//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two 
// Story: Gallus' Party of One 
// by Matthais Unidostres 
//------------------------------//

Gallus woke up in his bed, feeling what most creatures not in the know would call 'oddly unenthusiastic' considering what day it was. The griffon felt as blue as his feathers as he let out a sigh and lay in bed for a bit, not eager to get up right away. As he lay there, staring up at the ceiling, his mind drifted back to thoughts of Griffonstone, and the rather unpleasant memories he had of seeing young griffons being given a tasty treat by their mother, and a handful of coins by their father, all while receiving the begrudgingly cheerful tidings of "Happy Birthday 'so and so'!"

Gallus rolled over onto his side and shut his eyes tightly. The only day he hated more than his own birthday was the Blue Moon Festival, but even then it was at a close second. As he laid there, he considered his usual schedule for the day of his birth: sleep extra late, perhaps till noon if he got lucky. Skip lunch, as he never had much of an appetite on his birthday. Mope around for the rest of the day, avoiding the other griffons. Get something to eat and then go to bed.

He let out a groan as he recalled his miserable itinerary. It was bad enough that yesterday hadn't ended that well. After asking a bunch of lame and obvious questions that Twilight needed confirmation on to fix his paperwork, Gallus had come out to find that Sandbar needed to run off and do something or other in Ponyville, meaning that their Buckball game was over.

Gallus' eyes snapped open as a sudden realization came to him. "Wait. . . my friends," he thought to himself.

Gallus sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He realized that this birthday was very different from his previous ones, as this time he had friends. Of course, he hadn't told them when his birthday was. After what he had revealed to them during the whole "Hearths Warming Eve Goo Power Prank Incident," they'd probably just toss him a couple of gifts out of pity, and that was the last thing that Gallus wanted.

As Gallus got out of bed, a small smile grew on his face, something that had never happened on his birthday before. While he still had no intention on announcing what day it was, he was sure that it would be completely tolerable with his friends around him. Plus, it was Sunday, meaning that they could spend pretty much the whole day having fun.

He took a look at the clock, and saw that it was only a few minutes before 8 o'clock. He also realized that he actually had a bit of an appetite, much to his surprise.

Now wearing a full smile, Gallus made up his mind to splash some water on his face, give his feathers a quick preening, and head over to the cafeteria to join his friends for some breakfast.

"Heh. Maybe this day won't be so bad after all," Gallus mused to himself.





In the cafeteria, Gallus' friends were already gathered there, taking their time eating their breakfasts as they were in active discussion of how to set up their griffon friend's surprise party in time. In the middle of the table sat a small pile of Bits, along with a small ruby and a small sapphire. 

Silverstream put her talons on the table and said eagerly, "Okay, so this should be enough to get all the food and games for the party."

Sandbar held up a forehoof and said, "What about the decorations?"

Silverstream just waved a claw and said, "Oh, Smolder and I can make those ourselves."

"Hold on," Smolder interjected with an unamused look on her face, "I've been thinking, and I'm not sure how we can make decorations that don't look really chintzy."

Silverstream held her claws up and said, "Chintzy? Me? Oh puh-lease! If anyone can make a room look beautiful with paper, balloons, table cloths, paint, and Luster Dust; it's Silverstream!"

Yona gulped down her glass of orange juice, let out a quick burp, and said, "Yona trust Silverstream! She make really nice decorations for party!"

Ocellus gently nudged the yak and said, "Focus, Yona. We're in charge of getting the games."

Yona's enthusiasm was bubbling over as she said, "Yes! We get Gallus a piñata, and Gallus smash it! Then we make big pile of balloons, and Gallus smash it!"

Smolder looked sideways at Yona as she picked up the cup of tea she was having with her biscuits. "I don't think griffons are as obsessed with smashing as yaks are, but that's none of my business," Smolder said, then she looked away as she casually took a sip of her tea.

"How about bobbing for apples?" Sandbar suggested.

Silverstream gasped and said, "Ooooh! I've always wanted to try that game! We didn't have that game back in Seaquestria, 'cause it's underwater, and you can't bob for apples underwater, because you're already underwater, so they're be no difference between sticking you're head in the tub of water and just being in the water around you, plus the apples wouldn't stay in the tub of water because there's water-."

"Meow-meow!" Smolder said urgently.

The conversation immediately stopped and everyone focused on their food. Out of the corner of her eye, Smolder had spotted Gallus approaching with a tray of syrup laden waffles and a cup of orange juice.

Gallus plopped his tray down next to Sandbar, who might've looked a little too interested in the remains of his French toast, and sat down rather cheerily and said, "Well, hey guys. Am I late for the party?"

It was a poor choice of words that elicited a strange series of reactions from the group. Smolder blew tea out of her nose, Yona got up so fast that she fell backwards and landed flat on her back, Ocellus let out a loud "eep" and shot straight up a few feet into the air and hovered there with her wings buzzing, Silverstream slammed the palms of her claws down on the table so hard that everything on it rattled, and Sandbar coughed as he choked on the French toast he was about to swallow.

Gallus pounded Sandbar on the back until the pony had recovered, and then the griffon said, "Okay. What was that all about?"

As Yona and Ocellus got back into their seats, and Smolder wiped her nose clean, Silverstream smiled widely at Gallus and said, "Oh that? That was nothing. Yeah, totally nothing."

Gallus frowned back, clearly unconvinced, and said, "So, all of you guys randomly freaking out is nothing?"

Silverstream kept smiling as a bead of sweat ran down the side of her head. "Ummmmmm. . ."

Ocellus came to her rescue and said, "Oh, you just surprised us, Gallus. That's all. We just didn't notice you until you spoke up."

Not sure how to take this, Gallus simply echoed, "You didn't notice me?"

Ocellus was about to clarify what she meant, but then Smolder cut in and said, "Yeah! We totally didn't even know you were there! It was like, 'yeah, Gallus isn't here, it's just us.' But then suddenly, 'Oh Tiamat, Gallus is here!' Seriously, how'd you do that?"

Gallus didn't look very cheerful as he replied, "Heh. I don't know. I guess I just. . ." His voice trailed off as he noticed the pile of Bits and gems on the table. "What's with the pile of money? Trying to make the world's smallest dragon horde?" he asked.

The other five exchanged panicked looks, and then four of them looked to Silverstream.

"Um, charity!" Silverstream said quickly.

Smolder face palmed hard at this. Thankfully, Gallus didn't notice.

"What charity?" Gallus asked.

"The Filly Guides!" Sandbar answered proudly.

Silverstream laughed in relief and said, "That's right! The Filly Guides! A perfectly noble and wonderful cause! Ya gotta love those Filly Guides! Always. . . guiding. . . and stuff. . . Yeah. . ."

Sandbar cleared his throat and said, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders are Filly Guides, you know. Members get to learn cool skills, they help other ponies- er, creatures. They volunteer a lot. It's a really important organization."

Gallus shrugged and said, "Well, okay, if you say so. I guess I'll throw in a few bits-."

"NO!" Sandbar said loudly.

Gallus stared back at Sandbar, wide eyed at the unexpected response.

"I mean, uh, we already wrote down how much our donation is, uh, ahead of time," Sandbar said as his eyes looked around at everything except for the blue griffon right next to him, "So, yeah, we've already got enough, so you don't have to worry yeah. Uh, Yona and Ocellus better go and take it to the, uh, donation box- er, place! Yeah. Better hurry!"

Ocellus nodded quickly as she used her magic to gather the Bits and gems into a pouch. "Good idea, Sandbar. Come on, Yona. Let's get going!"

"Yes. We go now," Yona said, avoiding Gallus' gaze as she got up.

As Yona and Ocellus left, Silverstream gasped and said, "OH! I just remembered! Smolder and I have an important project we need to do today!"

"Really?" Gallus said suspiciously as he gazed from the hippogriff to the dragon.

Smolder nodded defiantly and said, "Yeah, really."

Silverstream smiled encouragingly at Gallus and said, "Aw, don't worry, Gallus. I'm sure Sandbar will keep you bus- I mean you two will find something to do."

Sandbar nudged Gallus in the side and said with a sly grin, "Yeah. Maybe I'll finally beat you at Battlecloud."

Gallus grunted as he stared down at his food. "So, I guess Sandbar's the unlucky one who gets stuck having to associate with the griffon?" he thought to himself miserably.

Gallus had just lost his appetite.