. Probably terrified.”

“I know I would be. You... You're braver than I am.”

“I didn't want to bring you along for this one, but the spirit knows more than I do. Who knows, maybe you can solve something the rest of us can’t.”

“Like my pearl shard?”

“Yeah, like that. Plus, I know that your species is pretty fast. I guess that’s why you wanted to be a Wonderbolt, isn’t it.”

“It sure is. You should see the speed hippogriffs can get to.”

“I wish I could. We’re probably going to need the speed if we're going to deal with these griffons. Let's go to sleep. We’re going to start early until we catch up with the airship.” Silverstream knew Gallus was right and lied down to get some sleep. Both griffs couldn't stop thinking about the reason they were starting to adventure in the first place.

“I wish I can sleep with you longer,” Silverstream muttered softly.

“Me too,” Gallus muttered softly as well.

The next morning arrived, the sun has risen halfway. Gallus and Silverstream were still sleeping, and without noticing, her head is resting on Gallus’s soft chest. Their slumber ended when they were woken up by the sound of a pot and pan banging together. When they got up, Gallus noticed that Silverstream was resting on his chest; she noticed it as well and both of them freaked out a little.

“Oh, sorry, Gallus,” Silverstream apologized. “I didn’t notice.”

“It’s okay,” he said, “no need to apologize for that.” Gallus and Silverstream got up from their crumpled sleeping bags and poked their heads out of their tent to see Smolder making the noise. Yona and Sandbar groaned as they walked out of their tents, still a little tired, and their eyes still a little baggy.

“Oh finally,” Smolder said. “You’re all awake.”

“Smolder, did you have to be our alarm clock?” Gallus groaned.

“Hey, someone had to wake you up,” the dragoness noted. She pointed to Ocellus, who was busy cooking them a quick breakfast.

“Wasn't Gallus wanting to finish mission fast?” Yona asked.

Gallus was about to respond, though Yona was right. “Okay, you have a point,” he admitted, then turned to Ocellus. “Ocellus, how’s breakfast doing?”

“Pretty good,” the changeling responded. "Should be ready as any minute."

“If that's the case, we should pack up our tents.” Packing their tents up didn't take too long and they finished up just as Ocellus finished making breakfast.

“Remember, two servings each.”

“We got it,” Sandbar responded. As they ate, Gallus double-checked the compass to make sure they were still heading south. “Gallus, come here and finish your food before you plan our route.”

“Fine. Just thought we were all trying to get a head start today,” Gallus responded. He sat down with his friends and started eating his meal. The only thing they had to take care of now was getting the balloon reinflated.

After they finished with their breakfast, Smolder quickly reinflate the balloon. They made one last check to make sure none of their stuff is left behind. Smolder and Silverstream then tied themselves up to the balloon to help with the speed.

“They got to have some sort of rest point,” Ocellus guessed. “With a ship that size, something has to be fueling it.”

“Not to mention feeding the griffons that are on it,” Gallus added. “They have to have a big crew to keep that ship running. Plus food and water and somewhere to keep away from prisoners.” The balloon started lifting off the ground and the girls started pulling it south. As they did that, the friends in the basket tried to calculate how much food they would have.

"Okay, so if we have 4 cans a day,” Ocellus commented, "And we have 40 cans."

“Technically, we have 36 since we ate four in last 12 hours,” Gallus corrected. “If we keep up four cans a day, we should have enough food for… nine days.”

“But that's only for one direction,” Sandbar noted. "We got to have food for returning back home.”

“Exactly. So, I think we don't find anything in the next four days, we'll still have five days worth of food to get back to Griffonstone.”

Ocellus was impressed by Gallus's quick calculations. "You know, Gallus, if you had that kind of thinking in class, you'd probably be higher than a C student,” the changeling commented.

“We can think about that later. I'm going to scout ahead to see if there's anything we should look out for.” The friends agreed to the plan and Gallus took off.

“Don't go too far,” Silverstream called.

“Got it,” he said while giving a thumbs-up. He went as far as he was able to see the balloon. He then scanned the area while glancing back at the compass to make sure he was still going in the right direction. He made sure that he scanned the ground to make sure that there was something like a river, a village, or anything that would probably be important. There wasn't much aside from rock mounts and a couple of hills and cliffs, so they kept going.

Back in Equestria, an emergency meeting had been called in Canterlot to discuss the kidnapping that was happened in Griffonstone. No one was delighted about it, especially Gilda and Queen Novo, as their species had been the ones that had been kidnapped. Ember was also upset and at the same time disturbed since she had found out that weapons were being made of her species.

“How could that even kill a dragon?” the Dragon Lord questioned. “I've seen them take on landslides like they were raindrops.”

“I guess they found a way to get past their durability,” Thorax guessed.

“Enough! Can we focus on sending out a search party?” Gilda asked. “Those griffons are getting further away as we speak.”

“It won’t be safe if we don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Twilight proclaimed.

“We're dealing with heartless creatures who don’t care who they have to go through to get what they want,” Novo proclaimed. “Gilda’s right, we’re wasting time just sitting on our chairs conversating. I’ll have some of my guards start the search. It’ll be a good idea if we have some creatures traveling on foot.” Queen Novo then turned to Prince Rutherford, who sat in front of her. “Prince Rutherford, do you think some of the yaks can help out with this mission?”

“Hang on,” Gilda interrupted, “What about the buffalos? They seem to be better at fast traveling. Not to mention, they live out in a desert, so they should be better equipped for unknown terrain.”

“But yaks much stronger,” Rutherford remarked.

“I know, that is true, but they’re already suspecting me trying to fight them back. If they see an army of creatures who can shake the earth, they’re going to get suspicious."

“Earthquakes also might be an inefficient weapon against creatures who can fly,” Novo added.

“That too. Ember, since you have more combat experience than us, what do you think?”

“Well… Since they have weapons that could be lethal to dragons, we should stick with scouts and spies." She looked towards Thorax, who could tell where this was going.

“Okay, I'll try and ask a couple of changelings,” he spoke, “But aside from Pharynx, I can't say a lot of them are going to take that risk.”

“Just have them be whatever kind of wildlife are in that area,” Gilda said, “I don’t want to be responsible for what terrible things just happen back home.” The leaders and ambassadors could tell the griffon were rather upset about this.

“Gilda, this was completely out of your control,” Twilight noted. “And we are getting them back as soon as possible. Ember, try and find small quick dragons to help scout out the area.”

“On it,” the Dragon Lord nodded in confirmation as the alicorn turned to Little Stongheart.

“Little Strongheart, do you think you can convince Chief Thunerhooves to have some of the buffalos to help out.”

“I'll see what I can do, princess,” Strongheart responded.

“Novo, Thorax, Gilda, go and find any volunteers for this rescue.”

“On it,” Queen Novo confirmed.

“Will do,” Thorax added.

“No promises,” the griffon responded. Twilight understood this statement given how she had heard the parents weren't exactly that caring compared to other creatures. Still, Gilda was willing to do her best.

“Very well. Meeting dismissed.” The creatures soon went back to their kingdoms to try and gather search parties, and if needed an army.

Back with the Young Six, Gallus had flown back to switch around with Silverstream so she and Smolder could take a break. As Ocellus tied herself to the balloon, she asked Gallus a question. “Did you see anything?” she asked.

“Nope,” he sighed. “Nothing but more desert.” They kept on flying for a while as Sandbar looked ahead of them with a telescope.

“Anything?” Smolder asked.

“Just like what Gallus said,” the colt responded, “Nothing but more… Oh… Wait a minute.” This got his friends’ attention to him. Adjusting his telescope, Sandbar could see something. It looked to be a river with a camel gathering water with two big buckets. “Land there, guys.”

“Near the camel?” Gallus asked to make sure.

“Yep.” Gallus and Ocellus listened to their friend and slowly started bringing the balloon down.

“So, that’s what a camel looks like,” Silverstream said. “It does have humps on its back.”

As the camel carries two buckets of water, he could see the hot-air balloon coming closer. He was worried until he saw the balloon had a much more appealing color scheme and the creatures, while some of them were unknown to him did look friendly. Once the students landed nearby him, Sandbar and Ocellus approached it.

“Hello, sir,” Ocellus said. “Sorry if we disrupt you.”

The camel felt a bit suspicious seeing them even if they’re friendly, especially to Gallus, because he does remember seeing those species doing something destructive or rowdy. The camel sighed a little to calm himself down. “That’s alright. It’s just that I haven’t seen a different kind of creature like you, especially the blue one.”

Ocellus looked at Gallus, who he gave a low eyebrow. “Oh, I see. Anyways, I’m Ocellus, and I’m a changeling.”

“A what?”

“A changeling,” she repeated, “we’re like a bug version of ponies.”

“Interesting.” He then looked back at Ocellus’s friends. “Who are those guys over there?”

“Oh, uhh… This is Gallus the Griffon,” she introduced and then pointed to her friends who are already out of the balloon. “And that’s Yona the Yak, Smolder the Dragon, Silverstream the Hippogriff, and that’s… that’s Sandbar.” The four students then waved to him.

“I assume you’re friends, right?”

“Exactly,” Ocellus confirmed. “Anyways, we're looking for our friends. Our other friends to be precise. Is there a village nearby?”

“Indeed there is,” the camel responded. “I was just fetching water for my wife’s garden.” He paused as he picked his next words carefully. “Do you know anything about the Gold Gang?”

“Sadly yes,” Gallus spoke. “That’s the same group who kidnapped our friends.”

“You don’t say,” the camel said in shock.

“Yeah. And that is why we are here, we’re rescuing them.”

“Rescuing them? You’re all young!”

“We are young.”

“If you’re rescuing them at that age, that’s so foolish of you. The Gold Gang has a lot of very destructive weapons, I hate seeing you die at a young age like that.”

“Hey, we were given this mission by something more powerful than you could believe,” Gallus declared. “I and my friends have gone under dangerous risks before, and we’re able to complete those risks. Now, like what I said, our friends are kidnapped by the Gold Gang, and we’re here to rescue them. We can’t just sit on our flanks and do nothing, we have to take action. We may be young, but that doesn’t mean we are foolish to ourselves.”

The camel sighed as he knew if these students were the enemy, they probably would’ve attacked by now.

“Alright,” he admitted, “I guess you got a point there. You seem to be trusting.”

“Thank goodness.”

“Now, follow me. The village is that way.” The students listen to the camel who led the way to his village while Smolder pulled the balloon along with them.

It didn't take long until they made it to a small village. The Young Six were amused by the diversity and culture of the village. There are plenty more camels there and their homes looked to be huts made of sandstone. There are, however, a few ponies living in this area. They are wearing cloaks that covered most of their bodies with a hole for their eyes to look out of. These camels wore white or colorful fabrics on their backs, most males wore a turban or a skullcap, and most females only have flowers on their ears.

Soon, they arrived at the camel’s house to see a garden beside it, that had a couple of plants, most of which were cacti.

In that garden, there was another camel there who looked to be happy to see them. “Jerick!” she said with a joyful tone.

“Afya!” The camels then both hugged each other.

“You're back. What took you… so… long?" She paused and got scared once she saw Gallus and Silverstream. She would've freaked out if it wasn't for her husband speaking up.

“It's okay, honey,” the camel, known as Jerick, spoke. “They're not going to harm us. They're just children.” There were no weapons to be found with the young six. Not to mention, a dragon, a changeling, and a yak weren't creatures they usually see with the infamous gang.

“I’m… so sorry. The Gold Gang has a bad reputation around here.”

“We understand, madam” Sandbar said. “This is why we're here.” He began explaining to them what happened so far.

While he was doing that, Ocellus, Smolder, and Gallus look around for something to tie the balloon down to. This also gave them a chance to look at the other camels that were wandering around town. There looked to be a few ponies around here. The majority of the village’s population was camels, so the ponies stuck out a little bit more, one of the features as they were taller than the average pony. Smolder approached one of the cloaked ponies to ask them for anything to tie the balloon down to.

“Excuse me,” Smolder asked the cloaked stallion, and he turned around to see her standing. “Do you where we can park this? It’ll be nice if you can help out.” The ponies looked at the balloon and agreed to help the unfamiliar creatures get their balloon secure. Smolder will make a thank-you note for them.

While they did this, Silverstream was inquisitive seeing Afya growing exotic plants in her garden, and so she asked her. “Excuse me,” Silverstream said to Afya, “I was curious about what you’re growing here. Can you tell me about them, please?”

Since Afya was feeling safe around these creatures, she was happy to explain. “Sure,” Afya then explained. “These are cacti, and they have better access to water. I grow them, so that way we have an easier time to have it. The only reliable way is to get it from the river.”

“I see. So, do you grow all the food here too?”

"Indeed. It's a bit of a slow process, and we have plenty of crops to grow.” They looked at the large garden that the camels had growing.

“Wow, it sounds like you have a big job.”

“It is a big job,” Jerick said. "It’s worth noting we’re not to only ones who have to help with food around here.”

Ocellus and Smolder rejoined the group and had to ask the camels something. “Excuse us,” the changeling said, “Could you tell us where exactly we are? It Saddle Arabia around here?”

“Oh, I’m afraid you’re a couple of miles away from here,” Jerick explained.

“Well, in that case, do you know anything else about the Gold Gang?” Gallus asked. “Like, where they’d be?” Both camels looked at each other with fear. “Is… there something wrong?”

“There’s a reason why they have a bad reputation around here regardless of the Gold Gang,” Jerick noted. “You see, they…” He and Afya looked up in the air and could see something flying towards them. They got scared.

“What happened?” Yona asked. “Why camels scared?”

“Uh… uh… Get inside.”

“What?” Gallus said, feeling confused.

“Now!” He pointed in that direction, and the students looked behind them. They saw the airship heading towards them. While it wasn't the same size as the ship that attacked Griffonstone, it was likely from the same team that kidnapped the students. Jerick and Afya helped hide the students in their hut just as the airship came in for a landing. The villagers are frightened seeing that the airship landed, knowing that the Gold Gang was here, so they quickly ran back to their huts.

After the airship landed, the hatch slowly opened. Coming out of the ship came four griffons, one of which looked a little familiar with white and gray feathers and fur. All the other griffons looked menacing in comparison as they approached Jerick and Afya.

“Hello, you two,” the leading black and white griffon spoke. “You have our order ready?”

“Almost,” Jerick replied. “Just give us more time. Water is hard to get around here.”

“Yeah, and that's not going to please the boss. You either give us the goods now, or you get the dragon treatment.” Jerick and Afya sounded horrified by the sound of that.

Another one of the griffons, who was blonde and beige looked to see the balloon that the students had ridden in. “Where did you get that?” he asked.

Jerick and Afya didn’t answer. The third griffon, who was a brown and white female, was a little confused by why the village would need a balloon, or why it was so colorful. She smirked as she flew up to look at Jerick eye to eye. “You have some visitors, do you?” she asked.

“Ugh… No… That balloon just landed here without any passengers,” Afya fibbed.

The second griffon flew over to check the basket and could see there are supplies loaded in it. “If there are no passengers, would they leave this there?” he angrily asked. He picked up one of the cans and showed it to the camels.

“I've never seen that before,” Jerick spoke.

“So, you won't mind if we check your hut,” the first griffon said. Before camels were about to object, but the griffons, except the fourth one, showed off their daggers, crossbow, and knives, showing they were going to fight back if they weren't given what they wanted. The Young Six overheard what they had said. The griffons were getting closer and they didn’t know what to do. Then Gallus saw potted cacti sitting on a shelf.

Just as the griffon bashed down the door, Gallus threw one of the cacti into the first griffon's face. It fell back and held cried in pain while Yona rammed into the second griffon, making him drop his crossbow. The third griffon tried throwing her knives at the students, who barely had enough time to grab a box and shield themselves before Smolder tackled the griffon to the ground. She didn't go down without a fight and managed to get one stab in before the dragoness knocked her out with a strong boost from the pain. The first griffon was still in pain with some spines around his eye, Gallus and Jerick held him down as Sandbar ran over to their balloon and helped tie the griffons up.

“Gah! Let go of us,” the second griffon ordered.

“Fad chance,” Jerick said. "I've been wanting to do something like this for years!"

“Congratulations then,” Gallus said.

“Thanks,” he smiled.

As he helped them tie them up, Silverstream recognized the fourth griffon that was just standing there watching, not doing a thing. She realized that it was Gale, one of the students that got kidnapped.

“Gale?” she gasped. The other students saw then saw him.

“Uh... Hey, guys,” he said. “How are you doing?”

"How do you think?" Smolder questioned. She was trying to cover up her wound where the griffon had stabbed her. It wasn't too serious, but it wasn't something she was used to. Ocellus quickly flew to the basket and got a first aid kit to patch her friend up.

"Gale, what are you even here?" Gallus questioned.

"You know this guy?" Jerick questioned.

“Yes. He's one of our friends that we're trying to rescue. Gale, how did you get here?”

“I was just chosen to be one of the newbies to see what happens on a goods run,” Gale explained. “Kind of wish they would've sent more than us.”

“Why'd you say that?” Sandbar asked.

“Let's just say… I’ll never complain about being stuck in class again. Pearl, Sunshine, Gus, Grace, Gabby, and Gregoria are still at the base stuck in cages until we’re proven to be good enough.”

“And how do you become good enough?” Silverstream asked.

“Do you really want to know that answer?” Jerick asked. Hearing that made the students feel a little bit worried.

“He's got a point,” Gale informed with a sigh, knowing that it’ll be bad if he said how. “The less you know, the better. What I know is that they, including me, want to get out of there as soon as possible. We just wanted to be safe.”

“We can do that as soon as we know where they are,” Ocellus noted.

“They kept me below deck for most of the trip. I’d just be guessing on where they are.”

“I think we saw where the ship came from, we could probably make a guess on where they are,” Ocellus proclaimed. “If this is a scout ship, the base shouldn't be too far away.”

“What about other griffons?” Yona asked. She pointed to the griffons they had tied up and were trying to break free.

“Leave them with us,” Jerick proclaimed. “These griffons have been pushing us around for too long.” The griffons were furious with being held hostage, though the second one wasn't too distraught.

"What makes you think you're going into the base?" he asked, still struggling to untie himself. “You'll get shot down on sight."

“Not if we take your ship,” Smolder chuckled. She then looked at the griffon who had spines in his face. “What's his name?”

“I won’t tell you.” Smolder then threatens him with another cactus she found. “OKAY, fine! His name is Guy. What are you going to do with that information?” The Young Six looked towards Ocellus who understood what Smolder was planning. She got a good look at the griffon's appearance and shape-shifted into an exact replica. The creatures that hadn’t met Ocellus until now were shocked.

‘How did you do that?” Afya questioned.

“She's a changeling,” Silverstream informed. “And changelings can shapeshift into any creatures.”

“It comes in pretty handy for things like this,” Gallus added. He quickly started forming a plan and looked over to Gale. “Gale, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Yes, thank goodness I’m not dead.”

“Now listen here, you stay here until we get back. These villagers are going to be a little suspicious if we only have a griffon they know.”

“Then what's my story?” the disguised changeling asked.

“You’re taking us to the base while your goons are trying to catch Gale, who’s making an escape.”

“Sounds believable to me,” Sandbar commented.

“Is Gallus going to pretend to be prisoner?” Yona asked.

“I’ll be trying to get onto the griffons’ good sides until we can figure out a proper escape.”

“I hope your plan will succeed,” Gale added. “I heard that most of the gang’s goons are imbeciles, so you might wanna be careful with what you say and do before gaining their trust.”

“Noted. Thanks, Gale. Can you help us transfer the supplies?”

“Sure thing.”

With Gale’s help, the Young Six took some supplies from their balloon, which they deflated since they weren't going to use it for a while. They loaded only what they needed into the scout ship and tried to figure out how to make it start. They had never flown an airship before so it was confusing.

Eventually, they tried getting more information out of the griffons by threatening them with more needles. This only got a laugh out of Guy. “You really think that more needles are going to get me to talk?”

“How about this?” Smolder asked. She began taking a deep breath which was more than enough to scare Guy into spilling the beans, much to his colleague's disappointment. Now with the information they needed, the Young Six got back onto the airship and started rising off the ground. They turned it around and took off to the griffon base heading North-East. Gale and the villagers watched them take off then paid their attention to the griffons, who were a little worried about what would happen to them.

The sun was setting on the edge of Equestria. Various creatures were scouting the area trying to see if they could find any clues. Buffalos, changelings, and hippogriffs were running and flying all over the place. The only griffons that were there were Gilda and Greta, the students that were still at the school were wanting to help weren't allowed considering how risky this mission was.

Pharynx could see Gilda stopping in the air to scan the area, so he flew over to check on her. “Any luck?” he asked.

“I’ve got nothing,” Gilda sighed.

Pharynx watched Greta flying around, having just as much luck as them. “You couldn't find any more griffons?”

“I tried. Those griffons just don't care anymore. That's why Griffonstone is such a train wreck.” The griffon and changeling started going down for a landing. “I feel like I'm one of the only griffons who actually care about what they want to do. I see why I couldn't get friendship to work there.”

“Hey, are you going to be like that until we find anything, or are you going do something useful?” Griffonstone’s ambassador took a minute to think before responding to the changeling prince.

“You’re right. I’m going to be a drag thinking like this.” Gilda looked at the sunset as Pharynx changed his into that of a wolf to boost his senses. “We should call it a day and get an early start tomorrow."

“That won't be so easy.”

“Why not?”

Pharynx's ears twitched as he sniffed the air. “Because we're about to have company.” Gilda was confused and flew into the air to get more answers. She could see large clouds of sand heading towards them, then she saw what was causing those clouds; kobolds. Pharynx braced himself for combat while Gilda flew to warn the other creatures. One of the kobolds lept at the changeling and tried using pressure points to disable him. Instead of falling over limp though, Pharynx just laughed. “Cut that out... That tickles!”

The confusion distracted the kobolds from being rammed into by one of the buffalos. Some managed to avoid them and launch their shurikens. They didn't cause any serious injuries or they just missed their targets as the ninjas didn't expect the hippogriffs to be armed with spears. The creatures began getting the upper hand until the sand clouds covered their area. The kobolds used this to their advantage until the changelings showed them what they could do and shapeshifted into whatever species they needed.

Pressure points had no effect on the shape-shifters, so the kobolds were finding themselves struggling. One of the ninjas got disarmed and had its katana fly out of its claw and landing right in front of Gilda, who almost had a heart attack thinking that she would've been impaled. The griffon picked up the blade but it sounded like there were kobolds coming in, judging by the sound of footsteps, blades clashing, the fact that the sand clouds were getting worse. Gilda did her best to defend herself while trying to get to safety.

The battle felt like it went on for hours until the clouds began dissipating and the kobolds saw themselves being outnumbered. They would've retreated, but Pharynx had another idea. Transforming into a Maulwurf, he dug under the sand and gave the fleeing ninjas a surprise attack. Now, the kobolds were defeated, with only minor injuries on the heroes’ side. Greta helped to make sure that everyone was alright until she noticed somebody was missing.

“Where's Gilda?” she questioned. All the creatures that were caught up in the crossfire didn't have an answer as nobody saw the griffon before the sand cloud hit them. Greta flew up to see where Gilda went, but they fought for so long it was getting too dark for her to see clearly. “Darn it.”

"Just fall back now," Pharynx called. "We're searching for her tomorrow. Right now, we need to get a medic for some of these creatures." Greta knew that the changeling was right. She came down to help the injured creature and deal with the kobolds. Their weapons were confiscated and they were tied up or cuffed to keep them from running away or attacking. Greta looked out at the desert that looked to be getting darker. She hoped that Gilda was alright.

The ambassador of Griffonstone flew on until she noticed that she had no clue where she had gone. Since she was flying, there were no footprints to follow. Gilda could feel the cold air blow past her. She couldn't stay out in the middle of the night, so she could only think of one solution; keep going in a straight line. Hopefully, she would find someplace to take shelter.

Behind Enemy Lines

The Young Six were slowly making their way to the base with the airship that the three griffons and Gale rode on. It has almost half of the same acceleration as the hot-air balloon. Ocellus, who disguised herself as Guy, was controlling the steering wheel, driving their way to their destination. The others were behind her, looking out if there’s anything that’s on their way. It was getting dark with the sun setting down faster than before, and Yona was getting worried about not being able to find the headquarters.

“Yona felt worried,” Yona said with a concerned sigh. “What happens if friends don’t find base?”

“If we don’t, then I’m sure they would’ve sent a team out to find us,” Sandbar, who’s beside Yona, guessed.

“I don’t think that’s a good thing,” Gallus commented. “You know what the gang makes their weapons out of.”

“Don’t remind me about that,” Smolder shuttered with a shiver down her spine. She looked at her stab wound that had been patched up. She was only used to getting bruised at the most, which itself was hard to do. The fact they had weapons that could pierce her scales was frightening. “Ocellus, do you see anything yet?”

Ocellus, who was still disguised as Guy, was at the wheel. “Not yet,” she responded, “we should be somewhere by now. I still can’t see it.”

Suddenly, coming out of nowhere, they could see griffons flying around the ship. Some of them even tackled Smolder, Silverstream, and Gallus down. Others landed beside Sandbar and Yona. Ocellus slowed down the ship for a while and let go of the steering wheel. A familiar gray and black with a red scarf landed on the deck and walked towards them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he charged with a dagger pointing at their faces.

“Ugh… We… Um…” Sandbar was worried as he and Yona didn’t have anywhere to go. The yak would’ve attached if it wasn't for the dagger the griffon pulled out.

He turned to look at ‘Guy’, calling him out on deck. “You! Care to explain this?”

“I'm… I’m sorry sir,” Ocellus apologized with a faux voice to sound like Guy. “I thought they were secure below deck. I must’ve forgotten to double-check.”

“Alright… And what about the newbie?”

“Who?”

“The white one.”

“Oh, him… He broke loose a while ago. The others are trying to find him.”

“Perfect. At least these aren't going to cause any trouble.”

“You sure you’re not jinxing that, sir?”

“Didn’t I ask you to speak?” ‘Guy’ stayed silent. The griffon leader walked over to the rest of the young six. “Now, would you mind telling us who you are?”

“I would…” Gallus grumbled, “…unless you tell us who you are first.”

Hearing that, the leader doesn’t like being given orders. “I'm the one who gives commands around here, ya punk.” He spat saliva on Gallus’s face after finishing his sentence, which made the blue griffon madder. “Take him and the girl griff to the others in the cells. I'm sure they’d love some more company.”

“Yes, sir!” The two male griffons replied with a salute.

“What about that pony and a fat buffalo over there, sir?” one of the female griffons asked.

Yona was confused. “Buffalo?” she muttered.

“Shut up!” the leader ordered loudly to Yona, then turned back to her. “Put them with the miners at the mines. We’ll forget about them like the others too.”

“And the dragon?” the griffon asked.

The leader took a good look at Smolder. They didn't normally catch teenaged dragons since they didn't have that much to gain from it. Not to mention it was a fad chance they would get Smolder to work for them. “Lock her up until we figure out a good use.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Guy,” the leader called, and Ocellus turned to him. “You take care of those kids. I’ll drive this time.” ‘Guy’ then followed his order and ‘kept a watchful eye’ on her friends. The leader then grabbed the steering wheel and started driving towards the base.

The ship finally arrived at the base, and the Young Six were forced into different positions as they could finally see it. It was built within a cliff edge that seemed to have a waterfall that connected to the river that Jerick the camel got water from. At the bottom of the cliff, there was a landing zone for all the ships to load and unload. There was also an entrance to the cliff at the base.

Once the ship landed, the students were taken inside of the base. They could see the walls and ceiling had metal supports and lighting. After a little while of walking, they could see the hallways having some more traffic. Griffons were walking and flying around either getting ready to go on patrol, moving supplies where they needed to go, or they were just going somewhere to get a drink. They were taken to a set of stairs where the group split up. The two griffons took Sandbar and Yona downstairs while everyone else went upstairs.

“Where are they going?” Silverstream asked.

“The mines,” the leader said. “They’ll work all day and night mining gems with the other miners.”

“You still didn’t answer my first question,” Gallus grumbled. “Who the heck are you?” The blue griffon was tripped up by the leader, who wasn’t liking his attitude. In hopes to shut him up though, he figured he’d answer the question.

“Alright! I’m Gideon,” he said angrily. “GIDEON! Are you happy now?”

“Thank you, that’s what I need,” Gallus said, making Gideon feel relieved. “At least I know you’re not bad guy #369.” He then laughed hard, which made Gideon feel annoyed. Smolder and Silverstream soon followed. Ocellus almost cracked a chuckle, trying so hard to stay in character.

“Quiet, bluebird!” Gallus then got a smack in the back of the head as he was forced to pick up the pace. Smolder, Silverstream, and Ocellus stopped chuckling after seeing him getting smacked. “This is no place for cracking up jokes. Now, move on!”

A little while later, they all arrived at the prison cells. The prison is full of prisoners. Some of the cellars are vacant, which means that Smolder, Silverstream, and Gallus can be placed in one of those. As they kept wondering to find their spot, Gallus then noticed someone familiar. Behind those bars, a female gray griffon was just sitting down with her head down, fidgeting her talons in boredom. He quickly recognized that it was Gabby, one of the griffons who got kidnapped. Gallus stopped his tracks, which made Gideon feel puzzled.

“Gabby?” When he phoned out her name, she perked up and turned to see Gallus and her friends standing.

“Gallus!” she exclaimed with a very shocked expression on her face. She got up, ran towards the prison bars, and held them. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

From the other side, other familiar griffons and hippogriffs in their prison cells saw Gallus, Smolder, and Silverstream as well, with the same expression as Gabby. “How’d they get here?” Gleaming Pearl gasped.

“No way!” Grace exclaimed.

“How?” Gregoria added. “And where’s Oce…”

“Quiet! All of you!” Gideon shouted. “Enough with the chit-chat. Go back to your positions.” He then continues to take Gallus and his friends to their vacant cells together with ‘Guy’. Gallus and Silverstream were then placed in the two cells that were across from each other. Each of their cells is beside Gabby and the kidnapped students. Smolder, on the other hand, would require some effort from the griffons. They were able to keep her under control with a knife up to her neck, if they wanted to keep her locked up, however, they had given her a straight jacket with some chains and a metal muzzle that kept her mouth sealed shut while allowing Smolder to breathe through her nose.

Once she was secure, she was thrown into a cell where she was chained to a wall. Smolder would've spoken up, except the muzzle was very effective. The doors were locked and Gideon looked at his three new prisoners, smirking wickedly. He then glanced at Silverstream and gestured for her to walk closer to him.

“Come here,” Gideon called with his finger gesturing to her to come near him. Silverstream got to the bars where Gideon reached into her cell and ripped off her necklace. “I’ll take this.”

“Hey, that was my necklace!” Silverstream cried.

“Oh yeah? I already did this with the rest of the hippo… Whatever in the name of Tartarus you guys are,” Gideon responded. “Seriously, man, did you have a drunk night with a pony on a Saturday night?” Silverstream didn’t know how to respond.

“…What?”

“You know, her aunt is the queen of her hometown, right?” Gallus asked. “She’ll find you and boot your flank hard if she hears about this.”

Gideon rolled his eyes. “Does her aunt queen have a ship hooked up with gemstones that can kill dragons?” Gallus didn’t answer the question. “That’s what I thought. Now, get comfy, kid, if you can’t follow basic instructions, you’re staying in there for days.”

“How do you expect us to go to the restroom?”

“That’s what those buckets at the corner are for.” Gallus looked at the bucket that was sitting in the corner. Gideon’s response certainly explained why it smelt bad.

“Alright, that makes sense.”

Just then, they heard some footsteps approaching them. Gallus and Silverstream looked through the bars to see the kobold named Onyx walked to Smolder’s prison cell. He got a good look at the dragoness who was trying to talk and break free, both of which she couldn’t do.

“Hmm, definitely an easy catch for you,” the ninja commented. “I could get some shurikens out of her. Maybe those horns could be of use.”

“Yeah… If you can’t think of anything, I'm pretty sure we can make a couple of daggers out of her ribcage. Ask Gram for his opinion, I’m going to check on how the new miners are doing.” Gideon walked away as Ocellus, who was keeping up her disguise, looked at all of the cells. Not all of them had a creature in them so that meant they could snatch more griffons than what they got today and yesterday.

“Hey, Guy,” Gideon called. Ocellus looked back at the leader. “You go and check on Gadget. I want to know if she has those gems put to good use.”

“Um... Yes, sir,” the fake ‘Guy’ responded. She walked away swiftly to try and figure out where Gadget was, and find out who he or she was.

The griffs in the cells were alone. Silverstream looked around the best she could to get a look at her classmates until she saw Gabby still fidgeting with her fingers. “So…” Silverstream started, “how are you guys doing?”

“Been better,” Gabby admitted with a sigh.

“This place is a nightmare,” Gregoria spoke.

“I wanna go home,” Grace added.

“Me too,” Pearl also added.

“We all do,” Sunshine sighed.

The griffons and hippogriffs all had the same feeling, though Silverstream felt someone was missing.

“Wait… Where’s Gus?” she asked, felt a little worried. Sunshine then pointed to his left to see Gus, who had a muzzle and straight jacket similar to Smolder’s, though since he wasn't as strong as her, he didn't need so many restraints. There were a couple of muffled frustrated groans.

“They gave him some stuff to keep him quiet. He wouldn’t stop yelling and insulting the gang until they slapped that muzzle on him.”

“But hey… look at the bright side,” Silverstream noted. “At least we’re still alive. None of us are dead whatsoever.”

“What about Gale?” Gregoria asked. “What happened to him?”

“I… think he’s alright. I can't give too much away though.”

“Where are the rest of you, though? I realized you’re the only three coming here.”

“Four of us, actually. The other griffon who’s with Gideon, that’s Ocellus in disguise.”

The students and Gabby were in shock. “Are you serious?” Pearl said.

“Yeah, I hope she’ll find a way to set you all free.”

“That’s a smart move she made,” Gregoria said. “But one mistake and it’s all over,”

“Exactly. Oh, and also, Sandbar and Yona were at the mines. He said that they’ll be working all day and night.”

“I see. Hope they’re alright.” Silverstream then heard some heavy breathing. Looking back to Gallus, she saw the blue griffon was physically uncomfortable. The cells were pretty small and Silverstream knew he was claustrophobic.

“Hey, Gallus?” she called. The blue griffon looked at the cell across from him. “You’re alright? We’re going to be okay. Just focus on me.” Gallus took a deep breath as he and his girlfriend kept making eye contact until they could find an excuse to get out of their cells.

Down below, Sandbar and Yona were taken to a mineshaft. They could see plenty of ponies hard at work either using shovels and picks to dig up gemstones or pull carts that were on some tracks. Most of the ponies looked to be filthy, exhausted, depressed and even beaten up. Yona could’ve sworn she saw some familiar bipedal creatures, but her attention was diverted when she suddenly got tunnel vision.

She and Sandbar were hooked up with blinders and yokes, similar to the one Big Macintosh used. “Alright. Makes yourselves at home, you two,” a male griffon said. “Now, take these carts and get to the bottom. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Sandbar and Yona responded.

“Good. And no horsing around as well.” The griffon chuckled a little bit, and then back to his serious face. “No pun intended.”

He and Yona were hooked up to the carts and were taken down the mine, they both had a feeling they would get punished if they didn't follow orders. Along the way down, Yona did her best to look around, even with the blinders obscuring her view. She managed to pass a couple of the bipedal creatures, and to her surprise, they were minotaurs. All of them looked to have some metal cuffs, though not many chains. Something had to keep them from either running or fighting back.

Sandbar told her to focus on getting to the bottom of the mine. There, they both saw some minotaurs either mining or loading some carts, which some ponies were meant to wait until they were fully loaded so they could take them to the top. Sandbar and Yona brought their carts to a stop beside the other ponies, they had a feeling there was a reason why the mine had two tracks.

“Who are you two?” one of the ponies questioned.

“Sandbar, the colt responded.

“Yona,” the yak added.

One of the minotaurs looked at the yak. He had green fur and black horns, not to mention a nose piercing and the cuffs that were on the rest of the minotaurs. “Hmm, you're a weird-looking buffalo,” he commented.

“Bill, leave her alone,” a mare retorted. The mare had a short red mane that had dusty and dirt in it, distorting the color, much like her blue coat. While it was a bit hard to see, her cutie mark looked to be a bunch of storm clouds with a single light shining through them. “How'd you get here?” she asked.

“We were trying to save our friends,” Sandbar explained. “It’s our mission to do so.”

“And look where that got you,” Bill muttered.

“You’re not helping, Bill,” the mare noted. “All you do is just complain, complain, and complain!”

“My thoughts, exactly,” called a voice. The miners all looked up to see Gideon flying above them. He pointed to the carts that the mare and other ponies were attached to. “You there, your cart is full. Get going!”

“Yes, sir,” the ponies responded. They started pulling away leaving the empty carts to be filled up. The leader then flew down to unhitch Sandbar and Yona, then reattached them to the other side.

“You two, you’ve been the smartest creatures I’ve ever seen so far.”

“Can Yona have water?” Yona asked. “Yona thirsty.”

“You can have it when it’s feeding time. Less talking, more work. Don’t push your luck, big one.”

“Sorry.”

Gideon smiled. “Still, pretty smart so far.”

He flew away to check on the rest of the base as the minotaurs began loading up the gemstones. The two were being loaded with most stones at the back while the cart directly behind them was being loaded with different gemstones.

“Question. What are these gems for?" Sandbar asked.

“Powering their ships, fighting off different creatures,” Bill explained. “Mostly just weapons.” He began placing some gemstones into the leading cart. Sandbar tried looking behind him, even with blinders obscuring his view. The gems were in a variety of colors, though all of them were at least the size of a pear. Two of the gems looked to be blue and yellow, they were both as big as Sandbar’s head. When they were placed in the cart, however, they both glowed and vibrated.

The vibration started making the carts shake as there came a loud whirring sound. Not liking where things were going, Yona made her move by yanking the cart and forced it to tip over, spilling all of the gems that were inside of it. The blue and yellow gems were separated and their glowing and vibrating dissipated.

“What was that?” Sandbar asked.

“I… I have no idea,” Bill admitted. “This has not happened before. At least to my knowledge.” He looked at the spilled gems and knew someone was going to have to clean it up. “They’re not going to be happy with that.”

“Who knows what could’ve happened if those gems weren’t separated,” Sandbar noted. He would’ve gone to help to clean the mess up, but the chains were too short for him to get away from the cart. All Sandbar could do was to wait with Yona as the minotaurs began loading up the cart with the gemstones. This time, Bill made sure that the two gemstones were as far apart as they possibly could be.

“Okay, I think you’re good this time," Bill noted. With that being said, Sandbar and Yona started off back up the incline. The gems and rocks were heavier than the colt was expecting, but Yona managed to help pull the carts along.

“We’re going to have a hard time here,” Sandbar whispered.

“Do creatures not know what yak is?” Yona asked. “Griffons call Yona buffalo.”

Sandbar thought about this. “Hmm, maybe they’ve never seen a yak before. Don't try to correct them.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t think they know how strong a yak is.” Yona kept quiet as she wasn't sure what would happen to her and Sandbar.

Ocellus was having a bit of trouble. Since she had to keep up the act as Guy, she couldn't ask anybody for help as that would blow her cover. The disguised changeling wandered around aimlessly as she didn't have a clue who or where Gadget was. Eventually, she came across a white griffon with yellow patches approaching her. Ocellus stopped when she saw the red metal wings.

“Where are you going?” the male griffon questioned.

“I’m… trying to find Gadget, but I think I got turned around. I have no clue where I’m going now.”

“I see, I’m not surprised. Getting lost here is like getting soaked in the rain. Come on, I’ll help you find Gadget.”

“Oh, thank you so much,” Ocellus said.

“Anytime. Follow me.” This made the disguised changeling feel better as she followed the griffon with metal wings down the hall.

Eventually, they made it to a room that was filled with various tools hanging on the wall. A crate of gemstones was sitting in the corner, some more gems of various colors were hooked up to some wires, many of which were connected to the tools. In the middle of the room, there was a workbench where a griffon, with blue feathers and fur and black talons matching its beak, was wearing a welders mask. She looked like she was about to start welding some metal together, though the eye-catching detail was that her arm was made of metal just like the wings of the other griffons.

Just before she could do that, she heard some clapping and looked to see the other two griffons walking in. The worker removed her mask to look at them. “Glynn, didn’t you see the sign I left on the door?” she furiously questioned, pointing to the sign.

“Sorry, dear,” the griffon known as Glynn apologized, “But Guy here has been given orders to check on you.”

‘Guy’ saw them both look at her and quickly got back into character. “Ugh, yes,” the fake griffon spoke. “The boss wanted to know if you got those gemstones working.” ‘Guy’ didn't fully understand this, so she hoped that Gadget would give a good explanation.

“I'm just putting the finishing touches on the spears,” Gadget explained. She grabbed some more welders masks and gave them to Glynn and ‘Guy’ to wear. After putting them on, Gadget continued her work, welding the last pieces of the spear together. After she was done, she showed her handiwork to the others. ‘Guy’ didn’t fully understand what was so special about this spear until Gadget pressed a button on its side.

The spearhead gave off bolts of lightning as it glowed yellow. ‘Guy’ jumped back in fright. “It looks like it’s a success,” Glynn commented proudly. The effects of the spear were shut off and Gadget placed the weapon down on the workbench. “Now, I just need to get work on the rest of the weapons.”

“How many other weapons?” ‘Guy’ asked.

“Many more. Swords, arrows, even brass knuckles,” Gadget explained. “Speaking of which.” She pulled out a small box and pulled out two brass knuckles that had added spikes for better damage. She tossed them to the disguised changeling, who had failed to catch them. “Huh, I thought you were better coordinated than that.”

“I… Ugh… had trouble with one of the newcomers.”

“You mean those kids?” Glynn questioned.

“Yeah, them. One of them managed to slip away and the others are trying to get him back.”

“Then why didn’t you help them?” Gadget said. “We keep getting blamed for things going wrong when they're out of our control. Yet, you can just let your goons get off the hook when you haven’t gotten the kid you were supposed to be keeping an eye on.”

‘Guy’ didn't fully know how to respond. “Well… I had other creatures to take care of. I couldn’t be in two places at once, you know.”

Glynn and Gadget both looked at each other, then turned back to ‘Guy’. “Look, we're busy enough as it is,” the female griffon responded. “Just take those knuckles and leave us alone.” ‘Guy’ did as she was told and quickly took the knuckles and flew out of the room. Just as she left, a red kobold walked into the room.

“Um, excuse me,” he said. “Have you got the new shurikens ready?”

“Of course,” Gadget responded. She took out another box and showed the shuriken she had made before she had worked on the spear.

Glynn saw the worried expression on the kobold's face. “Quartz, you know we told you we could talk,” he said.

“Yes, I know,” the kobold responded. He pocketed the shurikens he was given. He looked at the last one he had and stared at it for about a minute.

“Quartz?” The kobold looked back at the griffon before putting the last shuriken away.

“I should get going now.” He quickly ran off having a fear that he could possibly get into trouble. Glynn watched him leave as Gadget placed her talon on his shoulder.

“You know what would happen,” she said.

“I know. I just… none of the kids deserve what happens to them. Nor do the dragons.”

Gadget sighed. “Yeah, I felt the same way as you are. If we could do something, I would’ve. But… Gideon has more authority than us.” Gadget didn't say anything else and went back to her workbench to make some more weapons. Glynn gave a depressed sigh before he walked to give his fellow griffon some help.

It was almost nighttime, and Gilda was having the worst luck out of everyone at the moment. She also envisioned deserts were like walking in an oven, not a freezer. The cold winds were starting to get to her and she started feeling weak. Not to mention she tried to keep the weapon by her side, she didn’t know if anyone would attack her, given the previous surprise attack.

She sat down to catch her breath as she shivered in the cold. “Why didn’t I just fly up and back?" she murmured to herself. As Gilda felt like she was going to freeze, she could see something in the distance. It almost looked like a pony with a weird back. Whatever it was, Gilda tried screaming and waving to try and get its attention. She began approaching the unknown creature, which was actually Jerick.

He couldn't fully make out Gilda, given how far away she was, though it looked familiar to him and since he also could make out a weapon, the camel assumed the worst. He quickly ran back to his village almost spilling the water in his buckets. “There’s another griffon approaching!” he cried.

This was a delight for Guy and his allies, but horrifying to everyone else. They went for the cover, leaving the tied-up griffons out in the middle of the village. The figure slowly got closer to all of the huts as she got weaker from the cold getting to her. “Hello?” Gilda called. “Listen, if you freaked out because of this stupid sword, it’s not for you.” When she got close enough to the tied-up griffons, they got confused.

“Who in the name of Tartarus are you?” Guy questioned. The three griffons all looked as Gilda slowly approached him. Some of the camels and ponies were brave enough to stick their heads out of their homes to watch the griffons talk with each other.

“I’m Gilda,” she replied with a very dull tone, “the ambassador of Griffonstone.”

The three griffons were a little puzzled. “What?”

“So, you’re the guys with the Gold Gang, am I right?” Gilda asked.

“Why do you want to know?” the second male griffon asked.

“Because I know six different teenagers that flew out here without a watchful eye because you guys stole a bunch of teenagers, who by the way, are students from a school that unites all creatures of different kinds!” Without warning, Gilda punched the second griffon in the eye, and then drew out the katana and planted it on their necks as if she was about to chop off their heads. Guy and the other two are frightened seeing that sword near their necks. “I know they’re still alive out there, and I’m not wanting to be responsible for all of this mess. Now talk, you little s***, before I slice your heads off!”

Knowing what weapons like that could do to dragons, they didn't want to be the ones getting attacked. “OKAY! We’ll explain!” Guy shouted, not wanting to die. “Just put that katana down, please!”

“Alright, it better be clear.” She then dropped the katana down, and let them explain what happened recently. As they explained what happened to the young six, Gale, Jerick, and Afya looked out of the hut.

“Hang on, I know her,” Gale commented.

“You do?” Jerick said.

“Yeah…” He then quickly explained who Gilda was as the ambassador of Griffonstone got the answers she needed. The two camels exited their home to see if they could talk with Gilda.

“Excuse us, madam,” Jerick spoke. Gilda looked at the camel couple, surprised as she had never seen their species before.

“Yes? Is there anything you want?”

“Sorry about making this look like a ghost town. Griffons have a bad reputation around here.”

“I get that,” Gilda responded. “And forgive me if I scare all of you with this sword. One of those ninjas gave me a surprise attack, and it dropped as I defended myself.”

“That’s alright. I know you’re just defending yourself.”

“Thanks. And I just need a place to stay for tonight. I’ll be freezing to death in this cold icy wind.”

“You can stay in our place, together with Gale,” Afya said. “I have a feeling that you’re both in a similar situation.”

“Gale?” They nodded. “You mean the one with white feathers, gray fur, and black beak and claws? He’s here too?” They nodded again. They both showed their newest guess to their hut, where Gale was resting on a sofa.

“Well, Gilda, am I glad to see you,” Gale said.

“I’m glad that you’re safe, Gale,” Gilda added, then sat down beside him. The two caught up with what happened to them, and the younger griffon was able to shed some information about the inside of the base. Unfortunately, Gale was only shown the location of the cells and the outside defenses. Gilda knew she was going to have to plan out how she could sneak inside. She would have to save the thinking for the morning, as the griffon was cold and tired from wandering around in the desert.

Everyone in the village and the base would find themselves getting to sleep sooner than others, especially with the ponies and minotaurs working in the mine. Sandbar and Yona kept waiting for their break which honestly felt like it would never come.

The morning sun shined across the desert as a ship started coming back to the Gold Gang’s base. The ship had plenty of griffons taking some crates that were surrounded by ice. Gallus was just waking up at this point and could smell something raw. “Is that meat?” he said to himself. Nobody else was awake at this point so Gallus didn't have anyone to answer him.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, they all heard footsteps approaching them. Gideon walked with a yellow kobold, who was carrying various trays. The leader banged a metal cup against the bars of the cages, waking the griffs up. “Rise and shine, everyone,” he called. Trays containing a small portion of food were being placed into each cell.

When they got to Smolder’s cell, they looked like they were waiting for someone. Eventually, a golden and white griffon known as Gram showed up, with some straps and an odd device attached to his arm. “Sorry boss. Overslept,” he apologized.

“I'll let it slide for now,” Gideon said. “Now please, help with our special guest.” Gallus and Silverstream tried their best to see what was going on in Smolder’s cage, but they both had trouble getting the right angles.

Gideon used a key to remove the muzzle on Smolder's face. The second it was taken off the dragoness tried to breathe fire at the creatures in front of her, if it wasn’t the gadget on Gram’s arm. It had a sharp glowing point extend out, which the griffon jabbed into Smolder, giving her an electric shock. It was only for a brief second, but it was torturous for Smolder. Her scream was heard around the cells as Gideon spoke up.

“You better not do anything smart with us, or else you’ll end up like your scaly friend here,” he spoke. “Though, the next one will be more lethal.” They left the tray for Smolder to eat from as they passed the rest out to everyone else. Gus was tempted to try and peck out one of the griffons’ eyes, but it only took Gram showing off his new toy to keep him back.

Once all the trays were passed out, Gideon went to check how the mines were doing with Gram by his side. The yellow kobold looked at Smolder, who was lying on her chest having nothing to eat her food with but her mouth. He could barely look at her while muttering, “I’m... I’m sorry.” He then slowly walked away trying not to look up from the floor.

After they were gone, Silverstream wasted no time asking her friend’s condition. “Smolder, are you okay?” the hippogriff asked.

“I felt like I got struck by lightning, and I have to eat probably my only meal like a dog,” the dragoness responded. “How do you think I feel?” Silverstream felt foolish for asking and tried to eat her breakfast.

“There's got to be a faster way of getting out of here,” Gallus pondered. "Just have to get those guys to trust us. Hope the others are doing better than us.”

Sandbar and Yona were both exhausted after working all night. They wanted to stop, but there were guards on the watch to make sure they kept working. Eventually, new guards showed up with Gideon and Gram with them.

“Boys, your shift’s over,” the leader said, “Go ahead and get some rest.”

The two guards saluted in reply.

“What about us?” Yona called.

Gideon didn't like the sound of that. "Do you want a nice vacation?" Yona kind of like the size of that only to have a pickaxe thrown at her and embedding itself in the ground. “Get back to work!”

Sir, we've been working all night,” Sandbar responded. “We can’t keep going if our bodies give out on us.”

Gideon flew down to look at the two eye to eye. “You two will have others take your shift in half an hour,” he explained. “If you do more talking than working, you’ll have back-to-back shifts. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir,” both colt and yak responded. Gideon nodded and flew back to Gram, who was more than happy to show them his new toy. He only got to show what happened what the device was turned on, which was more than enough to frighten Yona. They got back to work without a fuss, given what would happen if they complained.

Ocellus was doing her best to keep up the act as Guy. The fake griffon got up from the barracks and walked down the hall to the cafeteria. Plenty of other griffons were there and were talking about various things. “About time that new meat got here,” one said.

“Yeah, I’ve been dying to have some chicken,” another said.

‘Guy’ remained quiet as she just got in line to get some breakfast. She didn't say anything to the others and just looked for a place to sit by herself. ‘Guy’ wouldn't be alone for long as she saw a yellow kobold slowly walked over to where she was sitting. ‘Go ahead, sit down,’ the disguised changeling muttered. The kobold sat down and they didn't even look at each other at first.

“Did… that griffon you take struggle that much, did he?” the kobold asked.

“What do you mean?” ‘Guy’ asked.

“I mean… did you do anything… you know… bad to him?”

“…No. I think he was fine before… he tried to escape.”

"So, he’s alive?"

“Of course, why wouldn’t he be?”

"It's just… it happens to most creatures that try and stand up to Gideon. I… just follow orders and do what needs to be done.” ‘Guy’ had a feeling that this kobold was told to do rather grim tasks.

“Look, if you want to talk it, I can always listen.”

“Really? Never had someone to actually talk to. There’s always our nurse and mechanic, but they always have something on their minds. Not to mention the leader doesn’t want us to sit around on our tails too long.”

"Hmm, sounds like something that would happen. Look, I can make myself free if you need to talk… Ugh…”

“Quartz. My name is Quartz,” the kobold explained. “Not a lot of griffons try to know our names.”

“Hmm, I know how that feels.” Quartz felt a little bit better knowing he had somebody to actually talk to.

Gilda had woken up from her slumber and was given a nice breakfast from Jerick and Afya at the dining room. “I can’t thank you guys enough for your kindness,” the Griffonstone ambassador said. “I honestly thought I was going to die last night.”

“No problem. A desert is a dangerous place, you know,” Jerick noted. “You’re lucky that you found our village.”

“Yeah, it’s also scorching hot out here,” Gale noted. “I get how you guys are fine since you’re… camels, of course, but what about those ponies living here? How’re they not bothered about the heat?” He pointed to the ponies wearing the cloaks that covered everything but their eyes.

“Oh, those are special cloaks,” Afya explained. “They help keep creatures cool in the day and warm in the night while they’re in the desert. It’s from this special plant we have.” She showed her guest the special plant that looked like a yellow sphere that had a couple of hair stick out of it.

“You grow those things too?” Gilda questioned.

"Indeed. The hard part is keeping the material dry when making the cloaks. Since they have a bad reaction to moisture, it ruins their heat insulation.”

“Right. You know, I’d be happy to pay for one, if I wasn’t in a hurry to try and get the students back.”

“If you flew to that base, you might as well just have stayed out in the desert,” Jerick said.

“Well, how am I going to get them back?” Gilda looked back over to the Gold Gang griffons, who were still tied up. She looked at the female griffon, and realized that she had a similar beak shape as her own. This gave her an idea. She then turned to the camels. “You know anybody here that sells colored dyes? I had an idea!”

Whipped into Shape

Gallus finished his meal 10 minutes ago. He was now banging his tin dish on the bars to grab the attention of someone. After a couple of seconds of clanging, someone finally approached him. “Hey!” called a voice. Two guards came walking towards Gallus’s cell in a very annoying mood. “Knock that off, will ya!? You’re causing a freaking disturbance to the other prisoners!”

“I’ll be quiet if you let me out,” Gallus retorted.

“Heh! Not happening, kid,” the guard responded, then turned to his partner. “Come on, partner. Ignore that li’l fella.” The younger griffon gave them a low brow and resumed making the noise.

“Gallus, enough with that, please?” Gregoria asked while covering her ears. “It’s not gonna help.”

“Yeah, your friend here is smarter than you,” the guard commented. They reached into the cell and yanked the dish away from Gallus, leaving him nothing to bang against the bars. The guards then walked away, leaving Gallus to try and think of another plan.

As he tried thinking, some more footsteps could be heard. Instead of one of the guards, it was Ocellus disguised as ‘Guy’ walking along with Quartz. The disguised changeling looked in Gallus’s cell. “Gallus!” Gallus looked up to see her standing in front of him, and then she showed him some keys. “I’ve been told by Gideon to take you guys to train,” Ocellus explained.

She unlocked the blue griffon's cell then went for Silverstream’s. As soon as Silverstream was out of her cell, she flew up to Gallus and hugged him tightly. “Okay, Silver, I'm happy to see you, but… we should follow along.”

“I know just… let me have this for a moment,” the hippogriff said. ‘Guy’ sighed as she opened the rest of the cells, letting the griffs out. She gave a wink and a comforting smile which confused some of the students. Smolder was the only student that was supposed to stay in her cell since the Gold Gang didn’t trust her. When opening Gus’s cage, Quartz came in and remove the straight jacket and metal muzzle carefully if he wanted to fight back, but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry, Smolder,” Ocellus said to her at her cell.

“No need to apologize, Celly,” Smolder said, “Just do what’s right and save them and ourselves.”

Ocellus smiled. With the griffons and hippogriffs gathered, ‘Guy’ and Quartz took them to the stairs. “Right this way, kids.”

Guards blocked the paths that allowed anyone from trying to escape. They all headed upstairs and were taken to a large room where weapons were hanging on the wall. Swords, maces, axes, every kind of piercing weapon a creature could think of. Soon, Gram entered the room.

“Hello, everyone,” he said. “I'm hoping my new toy taught you how things will work around here.” He smirked as he looked at everyone in the room, then he saw ‘Guy’ and Quartz were still in the room. “Beat it, you guys. This my job now.”

“Right,” ‘Guy’ responded. She and Quartz left the room with the disguised changeling looking at the kobold. Since this morning, Quartz wasn't like everyone else. Maybe she could let him in on what was happening.

As for everyone else, Gram instructed the griffs. “You two,” Gram said, pointing to Gallus and Sunshine, “Come here.”

Gallus and Sunshine stepped forward, and Gram grabbed two staffs, one red and one blue. He then handed over to them with Gallus holding the red one and Sunshine holding blue. “Now, what?” Sunshine asked.

“What do you think?” Gram asked. “Fight!”

They then trotted to the center and looked at each other. Gallus swallowed his pride before speaking up. “I'm sorry, Sunny,” he apologized, “But I need to get on their good side.” Without hesitation, Gallus started swinging his staff around, smacking the hippogriff who tried to use his weapon to block the attacks.

Gallus then started jabbing Sunshine, who eventually dropped his staff. When the hippogriff did this, his staff lit up with a blue glow and the ground beneath the staff was coated in ice. The griffs jumped back before they could get frozen. Gram was pretty impressed by Gallus's haste and picked up the staff that Sunshine dropped.

“Not bad, kid,” he commented. “You’re going to go far from here.” The blue griffon smiled as he went to help Sunshine up if it wasn’t for Gram stopping him. Sunshine was about to stand up if Gram didn't jab the staff on his back, pinning the hippogriff in place. “As for you… what’d you think you’re doing!?”

“Hey, let him go,” Gallus cried. “He’s suffocating!”

“Never. You saw him, he hesitated. That right there shows weakness.” He bumped his head with his fist and kept the staff in place as Sunshine struggled with his tears coming out. Gallus was about to whack the griffon across his head with his staff until Gus pounces at Gram. While he push Gram off of Sunshine, Gram threw him off of himself and started beating him relentlessly until Gus collapsed onto the floor. Once down, the end of Gram’s staff was pressed against his neck. “Wanna try again?”

“If you want a fair fight,” Gus groaned. “I mean, we could take you out. I mean, how many of us are here?” Gram decided to find out. Without warning, he flew towards most of the students and knocked each of them off their feet with just one strike. Some of them knocked other griffons over like dominos. With almost everyone on the floor, he looked back at Gus, who wasn't looking so cocky.

"Ready for round two?" Gram asked. The cranky griffon didn't say anything, he was out of his league.

“Um… Sir, not to be rude,” Gallus spoke, "But what do I do?"

“You just keep listening to orders. You saw what happens when you’re a smart ass like this guy.” Gram went to check on what other weapons as Gallus just looked at the griffons slowly standing up. He wanted to help them, but he felt things would just repeat themselves.

Meanwhile, Gilda was standing as still as possible as Jerick, Afya, and Gale mixed up some dyes to make her body the same colors as the female griff that was tied up. The one tied up had a black beak and talons along with her feathers being beige and her fur being white, basically an inverted version of Gilda's color palette. Along with the crest and tail’s tip being different styles too, there was a lot of work to make Gilda look like the griff that was tied up.

After a while of coating, Gilda now has looked like a replica of the tied-up griffon. “How do I look?” she asked.

“Like a waste of air,” Jerick commented, handed her the mirror. “You looked great.”

“Perfect. Now, I just need to find the base.”

“You sound like you’re rushing into this,” Afya commented. “Do you know this griffon’s name?”

“I do. She calls herself Gwen. And I made sure she was telling the truth.” Gale looked over to see the real Gwen groaning in pain.

“Yeah, we might’ve roughed her up before you got here,” he commented.

“Still, I made sure if she was lying or not.” Gilda walked over to the katana, which she had left leaning against one of the huts. She picked it up and smiled. “Now, where’d they go?”

“The ship with the kids on it went that way,” Jerick stated, pointing towards the direction where the ship left.

“Great. Now, I just have to act like Gwen. Shouldn't be too hard.”

“Good luck then,” Gale said. “Be careful, though, one wrong move, you’re dead. I’ve seen what happens when they try to fake it.”

“Got it.” Gilda held up her talon so she and Gale could have a fist bump. “I’ll pick you back up when it succeeds. Take care of yourself.” After that, the ambassador bravely flew off to find the base.

While this was going on, Sandbar and Yona were allowed to have a break. Instead of being free to do what they want, however, instead, they were shown to some prison cells similar to the ones that the griffs were locked in. The colt and yak were locked in one of the cells with a familiar mare and Minotaur. “You two can take a rest now,” one guard said. “I’ll be back when you’re okay.”

The guard walked off as Bill and the mare looked at the two newcomers and sighed. “You guys understand how things work around here?” the Minotaur asked.

“Sadly, yes,” Sandbar sighed. The colt looked towards Yona, who had already passed out from exhaustion.

“Your friend there is playing it smart. Sleep while you can. You’ll be working for the rest of your days. Since you’re young, you’re going to be here for a while.”

“Bill, will you stop talking like that?” the mare asked.

“What else are we supposed to do? Those griffons are armed to the teeth!”

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

"Except there’s nothing to knock them over.”

“That's why we need to knock them down a peg.” Sandbar could feel the tension between the two creatures, they obviously had argued about this before.

“What are you planning, exactly?” the colt asked.

Bill just ignored him while the mare gave him an answer. “I’ve been trying to think of the best chance we have to take them down,” the mare explained.

“Has anyone else thought of joining this?”

“I tried convincing some of the other ponies and minotaurs, but they’re too scared to fight back.”

“That’s actually what I’ve been wanting to ask. What’s with the cuffs? There aren't any chains on them, so what's stopping you from escaping?"

Bill looked down at the metal cuffs before explaining. “This mine has special gemstones,” he explained. “They hold elemental powers, the favorite of the griffons seems to be electricity, which is what they have in these cuffs. If any of us act out of line, they just turn these cuffs on and we get shocked. And trust me, it hurts.”

Sandbar didn't like the sound of those words. He looked back at Yona, who was still asleep, fearing what they would do if they knew what she was capable of. He didn’t say anything else and just tried to get as much sleep as he could before he was forced back to work.

Gallus and his friends were still being forced into training. Gabby and Gleaming Pearl the next two forced to fight each other, except they were using swords instead of staffs as Gallus and Sunshine did. Gram decided to do this to make sure they would stay in line. The two fighting griffs were both on even footing until Silverstream accidentally activated the electrical abilities of her weapon.

Startled, Silverstream ended up flinging her blade into the air and it stabbed itself in place. “Fantastic,” Gram groaned. “Now, we have to deal with that.”

“I’m sorry,” Silverstream apologized. Gram rose his talon and the hippogriff thought she was about to get slapped, only to see him fly up to pull the blade out. “Here!” He then chucked it back at the hippogriff, who barely dodged it.

Gram landed in front of her and looked at Silverstream dead in the eye. “Try again,” he said. The hippogriff gulped as she picked up the sword, which had been deactivated. She was about to try and fight Gabby again until somebody spoke up.

“What’s taking so long?” called a voice. Everyone looked to see Gideon walk in, not looking happy. “Why are these creatures still fighting one at a time?”

“Sorry, sir, but… they suck,” Gram responded. “I have to pull a sword out of the ceiling before you came in.” He pointed up to where Silverstream had tossed her blade by accident.

“I thought you’d have to try and make that mistake.”

"Well, that kid over there found a way." Gram pointed to Silverstream, who Gideon took a disliking to. The hippogriff backed up a little bit as the gang leader stepped up to her.

“Trying to play dumb, eh!?”

“Um… No, sir,” Silverstream responded meekly. Gideon was about to slap her until Gallus spoke up.

“Hold it! This is only our first day, right?” The young griffs nodded in agreement. Gideon looked towards the blue griffon, who was now the center of attention. “Did you expect us to become master assassins overnight?” Gideon walked closer to Gallus as all the other griffs moved aside.

“What’re you calling me, kid? An idiot!?”

“Well, how long does it usually take to make griffons into fighters?" The griffs that were captured were worried as Gideon scowled at Gallus.

“You're on thin ice kid.”

“Um, sir,” Gram said, “Why are you checking so early?”

The leader sighed with frustration. “I still had no word about Gwen and the location of the young griff. I swear if that kid gets away…”

“Boss, I could go out for a search party and…”

“No, no, and no! You’re showing these kids how things work around here. And because their friend decided to make a run for it, the rest of them will pay.” This struct fear into everyone else.

“Hmm, do I get to use what Gadget gave me earlier?”

“No, we only need that to shut those f***ing creatures up. Just pick a random weapon off the wall, will ya?” Gram smiled and flew off to the weapons on the wall. Everyone watched as he looked at all of the weapons until he finally picked up two different swords, a double-sided blade, and a katana. “Good choice. Alright, everyone, get ready.”

The sound of fast footsteps started approaching the training room. Gideon was already losing his patience as he saw another griffon run into the room. “Sir,” he saluted, “Gwendoline has returned. She is now awaiting orders.”

Gallus and Silverstream felt puzzled because that’s the same griffon who got tied up with the other two griffons in the village, asking themselves how did she escape, since Gale and the camels were looking after it. This managed to bring a smile to the leader’s face, who flew off to find where Gwendoline was. “I’ll be back,” he said, dropped his weapon. She was waiting outside in the airbase, watching other ships land, take off, and load and unload cargo. Gwen, or more accurately Gilda in disguise, saw Gideon approaching her.

“There you are,” he called. “Any luck catching that kid?”

Gilda thought fast and got into character, looking rather frustrated. “He slipped away,” she fibbed. “Though, judging the heat of the desert, he’ll die off before he finds anything useful out there.”

Gideon noticed another griffon was missing. “Where’s Gene? I thought you two were trying to find him while Guy returned with the other prisoners.”

The disguised griffon was surprised by this information. She thought Guy was still left in the village. She almost lost focus and quickly tried to think of an excuse. “Um… Well… He’s still trying to get that kid back. He’s pretty fast."

“Of course he is. Now, get inside and find Guy. I need you to help whip the kids into shape.”

“Yes, sir.” Gilda quickly flew off, though Gideon felt a little confused when she didn’t salute, not to mention suspicious. The griffon in disguise didn’t pay attention to him, she was just trying to figure out where to go. She just showed up in this place and had no clue which way was what. She flew around until she ran into Glynn, quite literally.

The two griffons fell onto the floor with the katana that Gilda took landing beside them. Glynn got up and could see the katana, which looked like the one that the kobolds wielded. Confused, he picked it up as just as Gilda started standing back up. “Sorry, about that,” Glynn apologized. “Why are you carrying this katana?”

Gilda thought fast. “I needed a weapon, and I thought this would be a good one to use,” she fibbed. “Can you just tell me where to find Guy? Boss’s orders.”

“I think he’s in the lab with Gadget and Quartz. Did you get turned around too?”

“It could also be the heat of the desert. WIsh I had those cloaks they were wearing.”

“Same here. Though, the boss doesn’t want that because It’d be a sign of a rebellion or something.”

“Seriously?”

"That's what I’ve heard some griffs say. I’ll show you where Guy is." Glynn led the fake Gwen down the hall, just like he did with ‘Guy’ the other day.

Gadget was busy repairing some weapons while ‘Guy’ and Quartz were waiting around. Gadget thought they were there for some reason, though it looked like they were just waiting or slacking off. Eventually, Glynn and ‘Gwen’ walked in and the female griffon was surprised to see who she thought was Guy. She does remember he was at the desert tied up with the others. “What are you doing here?” Gilda questioned.

“I was checking on the weaponry with Quartz,” ‘Guy’ explained.

“Uh-huh. Anyways, I’ve been told you’re helping me with the kids. Something about whipping them into shape.”

"Um... Right." The disguised changeling looked at the kobold, who seemed a little upset.

“You go ahead. I think I’ll be fine,” Quartz responded. ‘Guy’ smiled before she and Gwen slowly walked out of the room, leaving Gadget to her work. Glynn decided to walk closer to her, which made the female griffon stop her work.

“Glynn, is something wrong?” Gadget asked.

“I’ve got to take a look at some of the griffons that we’ve captured recently,” Glynn explained. “And… let me tell you… one of them kind of looked like us.”

“Where are you going with this?”

Glynn looked like he was remembering something. He looked back at Quartz, who didn’t look like she was paying attention to them. “You know the egg we had to hide from this gang?”

Gadget paused as she placed her tools down. “You don’t think… You know the chances of that are so slim.”

“Yet, still possible.”

Gadget didn't want to believe it. “Look, we could just do a blood test just to be sure.”

“Okay. I’ll try and get some from him once I get the chance. Just… keep up the good work.” Glynn walked away to do other jobs as Gadget was doing her best to forget what she had heard.

Gilda and Ocellus in disguise got to the training room, where Gallus and the other griffs were being armed with different blades. “About time you got here,” Gram commented. He walked up to 'Guy' and handed him a dagger. “Now, show these kids how to fight like a real warrior.”

The two fake griffons knew they would be fighting the student, which wasn’t going to be pleasant for either of them. However, before Gram could give any instructions, Gallus rose his talon. “Yes?”

“Gregoria and I will be first,” he volunteered.

“Wait, you’re volunteering me?” Gregoria questioned.

“Look, you take Guy. I’m going after the other one over there.” Gregoria was a little nervous but trusted what she had been told. Gram had both volunteers stand in front of who he thought were the real gang members. Once the fight started, it wasn’t exactly what the instructor expected.

‘Guy’ and Gregoria didn't go full force at each other while ‘Gwen’ was holding back against Gallus. The young griffon didn’t. Since Gallus didn’t know it was Gilda in disguise, he didn’t show any mercy. Because of this, Gilda felt like she was dangerously close to losing an arm. The aggression coming from the blue griffon was impressive to Gram. He even managed to knock the katana of Gilda’s talons.

She scrambled to pick it back up only to have an arrow shot at the floor right next to the katana, barely missing her talon. “Very impressive, young one,” Gram commented. “I have a feeling that Gwen is slipping in her skills.” Gilda just sighed as she didn’t feel like she was off to a good start. As for ‘Guy’, she and Gregoria would have to call off a draw since both of them weren't able to get a proper opening. Gram focused his attention on the rest of the griffs, who he knew he still had to train.

“So, now what?” Gallus asked.

“Hmm, you can stay with us, bluebird. You’re smart enough to know how things work around here. Everyone else is going to have to put in a real effort if they want to stay out of those cells.” All the captured griffs got scared knowing that they would be locked up again.

“Um, can I make a small request?” Gallus asked.

“You want one of them to join you?”

“…Yes.”

“Hmm, alright then. Just remember, kid, if the one you pick screws up, you’re both in trouble. Choose carefully." Gallus looked at all of the griffs. None of them wanted to be there, but he had a feeling that Silverstream wouldn't last long given how she acted when she thought she saw the Storm King in the tunnels beneath the school.

“I choose Silverstream,” he proclaimed, pointing to the said hippogriff.

“Okay then.” Gram flew over to the hippogriff then dragged her by the wrist over to Gallus. Gram then looked at Guy, who was out of breath just like Gregoria. Before the griffon in charge could speak up, his leader spoke first.

“You made a pretty nice choice,” Gideon commented. “I wish I was feeling as proud of you. Unlike others.” He glared at the disguised Gilda, who just stood up. “Since you’re doing a bad job of fighting, you could give them a tour of our base.”

“Ugh… Yes sir,” Gilda responded. She quickly grabbed Gallus and Silverstream and pulled them out of the room. Gideon was getting suspicious of how hastily ‘Gwen’ left, not to mention the lack of a solute. He was forming a plan to keep an eye on her.

After getting out of earshot, Gilda brought the two teens to a stop. “Alright, are we alone?” the disguised griffon asked.

“Why do you want to know?” Gallus asked. “You’re…”

“Not the griffon you think I am. It’s me, Gilda.” Both students were surprised by this.

“You too?” Silverstream asked.

“What do you mean ‘you too’?”

“Ocellus is also here,” Gallus explained. “That griffon you know as Guy, that’s her.”

“So that’s why he’s here and in the village,” Gilda muttered. “Alright, so what exactly is your plan here?”

“Right now, it’s to figure out this place’s in and out so we can plan the best ways to get out of here. Since you’re here, you can help us out.”

“Right then, but first…” Without warning, Gilda smacked Gallus on the side of his head. “That’s for flying headfirst into an unknown gang.”

“What? You’re here too.”

“That’s wasn’t fully my choice. Just listen to my orders and don’t be foolish.” Both young griffs nodded before following the disguised ambassador down the hall, for which they would need some help in directions.

“Wish we had Ocellus right now,” Silverstream admitted. “She got a chance to look around.”

“I’m more concerned about Smolder, not to mention Sandbar and Yona,” Gallus admitted. “We have seen them since they went underground.”

“Underground?” Gilda asked.

“I’m pretty sure they said something about a mine. I think they’re being worked down to the bone.” Gallus was wishing he planned things out a little bit better, but it was too late to change that now. All he had to do now was keep his guard up and hope for the best.

Down in the mines, Sandbar and Yona were sound asleep. This would come to an end when they heard a loud banging noise. It woke them up and they looked around to see the guards unlocking their cell. “Back to work, you two,” one called. As the door open, the two were forced onto their hooves and taken to another set of carts to pull.

“How long Yona and Sandbar asleep?” Yona questioned. They wouldn't be answered as they were threatened with a whip.

“Enough with the queries, now move!”

The colt and yak walked away pulling their empty to be loaded up. Sandbar looked around to see if the mare or Bill was anywhere. However, the blinders made it a bit hard to do this. “Yona want to get out of mine.”

“Me too,” Sandbar agreed. “We need to figure out how to get out here.” The two kept looking around the mine for anything that could be an exit. The ones they could find had guards keeping watch, meaning sneaking through them would be impossible while they were there. Until then, the two would be forced to go back and forth with empty and loaded carts.

During this, Yona would be doing most of the worst as Sandbar was deep in thought most of the time. When they came to a stop to load up with gems. Most of the miners they could see looked dead inside as they had pretty much given up. Sandbar didn't want to give up that easily though and kept thinking about what to do. The best option would be to get to know more about the miners.

None of the minotaurs were wanting to speak with the colt though. They thought if they didn’t keep up the work, they would receive a shock from their cuffs. Most of the ponies pulling the carts didn't have time to stop, like the minotaurs they didn’t want to be in trouble with the griffons. Sandbar felt that there were only two creatures he could talk to in the mines, the mare, and Bill.

After bringing one of their loads to the top to be taken away, he noticed that Bill was digging near the top of the mine. He was making small trenches in the ground and there were bars of metal sitting next to him. After a bit of digging, another pair of minotaurs lied the bars of metal in the grooves. “Those must be more tracks for the mine carts,” he guessed. He felt a jolt as he slowed down, meaning the carts Yona was pulling caught up with him.

"Sandbar needs to keep up work," Yona noted.

“I'm sorry. We can't stay here forever. I'm trying to think of something.” The colt looked around at the minotaurs and ponies forced to work.

“Maybe Yona could smash through griffons.”

“Not yet. We need to think before we risk it all.” The two came to a stop so they could be unhitched and then take another lot of carts. Both sighed as they set off once more.

After walking around like decapitated chickens, Gilda, Gallus, and Silverstream were lost. Not the best time to do so when they were in an enemy’s base. “Okay, we need a miracle now,” Gilda commented. “If not… then we’re all dead.” Around the corner, they could hear some footsteps getting closer to them. Feeling that they were going get caught, to their surprise, it was Glynn.

The griffon with metal wings looked at the three griffs. “You're having trouble getting around, are you?” he questioned.

“…Probably,” Gallus responded. “We were supposed to have a tour but Gwen here has a bad memory. You mind if you give us a claw?”

“Of course. This way.” Surprised by his humbleness, the three griffs followed Glynn around the base. He showed them places such as washrooms, the cafeteria, and even the medical center. The center was something that Glynn seemed to know quite a lot about. Silverstream decided to ask the question.

“Are you a doctor?” the hippogriff asked.

“Just a simple medic,” Glynn responded. “I can show you some of our technology.”

“No thanks,” Gallus responded.

“I think Gideon would leave you alone if you said yes,” Gilda noted.

Gallus rolled his eyes and groaned. “Fine.”

Glynn took out a syringe and held Gallus's arm. “Now, hold still.” He then jabbed the needle into him, which caused a bit of pain and annoyance to Gallus. After taking some blood and put a ball of cotton and a bandage on his arm, Glynn then showed them a small machine.

“This right here is just something we use to test blood. Though, it’s nothing special to the crystals we mined.” Opening a drawer, Glynn showed the griffs a small purple crystal. It glowed when it touched his talon.

“Woah! What does that do?” Silverstream asked.

“It’s a strange one, but whenever it making contact with a creature's skin and they are as still as possible, it works as a way of keeping up the nutrients in your body without having to consume food or water."

“You're kidding me,” Gallus spoke. Glynn chuckled.

“I know it sounds farfetched, but it works. I could show you if you want.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Gilda spoke. “I’m doing whatever I can in order not to get yelled at by Gideon.”

“…Right. I understand.” Glynn watched the griffs leave the room and made sure they were out of sight. Once they were gone, he fired up the machine he was showing before telling them about the crystal. He inserted some of Gallus's blood then got another needle to get some of his own. After waiting for a minute, a note was printed from the machine, giving the results of the blood test. Glynn was shocked at first, then let out a disappointed sigh.

The trio went down the hall, pondering what was taking Glynn so long. They would have to wait for answers as they ran into Guy, or that's what it looked like. He looked at the two students and then who he thought was Gwen. The disguised griffon looked around the place to make sure they were alone. “Have you ever heard of anyone named Ocellus?” she asked.

“I'm not sure what you're talking about,” the fake griffon said.

"Ocellus, don’t worry, this is Gilda," Silverstream said. "She’s in disguise like you."

The three all looked the hippogriff, not impressed. “Silver, you got lucky," Ocellus explained, speaking with her original voice. “This is one of the riskiest missions we've ever done.”

"Look, we weren’t expecting Gilda to be here," Gallus informed. "What are you doing outside of the training room?”

“Gideon said that you were taking too long. Just… hurry up. I don't think we can keep up the act if we can’t keep up with his commands.”

“Look, kid, I’m doing my best, but your poor planning is going to get us killed."

“I didn’t account on you being here,” Gallus noted.

“Enough with the argument!” Ocellus begged. “We’re in hot water as it is.” The three griffs all remained quiet before Silverstream spoke up again.

“Let’s just keep up with orders,” she said. "I'm not finding out what he does to creatures that don't follow orders.” This was a good idea and Gilda had something to add.

“Just tell the griffon in charge that we were just finishing the tour and I was sick of these two,” Gilda said.

“Good plan,” Gallus commented. “I'm going to report back to the training room. Silver, come with me.” The hippogriff followed her boyfriend. Ocellus kept up her act as Guy and followed her friends in case Gram would wonder where she was. Gilda decided to look around the base and find anything that could be helpful.

As for Glynn, he was looking to find Gadget. He was holding the note that the machine had printed. “I hope this test would be wrong,” he muttered. Taking a deep breath, he set off to find Gadget and tell her the news.

Author's Note

Sorry, this one took so long guys, I've been adjusting to my work schedule.

Plotting Plans

Going back to the training room, it looked like Gram had been wiping the floor with everyone. This was likely to remind them how things worked around here. Gram tackled Sunshine to the ground, making him suffocate until he saw Gallus, Silverstream, ‘Gwen’, and ‘Guy’ walk back inside.

“Ahh. About time you got back,” he spoke, releasing Sunshine to allow him to breathe.

“She was getting annoyed by these two, sir,” ‘Guy’ explained.

“Hmm, at least she only got two s**theads to deal with.” Gram walked closer to Gallus and Silverstream, making them worried as he stood over them. “Well since you two are the lucky ones, go to the guild to armor up.”

The guild wasn’t something that they saw yet, given how they ran into Ocellus, so they quickly let him know. “Gwen gave up before we could get to the guild,” Gallus fibbed. “So, we have no idea where it is.”

“Of course, she did.” He looked at ‘Guy’, who quickly made a salute when he noticed. “I appreciate that, but only Gideon gets that treatment. Take care of those kids right there, alright?” He pointed to the griffs that he was done with.

“R… Roger,” Ocellus responded.

“Good,” he then turned to Gallus and Silverstream. “You two, come with me.” Ocellus watched as Gram took Gallus and Silverstream away, leaving everyone else for Guy to deal with.

Taking a deep sigh, she helped everyone that needed assistance. Once everyone could walk, they made their way back to the cells, where they were locked in. Guy was about to walk away and go do another job when she looked to see where Smolder was tied up. She looked to be weak given the fact she didn’t have anything to eat. She managed to look up at Ocellus still in disguise who was checking to make sure only the ones that were locked could see her. Once she was in the clear, she transformed into a rat so she could slip through the bar then changed back into her original base form.

“Smolder, how are you feeling?” Ocellus asked. Her girlfriend tried to respond, but she was muffled by the muzzle that prevented her from using her fire breath. The changeling gave her girlfriend a sympathetic hug to try and raise her spirits. “It’s going to be okay. We’ve been through worse before. And besides, we’ve got some surprising outside help, not to mention not everyone working for the gang wants to hurt anyone.”

Smolder rose an eyebrow as it was the only way she could emote that she didn't believe what she heard. “I know how it sounds,” the changeling continued, “And… I know you might not wanna believe it, but I met a kobold who sounded like he didn’t want to be here too. Not to mention two other griffons seemed to be nicer than anyone else…”

The sound of footsteps approaching made Ocellus quiet down and quickly changed into a rat to try and blend into the cell. One of the guards walked past the cells to check on the prisons and make sure nobody had escaped. Everyone was in their place and the guard went back to his post. Once he left, Ocellus crawled through the bars and changed back into Guy.

“It’s not safe right now,” the disguised changeling said. “I’ll check on you later.” With that, she flew off to stay out of trouble. Smolder gave a muffled sigh as she didn’t want to be alone again. Ocellus felt horrible for having to leave the dragoness by herself, so much she shed a tear.

Glynn was feeling upset too. He took one last look at the note before he went to answer the workshop. Inside, Gadget was trying to see if she could put the pearl shards they stole from the hippogriffs to use. Judging by her face, she looked frustrated.

“Any luck?” he asked.

Gadget groaned and sighed, “I feel like I’m tracking a moth in a snowstorm.” She showed she had a pearl shard inserted into a dagger, one of the smallest weapons they had. She pressed the button that activated the elemental effects, but nothing happened.

Glynn put the note he had away as Gadget was upset as it is. “How about trying them as batteries? Maybe that’ll work.”

“I was about to test that out.” Gadget then showed a shard hook up to a wire that connected to a drill. When she tried pulling the trigger, nothing happened. “And… that’s a no.”

“So what do these shards do?”

“I have no clue. I think they’re just regular gemstones. Gideon will probably sell them on the market if we can’t find a use for them. I don’t understand why all of those strange-looking griffons…”

“Hippogriffs. I think that’s what Onyx said they were.”

“Ugh, whatever they’re called, it doesn’t explain why each one had matching necklaces.”

“Maybe because they’re a part of their culture. You know we’d ask them if we could.”

“Yeah… Which would make this much easier.” Gadget removed the shard from the drill and placed it back in the small container which held the other shards. “There has to be a reason why they had all of these. I’ve managed to detect some magical energy from these.” She showed a scanner that showed there was some sort of magical energy from the shards. “See.”

“I guess these are used for healing instead of offense. Mind if I take one off your claws?”

“Sure,” Gadget handed him one of the shards, “let’s see what you can do.”

He took it from her claw and trotted back to the medical center. He looked at the mark he extracted some of his blood from. He sighed as he knew if he had told Gadget what he found, she would’ve felt worse.

Back with Gilda, she was wandering around until she made her way down towards the mines. She only got a look at what she could see from the entrance as some guards were blocking her path. “Sorry, Gwen,” one of the guards spoke, “We weren't given orders to allow you in. We didn't even know you were back.”

“Sorry, men,” Gilda apologized, still pretending to be Gwen, “The desert has messed with my head and I’m having a hard time thinking straight.”

“Couldn’t you just see Glynn about that?” the other guard asked. “He’s a medic, you know.” Gilda didn’t know who Glynn was exactly, but did remember that griffon who showed them directions and places, including the medical center, saying that he’s a simple medic. She played along in order not to get caught.

“Okay, I’ll check with him.” She flew away leaving the guards at their post. Meanwhile, Sandbar thought he heard Gilda, but it was nearly drowned out by the sounds of pickaxes and the carts’ wheels rolling along the rails.

Eventually, when he and Yona were getting hooked up to more carts, they had another pony hitched up to help. The mane and fur colors were all too familiar along with the cutie mark of light shining through the clouds. “Hmm, it looks like fate wants us to be together,” the mare commented.

“It seems like it,” Sandbar chuckled. The sound of a whip cracking told them to get moving. Yona started them off, quite surprising to the two earth ponies.

“Whoa! Are all yaks this strong?”

“You’d be surprised!” The two ponies caught up with Yona’s speed and they went to get loaded up. “You know, I never caught your name.”

“Oh, really? I’m Skyline. I’d like to talk more about the escape plan.”

“I’m all for it. I think that Yona can be a key factor in it.”

“Who?”

“The yak I’ve mentioned.”

“Oh, right. It feels so refreshing to have someone want to help me break us out of here.” The two ponies began talking about a plan while they kept up the work.

Gallus and Silverstream cautiously followed Gram to the guild. Both young griffs held each other’s talons to keep their spirits up. Eventually, they made it to the guild which was a surprise to them. The room was an oversized closet that was right next to the exit leading to the launch bay. However, that was likely because of what was inside: suits of armor that were lined along the walls.

These armors were made of black metal that would cover every part of the body. Each suit of armor also had some sort of panel on each suit of armor that was heavily covered. Gallus was about to question it until two male griffons marched towards them. They were wearing armors just like the ones on display. One of them saw Gram and the two young griffs.

“Who in the name of Tartarus are they?” he asked.

“New recruits,” Gram explained. “Gideon has given me orders to show them the guild. And trust me, they’re not going to leave my sight.”

“Um… Permission to speak?” Gallus said, bravely.

Gram looked at the young blue griffon. “What do you want to know, kid?”

“These armors. They look… amazing, to be honest, but… how do you move in these?”

“Gemstone power.” He had one of the griffons open up the panel on its chest and showed off a large chest gemstone resting inside. It was quickly closed up after they got a good look at it.

“So. what happens if the gems aren’t there?” Silverstream asked.

“If not, then these things will feel like boulders,” Gram explained. “In fact, we’re about to see if we can find ones that can fit you.” This was a little worrying to both griffs. Despite saying they were fine to just look, Gram didn’t give them a choice. With some help from the other griffons, Gallus and Silverstream were each given a set of armor to slip into. Talons, paws, wings, and tails.

Though, since Silverstream’s body structure was different from Gallus and most griffons, she had a bit of a harder time fitting into her suit. Despite the ill-fitting nature of her suit, they made sure that both students fit into their uniforms. Only their heads were the only parts that didn't have any armor on. Both tried moving around, though it would seem that their suits didn't possess any gemstones.

They were stuck in place as the griffons examined them. “You sure that this isn’t a waste of time?” one of the armored griffons asked.

“These were Gideon’s orders,” Gram explained. “It also keeps them in place.” Gallus could tell they liked this as it meant there wasn’t much of a chance for either of them to fight back. Many of the griffons were curious about Silverstream, as they weren’t used to seeing hippogriffs.

They kept questioning what she was, to which an annoyed Gram answered, though his guesses weren’t right. The details mostly involved a pony and griffon having a certain relationship. Silverstream didn’t like what she heard.

“This isn’t right at all,” she whispered to Gallus.

“No kidding,” the blue griffon responded. “Though I don’t think we’re in a good position to correct them.”

Both just stood there as the griffons kept guessing on how hippogriffs were made. The inability to move was proving to make the two stuck students feel their muscles getting cramps. After discussing a couple of theories they finally got helmets and gemstones for the students and got the parts connected to their armors. As soon as everything was in place, the armors were on and the students could finally move. Both of them moved around a little bit, feeling relieved after standing still for so long.

“Gotta say, these armors are cool.”

“You haven’t seen the fun part yet,” Gram commented. “Boys!”

Gram and the armored griffons led the students outside. Even with the gems powering the suits, they still felt a little heavy to the students. They saw some boulders that looked to be in the way. This wasn’t an issue for the armored griffons, who just picked them up like they were as light as a pebble. Despite what they had seen this team do so far, the students were impressed. They were tempted to try it out, but the armored creatures wouldn’t let them. They were only allowed to watch. Gallus was starting to feel a little suspicious.

“I feel like they’re going to spring something on us,” he muttered to himself. “Why would they put us in these suits, yet did not let us use them to our full potential?” Gallus stayed on the side of caution and simply did everything that Gram ordered him and Silverstream to do.

Gram would've thought they'd tried something anytime now. Most creatures in their position would either make a run for it or would try to fight them back. Both of them were just standing there like statues. “Maybe those gems kicked the bucket sooner than planned,” he muttered. “Or maybe they're smarter than most creatures.” Seeing that both griffs were playing it safe, Gram requested to have their helmets removed. “You two, take off your helmets.”

Perplexed, the griffons listened and helped get the helmets off the students. “So, should we have the rest of the armor taken off?” Gallus asked. “We aren’t using them.”

“Just keep them on a little longer. You’d be surprised how much these things help in the heat.” Admittedly, the suits did feel rather cool even in the baking hot desert. “It was an absolute b**** to get into our armors, but I say it was worth it. Right, boys?” The armored griffins each confirmed they liked the armors’ cooling abilities.

“Okay, so these things can keep us from overheating. Is that and protecting our bodies all they can do?” Feeling a little fed up, Gram requested one of the armored griffons to hold his talon out at one of the boulders. When he did that, a blast shot out from his palm, coating the rock in ice.

“Whoa, that’s just like the weapons in the dojo!” Silverstream gasped.

“You’re a quick learner. Now, raise your right arm.”

Gallus and Silverstream both raised their right arms, he then showed them that there’s a slot for a gemstone to be inserted. Gallus gave a tap on his arm where a gemstone would be, only the tap gave the feeling that it was hollow. Maybe because he and Silverstream didn’t have any gems there.

“When do we get to take these suits off?” Gallus asked.

“In a little bit. For now, just keep following orders.” This was the best idea as they could see what these armors could do so far. Surely, there would be something deadly to dragons.

Speaking of which, Ocellus was searching around for Quartz. She needs to find him, so she could make a plan. She was flying past by the dojo and heard some swords clashing with each other. Curious, she poked her head inside and could see the kobolds training. Most of them were fighting claw to claw, others were practicing their aim by throwing shurikens at targets. Then there were the ones practicing with katanas.
At the corner, she found Quartz doing his training. Ocellus could see that he was going off against a female kobold, who appeared to have the edge. Quartz gave a couple of parries, but eventually, he looked like he would be decapitated if the opponent didn’t stop the katana inches away from his neck.

“You hesitated, Quartz,” the female kobold spoke, “and it cost you your head,” She placed her katana back into her sheath. “What is up with you? You’re starting to feel weak and defenseless.”

“Maybe I don’t want to have this lifestyle,” Quartz stated, growing a backbone. “This is getting way too far.” The female kobold didn’t like this attitude and grabbed him in the neck, belly, and back, disabling the muscles of his body. He fell over limp, only being able to look up at the ceiling.

“How many times do you have to be reminded that you don’t have any other choice? We’re all losing our patience with you, especially Onyx.”

Some of the other kobolds had stopped training to look at the disabled Quartz. Not wanting him to just sit around and do nothing, they used his pressure points to switch his muscles back on and had him leave the dojo. After he left, he then noticed ‘Guy’ was listening behind the corner. He saw her and was shocked.

“How long were you standing there?” Quartz asked.

“Just long enough,” ‘Guy’ responded. “Is there a place we can talk in private?” There weren’t too many options for privacy, but the kobold was aware of one spot.

“There is,” he replied. “Come.” He and the fake griffon went into the storage area, where they kept some crates containing weapons, explosives, and various other items. There wasn't anybody in there aside from the two creatures. “Okay, what did you want to tell me?”

“It’s… uhh… more of a thing to show you. But first… can I trust you to keep a secret?”

“You mean from everyone else in this base?” ‘Guy’ nodded. “Sure. I don’t get along with them anyhow.”

‘Guy’ then sighed in relief. “Thank you. And you might wanna stand back.”

He then stood back. Then a flash of blue surrounded her. The disguise was lifted and the kobold was shocked to see a changeling standing right in front of him. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing. “What the… How did you…?”

“Shh, keep it down. The entire reason we’re here is so that nobody knows our plan.” Ocellus looked around to make sure if anybody heard them. They were in the clear and looked back to the kobold. “Okay, so I’m a changeling, an insect-like species. We can shapeshift into any kind of creature we can think of. Just like this.”

With that, Ocellus shapeshifted into an exact copy of Quartz, much to the surprise of the original. “So… This… I can barely take this all in.”

“I know this is shocking, but it’s useful for the plan to break everyone out of here.” Ocellus then changed back into her base form and explained everything she and her friends knew so far.

“Okay, that’s easier said than done. I wanted to leave this place for years, though… they won’t let me. Even if they allowed me to go, I wouldn’t last long in the desert without help.”

“You will be part of the escapees. We could use all of the help we can get. I think we can only get inside help and you’re one of the only creatures I can trust here.”

“There’s also Glynn and Gadget. They hate working for the Gold Gang too.”

“You mean the two griffons with metal limbs?”

“Yep, that’s them.”

“Oh, good. Now I’m starting to feel more confident about this.” Ocellus quickly transformed back into Guy so she and Quartz could exit the storage room. They checked and made sure nobody was around. “And don’t forget, never tell anyone about my disguise. Got it?”

Quartz did a zip-your-mouth gesture, telling her that he’ll keep that secret. After that, they made their way there to find either Glynn or Gadget.

In the medical center, meanwhile, Glynn was already taking care of Gilda. She was lying on a hospital chair that the beck rested leaning back so Gilda could look at the ceiling. “How long is this going to take?” she groaned.

“Just stay still,” Glynn calmly requested. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like having a heatstroke.” He then grabbed a thermometer from the side table and placed it in Gilda’s mouth. “Do you have any weaknesses in your muscles?”

“Not really.”

“Good.” The griffon medic took out a notepad and began writing things down. “Any cases of nausea or vomiting?”

“None.”

“Good. And… any skin irritations like you feel a rash?”

“None. Just feel like I got covered in enough sweat to fill a swimming pool.”

“Good to know.” Glynn took the thermometer out of Gilda’s mouth. “Let me see… 98.6℉. You’re perfectly fine. Just make sure to bring a bottle of water with you.”

“Yeah, got it. Thanks a lot.” Gilda got up and was about to get going until she saw something fall off from the side table onto the floor. It looked to be some sort of note. “What’s this?” she asked herself. Glynn saw her pick it up and jumped.

“Wait, Gwen, don’t look at that!” It’s too late. She got a good look at the note before the medic could cry out. Reading it through, she was shocked. Her pupils shrunk to the size of a raisin. Gilda cannot believe what she just read. She double-checks it before looking at a worried griffon.

“…Who’s your son?” Gilda asked.

“Gwen, I can explain. One of the griffons that we brought the past few days… Well… the ones that Guy had brought back… He’s… Gideon cannot know about it.”

“You mean about Gallus?”

Glynn almost felt his heart skip a beat. “…You know his name?”

“I know a lot more than that. Are you supporting this gang?”

“I have no choice! Do you think I like dragging creatures away from their homes, making their family members suffer and insane!?”

“Not anymore. You’re not the only one that’s been keeping a secret.” Glynn looked a little puzzled as she took a deep breath. “I’m only telling you this if you can keep a secret.”

“As long as you don’t tell anyone about what you read.”

Gilda promised to keep her beak sealed as she explained everything she knew that the Gold Gang didn’t. Glynn was shocked and a little confused when he heard about Ocellus, as he didn’t even know changelings existed. She even revealed to him about her disguise as Gwen, and the real one was still at the desert tied up, together with Guy and Gene. When the explanation was over, the medic had to take a minute to process what he heard.

“So… Griffonstone had a chance?” he questioned.

“Yeah, until you came in and crashed the party.”

“I… don’t know what’s harder to believe, the fact that griffons are trusting each other without the idol or the fact that six teenagers planned on taking on a gang that has been doing horrible actions since the fall of Griffonstone.”

“I had a feeling their plan was asinine. Since we’re here now, we might as well get them out alive.”

Glynn thought about the best solutions he could think of. “If we’re going to plan this smartly, we’re going to need Gadget. She’s the main one called whenever something in the base needs repairs.”

“Are you sure she’s going to be trustworthy?”

“Believe me, she and I have been together for a long time. You can trust her.” Glynn was given the note back from Gilda and they went to get Gadget, who the male didn’t know how to tell her the truth about Gallus. “Let’s go.”

When they got there, both saw that ‘Guy’ and Quartz were already talking with the gang’s mechanic. A couple of seconds of silence was in the room as the whole true colors thing hadn't been revealed.

“Um, Gwen,” Gadget said. “Look, what’s been said is none of your business.”

“Gadget, this isn’t who you think it is,” Glynn said. This was a little confusing until things were explained. Gadget was a bit surprised knowing that Gilda had disguised herself as Gwen, though probably would be nothing compared to who ‘Guy’ really was.

After making sure that everyone could be trusted and placing the warning sign used for warning others about the welder’s flash, the changeling dropped her disguise. Glynn jumped when he saw Ocellus's true form. “What the… How could…”

“Glynn, I’m just as shocked as you are,” Gadget responded. “I didn't even know these kinds of creatures existed.”

“Same here,” Quartz added.

"So... You already know about Ocellus’ abilities?” Gilda asked

“We do now,” Gadget responded. “And I’m up for whatever it takes to bring down Gideon.”

“Alright,” Ocellus commented. “We just need to know everything about this place.” The five creatures in the workshop then started planning out.

Down in the mines, Bill was laying the new tracks as Skyline, Sandbar, and Yona approached with some carts that were waiting to be unhitched from them. “Bill, we don’t have time to talk,” Skyline whispered. She glanced at the guards, who didn’t seem to take notice of them.

“Sky, if this is about your escape plan, I don’t want to hear it,” the Minotaur responded bluntly.

“But we have a chance this time. Just look at how many carts Yona there managed to pull doing most of the work.” Bill looked back and was amazed at a long line of seven carts loaded with gems and stones. Normally it would take ten ponies to pull this lot, at least to the Minotaur’s knowledge.

“Yona, do you think you can keep pulling this off?” Sandbar asked. The yak looked to be pretty tired judging her deep breaths, but she gave a smile and a nod despite this.

“Yaks are a lot stronger than they look,” Skyline added. “She might be the key we need.”

“That’d be true,” Bill commented, “But including all of us, that’s only for creatures against an entire army. We’ll need more ponies and minotaurs on our side to make this work.”

He went back to building the new tracks starting by picking up one of the rails. He accidentally tripped and ended up dropping the rail, which fell off the nearby cliff. It stabbed into the ground, nearly hitting any of the workers. Some of the guards took notice of this and flew over to the minotaur.

“Oh no,” Skyline gasped. She could see the concern on Bill's face, so did Sandbar. The guards got closer and the colt began thinking fast as he didn't want to have Bill in a worse position than he already was in. When the guards landed, he only spoke first.

“Sorry sirs,” Sandbar said. “I was trying to keep up, but I guess I must’ve knocked a stone loose or something. It must’ve made him tripped.”

The Minotaur could tell what he was doing and snatched a rock from the cart and placed it on the ground while the guards were listening to the fib. The guards saw the stone on the ground, adding to the evidence of the story.

“Things like this happen,” one of the guards commented.

“Should we report him?” the other asked. The four hooves creatures held their breath as they waited for a response.

“Do you want to? Something like this always happens and nobody gets injured. Besides, it’s only one colt. It’s more work than it’s worth.”

The guard just rubbed his eyes before speaking. “Look, kid, count yourself lucky that this isn’t worth it. Gideon won’t be so generous.” The guards flew back to their position, leaving Sandbar off with a warning.

After a sigh of relief, Bill had to ask Sandbar something. “Why’d you do that?” the Minotaur questioned.

“You’ve clearly been through a lot,” Sandbar noted. “You don’t deserve to be here. No one does.” He and the girls decided to get moving before they could get into any more trouble. Bill resumed his work too, thinking about what Sandbar said and did.

Back with Gallus and Silverstream, they were allowed back inside and had their armors taken off. “So, are you willing to have a real test drive someday?” Gram asked.
“Hmm, maybe,” Gallus responded. “Silver, how about you?”

“Um…. Would we be able to fly in these?” the hippogriff asked, trying to sound brave.

“Not likely, kid. These suits are too heavy to fly, even with a power source. At least these models are. We’re getting a new set soon.”

“So the next models are going to fly?” Gallus asked.

“It’s what Gideon has planned.”

“And what do you have planned for us?”

“Head to the barracks. Go straight and turn left, you’ll find it. I’ll ask Gideon what else you can do. Don’t leave the barracks until further orders.”

“Yes sir,” both griffs responded. They flew away to the said room which was a part of the that Glynn provided them. As they did that, Gram went to find Gideon. He found him in one of the rooms most creatures weren’t informed about. The leader stood in front of a vault door before he noticed the griffon approach him.

“You don’t just come in unannounced,” Gideon reminded.

“My apologies, sir,” Gram spoke, giving a salute. “I want to inform you that I’ve sent the two griffs to the barracks. I was unsure what to do with them at that point.”

“Did they show any signs of resistance?”

"Not at all, sir. They played along just fine. They’re smarter than we give them credit for.”

“I see. Enough about those teens, they think they’re one step ahead, while we're miles in front. I'm more interested in how Gwen is acting.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The lack of salute is a red flag. Not to mention that she and Guy are still one member down along with the kid they had still missing is something I can’t ignore.”

“Are you saying she's an imposter?”

“Precisely. I still could be wrong, but I’d like you to keep an eye on her. If she does something that will screw us over, terminate her.”

“Understood, but might I recommend that we have some of the kobolds assist in this?” Gideon smiled as he liked the sound of his suggestion.

Silverstream held Gallus’s talon as they made it to the barracks. She was trying to be brave but this was too familiar to a certain king.
“Silver, it’s alright,” Gallus reassured. “We’re in this together. The spirit wouldn’t send us on this mission if we couldn’t do it.”

The hippogriff managed to get some courage and the two walked into the barracks, where they were stopped by a griffon they hadn’t met yet.

“What are you two doing?” she questioned.

“We were told to come here,” Gallus explained.

“Then I’m guessing they didn’t tell you the rules we have here. Boys in one section, girls in the other.” She pointed in the direction of each section that was dedicated for each gender.

The two students both knew what this meant. “Silver, we’ll meet up again,” the blue griffon spoke. “I’m sure that they’ll have us teamed up to make sure we stay out of trouble.”

This helped Silverstream feel a bit better as they split up and listened to the different sections. Both different barracks had bunk beds lined up on each wall. Many griffons were still there, some getting a snooze, some performing maintenance on their weapons, and one was even practicing his throwing knife skill at a dartboard.

Gallus and Silverstream both found beds that weren’t taken and tried to get comfy. This was far from easy given their current location. Motivated by wanting to get everyone he loved out of here, Gallus began racking his brain to think of an escape plan, which was becoming a bit of a theme in the base.

Back with Ocellus, she, Gilda, Gadget, Glynn, and Quartz were all examining a map of the base. It looked to be eight stories tall, not including the mines. There were many highlighted areas such as the dojo, barracks, medic center, etc. These were likely there to help tell which room was which.

“Okay, so Sandbar and Yona are down in the mines,” Gilda commented, “Gabby and the students are stuck in cells, and Gallus and Silverstream are the only ones allowed around the base.”

“Provide as long as someone’s there to watch them,” Quartz noted.

“Right. Are there any particular places and certain griffons that we should know of?”

“Well, you’ve already met Gideon and Gram,” Gadget noted.

“I’m guessing Gram’s the right claw griffon?”

“That’s right. If one of them is alerted about something, the other won’t take long to know. They’re going to be our biggest threats as they can get any of the griffons to do what they order.”

“I can’t blame them,” Ocellus admitted. “I mean…. You have weapons that kill dragons. We have to play it smart.”

“So, let’s figure out their weakest link,” Gilda suggested.

“That would be Onyx,” Glynn noted. “He’s the leader of the kobold ninjas. They’re often sent in to take care of the smaller dragons about our size. It’s not a pretty sight when they try to take a full-grown one.”

“Tell me about it,” Quartz shuttered. He had a bit of memory he didn’t want to remember.

“Do Onyx and Gideon often argue?” Gilda asked.

“Only when there’s weight on their shoulders. What are you implying?”

“I’m saying we try and get them to fight with each other which either knocks one of them out of the picture or keeps them distracted so they can’t give proper orders. Of course, we’ll still have the other griffons to deal with.”

“Maybe not all of them,” Ocellus noted. “I’ve seen a couple of griffons that didn’t look like they wanted to be here. And I’m not talking about the ones that are locked up.”

“She’s right,” Glynn confirmed. “A couple of them have vented to me about wanting out of here. Sadly, it doesn’t end well when they fight back.”

“How about the creatures in the mines?” Gilda asked. “I bet they want out of here.”

“And how do you expect we get past the guards?” Gadget asked.

Griffonstone’s ambassador simply pointed to Ocellus, who didn’t like this idea. “Gilda, that’s a huge risk!” the changeling stated.

“Listen, Ocellus, I wouldn’t suggest this if things weren’t this dire,” Gilda admitted. “Most of the griffs are young and they won’t last long here. And I don’t even want to think about Smolder’s situation. I can’t even think about how her family reacts when she dies.” The feeling was mutual for Ocellus.

“As much as I’m against this,” Glynn admitted, “This’ll be the only way we can communicate with the ponies and Minotaurs in the mines.”

Ocellus thought about the situation and could only guess that the creatures in the mine desperately wanted out. Not to mention some of her friends were down there too. Since the gang likely never dealt with changelings before, this could be a major advantage for her team.

“Okay, what do I need to do when I get down there,” the changeling asked, ready to face the worst.

Sleeve of Tricks

The ponies and minotaurs were still continuously being worked to the bone with guards keeping their eyes on them to see if they did something illegal. Sounds of pickaxes clanging on stone and carts full of gems rolling on tracks filled the air. None of them said a word yet, as they’re frightened to be killed. As the guards kept guard, out of the blue, a small long-tailed rat ran past the guards, much to their surprise.

“Where did that come from?” one guard asked, with a surprised look on his face.

“It doesn’t matter,” the other said. “It’s just a rat. Let that thing eat the remains.” The two didn’t take any notice of the rat who would be smarter than it looked.

The little rat swiftly crawls around the mine, trying to avoid getting stomped on by the miners in there. Eventually, it saw a young colt with three sea turtles for a cutie mark and a yak. They were carrying the carts, waiting to be loaded up with more gems when they saw the rat running towards them. He looked at all the others who were close by, particularly the guards.

“Hey there, little guy,” Sandbar said. “What’re you doing down here?” The rat suddenly climbed up Sandbar's leg so it could get to his ear. It then whispered something to him, which was surprising to the young colt. He then passed the rat over to Yona, where the rat did the same thing. Both of the students then whispered some information to the rat before it jumped down and ran off to an exit.

Skyline had seen what just happened and looked confused. “What was that?” she questioned.

The colt and yak both looked at each other before responding. “You could say… she is a friend,” Sandbar answered with a smirk.

The rodent ran out of the mine, with the guards not noticing it. She quickly ran further away from them, then down the hall, until it stops. Checking its surrounding, a flash surrounds it as it transformed back into ‘Guy’.

“I’ve never seen so many of them suffering down there,” Ocellus said to herself. She then flew back to the workshop, where Quartz, Gilda, Gadget, and Glynn were waiting. As they’re waiting for ‘Guy’ to arrive back, the door opened and saw her coming inside.

“How’d it go?” Quartz asked.

“Great. The guards didn’t suspect a thing,” Ocellus explained. “We’re going to have to use this trick sparingly. They’ll start catching on if I go down there too often.”

“What if you just used a different form instead of a rat?” Gilda suggested. “Like… a scorpion or an ant.”

“There aren’t too many creatures that can pass the guards without notice,” Gadget noted. “We could use Gideon or Gram, but if the real ones catch on, then we’re dead.”

“Exactly. Right now, let’s focus on the information we have,” Glynn suggested. “Go ahead, Ocellus.”

“Right then,” ‘Guy’ agreed. “Sandbar and Yona, two of my friends, one pony and a yak, told me about this mare called Skyline who’s been trying to plan a rebellion to bust everyone out of the mine.”

“I knew it!” Glynn exclaimed, with his fist banged on the table. “I knew this would happen eventually. Is anyone else joining this rebellion?”

“Skyline seems to be the only one going for it with Sandbar and Yona. They’ve been trying to get this minotaur, named Bill, to join them, but they think he’s given up.”

Gadget sighed. “Sounds like they've broken his spirit,” she guessed.

“Still, we’re not leaving them down there,” Gilda stated. “Is there anything in this base that might be helpful?”

Glynn and Gadget both thought about a few things until they came up with an idea. “If we weaken some of their weapons, we should be able to soften their blows,” Gadget suggested.

“Some could imply for their armors,” Glynn said. “Those gemstones are a major factor for their power. If you get them out of the armors and weapons, then we won't have to worry about being burned, electrocuted, or frozen.”

“Yeah, that’s as easy as jumping through a hoop the size of a pea,” Gilda said sarcastically.

“What, you have a better idea?" Gadget asked. The Griffonstone ambassador didn't respond to this. “Then quit standing around and get those gems out of those weapons.”

“And how are we suppose to do that without raising attention?”

“Gilda’s right,” Ocellus agreed, “We’re going to need some kind of distraction. But who or what?”

Quartz, who had been silent throughout most of the planning, decided to speak up. “I’ll do it,” Quartz spoke. “I’m a ninja, and ninjas are the masters of the shadows. I can sneak around and cause distractions and even keep an eye out in case anyone’s going to catch you.”

“Great idea,” Glynn commented. "We're going to need every edge we can get. The best fighters here get armed to the beak.”

“Uh-huh. Not like we had enough to worry about,” Gilda muttered.

“Seriously!? Are you going to be like this the entire time?" Gadget questioned. “Just complain, complain, and complain all the time.”

“Not everyone handles stress that well, okay?”

“Save your arguments for later and focus,” Glynn ordered. “We finally have a chance to take them down, and we’ll likely never get another shot at it.” Everyone knew he was right. Everything needed to be perfect or else they would be in hot water. “Now, let’s go.”

‘Guy’, Gilda, and Quartz left the room to act natural while Glynn went back to the medical center.

Gadget resumed her work on the orders that’d been given by Gideon. She walked to a corner, took out a crate that she had to drag over to her workbench. She got some gloves, a welders mask, and then took a sheet of metal out of the crate. She grabbed her blow torch and started to heat the metal up to try and mold it into the proper shape.

Gallus was still in the barracks thinking of everything he could do. Each idea he thought of was quickly put to rest when he knew how the Gold Gang could counter it. It was one thing for him, but he could only guess how Silverstream was doing. The Gold Gang seemed to have a lot in common with the Storm King, down to enslaving various creatures. She wouldn’t last long. The entire reason he picked her was so he could be by her side and comfort her. Now that the two were kept in separate areas, Gallus couldn’t do that. Since he was just waiting for orders, all he could do was sit on his bunk until he needed to be involved. None of the other griffons paid him any attention as he was just another drop of water in the ocean to them.

Silverstream was too deep in thought to notice any griffon that looked at her. She didn’t want to be here at all. She couldn’t help but think about the Storm King and this is what would’ve happened if he won. The young hippogriff just lay her head underneath her pillow to try and pretend that she was in a happier place. She was snapped out of this by the sound of banging metal, drawing the attention of all of the griffons in the room.

Gideon was standing in the doorway and placed down a mallet that he had used to bang on a gong. “Alright, ladies,” he called, “Before your lights go out, I need some of you to go on a night watch. The men are already being picked as we speak, but we still need some of you to keep watch.” A couple of female griffons volunteered to either stay out of trouble or it was because they owed someone a solid.

Silverstream looked away, hoping that Gideon wouldn’t pick her. After being quiet for about five minutes, she looked at the exit and saw that Gideon had left, so had some of the griffons. The hippogriff lied down on her bunk again and tried her best to get some sleep. This would be difficult as she just had so much on her mind; would she and her friends get out of here? What was going to happen to Smolder? Would they be able to rescue Gabby and the students? It was just too much for her to not think about. Silverstream was at the breaking point of crying.

At least she had a bed to sleep in, the griffs looked in the cells had to try and make themselves comfortable on the hard floors. Smolder was still in her straight jacket and chained to the wall, feeling herself getting weaker and weaker. Everyone in the mine, including Sandbar and Yona, was still being forced to work no matter how tired they were getting. Even when they were given breaks, they would only get a few hours that were barely enough to sleep.

‘Guy’ and Gilda were heading to the barracks after finding out how late it was getting. “We’re playing a dangerous game here,” Ocellus whispered.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Gilda grumbled. She wasn’t trying to be rude, but this was getting to be a little more than she could handle. When they got to the barracks, ‘Guy’ made sure to inform Gilda about the fact that each gender slept in two different sections. ‘Guy’ went to rest with the boys, while Gilda headed to the girls.

‘Guy’ found his bunk which was right under where Gallus was trying to sleep as if it was decided by fate. She gently poked the griffon to get his attention. “Ocellus! Oh, I’m glad to see you,” Gallus whispered.

“Same,” ‘Guy’ responded. “Where’s Silver?”

“In the other section of the barrack. Can’t see why they’re keeping both genders separated.”

“I do have a few theories, but let’s focus on what’s more important. Gilda and I have talked with some griffons and a kobold who aren’t all for the gang's ways."

"And you sure they can be trusted?"

"I made sure of that. Gilda's taking caution too.”

"Is she in the other section?"

"I’m sure."

“Okay. I hope she finds a way to keep her company.”

Gilda did manage to find the bunk Silverstream was resting in, unable to sleep due to how she was feeling. Silverstream saw her and came closer so they can speak. “Are the others okay?” the hippogriff asked quietly.

“To my knowledge, yes,” Gilda responded. “We don’t know how much time they have, so we have to act fast.”

“What do we do?”

“A while ago, We planned on having Ocellus sneak into the mines to exchange information with Sandbar and Yona, and it was doing alright. But the problem is that we can’t do that too often before the guards there will get suspicious.” The hippogriff nodded as Gilda explained what both she and Ocellus had planned. While they were knowing more about how the griffons made things work, the kobolds were a little difficult to put their claws on.

They weren’t exactly sure how much control the kobold had in the Gold Gang. It sounded like a partnership, but it had been made clear that Gram was Gideon’s right-claw griffon. So where did that leave Oynx? It was something they would have to ask Glynn, Gadget, or Quartz about it in the morning. Despite their worries, Gilda and Silverstream lied down on their bunks to get as much sleep as they could. They had a feeling that they would have a similar situation to the creatures in the mines.

When the morning shined over the desert base, the creatures inside were about to get a wake-up call. The griffs in the barracks were awoken by the sound of an alarm. Silverstream fell out of her bunk, thinking there was an emergency going on. One of the griffons saw the hippogriff stumble and just looked down at her.

“I guess this is the first time you hear the wake-up alarm,” she scoffed.

“You hear that every time you wake up?” Silverstream questioned.

“You get used to it. Don’t worry.” The griffon then looked over to Gwen, or more accurately Gilda, getting out of bed. “Yo, Gwen, wanna head to target practice after breakfast?”

Gilda was barely awake, but she needed to respond fast. “Unless Gideon has something I need to do, I’ll meet you there,” the disguised griffon spoke. The other griffon gave a thumbs up before walking out of the barracks. Gilda and Silverstream followed behind to get to the cafeteria so they could eat.

Gallus was able to meet up with them so they could try and talk. Still, they worried about other griffons seeing them since Gilda would have a high chance of acting out of Gwen’s character. So, it was decided that Gilda and Ocellus, keeping her disguise as Guy, would stay away from the two students until they needed to interact.

Deep inside the mines, Yona and Sandbar were relieved to finally have their break. A few bowls were being provided for the few meals the workers would be provided. The two didn’t remember eating in the past 24 hours, which was concerning to them. “How often do you guys eat?” Sandbar asked.

“I can’t keep track sometimes,” Skyline admitted. “Just eat while you can. They won’t let you know, so you'll just have to hope for the best.” The two students took her advice and had their hooves crossed when they would be fed again.

The griffs locked in the cages were wishing to be let out as they had their meals. They had been stuck in there since their first training session. “How much longer until we’re out again?” Gleaming Pearl asked.

“Quiet!” ordered the guard. The griffs all remained silent as he walked back to his post. Everyone was on the edge of having their spirits are broken, especially Smolder. Unlike everyone else, she wasn’t given anything to eat. She remained chained to the wall, straight jacket and muzzle included. Her body was cramped, her stomach felt like it was shriveling, and all the while she couldn’t anything about it, nor help her friends.

Everyone that was under Gideon’s control was miserable. This was something some creatures couldn’t stand for anymore. Glynn and Gadget were quick to get their meals and find ‘Guy’ and ‘Gwen’. They made sure to be as far as everyone else as they could. This way, they would have an easier time forming an idea of what they could do.

“Okay,” Glynn said, "So, we have the griffons that are locked up, the slaves in the mines, and an unknown amount of griffons who want to get out of here.”

“We can’t all be everywhere at once,” Gadget noted, “but we won’t have a way to communicate with each other either.”

“Then who goes where?” Gilda asked. “I’m supposed to be at target practice with a griffon I don’t even know after breakfast. So, I'm a griffon down.”

“Great. Did you recognize the griffon or even get their name?”

“If I did, I would’ve mentioned it by now.”

“Look, just stay calm,” Glynn requested. “Panicking is the last thing we want to do right now.”

“So, what should we do?” Ocellus asked.

“Well, I’d ask Quartz for what he knew, but sadly the kobolds don’t seem to eat with the griffons?”

“Then where do they eat?”

“Gideon and Oynx keep that classified. Even so, I don’t think they know what Quartz is doing. Hopefully, they don’t get anything out of him.”

“Let’s focus on what we can do,” Ocellus noted. “It’ll be best if I’m the only one who goes into the mine to exchange information to Sandbar and Yona.”

“What about Gallus and Silverstream?” Gilda questioned.

“If we’re all at the base, then we’ll each take a chance to give information to them if given the chance. If one of us is on a mission, then the other one will have to do it.”

“What if they’re on a mission while we’re not?”

Glynn was about to respond until it hit him. He gave a facepalm before he spoke again. “I forgot that Gideon assigns these tests.”

“What tests?”

Gadget decided to explain. “Whenever the gang trusts enough to be let out of their cages, they’ll be taken out on an errand run,” she explained. “Most griffons try and use this as a chance to escape, but very few of them get away.” Given how they’ve seen the griffon here act so far the context didn’t sound pretty.

“Gallus and Silverstream are smarter than that,” Ocellus noted. “Besides, they wouldn’t abandon us here. Not to mention, if I know Gallus, he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve.” She looked over to where the two students were sitting.

They were by themselves until a frail-looking griffon walked over to them. “Gideon says you two are going to help run an errand,” he explained.

“Why’s that?” Silverstream asked.

“It’s the boss’ orders. I don’t question things, I just follow them. Meet Gram outside at the launch bay in half an hour.” He then simply walked away leaving the couple to finish their meal.

They followed the orders and waited outside in the desert, watching one of the airships getting prepared for take-off. Eventually, they heard someone call out to them. “Hey, rookies,” called a voice. They looked to see Gram, who had another griffon standing beside him.

The griffon looked to have dark yellow farther with brown fur and some stitches over his right cheek. His talons were bleached yellow and he looked been through some rough days.

“This is Grayson,” Gram explained. “One of the best captains in the gang. We’re trusting him to keep you two in order.”

The captain eyed the two griffs he would be watching. “These two have interesting looks,” he commented. “No griffon has blue feathers, and not too many griffons with manes.” Silverstream held her talons together as tried to take this comment as a compliment.

“You’ll be going on a run to collect minerals,” Gram explained. “The ponies should have everything we need.”

“Right then,” Gallus commented. “When do we leave?”

“About…” he checked his watch. “… 10 minutes.” The two students were taken on board the ship which was soon loaded and the crew got ready to set off on their runs. Gallus and Silverstream watched the base as they slowly flew away from it. They didn’t know where they were going exactly but knew that they wouldn’t be escaping, given the number of griffons they could see on the deck.

“How much do you think the griffons are paying to buy those materials?” Silverstream asked.

“I doubt they are willing to pay anything they want,” Gallus huffed, “Especially these guys.” Then that got the blue griffon thinking. From his personal experience, the one thing that gave griffon the motivation to mostly anything were bits. Surely, Gideon had to be paying these goons somehow. Or did he?

Gallus decided to think of something that he wouldn’t set into motion after they arrived at their destination. It was a village that looked to be built at the bottom of a mountain. One of the most interesting features was the mineshaft that had a cart sitting outside waiting to be taken down. A couple of ponies were pulling some carts that were filled with bars of metal.

After the ship landed on the outskirts of the town, Grayson took Gallus and Silverstream, as well as some other griffons into town while most of the crew stayed on the ship. They made it to town, where the captain approached one of the stallions. He showed the griffon the slabs they had melted down, however, Grayson wasn’t impressed.

“Is there a problem?” the stallion asked.

“The boss order five carts of this stuff,” Grayson reminded. He pointed out that there were only three carts.

“Sir, we need the minerals too…”

“Are you trying to scam us?!” Without warning, Grayson pulled out a knife and held it to the stallion’s face. The pony started backing up out of fright with Grayson flying closer to him.

“Are the mines drying up?” Gallus asked. The stallion and captain looked over to the blue griffon, who the other griffon was tempted to show what happens when you interrupt something important. Lucky for him, the stallion spoke.

“It’s true,” he spoke. He started sweating as he knew how close he was to the knife. “Because we’re servicing the gang and our village, the mines are nearly out of minerals.”

Grayson looked back from the stallion to Gallus before he slowly put his knife away. “Should’ve known something like this would happen,” he muttered. He landed on his paws before looking the stallion dead in the eye. “Every last spec of minerals in that mine will be given to the Gold Gang. After that, we’re finished.”

“You mean you’ll leave us alone?”

The griffon didn’t give a straight answer, instead, he just remarked, “That’s for Gideon to decide.”

After that was heard, an order was given to take what little bars they had to the base to be taken back to the base. “What’s going to happen to these ponies after the mines close?” Silverstream questioned.

“Eh, they’ll bounce back,” scoffed a griffon.

“You don’t mind me asking another question, do you?” Gallus asked.

“You just did.”

“Well, I’m going to ask a third. How many bits are we getting out of this?”

“This isn’t a money run, kid.”

“Then how much are we getting paid?” The griffon just forced the two students onto the ship, but Gallus’s question stuck in his mind.

On the way back to base, he met up with one of the crewmates about it. “How much are we getting paid?” she questioned. “You’ve been a part of this team longer than I have! You should be swimming in bits!”

“Then how come I’ve barely been given a single coin from Gideon?” The two griffons were starting to feel like they had been tricked for a long time.

Back at the base, Gilda was busy practicing her knife-throwing skills while disguised as Gwen. She was missing the bullseye a couple of times and it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Man, Gwen,” the female griffon commented, “You’re really off your game.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Gilda explained.

“Like what?”

“Like how some creatures can’t mind their own business.” In her annoyance, she chucked her knife at the board again and missed it, hitting the wall instead.

The griffon just laughed as she threw a couple of knives and had much better accuracy. Gilda was hoping she was just thinking that she was having an off day. “How about you try the crossbow?”

“Yeah, sure.” Just waiting a few seconds, Gilda was given a crossbow to use and a couple of arrows to load it. Since she had never used a crossbow before, she was practically a fish out of water. She just tried thinking about it as a bow, stretching the string back so she could insert the arrow. Once that was successful, Gilda aimed it at the target and squeezed the trigger. With a little kickback, the arrow shot straight into the target, almost scoring a bullseye.

“There, much better. I knew you get back into it.” Gilda gave a smile as she felt like she was in the clear. Unbeknownst to both griffons, somebody was hanging on the ceiling watching from the shadows. It slipped away to tell a certain griffon about what he saw.

Meanwhile, Gadget was making quick work with the metal she had. She had already made some armor for a griffon’s paws, legs, and talons, though there was still a bit of work to do. She had just finished making the torso when she saw that she had run of materials. “Where is that ship?” she questioned. “I’m not getting yelled at by Gideon for something that’s out of my control.”

Just then, Glynn walked in to check to see how she was doing. He was still unsure if he should tell her about the blood test or not. He saw the armor was coming along. “Is that what Gideon's ordered you to build?”

“Yes. Now, I need to wait for the materials to get here because I've just run out." She placed down her tools and rest her head on her talon. "I'm honestly pleased that Gilda and Ocellus have made their way into the base.”

“Me too. I'm hoping that every creature will be free from this nightmare.” Glynn stood beside his partner as he kept trying to think of the right words to use. He looked at Gadget's metal arm and then his wings. “We had a hard life, haven’t we?”

"That’s putting it lightly. Though… the only good thing is that we got these new body parts.”

“They took some getting used to. I’m glad we’re the only ones who had to go through that process.” The two sighed as Glynn still wasn’t sure about his situation. Glynn kept going back and forth until a kobold burst into the room. It wasn’t Quartz nor Onyx, though it looked rather annoyed.

“What are you doing in here?” she questioned. “You’re supposed to be in the medical center. One of the griffons got careless and needs attention now.” Glynn didn’t like the sound of that. Without another word, he followed the kobold to the scene of the disaster.

There, Gabby was holding her arm in pain. One of the students lost control of their weapon and gave her a nasty cut. Despite her efforts to cover it up, she was still losing a good amount of blood. Glynn flew in with his medical kit and saw the damage.

Gram explained what happened and Glynn got to work by wrapping some bandages around Gabby’s arm for a temporary solution until she could be transported to the emergency room. “It’s alright,” Glynn reassured, “I’ve handled worse.”

After they left the room, everyone else was forced back into training. “Remember,” Gram spoke: “the moment you show hesitation, you end up with a spear through your heart. Almost like what your friend experienced.”

Gregoria, who had been the one to injure Gabby, was feeling horrible. It was one thing to see a friend get injured but was another thing when you were the cause of it. Still, Gram didn’t give her a choice but to keep going.

Gabby was still in pain was even crying at the point. Glynn helped her into the medical center and sat her down. He quickly got a needle and filled it up. “Alright, an injury this bad is going to require stitches,” he explained. “Some Tylenol should numb your arm until your stitched up.”

“It’ll be quick, right?” Gabby asked, sobbing a little.

“Don’t worry, once your arm goes numb, everything should be easy for you.” Once that was set, Glynn stabbed the needle into the injured griffon’s arm. Gabby cringed a little bit but a little bit after the plunger was squeezed, she felt her arm going numb. While she couldn’t feel it, she did see Glynn swiftly stitching up her cut. “See, you’re alright.” Gabby managed to smile knowing there was some creature here that care about how she was.

“I felt bad for Gregoria,” Gabby said. “I know she didn’t mean to do that. It hurts so bad.”

“Have you forgive her yet?”

“Not yet. She deserves an apology from me.” She stood silent until he asked another one. “How’s Gallus and Silverstream?”

“They’re doing alright. No worries.” Hearing this made her feel relieved.

Speaking of creatures, there seemed to be more talk going on in the mines. “So there’s no limit to a changeling’s power?” Skyline questioned.

“Well, I don’t think they’re that powerful,” Sandbar noted. “But whatever they transform into isn’t limited by size.”

“So they could just transform into a kaiju and just smash this place?”

The colt and yak didn’t think that was… a good idea. “Yak like smashing,” Yona admitted, “But not want to be one to get smashed.”

Skyline pieced together what she was talking about and admitted her mistake. They passed by Bill again, who was finishing up the rail extension. He was assigned back to mining and would be sent down with the next line of carts. As Sandbar and the girls waiting to be hooked up again, the colt could see the Minotaur wanted to talk.

“You saw a rat run in and out of the mine?” Bill asked.

“Yeah?” Sandbar responded. “Why’d you ask?”

“We barely see a random animal in the mine. I don’t think most would run in and out that fast.”

“It wasn’t a normal rat,” Skyline said, joining in the conversation. They couldn’t explain it safely with griffons hooking up the carts. When they traveled down the mine, they were able to explain who the rat was.

“Changeling? What is that?”

“Magical pony-like creatures who can shapeshift into any species,” Sandbar explained. “Ocellus is currently in the base helping us escape.”

“You think it’s going to work?”

“I don’t see what we have to lose.” Bill looked around at all of the ponies and Minotaurs forced to work. Many of them, himself included had given up any hope of trying to break free. Eventually, one of the guards snapped him back to reality as they were now at the bottom of the mine.

He started digging away as he thought about the first time that he and Skyline met Sandbar and Yona. Then it hit him, Bill remembered the gems that reacted violently with each other. He quickly reminder Sandbar about it, saying that he’d keep an eye out for those two kinds of gemstones again. More and more ideas were piling up, and the griffons might not be able to defend themselves from every direction.

Soon, the errand ship got back, carrying the various metals and a couple of arguing griffons. Gallus stayed quiet admiring the work from the seed he planted while Silverstream stayed quiet to keep out of trouble. Grayson had done his best to keep the crew under control, but it was clear that he needed help. He flew inside of the base, leaving only a few griffons to take the metals inside while everyone else argued. Gallus and Silverstream stayed on the sidelines to stay out of the crossfire.

“You think this is what happens when creatures don’t have friendship?” Silverstream questioned.

“Most likely,” Gallus chuckled.

Eventually, the griffons’ arguments started getting physical. Some started getting into fistfights and some even held out daggers at each other. Eventually, the griffon that Gallus asked about payday flew over and grabbed the friendship student by the neck.

“You think this is funny?” the angry griffon questioned.

“Gah… I just… Air!” Gallus wheezed.

Silverstream was horrified at what she saw and tried to push the griffon away. “Let him go!” she begged.

“Stay out of this, buck beak!” the griffon ordered. With one talon still wrapped around Gallus’s neck, the griffon pulled out some brass knuckles and was about to use them to pummel the student’s face, if it wasn’t for a stray arrow stabbed him right through the palm of his talon.

Gallus was released and fell and his chest. He and Silverstream looked up to see the arrow had been fired from a crossbow wielded by Gram. They then noticed Gideon walked across the deck to look down at the griffon that had been shot, who was still holding his talon in agony. He looked up at the gang leader, who gave an eye cold scowl.

“How did this start?” Gideon asked sternly. The shot griffon was in too much pain to talk, though Gallus would answer.

“I just ask a question,” the blue griffon admitted. “They’re the ones who took it too seriously.”

Gideon growled under his breath before giving an order. “Follow Gram and take the metal inside. Now!”

“Yes, sir,” Gallus and Silverstream responded, both giving a salute. They were taken below deck and started carrying the metal inside to storage. The bars were heavy and the two griffs would’ve questioned why they couldn’t use any carts, Gideon and Gram looked to be in bad moods, so it wouldn’t be wise to ask them this.

Gadget would be one of the first to know about the metals arriving as Gallus would be the one to bring a crate of the metal bars. The second he got the crate into the workshop, he dropped it on the floor and nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Gadget walked over to the young griffon and helped him up.

“Did they order you to carry all of this metal?” she questioned.

“Apparently,” Gallus panted. Gadget quickly got an empty glass and a pitcher of water that she held on to whenever she or anyone else in the workshop had gotten thirsty. She filled up the glass then gave it to Gallus, which promptly drank it. “Thank you. What are you using this stuff for?”

Gadget looked back to the armor legs that she had covered up with a tarp. “By orders, I’ve been told to keep this classified.”

“Gideon?” The griffon with a mechanical arm simply nodded. “Of course. You do what you’re doing, I’m getting back to my friend to make sure we stay out of trouble.” With that, he quickly flew away down the hall.

“Good luck.” Gadget sighed before taking a bar of metal out of the crate then resumed her work with the armor.

Gallus had gotten back to Silverstream, who was being talked down by Gram. “One mission,” he said. “You didn’t have to do anything. You just had to watch and learn, and you couldn’t even do that!”

Silverstream looked rather upset, which was something Gallus couldn’t sit back and watch. “Hey, I was the one who asked the question, and everyone overreacted…”

“Did I ask you to speak?” Gram didn’t hesitate to show the dagger he held onto for ones like Gallus, who learned to stay quiet. “You need discipline, but I don’t have the patience for that right now.” He paused as if an idea struck him. “I’ll ask Gideon if you two can work with Gwen.”

“Um… Yes, sir,” Silverstream responded. She and Gallus were instructed where to go and they soon left. Gram left to see if he could find Gideon and help clear things on the ship.

Gilda was heading to get a drink with the griffon that thought she was Gwen when she saw Gallus and SIlverstram approaching her. “What do you want?” ‘Gwen’ asked, staying in character.

“We've been told to work with you,” Gallus informed.

“Of course.” Gilda looked towards the griffon who was practicing her aim with. She walked off, leaving Gilda with the two students.

"What do we do now?" Silverstream questioned.

Gilda looked over to where she had target practice and got an idea. “We can discuss that in here.” She took the two students into the other room with somebody following them. Once they were in the other room, Gilda had gotten some throwing knives, a couple of arrows, and two crossbows.

“They just have these to spare?” Gallus questioned, seeing the amount of the ammo that was for practice.

"These don’t look like they’re made of the same material that the shurikens in Griffonstone were made of. I guess they're cheaper."

“Maybe.” Gilda started loading one of the crossbows so it looked like she was teaching them how to use it and lower suspicions. Silverstream didn’t want to use it, so it was given to Gallus instead. “I don't think every griffon is getting equal pay. I just asked how many bits we’ll get and that was enough to cause the crew to beat the snot out of each other.”

“Then maybe taking this gang down isn't going to be so hard." The two griffons both laughed as Gallus got into a stance to fire the crossbow. After a second or two, he pulled the trigger and fired the arrow right into the target, surprisingly close to the bullseye. Gilda was impressed. “Wow, that’s a good shot.” Gallus smiled smugly until the base inexplicably started to rumble.

Everyone that wasn’t flying could feel it. The earthquake was coming from the mine, specifically two gems there were blue and yellow. They were glowing and shaking, which Bill knew he had to stop as soon as possible. He punted the yellow gemstone away, which caused it and the blue one to stop glowing and the vibrations stopped. Several griffons flew close to where the earthquake had started, including Gideon.

"What is the meaning of this?" the leader of the gang questioned. He looked and sounded furious. The ponies and minotaurs in the mine were terrified of what was going to happen. The gang leader saw Sandbar and flew down to look him dead in the eye. “You've been messing up a lot around here.”

“It wasn't him,” spoke a voice. Everyone looked towards Bill, who had set his pickaxe down to prepare the worst. “I thought there was something wrong with the gemstones, but I just treated them like normal.”

Gideon would’ve told Bill to get back to building more rails, but his attention was diverted to one of the gemstones that caused the earthquake. He looked over to a guard who had found the gem that Bill kicked away. They brought them together and they gave a glow and vibrated, though not quite enough to cause another earthquake. They moved back and the guard had something to inform.

“Sir, did you feel your gemstone getting a little warm?” the guard asked.

“You're not wrong,” Gideon commented. “Have Gadget look at these when she has the chance. And make sure they are apart from each other.” Another guard was called in to make sure that the gems didn’t cause any more destruction. Gideon then looked back at Bill. “Listen here, bullhead, if you see any more gems like that or ones you don’t know, TELL SOMEONE!”

The griffon’s voice echoed around the mine.

“Yes. sir.”

He soon left, allowing Sandbar to look back at the minotaur. “Thanks for saving me back there,” the colt whispered. Bill managed to smile and give a small salute before getting back to mining.

Gabby was looking at the stitches for her scar. Glynn helped her out of the chair as it wouldn't be wise to put pressure on an injured limb. "How are you feeling, Gabby?" the medic asked.

“I think… maybe something hit my head.” Glynn could tell this wasn't the issue that was bothering Gabby.

“You’re not a warrior clearly.” The young griffon looked at the medic, clearly upset.

“I don’t want to go back to the dojo. What if it’s serious the next time I come back.” Gabby was clearly scared as she didn’t want to fight the griffons and hippogriffs. Not only because they were only teenagers, but the fact she had to have stitches for a minor injury singled other that would be in other parts of her body would also be fatal.

Glynn placed his talon on the young griff’s shoulder to help calm her down. “Gabby, listen. I’ll manage to talk with Gideon and maybe you could help with Gadget and work on maintenance. Would that sound better?"

Wiping a tear from her face, Gabby managed to smile. “I think I’d like that. Thanks, doc.”

Glynn smiled and was rewarded with a surprise hug. He hugged Gabby back to help her feel better before taking her down the hall to show her where Gadget worked. There, the griffon with a mechanical arm was just finishing up with the torso part of the arm. She was impressed she was getting this done so fast, then she heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, Gadget, you have a minute?” Glynn asked.

"Give me a minute," Gadget called. Using some tongs, Gadget placed the hot armor into a bucket of water. Steam hissed before she pulled it out and set it down so it could finish cooling. She removed her welders mask and opened the door to see Glynn and Gabby. “Who's this?”

"This is Gabby. She’s not wanting to be a warrior so I think she’d be a better builder. You said you’d like more help.”

"Hmm, I would enjoy more help. I don’t understand why Gideon has almost every griffon trained to be a warrior.”

“I work as a delivery griffon,” Gabby informed. “Sending and receiving letters all day.”

“Yet another reason why his strategies should’ve backfired by now.”

“I guess this is what happens when someone has too much power. I'll try and convince them to have Gabby work here. If not, well maybe I'll convince him to have another medic.” With that, Glynn left the girls in the workshop, which would be a better environment for Gabby.

The mail griffon looked to the one with a metal arm. “Okay, I’ll explain everything you need to know,” Gadget said. “Orders say that this armor needs to be finished as soon as possible.”

“Right,” Gabby responded. She sat down and listened to every word that was said until the guards from the mine entered with the two reactive gemstones.

“Gadget,” one of them called, “These gems were found in the mine and they need to stay apart.”

“Why’s that?” the gang's mechanic questioned.

“You remember that earthquake we felt a little bit ago?” the second guard asked.

“Yeah? I felt that.”

“These were the cause of that. Again, Gideon said to keep them apart, so this place doesn’t crash down on us.”

“Roger that. Leave them on different shelves over there.” She pointed to the shelves, where the guards placed their gems on the top and bottom shelves. They left to get back to their posts, not even questioning why Gabby was in the room.

“Madam, did those two seem a little, uncaring to you?” the mail griffon asked.

“What are you talking about?” Gadget questioned.

“It sounded like they… had all happiness drained from them.”

“That's due to being in this gang for so long, I think. If you’re not one of the head honchos, you're getting nothing out of it.” Gadget gave Gabby a welders mask so she could show her how to warp the metal into the right shape.

Gideon slowly flew down the hall rubbing his brow. There were a lot of things going wrong today and it was giving him a headache. The sound of somebody landing on the ground could be heard along with that said someone walking closer to him. “You better have a good reason to talk to me,” the griffon said.

“I thought we’d been told to keep an eye on ‘Gwen’,” said a familiar voice. The gang leader looked over to see Oynx, the kobold ninja. Gideon stopped and walked closer to him so they could talk.

“Ah, good, one of the only creatures I want to see right now. What do you have to report?”

“Gwen is acting out of character right now. She’s been nicer to the griffon and hippogriff and her aim appears to be off with knives and crossbows.”

“Then… if that’s the case… she might be an imposter.”

“Shall we take care of her before she does any damage?”

Gideon thought about it for a minute, until he had an idea. “I know just the fate for her. I’ll have my griffons handle it. Though, I have to ask, how’s Quartz doing?”

“Well, we’ve finally found a way to make him useful.” Both creatures snickered as they went off to do their own business.

‘Guy’ wasn't under anybody's suspicion, considering changeling pretending to be other creatures were their bread and butter. She couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t seen Quartz since yesterday. The fake griffon did her best to stay calm and kept blending in with the gang. Eventually, he passed by the cells where the students were being locked up again. The guards left and ‘Guy’ saw Smolder still locked up.

Her eyes were closed and just before the changeling in disguise could panic, she saw Smolder’s chest moving, indicating she was still breathing. With a sigh of relief, she walked away from the cells as she was feeling guilty leaving the students in there. Still, she wanted to know where Quartz was.

Suddenly, a frail-looking griffon stopped next to her. “Hey, Guy,” she said, “Have you seen Gwen? Gideon’s looking for her.”

“What for?” ‘Guy’ asked.

“He didn’t say. He just told me to tell her to get to the top floor.”

“I’ll take a look around for her and tell her.”

“Great… Th-thanks.” The frail griffon walked away, leaving ‘Guy’ to find where ‘Gwen’ was at. She soon found her in the cafeteria, trying to get something for Gallus and Silverstream to eat.

“You think they keep all the good stuff from the creatures that haven’t been here as long?” Silverstream asked.

“It’s incredibly likely,” Gallus commented. Gilda was staying quiet as she didn't want anyone to get the feeling she wasn't who she thought she was. Soon, ‘Guy’ walked in. She explained what Gideon's orders were, to which 'Gwen' told the fake griffon to stay and watch the students. However, ‘Guy’ wouldn’t fully listen.

‘Gwen’ headed to the stairs and eventually got to the top floor. There, she saw Gideon standing in a room in front of a large vault door. “Hey, boss,” Gilda said, giving a salute. “You wanted to see me?”

“Indeed,” Gideon said calmly. “Are you aware of the way you've been treating the griffs we’ve let out of the cells?”

“You mean the pink and blue ones? I've just been treating them the way every other griffs been treating them.”

“Have you? Because some of the ninjas have been keeping an eye on you for a while. I think they have some interesting details to share about you... Gilda.” The gang leader’s face showed a cocky smirk as Gilda felt her blood run cold. He found out her name, but how? How’d he know that she’s in disguise?

“I’ve… never heard of her. What’re you talking about?”

“Have you? She was a foolish griffon. Can’t believe she tried to take on a ship that has dragon-killing weapons. Not to mention, what did she see in making friends with Gabby. Such a weak link.”

This was enough to make the Griffonstone ambassador lose her temper. She pounced at Gideon and tackled him to the ground looking him dead in the eye. "What did you do to her!"

“Nothing. Some griffons thought she should work as a mechanic or a medic. Something that would make her useful and far less foolish.” Gilda was about to ask what he was talking about until some were stabbed into her chest. Gideon had been hiding a holster under his wing, which hosted a knife that he use to impale Gilda.

The stabbed griffon stumbled backward and grabbed the handle of the knife, which was causing her excruciating pain. As if this wasn’t bad enough, Oynx lept in and jabbed at her pressure points to paralyze her body. Gilda fell onto the floor completely limp, though she was thankful she didn't land on the knife. Gideon and Oynx looked over the ambassador that was unable to move.

“So, what now?” the kobold asked. “Just a quick stab in the heart?”

“Nope,” Gideon stated. He used his wing to block the ninja to keep him back from Gilda. “I didn’t miss her important organs for no reason. We'll have something plan for her tonight.”

Oynx was confused until he figure out what he meant. “A fishy sleepover?”

“Oh, yes.” The two were so busy with Gilda, who was rather scared at the moment, they didn't see a ladybug fluttering around the room. It saw what was going on and figure out what a fishy sleepover was. It flew out of the room, transformed back into ‘Guy’.

“I better warn Gadget and Glynn,” Ocellus said to herself in a scared tone. “They found out her disguise.” She quickly flew towards the medical center to alert Glynn, or Gadget, anybody that could help.

Think Fast

Glynn was in the medical center, busy contemplating if he could get any assistance from any griffon until ‘Guy’ burst into the room with a panicked look on her face. “Glynn! Glynn!” she cried. “We have a problem!”

“What’s wrong?” the medic asked in a very worried tone, knowing that something horrible happened.

“It’s Gilda! They’ve found out about her disguise.”

“Oh no!” Glynn said. “This ain’t good. He stabbed her, didn’t he?” Ocellus nodded. “Great.”

“Onyx even knocked her out, making her disabled. And Gideon even said something about the ‘fishy sleepover’.” Glynn’s face went pale when she said that. He knew what that meant. ‘Guy’ noticed his expression, making her more worried. “Don’t tell me this ‘fishy sleepover’ isn’t what I think it is.”

“It… It is what you think it is, unfortunately. You’ve seen the waterfall outside, right?” ‘Guy’ nodded. “Well, the way the ‘fishy sleepover’ goes like this: it happens when one griffon’s wings and legs are chained to some boulders, and then they were tossed into the water, and drowning them before they can break loose. This is one of the many of his executions.”

“That’s… so horrifying.”

“No doubt about it. Not to mention the fact we haven’t seen Quartz in a while is concerning too. Did they say when this was happening?”

“Tonight, I think.”

“Then there’s still a chance to escape. Though, the chances are slim.”

“We can’t just let Gilda have that kind of fate. She’s not ready.”

“You’re right. We need to let Gadget know.”

“I should warn my friends.”

“You go ahead. Just… make sure you are alone.” ‘Guy’ nodded and flew away to warn her friends while Glynn went to warn Gadget.

The griffon mechanic was busy with Gabby, making the new armor. The hard part they were dealing with was making the pieces for the wings. She and Gabby were about to figure out how the wings would work until Glynn burst in. He looked around every bit of the workshop until he could make sure that there wasn't a ninja nearby.

“Gadget!” Glynn exclaimed.

“Glynn, what are you doing here?” Gadget asked. “What’s going on?”

“Gilda’s disguise has been exposed to Gideon,” he explained, much to the shock of the girls. “And now she’s going to have that ‘fishy sleepover’tonight.”

“Fishy… sleepover?” Gabby said, feeling confused about that phrase.

“Not good, getting chained up with boulders, and then being thrown to the waterfall until you drown! This is bad.” Hearing her definition, Gabby understands it now and became terrified. “And we don’t have a lot of time. Where’s Ocellus?”

“She went out to warn her friends. I hope they’re alright.”

"But what do we do about Gilda?" Gabby asked, concerned.

Before an answer could be given, ‘Guy’, Gallus, and Silverstream burst into the room. They locked the door behind them, adding the warning sign for the welder’s flash. “What did we miss?” ‘Guy’ asked.

“Only what Glynn already told you,” Gadget answered. “We’re still trying to figure how we can save your friend without sacrificing our lives in the process.”

“Okay, we can start by answering this question,” Gallus spoke.

Glynn and Gadget looked at each other before the one with metal wings responded. “Gallus, we know you’re panicking right now,” Glynn said, “But we should fully focus on Gilda.”

“I know she’s in danger, but if Gideon isn’t leading the griffons by giving them fair pay, then what’s keeping them in his control?!” This was a valid question. Griffons were driven by their greed, so some sort of value would have to motivate them. Though Gabby and the students could think of anything that would be worth what they saw or had been through. Fortunately, Gadget was willing to give them an answer.

“The Idol of Boreas,” she answered. This was shocking to Gallus and Silverstream, who had thought the idol was lost forever. Gabby, on the other claw, thought back to a misadventure she had with Gilda and Rainbow Dash, which didn't add up to what she had just been told.

“Wait! That can’t be possible,” the mail griffon spoke. Everyone looked towards her, making Gabby the center of attention.

“What’d you mean?”

Gabby sighed. “It’s a bit of a long story, but Gilda and I have found the real Idol of Boreas. That was until we discovered that it’s cursed, making other creatures touch it, then it makes them greedy and selfish. Because of this, after this… incident, I and Gilda hid it, so no creature could be overtaken by greed.”

Glynn and Gadget processed what they were told. “Wait, wait, wait! Hold on! How’d you find it in the first place?”

“At Manehattan while I was delivering mail.”

“So… If you found and hid the real one,” Glynn commented, “then that means…”

Gadget gasped. “Gideon has a fake one then!” Her shock turned to fury as slammed her metal claw on the table, leaving an indent, and making Gallus, Silverstream, Gabby frightened and flinched. “SON OF A B****! All those years we spent under his control, the Idol he had was a fraud, and that was the thing that kept all of us from murdering each other!”

“Gadget, chill out.” Glynn grabbed a hold of the furious griffon.

“No! Glynn, we could’ve had it here with us!”

“And if we did, we’d have him as a killing machine! You think he would let us raise our child?” The room was getting very tense with the couple now arguing with each other. Gallus knew they didn’t have time for this and didn’t hesitate to put an end to it.

“Okay, break it up, you two!” he cried. Grabbing both of the couple’s beaks, the room went silent. “We can try and figure out the idol another time when someone’s life isn’t on the line. So, unless you have something useful to inform us, keep your beaks shut.” Gallus let go of them and there was an awkward silence until Glynn managed to find his words again.

“She won’t be locked with the rest of the griffons,” he informed. “ Instead, she’ll be locked inside of the vault, which is not too easy to get in. Gideon and Gram are the only ones that know the combination, so we’re going to need a medic like me to learn it. Changelings can’t read minds, can they?”

“Um, no,” ‘Guy’ responded.

"So, then how do we get the code?” Gabby asked.

Gallus thought about this before giving a suggestion. “Are there any guards taking care of Gilda's execution?” he asked.

“Yes, there are,” Glynn confirmed. “They’d be the only one who would know the combination. Though, after her execution, they’ll have to change the combination.”

“We’ll save her way before they change it. We need to get her out of there before tonight.” He turned to Ocellus. “Ocellus, can you take the place of one of the guards?"

“I'll try,” ‘Guy’ said. She unlocked the door and left the workshop to see if she could find any guards.

“Shouldn’t we let the creatures in the mines know about this?” Silverstream asked.

“I don't see how they’ll be able to help us,” Gadget commented. “Everyone who tries to escape gets either electrocuted or whipped.”

“Ocellus made it out.”

“That’s because they don't usually stop rats.”

“Still, they should be warned that things could go wrong,” Gallus noted.

Gideon grumbled as he walked down the hall with Onyx by his side. “So, about the rest of your plan,” the ninja said.

“Yes,” Gideon responded. “I’m sure your team is keeping their end of the bargain.”

“Of course. I'm sure that griffon we’ve caught won’t be an issue.” The two made it past the corner that ‘Guy’ was hiding behind. Concerned they were talking about Gilda, she quickly changed into a spider and crawled along the walls into the mine. Sneaking past the guards and passing the ponies and minotaurs that didn’t care anymore, she eventually found Yona.

The yak saw the fake spider and picked her up. The spider whispered into her friend’s ear about their situation. Yona wasn’t happy hearing this and passed the information onto Sandbar. The spider then ran out of the mine before anyone tried to crush her. Once she made it out, Ocellus changed back into ‘Guy’ at the first chance she got.

“Okay,” she muttered to herself, “at least they know they might be on their own.” She carried on towards the cells where the griffs were being held. Passing it, she could see all of her friends and some other griffons she had never seen before. However, when she passed by Smolder’s cell, the dragoness wasn’t there. This was enough to send the disguised changeling into a panic, making her fly back to the workshop.

Without warning, she burst through the door not even checking to see if anyone could get them into trouble. “Geez!” Gadget cried. “What's the deal?!”

“Smolder's missing!” ‘Guy’ cried, nearly using her real voice.

“You mean like… she’s not in the cell anymore?” Gabby asked.

“Yes! I don’t know where she went. I’m worried that she’s going to die young!”

“Ugh… You don’t think they're going to make weapons out of her bones, do you?” Silverstream asked. This was a scary thing to think about.

“I don’t know,” Glynn admitted, “But that’s entirely possible.”

“Where is she now?” Gallus asked. “Maybe there’s still time.”

“I wish I could tell you, but Gideon has a team of griffons assigned for dissecting dragons. I wasn’t given any other details than that since I don't have the strength to do that to a creature.”

"Well, most dragons they use have to be as huge as a castle in Canterlot,” Gallus informed. “Is there anywhere in the base that can hold a full-grown dragon?”

“Doubtful,” Gadget replied. “If there was any kind of room in the base like that, we all would’ve seen one by now.”

“So, do you mean that they do that outside?” Silverstream asked.

“We only hear the sounds outside,” Glynn said. “Orders say we need to stay at our posts until everything they need has been gutted out.” The young griffs felt a little sick hearing that.

“Wherever she is,” ‘Guy’ said, “I’m not letting her have that kind of fate!” Without thinking, Guy flew out of the workshop to find Smolder.

“Wait!” Gallus cried. It was too late, ‘Guy’ had her mindset and nothing was stopping her. “That’s just great, now we have another thing to worry about.”

“You can’t blame her," Silverstream noted. “She loves her so much.” The blue griffon knew his girlfriend had a point. He would be thinking like the changeling if Silverstream was in Smolder’s position.

“We should search around for Smolder before Ocellus gets into trouble. Come on, Silverstream.” The griff couple made their way down the hall in search of their missing friend.

“What happened to the planning phase?” Gadget questioned.

“Just stay here with Gabby and finish the armor,” Glynn ordered. “I don't want this to be another thing Gideon getting mad at.” The medic left the girls to finish their work, though it didn’t help their concerns with how things were going.

‘Guy’ frantically flew around the base trying to find where Smolder could be. During the search, she came across a couple of guards, who didn’t seem to be at any post.

“You can’t seriously be thinking of taking the cash from the vault,” one of them said.

“Like he’s gonna share any of it with us,” the second one commented.

“And you’d be an idiot if you tried that. You’d never get out of here alive.”

“Well, that white one got out of here.”

“By dumb luck. Maybe the boss is going to send out a search party. He’s going to be dead if he gets caught.” Neither guard seemed to notice of ‘Guy’ who was growing concerned.

“They’re going to find Gale and destroy the village to do it,” she muttered. “That’s no good also.” Silverstream caught up with Ocellus and tried talking to her.

“Ocellus,” she whispered, “We have to be careful, remember? You don’t want yourself to be in trouble if you get caught.”

‘Guy’ looked at her friend before taking a deep breath before calming down a little bit. “Right. We need to get one of the guards out of the way.”

“How do we do that?” The disguised changeling thought a little bit before she got an idea to knock out the guard. Though, they would have to get him to be alone to pull it off. Then she thought about the guard’s greed.

“You think we have any bits on us?” The hippogriff was a little confused until she pieced some things together.

A little while later, one guard had split up from his partner and then noticed a trail of bits lying on the ground. Confused, he followed it and found they led into a closet. Once he was inside, he barely had enough time to react to the three creatures, who knocked him out badly. After taking his bits of armor, which looked similar to the ones the pony guards used, and which the three were more familiar with.

With a flash, a replica of the guard walked out of the closet with Gallus and Silverstream. “Okay, so you just find that other guy and pretend like this never happened,” Gallus reminded the disguised changeling.

“Got it,” said the guard who was Ocellus. She headed off, leaving the two griff to try and pretend nothing suspicious happened.

“You sure she’ll be okay?” Silverstream asked. Gallus didn’t have an answer, he just walked down the hall as he was worried about Smolder. And the fact Quartz was still missing was another worrying detail.

Ocellus managed to catch up with the other guard, who had gone to get something to drink. They met up with Gram, who was impatiently waiting in front of the vault. “You know what other things I could be doing than waiting for you two to get here?” he asked.

“Our apologies, sir,” the disguised guard apologized. “We had a few interruptions.”

“I don’t care if you were stopped by a manticore riding a hydra, just take care of her.” Gram pointed to the vault that held the valuables and Gilda. The real griffon guard spun the combination lock with the right code then turned the handle.

The door creaked as it slowly opened. Inside, we’re thousands of bits, rare gems, gold bars, but one of the most eye-catching items was sitting on a pedestal; The Idol of Boreas. However, while most creatures would do anything to get their claws these items, the thing the guards were after was the disabled griffon, who only had a few bandages on her stab wound.

“Gilda,” Ocellus muttered quietly. The other griffons in the room didn’t hear her. Most of the dye had been washed out of Gilda’s fur and feathers, though a good amount of it remained on her beak and talons. The real guard picked her up and carried her through the exit.

Gram started closing the vault so Gideon could change the combination. Ocellus got one last look at the idol before the door closed. Gilda was able to look towards Gram and was not happy. “You know Tartarus is too good a place for you,” she noted. “I’d be happy to see you being tortured for all of eternity.”

“Maybe you can cool it down for us,” Gram joked. “You’ll have plenty of water to bring down there.” Gilda could only groan as she was taken down the hall with Ocellus following behind.

Several griffons stopped and watched in the hall and watched Gilda being taken away. Some of them were a little scared about being in her position while others took a moment to try and mock her. "You thought you could take on Gideon?" one questioned.

“Maybe she should’ve gone blonde,” another commented. “She’d have a better disguise.” The two laughed as Ocellus looked at Gilda, who had a defeated look on her face. The disguised changeling wanted to say something to her, but there were too many griffons around to do this safely.

Meanwhile, Gallus and Silverstream were still looking for Smolder. However, they weren’t having much luck. “Shouldn’t we check outside?” Silverstream questioned.

“It’ll look like we’re escaping,” Gallus responded. “You heard what happened to Gilda, imagine what they could do to us.” The hippogriff could tell her boyfriend was stressed and thought their fate would be horrific.

“Well, what can we do to save Gilda?”

“We’d have the find the room that leads to the top of the waterfall. Then again… if she could breathe underwater.” Gallus started forming an idea that Silverstream caught onto.

“The pearl shards! You think that Gadget still has those?”

“Maybe. Go check her out, I’m going to keep searching.” The griffon and hippogriff split up to accomplish their tasks. Unfortunately, somebody had been watching them.

Deep down in the mine, Sandbar and Yona had gotten another break after working so hard. Though, it was a little confusing to the two of them since their last break wasn’t too long ago. “Do griffons lose track of different creatures in mine?” Yona questioned.

“It’d be possible,” Sandbar said. “There are a bunch of creatures in this mine. There’s bound to have a few mix-ups.” The two then looked over to a stack of bowls that their meals had been brought in.

Moving them out of the way, the two did some work, dragging their hooves through the dirt. It started taking a shape of a building, a base. The same one they were in. While the diagram wasn’t a hundred percent accurate, it was still a good map that Sandbar and Yona could use to help plan an attack for the rebellion.

“Okay, if all of the griffons sleep in the barracks up here,” Sandbar commented. “…There are still guards on night shift.”

“Maybe miners wait for the fewest amount of guards?” Yona asked.

“I think we have anything to stop them from bringing in more guards.” The two looked at other parts of their hoof-made map to see if any idea could work. Any idea they could think of would have to wait behind the issue; all of the guards. “We’re going to need to rely on the element of surprise.”

The two then heard a scream of pain along with a buzzing sound. They looked behind them and saw Bill being forced into the cell. One of the guards had some sort of device with him, likely used to activate the minotaur’s cuffs. Once the cell door was locked again, the colt and yak scurried over to the minotaur.

“Bill, are you okay?” Sandbar questioned.

The Minotaur looked up with a facial expression that showed pain and anger. “No, I’m not! I just got electrocuted!” He showed him the cuffs which appeared to have steam wisping from them.

"That looks bad," Yona commented.

“You think?”

"Bill, calm down,” Sandbar requested. "We’re thinking of something right now."

“Good luck with that.” The minotaur lay on the ground as Sandbar sat beside him.

“You know you might have a chance this time,” the colt noted. “You didn’t forget that lie I took for you, did you?”

“It would’ve been pointless either way.”

Sandbar didn’t know what to say to this. Fortunately, Yona had something to say. “Bill gives up,” she commented. “That why he stuck in mine.”

“Well, what should Bill do?” the minotaur questioned, mocking Yona’s broken Ponish.

“What Bill have to lose?” Bill took a minute to look around him. There were very few things he could think of that would be worse than being forced to work in almost every hour you were awake to dig up gemstones and not get anything out of it than the minimum amount of food they need to make it through the day. Bill just sighed as he kept thinking about this while Yona and Sandbar went back to their map to see if they could plan anything.

Back with Gilda, she was being chained to a large boulder that a fully armored griffon helped bring in. As a bit of a sick joke, they had put some pressure on her points to have her muscles function again. Gilda tried to make a run for it or at the very least knock some sense into the griffons in front of her. The chains were too tight and she stopped a few inches short. The two griffons laughed at her expense before walking away.

Ocellus stayed behind to check on Gilda. Once they were alone, she showed her true colors to her by dropping her disguise. “Are you okay?” the changeling asked.

“What do you think, Ocellus?” Gilda questioned. She lay down knowing that her fate was sealed now. “I should’ve just turned around.”

“But wouldn’t you be wandering around the desert? You’d likely died from the temperatures or a lack of water.” Gilda looked away from Ocellus, knowing that either way that ambushes from the ninjas had sealed her fate. Then, Ocellus got thinking. “I think I can find you a pearl shard. They’ve got to keep them somewhere.”

“Why would I want a necklace from the hippo... Oh! I see what you mean.” Gilda suddenly remembered the functionality of the pearl shards. Giving her the ticket to surviving the ‘fishy sleepover’. “Are you sure you can find one?”

“I’ll try my best, but I can’t stop thinking about Smolder. Do you know anything about her?”

Gilda thought about what would happen to Smolder, which would’ve been disgusting. Remember, before she was tossed into the vault, she explained what she heard. “Gideon said something about taking Smolder into storage. Sounds kind of obvious, doesn’t it?”

"It does. Thanks, Gilda!" Ocellus quickly shifted back into 'Guy' and tossed her armor off to find her friend. Though, she remembered that Gilda needed a shard too.

Silverstream was also looking for a shard, starting with Gadget’s workshop. She stopped at the door and knocked to make sure she didn’t barge in on anything. Gabby opened the door and let the hippogriff in. “Should I leave the door open?” Gadget asked. She was getting annoyed with creatures constantly walking into the room while she was doing important work.

"Sorry," Silverstream apologized. “I need a pearl shard. It’d be the one thing that could save Gilda.”

“How could a gemstone save her from her fate?”

“It’s got a special power. I need it now.”

“Then I have bad news. I've had those things taken to storage when I couldn’t get any use out of them. Though Gly…”

“Where’s the storage room?!”

“Should be on the 3rd and 4th floor. You see…” The frantic hippogriff took off before she hear the rest of the sentence. “Wait! I’m not finished!” Gadget and Gabby looked down the hall just as Silverstream turned around the corner.

“Should we go after her?” Gabby asked.

“I don’t want either of us getting in trouble.” The two griffons begrudgingly stayed behind in the workshop to finish the armor.

Silverstream made a beeline for the storage room, nearly colliding with ‘Guy’ in the process.

“Silverstream?” ‘Guy’ said. “What are you doing?”

“Me? I’m trying to find a shard for Gilda,” the hippogriff explained.

“So am I. Hopefully, we should both find one together.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Silverstream then leads Ocellus to the 3rd and 4th floor, which is where the storage room is, just like what Gadget said. They made it to the 4th floor, and they finally found the door that has the sign says “STORAGE”.

“Here it is,” Ocellus said. “Hopefully they’re inside.”

The two walked into the storage room, which looked bigger than it was on the outside. They could see a staircase leading and a walkway that allowed creatures access from the floor above them. The two friends looked around for wherever the shards could be. They were likely in some sort of container, though that was like looking for a needle in a haystack with all of the identical crates around in the room.

After looking for a little bit, they then heard some voices. “I don’t know man, this kid seems to be more work than she’s worth,” one said.

“Hey, he says there are a lot of bits for us if we go through with this,” another said. "Let's just see if we can put her horns to use." It was odd as they were kind of stretching out their words. 'Guy' and Silverstream looked around the corner as they saw two griffons walking towards the staircase to the upper floor. Looking to where they were walking from, the two gasped at the sight of...

“Smolder!” they both cried. Both hid behind the corner as they were afraid that the griffons would’ve heard them. Oddly enough, they didn’t. With the feeling of being in the clear, ‘Guy’ and Silverstream raced over to their tired tied-up friend. Smolder was lying on her chest, barely having enough strength to look up at the disguised changeling, who shifted back to her original form.

Ocellus looked at the cuffs that were holding her girlfriend in place. Quickly thinking, the changeling shapeshifted into a roc, so she could bite through the cuffs. This was harder than she thought, likely due to the cuffs being built just for holding creatures like dragons. Eventually, Ocellus bit through and then help Silverstream with Smolder’s muzzle. She was free, but she was too weak to move on her own. She tried pushing herself onto her feet, but she ended up just falling on her face.

“Don’t move, Smolder,” Ocellus requested. “Save your strength.” The changeling then shapeshifted into a yak so she could easily carry the dragoness.

“Should we find the shards while we’re here?" Silverstream said. “Gilda needs to breathe underwater.”

“We know that. Let’s look around a little bit before we get caught.” The two carried on searching, bringing Smolder with them. Smolder only let out a few groans.

“Have they been feeding her at all?”

“I doubt it. If we don’t find the shards in the next five minutes, we need to get out of here.” Ocellus looked at her worn-out girlfriend, wondering where she could be hidden. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and flapping wings could be heard. This was a bad sign. The three friends needed to hide.

Forgetting about the shards, Silverstream and her friends tried their best to get to an exit, however, the closest one was blocked by griffons walking in, armored up and wielding weapons. “Why are they bringing weapons in here?” Silverstream questioned.

Ocellus feared the worst. “I feel like they planned for us to be in here!” she whispered. The friends went back the way they came to make sure that the griffons didn’t see them. They went deeper into storage to make it harder for them to be found. However, the deeper they went, the fewer crates they found. Eventually, they went down another set of stairs, which confused them a little bit.

However, when they went down the stairs, they would find something horrifying. The room was dark with no lights to help them see. When Ocellus turned back into a changeling to use her horn to make a light, they all saw what they never thought they saw: the skeletons of hundreds of dragons. In shock, Silverstream couldn’t help but scream. This alerted the guards and they went down to the skeleton cellar. Ocellus turned off her light, hoping the guards wouldn't be able to see them.

What they didn’t account for was one of the griffons using a fire gem on his spear to provide some light. It gave the room of skeletons an eerie vibe. Nearly all of the skeletons looked to be fully grown. Some of which had bits and pieces broken off of them so they could be made into weaponry. The three friends hid inside of a skull, which Smolder was too exhausted to realize where she was.

“This is terrifying,” Silverstream muttered.

“I know. We’re going to get caught,” Ocellus agreed.

“It’s not just that. We’re in a dragon’s skull. Oh, this is so disturbing.”

“Quiet.” The two peaked out of their hiding spot to see the griffons all looking around. After what felt like an eternity, they left. The three stayed quiet to make sure they were in the clear before having Ocellus use her horn to light their way out of the cellar. “Oh, I'm not sure if it's safe to put Smolder back where we found her.”

“How about we just tell anyone that Guy got the wrong information not take her back to her cell?”

“Huh. That's probably our best bet. Let's just get out of here before someone sees us.” Ocellus put her disguise of ‘Guy’ back on and carried the sickly dragoness towards the exit. She put on the persona of giving Silverstream a hard time. “Get lost, kid, before we both get in trouble.” She quickly then whispered, “That’s not a joke. Find Gallus and pretend like what we saw never happened.”

The hippogriff listened and flew away to find the blue griffon, leaving the disguised changeling to put Smolder in the cells. Getting a little bit of her strength back, Smolder could see that she was being carried by her disguised girlfriend. “O… cell…” Smolder murmured.

“Save your strength, Smolder,” the fake griffon ordered. “Just hang in there a little longer.” They made it to the cells where all the other griffs were being kept. She put Smolder back into her cell and it looked like the dragoness was too weak to attempt an escape.

As she began leaving the cell and going into a different room, she was stopped by Gram. “What are you doing here?” he questioned.

“I thought I was told to help with the dragoness,” ‘Guy’ responded.

“What did you do?”

“I just put her back in her cell. She’s too weak to move.”

“Hmhmm. Yeah, should’ve seen that coming. Get lost, so I can take care of this.” ‘Guy’ listen and flew away.

Gideon, meanwhile, checked the pocket watch he had on him ever since Gilda was found out. He smiled as it was nearly time.

Gallus was trying to act naturally until he saw Silverstream speeding towards him. “Gallus!” she cried. Without waiting for a response, the hippogriff hugged her boyfriend tightly. She sounded like she was almost at the point of crying.

“Silver, what’s wrong?” he asked.

The hippogriff released him from the hug before she explained what she saw. “I and Ocellus found Smolder at the storage room, and… eek… skeletons… of all full-grown dragons…” Silverstream shed a tear.

On one talon, Gallus was happy was Smolder was still alive. On the other, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to discover a set of dragons’ skeletons. He rubbed the back of Silver's head to calm her down. “You’re okay. I'm here. Did anyone see you?”

"No… We got out. But… we couldn’t find any shards."

Gallus looked down knowing they didn't have anything to help Gilda now. “I don’t think we should go back there. It’s too risky.”

“But what about...?”

“Hey, you two!” called a voice. Both students looked at a messenger griffon, who was approaching them. “Gideon says it’s time for the sleepover.”

“And… what does he want us to do?”

“Watch what happens when you step out of line.” Both young griffs gulped by the sound of that.

“Have we been caught?” Silverstream fearfully whispered to Gallus. “Without noticing?”

“I don’t know…” Thought they didn’t want to, they followed the messenger up to the second-highest floor. They were taken into the room which led to the top of the waterfall, where Gilda was restrained. The armor of the guard that Ocellus took the identity of was still next to the ambassador.

‘Guy’ met up with the two griff students. Gabby, Gadget, and Glynn were there too. Gideon stepped forward with two fully armored griffons by his side. “My fellow griffs, it is time for the sleepover. We can all agree that we hate it when things get out of claw,” Gideon spoke. “Sometimes, it’s out of our control, while other times it’s due to creatures who think they can do things without consequences.”

“Like you?” Gilda questioned. “Being a li’l s*** you are?”

A long glare was given to her for speaking up. “Before we start, I have a quick request. Guy, please, come here.” Concerned, ‘Guy’ walked towards the gang leader.

“What is it, boss?” she asked.

“We all know that Gilda here is in this position because she tried to be something that she wasn’t. Tell me, do you think it was a good idea… to do what she did?” The disguised changeling and her friends’ eyes widened as they had a feeling they had been caught. Before Ocellus could react, she was impaled in the back by a kunai. Oynx, who had thrown the kunai, landed behind her as green blood started to bleed from the changeling’s back.

Everyone who didn’t know what was going on was confused until Ocellus shifted back into her base form before she collapsed on the ground. “Ocellus!” Gallus cried.

“Ah, so you do know her,” Gideon commented.

A lot of muttering could be heard amongst the crowd, mostly questioning what the injured creature in front of them even was. Gideon and Oynx looked down at Ocellus, who was starting to blackout. Enraged, Gallus charged forward to try and tackle the gang leader. It didn't work out as he was taken down by the armored griffons, bruising him up quite a bit.

“Smooth move, kid,” Oynx commented.

“You… You f***ing monster!” Gallus growled.

“Don’t worry, we’ve made plenty of room for you and more.” As Gallus started getting chained up to the boulder with Gilda, two kobolds carried a beaten body towards them. It was Quartz. He groaned in pain as he was carried and then dumped on the ground. “We got everything we needed from the traitor. He’ll be fine to take a nice dip with you.”

Gallus looked down at the injured creature. “I'm sorry, kid,” he groaned. “…They broke me.”

The young blue griffon could feel his blood starting to boil now. “You didn’t even hesitate to beat him up, do you?!” he yelled.

“He was a waste on the team, bluebird,” Oynx informed. “This is the best use we’ve ever had for him.” He smiled as Oynx was chained up like the two griffons.

Gideon started getting uncomfortably close to the blue griffon. “Now, maybe I should give you a parting gift,” the leader said. “Maybe something to make the trip easier.” He pulled out a knife and was about to plunge it into Gallus's body if it wasn't for someone running up and smacking Gideon with a metal object. After hitting the ground, everyone looked at Glynn, who had removed one of his wings to strike the gang leader while he breathed heavily.

It didn't take long for the armored griffons to take the medic down. During this, he dropped the note he had been carrying on him showing the test results. Oynx took a look at the note while Gideon stood up, with fury in his eyes. “What do you think you’re doing!” the gang leader roared.

“I’ve had enough of you causing so much misery to us!” Glynn responded. “You don’t deserve to be a leader.”

“He’s right,” Gilda said. She looked towards the crowd, who were a little speechless from what they saw. Gadget wanted to get Glynn, but she would be taken down with him and the other three. “What’s wrong with all of you? If you aren’t getting paid to do any of this, why are you still following him?”

“Griffonstone is such a big mess,” Gideon noted. “It’s better for them to be here than there.”

“That’s why we were going to fix it up until you came in and kidnapped the students, who by the way are all 14, 15, or 16 at best.” Gilda looked back at the crowd, who were starting to think about what she was saying. “Do you want to live your lives like this?! Look what happens when you don’t want to do what this maniac says!” She was smacked across the head by Gideon, who had lost his patience.

“Enough with this nonsense!" He glared at Glynn, who had both his metal wings removed. “Chain him up too.” The griffons did as they were told as Onyx showed the note that Glynn dropped. “What’s this?” Gideon read the note before grinning and looking towards the medic. “Well done, Glynn. Truly setting a good example for your son.” Gideon then turned to Gallus.

“What?” Gallus questioned. He looked at Glynn, who felt ashamed of himself. “Gilda, what’s going on?”

Gilda looked down as this wasn’t a good way of telling Gallus the truth. “Gallus… it… This isn’t the best way for you to find out,” she sighed.

Gallus still didn’t understand until Gideon spelled it out. "Think about it, Gallus. You’ve made a bad decision, and Glynn has made a bad decision too. Like father, like son.” Gallus then connected the dots, so did Gadget. Once they figured it out, Gallus was in full shock, especially Gadget.

“Wait! Are you saying that…”

“Yes, Gallus. Glynn is your father, and Gadget’s your mother.”

Silverstream and Gabby were shocked when she heard that Gallus’s parents were them the whole time. Never since Silverstream heard Gallus’s story when he doesn’t have parents.

“I’m not expecting that,” Silverstream said.

“Me too,” Gabby added. “No wonder why he looked like Gallus.”

Gadget was surprised as well. She remembered when Glynn mentioned the egg they’d hidden from the Gold Gang. That egg they’ve hidden is Gallus’. “Why didn’t you tell me in the first place that he’s our biological son, Glynn?”

“I was about to, but I’m afraid that it’s not the right time to reveal that to you!” Glynn then turned to Gallus, feeling bad for him. “I’m sorry, Gallus. We hid your egg for your safety. And look at you, you’re fully grown.” Glynn smiled, almost shed a tear.

“So, this whole time…” Gallus murmured, “…I do have a family.”

“Now you know,” Gilda stated with a sigh. A few seconds of silence filled the air until Glynn spoke up again.

“Y… You know what, Gideon?” Glynn stated. “There is one thing that has taught me: even though I’ve only met him for a couple of hours, I know about loving my child more than I fear you. I still have my love for him.”

Gideon wasn't impressed with what he heard. “A poor set of final words, Glynn. Not even that can save your flank from this.” He looked over to the armored griffons. “Push them over.” The armored griffons listened and pushed the boulder closer to the edge of the water.

Gilda looked towards Onyx, who just smiling at the scene. “Hey, Onyx!” she cried. “Think about how much power you’ve got.” Those were the last words heard from her, Gallus, Quartz, and Glynn as they plummeted down into the water. An unsettling splash could faintly be heard. Gabby, Silverstream, and Gadget felt defeated, especially for Ocellus, knowing they didn’t have anything that could help them.

Gideon soon turned his attention to Ocellus, who was unconscious and bleeding. “Clean that up,” he ordered to the griffons.

In the water, everyone was trying their best to hold their breath as the boulder dragged closer to the bottom of the river. Gallus was giving up hope at this point until he saw something falling from Glynn, a pearl shard. Seeing this as his only chance, he tried reaching out to grab it just as they hit the bottom of the river. Their lungs were reaching their breaking point with the shard just out of their reach.

With seconds of air left, Gallus did his best to reach out and grab the shard with his arm just too short. Gilda let out a bit of air and tried to grab the bubble in vain to somehow drag it back to her. As a last attempt, Gallus used his wing to reach out and grab the shard. Just as they were about to drown… “Got it!” Gallus mentally cheered. Wasting no time, he used the shard to change himself and everyone else into sea creatures.

Everyone got to take a deep breath, or more accurately everyone got gills to help them breathe underwater. They all had similar features. Their talons were pointed fins, they had dorsal fins on their backs, and their beaks were muzzles with shark-like teeth.

“Well done, Gallus,” Gilda congratulated.

“Thanks,” Gallus replied. “I almost lost my breath.”

“What on earth is going on?” Glynn asked, looking at his whole body, feeling surprised that his claws, paws, and beak weren’t there, instead he had flippers and a fish tail.

“You just saw what makes these pearl shards so special,” Gilda informed. They all looked to Quartz, who had his changes. It looked to be a remora, a little large one. He reached up to his head, which now had a suction cup.

“This is surreal,” Quartz commented.

“You're telling me,” Glynn said. Unlike Gallus and Gilda, he didn’t have wings to help him swim around so he just sunk and rested on the floor. Not to mention, everyone was still chained to the boulder. Looking at the chains, Gallus chomped down to try and bit through them. Everyone was against it until he was successful in the process. Gilda and Glynn tried this out and they all managed to break free.

"Gotta admit, this is kind of cool," Gilda commented. She had been curious what the shards did to creatures like griffons.

Now that they were free, Gallus swam around to get used to his body as there was only one instance of having before this whole adventure started. Gilda and Quartz had a bit more trouble as they had no experience swimming like this. Glynn just stayed on the ground as he was missing the wings like the other two griffons.

“A little help here?” he asked.

Gallus was tempted to ignore him, though Quartz wasn't like that. Despite his inexperience, he swam over to the disabled creature and accidentally got himself stuck to the medic's chest with his suction cup. “Well… this is awkward,” the remora commented.

“I think you still might be onto something.” He helped the remora off his chest so he could turn himself around and stick to his chest again so they were facing the same direction. Once they did that they both tried swimming, allowing Glynn to get off the ground and start swimming around. “Ah, finally.”

“So, now what?” Quartz asked.

“We should head down the river until we get to the village,” Gilda suggested. "The river isn’t too far from it.”

“You mean the village that has camels?”

“That’s right. C’mon, let’s swim.” The four creatures started swimming up the river, happy they were getting away from the base, despite the ones they cared about still stuck inside.

As they swam along, Glynn tried to speak with Gallus, who would just swim ahead of him to avoid a conversation. Gilda would often poke her head out of the water to check if they were close to the village or not. After a short while, she saw what they were looking for.

“Found it,” Gilda called. They all swam back up and climbed back to the riverside. Using the shard to turn themselves back to their original species, they all walked towards the village to see if there was anything useful.

“Boy, that was weird,” Glynn murmured to himself.

“You sure there’s somebody who can help?” Quartz asked.

“Don’t worry,” Gilda replied. “I know who’s going to.”

Gale was there, helping Afya with her garden. They were finishing up for the day when they could see three griffons and a kobold approaching them. At first, they were afraid this was an attack to get retrieve Guy, Gwen, and Gene. However, once two of them were familiar faces, they calmed down though kept on the side of the cation with Glynn and Quartz.

“Are you okay?” Afya asked, noticing the bandage on her chest.

“I’m fine. He stabbed me here with a dagger after the boss found out about my disguise.”

“At least you’re okay now,” Gale said.

“Thanks, Gale. And uhh… don’t worry about these two. They’re not like the other gang members back there, and besides, they are not the only ones.”

“Did they try to execute you?” Jerick said.

“Yes. All of us. Chained up with boulders and then being pushed until we fall and drown. And thank goodness a pearl shard saved us.” Gilda then pointed to Gallus, who’s wearing that shard. “That turned us into sea creatures, and we’re able to ourselves free.”

“So… these shards are magical?"

“Sure are,” she confirmed. "But that’s not what’s important right now. The gang’s coming to get their members back.” This was a big concern to everyone in the village. A normal errand run from them was bad enough, but now they were coming to attack them. “You need to hide out in the desert if you want to be safe.”

“Hmm, I knew something like this would happen.” He looked towards the three griffons, who they still had tied up. “What should we do with them?”

Gallus looked over to the hot-air balloon that had been resting in the village since he and his friends showed up. “We’ll take them with us,” he declared.

“…Are you sure? There's a good chance they could break free.” Gallus, Glynn, and Gilda looked towards Quartz, who realized he was now the center of attention.

“Why’s everybody looking at me?” he asked, and then realized what they meant. “Oh… right.”

Quartz came closer to Guy, Gwen, and Gene and swiftly jabbed their pressure points. After jabbing them in the right spots, their bodies went limp and unable to move. Everyone in the village was patching up some supplies to help them camp out in the desert until they knew it was safe to head back. While they did that, Gilda’s team began heating the balloon to carry the griffons to Equestria.

“It’s a good thing you kept this thing here,” Gilda commented to Gallus.

“Yeah. I hope we can get to Equestria and back in time,” he muttered. Gilda could see what he was worried about.

“Don't worry, we'll save them.” She took a look at the rope that was inside the balloon’s basket. She looked towards Gale, who was taking off the cloak that Afya offered him. “Gale, we need your help if we want to save our friends.”

“How do I do that?” the young griffon asked.

“Here. Tie one of these ropes around you and connect it to the basket.” Gale did as he was told as he, Gilda, and Gallus all tied some rope around their waists. Everything was set now, Glynn and Quartz rode in the basket with the disabled griffons as the balloon was now fully inflated.

Gallus looked at Jerick, who had some supplies on his back for him and everyone else to camp out. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” the griffon asked.

“Don't worry about us, young one,” the camel responded. “Save your friends. Do what you have to do.” The blue griffon simply nodded before he and the other two started flapping their wings and took off back to Equestria. Once they were in the air they sped up to get home faster as they could feel the time was at the essence.

As they flew along, Gale could hear the awkward silence from the two griffons helping to pull the basket. “So… what's the deal with those guys?” he asked, pointing back to Glynn and Quartz.

“One’s a ninja who doesn't want to murder anyone,” Gallus informed. “The other’s a dad who leaves you to fend for yourself.”

“A dad?” Gale looked towards Glynn and could piece together to tell which description belonged to who. “Are you saying…”

“Yep. Exactly.”

“No way!”

“Dude, he smacked him hard when you were getting chained up,” Gilda reminded.

“Yeah, does that make up for over ten years where I didn’t have a family?”

“Um… Should I say something?” Gale asked.

“I wouldn't,” Gilda responded. She focused her attention on Gallus, who was feeling rather bitter with the fact his real parents had been in the base with him the entire time. “Listen, Gallus, I know you’ve had it rough in your life, but you’re doing way better now. I mean… you and Silverstream have been dating, right?”

“Of course,” Gallus responded flatly.

“I don’t think you’d be lucky to have a special someone like her if you never went to that school. Speaking of which, you helped give a chance to griffons like Gale here. He’d still be at home with parents who just don’t care. You know what, that’s something Glynn does care about. He wouldn’t smack Gideon for you if he didn't care about you.” Gallus didn't say anything. He just kept thinking about what he had found out. He looked down at the pearl shard and thought about his friends and everyone else that was stuck in the base. He sped up, wanting to get Canterlot to inform everyone about what they needed to do.

Fools Gold

The sun was setting over Canterlot. Princess Twilight was trying to finish up a meeting with the leaders of different kingdoms, with Greta taking Gilda’s place as she was missing in action. “Has anyone had any luck?” Thorax asked.

“No buffalo has seen anything,” Little Strongheart reported.

“Same here,” Queen Novo added.

“The dragons have heard that their weapons will kill them,” Ember informed, “so we’ve been getting less assistance.”

“What about those kobolds?” Greta asked.

“We haven’t gotten anything useful out of them,” Twilight sighed. “They just stood silent throughout.”

“Let Iron Will take care of them,” Iron Will proclaimed.

“Iron Will, it’s incredibly tempting, but we need them alive for answers.”

The kingdom leaders looked towards the room’s doors which were open and could see a royal guard coming in. “I apologize for interrupting, your highness,” he apologized, “But there are some griffons here to speak with you.”

“Friend or foe?” Twilight asked.

“The ones who want to speak are the friendly kind, your highness. Familiar too.”

“Bring them in.” He opened the second door to show two griffons that the leaders knew too well; Gilda and Gallus. They were consuming some water and a donut respectively as they walked in. Needless to say, everyone was relieved to see them again.

“Gilda!” Greta cheered. She flew over to Gilda and hugged her, making Gilda drop her water bottle. “I’m so glad to see you again! Do you realize how scared we were?!”

“I could,” Gilda responded. “It was a nightmare there.”

“No kidding,” Gallus agreed. “Lots of internal conflicts are happening there.” They both looked back to see Glynn and Quartz walking into the room with some guards. The leaders weren’t as happy to see them as they were to see Gilda and Gallus.

“Hold on! Why are they doing here!?” Ember exclaimed, almost bursting out her fury.

“We don’t mean any harm, especially to all creatures here,” Glynn spoke. “We were given the same punishment that your kind received.”

“And why should we care for some creatures who are hunting my kind?” Ember objected, looking at Quartz.

“Not all of us want to do what the boss orders!” Quartz stated. “I never wanted to be a ninja!”

“Not to mention, we have gang members that could provide information that has done several crimes.”

“They're not lying,” Gilda confirmed. “I saw Quartz get beat up for answers. Also, we all nearly died from having a ‘fishy sleepover’.”

This statement was rather confusing to the other creatures. “Fishy sleepover?” Queen Novo asked.

“How do you sleep with a fish without your pearl shard?” That statement was enough for the creatures to connect the dots.

“Ohhh… my!”

“That’s horrible!” Thorax gasped.

“They’ve gone too far already!” Ember exclaimed.

“Wait a minute,” Novo spoke. She looked at the necklace that was around Gallus’s neck. “Where are the other students?”

“Gale is the first one to be released safely, and he’s on his way back to the School of Friendship,” Gilda explained. “We even had Spike travel along with him just in case. While everyone else is still stuck in their base.”

“…But… You do know where it is, right?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, we do. I should warn all of you… We’re going to have to be fully armored to the teeth if we want to get in.”

Glynn bravely decided to speak up to offer some help. “If I… might suggest… Quartz and I will help rescue the captured griffs.”

“What about Smolder and Ocellus?” asked Twilight. Gilda and Gallus both looked at each other as the changeling and dragon’s situation was dire.

“They’re… in a… let’s just say, a bit of trouble,” Gilda spoke.

“How could it be compared to the others?” Strongheart questioned. One should never ask such questions.

Gallus then spoke up. “Smolder was treated badly, rarely fed, and fully unconscious and unstable, having no amount of strength left. For Ocellus, she was in disguise long enough until she was caught and stabbed in the back, losing her blood. Both of them were about to be… dissected soon.”

Ember and Thorax were shocked and furious to hear that these two were deteriorating to death by the Gold Gang. The ambassadors in this room didn’t know how much time they had, so they made plans quickly.

“We’re going to round up all of the creatures that are willing to fight,” Twilight confirmed. “Anycreature?”

“I’ll prepare our navy,” Queen Novo proclaimed.

“Yaks get prepared,” Rutherford added.

“I can’t make any promises with the dragons,” Ember noted. Everyone raced back to their kingdom to prepare an army. This left Twilight, Quartz, and all four griffons at the castle.

The alicorn princess could see Gilda, Gallus, Glynn, and Quartz were worn out. “Guards, escort them to the guests’ rooms,” Twilight ordered. “They need a lot of rest and we’re going to have an early start tomorrow.”

“Can I stay here too?” Greta asked. “I don’t want to be alone by myself.” Twilight simply nodded and the guards guided the griffons and Quartz to their rooms.

Gallus shared one of the rooms with Glynn and Quartz, while Gilda and Greta shared their room too. While the kobold got to sleep quickly, the father and son took a bit longer given their conflict. Glynn kept trying to start a conversation, but Gallus wouldn't pay him any attention. “Gallus, please,” Glynn begged, “I just want to talk.”

“About what?” Gallus asked. “The fact my friends are in danger, some in a position where they could die? Or maybe it's the fact you were with a monstrous gang instead of… you know… being a father!”

“I’m sorry, Gallus, it’s just that… Gadget and I were so scared about your future…”

“Oh, yeah, because being a homeless orphan for most of my life is luxury.”

“And how would you turn out if you were in the gang!?” The sound of Glynn’s voice woke Quartz up, he sounded like he had just snapped. “Do you think we wanted you to become a serial killer like Gideon and Gram? We wanted to spare you from that fate, but… it sounds like we were forced to make a bad choice no matter what.” The wingless griffon gave a depressed sigh as he looked like he was about to cry.

Without saying another word, he lay down in his best and tried to get to sleep. Gallus would stay up a little bit longer, as he couldn’t help but think about his friend. Now he was thinking about what his life would be like if his parents had no choice but to have him in the gang. He would’ve been with them, yes, but that didn’t feel that good to what he would go through on a day-to-day basis. He couldn’t stop thinking about the pick your poison situation.

In another room, Gilda was trying to get comfy but Greta was feeling a little needy. “Greta, are you okay?” Gilda asked.

“I… I missed you so much,” Greta spoke. “I didn’t think you were going to come back.”

“Well, here I am.” Gilda chuckled as Greta suddenly hugged her tightly. They both lay down in the bed, which looked like they would be sharing. Greta snuggled against Gilda, both of them blushing.

“It feels nice to be in touch with your emotions.”

“Yeah, Ember could learn from that. If this attack happened back in the day, I think I wouldn’t have anything to come back to." The two griffons looked at each other eye to eye, blushing even more now.

“I'm… really happy that we gave friendship a shot.”

“Maybe we’re having more than friendship.” Both griffons gave a nervous grin as Greta couldn’t help herself. She wrapped her arms around Gilda’s head and went straight in for a kiss. The ambassador wasn’t ready for this and didn’t know how to react. The kiss stopped and Greta hugged her girlfriend tighter.

“Gilda, please… don’t ever scare me like that again.” Some sobbing could be heard as some bottled-up emotions were starting to pour out. “I love you.”

Gilda simply placed her talon on the back of Greta's head. “I love you too.” Both of them embarrassed each other as they soon fell asleep, bracing themselves for tomorrow.

When the morning sun shone over the Gold Gang’s base, Silverstream sadly woke up. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she saw. One of her closest friends, heck, her boyfriend was just pushed to his watery grave with no shard to save him. At least, to her knowledge. She didn’t want to get out of bed, but Gideon wouldn’t give her a choice.

She sadly walked towards the cafeteria by herself, not saying a word to anyone and nobody spoke to her. She just got her food in the cafeteria and sadly ate her meal. It wasn’t just Gallus she was upset over, Yona and Sandbar were still stuck in the mine and she hadn’t heard from them since they got to the base. Ocellus and Smolder were in another story, most likely they were going to be dissected and used for the gang’s evil plans.

Silverstream finished her breakfast and soon left the cafeteria when she met up with Gabby. “Hi, Silver,” Gabby said. The hippogriff didn't respond, only glancing at Gabby before looking back down at the floor. Soon, Gadget joined them, looking just as depressed as Silverstream. Gabby looked at her, who looked like she had been crying. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay,” Gadget responded. “I just saw my husband and son fall off a cliff and drown. How am I supposed to be okay with that?” She placed her talons on her face as she felt like weeping. Silverstream walked closer to the crying griffon.

“Gallus was a great griffon,” Silverstream informed while shedding a tear.

“I guess that…” Gadget didn’t know what to think or say as she was too upset. Still, it felt nice to know some creatures wanted to cheer her up. However, she did get curious about something that the other griffons were saying.

“Those bug things could be any one of us,” one griffon said.

“It looks exactly like Guy,” another added.

“How do I not know you’re the one,” a third spoke.

“The feeling’s mutual,” a fourth said. It was becoming clear that there was some conflict going on in the base, and it wasn't helped out by the confusion of how little they got paid.

A little while later, Gideon was up and heading towards the storage area. He had Smolder and Ocellus stored there for dissection since they were much smaller than the dragons they usually capture. When he got into the room, he found the griffon he hired for the job sleeping on the floor. Ocellus and Smolder were chained to the wall and looked to still be breathing and unconscious at the same time, much to the leader’s confusion and frustration.

“Wake up, you sleepy nincompoop!” He smacked the griffon in the face, making him awake, and was quick to criticize him. “Did I tell you to take a nap?!” Gideon questioned.

The griffon who was asleep quickly tried to explain himself. “I’m sorry, sir, but…”

“Those two were supposed to be cut open, especially that changeling over there!” He pointed to Ocellus, who looked to be drugged as she wasn’t awoken from the screaming. The same could apply to Smolder, that or she was too exhausted from the lack of food.

“Sir, I’m not the only one who thinks there’s more than one changeling among us. I wanted to keep her alive for answers but the drugs kicked in and…”

“Those drugs are for surgeries that griffons need. Not them!”

“Well, I’m sorry because I don't want to get stabbed in the back! Not to mention you drowned our best medic in the group!”

Gideon didn’t like the attitude coming from his backbone. Without warning, he pulled out his knife and stabbed the griffon in the talon, making him cry out in pain. “Don’t you ever talk back to me! Now, I’m going to do this myself because things have to be done right!” He looked the griffon dead in the head while he said this, causing fear to develop. With that, he pulled the knife out and the griffon flew away holding his crippled appendage in agony. “Dumb***es.”

He looked at his knife and then towards Ocellus. Judging how much she had, the changeling would be out for a while. He left to take care of one more thing before he saw what made changelings tick. Gideon was about to check on the team that would be sent to find the real Guy and Gwen when there was a loud horn sounding off. Confused, Gideon went to investigate and could see a swarm of unfamiliar airships.

They had a lot more colors of white, gold, and violet. Flying alongside the ships were a variety of creatures, such as, pegasi, changelings, hippogriffs, and what caught Gideon’s eye, dragons. It looked like an army and defenses had to be prepared. The gang leader flew off and found Gram just leaving the cafeteria.

“Gram!” Gideon cried.

“Boss? What happened?” Gram questioned. “Who sounded that horn?”

“We’re about to be attacked! Get everyone to their battle stations!” Gram gave a quick salute and flew off to prepare their soldiers.

As the airships got closer, Twilight looked at the base with Gilda walking up to her side. “So, who goes first?” Griffonstone’s ambassador asked.

“I am. I’m going to try something that might not work,” Twilight spoke. The ships and flying creatures stopped as the alicorn princess flew forward and used a spell to make her voice louder. “Gideon the Griffon! Your crimes against creatures big and small from Equestria and beyond have been causing disharmony to all! We’re willing to give you and your army one last chance to stand down and surrender.” The princess stopped talking and used her magic to change the volume of her voice back to normal.

Suddenly, a blast of fire was launched towards the ship, to which Twilight quickly used a forcefield to block it. The blast was strong and the forcefield was barely enough to hold it back and the princess went flying back into one of the airships’ decks.

“Twilight!” Gilda cried.

The alicorn managed to stand back up and looked towards Dragon Lord Ember, who flew alongside the ship while wearing a full set of armor. “Ember, send in the first squad!” she ordered. “Remember to take caution.”

“Roger that!” the Dragon Lord responded. She flew to the armored dragons and they flew down to attack the griffons head-on. They all split apart so they wouldn’t form a bigger target, which in turn made it harder for them to get shot out of the air. The Gold Gang's airships were still getting loaded with griffons who were still armoring up. As Ember’s army landed on the ground, the dragons quickly started knocking out griffons that weren’t fully prepared.

Things would start to get more even as fully armored griffons ran out to fight. The dragons were quite surprised and were barely able to keep up at first. These armors were something they had never seen before and could easily give them a run for their money. Still, Ember’s squad stood their ground.

Several griffons had lighter armor and flew towards the attacking airships. Queen Novo’s hippogriffs and the Wonderbolts flew in and started clashing with them. The Gold Gang would prove to have the edge given their weapon’s variety in having more than just spears, but also their elemental gemstones. Many hippogriffs were nearly sent falling when they went against fire giving them third-degree burns, ice freezing their wings, or electricity knocking them out. Thankfully, they started falling back as more dragons were called into a fight with the flying griffons. With their fire breath helping to give the edge in range, this would help keep many of their allies alive, though their strength would quickly be dwindling. To help with this, the yaks were sent down to help the dragons on land with the changelings sneaking in to play a couple of tricks.

The yaks plowed right into the fully armored griffons who struggled to keep them uncontrollable. The gang’s airships were beginning to take off, specifically the ones that were meant to take down full-grown dragons. Grayson, one of the captains, was in control of the ships that had a cannon hooked up and it was being aimed towards Equestria’s fleet.

“Hey!” called a voice.

Grayson looked to his side to see Gram landing beside him. “What is it?” the captain asked.

“Where’s the canon?”

“It’s below deck! Where else would it be?” Gram just nodded before running to where the canon was. Grayson was suspicious and ordered somebody to take the wheel from him. When he did get below deck, he saw Gram standing right next to the large cannon and its power source; a giant red gem. Gram eyed it with a smirk before his arm flashed; he jabbed at the gem, cracking it and making the canon lose its power. “What did you just do!?”

“Oh, sorry, was that important?” Gram turned his head while saying this to make sure Grayson saw his eyes were completely purple. Confused, Grayson was about to grab his crossbow if it wasn’t for Gram pouncing at him and grabbing the weapon before smashing it to bits. The griffon then showed his true colors and revealed that it was actually Pharynx in disguise.

He wouldn’t be the only changeling pulling this trick. Plenty of them infiltrated the ships, disabled the canons, then got out as soon as they could. Pharynx was the only one who intentionally fought a few griffons on the way out. This doesn’t mean other changelings didn’t throw a couple of punches, they just had to get out. However, not all of them were unscathed.

One of the changelings got several cuts by some griffons before it flew back to the Equestrian fleet. A hippogriff luckily flew in and carried her back to the ship Twilight was on. The changeling wasn’t the only one who needed medical treatment as a few hippogriffs were injured after going up against the elemental arsenal. Twilight was horrified by what she saw. Gilda knew what to do.

She went below deck, where other soldiers were waiting. Gilda made a beeline towards Quartz and three other griffons that were waiting if they were needed. “Glynn! Your help was needed!” Gilda cried.

“What’s wrong?” the medical griffon questioned.

“We have a lot of badly injured creatures. One of them is a changeling, and I think it needs some stitching!”

Glynn stood up and took a deep breath. “If only I have the proper medical equipment, I’ll do what I can.” He followed Gilda up to where the injured creatures were being taken.

Gilda tapped on Twilight’s shoulder to get the alicorn’s attention. “Twilight, Glynn here is a medical expert. I’m sure he’ll be a big help here.”

“Are you sure about this, Gilda?” Twilight asked.

“Gideon’s army is tougher than we thought, so we need all the help we can get.” Gilda then looked towards the top of the base, where the vault was kept. “And I have an idea of how to take care of his goons. I just need to get inside.”

“Gilda, I can’t let you do that!”

The ambassador flared at the princess while pointing down at the war zone. “Creatures are putting their lives on the line to save students that I couldn’t help. There’s a way to stop the gang now, and it’s inside that base.”

“If you have to go in, I recommend taking Quartz,” Glynn suggested. “He’ll be called in at some point and that’s when things will get ugly. They could just apply pressure points and any creature is left wide open.”

The mention of pressure points made Gilda think back to the night she got lost in the desert. Pharynx was attacked by a kobold trying to use the pressure point method, but it only made him laugh. This gave her an idea.

“What if we sent in changelings?” Gilda suggested. This was confusing to both Princess Twilight and Glynn. “I saw one attack Pharynx while we were having a search party. The kobold tried to use pressure points to stop him, but it only tickled him.”

This got Twilight thinking. After forming a plan in her head, she told Gilda what to do. “Get below deck and armor up,” the alicorn said, “While you do that and get Quartz, I’ll talk with Thorax about the changelings and get some to assist you.”

“Alright. And make sure they’re strong.” Gilda raced off to get prepared, but not before Glynn stopped her.

“Gilda, while you’re in there, can you please make sure Gadget’s okay?”

Gilda had a look of confidence in her eye. “I will,” she declared with a salute. With that, she hurried below deck while Glynn went to help with injured creatures.

He was provided with some medical supplies and was given the task of seeming up the changeling with several cuts. Taking out a needle, Glynn filled it up with Lidocaine, then injected it into the bleeding Changeling. As soon as he confirmed that the changeling felt numb, the griffon took out a needle and some thread to sew the cuts closed.

Down below, Gilda was given a helmet, a chest plate, and a shield to help protect her. After suiting up, she found Quartz, who was still sitting with Gallus and Greta. “Quartz, I’m going to need your assistance,” Gilda said to the said kobold.

“Why are you wearing armor…?” Greta asked. She quickly realized what was going to happen. “No!”

“Greta, I know what you’re thinking, but this has to happen. Gideon has a trump card and I’m going to rip it up. Quartz, you ready?” They looked to where the kobold should’ve been, though now he was missing. Suddenly, he took Gilda by surprise by jumping on her back while holding a small sword, which was the closest thing to a katana.

“Ready,” Quartz answered.

“That’s good, but please just don’t pull something like that in moments like this.” The kobold blushed with embarrassment as they were about to leave if the youngest griffon in the room didn’t speak up.

“I’m right behind you,” Gallus announced.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Gilda stated. “We were too close to dying and I’m not putting you in that scenario again!”

“All of my friends are in there! And possibly my mom. There’s no doubt Gideon is going to do horrible things to them and I’m responsible for getting them in that mess, so I’m going to save them!”

Gilda knew Gallus was a creature that set his mind on something and wouldn’t stop until that thing was accomplished. She handed Gallus the shield to give home protection. “I might regret this,” Gilda muttered, “Just… promise me, don’t do anything foolish.”

“Roger.”

Gilda was about to leave if it wasn’t for Greta stopping her. “Gilda, please… You…” She looked like she was struggling to find her words. Gilda simply planted a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek, making her blush.

“I’ll be fine. Just stay safe,” Gilda said quietly. Soon, she, Gallus, and Quartz got up to the deck and were about to take off. Quartz has to hop on Gilda since he can’t fly. They took off and flew towards the base. A dragon that was familiar to the griffons joined the party as they got closer. It was Garble.

“Hey, Gilda,” called Garble. He flew alongside the three creatures wearing armor like all of the griffons. “Thought you guys could need some help.”

“Good to see you, Garble,” Gilda gladly responded, seeing him joining the battle. “I just need you to help me with something on the top floor. Quartz, you go with Gallus.” The kobold agreed to the plan and hopped over onto the blue griffon’s back. Garble led the charge into the base, plowing through a couple of griffons to get inside.

Down in the mines, everyone had no idea what was going on. They could hear commotions outside and many of the griffons had abandoned posts. Sandbar saw this as their chance. He whispered to Yona. “Get to charge at the exit,” he informed. Yona was about to do this until Bill’s cuffs activated, giving him an electrical shock. It wasn’t just him though, every minotaur in the mine had their cuffs going off.

Gideon was the one who activated this shock. “Alright,” he spoke. “You all want to be free, right?” Many of the minotaurs did want to get out of the mine though they had a feeling there would be a catch. “If you want to be free, head outside and kill every creature trying to take this place down.” This was hard to ask from anyone who had a heart. Skyline couldn't accept this option and didn't keep her opinion a secret. She picked up and rock and chucked it right at the gang leader. Hitting him in the head, Gideon looked at the stone with fury in the eye. “Alright! Who’s the smart flank who threw that?!"

Skyline knew she was in trouble now and was about to speak if it wasn't for Bill speaking up. “I’m the smart flank,” he said. This was surprising to Sky, Sandbar, and Yona. Gideon was just about to send in some guards to take care of the minotaur until Sandbar spoke up.

“I’m the smart flank,” the colt said. With Sandbar joining in with Bill’s fib the idea was starting to catch on.

“No! I’m the smart flank,” spoke a random stallion.

“No! I’m the smart flank!" another minotaur called.

“No! I am!" a mare cried. It seemed that almost every creature in the mine was calling out they were the ones who threw the stone. Gideon’s blood was boiling until a guard flew up to him.

“Sir, some of the creatures have broken into the base!” she cried.

“…Are you f***ing kidding me!” He looked at all the creatures claiming they were the smart flank. “Just… that’s it! Kill every one of the miners.”

“…What?”

“I said kill them all! NOW!” He shoved the confused guard to the side to take care of other business. The guards had heard the order which would’ve likely brought the entire mine to a halt. It wasn’t pleasant sounding to the miners either. When one of the guards flew down to take care of Sandbar. The second they landed, Yona started stomping on the ground and the mine began to shake. The guards were knocked off their feet and tried to fly away but it looked like the stomping was more than the mine could take.

Stones fell from the ceiling and crashed down onto the griffons, knocking a couple of them out. However, one of them managed to avoid getting a concussion and grabbed a hold of Skyline. Bill saw this and grabbed the pony’s tail to try and pull her back. The guard decided to activate the shock cuffs, electrocuting the minotaur. Despite the pain he was going through, Bill gave a tug which pulled Skyline back down and made the guard faceplant. Bill could feel the electricity stop as Sandbar grabbed a hold of the device that the griffon was using to electrocute the minotaurs.

As he looked at it, Bill didn’t waste the chance to smash his cuffs on the rocky walls until they broke off. “Man, I’ve been waiting to get those things off,” he muttered.

“Let’s see if we can help the others,” Sandbar noted. They could see other ponies and Minotaurs fighting back from the griffons. The ponies stopped the griffons from using their gadget from tweeting the Minotaurs, while they helped break the ponies out of their chains.

“This is better than I ever imagined,” Skyline commented.

“Friends break out, now!” Yona declared. She and the other three charged towards the exit helping any other miners break out along the way.

Down the hall, Gideon found Gram gathering his weapons. “Crossbow?” the right taloned griffon offered. Gideon accepted the weapons as they soon heard their troops struggling. They were just in time to see Garble and Gilda split off from Gallus and Quartz after defeating the guards in their way.

The blue griffon and kobold were about to continue when they noticed the two head honchos of the gang. Gideon and Gram were confused to see them and couldn’t help but blurt out, “Why aren’t you dead?!”

Gallus didn’t give them an answer and instead booked it down the hall towards the workshop. He and Quartz used the shield to block the arrows that were fired at them until Quartz drew the sword he picked up. “Get to the workshop!” the kobold called, “I’ll hold them back!” With that, he kept off of Gallus’s back and landed right behind the ensuing griffons. Gram and Gideon dodged Quartz’s attacks as the leader saw Gallus getting away.

Quartz used his pressure point disability on Gideon, making his arm go limp. Gram flew above the kobold and managed to parry his attacks with his own sword. When the ninja tries to hit his pressure point, Gram grabbed the kobold’s arm, slammed him on the ground, and before Quartz could stand up he felt excruciating pain, making him scream.

He collapsed as Gram took a look at where his right leg used to be. The griffon then used the pressure point method to deactivate Gideon’s arm. “Not bad,” the leader said. They looked down at Quartz who breathed heavily no longer able to fight.

“What should we do with him?” Gram asked.

“We’ll let time kill him. Get the heavy armor and check upstairs. If that kid’s alive, the same should imply for Gilda.” Gram gave a salute before heading towards the armory. Gideon then looked at the sword Quartz had dropped. He picked up and muttered to himself, “Time to make sure this kid stays dead.”

In the workshop, Gadget, Gabby, and Silverstream had locked the door to try and protect themselves from the attack. “Are you sure that door will hold any longer?” Gabby asked.

“As long as they don’t use the heavy armor, we should be fine,” Gadget responded. “Now, if we stay quiet, we’ll be fine.”

Silverstream stayed quiet during most of this until she jumped when there was a banging on the door. Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, they all stayed quiet until the one who banged on the door spoke. “Let me in!” he cried. The voice sounded familiar to the griffs. Bravely, Silverstream opened the door and a familiar blue griffon burst into the room, locking the door behind him.

The hippogriff looked at him and even rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. “Gallus?!” she questioned. Before the blue griffon could get a word in, his girlfriend hugged him tightly. Gabby and Gadget were also surprised by this. “How are you…?” She paused when she saw the pearl necklace around Gallus's neck. “You have a shard?”

Gallus nodded. “Glynn wasn't been holding onto it,” Gadget commented. “But if it helped you survive, how did it work?”

“I’ll explain later,” Gallus responded, “Right now, Gideon’s out there trying to kill me. I needed defense.” This was concerning, but Gadget had an idea.

“You came to the right place because I have a solution.” She looked towards the blue gemstone on the shelf before grabbing it and leading Gallus around the corner. There was the finished armor that the griffon with a metal arm had been working on. It was similar to the other armors, but I had its wings folded out. Gadget opened the chest plate open to insert the gemstone in. The suit looked to power up, now it just needed somebody to put it on.

“This looks different.”

“It’s the new model Gideon ordered me to build. It’s kind of nice to feel that it’s going to be used against him. Very ironic.” A loud bang was heard against the door, followed by the sound of clashing metal.

“Gadget, I know you're in there!” Gideon screamed. “Open the f***ing door!”

“Gallus, quick! Put them on!” Gadget ordered. “Girls, need your help as well!”

“We’re coming!” Gabby and Silverstream exclaimed. The girls wasted no time helping Gallus get suited up. After bits of banging and crashing metal, Gideon broke the door down. He looked around the workshop until the girls poked their heads around the corner.

“Where is he?! I know he’s in here! Don’t even think about lying!”

“Gideon, put the sword down before you do something… Who am I kidding, you’ve already done a lot of stupid things," Gadget scoffed.

The gang leader pulled back his sword to bring it down to slice the girls up if it wasn’t for the armored arm grabbing it. Gallus walked around the corner, fully armored, and had a lot of anger to let out. “Ready when you are,” the armored griffon said.

He broke the sword in his talon and tried to throw a punch at Gideon. The leader dodged the attack which cracked the wall instead. Gideon made a run for it and flew around a couple of corners to try and lose Gallus. He growled as he knew he was losing control of everything. Knowing that the new armor would likely curve stomp him, he decided to head to storage and grab someone and make them useful.

Meanwhile, Gilda and Garble fought their way to the top floor where the vault was sitting. Using his fire breath, Garble melted the metal and left nothing to prevent them from getting inside.

“Sweet Torch, look at all of this treasure!” the dragon gasped looking at all the riches.

“You can take what you want later,” Gilda spoke. She flew over the hot metal and picked up the idol that rested on the pedestal. “Right now we need this.”

“An object that doesn’t belong to you,” informed a certain griffon. The two looked back and could see Gram standing in the doorway, fully armored. Garble realized they were in trouble and tried to punch the griffon only to have his fist caught.

The dragon groaned in pain as he could fist his claw getting crushed. Gilda quickly flew up and tried to take Gram’s helmet off only for him to use his other talon to grab her arm. Garble used this chance to breathe fire in the armored griffon’s face making him instinctively try and fan it away, making him let go of the intruders.

The second they were free, Gilda and Garble made a run for it with the Idol of Boreas in their grasp. Garble rubbed his sore claw while they flew down to the floor below them. “Tell me why that statue is so important?!” he asked.

Gilda was going to answer him if it wasn’t the bolt of lightning nearly hit them. Gram was firing lightning and ice from his suit’s gems. Fortunately for Garble and Gilda, they had made it to where the waterfall was and they flew off the cliff, something Gram was unable to do while he wore the armor.

He tried firing a couple of shots at them, but Gilda and Garble were out of range. “S**t,” he swore.

Back in the workshop, Gadget gathered up the yellow power gem and other essential items before she, Gallus, and the girls made a break for it. “So, we’re just going to run through the battlefield?” Silverstream asked.

“We don’t have any choice,” Gadget noted. “Hopefully, Gallus’s armor will… be enough to get us out of here.” They could hear the concern in her voice and they could figure out why.

“I’ll be fine in this,” Gallus stated. “We just have to make sure all of you are okay.” He looked over to Silverstream before handing her the necklace he had been wearing. “I’ll make sure you make it.” The hippogriff smiled and hugged her boyfriend.

Gadget took two gemstones and placed them into the slots where most armors had elements stones. “Okay, you have fire and ice,” the griffon mechanic explained. “We haven’t had a good time to test this, so don’t push yourself.”

“No promises. Let’s just get to the prison cells, free the students, and get them out of here to safety.” With that, Gallus led the charge out of the workshop and towards the prison cells. Along the way, they could hear hoofsteps and thought that the soldiers had gotten in. Surprisingly, when they got to the cells, Gallus was about to break open one until they saw the minotaurs from the mine run with Sandbar and Yona as part of their rebellion.

“It’s another one of the guards!” Bill cried. He was about to lead the charge to take on Gallus if Silverstream didn't step forward.

“Hold it, wait!” she cried, “It’s Gallus!”

The charge stopped with Sandbar speaking first. “Gallus?” he questioned, “You’re in that armor?”

“Yeah. It's a new model,” Gallus spoke. “What do you guys think?”

“I’ll like it when we get out of here,” Gus spoke up.

“Ehh… I starting to be narcissistic, am I?”

“Only a bit, but not overall.” Gallus obliged and with the armor’s strength, he bent the bars like they were bendy straws.

“Off you go,” he said as Gus got out of the cage feeling relieved. “Help me with the others.” Bill and the minotaurs helped to free the students too, including the other griffons who weren’t students.

“Ahh, finally!” Gregoria exclaimed with glee. “We’re free!”

“Yes!” Grace also exclaimed with glee.

“I’m so happy that I’m out!” Gleaming Pearl added.

“Me too!” Sunshine also added.

As the others helped the other prisoners, Yona noticed something. “Where guards and ninjas?” she questioned.

“They’re busy outside,” Gadget noted. “It’s not going to be easy to get through.”

“We’ve come this far,” Sandbar noted. Yona and the other miners agreed, they finally had a chance to be free and they weren't giving it up. Eventually, all the griffs were out of their cells, even ones who weren't from the school of friendship, now they just had to make it through the crossfire.

Still, there were two creatures Silverstream was worried about. “What about Smolder and Ocellus?” she asked.

“We’ll check on them,” Gadget reassured. “Right now we have too many creatures to risk getting caught.”

“We’ll send in another team after we wear the gang down,” Gallus noted, and then faced the students. “Now listen here, I’m glad that all of you are safe. Now, here, once we’re out of this place, get to the fleet, where Princess Twilight was on, with assistance as quickly as possible.” Gallus then turned to the others. “Same goes for all of you. Let’s go!” And that was just what they did, they all made a beeline for the exit where another armored griffon caught them in the act.

Outside, the kobolds had been called in that battle by Equestria’s army. The changelings came down to even the battlefield as the ninjas found out when trying to use pressure points, only to have the changelings laugh in response. They would be distracted from this confusion as they and many griffons were shot with ice, freezing them in place.

Gallus led the charge towards the Equestria airships while shooting at any griffon in armor. Gadget helped out as she had brought a crossbow with her to help fire at anyone that would attack them. The Minotaurs were the ones who fought anyone too close to them, not to mention some of them brought some tools from the mines to help them out.

Rutherford and Ember came running up to them and would’ve smacked Gallus if they weren’t quickly told about what was going on. “Yak protect creatures!” Rutherford spoke. He took Gallus’s place at the front of the charge, bulldozing through anything in his way.

“We need to go back inside for Smolder and Ocellus,” Gallus noted, “and Quartz too. I haven’t seen him since he distracted Gideon.”

“Go and find them!” Ember commented. “Right now, we need to get these kids to safety!” Gallus nodded before turning on his paws and running back into the base.

“Shoot, I forgot to tell him about the suit’s new ability,” Gadget muttered. She turned around and tried to catch up with her son if a kobold didn’t show up and disabled her body. The griffon crashed on the sand and looked up to see a katana about to be impaled in her if it wasn’t for a famous Minotaur running up and decking him in the face.

Gadget soon found herself picked up by Iron Will before running back to the Equestrian fleet. “Iron Will’s been told you’re not like other griffon gang members,” he spoke. “You’ll be lucky when we get back on princess’s ship.”

“Wait, princess?” Gadget questioned, “Who’s the princess?!” Iron Will was too focused to give her an answer and kept running.

Gilda and Garble we’re flying around the base, much to the dragon’s confusion. “Okay, what do we do now?” Garble asked.

“We need something to get everyone’s attention,” Gilda responded. They looked down at the warzone, everybody was on their toes.

“Yeah, I think that’s easier said than done.”

Then, Gilda remembered the spell Twilight used before the battle started. “We need to get back to the ship and… GAH!” They were interrupted with a shot of fire nearly hitting them. Several griffons saw that they had the idol and they weren’t happy. “Alright. Plan B; keep away!” The duo retreated with the guards hot on their tails. Gilda tried to talk them into listening to her for just a minute, but if she could get them to stop, this was nowhere enough of the can to know the truth.

Gallus was having just about the same difficulty. As soon as he made it into the base, he was tackled started getting a beat down from Gram. “You just couldn’t stay dead, do you?” Gram questioned. He kept throwing several punches until Gallus shot some fire in his face to help push him off. “This time, I’m going to make sure you stay dead!”

Gallus quickly made a run for it as Gram tried shooting him with lightning, but kept missing. Gallus didn’t plan for this and had to think fast. Three creatures needed his help.

Things were happening fast and were taking a turn for the worst while the students and the other prisoners and miners started getting on board. The ship was just starting to take off as one of the griffons chasing Gilda and Garble saw it taking off. Thinking that they could use a hostage to offer a trade. A few of them stormed the airship, which was ready for a sudden attack, and the unlucky victim would be Silverstream.

Before anyone could act, the young hippogriff was swooped up and she felt her wings getting encased in ice. Gilda looked back and saw what was happening. She and Garble charged after Silverstream, to which Gilda realized she was wearing her pearl shard. Griffonstone’s ambassador looked at the river and a couple of boulders that were just sitting near the base.

“Garble, make a dam in that river with those boulders!” Gilda ordered.

“Seriously, right now?” Garble questioned.

“Just do it! I have a plan.” Garble groaned as he did as he was told while his ally tried to catch up with the troopers that had Silverstream captive. “Hey!” The scream caught their attention so they stopped in the air and looked towards the creature that stole the idol. Gilda took a minute to make sure they were above the river, which Garble was quickly damming up. “Look, just hand over Silverstream and you can have the idol back. I don't want her sleeping with the fish. A sinking feeling like that would be horrible.”

Silverstream was a little confused. “Why are you talking like that?” questioned the hippogriff

“I think you know it’s hard to see ponies as equals when they’ve done nothing but let you sink in your problems.” Gilda made a gesture of scratching her neck winking at Silverstream. The hippogriff looked down at the water and finally realized what Gilda was implying. Before the guards could figure out the odd speech, Silverstream used her pearl shard to turn herself and the griffons into seaponies.

With no wings keeping them up, they fell like stones and splashed into the water with some of their weapons joining them. Nobody was impaled and as soon as she was in the water, Silverstream used her pearl again to change back to a hippogriff to fly back to Gilda.

“So long, suckers!” Silverstream exclaimed to them with a sarcastic salute. The guards all sank to the bottom of the river, flopping around not sure how to control their bodies. Even if they could, they would be trapped, due to Garble damming up the river with boulders, and the other way led to the waterfall, which they had no way of climbing. Garble and Silverstream joined up with Gilda and flew back to the ship. “Smart idea, Gilda.”

“Don't thank me yet,” Gilda responded. “We’ve still got to show them what this thing is.” Gilda looked at the fake idol and then flew towards the ship Twilight was on. She made a beeline towards it while Garble made sure that Silverstream made it to the other ship safely.

Back in the base, Gallus was still having a bad time. The armor was helping him stay on a level playing field with Gram, but his experience was giving the blue Griffon some trouble. Several punches and shots were fired, but it seemed that Gram was starting to get the edge. Despite this, Gallus didn’t give up.

“Do you think you could take on a gang like this?” Gram questioned. “One that kills dragons for a living!”

“Yeah, and you also torture your kind,” Gallus reminded. “I’m fighting for the right cause. And you’re not the first idiot my friends and I have taken down!” Gallus used the fire gem to engulf his fist in flame before rocketing forward and slamming into Gram. The two rammed right through several walls until they made it into storage.

After taking a second to recover, both armored griffons took a minute to take in what happened. “How are you flying in that armor?”

“Hey, your boss was the one who commissioned this. And I thought you’re his right claw griffon.” With that, Gallus shot some ice in his opponent’s face, blinding him long enough so he could find his friends. Even trying to use his surprising ability to fly in such heavy armor, the young griffon couldn’t find Ocellus or Smolder in storage. He was about to look for them and Quartz in the base, if it wasn't for Gram grabbing him by the leg and started slamming him around like a rag doll.

Despite being slammed around, Gallus used the momentum to get himself and his foe flying. With them both in the air, the blue griffon rammed his opponent through the ceiling and several floors until they charged through the top of the base. Before Gallus could slam Gram back down into the ground, the associate of the Gold Gang used electricity to stung Gallus before freezing him solid. With no method of flight, the two armored fighters plummeted through the first two floors.

The two of them took a minute to recover from the fall as somebody looked down at them. “Hey, Gram!” Gideon ordered, “Get up here!” The right claw griffon did as he was told as Gallus only managed to catch up with his flight. On the roof, Gallus saw that Gideon had brought Smolder and Ocellus up there. Gram stood in the middle so Gallus couldn't get too close. “Looking for these? Looks like your friends have gotten something I want."

“Yeah, well I want them back!” Gallus was about to fire at Gideon, who retaliated by holding a dagger to Ocellus’s neck. The young griffon slowly lowered his arm as he knew his friends were in danger.

“Smart move kid.”

From the ships, Twilight could see what was happening through a telescope. “Gilda, you might wanna see this.” She handed it to Gilda, who was just as concerned.

“Great,” the Griffonstone Ambassador groaned. “If we show them the truth now, Ocellus and Smolder are done for.”

“We need to find a way to get them away from Gideon. Maybe if…”

“Wait, what is Gallus doing?” Gilda handed the telescope back to the princess, who used it to see that Gallus was taking off his armor in an attempt for his friends to be spared.

Gadget and Silverstream overheard Gallus' mention and ran to see what was going on. They were each given a chance to look through the telescope just in time to see Gram getting into Gallus’s armor while Gideon put on the older model.

“Why aren’t you getting a new model?” Gallus questioned.

“Because Gram enjoys having a new toy,” Gideon responded. “I want to see what this suit can do in the claws of a professional.”

“Okay. You have the new toy that was on your wishlist, now give me my friends!”

Gideon thought for a second before responding. “How about no?” Without warning, he smacked Gallus in the face. The young griffon groaned as a large bruise was where he had been punched.

The creatures on the ship had seen enough. “We’re going in to help him!” Glynn declared.

“Glynn, they’ll kill you!” Gadget informed. “I can’t allow you to be dead again!”

“We can’t just stay here!” Silverstream cried. “Gallus is already in danger, Please tell me you have something that can help us."

Gadget thought for a second before she remembered some information she was told about earlier. “Maybe there is!” She took out the yellow gemstone and showed it off to everyone. “They said that this and the blue gemstone react violently with each other. Apparently, they’re the cause of the earthquake we felt the other day.”

“You think we could use that against them?” Gilda asked.

“Hmm, maybe if we can trick him,” Silverstream said. “Like… double the power.”

“We’ll be lucky if we do that,” Glynn said. "Not to mention the hostage situation. If we give him what he wants, he’ll let them go… Hopefully.”

Gilda looked at the fake idol and sighed. “We’ll do what it takes,” she sighed. “Gadget, care to follow?” The griffon mechanic nodded and the two of them cautiously flew towards the leader and his right claw mate.

Gideon and Gram showed no mercy against Gallus as they beat him into submission. While they did this, the gang leader decided to monologue. “I really enjoy showing who pulls the strings around here,” Gideon said, “Stopping creatures who try to play god. You think you’re that tough, little kid?" He gave another punch to Gallus’s face, making blood spit out of his mouth. “You played a super dumb game and here’s your prize.” Just before he could give another hit at the injured student, a voice call out.

“STOP!” The armored griffons looked behind them to see Gilda and Gadget landed with the idol. The ambassador didn’t hesitate to give him the command. “Let him go!”

“You sure you want him now?” Gram asked. “Not much he can do.” He kicked Gallus”s body, to which the bloody and bruised griffon could only groan. Gadget could barely look at the condition of his body without crying.

“If you let him and that dragon and changeling the go, then you can have your stupid statue!” Gideon looked at the idol, then to the one who was giving him the offer.

“What’s the catch?" he asked. “Are you tricking me? If you were, then nice try.”

“There’s no trick. Do you want it or not!?”

“Of course, we do!”

“Then let them go.” Gilda stared down at the gang leader, not caring if he used that armor he was wearing to put her in the same position Gallus was in. She didn’t want anyone else to suffer.

Gideon smiled behind his helmet before looking towards Gram. “Hold them down, I'm having some trust issues.” Gram nodded. He was about to do as he was told if it wasn’t for a scream they all heard. Silverstream charged towards them while carrying Glynn, who held a spear that was driven right into the cavity that held the blue gemstone.

Gram wasn’t phased by this and just yanked the spear out, which broke open the door to reveal his gemstone. He then tried firing at the hippogriff, who ended up dropping Glynn, who fell into the hole that Gram and Gallus made during their fight. He was going to try and find out how to get back up there if his wife didn’t stop him.

"Glynn, get out of here!" she cried. Gadget was pulled back by Gram, who was done with all of this. Glynn knew had no choice but to listen. He could only flee down into the base. However, he did know Quartz had been unaccounted for. When he did find the kobold, his breaths were weak his injury was beyond severe. With hesitation, the medic helped the kobold up and took him to the medical bay.

Gram dragged Gadget closer to the cliff as Gideon looked towards Gilda, who wasn’t sure what to do. “How’s our deal, Gilda?” Gideon asked. “Can we have the idol back?” Gilda looked around her, Gallus was injured, Silverstream was flying around trying not to get shot down, and Gadget was caught in an arm lock. During this struggle, she saw the yellow gemstone slip out of the Gadget’s bag. She remembers the mini earthquake that they went through.

Gilda and Gadget both looked at each other with grins and gave a nod. The mechanic even gave an expression that read, “Just do it.” Gilda looked Gideon in the eye and said, “You know what, Gideon? We’re taking you with us!”

“What?” Without warning, Gilda tossed the idol into the air, to which Gideon instinctively tried to catch it. While he was distracted, Gilda grabbed the yellow gemstone and slammed it into the cavity with the blue gem.

Almost immediately, the gemstone started glowing and the suit started shaking. “What… What did you do!” Gram cried.

“I forgot to tell you that I added a new feature. It’s called, ‘self-destruct’.” With the suit overloading, Gram let go of Gadget as he could feel himself getting hot. Just as Gideon got a proper hold of the idol, he saw Gadget grab her injured son while Gilda grabbed a hold of Smolder. They were concerned about Ocellus if it wasn’t for Silverstream swiping in and snatching the changing. The three flying all made a break for it as Gideon saw Gram’s suit starting to glow brighter than usual. Realizing what was going to happen, he tried to get to the hole.

However, it would be too late as Gram let out one last scream before the gems caused his suit to explode, taking the top half of the base with him. Everyone stopped to look at the explosion and the partly destroyed base. Another scream could be heard as Gideon slammed across the ground with his suit broken apart, revealing his severe injuries. The idol toppled down not too far away from him.

Gilda helped make sure Gallus, Smolder, and Ocellus got back to the ship for medical attention before flying down and landing in front of Gideon. She could see the burn marks on the leader as well as the blood on his face. Griffonstone’s ambassador didn’t say anything and just walked over to the idol while the gang leader failed to get himself back onto his legs.

He breathed heavily as he saw other griffons landing nearby. “What are you waiting for?” Gideon questioned. He coughed up some blood before yelling out. “STOP HER!” The griffons started walking towards Gilda, who just picked up the idol, which was now in pieces. For a moment, they thought she had ruined everything, until they saw Gilda scratching the paint of the metal, revealing the silver metal beneath it.

Everyone was confused at what they saw. “…It’s… Fake?" questioned a griffon.

“No, duh,” Gilda responded. “He’s been lying to you this whole time.” All of the griffons looked towards Gideon, all feeling mixed opinion, though all of them felt some sort of rage. “Are you proud of yourselves? You’ve followed this guy for years all because he had a statue that might as well be a participation trophy. Even if he had the real idol, I wouldn’t listen to him. He uses nothing but force and fear to get what he wants and you all suffer for it.” The leaders could all hear Gilda’s speech and simply took care of the gang members that were being more difficult so she wouldn’t have any distractions. “I know that Griffonstone is a huge mess and instead of trying to fix it, you kept listening to him. I know it’s because he had too much power and I don’t fully know how it started, but it shouldn’t have happened. We have the chance to rebuild our home and I hope all of you will do the smart thing and help others instead of blindly following the ones who are mad with power.”

Gilda just looked down at Gideon, who only sat there and lay there as he knew he lost. “What are you waiting for?” he asked. “…Kill me then!”

The heroic griffon just looked down at the fallen leader. “Sorry, pal. You’re not getting the easy way out.” Gilda then looked towards the base, where she saw Glynn walking through the silent battlefield. He was carrying a bag of medical supplies, as well as Quartz, who had a special gemstone attached to him. She walked over to give some help and get them onto the ship.

All of the griffons that listened to Gilda’s speech were in deep thought before almost all of them dropped their weapons and removed their armors as they stepped towards the Equestrian fleet to surrender. Those who didn’t make a run for it, not want to have any punishments assigned to them, along with the kobolds. A couple were caught and were cuffed so they could be taken back to Equestria and be punished.

Some hippogriffs and dragons stormed the base to salvage anything they could while Glynn was helped back onto the ship. “Are Gadget and Gallus okay?” he asked.

“One of them is,” Gilda answered. They found the blue and bruised griffon, who was lying on a bed similar to Ocellus and Smolder. Like Quartz, they were barely breathing. Another bed was brought out for the kobold when Gilda noticed the gemstone that was hanging around his neck. It was long, thin, and red. “Is that one of the medical gems?”

“It sure is. Hopefully, it should help with Quartz’s blood." He took out three more to be given to the students. Smolder was given violet, while Gallus and Ocellus were given red. When they made contact, the crystals glowed and their breathing seemed to improve slightly. Gallus and Ocellus had a couple of cuts that had been taken care of immediately, Glynn volunteered for it. He started with Ocellus as he looked back at Gallus a few times. Gadget peered into the room and looked at the condition of their son. She wiped some tears as she looked away which felt like the only way to stop herself from crying. Gallus was unaware of all of this, his injures had knocked him unconscious and it would be like this for the whole ride home.

The sound of a steady beep could be heard. Gallus groaned as he started opening his eyes, which felt like they were weighing a ton. He could barely make out where he was with his blurry vision but he could feel himself lying on something soft. There was something on him keeping him warm. As his eyes opened wider and his vision cleared up Gallus could see where he was: the hospital.

He could barely move his body. His neck felt like it had whiplash with every degree he turned to the left. Eventually, he could see there were some roommates, an orange dragoness, and a blue changeling. They looked to see that he was awake and were happy about it. “Gallus!” Ocellus cried. “You’re awake!”

“Thank goodness!” Smolder said in relief.

“…Smolder? …Ocellus?” Gallus groaned. He felt like there was no energy at all in his body.

“Easy buddy,” Smolder responded. “You’ve got some healing up to do.”

Gallus moved his eye to see he was covered with bandages and had a glowing green crystal resting on his chest. “How bad?”

“A few broken bones, several cuts, and bruises,” Ocellus noted. “You lost a lot of blood as I am.”

“Wha… What about you?”

“We’re doing better,” Smolder noted. “Having some real food in your stomach helps with that. I haven’t eaten them for days.”

“What about… Your stab… Ocellus?”

“It's heeling up, but the doctors say I shouldn’t try shapeshifting or flying for a couple of days,” Ocellus noted.

“Before you say anything else, blink twice if you want to know about the others,” Smolder said. Gallus listened and blunk twice, which felt like the easiest thing he could do right now.

“Sandbar and Yona are with the mining group,” Ocellus explained. “They're getting the proper amount of food they’ve been lacking. I hope they're doing alright.”

“How… How long have we…” Gallus coughed in the middle of his words. “Out?”

“We woke up when we were getting settled in the hospital. While you… were out for a day.”

“Though someone here stood by your side,” Smolder chuckled. Gallus struggled to turn his head until he was able to see who was to his right, Silverstream. The hippogriff had fallen asleep from how long she was sitting by his side. “She’s been there just as long as you have. Only gets up for bathroom breaks.”

Gallus looked at his sleeping girlfriend who he knew had been through a lot. He gave several loud coughs which soon became real given his injury. It managed to die down just as Silverstream started waking up. The usually bubbly hippogriff opened her eyes and stood up to see her boyfriend awake. “Gallus!” she cheered. A couple of tears of joy escaped from her eyes as she had to resist hugging the griffon as they might make his injuries worse. “How...? Are you feeling better?”

“I feel like I was… at the dance floor… during the Yakyakistan stomp,” Gallus wheezed.

Silverstream whipped her tears away before she spoke again. “I’m… just so happy you're alive.” She carefully leaned forward and kissed the griffon’s cheek. Gallus managed to crack a smile as he felt a little bit better. He looked down at the green gemstone he had.

“What's this?” he asked.

“Glynn says that these crystals are better for different medical emergencies depending on their color. The green one you have helps with broken bones.”

“And red ones help out with our bodies’ regeneration," Ocellus added. “They’re impressive.”

“Yeah. I know, right,” Smolder agreed. “I wish all hospitals will have like these.”

“Too bad they're rare,” Gallus groaned. He then thought of another question. “Where’s… Quartz?”

“The kobold you’ve mentioned?” Gallus nodded. “The doctors said he’s in the other room. He’s in a pretty bad condition, but… he should be alive.”

“I can go and check on him for you,” Silverstream spoke.

“That’ll be… Great. Thank you.” The hippogriff flew out of the room for a few minutes. Soon she came back with a kobold in a wheelchair. It was Quartz, who surprised the students with his missing leg.

“Hey, kids,” he spoke with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m feeling better.” The three students all confirmed they were doing better, slightly, though they couldn't ignore the missing body part. “I know, it sucks missing a leg. Gadget says she’ll be able to build me a new one.”

“That’s cool,” Silverstream commented.

“It kind of does. Honestly, it's gotta be better than being a part of the team that shouldn’t be named.”

“Quartz, what are you doing out of your room?" asked a voice. Looking towards the doorway, two familiar griffons walked in, Glynn and Gadget. Both of them were surprised to see that Gallus was awake. Awkwardness started to be felt in the room.

Quartz managed to turn his chair around so he could look at them. “You three need a minute alone?” he asked.

Glynn took a deep breath before he responded. “That’d be wise of you,” he answered. With some assistance from the medical staff, Smolder and Ocellus were temporarily escorted out of the room with Quartz and Silverstream. Now it was only the family of three in the room. Gallus didn't want to speak mostly because of how their relationship was. “Gallus, I know we have bad blood, but…”

“I’m sorry,” Gadget interrupted while whining. The two males looked towards the mechanic, who couldn't hold back her tears. “We’re so terrible. We left you in Griffonstone and had you fend for yourself and you had it rough… But if you were in the gang… Gideon… Everyday…”

Glynn turned his wife around so they could look at each other face to face. “Gadget, please don’t cry.”

“Glynn, look at our son! No matter what we chose, his life was going to be terrible. We should’ve never chosen to be parents!” She began bawling into her husband’s chest as the years of fear and guilt were being let out. Glynn did his best to comfort the weeping griffon as he looked at Gallus, who looked to be just as upset.

“It's not your fault,” Gallus muttered. Both of his parents looked over to him after what he said. “My life has been rough, but… it’s better if I didn’t join the gang. I would’ve never met my friends, or saved Equestria. It’s never easy, is it?”

Glynn sighed. “It isn’t,” he agreed. “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. You do care a lot for your friends if you were willing to put yourself through that much pain. We were… the gang had a hard hold on us, but… here we are, we're finally together… as a family.” Both parents walked on different sides of their son’s bed and carefully hugged him. It seemed that each other had tears of joy cry from their eyes. Gallus has never felt this type of joy in his life, now that he discovers that he found his biological parents, he no longer considers himself an orphan anymore. They were finally a family again.

Silverstream, Ocellus, and Smolder were outside of the door, listened to the whole conversation. Both Smolder and Ocellus were surprised to hear when they mentioned Gallus as a son.

“Did we miss something?” Smolder said. “I swear she said ‘our son’.”

“It’s true!” Silverstream replied. “Gallus discovers that Gadget and Glynn are biological parents. He’s no longer an orphan anymore.”

“Wow! I was not expecting that,” Ocellus said with a shock on her face, including Smolder’s.

“Uh-huh, exactly. That’s the same feeling I had. Including Gabby.”

“Well then, just wait until we tell Sandbar and Yona about his discovery,” Smolder chuckled.

Just then, Silverstream’s beak, Smolder’s scales, and Ocellus’s wings started glowing. They all smiled as they knew that their mission was complete. “Alright!” Silverstream cheered.

“That’s a job well done,” Ocellus said with a grin.

Meanwhile, back inside, Gallus’s beak glows as well. He noticed it, except for his parents. He smiled to himself as he knew that his mission is complete. He made a mental thank-you note for the Spirit of Harmony. Sandbar and Yona, on the other hand, saw his cutie mark and her horns glow. They smiled as they knew that it’s finally over.

Gilda was with Twilight Sparkle, both of them looking at Gideon who was in a gibbet. The parts of him injured were bandaged up and a violet crystal was attached to him. “Are you sure that crystal will keep him alive?” the alicorn asked.

“Trust me,” Gilda said, “Glynn said that crystal will keep him well fed.” The two turned around and left the gang leader to his punishment. “I can't believe some of them got away.”

“I know it’s hard, but we still got a good amount of them. And the students are all safe.”

Gilda smiled at this thought. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m honestly surprised how well I got out of there.”

“Everyone we rescue is recovering. You shouldn’t be hard on yourself,” Twilight smiled. The griffon thought about what she had heard.

When they walked through the castle, Gabby and Greta over to Griffonstone’s ambassadors. Greta was the first to go for a hug and even kissed Gilda. “Hey, I'm fine.” She looked at her girlfriend's face, which looked to be at the breaking point of crying.

“What did I say about putting yourself in danger?” Greta wept.

“Look, I’m still here. And all the griffs are safe, right Gabby?”

“They sure are,” she confirmed. “In fact, I saw some of them wanted to talk with you.”

“Really?”

“It's true,” Greta confirmed. “Come take a look.” The three griffons headed down the hall to where some rescued prisoners were. They were unfamiliar to Gilda, making her think she didn't see any of them being enrolled at the school of friendship. That and some of them looked to be older than teenagers.

“You must be Gilda, right?” one of them asked.

“Um… Yes,” the said griffon responded. Some of the freed prisoners bowed or kneeled before Gilda, much to her surprise, telling her that they thanked her for the rescue.

She leaned towards Greta to whisper. “Care to tell me why they’re doing this?”

“They think you’re fit to be Griffonstone’s queen,” Greta answered.

“Queen!?”

“Yes! You’d be a great one,” Gabby commented, “since you’ve already done a lot to help our home.” Gilda looked at the griffons who bowed to her and gave a nervous smile. She was hesitant about the idea of being royalty, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt right. Not to mention that she worried about abusing her power that could lead to the downfall like what happened to Gideon. Being a ruler can be her chance to restore it once again.

Author's Note

And with that, my 50th story is finished. Thank you everyone who’s been reading this and especially Gregory for editing these chapters. I couldn’t do this without you buddy. You’ll see an update blog in the future so keep an eye out for that.