//------------------------------//
// Chapter 178: A Test? 
// Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

One by one each of the students found their bearings, realizing they'd been cut off from the others. So they quickly set to work on exploring their surroundings in hopes of finding any sort of way out.

In the distance, Silverstream could've sworn she saw something staring back at her through the waterfall. Without a second thought she rushed through it, only to find that what awaited her on the other side was very familiar to her. "Mount Aris? Wait, did the prince send me home? Hello? Anygriff here? Mom? Dad? Terramar? Aunt Novo?" There was no reply but the hippogriff wasn't too worried. "They must all be topside or something."

She ducked into a nearby cave, only to hear a distant but growing growl. The growl filled the young hippogriff with worry. By chance she happened to turn around and saw an ominous looking shadow appear. Silverstream let out a scream as she transformed into her seapony state and dove for cover behind a rock. The shadow grew larger, surrounding itself with several smaller shadows. But what really clued Silverstream in on the identity of the shadow, was a pair of brilliant opal eyes. "The Storm King?! He's back?! But that can't be! You were destroyed!"

The shadow of the Storm King only laughed. "Did you really think I'd be done in so easily, by one of my one inventions no less? Foolish child."

Silverstream gulped. "I'm... I'm not scared of you."

"Now now, one mustn't lie," The Storm King scolded. "Your eyes betray you, I see much fear in them. And this time, your queen isn't here to save you. And neither is anyone else. Now, kneel before your new king."

"Never! I'd sooner die than call you my king!" Silverstream vowed even as her voice cracked.

The Storm King simply growled again. "Insolent child! You shall soon learn what happens to those who dare defy me."





Gallus was the next one to regain his bearings. He found himself trapped in what looked like a pretty big room full of crystals, but there was no sign of an exit. Also, there seemed to be several colored rays of light, but the griffon thought nothing of them.

"Okay. So I'm in some random big room and there's no exit," Gallus told himself. "Big deal. I'll find my way out of here in no time at all."

But as he spoke the griffon's paw swiped one of the purple rays of light. With an audible rumble the crystals began to contract and close in on him.

Gallus backed up in horror as sweat started to pour down his face! "Okay, not cool! I don't wanna be a griffon pancake!"





Unlike Silverstream and Gallus, Yona had ended up in a dark cave with only the occasional flickering light to guide her. And it seemed like there were traces of webs of some kind.

The yak slowly made her way through the caves, trying not to show how scared she really was. "Nothing for yak to be afraid of. Just empty cave. Nothing in here can ever hurt—"

But just then a faint skittering sound reached the yak's ears. Yona spun around and her worst fears were confirmed, several spiders were dangling from the ceiling and staring right back at her! "S-s-spiders!" She screamed in horror as the spiders chittered.





Smolder had already come to her senses and was flying through the narrow passageways to try and find her way out, all the while she was grumbling to herself. "Ugh. Things like this just don't happen in the Dragon Lands. This has to be the worst school I've ever been in! Ponies being nice to me, crazy former queens kidnapping me, and glowing princes telling me friendship's in my nature. I mean, friendship isn't bad but I don't see why I should care about it. No one's ever really cared about me," Then, up ahead she saw what appeared to be an opening. She flew through it only to find two bubbly pink coated ponies in fancy dresses, talking in the most annoyingly cute voices possible. "What the-" Smolder began, a little too loudly.

"Ohhh! Aren't you just the most adorable little thing I ever did see?" One of the ponies asked. "Come join us. You must be thirsty, so how does tea sound?"

Smolder shook her head. "No. On so many levels. No. I'm out of here!" And she flew away, hoping to forget all about it. But a short time later she found herself somehow ending up back in the same room with the same ponies. "Huh? How did I end up back here?! Are you ghosts or something?"

The other pony just giggled. "No, we're not ghosts, silly. Come sit by me, and let's compliment each other! Don't you wanna be nice and pretty, like us?"

Smolder groaned. "It's like my worst nightmare come to life! How am I supposed to get out of this?" She thought.





Ocellus had already come to her senses and was trying to find a way out. She found it odd though that the catacombs seemed to resemble the interior of the changeling hive as it used to look.

But suddenly, two changelings in black instead of the usual colors appeared before her. Ocellus gasped! "W-why do you look like that? You're not supposed to look like that!"

The first changeling simply answered. "What do you mean? We've always looked this way. We're all the same."

Ocellus whimpered. "Not me."

The other changeling then replied. "Duh, of course not you... your majesty!"

"What?!" Ocellus gasped in horror!

The changelings simply bowed their heads. "It's okay. We'll go drain the love from all those pathetic ponies in Ponyville just as you ordered. That'll make you feel like your old queeny self again."

Ocellus looked down at her hooves, seeing that they were black and full of holes! Horrified, she turned around and saw her reflection staring back at her in a mirror! She had transformed into Queen Chrysalis! "Noooo! This can't be happening!" She shrieked.





While all of this was going on, Sandbar found himself facing not some horrifying or embarrassing event but two very familiar ponies: Big Macintosh and Thunderlane.

"Sandbar, thank heavens! Been lookin' all over for ya!" Big Macintosh exclaimed with relief!

"You have? But what about the others?" Sandbar questioned.

Thunderlane shook his head. "Haven't seem them and there's no time for that! There's an emergency brewing in Ponyville, and need your help!"

Sandbar let out a gasp! "You mean, it's my first friendship adventure?! Oh, if only my Uncle Feather Bangs could see me now!"

"Well you want to make him proud, don't ya?" Big Macintosh asked the colt. "Come on, let's get a move on! Time's runnin' out!"

Sandbar was about to take a step forward, but then he hesitated. "Hey, I can't just leave the other students down here. We were all together, then this glowing version of Prince Shining Armor showed up and we all got separated. It said something about a test."

Big Macintosh and Thunderlane exchanged glances of confusion, and Thunderlane replied. "You must be imaging things, Sandbar. I assure you, we'll find the other students in due time. But for right now your help is needed. All of Equestria may be depending on you."

Reluctantly, Sandbar followed the two stallions. "I'm sure the others will be fine. The prince and his friends wouldn't abandon them down here. They're not like that, right?" He thought to himself.





Gallus wasn't having much luck back where he was. It seemed like the walls were growing smaller and smaller with each passing second, and the young griffon found himself hyper ventilating as a result. "I'm too young to die!" He protested. "Why did this have to happen to me?!"

But then he hit himself with one of his paws. "Aah! Come on, Gallus. You gotta keep it together!" He gave himself a mental pep talk. "You can do this! Griffons never show weakness." He took some deep breaths, only to suddenly sneeze and fly backward, causing the walls to contract even more!

"Gah! Not good, not good!" Gallus whimpered. "Come on, think! What would the others do if they were in this situation?" The only one whose mentality the griffon thought would be helpful in this situation turned out to be Sandbar. "Sandbar never lets anything phase him, he's always so cool and collected. If he were here, he'd probably stay calm and look for a way out. This is just like a puzzle... that will squash you if you don't figure it out."

Then the griffon noticed something. So far he hadn't touched any of the white colored rays of lights. Maybe they held the key? Curiously, he reached out a paw to touch one of them. Touching it caused the walls to expand. "Aha! Here we go!" Gallus declared. "Alright, no pressure. Just open it up and climb out, easy as pie."

It was actually a lot harder than Gallus would've imagined, even though he went out of his way to touch only the white colored rays he still occasionally hit the purple colored ones with his tail. He just barely climbed out before the only exit slammed shut behind him. Once free of his crystal prison he flew away.





Meanwhile, Smolder had come to a realization about the ponies she was stuck with. "Look, ponies. I have to get out of here and find the others. So just tell me what I have to do to pass this test. I'm not afraid of anything. I'm a dragon, after all! I'm as tough can be!"

"Oh, I don't know about that!" One of the ponies chuckled. "Sounds like she's afraid to ever be cute and adorable, doesn't it?"

"Or maybe she's just afraid to admit that she likes being cute and adorable." The other pony suggested.

The first pony nodded. "Sounds that way to me. She's such a huge tomcolt, so afraid to let her girly side shine."

"Well that's okay, we won't judge her. And neither will those who truly want to get to know her." The other pony said with a giggle.

Sensing that the ponies wouldn't take no for an answer, Smolder reluctantly sighed. "Alright, just this once," She cleared her throat and in the cutest voice she could muster up she asked. " May I have some tea, please, ladies?"

"Aw, how cute. But you can't have tea if you aren't dressed for it. You know that means." The first pony said with an aw.

Smolder sighed. "Okay, fine. But let's keep this between us." A short time later she was dressed up in a fancy blue gown, a matching tiara, and eyeliner, sipping tea from a cup. She let out a giggle.





Yona wasn't afraid of much, but spiders absolutely terrified her! She tried her best not to let it show as she nervously tried to back away. "A-alright s-spiders. You making Yona angry, you not like Yona when Yona get angry. So you'd best get out of here." She whimpered, her tone of voice betraying any level of threatening she might have otherwise had.

As the spiders descended, Yona ran away as fast as her legs would let her! When at last she was certain she had escaped the spiders she stopped to catch her breath. "Why it have to be spiders?" She asked herself. "Yak no like spiders!"

But then Yona turned around and saw an army of spiders surrounding her. She screamed as she tried to run, only to hit the ground with a thud and the spiders closed in on her location. At the top of her lungs she screamed! "Yona need help! Where other creatures when Yona need them?! Yona not want to be alone!"

Yet all of a sudden the spiders stopped in their tracks, unwilling (or perhaps unable) to move. Suddenly, one of the spiders began to chitter. And to Yona's surprise she could understand what it was trying to say, something about how Yona's screaming and thudding scared them just as much as they scared her. "Yona... no mean to scream," She apologized as she reluctantly held out a hoof. "Yona love making friends. Spiders friends?"

One of the spiders crawled closer to Yona and right up her hoof that she held out. It whispered something to her, much to the yak's surprise. "Wait. What little spider say? Spider want to go home with Yona?"

The spider seemed to chitter happily in response. Yona smiled. "Yona love to bring spider home! Yona make spider pet! Yona shall call spider Spindle."

The spider chittered some more and Yona translated. "Spindle say he and friends know the way? Then Yona follow spiders."





Having finished their tests, Smolder and Gallus ended up bumping into each other when they both noticed a distant and fading source of light. Above them was a vent that appeared to lead back to the school and safety. But several crystal branches blocked it off, preventing anyone from getting in or out.

Smolder immediately noticed how shaken up Gallus seemed to be. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"Uh, what happened to you?" Gallus asked. "What's with the get up?"

Smolder blushed as she looked at herself, before throwing off the dress. "You never saw any of that. Got it? Tell a single soul and you're dead!"

Gallus nodded. "Right, I won't tell," Then he turned to the vent. "I think we could get out of here if we really wanted to, those crystals don't look all that tough. The other students probably finished their tests already."

Smolder rolled her yes. "Yeah, that seems likely," She sarcastically rolled her eyes. "They wouldn't abandon us, so we're not gonna abandon them."

"Right, fair point. We're not just any griffon and dragon," Gallus nodded. "We'll have to be quick though, so let's split up! You go that way. I'll check over there." And the two split off to do their own searches.





Smolder hadn't been on her own for long when she suddenly heard what sounded like sobbing. "Ocellus?" She asked as she recognized the voice.

"Go away! I don't want you to see me like this!" Ocellus protested but refused to step forward.

"Ocellus, come on! Whatever it is it can't be that bad," Smolder protested. "We've gotta get out of here and back to the school! I didn't come all this way to be told no," But as she rounded a corner, she saw not Ocellus but actually Queen Chrysalis! "No way?! Chrysalis?! Where's Ocellus?! What have you done to her?!"

But through Chrysalis' body Ocellus whimpered and sobbed. "It's me! I'm hideous!"

"What are you talking about? How come you still sound like yourself, Ocellus?" Smolder questioned. "When Chrysalis disguised herself as that photographer we couldn't tell the difference. I thought when you changelings changed, even your voice became whoever you were pretending to be."

"In most cases that's true," Ocellus admitted as she sat down on the ground. "But in cases where we're emotionally distraught or afraid of being caught, our real voice can slip through. Such as how you've found me."

Smolder protested. "Well, just change back to your normal self. What are you waiting for?"

"I can't," Ocellus weakly admitted as she tried to transform but to no avail. "Maybe ponies are right about us after all. Maybe my past was so horrible that it's still inside me just waiting to come out again."

"Come on now, that's nonsense!" Smolder remarked. "That's not who you are anymore. You've changed. You're nothing like that nasty former queen we just escaped from."

Ocellus only weakly shook her head. "But maybe we really can't change that much. Maybe our past always haunts us no matter what we do."

"W-well," Smolder blushed. "I... I sort of..." She muffled her voice before she could say anything else.

"What was that?" Ocellus asked.

The blush grew only brighter on Smolder's face as she blurted out for all to hear! " I like cute, silly stuff! There, I said it! I've realized that sometimes I kinda don't mind cute stuff. Know what I'm saying?" Ocellus just giggled as Smolder explained. "So you see? If a dragon like me can admit she likes tea parties, then that's proof that we can change," Grinning, she added. "I was gonna invite you to a top-secret tea party with me, but if you want to stay down here..."

Ocellus gasped! "Oh! No! I want to come! Just a sec!" And she finally manged to transform back to her normal state.

Smolder smiled. "See? I thought that might work. Come on, let's go!"





Gallus turned a corner and found himself in a cave with a small pond. "Hello?! Anyone here?!" He called.

Suddenly, Silverstream popped up from beneath the surface and pulled Gallus close, shushing him with a fin as she hid with him behind a rock. "Shhhh! The Storm King will hear you! You can't let him hear you!"

"The Storm King? Silverstream, he was defeated long ago. He's not around anymore," Gallus protested. "We're in some caves beneath the school. I've come to get you out of here."

Silverstream whimpered with fright. "Gallus, this is serious! This isn't time for your jokes! I can't find any Hippogriffs or seaponies. They must all be captured!" Then she gasped as she saw Gallus fly up from behind the rock. "Gallus! Get back down here! He'll see you!"

But all Gallus could see was a bunch of rocks. "It's not real, Silverstream. It's just your imagination."

The seapony wasn't convinced. "Of course he's real! He's back, and I'm never gonna see another sunset or fly through a cloud bank or study plumbing or do anything of those things! He's gonna take away everything that I love! I'm gonna be trapped down here forever!"

With a sigh, Gallus confessed. "I'm afraid of being trapped too. Being trapped in small spaces scares me like nothing else."

"Really? You? Afraid? I always thought you griffons were fearless." Silverstream pondered.

"It's all just an act," Gallus admitted. "I was stuck in a room that kept shrinking. But I realized I had to face my fear, and I found the way out. This is your test, Silverstream. The Storm King isn't really here, he can't hurt you."

Silverstream gulped. "But what if he is real? What if he can hurt me?"

"He won't on my watch! I'll see to that!" Gallus vowed. "Think of this as your chance, your chance to let him know what you really think of him."

"A-alright, wish me luck," Silverstream gulped again as she turned into her hippogriff form. "Uh, hey! Storm King! That's right, I'm talking to you!"

The Storm King turned around. "Ah, so you've finally stopped hiding."

"That's right, because I'm not afraid of a bully like you!" Silverstream protested as she fought back the tears. "You're nothing but a big old bully with a silly name and a... and a goofy crown! You thought you could scare us into doing whatever you wanted! That you could make us live in fear! But we learned that together, we're stronger than you! So now that you're gone, we're not going to let you control our lives anymore! The hippogriffs will never again be prisoners or slaves! We won't even give you another thought for as long as we live!"

"What?! How dare you talk to me like that! No one talks back to me!" The Storm King growled in protest. "Perhaps I need to teach a naughty child like you a lesson!"

Silverstream just roared back. "The lesson is over, Storm King! You're dead and you can't threaten me anymore! I have friends now, friends who care about me! And that's something you'll never have!"

Just like that, the shadow of the Storm King faded. Except it turned out to be a pile of rocks.

Silverstream could hardly contain her excitement as she flew down and hugged Gallus tightly! "Oh! Thank you so much for that, Gallus! That felt so good! I sure told him, didn't I?!"

Gallus nervously laughed. "Okay. Heh. Hug time later. W-We still have to get back to the school. I know the way, follow me!"





Ocellus and Silverstream arrived back at the entrance to the catacombs with Smolder and Gallus, but two of the group were still unaccounted for. "Where are Yona and Sandbar?" Silverstream asked.

Ocellus became alarmed! "The way out is closing! Time's almost up!"

But Smolder protested. "We're not leaving without them! We all got into this mess together, and we're all gonna get out of it together! Guess we'll have to split up again."

But just then, Yona came in with a huge army of spiders following her. "Yona find friends!" She happily exclaimed! "Other creatures friends!"

Everyone else screamed and Silverstream questioned. "Hey, Yona. Who's your... spider army?"

Yona smiled. "Yona always scared of spiders. But then Yona meet Spindle and take him home as pet. Yona realize there no reason to be afraid. Spiders and yak friends! So Yona ask new friends to help finding other friends!"

"G-great," Gallus nervously replied. "Do you think your new friends can help us find Sandbar? We can't leave without him."

One of the spiders chittered, Yona translated. "Spindle says he knows where pony can be found. He'll lead the way!"





While all of that was going on, Sandbar was beginning to have his doubts about the whole "friendship adventure" he was on. It seemed like he'd been going in circles. "Please, stop!" He protested. "I'm not going anywhere until I find the others! They're probably looking for me right now."

"Sandbar, the other creatures can take care of themselves! Think about your own well being for a change!" Thunderlane protested. "We didn't come all the way down here only to be told you didn't want to be rescued."

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh responded. "Are you really that selfish? Don't try to be a hero, kid. Leave everythin' to the grown-ups. Honestly, if you're gonna be like this then you're such a disappointment."

At that Sandbar stopped, digging in his heels as he protested with tears in his eyes! "How could you say such things?! I've looked up to you guys, idolized you, wanted to be just like you! You would never turn your backs on each other, and that's what makes you strong. Now I have a group of creatures I consider my friends. Friends that I think are every bit as amazing as yours. So if I have to give up on them to make you proud, then I guess you aren't the ponies I thought you were. And if that's case I don't care if I disappoint you. You disappoint me!"

As soon as he spoke those words, Big Macintosh and Thunderlane vanished in a flash of light, as if they had never been there to begin with. It took Sandbar but a moment to realize what had happened. "They weren't real! They were part of my test! That glowing version of the prince wanted to see if I'd abandon the others for my own desires!"

The other creatures had arrived in time to see Sandbar tell off the illusions. Unaware of the fact that they were illusions, Silverstream asked Sandbar. "Did you actually just tell our professors you were disappointed in them?"

Sandbar shook his head. "Those weren't actually our professors. Besides, they tried to get between me and my friends. I'd never let that happen!"

"Well that's very sweet of you. Now, can we please get out of here?!" Smolder demanded.





The six creatures that now considered themselves friends returned to the catacomb entrance only to find the vent still blocked.

Just then the shimmering, glowing version of Shining Armor appeared before them. "Ah, so you have all passed your tests. I hoped you would, and I am pleased to see that my hope was not misplaced."

"You're not really Prince Shining Armor, are you?!" Sandbar realized and when the projection shook its head the colt demanded. "So who or what are you?!"

"You know the answer to that, do you not?" The projection answered.

Ocellus gasped! "Of course, you're the Tree of Harmony!"

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight," Silverstream pondered. "The Tree of Harmony turned into a sparkly version of the prince in order to talk to us? Did I miss something?"

The projection simply replied. "Like all living things, I change as I grow. And as I have changed, so too have my abilities."

"But why did you trap us in these catacombs with our worst fears?!" Gallus demanded.

"Like I said, it was a test," The projection explained. "You chose what you saw in my roots, not me."

"And our friendship is what got us through your challenges!" Sandbar realized, before he nervously answered. "But, what if any of us had failed? Would you have actually kept us down here?"

The projection shook its head. "Of course not. I would never intentionally harm another creature, no matter what. Had you failed I would have stepped in to save you as I did with Chrysalis. I would have returned you to the school and you would never remember any of this. But if you had known all of this from the start you would never have had the courage to face your fears," Then it declared. "Now, however, you know that friendship is in your nature. So do not ever doubt that. As promised, I will let you all pass safely through this vent." The crystal branches parted, allowing the students to climb up.

Just before leaving the catacombs, Gallus turned to Sandbar and asked. "We just got tested on friendship by a sentient, sparkling tree, didn't we?"

Sandbar grinned. "You could say that."