The claims about there being plenty of food were no exaggeration, the table was filled with an array of dishes and bowls filled with freshly cooked food. Red cabbage, beans, carrots, potatoes, gravy, and two large dishes of shepherd’s pie, all freshly cooked with hot steam seaming through and diffusing various rural aromas. So much of it was out of reach and had to be passed around to get a portion, and Gallus felt obliged to try every piece.
Everyone around the table began digging in, quietly conversing, and giggling with their neighbours around their regiments and family life. There were also discussions for how other family members were celebrating on Hearth's Warming Day, as not all family members could be present, giving common line of work, even a Pillar of Equestria could not get the Eve off.
“I hope there isn’t anything wrong with the food, Gallus?” queried Cherry, observing the full yet barely consumed plate in front of him. Gallus had no issue with the food, what he had managed to eat in the dozen or so minutes was delicious, even with the lamb in the shepherd’s pie substituted with what tasted like an assortment of cooked vegetables and lentils.
What Gallus was too worried to admit, the reason he was eating so slow was because of the elderly pegasus pony and his judgemental eyes fixed onto the griffon. From the moment Patton Magnus sat down, he had a suspicious look, didn’t utter a single word, and his only motion was to move the fork from his food to his jaw to eat.
“We do understand that griffons are more used to eating meat and all” reassured Birch, recognising Gallus’ nerves of silence.
“If Gallus has been at the Royal Guard Academy for three months”, Patton interjected in his gravelly growl, “he’d be used to eating vegan food by now”.
There was an uncomfortable pause, as Cherry, Birch, and Gallus looked at Patton with discomfort. Finally, Gallus broke his silence, twisting his head towards Cherry. “The food’s great, thanks!” He took a large scoop of the pie and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing down and holding in the immense heat that filled inside his head. He found reassuring approval as Cherry returned a smile with gleeful round eyes, appreciating the compliment.
Birch took a while longer to leave his half-lidded stare towards Patton, as the older pony take another bite. “Speaking of the academy…” he cautiously followed, “what made you decide to join?”
Gallus brought down the large bite with a single large swallow, his throat felt course as he attempted a relaxed response. “Well… I wanted to be an officer, and I made friends at the School of Friendship, so I signed up to the academy so I could be closer to my friends in Ponyville.” He grabbed the glass in front of him to take a light sip, the drink was champagne, its very cool taste helped smoothen his pipes. “In fact, I was on a tour at Canterlot Palace where Flash Magnus inspired me to apply.”
“I see…” Birch reacted with intrigue and a smirk as he rested his arms on the table and leant in, “so do you have any plans in the Guard when you graduate? If you do well, you could end up like Tomcat over here.” He pointed his hoof towards the stallion sat to Gallus’ right, his body upright with pride. “He’s Lieutenant of the Canterlot Palace Royal Guard, working alongside Princess Twilight Sparkle herself” he proclaimed. “He’s already doing wonders as a leader of his own troop, protecting the transport of dignitaries. Doing the country proud, right son?”
“Sure am, dad!” Tomcat returned with an upbeat remark and wide grin. On Gallus’ left side, Scythe stared longingly at his own food, his head rested on his hoof, and lowered when Tomcat gave his answer.
Birch turned back to Gallus, “You think you’re good enough to make it to the Canterlot Palace Royal Guard?”
“Well, Canterlot would be great for me.” He answered, considering his aim to work close to Ponyville. “Not gonna lie though, the academy was harder than I thought at first, but Scythe helped me get through the hardest of it.” He turned towards Scythe, who appreciated the words and smiled back.
However, when Scythe looked back, he caught a look at his father in the corner of his eyes. Birch’s focus was returned to his own meal, his face appeared bored. The discouraging site caused his smile to fade.
“Aw,” Cherry exclaimed, placing a hoof on Scythe’s back, caressing it in comfort, “that’s sweet of you to help out your fellow cadet, right?” She looked towards her husband with a persuasive smile, but Birch made no effort to notice.
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Flash Magnus helped griffons,” said Patton, taking swill of his champagne, preparing himself to tell an old story. “Back when he was in the Cloudsdale Royal Legion, an accident at the weather factory caused a rogue storm to make its way into Griffon territory and was on course to go through one of their villages and into Equestria. Lead by Captain Ironhoof, his troop wanted to help stop the tornado but were refused by the Head of the Royal Griffon Defence Force, Blackbeak. Those griffons failed to stop it, putting the village in further danger.”
“Blackbeak, had too much pride to accept the help he needed…” added Birch, shaking his head with a sigh.
“Despite Captain Ironhoof’s orders to stand by till the storm reached Equestria, Flash Magnus broke rank and swooped down to rescue and evacuate the griffons on the ground, motivating his comrades to do the same. Instead of being punished, Flash Magnus was with those honoured for his heroic actions, which lead to Griffons and Pegasus ponies to be allies for centuries.”
“Yes, a wonderful story, but not entirely relevant to this current occasion.”
“Relevancy is not important” Patton snapped back at Birch’s criticism, “a great leader is one who is willing and capable of learning from not just themself but the mistakes of officers before them. Youngsters think the only stories worth learning are the folktales and whatever Starswirl the Bearded wrote down, and he would embellish details and leave out others.”
“Even so, a griffon like Gallus has probably learned plenty about Flash Magnus, I doubt there is anything that you could tell him that would be a surprise.”
“Blackbeak didn’t refuse help out of pride,” Gallus interrupted, countering Birch’s remark with no hesitancy, “he was considered humble for a griffon of his time and a specialist in border defence. He held himself accountable to King Grover, witnessing the rogue storm originate from Cloudsdale and suspected that ponies used it to attack the griffons. He refused help because he didn’t trust that the Royal Legion guards wanted to stop the storm from causing any damage. It was only after he witnessed Flash Magnus rescuing griffons on the ground that the ponies offer to help was genuine.”
The whole room went silent, Gallus looked up from his food to realise every pony on the table was staring at him with open eyes of shock, as if Gallus’ response was most unorthodox. He swallowed uncomfortably as he sensed he was somehow in deep trouble. Remarkably, his saviour was sitting in front of him.
“So… you’re a history buff” remarked Patton, a wide smirk drawn on his face.
Gallus awkwardly lowered his head, “I, uh, used to work for a griffon who wrote history novels…” his voice trailed off, but Patton was nevertheless elated.
“I like this kid! No wonder you’re Scythe’s friend, you’ve got brains and guts.”
An air of sighs wafted across the table, smiles returned, crisis averted, and the table returned to its casual setting. A relieved Gallus went back to finishing his meal, feeling somewhat proud of himself for speaking out, blissfully unaware that a certain Colonel was glaring at him from the far end of the table.
“Indeed… “
Lunch would eventually finish as everyone at the table was full and satisfied, even though the table had dishes with food in them. Having spent more time staring downcast towards his plate, was the first to make a move from the table, excusing himself in a gravelly tone. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
He made a brisk pace out the room and up the stairs, which caught Gallus’ attention, raising an eyebrow in suspicion that his rush wasn’t due to the room. Before he could ponder any further, he was caught in an apparent family tradition.
“Guess it’s now time for old General Patton Magnus to tell an old family story, eh?” the elderly Pegasus announced rhetorically, to the response of enthusiasm from the younger ponies in the house. “Gallus, come with me,” he commanded, pulling the griffon’s body with a surprising amount of strength for a pony his age, “I’ll show you Magnus family history I’ll bet my feathers you’d have never heard of and it’ll impress ya.”
Gallus found himself back in the living room, effectively dragged there against his will. Turns out on every Hearth's Warming Eve, Grandpa Patton tells a story from Magnus’ past to all youngsters, a different one for each year. For this story, Patton needed some extra material, “Tomcat! Make yourself useful and grab the photo album from 900 to 950 PCE!” he ordered as he took his seat in a large brown comfy chair adjacent to the large Hearth's Warming tree.
In response, Tomcat went to a large bookshelf on the opposite side of the room, on the lower shelf were a full row of old photo albums, with years of the Princess Celestia Era period that counts years since her majesty's coronation. The closer the years got to Princess Twilight’s coronation, the range of years per album got smaller, making it easy for Tomcat to pick out one of the early photo albums.
Once Patton got his hoofs on the thick album, Scythe and Tomcat’s cousins and second cousins all took seats around their grandpa and Gallus sat behind them, all while Patton skimmed through the pages. “Now where is it… here we go!” He turned the album around to an open page, showing two large photographs that were black & white without colour, and yet appeared beige due to age.
The left-page photo was a formal pegasus family photo of deadpanned faces, with the high contrast of the photo giving light beige coats with darkened manes. The family consisted of a stallion, an older stallion, a mare, a young colt with a beady-eyed foal sat on his back. Underneath it was the names of the ponies in the photo, Colonel Claymore Magnus, General Gladius Magnus, Dory Magnus, Sabre Magnus, and Patton Magnus.
The right-page photo was a close-up of Sabre and Patton Magnus, except this time Patton was sat on a stool with a smile and a wonky salute, while young Sable wrapped an arm around his younger brother.
“Now that there was me when I was a young’un” he began his story, pointing his hoof towards the younger version of himself. “Photography was new, and cameras were large and expensive, so photoshoots like these were for special occasions.” The fillies and colts all leaning forward as they sat on the floor to get a better look, Gallus stayed put, politely listening as Patton continued pointing to the other figures in the photo.
“On this case, my father discovered that his own father had been secretly writing letters to what your young folk would call a pen pal. With the help of my ever-persuasive mother, they were able to convince my grandfather to invite this pen pal to Cloudsdale for a visit. Even though the two had not seen each other in several decades, Grandpa Gladius said recognising the fella would be the easiest task in all of Equestria. When the day finally arrived, the whole family quickly discovered why.”
He then turned the page, revealing two more photos of Gladius Magnus, but what caught Gallus’ attention was who was also present in them, it was a griffon. With the urge to get a closer look, Gallus crept forward to investigate.
In the first photo, both Gladius and the griffon were wearing sets of armour, with the stallion’s bright armour resembling the Canterlot Royal Guards with its spiral motif and large bristle plumes. The griffon’s armour was considerably darker, almost black, although it was possible to make out the sharp edges in the pattern, and the helmet had blades shaped into features at the top.
The armour made it difficult to make out the griffon’s physical appearance apart from the eagle-eyed stare towards the camera, with Gladius’ serious expression paling in comparison, the second photo provided a more revealing appearance. No longer wearing their armour, the griffon had a dark coat of fur with darker feathered wings, and yet the lack of a helmet revealed his head’s faded colours as his wrinkled face was on full display.
The photo was considerably much more casual, two old figures with arms over each other’s shoulders, and while there were no wide-eyed grins, Gallus could just make out the corners on each side of its beak curving upward to expose a smile from the elder griffon. Something about this older griffon seemed familiar to Gallus, even though the name listed below was not much to go by, conveniently written in both griffish and ponish, “Ketuskrudens”.
“Turns out, back when ol’ General Gladius Magnus was just a lieutenant,” explained Patton, “he met his pen pal on a diplomatic meeting in Griffonstone between Princess Celestia and King Grant, as Gallus over here would know as…”
He rolled his wrists towards Gallus, gesturing the griffon to finish the sentence under the presumption of historical knowledge. Gallus could barely see the hoof and the other ponies turn to him for the answer. “The twelfth King of the Griffon Empire…” he slowly uttered, both his eyes and beak remained fixed and wide towards the photo.
“Exactly!” exclaimed Patton before giving a hearty laugh and pointing towards Gallus more directly. “Your face right now is no different to my parents when they saw grandad with a big smile, walking up and hugging this old stern-faced griffon. Ah, we had a great time together; those two old codgers would joke and try to one-up each other on who was the bravest soldier. My brother Sabre Magnus and I called him Grandpa, since neither of us could say his griffish name, which meant 'age and wisdom' anyway.”
“The two would continue to write, but sadly after Gladius passed away, no more letters came from the griffon” Patton followed in a solemn voice. “The last thing we heard from him, if I recall, his own grandson had been selected to be one of the personal guards of King Guto.”
“King Guto… the fourteenth king… and the last…” the awestruck Gallus had no need of a prompt to follow.
“After King Guto, most griffons isolated themselves from Equestria for generations, so any contact with them was impossible. Still, I can only imagine that Grandpa Griffon would have been the proudest he’d ever been.”
As Patton spoke in a reminiscent bliss, the familiarity finally dawned on Gallus, the griffon in the photo must have been the Grandpa Griffon from the old stories. There was never any reasonable doubt that Grandpa Gruff was making up the griffon, considering how the old-timer made a living from writing about history, but never in his life did he get to see a real photo of a King’s personal guard, let alone one that was friends with a pony.
“Well Gallus, didn’t I tell say that I could tell ya history that’d impress ya?” Patton asked in a snide brag, remarking on Gallus’ continued astonished expression. “I have a few more where that came from.”
As tempting as the offer was, Gallus finally snapped out of his trance and looked around the room. “Does anypony know where Scythe is?” he asked openly, noting how suspicious he hadn’t returned from his trip to the bathroom. However, he was met with silence. A few eyes shifted from side to side, but the air filled with unease upon being asked.
“He could have gone to get something from his bedroom, you could check there?” Ariel Bomb finally suggested. “Just go up the stairs, around the corner, and it’s the second door on the left.”
Following the directions, Gallus made his way up the stairs and around the corner. Seeing three doors on the left side of the hallway, he approached the second door and knocked. No answer. He called out his name. No answer. Finally, he turned the handle and slowly opened the door to check inside.
He could at least confirm it was a bedroom, judging by the large bed on the opposite side of the room. There was also a large bookshelf next to a desk, judging from the spines there were a plethora of novels and language books, he imagined the sight would be an exciting curiosity for Ocellus, given her love of books.
There was also a Wonderbolts poster, signed by various flyers, and a set of hoof painted figurines, some of the soldiers and others of various ponies in history, including the Pillars of Equestria. It was at least the nerdiest bedroom Gallus stepped into, and yet oddly, there still was no sign of Scythe. Even as he left and checked the nearby bathroom, he found the door open, and the room was empty.
He furrowed his brow, Scythe somehow disappeared, and the rest of the family was hiding something. He made his way back downstairs, but before he could set a claw or paw into the hallway, he was stopped by a sharp voice emanating from the kitchen.
“No, I’m not having it!” Birch shouted in anger.
“Not having what?” replied Cherry.
“This… these… accusations! Hearth's Warming is supposed to be a happy occasion with friends and family, and yet for some reason, everypony is judging me. That snarky griffon correcting me in front of the whole table, General Patton picking on me as usual…”
“That’s not true” Cherry snapped back, clearly sounding defensive. “Sure, Dad can be argumentative, thorough, and snappy, but that doesn’t mean he’s picking on you.”
“Oh really? I had to change my name when we married to make him happy, to follow this Magnus family legacy, but that never happened with Blue Angel when he married your sister, your father was easy on him.”
“I’m sure if you talk with Ariel or Blue Angel, they could tell you otherwise. We’ve all been through the same line of work; we can understand the stress and know you’re trying your best…”
“Then why are you accusing me of being a bad father?”
“I’m not! What I’m trying to say is that Scythe is doing well at the Royal Guard Academy despite the pressure is under, and he’d appreciate it if you showed some love and support as you do for Tomcat. At least show him some pride…”
“Scythe doesn’t need me saying that I’m proud of him!” There was a moment of silence, Gallus could feel his claws clench up, the words were a stark reminder of a moment during a Parent-Teacher meeting at the School of Friendship. It was what Grandpa Gruff once argued with the School Guidance Counsellor, a moment he had to uncomfortably sit in the middle of.
Although this time, the words must have influenced the two in that kitchen, as Birch’s voice calmed as he continued.
“He just needs to keep his head down, not get too distracted by his weird hobbies, and get through the Academy with a good grade. He might not be good at sports, or as outgoing as Tomcat, but he is still a Magnus. He’s gone through the same schools, the same Royal Guard Academy, and he’s a confirmed cadet for the Canterlot Palace Royal Guards just like his brother and all the other Magnus stallions, so you can’t tell me I’m not treating him the same.”
Gallus sat on the stairs, unsure if he should feel anger or sorrow. Scythe’s whole family seemed lively and upbeat at first, not to mention their house and food was better than Gallus could have imagined, but even a well-off family can have rough edges. It made more sense why the pegasus was as quiet as he was, and why he tried to hide the Magnus part of his identity if even the amount he already does is not enough.
He figured that someone needed to find Scythe, but Gallus also did not want to get the attention of his parents still in the kitchen. He started to creep his way off the hallway and into the living room when he bumped headfirst into somepony’s chest. Gallus felt his heart stop and his feathers puffed out as Tomcat was stood right in front of him, and he was not happy.
“Uh, Tomcat!” Gallus exclaimed nervously, sensing he was in trouble, likely for eavesdropping. “Hey, I didn’t mean to- ” Tomcat placed a hoof on his beak, pushing it closed and making it harder for him to speak.
Strangely Tomcat smiled, “Hey, still can’t find Scythe’s room?” Gallus blinked, unsure why Tomcat briefly returned to his upbeat self, or why he is asking like Gallus could not find Scythe’s bedroom, even though he had already been from there. Tomcat then moved his other hoof towards his lips, signalling to be quiet, before pointing back up the stairs. “Relax, I’ll show you where it is, this house is like a maze, am I right?” he remarked with a slight chuckle before he passed Gallus and started moving up the stairs.
Not wanting to be in any further trouble, Gallus followed behind Tomcat. They went back up the stairs, and around the corner. However, this time, instead of taking the second door to the left, Tomcat continued to walk towards the second set of stairs. Despite raising an eyebrow, Gallus continued to follow up the second floor of the house.
Although this floor had three doors on each side, Tomcat moved his way to the far end of the corridor and looked up. On the ceiling, there was another door, albeit square-shaped and with no handle. Tomcat jumped up and began to flap his wings, slowly ascending until he could touch the door with his hoofs. The stallion attempted to open the door, but despite the strength from his hooves and wings, the door couldn’t budge.
Tomcat turned back to Gallus with a confident smile, certain that Scythe was up there. He just needed to try Plan B and knocked on the door. “Scythe~. Little bro?” he called out in a cheeky manner, “It’s just me and Gallus, we know you’re up there…” He knocked again, but there was no answer. Tomcat gave a deep sigh before resting his head against the ceiling door.
“It’s Dad again, isn’t it?” he asked, his voice deepened as he lingered in a disappointing state. While there was no answer, Tomcat did not need one. “Look, I know you don’t want to show yourself, but it’s Hearth's Warming and your friend is here, at least don’t leave him out, please?”
Once more there was no answer, Tomcat looked dire at the door, but miraculously his sympathetic plea made progress. The ceiling emitted sounds of light hoofsteps from one end of the hall to the other, followed by the sound of a heavy object being scooted to the side. Tomcat gave a gentle push of the door, and smiled, confirming that the door was no longer jammed shut. “All yours,” said Tomcat as he made his way down to Gallus and pointed his way up to the opened door.
Gallus felt his heart stop again, something about that door in the ceiling gave him a sense of discomfort, yet if Scythe was up there, what other choice did he have. After a long deep breath, and a moment to brace himself, he jumped up and grabbed onto the edge, and pulled himself up through the door.
The griffon never liked closed spaces, and this loft was not exactly a comforting space either. It was incredibly dark, and Gallus was surrounded by stacks upon stacks of papers and old mementoes. He could feel his chest tighten as he tried to navigate around the darkness, trying in vain to keep upright to avoid falling onto something.
Then he found a source of light, emanating from a giant round window, and could make out a silhouette of a pony. As he inspected closer, he recognised Scythe, huddled facing towards the mirror. His arms covered most of his face, although not enough to hide his glossy eyes and streams where tears ran down his cheeks.
Gallus calmly sat beside him and attempted to talk. “Hey Scythe. I uh, was wondering where you were, so I looked around your bedroom… it’s a nice place.” There was no response, Gallus rubbed the back of his head, his nerves already continued to build, and the awkwardness of the interaction did not help. “This place is nice too, I could probably spend hours up here with nothing but my thoughts and something to read or draw, no interruptions…”
No response yet again, Gallus felt guilt, seeing his friend upset and only noticing it so late. “Sorry, if I didn’t say anything, your Dad wouldn’t be…”
“No… don’t apologise.” Scythe finally uttered, speaking through his huddled arms. “Everypony likes you, Mom, Tomcat, Grandpa, even Dad. You’re probably the only reason why he’s trying to be as nice as he is now.” He spoke in the same gravelled tone from when he left the dining room, although there was a small growl in frustration as well. “Otherwise, there’d be ‘Why aren’t you good at sports like Tomcat? Why don’t you have many friends like Tomcat does? Tomcat even has a girlfriend. Why do you always have a nose in those books and not going outside as Tomcat does?’” He followed, giving a sneering imitation of his Dad’s voice. “I finally do something like Tomcat, and he doesn’t even care.”
Scythe tightened up, sniffling underneath his arms. Gallus tried his best to reassure him. “Well, at least…”
“‘Oh, but at least he means well. Of course, he cares, he’s your father’” he fired back with the scornful impersonation, before turning to Gallus with a scowl. “Well, how much do I have to compete with Tomcat for him to show it?” Gallus stared back with his arms crossed in disapproval with the interruption. He didn’t agree with what Scythe assumed he said, he had his own experiences to disprove that.
He continued with what he wanted to say, “…At least you have your mom, you have Tomcat, and to some extent your Grandpa Patton. They have your side, they know what’s good about you, and they show that they care.” He leant forward and rested a claw on his shoulder, giving a heartening smile. “Believe me, you’re lucky to have them.”
On the other hand, Scythe rejected the words, aggressively rolling his shoulders to get the claw off. “You don’t understand…” he uttered, before turning his back on Gallus.
“About how lucky you are? I do” Gallus retorted with a fake chuckle, he tried to keep his smile, but nothing he could do to stop it from fading. “About what it’s like with your family? Guess not.” He began to huddle up in a ball and took a long deep breath. “Growing up, I never had a family…”
As he caught Gallus’ dour words, Scythe’s ears pricked up, quickly followed by his head shooting up in surprise. “What did you say?” he asked, twisting around with an alert reaction.
“There is no family in Griffonstone” Gallus confessed, almost in defeat. “That’s why I’ve never liked going back there, even for the holidays. I would have been on my own.”
“Woah Woah Woah wait” Scythe hurriedly stopped him, as honest as he sounds, the facts troubled Scythe, “that can’t be right, you said you had a grandfather” he pointed out.
“No, I didn’t” Gallus objected, having to lift his head and raising an eyebrow.
An already confused Scythe had more doubts as he had his own perplexed stare. “Yes, you did,” he reaffirmed, “Exercise Self-Reliance, you said when you were little that there was a griffon you called Grandpa Gruff who told you stories of these great soldiers. Those stories were why you wanted to be a military officer, remember?”
It took a while for Gallus to figure out why Scythe was being confused, but then he remembered the first time he had to clarify to someone, specifically when Sandbar first asked during his first Hearth's Warming at the School of Friendship.
“His name is Grandpa Griffon; he isn’t any griffon’s actual grandpa.” And like Sandbar’s response, Scythe’s eye shifted from side to side, trying to make sense of a griffon having the name of Grandpa. He obviously wasn’t the first pony to be confounded that all griffons’ names had started with the letter G.
“I was homeless and orphaned when I first met him” Gallus explained further, “and he gave me money and food if I did chores for him. Sure, he taught me to read and write, but that was mostly to get me to help him more. He only registered as my guardian so he could send me off to the School of Friendship when I was fourteen.”
Scythe’s eyes enlarged in shock, he could understand any creature only having a grandfather to take care of him, but not someone who was orphaned until the day they were sent off. To him, Gallus was a decent creature to be around, he could only question why he would have been as lonely as he was. However, there was one other question that was further forward in his mind. “Do you… remember anything about your actual parents?” he asked, tilting, and twisting his head.
There was a quiet pause, a considerable length for Gallus to think through all the memories of his past hesitantly shaking his head behind his folded arms. “…no.” Scythe’s heart sank, a part of him hoped for even a small, pleasant memory, rather than something bleak. Then Gallus’ head rose back up, and he smiled. “But it doesn’t matter, at the School of Friendship, I learned that my friends are my family, they gave me a place in life. I think you should go down to be with yours.”
As Scythe looked deep down into his own memories, he started to warm to the idea. Cherry might be embarrassing, but she looked out for him. Tomcat might be a bit rough, but he only teased out of love. Even Grandpa Patton was willing to recognise how smart he was. It was enough for him to smile and dry off his tears.
It was enough to relieve Gallus as well, “also, I’m actually afraid of closed spaces, so I’d really appreciate it if we get out here quick” he anxiously encouraged, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
The pair reunited as they departed from the loft, reuniting with Tomcat. Scythe was quick to give his older brother a hug, even though it meant getting a ruffled mane in return. The trio made their way down to the ground floor, and into the living room where the rest of the family were all talking with one another.
The first to catch sight of the three, Cherry’s face lit up “There you are!” she happily exclaimed with relief. Before any of them could react, Birch cut in and moved towards them, with an unidentifiable bulge under one of his wings. Scythe’s nerves picked up and he quickly lowered his head.
“Scythe, your mother and I have been talking” explained Birch, as he stopped and glanced towards his wife for a moment. “Since you’ve made it through your first term of the Academy,” he then glanced towards Gallus, “and your friend is here for Hearth's Warming Eve, we thought you can open one of your presents a day early.”
Birch pulled out the object hidden under his wing, it was present, wrapped in a floral wrapping paper with a golden ribbon. When it was passed to Scythe, his nerves gave way to curiosity, he could feel the present was soft as he crinkled the paper, it was light in weight too. Once he pulled the ribbon off with his teeth, the paper unfurled, revealing the gift inside.
It was a scarf, made from a thick and soft silky fabric and was a vivid red in colour. “Should be good to wear in this current weather” Birch calmly remarked. Scythe felt compared to try it on, folding it and wrapping it around his neck, forming a loop for one end of the scarf to fit through. The corners of his mouth turned up as he admired how comfy it felt being hugged around his neck. Nonetheless, he froze when Birch went in closer and patted on his shoulder. “You’re doing fine, son.”
“Thanks, Dad…”
Everypony in the room either had their hooves to their hearts or warm smiles, although there was a small inkling of doubt in Gallus’ mind that Scythe had hoped for a little more than what Birch had given, as his head faced down to the floor and his voice quietened to a whisper. Unfortunately, a look at a clock above the fireplace, revealing that it’s late in the afternoon, realised he had more pressing things to deal with.
“Oh, um… I hate to be sudden and all, but I still need to get to Ponyville” he nervously declared, before composing himself and giving a slight bow. “Thanks for having me ‘round, it’s been great seeing you all.”
“You’re welcome dear,” Cherry responded with a warm smile, “hope we get to see you again at some point.”
As Gallus stood there smiling, he sneakily nudged an elbow into Scythe’s side. Taking it as a signal, Scythe suddenly lifted his head. “Oh, Gallus! Let me show you out” he spontaneously excused himself in a near robotic fashion, the two make a brisk walk towards the front door out of sight.
“What’s up?” Scythe asked in a whisper.
The pair returned to their bags, as Gallus dug his claws into his own to grab something he originally planned to give to Scythe at the start. It was the antique plaque that Grandpa Gruff gave him, the same one that Scythe could read, in all its shined and polished glory. “You said you could translate it with a book in your home, think you could borrow and figure out what it means?” Gallus requested.
Scythe recognised the plaque as well as remembered the book he mentioned. “Sure, I’ll get onto it” he answers hesitantly, before taking the plaque and hiding it within his own bag, digging his hoof towards the bottom of the bag. The effort to hide it was of some concern for Gallus.
“You gonna be alright?”
“Yeah, I should be fine, I know who to go to, just in case” he reassured him, although he sighed soon after. “Um, could you not tell anypony in the academy about… you know… me being a Magnus, please?” Scythe was practically begging with his eyes pointed up at Gallus, not making it easy for the griffon to think for a moment. Even if he could ignore it, just the time he spent today made Gallus feel empathy towards the pegasus.
“Yeah. I promise, not a word.”
The two shared a smile before Gallus turned around to open the door.
“See you after the holidays?”
“Yeah, see you after the holidays.”
As Gallus closed the door, he took a long deep breath. One nice yet awkward family gathering was over and done, the next stop was Ponyville.