//------------------------------// // Castle Tour Part One // Story: Pony and the Yak // by Majestical4729 //------------------------------// "There you go," Sandbar told Yona, after wrapping the cloth around her wound. "Thank you Sandbar, for treating Yona's injuries." Yona thanked. "You're welcome, your majesty." Sandbar bowed. "Sandbar," Yona began, "Why don't you meet the rest of the castle servants here?" "Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder, Ocellus and Terrmar are not the only ones?!" Sandbar asked in shock. "Sandbar, how can you think that this huge castle only has them?!" Yona laughed. "Well...they are so far the only ones I've met..." Sandbar reeled. "Sandbar, allow Yona to give you a tour." Yona declared, signalling Sandbar to follow her. "Meet the griffons!" Yona announced, once thy were in the hallway that contained the griffons' rooms. "That's us! Half lion, half eagle, just like in those stories!" Gallus explained. "Gallus!" Sandbar smiled, "Great to see you hear!" "Great to see you here too, and meet you!" another griffon cheerfully crested, "I'm Gaby! And I'm a griffon! Actually, I'm a pegasus, cursed to be a griffon!" "We all our Pegasi cursed to be griffons." a grumpy voice cold be heard saying. "That's Gilda, she's part of our family, too!" Gallus explained. "If I were to live forever under this curse, I'm done for!" an even grumpier voice could be heard complaining. "That's Grampa Gruff!" Gallus informed. "And the guardian of all griffons here!" Grampa Gruff added. "Nice to meet you all, I can't believe I never saw you until now!" Sandbar greeted. "And I can't believe that you were willing to take your father's place!" Gabby complimented, "You were so brave to do that! I wish I could do that!" "Well, I sure don't know if I would..." Gilda commented. "Come Sandbar, there's so many more creatures in Yona's castle that you got to see!" Yona exclaimed. "Hi, Sandbar! I see that you're seeing dragons!" Smolder greeted, as Sandbar and Yona entered th dragons' chamber. "So this is the pony you all were talking about?" Garble asked, pointing a claw at Sandbar. "Indeed, Gar-Gar." Smolder replied to her older brother, before telling Sandbar, "By the way, only I call Garble Gar-Gar. Because he's my older brother." "So ever creature else calls me Garble." Garble ended. "Every creature?" Yona asked, seemingly getting angrier. "Calm down, your majesty..." Sandbar pleaded, "Don't forget, control your temper...you don't want to wind up scaring Ouse pony...I mean, some creature...again..." Hearing Sandbar's words, Yona started to calm down. "That's better. I'm glad to see you taking in my words, your majesty." Sandbar politely said with a smile on his face. Seeing Sandbar's smile warmed Yona's heart. At the same time, it made her feel weird, since she never felt that sort of feeling before. "Well...anything for the better...Sandbar..." was all Yona could respond. "Your majesty? Is there something wrong?" Smolder asked. "Don't ask!" Yona blurted out, giving Sandbar a shock. "Yona means...sorry...just don't ask, please..." Yona politely told the dragons before walking away. "You're getting better already!" Sandbar praised Yona. "Thank you, Sandbar..." Yona blushed, before shaking her head to shake the feeling off. "Your majesty..." the kirins greeted Yona, upon seeing her. "Kirins, meet Sandbar. Our guest." Yona announced, showing Sandbar to the kirins. "Our guest?!" the kirins were shocked to hear what their superior just said. "A guest?!" Sandbar gasped. "That's right." Yona nodded, "Sandbar's prisoner no more. He's a guest!" "Well, we're impressed!" a Kirin rhymed before introducing herself to Sandbar, "I'm Autumn Blaze, and I can't believe to see an actual pony again! I mean, every creature here used to be ponies, but they are all creatures right now..." Autumn Blaze's words sent chills down Sandbar, as he remembered what angered Yona during his first dinner in the castle. "Autumn Blaze, stop!" Sandbar cried. Autumn Blaze quickly halted and turned to Yona, letting out a nervous chuckle, "So sorry, your majesty..." "Please, don't blame her! Blaming does not help! We both learnt that!" Sandbar pleaded Yona. Reminded of their latest argument, Yona quickly calmed down, "Sandbar, you're right. Blaming doesn't help. So Yona shouldn't blame Kirin, nor any creature." "Thank you for your forgiveness, your majesty." Autumn Blaze bowed. "So Autumn Blaze, you're a Kirin?" Sandbar asked. "Yes I am, but before I am, I was a unicorn. All the kirins here were unicorns, too." Autumn Blaze explained, "And as Kirins, we can turn into Niriks!" Autumn Blaze then turned into a Nirik, scaring Sandbar to the point that he hugged Yona. Usually, Yon never liked any creature touching her, but seeing how Sandbar hugged her when frightened, gave her the feeling that he felt safer with her, a feeling that she came to like. "Sorry, Sandbar. I just wanted to demonstrate." Autumn Blaze apologised. "Don't worry, apology accepted." Sandbar smiled. "Welcome to the Hippogriffs' Hall, Sandbar!" Silverstream greeted upon seeing him and Yona. "This is where the hippogriffs in the castle live. Actually, where they sleep and eat." Terramar corrected. "You know Sandbar, my brother and I are not even one tenth of the hippogriff population here! There's more than that! Our whole big family of relatives! All hippogriffs!" Silverstream exclaimed, as the huge family gathered right in front of him. "We are all former Pegasi..." Terramar reminded. "Just like the dragons, griffons and changelings in this castle." Silverstream sighed. "Wait, if the hippogriffs, griffons, dragons and changelings are all former Pegasi, and the kirins are former unicorns, does that mean there aren't any former earth ponies here?" Sandbar asked. "Actually, there are. You just haven't met them yet." Silverstream replied. "Allow Yona to take you to them, Sandbar." Yona bowed. "Of course, your majesty," Sandbar bowed back. "Wait, wait, wait!" Silverstream raised her claw, "We forgot to show you something that we hippogriffs can do!" Silverstream then transformed into her sea pony form, which scared Sandbar to the point that he hugged Yona once again. "Don't worry, this is just my sea pony form!" Silverstream explained, before transforming back into a hippogriff. "We hippogriffs can change into sea ponies and back." Terramar explained. "Maybe we got to be hippogriffs who transform into sea ponies and back when we were cursed, is because we were great swimmers as Pegasi?" Silverstream said out loud, offending Yona a little. "Sorry, your majesty..." Silverstream apologised. "Anyway, we hope to see you more often here, Sandbar!" Terramar told the pony. "Hope to see you all too! And sorry I was...freaked out to see you in sea pony form, Silverstream. You kind of look like a siren from famous myths in that form!" "It's alright! Understood!" Silverstream responded, "Your majesty, is there something wrong?" Sandbar asked Yona. "Sandbar, Yona may be a big, strong yak, but she...she..." Yona struggled to finish her sentence, as tears came out from her eyes. "Your majesty, if you don't want to say it, I understand. Even I have some secrets that I can't bring myself to tell others, not even...my Dad..." Sandbar sadly said the last part, as it reminded him of his beloved father. "The truth is....Yona can't seem!" Yona blurted out. "You can't?!" Sandbar asked in shock. "See?! Even Sandbar can't believe it! It's embarrassing!" Yona cried. "Oh, Yona...I know some ponies who can't swim. So not every pony nor every creature knows how to. It's no big deal." Sandbar assured. "But Yona doesn't like not being able to swim! And she's too embarrassed to let castle servants know!" Yona cried. "Then I shall help you with that," Sandbar offered. "Sandbar will do that for Yona?" Yona asked. "Sure will if you wish, your majesty." Sandbar replied, causing Yona to hug him, to his surprise before he embraced it.