//------------------------------// // Old and Forgotten for Good Reason // Story: Silver Storm // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// Silverstream the hippogriff was off doing her usual things. Flying around the School of Friendship with her bubbly attitude, saying hi to ponies she knew and ones she'd never see before. She great getting to know so many ponies, but she definitely had the best group with five creatures. A yak, a dragon, a griffin, a changeling, and an earth pony. "Hi, guys," Silverstream said cheerfully sitting next to her friends in Pinkie's Laughter class. "There you are," Ocellus said a bit relieved. "Professor Pinkie Pie was going to start our cooking lesson." "I know I'm going to flunk," Gallus sighed. "I mean, griffon pastries taste like dirt. I wish I was joking." "Yona never cooked before," Yona stated. "Pink pony help all creatures." As if on cue, the pink party pony bounced into the room. "Hello, every creature," she said cheerfully. "I'm sure you can see I've gotten some ovens and baking goods just for today's lesson." Pinkie wasn't wrong, it was hard to miss the items, including a cookbook sitting on each stove. "So, what do we do?" Ocellus asked. "Simple. You have one hour to bake something from the book. I also got some recipes from other cultures." The foreign students smiled after hearing this. "I'll be right here if you need some help." After the pink professor explained who was teamed with who, the students got to work. Sandbar searched through the cookbook almost as fast as a timelord. "What to cook?" he questioned. "Why are there so many choices?" "Seriously?" Smolder asked. "Let's just try something from a different kingdom." "Let me try," Silverstream said as her friends handed her the book. She looked through for a while until she gasped in excitement at what she found. "We can cook this." She showed her friends a picture of dumplings that were made of seaweed. "Silver," Smolder said, "I don't want to sound mean, but that looks disgusting." "Don't trash something you've never tried. Look." The hippogriff picked up a bowl that had the seaweed she needed, making her smile with glee. The pony and dragon looked at each other, "We're not going to talk her out of it," Sandbar whispered. "Are we?" "Nope," Smolder replied. Though they had their doubts, they helped their bubbly friend make the dumplings. "So, when did the seaponies make these?" "Well, I'm not sure when they were made," Silverstream said, "But I help my parents make them when I was ten." "But how did you boil them?" Sandbar asked. "Weren't you underwater for most of your life?" "I think we used an underwater volcano." "Volcano?" Smolder questioned as she started boiling water. "Yeah. They're kind of far from Seaquestria." Silverstream helped her friends on what they need to make the dumplings. Gallus, Ocellus, and Yona were trying to make a pastry from Yakyakistan. There was a bit of smoke from the oven as they took out the cake, or what that's the best they could call it, as the bottom was a tiny bit burnt. "Yona might be off by minute," Yona sighed. "It doesn't look too bad," Ocellus said. "Definitely looks like something some creature would eat," Gallus said. A timer went off as Pinkie bounced towards the students. "Alrighty, times up," she said. "What do you have?" "Friends make Yakyakistan special," Yona said making a gesture to their pastry that Ocellus was trying to fix up with some frosting. Pinkie cut off a slice and took a bite. "Hmm, a bit crispy, but not bad for the first time." The pony turned to Smolder, Sandbar, and Silverstream who had some seaweed dumplings waiting for her. "What do you have?" "Seaweed dumplings," the hippogriff said cheerfully holding up the plate of what she and her friends cooked. Pinkie ate one of them and her eyes widened. Smolder and Sandbar started getting nervous until the professor's pupil got as big as her eyes. "These are amazing." Pinkie took two more as she walked over to the other students. "See, what did I tell you?" "I've been wrong before," Sandbar admitted. Smolder took a bite of the dumplings they made and she got the same reaction as their professor. "Whoa-ho-ho," she gasped before her friends got closer to her. "I... Yuck, you guys wouldn't like them. I'll just get rid of them." Her friends reached for them dumplings so they get at least one. "Yona like dumplings," Yona cheered. "I'm glad you like them," Silverstream grinned. "I've been wanting to try out other recipes. Maybe we can combine some." "Um, that doesn't sound like a good idea," Ocellus said. "Who knows, maybe a spicy hayburger could be good with a cherry pie stuffed in it," Gallus said sarcastically. Sandbar showed a bit of disgust hearing this. "I think those would be better apart," he said. After class, Silverstream couldn't think of many different things to do. "Maybe I could do some art projects," she thought. "I think Professor Rarity would like that. She didn't look where she was going and accidentally bumped into Spike, who was carrying some books. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry." "It's alright," Spike said as he picked himself up. "I can help clean up." The hippogriff picked up the books that Spike had dropped. "Thanks. I'm taking these to the library." The dragon and hippogriff walked to the library where Twilight was placing some other new books onto the shelf. "Spike, there you are," the princess/principal said. "Hi, headmare Twilight," Silverstream said. "I'm helping out, since I... Kind of bumped into Spike." "It's alright," Spike said the books he was carrying down. "I'll handle the rest of these Twilight. These are the last ones." "Okay," Twilight replied. "I'll be in my office." The alicorn flew away as Spike started putting the new books onto their shelves. Silverstream was interested in what different kinds of books they were getting. Some were about the history of Equestria, others were about inventions non-unicorns created to make their lives easier. Then she found a one that looked like it was going to fall apart. The cover was dark orange and was being held on with tape, and it read, "Spirits' Spells. "What this?" she asked. Spike flew over to see what book Silverstream found. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a horror novel. I'm going to double check with Twilight to see if we got a book we weren't supposed to." After the dragon left the library, Ocellus walked in and found the new books. "Wow," she gasped. "I didn't know we were getting new books." "Yeah, they look really interesting," Silverstream commented. "Maybe not this one." She showed her friend the dark orange book she found. "Then, let's just pick something else." Ocellus flew up to shelves to see what was new, but Silverstream was still curious about the book in her paws. "Maybe I'll know it if I see what's inside," she thought to herself. Carefully opening it up as to not damage it anymore, she could see the book contain what seemed to spells. These weren't very common spells though, many of them were relating to spirits of the dead. The hippogriff gulped at the topic of the spells, but she kept reading. Then she found there were some drawings in the book. They were showing some ponies bringing back spirits, some of the ponies weren't even unicorns. Then there was one photo that sent a shiver down her spine. "THE STORM KING!" she shrieked grabbing her friend's attention. "What do you mean?" Ocellus asked a bit startled. Silverstream showed her friend the image which the changeling quickly tried to calm her down. "The Storm King was defeated long ago. He won't be coming back." The hippogriff felt a little better from what her friend said, but she didn't know what this book was about. "You want to see this book about Starswirl before he and the pillars vanished for a while?" The changeling read what was in the book she found, but Silverstream couldn't turn away from what she found. She kept going until she found a paragraph of what they needed to bring a spirit back. You may be able to run but you will never hide, I will take over anything worldwide. You should never underestimate my power, even the dragons see me and cower. I will take over everything, you can never defeat the Storm King. Silverstream had enough, tossed down the book, and flew out of the library. She had a shiver running down her spine as she flew down the hall. She was going so fast she didn't have time to avoid colliding with Gallus, making them both crash to the ground. "Silver," the griffon groaned. As he got up, he saw his friend was in a complete panic. "You okay?" "I think... So," Silverstream said catching her breath. "I just found this book that... I don't wanna talk about it." "Alright then. Our next class is in five minutes." "Oh, right. I was hoping I would get to draw some before then." "Maybe after Professor Fluttershy could get you thinking of something." Silverstream followed her griffon friend to their next class. "Alright every creature," Fluttershy said, "We'll learn about Phoenixes." The class oohed after hearing what their lesson was. "Why does bird have fire?" Yona asked seeing that the drawing on the chalkboard had a bit of fire on it. "Phoenixes are special kinds of bird. Once in a while, their feathers fall off and they burn into ash." Her class gasped at this, which the pegasus promptly tried to calm her down. "It's not what you think. Phoenixes spring back to life, soaring out of the ashes and come back as a new beautiful bird." To help back her up, she showed them two pictures of what a phoenix looked like. Before and after they burst into ash. "So, they can control fire?" Sandbar asked. "Sort of." "I've seen them in action before," Smolder said. "Kind of annoying honestly." "Yona like to have one," Yona said. "Help keep warm in snow." "That looks so amazing," Silverstream cooed. "Of course you would like it," Smolder said. "They show dumb dragons like who's the boss." The hippogriff covered her beak from what she just said, which made her friend a bit offended. "What was that?" "I don't know where that came from." "What's going on?" Fluttershy asked. "It's nothing," Silverstream said trying to play it cool. Smolder was about to say something, but Gallus stopped her. "Alright then." Though she was a little suspicious, Flutter walked back to the chalkboard to erase her drawing as she looked at some other picture of creatures. "Now, who wants to hear about manticores?" After class, Silverstream flew out the door, but Smolder quickly caught up with and stopped her. "What the heck was that?" Smolder asked. "I don't know," Silverstream protested. "It just slipped out." "You're one of the last creatures to think of something like that," Ocellus said walking up to the hippogriff and dragon. "Everyone has to be thinking something like that once. Right?" "Well, I was a bit annoyed when Yona took the last pie at the cafeteria," Gallus said. "Yona said Yona sorry," the yak stated. "Yeah, after you drowned it in wiped cream." "Look, let's try and forget what happened and just carry on with our day," Sandbar suggested. "Right," the group agreed, especially the hippogriff. Next up was gym class, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were waiting for their class. "Alright, y'all," Applejack said, "We're going to be playing classic buckball." "What's buckball?" Ocellus asked, "I'm not the most sporty." "Well, it works like this," Dash explained giving a ball to AJ. "Earth ponies are the offense." The farm pony showed this by kicking the ball towards the basket, which Dash just blocked. "Pegasi are defense. And unicorns are goalies." "Sounds easy enough," Smolder said. The ball was placed in the middle of the field as Sandbar and Yona took their places. Once Dash blew her whistle, the yak took her friend by surprise by smacking the ball towards the basket that Gallus was guarding. He whacked the ball and Sandbar kicked to the one that Smolder was protecting. The dragon hit the ball back twice as hard and it soared into the basket that Ocellus was holding. The yak, dragon, and changeling cheered after getting their first point. Silverstream, who was on Sandbar and Gallus's team was annoyed. They tried another round, and the opposite team won again. "Come on," Silverstream groaned. "Try harder!" "I'm trying my hardest," Sandbar protested feeling uncomfortable of how his friend was acting. The next round happened again and Gallus managed to toss the ball towards his teammate. The hippogriff got excited as she held her basket out to catch the ball, but Smolder smacked the ball into her team's basket. Silverstream screamed in anger and tossed her basket into the air. It smacked Gallus in the head and he promptly dropped to the ground. AJ and Dash raced towards him, as did his friends. Silverstream was just shocked at what she just did. She didn't know what to do or say as her professors walked over to her. "Headmare Twilight would like to see you," Dash said. Later, Silverstream was in one of the classrooms sitting at a desk that had a stack of paper, a quill, and some ink. "I want you to write 'I will not hurt my classmates' a hundred times," Twilight said. "I know you're frustrated you didn't win, but you can't hurt your classmates. Much less your friends." The student didn't reply and sighed in her guilt. Twilight said nothing else and walked out of the classroom. Silverstream sadly started writing as she said the words out loud every time show wrote them down. "I will not hurt my classmates," she said multiple times. When she finally finished writing her paw was cramped. She flew down the hallway with many of the students she passed whispering about what she did. The hippogriff didn't say anything as she flew back to her dorm and landed on her bed. As she let out a sad sigh, her friends walked in. Include Gallus, whose head was bandaged with an ice pack resting on it. "Hey, Silver," Ocellus said only to get a moan as a reply. "Told you she isn't wanting to talk," Smolder said with Yona bumping her in her chest. "Silver, we're worried about you," Sandbar said. "Why are you acting like this?" "I don't know," Silverstream replied. "I can get angry, but not like that." "Look, you probably just had an off day," Gallus said. "Friend no need to apologize," Yona said. "Yaks get angry a lot. No good when anger builds." "I... Guess you're right," Silverstream sighed. "Thanks for forgiving me." "No problem," Sandbar said. The friends turned to leave, but Silverstream stopped the griffon. "Gallus... I'm really sorry." "It's okay," he replied. "As Yona said, friend no need to apologize." Gallus chuckled as he closed the door. The hippogriff yawned as her eyelids got heavy. "Maybe I'll feel better... In the morning." She closed her eye and let her mind carry off to her dreams. Silverstream woke up to find she was in a locker room. She also found that she was wearing a Wonderbolts uniform, complete with even goggles. The hippogriff's excitement rose as she raced out of the room. She began running towards the cliff edge. She jumped off and soared into the sky. She had a blast, though she was confused on why there weren't any Wonderbolts around, not even Rainbow Dash. Then without warning, she turned into her seapony form and fell out of the sky like a rock. Silverstream didn't have her necklace on her, so she couldn't turn back into a hippogriff. All she could do was freefall. Her fear started to diminish as she could see a large body of water below. So, she braced herself and splashed into the water. The seapony swam around for a bit until she became to feel a little warm, in fact, it was hot. Boiling, it was boiling! The heat was becoming unbearable, Silverstream had to get to land, and fast. The seapony looked around and saw a bit of land and she swam towards it as fast as she could. Her body was steaming as she leaped out of the water. The land she got to appeared to be Mount Aris. "If is any griff here?" the seapony asked. "I don't have my pearl piece, so I can't move." "Is that so?" came a voice. Silverstream looked around. There was too much fog to see if anyone was around, but someone was walking towards him. A tall fuzzy figure was icy blue eyes, a figure that she knew too well. "The Storm King!?" The figure chuckled as the seapony was right. Silverstream tried to crawl back into the water. She knew it was boiling, but she could swim to safety. The Storm King had other ideas. He grabbed Silverstream by her tail and picked her up. "P... Put me down!" "Oh, who's going to make me?" the king asked. He carried the seapony into the fog which seemed to get thinner until they could see Mount Aris was taken over by the king's army. Seaponies were locked in cages as an extra measure so they wouldn't escape. Many guards stood out of the way so the king could walk past. Silverstream saw her family locked up as well, which made her want to escape even more. "Let me go! What do you want!?" "Well, I've gotten your home, I think Griffonstone would be a good place to continue. Or maybe Yakyakistan." "That's where my friends live." "Even better." "This... This is just a dream. I'll just wake up." "It's not that simple kid. I'm coming back to the real world, and you're going to help me do it." When they reached the top of Mount Aris, Silverstream saw what looked like a portal. The Storm King lowered his arms so the seapony tried to crawl away. "Let's go." With that, the king jumped into the portal and he and the seapony fell in, screaming. Silverstream screamed as she woke up in her dorm room bed. She had never been more relieved. "Silver, what happened?" Ocellus asked running up to her friend. "It was just a nightmare," Silverstream sighed. "Let's just get breakfast." Ocellus just shrugged it off and followed her friend to the cafeteria. The girls were surprised by the school's hallways, they were completely trashed. It wasn't just the hallways, the cafeteria was a mess too. "What happened last night?" "That's what I wanna know," Twilight Sparkle said walking into the cafeteria. "Wasn't Yona," Yona stated. "Yaks can't fly." There was a bit of damage to the ceiling. "Whoever did this will be in serious trouble." Silverstream held her paws together and saw something on the ceiling that she didn't want to see. The Storm King emblem.