//------------------------------// // Ghost in the Caves // Story: Going Rogue // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// Chancellor Neighsay walked to the entrance of the school. His horn lit up and shot out a beam that encased the doors and windows in locks and chains. Nothing would get in or out. The students were all outside to watch this. Silverstream sat next to Yona. "I can't believe this," the hippogriff sighed. "Yona don't want school to close," Yona cried. "Me neither," Pinkie Pie agreed, "But you know he's right." "Trud sorry he snap first," Trud said walking up to the pink pony. "Me too," Emerald added. "Oh, don't feel bad you two," Pinkie said. "You helped me with the Pony Pals Dance." "Yak wanted to see dance," Trud said. "I'm sorry about all of this," Neighsay apologized. "But I doubt we want all of you to beat every breath out of everycreature." "No," the two replied. "If it helps save time, I can help you back to your homes." "You can do that?" Kelpie asked. "Oh, I've seen him do that," Silverstream said glumly. "Could you give me and my friends for a minute." "Don't take too long." The hippogriff nodded as she and Yona walked towards their other four friends. "I can't believe this," Ocellus sighed. "I thought I could get through to him." "We know you tried," Sandbar said. "Once they have that dream, there's nothing you could've done about it," Gallus said. "Yona wants to stay with friends," Yona said. "Me too," Silverstream said with a small tear in her eye. "We could've stopped her," Smolder growled. "We..." "Smolder, how could've we stopped a ghost?" Gallus asked. "Well, maybe with the wind chimes..." "It's too late," Ocellus said. "The damage is done." "We... We will still see each other, will we?" Silverstream asked. No one had an answer to this. "Mmm... Maybe," Sandbar stuttered. They all looked over to Neighsay, who just opened a portal for the yaks. The six shared a hug before Yona walked over to the other yaks. They walked through the portal, then the hippogriff to Mount Aris, then the griffons to Griffonstone, the changelings to the hive, and the dragons to the Dragon Lands. Sandbar sighed and walked home. Beachcomer was playing with Coral Currents when Sandbar walked in. "What are you doing home so early?" the stallion asked. He then saw the upset expression on his son's face. "What happened?" "...The school was shut down," Sandbar replied glumly. "Oh no, why?" "Some creatures just started acting out of control. They lost all common sense." "That can't be." "It is. My friends thought it was Cozy Glow." "That filly? It couldn't be. She was turned to stone along with that changeling and centaur." "But my friends saw her. I just wish we could've stopped her." "I'm sure you and your friends tried. How about we play a board game. Those usually cheer you up." "I guess." The colt walked off to find a game to play as his father kept playing with his sister. In Griffonstone, Gallus was sulking at Gabby's home. "I can't believe your school was shut down," Gabby gasped. "I know," Gallus groaned. "I don't even want to know what Grampa Gruff's going to say to me." "I think Gilda has some scones. I could get some if you want." "Sure, why not." Gabby left to leave Gallus to think about his friends. The griffon felt like his worst fear was coming true. He lay his head on the table and looked towards the letter he got a few days earlier. Gallus clenched his fist and banged it on the table. "How could've we stopped her?" Outside, Gallus then noticed something glowing. He went outside and found a slab on the ground. He picked it up and saw a tunnel underneath, it looked familiar. Out of curiosity, Gallus flew down the hole and walked down the tunnel. The walls appeared to made of rough crystals, some lighters ones were showing. "I feel like I've been here before," he said. "Who said that?" asked a voice. It echoed and Gallus looked around to see who it came from. "Hold on." The griffon walked closer to where he heard the noise. He heard the voice call out again and he picked up the pace. When he turned the corner he saw a familiar dragoness. "Smolder?" "Gallus?" the dragoness questioned. "How and why are you here?" "I was going to ask you the same thing. I just found a loose slab behind Gabby's house." "That's pretty similar to my story. My brother said I should try collecting gems to feel better, then I found slab on the ground. I though some dragon just broke it off, but it led to this cave." "Does it look familiar to you?" "Yeah. I think we're in the cave where the Tree of Harmony tested us." "It might be. Follow me real quick." Smolder led Gallus down the cave until they came across a fork in the road. There were five different tunnels. "There's the one I came from, I think." Just to be safe, Gallus decided to make which tunnel was his by carving a 'G' on the ground. "But... If we're here then, what about the others?" "Don't know. Maybe if we keep going we'll get back to school." The dragon and griffon then started some humming, which was followed by a gasp. "You guys!" a familiar voice cried. Out of the blue, Silverstream pounced at her friend to give them a huge hug. "I thought I wouldn't get to see you guys again," she said with extreme joy. "I'm happy to see you too," Gallus wheezed. "Can I breathe now?" Silverstream realized what he meant and let her friends go. "How did you get down here?" "How did you get down here?" Smolder replied. "I found a tunnel under a slab on Mount Aris." "The same story with us," Gallus said. "You think the others are down here?" "Only one way to find out," Smolder said. They walked down one of the paths until they came across some light shining from above. There appeared to be some crystals trying to push out of the ground. Smolder decided to give them some help and pushed the slab up to find they were in a field filled with various different plants. "Looks like we're at the changeling hive," Gallus said. "Where's Ocellus?" Silverstream asked. "She has to be nearby," Smolder responded. The three looked around to find a sad changeling lying on a bed of moss with some younger changelings around her. "Hey, Ocellus..." "Leave me alone," the changeling moaned. "I messed up and my friends are paying the consequences." "Well, we're not mad," Smolder said. She had a smug look on her face as Ocellus finally noticed who was talking to her. "Smolder? Silver? Gallus? What are you doing here? How are you here?" "We found some tunnels at our homes," Gallus explained. "Your's is over there." Ocellus looked to where he was pointing and saw the loose slab. "How is this possible?" "We think it has something to do with the tree," Smolder said. "The Tree of Harmony?" "The one and only," Gallus responded. "But how?" "We don't know," Silverstream said. "But we can get to see each other again." "What about Yona and Sandbar?" "Let's go find out," Smolder said. "But... I can't leave my parents without them knowing." "We'll tell them," Ocellus's siblings said. "Are you sure about that?" As they talked about what to do, Gallus noticed a purple glow from the cave. He peeked down to see it, but it was gone as soon as he entered. "What are you looking at?" Silverstream asked. "I thought I saw something," the griffon replied. "So, is Ocellus coming with us or not?" "Smolder said she would catch up with us. Let's go." The hippogriff followed her friend down the tunnel. They walked back to the intersection and walked down a different tunnel. They walked for a while until the temperature started getting colder. Gallus thought of one place that would be this cold, Yakyakistan. They came across another hole in the ceiling. Gallus and Silverstream had to work together to move the slab out of their way. It was much heavier than the others due to the amount of snow on it. They finally pushed it out of the way and crawled out of the cave. "Yep, we're in Yakyakistan," Gallus said. "I wonder where Yona is," Silverstream said. They walked around, shivering a bit from the cold. "I'm really regretting not coming here with Smolder." "Ditto." Rutherford was walking around until he saw the two griffs. He stomped in front of them, stopping them in their tracks. "What you two doing here?" the yak asked. "Looking for Yona," Silverstream replied. "How did you get here?" "You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Gallus responded. "Have you seen Yona?" Silverstream asked. The prince was confused but replied anyway. "She at home with parents." He pointed to the hut that their friend was in. "Th-th-thanks." They walked off towards the hut, shivering a bit as the cold was getting to them. Yona was lying on her bed hugging her lamb plushie, feeling sad until her mother walked in. "Friends would like to see Yona," she said. The young yak was confused. She followed her mother and saw the griffon and hippogriff. They both had blankets on as Yona's father made some stew. "Hey, Yon-AH!" Gallus couldn't finish as the yak him and Silverstream in excitement. "Yeah, we're happy to see you too?" "How'd friends get to Yakyakistan?" Yona asked. "We found a set of tunnels," Silverstream said. "They're connected to Griffonstone, Mount Aris, the Dragon Lands, Changeling Hive..." "Ponyville?" "We don't know about that," Gallus said. "But if we made all the way to here, we have to get to Ponyville," Silverstream said. "Not before guests have stew," Yona's father said. He prepared two bowls of stew just for the griffon and hippogriff, though they suddenly lost their appetite. The stew didn't look very good. "Friends really should try it," Yona said. "Thanks, Gallus said. He struggled to take his eyes off the stew. "We should really get going." Silverstream slowly took a sip of her stew and qas surprised by the taste. "This is actually pretty good," she commented. Gallus looked towards his bowl. "Eh, gotta be better than anything in Griffonstone." "Yaks best," Yona's father boasted. The griffon just rolled his eyes as he took a sip. After a while, they got back to the hole to the tunnels. "Friends came here from there?" Yona questioned. "Yep," Gallus confirmed. "Let's get going, I'm getting cold again." The yak slowly crawled into the hole with her friends following behind. Once inside, they walked back to the intersection. "What about other friends?" "Ocellus said she would catch up," Silverstream responded. "She's with Smolder." "Somebody call us?" Smolder asked. Smolder and Ocellus walked around the corner and startled their friends. "Sorry about that," Ocellus apologized. "I told my parents I was going to hang with you guys and... Here we are." "Uh hu," Gallus said. "We just need one more to complete the team." "Friends getting Sandbar?" Yona asked cheerfully. "Yep." "I'm going to make a map of this place," Ocellus said. "We can easily get lost in here." "Way ahead of you. I've marked our homes with a letter. 'G' for Griffonstone, 'C' for Changeling Hive, etcetera. Speaking of." He used his talon to write down a 'Y' for Yakyakistan. "Okay, Silver, you ran up and hugged us from there." Gallus flew over the tunnel to Griffonstone. "Yep, you came from that way." He walked over to the tunnel to Mount Aris and carved an 'M'. "Okay, I still think that's where I came from," Smolder said pointing to the tunnel in between Gallus's and Ocellus's. "What about that one?" Yona asked pointing to the tunnel between Mount Aria and Yakyakistan. "That has to be Sandbar's," Ocellus said. "He's the only one left." The five walked down the remaining tunnel until they came across part of the tunnel that looked familiar. There was a ramp leading up to the hole in the ceiling like the others, but instead of a slab, it looked like there was a grate. Smolder and Yona pushed up and the found there were surrounded by some bookshelves. "We're in the school library," Smolder said. "Really?" SIlverstream asked. "I guess that makes sense," Gallus said. They all got out of the tunnel and walked around the library. "Okay, so we're back in Ponyville," Ocellus said. "Now we just have to find Sandbar." With that being said, Yona raced off. "Yona, hold on," Gallus said. Before they could catch up with the yak, she had already gotten to the exit, which she bumped into without the door even budging. "Neighsay locked the school up, remember?" "Yona remembers now," the yak groaned as she rubbed her head. The five walked back to the moat area, where the bridge Moss broke was. "So, do we just fly out?" Silverstream asked. Smolder flew upwards, but she didn't get too far as she bumped into an invisible force. "This way's blocked too," she said. "How then I guess we can't get to Sandbar," Ocellus sighed. "Wait a minute," Silverstream cried, "What about that time we escape that guard's dome?" "What?" Yona asked. "We'll explain on the way," Gallus said as he started walking back to the library. Sandbar slowly walked downtown. He couldn't get his mind off of what happened at school. He slumped all the way to Sugarcube Corner. "Hey, Sandbar," Pinkie said. "How are you feeling?" "Like I can't get something back," the colt sighed. "I'll just take a blueberry cupcake." Pinkie walked away to give the colt his order as he slowly walked over to one of the tables. Sandbar heard the store bell ring along with someone walking up to him. "What is it?" "Sandbar need to cheer up," said a rough female voice. Sandbar looked up and saw Yona standing right next to him. "Yona? What are you doing here?" "Yona wanted to see Sandbar again." She then hugged the colt, who gave her a kiss on the cheek. "But how did you get here?" "Friends walk through tunnels from home." "Hold on, friends?" "Surprise," Silverstream cheered in a sing-songy voice. She flew through the entrance with the other three following behind. "Happy to see us?" Smolder asked. "I didn't think you would come back this soon," Sandbar said. "Yeah, we were surprised as well," Ocellus replied. "The Tree isn't going to let us split up that easily," Gallus chuckled. "Wait, the tree?" Sandbar asked. "Could you give me some details?" The friends did so and finished up as soon as Pinkie walked back with Sandbar's cupcake. She then gasped when she saw the five different creatures. "I thought you five all went home," she cried. "Oh, Professor Pinkie," Ocellus said. "We can explain." "Smolder?!" cried a male voice. "Oh, man." "You did tell your family where you were going, did you?" "Nope." "Us neither," Gallus and Silverstream added. The three walked outside and found a red drake looking around until he found the orange dragoness. "There you are," he cried furiously. "You know how worried I was?" "Look, Garble, I can explain this," Smolder responded. "Maybe you could explain that mom and dad." "Silverstream!" cried another voice. The hippogriff didn't feel very confident as she saw her father flying towards her. "Your mother was worried sick. You are so grounded when we get home." "Dad, I can explain," Silverstream responded. "I'd love to hear it." Gallus took a deep breath. "Three. Two. One," he said to himself. Then he snapped his talon and heard someone call his name. "Gallus, there you are," Gabby cooed as she landed next to him. "Grandpa Gruff is mad at you for leaving without warning." "Then why did you come?" "He's too busy talking to Gale to find you." "What about them?" Garble asked pointing towards Yona, Ocellus, and Sandbar. "We told our parents where we were going," Ocellus said. "Like you should have done," Sky Beak said to his daughter. Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing ring going off. Garble, Gabby, and Sky Beak covered their ears trying to block out the noise. When the ringing stopped Gabby flew up to Garble and decked him in the face. The six teens were shocked by this and even more so when the ponies around them started beating each other up. "What's happening?" Silverstream asked. "It must be Cozy Glow," Ocellus said. "I think she's getting stronger." "But how why aren't we infected?" Gallus asked. "Who cares," Smolder cried. "We need to get out of here." The six fled in order to get away from the chaos. "Don't bother running," a voice said. "Who's there?" Silverstream asked getting scared. "Oh, you know who I am?" "Leave us alone Cozy," Gallus replied angrily. "Now why would I do that?" "The fact you tried this sweet act to get your way to trick ponies into doing what you want failed, twice." "Oh, I learned from that. A nice guy gave me another chance, and I'm trying something new. You can't stop me in my dreams." "Princess Luna might," Smolder said. "But the damage is already done." "Yeah, but we can still get rid of you." The six raced back to the castle and found the slab leading to the tunnels. "What exactly is the plan?" Sandbar asked. "Kind of making this up as I go," Gallus admitted, "But we need wind chimes." They slipped into the tunnels and raced towards the grate in the library. "Hurry," Ocellus said while climbing out of the tunnels, "She could get us at any time." "Our dorm is the closest," Sandbar said. They raced towards there but Smolder could feel her anger increasing. "I think she's getting to me," she groaned. She clenched her teethed and claws just as they got to the dorm room. Silverstream used her wings to make wind and the chime clinked together. Smolder panted as she calmed down just as they heard a certain filly groan. "Turn that off," Cozy groaned as she became visible. "Not until we have answers," Gallus said as he grabbed the wind chimes. "How are you here?" "Grr. Funny story, I was surprised by this as well. It turns out, as long as your a statue, you don't need to be alive." Just then, Cozy Glow started fading. Gallus rung the chimes which kept the filly in their sights. "Hey, that hurts." "Cut to the chase," Smolder demanded. "How and why are you a ghost?" "Alright, fine. Some guy came to me one night while I was a statue. I was honestly scared, but once I found out that I'm no longer bound by a stone prison. I just floated around for a while until I heard about the new school year would have more different species enroll. "So, I thought if I couldn't control friendship, I'd ruin it?" "How?" Gallus asked. "Simple. I could infect ever creature's mind into thinking whatever I wanted. Like each different species actually wants nothing to do with each other." "That's... That's not true," Silverstream stated. "Ah, but I happened to five of them. Now, I can make every creature bend to my whims. Each nightmare just made me stronger. Now I don't have to enter a dream to mess with minds. That was thanks to the power of night-gowls and someone waking up." "You mean Ocellus?" Smolder questioned. "The one and only. I really have to..." Cozy noticed that the changeling wasn't in the room anymore. In fact, neither were Yona and Sandbar. "Where did they go?" Silverstream quickly took off with the filly ghost chasing her down. Once the chase began, Cozy became invisible again. "Where are they going?" Smolder asked. She and Gallus followed behind. "Silverstream," Cozy said. "Go away," the hippogriff begged flying into the library. "Fat chance. Why did they leave? Maybe they thought you can handle this on your own?" "No, I can't." The chase carried on through the underground tunnels. Silverstream flew to the area where Cozy Glow tried to absorb all the magic in Equestria. There, Ocellus, Sandbar, and Yona. The filly grinned as she got closer, but when Yona turned around, she showed off two sets of chimes hanging from each horn. She shook her head making them all ring and cause the filly pain. Once she became visible, Smolder and Gallus caught up. "What did we miss?" the griffon asked. "While you had Cozy distracted," Ocellus explained, though she had to speak up to be heard over Yona, "I had a plan. We got the wind chimes from Professor Rarity's class." She grabbed a chime and force the ghost into the center of the circle in the room. "I see what you did." Gallus gave the changeling a fist bump. Then he turned to the ghost. "Okay, so you trapped me," Cozy admitted, "But can you stop me?" "Yes. I have seen far more powerful things than a kid with a silver tongue. You can't break up friendship that easily." As Gallus spoke, the crystals around the tunnel walls started turned six different colors. "Cozy, why did you do all of this?" Sandbar asked. "What else could've I done?" the ghost replied. "No, I mean throw all the friendship could've had. You threw your chance away, and for what? Teaming up with a centaur and queen that you get stuck in stone with." "You'll never understand. I tried before, and it got me nowhere." "There's always a second chance." "I wasn't going to risk it. I've seen what the princess and you could do, but why risk losing all of it doing it normally. I was going risk that, so I'd do it my way." "Your way was doomed to fail from the start," Smolder stated. "What else could I have done? I won't fail again!" Cozy's form started turning darker. "You ruined everything!" "You were taking all the magic in Equestria," Ocellus replied. "It was going to make me the most powerful being." Cozy's body started getting taller and her mane started turning black. "C... Cozy, you're scaring us," Silverstream shivered. The crystal kept changing color. "You... You'll never understand. I DESERVED IT ALL!" Cozy started turning into an alicorn just the room lit up. A different colored beam of light shone down on each of the six creatures. "So be it," Gallus sighed. He and the others started levitating into the air. "If you don't want another chance, we'll give you this instead." From each of their chests, they fired their respective color at the angry filly. "No! You can't keep me down!" Despite trying to fight back, Cozy couldn't stop what was happening. Above ground, a rainbow shot into the sky. It could be seen all the way to Mount Aris. Garble, Sky Beak, Gabby and the ponies stopped and looked to see it. Once it dissipated, they looked at each other. "Were we just fighting?" Gabby asked. "I think so," Sky Beak replied. "I'm... Not sure why though. Where's Silverstream, as well as her friends?" "No clue," Garble admitted. After looking around for a while until they found the six teens walking out of the castle. "There you are. Look, we're heading home right now." "That won't be nessicery," a male voice said. They look and saw Chancellor Neighsay walking out of his portal along with a small purple dragon. "Thanks for the lift," Spike said. "Spike, what are you doing here?" Garble asked. "You didn't think we wouldn't notice the giant rainbow shooting into the sky?" "The princess thought I would be the students," Neighsay said. "What was that rainbow for?" "It's a little hard to explain," Ocellus said. Emerald and Peridot were in the Dragon Lands sitting near a cliff. "You know that wasn't me," Emerald said. "I know," Peridot replied. "Emma, you're way smarter than that." "I just don't know what happened." "I think we can forget about that," Spike said. The twins looked back to see he wasn't alone. He was with Chancellor Neighsay. "Due to certain circumstances, the problem has been resolved," Neighsay said. "So, we can go back to school?" Peridot asked. "If you wish." "I'd like to show them that's not how I am," Emerald said. "Great," Spike said. "Follow us, we'll get the group back to Ponyville." The twin, a bit confused, followed the dragon and unicorn to see a large group of other dragons. "Welp, that seems to be all of them." "Kind of wish all of their parents were a little nicer," Neighsay complained. "They weren't all bad. Let's get these guys back to school." The chancellor opened the portal and the dragons walked through. Once on the other side, they could see the changelings, yaks, griffons, and hippogriffs were there as well. "Welcome back," Starlight said. "I know we had a few issues, but we can assure you, they have been resolved. I'm glad you all decided to come back. Neighsay?" "Of course." The chancellor walked towards the front of the school and shot a beam from his horn which made the lock and chains vanish. "Wahoo!" Pinkie cheered as she jumped in the air. "I'm getting the Pony Pal Dance started tonight." "Can Trud help?" Trud asked. "Of course." The yak and pink pony entered the school to get to work. "I'm sure you six had something to do with this," Rarity said to the young six. "Maybe," Smolder said smugly. "If we're going to have that Pony Pal Dance, I would think you would like some suits and dresses." "What?" Gallus questioned. "That would be great," Silverstream cheered. "Are you sure you can make toss all in one day?" Sandbar asked. "I've already gotten started before the school year starts," Rarity replied. "Of course," Gallus mumbled. "Welp, I better go and finish." Rarity walked away leaving the students behind. "Should've she be teaching?" Ocellus asked. "I think it would be best to let the students have some time to cool down before we start lessons again," Sunburst explained. "Probably a good idea," Sandbar commented. "So, friends wait for Pony Pal dance?" Yona asked. "I guess so," Ocellus said. "Yona can't wait to show other creatures Yakyakistan Stomp." "I'm going to talk to Spike while I have the chance," Smolder said. She walked off as the others did their thing. Later that night, all the students were at the Pony Pal Dance. Gallus had a suit on, while Silverstream, Smolder, and Ocellus each wore a dress. "I kind of like this," Smolder admitted. "It doesn't look like the one you..." Silverstream had her beak covered by the dragoness. "Sorry." Ocellus looked to be having some on her mind. "You okay?" Gallus asked. "I really wish we could've saved Cozy," the changeling sighed. "You know we tried. If she doesn't want our help, that's her problem. Besides, I don't know how we would get her back in her body." "I guess that's true." "Hey, guys," Sandbar said. He showed off the suit that Rarity made for him, which did look similar to Gallus's. Yona walked beside him, he had three gold rings on each horn and her shawl a purple pattern on it. "You don't look very different," Silverstream commented. "Yona learn lesson after last year," the yak replied. "Dress make it hard to dance." "Alright every creature," Spike announced. The six looked to see the dragon was wearing his Scales and Tails head. He stood behind the DJ table and he prepared another record. "I hope you're enjoying the dance so far. Right now, I think it'll be nice to take things a little slow." He started playing the record which had slow classical music. "Yona," Sandbar said. "You want to have this dance?" The yak giggled. "Of course," she replied. The two started dancing along with the music. The others hung back, with Silverstream packing her face with snacks, as the night carried on. Yona stumbled a bit, but Sandbar helped her stay stable. Several of the other freshmen joined in with the dance as it was clear, the school was going to stay around for quite a while.