Sandbar couldn’t put his hoof on it, but something about Gallus had seemed off ever since they’d left Griffonstone. He didn’t know why, but after they’d left the library, the griffon had been… distant. It was as if Gallus was becoming somewhat avoidant.
For a long time, he didn’t bring it up, simply assuming he just had something on his mind. Surely, that had to be what it was, right? Whatever it was, he’d eventually get over it and be back to his snarky self in no time. Even so, on some days he wondered why it was that his friend couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eye.
So when it was his turn to pick their next destination, he wanted to choose a place that could maybe help get his friend out of whatever funk he was in. Maybe a place that wasn’t as intense as Valhalla, nor as easygoing as the beaches they’d visited. Something that would surely distract the griffon in a fun way. So, when looking through the map of Heaven, there was one place in particular that caught his eye; partly because he knew that, when he’d been alive, that place was nothing more than a desert wasteland with a dumpy town in the middle of it.
In Heaven, however, there was no Klugetown. In its place, however, was a town known by a different name:
Monte Catlo.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Gallus looked between the map and their destination. For the past several hours, the two had flown over the sandy dunes sandwiched between Southern Equestria and the borders of the Hippogriff Kingdom. When they finally found the place they were headed towards, it wasn’t the dumpy, trash-constructed, slave-owning town underneath the scorching sun. What they found was an oasis.
It wasn’t big as a city, and yet, they thrived. Monte Catlo had the grace of Paris, yet it was as colorful as a Saddle Arabian market. It was paved in cobblestones, shaded in palm trees, and watered by elegant lotus-shaped fountains of stone. As the two entered, they found it crowded by creatures from Hippogriffs to Zebras, Syrans to two-legged cats that spoke, complained, and sung in dozens of languages. They passed by restaurants, cafes, and bakeries that perfumed the air with spices, freshly baked bread, and promising meals if only they stepped in. At corners, they heard street orchestras and solo musicians playing on instruments that have been lost to time.
Yet, it was not this elegant town that they came for.
Towards the center was a building that was big as an opera house and just as beautiful. Carved marble, cast iron, and gold leaf stood proud and shining in the sun like a crown. It was here that Sandbar wanted to take Gallus. For, over the door, etched in masterful calligraphy in stone and iron, were the words: Monte Catlo Casino and Hotel.
“Here we are!” Sandbar grinned, waving a hoof at the building as if he was presenting his friend with an expensive Hearth's Warming present. “What do you think?”
“Huh…” Gallus blinked. “A casino? This… doesn’t sound like you.”
“I know; I had you in mind.”
“Uh-” Gallus was taken aback, slightly blushing- “Excuse me?”
“I mean, I thought that maybe you needed some cheering up. I wasn’t gonna bring it up, but lately, you’ve seemed... down in the dumps. So I kinda figured I should take you to someplace that you might find fun. I mean, remember those game nights we had when we were alive?”
“Well yeah, I remember whipping your flanks,” he chuckled. “Do you remember when I won that poker game, and Smolder got so mad that she flipped the table?”
Sandbar laughed. “Yeah, and you had to spend days trying to prove that you didn’t cheat. I remembered how much enjoyment you got out of that game, so I thought maybe I should take you somewhere where we could experience something like that again.”
“That’s…” Gallus rubbed the back of his neck. “.... actually really sweet of you.”
“Now c’mon!” Sandbar trotted through the huge iron and glass doors. “Let’s get ourselves checked into our room.”
“Why?” Gallus walked behind him. “I mean, we’ve got our house in our saddlebag. So why would we want to check in a hotel?”
“Well, don’t you just want to know what it’s like to be in a fancy hotel that you don’t have to pay for?”
Gallus couldn’t think of a comeback to that.
Walking into the lobby, the two paused for a moment to be in a place that should have been part of a palace. On the floor, there was a marble mosaic of the initials “M.C.” Columns made out of solid amber reached up to the dome, a glassy-blue ceiling with a crystal chandelier hanging in the middle. It was decked out in the baroque style, complete with monumental paintings, gold leafing that encompassed the whole room, and even cherubs that peeked down from above.
In front of them was a desk, and between it and the wall of key hooks was a feline that was focused on a novel. It was one of those tuxedo cats that had black and white fur, complete with a tuxedo and a nametag. When they approached, they saw a name on it - Monte. The two walked up to the desk, where there was a little sign that pointed to a silver hoof-bell. Sandbar tapped it to get the feline’s attention.
Stoically, the cat closed the book and looked up at them. “Good afternoon,” he spoke in a soothing, deep voice that would almost put one to sleep. “welcome to the Monte Catlo Casino and Hotel. My name is Monte. Are we checking in or gambling today?”
“Well, both,” Sandbar answered. “Do you guys have a room?”
Monte looked behind at the wall of keys, “We always have a vacancy here. Is there a particular kind of room you wish to stay in?”
Sandbar smiled. “Surprise us.”
“Very well.” Nodding, Monte turned around and pulled up a ladder from the floor. He climbed up a few steps and reached out for a key that had the number 473 on it. “If I may ask, how long do you gentlecolts plan to stay at our establishment?”
“Maybe for a day or two.” Sandbar looked over to Gallus. “Unless you wanna stay here a bit longer?”
“Meh, we’ll probably move on tomorrow. I’ve never been here, so I don’t know what else there is to do.”
“Oh there’s plenty,” Monte explained, climbing down back to the floor. “For example, there are a good number of places to eat as well as some entertainment of sorts. There’s a good improv theater that’s just down the block from here. Now,” he then pulled out a book and a fountain pen, “if I may get your signatures please just so you’ve been registered.”
Sandbar and Gallus signed their names. The book then filled out the rest, including the date and time when they checked in. However, they were taken aback by the date: December 24th. Today was Hearth's Warming Eve, and by the looks of the other, they both seemed to have forgotten what day it was.
“Uh, excuse us?” Gallus raised a talon. “Is today Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
Monte looked at his watch. “Last time I checked, it’s the twenty-fourth of December. Why?”
“Oh crap!” Sandbar exclaimed. “We’ve been so busy going around we didn’t realize… I didn’t get you anything.”
“I know…” Gallus groaned. “I feel so stupid.”
Monte coughed into his small paw. “If it helps, gentlecolts, you might not have to worry about that.” He held the key out to them. “It’s already been taken care of.”
“Hang on,” Gallus objected, “what do you mean by that?”
“As I said, it’s all been taken care of.” He jingled the key, “Everything you need is in your room.”
The two just stared at each other before shrugging. So far, Heaven hadn’t let them down yet.
It took a while to reach their rooms, but while doing so, they rode the glass elevators and got a good look of the entire place, including a big outdoor pool that they both agreed to try out later. Once they reached their floor, they were fortunate enough to find their shared room right in front of them. Upon unlocking it the two were amazed by what they saw. It wasn’t just a room; it was an entire penthouse! The entire front room had four soft sofa chairs and two velvet black couches with two glass coffee tables with magazines on top. Nearby on the left, there was an actual wooden bar filled with dozens of drinks, a fresh ice maker, and glasses from wine to shots. There were three small platinum chairs to sit in front of the bar, while behind the bar were two medium-size television screens with the logo of the hotel on them.
Further in the back, a giant grand dining room table with six chairs and silverware all sorted out, with fresh fruit and spring water already prepared for them. Walking further inside, they saw two hallways that they each took to explore further. For Gallus, he found a large recreational center with a billiard room, a gaming couch with a plasma screen TV, and dozens of video games. There was also a mini-library with a set of popular board games that Gallus remembered playing with all his friends from their time at the academy. Next to it was a smaller room that led to a hot jacuzzi with a tub as big as an elephant. Sandbar, meanwhile, found himself entering the bedroom, where two king-sized beds awaited them with green and blue covers, pillows, and velvet shades around their beds. A mini-bar was set up as well as a fridge filled with ice cream. There were even separate bathrooms for them.
“How could they fit all of this in here?” Gallus asked as the two met up back in the living room.
“Maybe it’s just bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?” Sandbar suggested.
“I guess,” Gallus said as he looked around. “So where is this thing that’s supposed to help us with Hearth’s-”
A knock on the door alerted the two of company as they walked over and opened it. A bellhop pony bowed and came in with a large red and green box. “For you, gentlecolts. Good day.” He bowed again and left as quickly as he came. The two looked at the box before opening it.
Sandbar gasped as he pulled out a small but easily movable Hearth's Warming Eve tree that shouldn’t have fit in the box, but he soon chalked it up to the imagination. “Woah! This tree is huge!”
“There are other decorations inside too,” Gallus said, pulling out tinsel.
“Hey! Let’s decorate the place!” Sandbar said with a smile. “My folks and I used to love doing that. Since you and I are pretty much together- ” Gallus went wide-eyed upon hearing that word- “let’s celebrate it together!”
“Still, we should do something special for each other. I mean, what can you give in a place that can give everything?” Gallus asked, which made Sandbar rub his chin.
“Hmm,” Sandbar hummed to himself before clopping his hooves together. “I got it! Let’s find each other a date!”
“Whawhawhat?!” Gallus shouted, blushing red.
“Yeah, I mean we’re both technically single, and we did promise the girls we’d find someone new to love,” Sandbar said with a smile. “Plus, this is technically a romantic holiday. Let’s find a date for each other.”
‘I’d rather just go out with you,’ Gallus thought in his head, but he slowly nodded anyway.
“Great! Let’s first set everything up and we can go on Operation Babe Hunt!” Sandbar said, pumping his hoof in the air.
Gallus raised his eyebrow. “‘Operation Babe Hunt?’”
“Eh, I just picked what sounded good in my head the first time,” he shrugged. “Besides, we can start here at the casino. Maybe if we’re lucky, we might get lucky.”
Gallus groaned at that joke.
“C’mon!” Sandbar hopped out the door. “Let’s see who we can find!”
“What about the decorations…? Ah, forget it!” Begrudgingly, Gallus followed behind.
The casino itself was just as beautiful and elaborate as the rest of the building. Rows upon rows of games promised fortune and excitement. There were the kind of games they expected from a casino, from poker to blackjack, but there were others that they didn’t consider to be gambling-related. In one part of the casino floor, there was an arcade with a wide range of games, from dance-offs to shooters - only, instead of the tickets one would see from those who won, casino chips would be distributed.
“So,” Sandbar chirped, “if we’re gonna get ourselves back into the dating pool, we got to choose a game.”
“Sure but uh…” Gallus hesitated, looking around at the gamblers. “What kind of game? I mean, there’s just so many to choose from.”
“Well we’ve got to go for one that draws a crowd, so…” Sandbar scanned the floor and spotted one that had a good size group around it. “What about that one? Roulette, isn’t it?”
“I uh… yeah,” Gallus said meekly. “At least that’s a game that has no chance of being rigged.”
“C’mon, let’s see what’s going on over there.” Sandbar happily trotted off towards the table.
Gallus sighed, dragging himself behind.
Pushing themselves through the crowd, they found that there were only two players. One was a thin deer in a white suit, while across him was a mare with a mane as gold as the sun, an orange coat, and a sparkling red dress. When the two got closer, they saw that between the two, the mare was clearly winning by the huge number of chips.
“Okay, place your bets,” a changeling standing behind the roulette wheel called out.
The deer hummed. “I think…” He pushed what little chips he had left. “Two-hundred on black. Twelve, black.”
The mare smirked, pushing all of her chips. “Sixteen red.”
“Last chance to change your minds,” the changeling warned. Neither of them backed down. Nodding, the changeling spun the wheel and tossed the ball in the opposite direction.
All eyes were on the ball as it went round and round the colored wheel, jumping when it started to slow down. The deer held his breath while the pony with great confidence simply smiled. A moment later, the wheel slowed down and so did the ball as it rested on...
“Sixteen red!” the changeling called out.
“Yes!” the mare cheered in her victory, and the crowd cheered along with her. “That was a close call, but what do you say?” She reached out her hoof. “Good game, Mitos?”
“Yeah,” he shook her hoof. “You won this fair and square.” With that, the deer got up from his seat.
The mare playfully tapped a few of her chips together. “So, who wants to try their luck?”
“Oh! We would!” Sandbar raised his hoof, “We’ll play!”
“Dude,” Gallus asked in a harsh whisper, “what do you think you’re doing?!”
“We are gonna play a game-” He sat down at the table- “and hopefully, one of us will win.” He winked.
Frowning, Gallus sat down next to him.
“Well, well, well.” The mare rubbed her hooves. “It’s been a while since I’ve faced some brave souls.” She held out her hoof. “The name is Chanceuse.”
“Sandbar.” He shook her hoof.
“Gallus.” He reluctantly did the same.
“Welcome. I hope you two understand the nature of the game?”
“You basically bet on a color or a number,” Gallus said dryly. “Whoever gets it right wins.”
“That is oversimplified, but yes.” She paused for a moment. “But I noticed neither of you have anything to bet with. If you’re interested in playing me, here.” She pushed a small portion to the two. “I suggest starting small and working your way up.”
“Thanks.” Sandbar smiled, while Gallus’s eyes narrowed.
“I’ll go first,” Chanceuse said, placing a few chips on the table. “Thirty on three black.”
“Ten on red fourteen.” Sandbar placed his chip down, then elbowed his friend to do the same.
Gallus sighed. “Twenty on black.”
“Ah, smart move,” Chanceuse smiled and winked at Gallus, only to receive an eye-roll.
“Last minute to change your minds?” the changeling asked. When none of them did, he spun the wheel and tossed the ball in. They watched the wheel and the ball slowly slow down and eventually land on - “Seven black.”
“Looks like you win.” Chanceuse smiled. With the chips being pushed in Gallus’s direction, she began, “So, when are you two from?”
“Don’t you mean where?” Gallus questioned.
“Well that, but when as well. Although given that answer, I take it you haven’t been in the afterlife that long. No, I’m referring to when you passed away.”
“About six months ago,” said Sandbar. “I’m from Equestria and he’s from Griffonstone, by-the-way.”
“Prance,” she said, picking out a fifty-bit chip and placing it on eight black. “I passed away during the revolution.”
“Really?” Gallus tilted his head, “Which one? I know there was at least more than one.”
“The one that overthrew the monarchy,” she replied, watching Sandbar place a five bit chip on fourteen-black. “I was in the mare’s march to the palace when we moved them to Paris.”
“Wow,” Sandbar leaned forward, “So… uh…”
“Mhm?”
“If it’s not rude to ask but… if you died during the Prench Revolution… did you… you know…” He motioned with a hoof across his neck.
She nodded. “That I found ironic. I played an important part in overthrowing the monarchy, and a year later I was guillotined for saying I felt sorry for the queen. But it doesn’t bother me now; I’ve moved on since then.”
Gallus put a ten-bit chip on red.
The changeling did the last call for further bets, spun the wheel, and tossed the ball. It landed on fourteen-black. Sandbar won that round.
“Thank you,” he said as the chips were pushed in his direction. “So miss, or should I say, Madame, what is someone so charming as you doing in a place like this?”
Gallus took hold of the edge of the table and tightened his grip.
“For the same reasons as you are, no doubt.” Chanceuse placed a fifty-bit clip on red. “I’m a wandering spirit, going this way and that to see where the winds take me. Exploring this world and getting to know a few handsome stallions out there.”
“Yeah?” Sandbar smirked. “Are you still on the lookout?”
She hummed, watching the pony across from her placed a fifteen chip on seven red. “That depends, are you?”
“Oh definitely!” Sandbar grinned wider, and the grip from Gallus got tighter. “We’re just some best buds going around to have fun and maybe, find someone special.”
Gallus grabbed a five-bit chip and tossed it on black.
Chanceuse raised an eyebrow. “The gentlegriff seems stressed, yes?”
“What?” Gallus shook his head, as if he had fallen asleep. “I’m not stressed.”
“No? Then why are you making a dent in the table?”
Gallus looked down at what his claw was gripping and blinked. He didn’t realize that the wood underneath his claw was bending and splintering.
“You okay, dude?” Sandbar asked.
“Uh… y-yeah.” He got up. “Would you hold my seat? I’m gonna find a bathroom real quick.”
“Sure thing.” Sandbar watched his friend fly off before looking down at the indent in the wood. “What’s gotten into him?”
“Has the Monsour offended him in any way?” Chanceuse inquired.
“No, I didn’t do anything.” He blinked. “What makes you say that?”
“When you get to be my age, you tend to pick up on certain things. Body language, for instance. You probably weren’t aware, but your friend seemed cross. But I don’t know why. He was tense, grumbled a good deal, didn’t want to make eye contact, and there’s also that.” She pointed to the damaged side of the table. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that he was bitter.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.” Sandbar scratched his head. “I mean, I was honest about how we’re here to have fun. But also to maybe pick up someone. Ya know, for like a date.”
“Ah-ha!” Chanceuse smirked. “Now the plot thickens! Is that what you were trying to do? Flirt with little old me?”
“W-Well uh…” Sandbar gave an embarrassed smile, and his blush betrayed his intention to be cool. “Is it… working?”
She laughed. “Oh, you have much to learn about flattery before you try to earn a date.”
“So… is that a no…?”
“Monsour, you are a sweet stallion. However, I have a feeling that you may have more pressing matters to attend to first.”
“I do?” Sandbar blinked. “Like what?”
“For starters, your friend seems to have lied,” she said, pointing to the front doors, “because that is not the bathroom, but the exit outside. So, whatever you might have done, I suggest you go and try to fix it quickly while you still can.”
“Really?” Sandbar got up from the table. Looking between him and the door, it took him a moment before he pressed all the chips to her. “Thanks for the game, but I think I need to go.”
He galloped off.
Chanceuse waved. “Hope to see you again.”
Gallus didn’t know how long it would take for anyone to catch on with his lie. No, he needed more than a restroom - he needed air. Just someplace away to catch his breath and calm down before he exploded. He sat on the edge of a stone fountain that was just outside of the casino, his back against the brightly lit water. Of course, he planned on going back to the gambling floor, playing along with Gallus until the Prench mare ended up seducing him. But it was that thought that made him step outside. He knew that he shouldn’t be miffed by any of this. Sandbar wouldn’t ever consider him as a possible… whatever. So, by all means, he should be cheering him on to be the first to get a date.
But for now, he wasn’t ready. Not yet… Not now.
“Hey, you okay?” Gallus looked up, seeing Sandbar walking over to him.
“Uh, yeah…” He breathed in deeply. “I’m fine. Really.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m okay. See?” He pulled a fake grin. “It’s all honky-dory!”
Sandbar raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it.
Gallus let his grin down. “Sorry, just… I’ll be okay, I just needed a minute.”
Walking up to the fountain, Sandbar sat down next to him. “So why were you kinda angry back there? I thought you’d be thrilled with finding a special somecreature.”
“Sure, but…” Gallus cupped his face in his claws, and sighed. “I don’t know. Okay? I didn’t feel comfortable back there.”
“So… maybe we should find a dude?”
“.... Can I be straight with you?” He looked up, “I don’t know if I’m ready to… you know… date anybody now.”
“Oh…” Sandbar rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, so I pushed you into something you weren’t ready for. Crap, I’m so sorry dude.”
“No.” Gallus shook his head. “You clearly want this. And I guess you were ready to fall in love with… what’s-her-name.”
“Dude, we just met. We didn’t have much of a connection if you could call it that.” Rubbing his chin in thought, he asked, “So… do you wanna do something else?”
“Like what?”
“Well… I don’t know. We could go back and play some other game. Or hay, we’re in this new, fancy town. Maybe we can go see what’s here.”
“What about our game?”
“I called it quits.” Sandbar got up, offering a hoof to him. “So how about this - we won’t find ourselves any dates tonight. Alright? Let’s just go and have fun somewhere. I mean, I brought you here so we could have a good time, so let’s actually go and have a good time. Okay?”
Gallus looked between Sandbar’s outstretched hoof and his face. There was so much in that moment that he could say or do. After all, Sandbar was changing his plans and tossing out a potential date just so he could have as much fun as he was. He came out here to check to see if he was doing alright, and was making the effort to mend a spoiled moment. He grabbed Sandbar’s leg and was pulled up.
“So what do you wanna do?” Gallus asked, looking around. “It’s too early to eat dinner and too late to win our bets back. Any ideas?”
“.... Bet I can kick your butt that billiards table we got back at the penthouse.”
“You’re on!” Gallus said as the two dashed away to their hotel room.
“And that’s 4-3, Sandbar!”
Gallus grumbled as he began to rack up the balls again. “How does a creature who uses hooves become so good at billiards? You don’t even have digits!”
“I think Professor Twilight said something about how earth pony magic is connected to our hooves, and thus some kind of gravity-like spell allows us to hold things for a short time, similar to how pegasi use their wings and unicorns use their horn,” Sandbar said, shrugging.
“That has to be a bunch of bullshit if you ask me,” Gallus said, shaking his head. “How does that even work?”
“I don’t know. I’m not Ocellus,” Sandbar pointed out before pausing. “You know… I just realized. It’s Hearth's Warming Eve and all the other celebrations down back home. How do you think the others are doing?”
Gallus looked down and sighed. “Well, I hope they’re keeping the tradition of us all celebrating it together. That was honestly one of my favorite parts of the year.”
“And to think,” Sandbar said as he walked over and wrapped his hoof around Gallus. “We started that tradition in our first year thanks to you keeping us there to clean the decorations up.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. I still feel guilty that I did that. Plus, those were one of the worst detentions I had to serve afterward,” Gallus grumbled.
“Worse than the time you and Smolder put cherry bombs in the septic tanks and-”
“Okay, not as bad as that! Plus, I’m pretty sure the only reason I wasn’t expelled was because Professor Rainbow Dash admitted to doing that prank at school once too!” Gallus rubbed his neck. “Still, I just hope they’re having a good holiday without us. Your family as well.”
“Yeah... I hope my sister is going to be happy despite me not being there. Of course, she’d want me to be happy celebrating up here too, or else she’d kick my butt,” Sandbar chuckled while shaking his head.
“Well, you were her hero,” Gallus said, remembering her words at their funeral. “I’d think even heroes need a break or two.”
Sandbar’s eyes widened as a grin appeared on his face. “Oh yeah! Dude, thanks for reminding me! I gotta show you this What If I didn’t finish!” He rushed into his room and flew back seconds later with his book from the library. “I asked what would happen if we were superheroes and it showed me this corny and yet awesome looking timeline about us! You have to watch it, dude.”
Shrugging, Gallus walked into the living room and sat on the couch. “Got nothing else to do. Show me away.”
“Well, first let me restart it so you can see what’s going on...”
***20 Minutes Later***
“.... I SOUND LIKE A DORK!” Gallus shouted in disbelief as he stared at the book with cringed eyes. “Seriously? ‘The Griffin of Honestly who seeks to make a better world?!’ In what world would I say that?!”
“Apparently in this one,” Sandbar said, grinning.
“And another thing!” Gallus pointed out as he poked himself. “I’m the one the Tree of Harmony said was closest to representing the Element of Magic! Not Honesty! I should be the leader of this team! Why is Smolder the leader?!”
“I think it's because you’re not red,” Sandbar pointed out.
“What does color have to do with being the leader of a group?” Gallus asked. “Princess Twilight is purple.”
“Ugh, let’s just watch what happens already,” Sandbar said, rolling his eyes and he got the book to continue showing the alternate timeline.
The manga-drawn pages showed the seven transformed heroes standing ready to fight against the Bulldozer Monster who was growling at the seven. “You think you rainbow-colored freaks are gonna stop me?! I’m gonna wreck that town and everything in it!”
“Not if we stop you first!” Rexis cried out as he launched himself forward. “Hi-ya!”
He delivered a solid punch upon the metal monster followed by a kick and another punch, but the metal monstrosity didn’t even flinch. He just laughed before back-fisting Rexis away, sending him sailing. “Pathetic! I didn’t even feel that!”
“Rexis! You’ll pay for that, jerk!” Silverstream shouted as she flew towards the monster, Gallus and Sandbar right behind her.
The three charged and dived at the monster, delivering various karate moves that normally would have hurt something, but the bulldozer monster was unphased. He smashed his bladed arms into Gallus’s chest, causing the griffin to get sent back with sparks flying out of his spandex armor. Sandbar was next as the monster headbutted him, bashed him in the helmet, and backhanded him to a tree with sparks also flying out. Silverstream tried to dive-bomb him, but he unleashed a powerful smoke from his mouth that filled up the hippogriff’s vision.
“Can’t see!” Silverstream said before she was grabbed by the monster and thrown to the ground. The big mechanical beast slammed his foot on her stomach, causing her to scream in pain as it tried to crush her in two.
However, rescue came in the form of Yona, who charged forward while glowing yellow with lightning bolts coming out of her body. “Lighting Charge!” This actually managed to make the monster scream in pain as Yona impacted him and sent him flying before he landed in a small crater nearby. Yona turned to Silverstream and helped her up. “Friend Silverstream okay?”
“Yeah, just winded… and I think I don’t need to worry about losing weight now...” Silverstream winced as she rubbed her chest.
“Our turn!” Smolder shouted as she and Ocellus took to the air and aimed towards the monster. It growled and fired energy cuts from its buzzsaws.
“Energy Shield!” Ocellus shouted as her horn glowed and protected both her and Smolder with a pink barrier.
“Dragon Burst Ignite!” Smolder shouted, letting out a ray of flames from her body that had the head of a dragon upfront.
Before it could hit the bulldozer, he laughed and activated his pipes which started to suck up all the fire like a vacuum much to the shock of the girls. “Here, you can have this back!” It then reversed its flow of air and blew the flames out which hit both girls. While Smolder took the heat with little damage, Ocellus' entire suit was sparking from the fire until she was grabbed out by Smolder.
“Is that even scientifically possible?” Real Gallus asked, turning to Real Sandbar.
“Don’t ask me, I sucked at science save for marine biology and animals,” Real Sandbar answered.
The seven heroes united and began to grunt from the damage they took. “This guy is tough,” Sandbar said.
“And super strong, ow,” Rexis muttered as he winced from his blow.
“Let’s take him at long range then!” Smolder shouted as she took out what appeared to be some kind of laser pistol. Everyone soon took theirs from their belts, even Yona was holding one that seemed to be comically too small for her, and aimed at the monster. “Fire!”
The Bulldozer monster curled himself up into a ball as the laser blasts fired at him, but each ray shot bounced off his steel body like light from a mirror. The seven were shocked, but this didn’t stop the Bulldozer monster from laughing and glowing red hot in the center where his bulldozer blade was located. “Now let me show you what I can do by mowing you all down!”
It began to roar like an angry machine before charging even faster than the seven could react. It rammed right through them, sending them into the air and screaming in pain while small explosions appeared from where they were once sitting and even around them. Time seemed to slow down as they flailed around in the air before landing back on the ground, weakened and groaning.
The Bulldozer monster laughed and waved them off. “So long, losers! I’m gonna destroy that town!”
“For a bunch of super suited beings, we sure super suck,” Real Gallus snorted.
“Oh, please, this is when we get our second wind and kick the monster’s butt,” Real Sandbar said, rolling his eyes, but still having his goofy smile on.
As the monster waved off, the gang slowly got up and looked at each other with worry. “What are we going to do? He’s too tough and strong to beat!” Sandbar pointed out.
“We have to do something or else everyone in town is going to lose their homes!” Ocellus shouted.
“If only there was some way to get him to stop moving! Something to jam up his gears!” Rexis shouted, which caused Smolder to lift her head up in realization.
“Rexis! That’s it! If we can plug up his pipes he’ll be unable to work properly! Here’s the plan...”
The pages then transformed to show that the Bulldozer monster was just a few feet away from arriving in Ponyville. “Aw, look at all the nice buildings. Well-managed streets. And the peaceful atmosphere… I HATE IT! LET’S TEAR IT ALL DOWN!”
“No so fast!”
The Bulldozer monster turned its head only to get nailed in the head by both Ocellus and Silverstream who dived, kicked him in the head and knocked him down. Growling, he glared at the flying creatures and stomped his foot in frustration. “You again?!”
“Try and get us, ugly!” Silverstream said, mocking him as she shook her rump at him.
“Ugly! Oh, I’m gonna bury you six feet under for that!” The Bulldozer monster shouted as he rushed after the two while firing energy cuts from his buzzsaw. The two fliers were able to skillfully dodge and weave from the blasts while leading the monster further and further away from Ponyville.
Suddenly, it found itself unable to move and looked around. “Wha-What?! Why can’t I move?!”
Hidden from behind a nearby tree, Rexis was using his Harmony power of the shadows to extend his shadow and merge it with the shadow of the monster, freezing it in place. Activating the communicator in his head, Rexis said, “I got him trapped in my Shadow Link! Go!”
Smolder and Sandbar then charged forward as each had their claws/hooves glowing. The monster growled before unleashing the smokescreen from before in an effort to blind the two. However, he didn’t expect Gallus to dive down with his wings glowing blue and shout, “Air Blast!”
With a powerful flap of his wings, a mighty gust of air roared through the sky and quickly dissipated the smokescreen. This allowed Smolder and Sandbar a free chance to attack without losing focus. Both of them shot out their forelimbs with the dragon shooting out magma and the earth pony shooting out water.
“Magma Rage!”
“Water Spray!”
“Wait a minute, if I’m wearing green, why is my power water?” Real Sandbar asked, eyebrows raised. “Should it be air or earth or something? Or better yet, why isn’t Silverstream using water? She lives in it!”
“That’s the last question I have,” Real Gallus pointed out. “I’m wondering how the Hell Smolder is able to spray magma from her claws, and how connecting your shadows together freezes someone in place? What is this, some kind of lame-ass ninja technique or something?”
Regardless, the blasts of magma and water managed to hit the pipes together and turned them rock solid. The Bulldozer monster eventually broke free from the shadowy grip and growled. “Ha?! What was that… ugh… gah… ughhh!” He started holding his stomach as his pipes began to get bigger, and his body was glowing red. Parts of him were coming off as he struggled to maintain himself. “W-What’s going on?!”
“Just as I thought!” Smolder said, crossing her arms. “Without that energy of yours able to escape, it’s building up too much inside of you like a bad case of gas.”
Both Real Sandbar and Gallus agreed that Smolder was not smart enough to come up with something like that in real life.
“Plus,” Ocellus said, landing next to Smolder, “all that energy building up will just cause the need to be expanding to add more pressure to your body. Unless something was to cause an external amount of force to make it happen sooner! Now Yona!”
“Lighting Charge!” Yona shouted as she rushed towards the monster from the right. It turned around and gasped only to get a full-frontal assault of a thunder-powered yak tackle. The charges of the lightning went straight into the monster’s body causing it to explode a great amount of energy from its body and sending it sailing in sparks and broken parts to the ground. It coughed out smoke and moaned before slowly getting up, but it was clearly disoriented.
“Damn, that was awesome!” Real Sandbar cheered
“I admit, the effects were nice, but I’m not sure if that’s how energy works,” Real Gallus said, shrugging.
“Alright!” Smolder shouted, pumping up her first in the air. “Let’s finish him off!”
“Right!” said everyone as they lined up and placed their paws/talons/claws/hooves on their glowing Elements.
The seven began to glow with their respective color energy before each of them held a ball of a different element: Fire for Smolder, Air for Gallus, Water for Sandbar, Ice for Silverstream, Light for Ocellus, Lighting for Yona, and Darkness for Rexis. Putting their forelegs to the right side of their bodies while keeping one foot behind them and positioned in stance. The seven all shouted, “Final Harmonic Blast!”
At once, all seven of them shot the powerful energy beams into the monster who screamed until he was vaporized in a powerful explosion of multi-colored light. When it faded, all that remained was a single pile of ashes.
“Wait, why didn’t they attack him with that the first time?” Real Gallus asked.
“‘Cause we wouldn’t get the awesome fight scene, duh,” Real Sandbar pointed out.
The seven began to cheer, but far off in the distance, watching from his portal, Grogar just muttered to himself as his eyes began to glow. A few seconds later, a mysterious magical pentagram appeared under the ashes which caused them to reform. A flash of dark light later and Real Gallus and Sandbar had their jaws drop upon seeing the now gigantic-sized monster back to life and roaring in the air.
“Graah! Now I can not just crush the town, but the mountains nearby as well! Gahahaha!”
The others looked up at the monster before nodding to each other. Smolder activated her communicator inside her head. “Zelora! We need the Zords now!”
“The what?” Real Gallus and Sandbar asked, raising an eyebrow.
Their answer came when the book started showing a sequence of events that made the boys’ jaws drop. It turned out the Zords were giant mecha versions of the respective races of the Harmony Rangers hidden in various places around Ponyville.
From the woods of the Everfree Forest emerged a black mechanical wolf that howled so loud the birds scattered before it ran out of the forest. Upon the mountains near Canterlot City, a blue griffin mecha was screeching into the air before taking flight to aid in the battle. Under the giant lake rose a bird-like mermaid that looked like a hippogriff that splashed in the water before it started defying physics right up the butt by swimming in the air. Bursting out of Ghastly Gorge was a yellow and brown giant yak that let out a war cry before bouncing off the canyon walls to reach the surface and charge forward. A small section of the earth slowly opened up and bursting out of the ground was a green earth pony who galloped and neighed along the way. Coming down from the bright sun, buzzing around, was a giant mecha beetle-like creature that had to be a representative of a changeling. Finally, bursting out of a volcano, which made no sense since no volcanoes were even near Ponyville, was a red dragon robot who roared out flames before flying off.
Suddenly, the scene showed all seven mechanical creatures running or flying side by side as one by one the rangers jumped into their robots from near impossible heights of distance. Each landed inside a cockpit before pressing a few buttons. “Megazord Unification Activate!”
Each of the respective mechs roared as the wolf and pony Zords started transforming themselves into shaping like legs and feet with their respective bodies with the heads acting as the latter. They soon connected to the yak, who pulled in all their limbs, including their head, to act as the body while the two other Zords connected below. The changeling and hippogriff ones did the same as the pony and wolf one except they were made to be like hands with the griffin’s claws soon coming off its body and connecting with the arms to become the hands while the rest of it went to the back, transformed, and connected to the yak’s spine while spreading out its wings. Finally, the dragon robot landed on top and connected its body to have wings make a second set while the body entered the yak’s neck before the head remained on top. Its tail also came apart and turned into a long-spined blade shaped like a katana sword.
It poised in the air before landing with a thud as the page to the left showed all seven in some kind of advanced cockpit and poised with their left limb out. “Megazord Formation Complete!”
The eye from the real Gallus twitched, “They had… a giant robot that they could have called on at any time… and they didn’t think of using it first?!”
“But… the fights…”
“This battle could have been over in two seconds!” Real Gallus folded his arms. “This is why I should have been the leader,” he muttered.
Ignoring his friend, Sandbar went back to focusing on the fight as the two giant monstrosities rushed at each other and started exchanging blows that each blocked. The Megazord used the dragon tail sword while the Bulldozer monster used his buzzsaws.
The Megazord then went for a downward chop only to have the Bulldozer monster grab the blade and mock them with laughter. However, they didn’t expect the Megazord to kick them in the gut before pushing them back and slicing them with the blade as sparks came out.
“Gah! Oh yeah?! Eat this!” the Bulldozer monster shouted as he fired missiles from his pipes which hit the Megazord repeatedly.
“GAH! AH! UGH! WAH!” the seven cried as they flailed their limbs around in the sparking cockpit that the two watchers didn’t know if they were being tossed around or having a stroke.
“I got you now!” the Bulldozer monster cried out as it tried to charge, but suddenly golden arrows made of energy hit it from the side and caused it to slip and fall in pain. “What the?!”
Silverstream gasped. “Those arrows!”
The Megazord turned to see, up on Princess Twilight’s castle, was a creature that neither Gallus or Sandbar had ever seen before, but knew about. It was a fox, but it had five tails behind it, making it one of the Kitsune from the far east. He was dressed in a similar outfit like the rest of the Harmony Rangers, but was gold and had a cloak and hood with strange eastern writing on it. In his hands was a sparkling gold and white bow that it lowered upon seeing that its attack had hit.
“Now, Rangers. Get him while he’s down,” the Golden Ranger said before he vanished with a swift flap of his cloak.
“Wait!” Silverstream said, reaching out as if she wanted to grab him. This made both Real Gallus and Ranger Gallus growl at the same time before Smolder alerted Silverstream to focus. “R-Right!”
The dragon sword began to glow bright orange with white flames as they circled it above their head. The seven heroes then shouted, “Divine Cut of Justice!”
With super speed, the Megazord brought its glowing sword down and sliced the monster in two. It barely had time to fall down before exploding for good this time as the Megazord raised its sword in victory.
“Soooo, who was the golden guy?” Real Gallus asked, eyebrow raised.
“Probably a mysterious ranger who's going to hide in the shadows, aiding when needed, until the team finally has him join them full time,” Real Sandbar pointed out. “At least, if my knowledge of superheroes is accurate.”
“You’re such a nerd,” Gallus chuckled. ‘Gods, do I love you for it.’
The story didn’t seem to end there, as it showed Spike’s Juice Bar again, but apparently the next day as Ocellus was going on a one-on-one sparring match with Gallus. The two were evenly matched as they exchanged blows for blows and counters for counters until Ocellus managed to get in a sweep kick that knocked Gallus to his back just for him to get a fist inches from his face from a smiling changeling.
“Seriously? I lost to Ocellus in a fight?” Real Gallus moaned. “Wow, I’m glad I’m already dead, or I’d die of embarrassment from that.”
Smirking, the two shook hands before getting up as Smolder clapped for the performance. “Nice work, Ocellus. Told ya you’d get the hang of it.”
“Yeah, I guess I just needed to believe in myself like you said,” Ocellus replied as she and Gallus drank from their water bottles. “Plus it helps that Gallus likes to lean on his right rear foot a lot when he fights.”
“Noted,” Gallus chuckled as Yona and Rexis walked over. He noticed the former was smiling brightly while the latter was depressed. “What’s with you two?”
“Yona got B+ on Test! All thanks to friend Rexis help!” Yona said, giving a friendly nuzzle to the diamond dog who sighed.
“Isn’t that good news?” Smolder asked, tilting her head at Rexis’s behavior.
“Yeah, but the problem is that I was so busy helping Yona I forgot to study by myself! I got a C+,” he answered, which made the others chuckle. “Ah well, at least it’s not that bad.”
Just then, Silverstream and Sandbar rushed in with big smiles on their faces. “Guys! Guess what! It’s amazing!” Silverstream said as she shook with excitement. “Thanks to what happened yesterday, they decided to stop construction! The forest is going to be left alone!”
“Wow, guess that monster did do something good, huh?” Gallus said, grinning.
“Yeah, but I’m glad we were able to beat it regardless,” Sandbar said with a nod. “With a little help from the Gold Ranger.”
“I wonder who he is...?” Silverstream whispered as a blush appeared on her cheeks. “I... I still never got a chance to thank him for saving me...”
“Uh, hey!” Gallus said, interrupting her train of thought. “Why don’t we hang out in the forest since it's no longer being torn down?!”
The others all nodded and soon left the Juice Bar, not knowing that in the corner, a yellow fox with five tails was watching them while reading a book under his hoodie.
The words “To Be Continued” appeared in the book as both Sandbar and Gallus closed it and sat down.
“Wow, that was intense!” Sandbar grinned.
Gallus shrugged. “Some of the fights were cool, but… I don’t know, there were parts that just got too cheesy for me.”
“Oh, don’t be such a sour puss!” Sandbar got up. “Besides, there’s something else we still need to do.”
“Like what?”
“Well it is Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Sandbar walked out of the bedroom. “So c’mon, we haven’t finished decorating yet.”
“Yeah about that,” Gallus got up and filled his friend behind. “Have you noticed that there’s no hearth anywhere in this place? How can we have a Hearth's Warming without a…” His point died on his beak as they entered the living room, where they found a new feature next to the open Hearth’s Warming box - a large fireplace. Made out of marble and gilded iron, it was already burning brightly with several logs, bathing the room in an orange glow. “How the… Oh right, Heaven.” Gallus facepalmed.
Sandbar went over to the open box. “I remembered that we hadn't decorated since we left earlier. So come help me pull this stuff out.”
For a while, the two pulled out and kept pulling out more decorations. There, they found more ornaments for the tree, along with bows and freshly-made pine wreaths to hang up around the room. They pulled up strings of colored lights, candles, and even trays of ginger and sugar cookies.
“Talk about the gift that keeps on giving,” Gallus remarked, stringing up a holly wreath over the fireplace. “Do you think if you turn the thing upside down we might be flooded with Hearth’s Warming stuff?”
“Hey, what’s this?” Sandbar asked, reaching into the box and pulled out a few long boxes with bows on them. Taking a moment to untie them, he let out a gasp. “Dude! Come look at these!”
Gallus flew over next to him. In those long boxes, were rows of hoof-sewn dolls - the kind that ponies traditionally placed over the hearth. But what they found wasn’t just copies of them - it also contained their friends, Sandbar’s family, and even Starlight in doll, button-eyed form.
Yet, that wasn’t all. In the hooves/claws of their friends, they held onto rolls of short slips of paper. Gallus took the one that looked like Silverstream and unrolled the paper. It had a short little message: We have not forgotten you. - Silverstream.
Then he picked up Smolder’s in which it read: Thank you for being in my life. - Smolder.
It was the same with the other dolls, each of them had a short but heartfelt message from their loved ones.
Yona loves you both. - Yona
Please be happy up there and at peace. - Ocellus
You will always be my precious students. - Starlight
Son, we love you. One day we will see you. Gallus, you were like a part of the family. Happy Hearth's Warming - Mr. and Mrs. Oceanvale
I wanna be you when I grow up, Big Bro. I know you are here with me. I love you. - Coral
Deeper inside they found those from their former professors and Spike.
I’m proud to have taught you both. - Twilight Sparkle
Say hi to my folks for me. Tell Mama to make her special pie. - Applejack.
When I get up there you better have a party ready for me! - Pinkie Pie
I’m not really religious, but if there is a Heaven out there, it better have let you two in or I’ll kick angel butt. - Rainbow Dash
I’m always praying for you. Be at peace. - Fluttershy.
I bet you both look ravishing in white wings and halo. We miss you. - Rarity
You were both good friends. Might be awhile before I join you, but I’ll look after everyone for you. - Spike
Much to their shock, there were even more dolls. But from ponies they didn’t recognize at first until they remembered them as their fellow students from the school.
You two are the school's heroes. We’ll miss you.
I always had a crush on you, Gallus. I hope you find peace.
Sandbar, thanks for helping me with my homework on those study lessons.
We’ll look after Smolder, Silverstream, Yona, and Ocellus for you. We Academy Students are always a family, even in death.
Pray for our petition to make one of the rooms named get passed. We want to make it happen in your honor.
Hope you guys are happy up there. No creatures deserve it more than you two.
It was at that moment that two big smiles appeared on Sandbar and Gallus’s faces as they looked at each other’s teary-eyed expressions and hugged. At that moment, surrounded by these dolls which held so much love, it felt like being back home. One by one, they’d put every doll in some place in any of the rooms. But for now, it suddenly felt like the penthouse was occupied, not just by themselves, but with everyone who they knew in their lives.
“Damn…” Gallus wiped the tears from his eyes. “That’s one helluva Hearth’s Warming present.”
“I know,” Sandbar did the same. “That was the most thoughtful gift I didn’t know I wanted.” He looked back into the box and blinked. “Huh?” He turned it upside-down, and the only thing that came out was an envelope addressed to them. Sandbar opened it up and quickly read it.
“What is it?” Asked Gallus.
“It basically says that that’s it for the decorations - but there’ll be more gifts in the morning. But…” He shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe who it’s signed by.”
“Oh what,” Gallus joked, “Saddle Clause?”
“Actually… yeah.”
The griffon paused. “You’re joking.”
“No, seriously, it’s signed by Saddle Clause. I don’t know if it's a joke or, being Heaven, it might be real.” He looked over at the now-empty box. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.”
“Okay…” Gallus looked around at the dolls they took out. “Hey, I think we’re almost done. You wanna put all of these up on the hearth?”
Saying it would be a good idea, he and Gallus began to place the dolls on the mantle - one by one with as much love and care that they gave them. As they did so, an idea popped in Sandbar’s head. “Hey, Gallus? Can I ask you a personal question?”
“I don’t see why not,” he said, placing the dolls of Yona and Silverstream up. “What is it?”
“Well, with what happened earlier, it got me thinking,” Sandbar continued after he placed the dolls of his parents up. “Ideally speaking, who do you want your special somecreature to be?”
Gallus nearly dropped the dolls into the fire. “U-Uh…” Gallus felt his cheeks growing warmer. “Sorry?”
“Too personal? Sorry just… you know, after you said goodbye to Silverstream and all that. It just made me curious to know what you’re looking for as a romantic partner, that’s all.”
“No, no…” He turned away so he could hide his blush. “It’s just I didn’t expect to hear that is all.”
“So… Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I… guess?”
“Okay, great!” Sandbar reached over to put up the dolls of the students from the academy. “So paint me a picture. Let’s say you just found that special someone and they agreed to go on a dinner date with you.”
“That’s a bit cliche, isn’t it?”
“Hey, it’s just a what if, ya know? So anyway, they agreed to the date. So what would they be ideally like?”
“Oh…” Gallus exhaled. “Big question... Well…”
“Are they male or female?”
“.... Let’s pretend that they’re… male.”
“Okay,” Sandbar nodded. “And what would you be looking for - besides being hot, of course?”
Gallus scratched the back of his neck, his wings flustering. “Well…” He gulped, “Ideally? If it were a guy, I can see him as being mature… but not being a stick in the mud.”
“So mature to be an adult, but young at heart enough to be immature in the best ways, right?”
“Yeah… He uh… would be someone that’s… caring, of course. That he would be flexible-”
Sandbar snerked.
“Not like that!... Okay, that too, but I mean someone that’s… easy-going. Who’s open minded?” Gallus couldn’t tell if it was the fireplace, or this discussion that was making him feel warmer than usual. “He would uh… be patient with me. Understanding that I’m not exactly easy to be around with on some days. Maybe someone that I could be vulnerable with and not be afraid I would be made fun of for doing so.”
“Well okay,” Sandbar smirked, “But what do you expect this Mr. Perfect to be?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like what kind of job would he have? Hobbies? His taste in stuff - things like that.”
‘Wow you’re not making this any easier on me, aren’t ya?’ Gallus thought. “Okay uh… If I had my way… I’d have my date to be… kinda a nerd. But not the embarrassed to be around with kind. I mean the sort that would love one or two things I like but know much more about so I can learn from ‘em. I would… well, wouldn’t mind what job he had as long as he doesn’t become too overly obsessed with it. Ya know?”
“Sure.”
“But as weird as it may sound, while I would like him to have a few things in common with me, I also would like him to be a sort of a challenge.”
Sandbar tilted his head, “Huh?”
“Well, realistically, I don’t want him to agree with me all the time. If he did, things would get boring pretty fast, ya know? I want someone who could at certain points hold his ground without being a jerk about it. Someone that wouldn’t be afraid to challenge me on certain points that, maybe in hindsight I would need to rethink about. Yeah, I know that’s weird but, hey we’re talking about the ideal date, aren’t we?”
“Okay, final question,” Sandbar said dramatically before he pointed to Gallus with a perverted grin. “Would you be the one getting pounded in the butt or you pounding him with your co-?”
“Oh, jeez, you’re turning into such a pervert,” Gallus groaned, blushing his cheeks as sets of perverted images came to his mind. “I guess… I’d let him do me.”
“Really? I thought you’d be the dominant kind, being a predator and all?” Sandbar said in surprise.
“Well, what about you?” Gallus asked back, which made Sandbar blush.
“Well… if given the chance, I guess I’d want to do it on top...” Sandbar admitted.
“Why? Because you’re bigger or something?” Gallus blinked, “That came out wrong.”
“Why, wanna see it again?” Sandbar joked but it took all of Gallus’s willpower not to nod. “Anyway, let’s finish this up. I’m going to take a shower in my bathroom after this.”
“Y-yeah… I want to use my bathroom too...” Gallus asked. ‘Though I’m going to get dirty instead of clean.’
Half an hour after their showers, the two of them went straight to bed - Gallus trying his best not to make eye-contact from the sheer awkwardness by the time they lay in their separate beds and turned off the lights. Yet, even in the dark, neither of them fell asleep. Sandbar, with the memory of his friend so flustered still fresh in his mind, asked aloud: “Hey Gallus? Are you still awake?”
“Hm?”
“Well… joking aside, I do hope you do find someone special here.”
Gallus rolled over to face him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I know that your life wasn’t easy. And your love life was pretty much non-existent. I was hoping that maybe I could help change that. Maybe be a wingman for ya and when you do find someone you like, I could help get the ball rolling.”
“Dude, you don’t have to do that.”
“Maybe not, but I do think you deserve to be happy with someone - for real this time. Not just some distant crush or whatever, I mean for real. I was happy with Yona when I was alive, and… you hardly got the chance to do that. To have that long, deep relationship with someone. I just want ya to know that if you do find someone, I wanna help out to make it last. Okay?”
Gallus pulled the covers closer to his head. “Yeah… sure.”
“You’re a good griffon, dude,” Sandbar shifted in his bed, getting comfortable, “you deserve to be happy.”
“.... Thanks.” Gallus rolled back, closing his eyes, and focused on his breathing to make his heart slow down a little bit.