Glynn was in the medical center, busy contemplating if he could get any assistance from any griffon until ‘Guy’ burst into the room with a panicked look on her face. “Glynn! Glynn!” she cried. “We have a problem!”
“What’s wrong?” the medic asked in a very worried tone, knowing that something horrible happened.
“It’s Gilda! They’ve found out about her disguise.”
“Oh no!” Glynn said. “This ain’t good. He stabbed her, didn’t he?” Ocellus nodded. “Great.”
“Onyx even knocked her out, making her disabled. And Gideon even said something about the ‘fishy sleepover’.” Glynn’s face went pale when she said that. He knew what that meant. ‘Guy’ noticed his expression, making her more worried. “Don’t tell me this ‘fishy sleepover’ isn’t what I think it is.”
“It… It is what you think it is, unfortunately. You’ve seen the waterfall outside, right?” ‘Guy’ nodded. “Well, the way the ‘fishy sleepover’ goes like this: it happens when one griffon’s wings and legs are chained to some boulders, and then they were tossed into the water, and drowning them before they can break loose. This is one of the many of his executions.”
“That’s… so horrifying.”
“No doubt about it. Not to mention the fact we haven’t seen Quartz in a while is concerning too. Did they say when this was happening?”
“Tonight, I think.”
“Then there’s still a chance to escape. Though, the chances are slim.”
“We can’t just let Gilda have that kind of fate. She’s not ready.”
“You’re right. We need to let Gadget know.”
“I should warn my friends.”
“You go ahead. Just… make sure you are alone.” ‘Guy’ nodded and flew away to warn her friends while Glynn went to warn Gadget.
The griffon mechanic was busy with Gabby, making the new armor. The hard part they were dealing with was making the pieces for the wings. She and Gabby were about to figure out how the wings would work until Glynn burst in. He looked around every bit of the workshop until he could make sure that there wasn't a ninja nearby.
“Gadget!” Glynn exclaimed.
“Glynn, what are you doing here?” Gadget asked. “What’s going on?”
“Gilda’s disguise has been exposed to Gideon,” he explained, much to the shock of the girls. “And now she’s going to have that ‘fishy sleepover’tonight.”
“Fishy… sleepover?” Gabby said, feeling confused about that phrase.
“Not good, getting chained up with boulders, and then being thrown to the waterfall until you drown! This is bad.” Hearing her definition, Gabby understands it now and became terrified. “And we don’t have a lot of time. Where’s Ocellus?”
“She went out to warn her friends. I hope they’re alright.”
"But what do we do about Gilda?" Gabby asked, concerned.
Before an answer could be given, ‘Guy’, Gallus, and Silverstream burst into the room. They locked the door behind them, adding the warning sign for the welder’s flash. “What did we miss?” ‘Guy’ asked.
“Only what Glynn already told you,” Gadget answered. “We’re still trying to figure how we can save your friend without sacrificing our lives in the process.”
“Okay, we can start by answering this question,” Gallus spoke.
Glynn and Gadget looked at each other before the one with metal wings responded. “Gallus, we know you’re panicking right now,” Glynn said, “But we should fully focus on Gilda.”
“I know she’s in danger, but if Gideon isn’t leading the griffons by giving them fair pay, then what’s keeping them in his control?!” This was a valid question. Griffons were driven by their greed, so some sort of value would have to motivate them. Though Gabby and the students could think of anything that would be worth what they saw or had been through. Fortunately, Gadget was willing to give them an answer.
“The Idol of Boreas,” she answered. This was shocking to Gallus and Silverstream, who had thought the idol was lost forever. Gabby, on the other claw, thought back to a misadventure she had with Gilda and Rainbow Dash, which didn't add up to what she had just been told.
“Wait! That can’t be possible,” the mail griffon spoke. Everyone looked towards her, making Gabby the center of attention.
“What’d you mean?”
Gabby sighed. “It’s a bit of a long story, but Gilda and I have found the real Idol of Boreas. That was until we discovered that it’s cursed, making other creatures touch it, then it makes them greedy and selfish. Because of this, after this… incident, I and Gilda hid it, so no creature could be overtaken by greed.”
Glynn and Gadget processed what they were told. “Wait, wait, wait! Hold on! How’d you find it in the first place?”
“At Manehattan while I was delivering mail.”
“So… If you found and hid the real one,” Glynn commented, “then that means…”
Gadget gasped. “Gideon has a fake one then!” Her shock turned to fury as slammed her metal claw on the table, leaving an indent, and making Gallus, Silverstream, Gabby frightened and flinched. “SON OF A B****! All those years we spent under his control, the Idol he had was a fraud, and that was the thing that kept all of us from murdering each other!”
“Gadget, chill out.” Glynn grabbed a hold of the furious griffon.
“No! Glynn, we could’ve had it here with us!”
“And if we did, we’d have him as a killing machine! You think he would let us raise our child?” The room was getting very tense with the couple now arguing with each other. Gallus knew they didn’t have time for this and didn’t hesitate to put an end to it.
“Okay, break it up, you two!” he cried. Grabbing both of the couple’s beaks, the room went silent. “We can try and figure out the idol another time when someone’s life isn’t on the line. So, unless you have something useful to inform us, keep your beaks shut.” Gallus let go of them and there was an awkward silence until Glynn managed to find his words again.
“She won’t be locked with the rest of the griffons,” he informed. “ Instead, she’ll be locked inside of the vault, which is not too easy to get in. Gideon and Gram are the only ones that know the combination, so we’re going to need a medic like me to learn it. Changelings can’t read minds, can they?”
“Um, no,” ‘Guy’ responded.
"So, then how do we get the code?” Gabby asked.
Gallus thought about this before giving a suggestion. “Are there any guards taking care of Gilda's execution?” he asked.
“Yes, there are,” Glynn confirmed. “They’d be the only one who would know the combination. Though, after her execution, they’ll have to change the combination.”
“We’ll save her way before they change it. We need to get her out of there before tonight.” He turned to Ocellus. “Ocellus, can you take the place of one of the guards?"
“I'll try,” ‘Guy’ said. She unlocked the door and left the workshop to see if she could find any guards.
“Shouldn’t we let the creatures in the mines know about this?” Silverstream asked.
“I don't see how they’ll be able to help us,” Gadget commented. “Everyone who tries to escape gets either electrocuted or whipped.”
“Ocellus made it out.”
“That’s because they don't usually stop rats.”
“Still, they should be warned that things could go wrong,” Gallus noted.
Gideon grumbled as he walked down the hall with Onyx by his side. “So, about the rest of your plan,” the ninja said.
“Yes,” Gideon responded. “I’m sure your team is keeping their end of the bargain.”
“Of course. I'm sure that griffon we’ve caught won’t be an issue.” The two made it past the corner that ‘Guy’ was hiding behind. Concerned they were talking about Gilda, she quickly changed into a spider and crawled along the walls into the mine. Sneaking past the guards and passing the ponies and minotaurs that didn’t care anymore, she eventually found Yona.
The yak saw the fake spider and picked her up. The spider whispered into her friend’s ear about their situation. Yona wasn’t happy hearing this and passed the information onto Sandbar. The spider then ran out of the mine before anyone tried to crush her. Once she made it out, Ocellus changed back into ‘Guy’ at the first chance she got.
“Okay,” she muttered to herself, “at least they know they might be on their own.” She carried on towards the cells where the griffs were being held. Passing it, she could see all of her friends and some other griffons she had never seen before. However, when she passed by Smolder’s cell, the dragoness wasn’t there. This was enough to send the disguised changeling into a panic, making her fly back to the workshop.
Without warning, she burst through the door not even checking to see if anyone could get them into trouble. “Geez!” Gadget cried. “What's the deal?!”
“Smolder's missing!” ‘Guy’ cried, nearly using her real voice.
“You mean like… she’s not in the cell anymore?” Gabby asked.
“Yes! I don’t know where she went. I’m worried that she’s going to die young!”
“Ugh… You don’t think they're going to make weapons out of her bones, do you?” Silverstream asked. This was a scary thing to think about.
“I don’t know,” Glynn admitted, “But that’s entirely possible.”
“Where is she now?” Gallus asked. “Maybe there’s still time.”
“I wish I could tell you, but Gideon has a team of griffons assigned for dissecting dragons. I wasn’t given any other details than that since I don't have the strength to do that to a creature.”
"Well, most dragons they use have to be as huge as a castle in Canterlot,” Gallus informed. “Is there anywhere in the base that can hold a full-grown dragon?”
“Doubtful,” Gadget replied. “If there was any kind of room in the base like that, we all would’ve seen one by now.”
“So, do you mean that they do that outside?” Silverstream asked.
“We only hear the sounds outside,” Glynn said. “Orders say we need to stay at our posts until everything they need has been gutted out.” The young griffs felt a little sick hearing that.
“Wherever she is,” ‘Guy’ said, “I’m not letting her have that kind of fate!” Without thinking, Guy flew out of the workshop to find Smolder.
“Wait!” Gallus cried. It was too late, ‘Guy’ had her mindset and nothing was stopping her. “That’s just great, now we have another thing to worry about.”
“You can’t blame her," Silverstream noted. “She loves her so much.” The blue griffon knew his girlfriend had a point. He would be thinking like the changeling if Silverstream was in Smolder’s position.
“We should search around for Smolder before Ocellus gets into trouble. Come on, Silverstream.” The griff couple made their way down the hall in search of their missing friend.
“What happened to the planning phase?” Gadget questioned.
“Just stay here with Gabby and finish the armor,” Glynn ordered. “I don't want this to be another thing Gideon getting mad at.” The medic left the girls to finish their work, though it didn’t help their concerns with how things were going.
‘Guy’ frantically flew around the base trying to find where Smolder could be. During the search, she came across a couple of guards, who didn’t seem to be at any post.
“You can’t seriously be thinking of taking the cash from the vault,” one of them said.
“Like he’s gonna share any of it with us,” the second one commented.
“And you’d be an idiot if you tried that. You’d never get out of here alive.”
“Well, that white one got out of here.”
“By dumb luck. Maybe the boss is going to send out a search party. He’s going to be dead if he gets caught.” Neither guard seemed to notice of ‘Guy’ who was growing concerned.
“They’re going to find Gale and destroy the village to do it,” she muttered. “That’s no good also.” Silverstream caught up with Ocellus and tried talking to her.
“Ocellus,” she whispered, “We have to be careful, remember? You don’t want yourself to be in trouble if you get caught.”
‘Guy’ looked at her friend before taking a deep breath before calming down a little bit. “Right. We need to get one of the guards out of the way.”
“How do we do that?” The disguised changeling thought a little bit before she got an idea to knock out the guard. Though, they would have to get him to be alone to pull it off. Then she thought about the guard’s greed.
“You think we have any bits on us?” The hippogriff was a little confused until she pieced some things together.
A little while later, one guard had split up from his partner and then noticed a trail of bits lying on the ground. Confused, he followed it and found they led into a closet. Once he was inside, he barely had enough time to react to the three creatures, who knocked him out badly. After taking his bits of armor, which looked similar to the ones the pony guards used, and which the three were more familiar with.
With a flash, a replica of the guard walked out of the closet with Gallus and Silverstream. “Okay, so you just find that other guy and pretend like this never happened,” Gallus reminded the disguised changeling.
“Got it,” said the guard who was Ocellus. She headed off, leaving the two griff to try and pretend nothing suspicious happened.
“You sure she’ll be okay?” Silverstream asked. Gallus didn’t have an answer, he just walked down the hall as he was worried about Smolder. And the fact Quartz was still missing was another worrying detail.
Ocellus managed to catch up with the other guard, who had gone to get something to drink. They met up with Gram, who was impatiently waiting in front of the vault. “You know what other things I could be doing than waiting for you two to get here?” he asked.
“Our apologies, sir,” the disguised guard apologized. “We had a few interruptions.”
“I don’t care if you were stopped by a manticore riding a hydra, just take care of her.” Gram pointed to the vault that held the valuables and Gilda. The real griffon guard spun the combination lock with the right code then turned the handle.
The door creaked as it slowly opened. Inside, we’re thousands of bits, rare gems, gold bars, but one of the most eye-catching items was sitting on a pedestal; The Idol of Boreas. However, while most creatures would do anything to get their claws these items, the thing the guards were after was the disabled griffon, who only had a few bandages on her stab wound.
“Gilda,” Ocellus muttered quietly. The other griffons in the room didn’t hear her. Most of the dye had been washed out of Gilda’s fur and feathers, though a good amount of it remained on her beak and talons. The real guard picked her up and carried her through the exit.
Gram started closing the vault so Gideon could change the combination. Ocellus got one last look at the idol before the door closed. Gilda was able to look towards Gram and was not happy. “You know Tartarus is too good a place for you,” she noted. “I’d be happy to see you being tortured for all of eternity.”
“Maybe you can cool it down for us,” Gram joked. “You’ll have plenty of water to bring down there.” Gilda could only groan as she was taken down the hall with Ocellus following behind.
Several griffons stopped and watched in the hall and watched Gilda being taken away. Some of them were a little scared about being in her position while others took a moment to try and mock her. "You thought you could take on Gideon?" one questioned.
“Maybe she should’ve gone blonde,” another commented. “She’d have a better disguise.” The two laughed as Ocellus looked at Gilda, who had a defeated look on her face. The disguised changeling wanted to say something to her, but there were too many griffons around to do this safely.
Meanwhile, Gallus and Silverstream were still looking for Smolder. However, they weren’t having much luck. “Shouldn’t we check outside?” Silverstream questioned.
“It’ll look like we’re escaping,” Gallus responded. “You heard what happened to Gilda, imagine what they could do to us.” The hippogriff could tell her boyfriend was stressed and thought their fate would be horrific.
“Well, what can we do to save Gilda?”
“We’d have the find the room that leads to the top of the waterfall. Then again… if she could breathe underwater.” Gallus started forming an idea that Silverstream caught onto.
“The pearl shards! You think that Gadget still has those?”
“Maybe. Go check her out, I’m going to keep searching.” The griffon and hippogriff split up to accomplish their tasks. Unfortunately, somebody had been watching them.
Deep down in the mine, Sandbar and Yona had gotten another break after working so hard. Though, it was a little confusing to the two of them since their last break wasn’t too long ago. “Do griffons lose track of different creatures in mine?” Yona questioned.
“It’d be possible,” Sandbar said. “There are a bunch of creatures in this mine. There’s bound to have a few mix-ups.” The two then looked over to a stack of bowls that their meals had been brought in.
Moving them out of the way, the two did some work, dragging their hooves through the dirt. It started taking a shape of a building, a base. The same one they were in. While the diagram wasn’t a hundred percent accurate, it was still a good map that Sandbar and Yona could use to help plan an attack for the rebellion.
“Okay, if all of the griffons sleep in the barracks up here,” Sandbar commented. “…There are still guards on night shift.”
“Maybe miners wait for the fewest amount of guards?” Yona asked.
“I think we have anything to stop them from bringing in more guards.” The two looked at other parts of their hoof-made map to see if any idea could work. Any idea they could think of would have to wait behind the issue; all of the guards. “We’re going to need to rely on the element of surprise.”
The two then heard a scream of pain along with a buzzing sound. They looked behind them and saw Bill being forced into the cell. One of the guards had some sort of device with him, likely used to activate the minotaur’s cuffs. Once the cell door was locked again, the colt and yak scurried over to the minotaur.
“Bill, are you okay?” Sandbar questioned.
The Minotaur looked up with a facial expression that showed pain and anger. “No, I’m not! I just got electrocuted!” He showed him the cuffs which appeared to have steam wisping from them.
"That looks bad," Yona commented.
“You think?”
"Bill, calm down,” Sandbar requested. "We’re thinking of something right now."
“Good luck with that.” The minotaur lay on the ground as Sandbar sat beside him.
“You know you might have a chance this time,” the colt noted. “You didn’t forget that lie I took for you, did you?”
“It would’ve been pointless either way.”
Sandbar didn’t know what to say to this. Fortunately, Yona had something to say. “Bill gives up,” she commented. “That why he stuck in mine.”
“Well, what should Bill do?” the minotaur questioned, mocking Yona’s broken Ponish.
“What Bill have to lose?” Bill took a minute to look around him. There were very few things he could think of that would be worse than being forced to work in almost every hour you were awake to dig up gemstones and not get anything out of it than the minimum amount of food they need to make it through the day. Bill just sighed as he kept thinking about this while Yona and Sandbar went back to their map to see if they could plan anything.
Back with Gilda, she was being chained to a large boulder that a fully armored griffon helped bring in. As a bit of a sick joke, they had put some pressure on her points to have her muscles function again. Gilda tried to make a run for it or at the very least knock some sense into the griffons in front of her. The chains were too tight and she stopped a few inches short. The two griffons laughed at her expense before walking away.
Ocellus stayed behind to check on Gilda. Once they were alone, she showed her true colors to her by dropping her disguise. “Are you okay?” the changeling asked.
“What do you think, Ocellus?” Gilda questioned. She lay down knowing that her fate was sealed now. “I should’ve just turned around.”
“But wouldn’t you be wandering around the desert? You’d likely died from the temperatures or a lack of water.” Gilda looked away from Ocellus, knowing that either way that ambushes from the ninjas had sealed her fate. Then, Ocellus got thinking. “I think I can find you a pearl shard. They’ve got to keep them somewhere.”
“Why would I want a necklace from the hippo... Oh! I see what you mean.” Gilda suddenly remembered the functionality of the pearl shards. Giving her the ticket to surviving the ‘fishy sleepover’. “Are you sure you can find one?”
“I’ll try my best, but I can’t stop thinking about Smolder. Do you know anything about her?”
Gilda thought about what would happen to Smolder, which would’ve been disgusting. Remember, before she was tossed into the vault, she explained what she heard. “Gideon said something about taking Smolder into storage. Sounds kind of obvious, doesn’t it?”
"It does. Thanks, Gilda!" Ocellus quickly shifted back into 'Guy' and tossed her armor off to find her friend. Though, she remembered that Gilda needed a shard too.
Silverstream was also looking for a shard, starting with Gadget’s workshop. She stopped at the door and knocked to make sure she didn’t barge in on anything. Gabby opened the door and let the hippogriff in. “Should I leave the door open?” Gadget asked. She was getting annoyed with creatures constantly walking into the room while she was doing important work.
"Sorry," Silverstream apologized. “I need a pearl shard. It’d be the one thing that could save Gilda.”
“How could a gemstone save her from her fate?”
“It’s got a special power. I need it now.”
“Then I have bad news. I've had those things taken to storage when I couldn’t get any use out of them. Though Gly…”
“Where’s the storage room?!”
“Should be on the 3rd and 4th floor. You see…” The frantic hippogriff took off before she hear the rest of the sentence. “Wait! I’m not finished!” Gadget and Gabby looked down the hall just as Silverstream turned around the corner.
“Should we go after her?” Gabby asked.
“I don’t want either of us getting in trouble.” The two griffons begrudgingly stayed behind in the workshop to finish the armor.
Silverstream made a beeline for the storage room, nearly colliding with ‘Guy’ in the process.
“Silverstream?” ‘Guy’ said. “What are you doing?”
“Me? I’m trying to find a shard for Gilda,” the hippogriff explained.
“So am I. Hopefully, we should both find one together.”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Silverstream then leads Ocellus to the 3rd and 4th floor, which is where the storage room is, just like what Gadget said. They made it to the 4th floor, and they finally found the door that has the sign says “STORAGE”.
“Here it is,” Ocellus said. “Hopefully they’re inside.”
The two walked into the storage room, which looked bigger than it was on the outside. They could see a staircase leading and a walkway that allowed creatures access from the floor above them. The two friends looked around for wherever the shards could be. They were likely in some sort of container, though that was like looking for a needle in a haystack with all of the identical crates around in the room.
After looking for a little bit, they then heard some voices. “I don’t know man, this kid seems to be more work than she’s worth,” one said.
“Hey, he says there are a lot of bits for us if we go through with this,” another said. "Let's just see if we can put her horns to use." It was odd as they were kind of stretching out their words. 'Guy' and Silverstream looked around the corner as they saw two griffons walking towards the staircase to the upper floor. Looking to where they were walking from, the two gasped at the sight of...
“Smolder!” they both cried. Both hid behind the corner as they were afraid that the griffons would’ve heard them. Oddly enough, they didn’t. With the feeling of being in the clear, ‘Guy’ and Silverstream raced over to their tired tied-up friend. Smolder was lying on her chest, barely having enough strength to look up at the disguised changeling, who shifted back to her original form.
Ocellus looked at the cuffs that were holding her girlfriend in place. Quickly thinking, the changeling shapeshifted into a roc, so she could bite through the cuffs. This was harder than she thought, likely due to the cuffs being built just for holding creatures like dragons. Eventually, Ocellus bit through and then help Silverstream with Smolder’s muzzle. She was free, but she was too weak to move on her own. She tried pushing herself onto her feet, but she ended up just falling on her face.
“Don’t move, Smolder,” Ocellus requested. “Save your strength.” The changeling then shapeshifted into a yak so she could easily carry the dragoness.
“Should we find the shards while we’re here?" Silverstream said. “Gilda needs to breathe underwater.”
“We know that. Let’s look around a little bit before we get caught.” The two carried on searching, bringing Smolder with them. Smolder only let out a few groans.
“Have they been feeding her at all?”
“I doubt it. If we don’t find the shards in the next five minutes, we need to get out of here.” Ocellus looked at her worn-out girlfriend, wondering where she could be hidden. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and flapping wings could be heard. This was a bad sign. The three friends needed to hide.
Forgetting about the shards, Silverstream and her friends tried their best to get to an exit, however, the closest one was blocked by griffons walking in, armored up and wielding weapons. “Why are they bringing weapons in here?” Silverstream questioned.
Ocellus feared the worst. “I feel like they planned for us to be in here!” she whispered. The friends went back the way they came to make sure that the griffons didn’t see them. They went deeper into storage to make it harder for them to be found. However, the deeper they went, the fewer crates they found. Eventually, they went down another set of stairs, which confused them a little bit.
However, when they went down the stairs, they would find something horrifying. The room was dark with no lights to help them see. When Ocellus turned back into a changeling to use her horn to make a light, they all saw what they never thought they saw: the skeletons of hundreds of dragons. In shock, Silverstream couldn’t help but scream. This alerted the guards and they went down to the skeleton cellar. Ocellus turned off her light, hoping the guards wouldn't be able to see them.
What they didn’t account for was one of the griffons using a fire gem on his spear to provide some light. It gave the room of skeletons an eerie vibe. Nearly all of the skeletons looked to be fully grown. Some of which had bits and pieces broken off of them so they could be made into weaponry. The three friends hid inside of a skull, which Smolder was too exhausted to realize where she was.
“This is terrifying,” Silverstream muttered.
“I know. We’re going to get caught,” Ocellus agreed.
“It’s not just that. We’re in a dragon’s skull. Oh, this is so disturbing.”
“Quiet.” The two peaked out of their hiding spot to see the griffons all looking around. After what felt like an eternity, they left. The three stayed quiet to make sure they were in the clear before having Ocellus use her horn to light their way out of the cellar. “Oh, I'm not sure if it's safe to put Smolder back where we found her.”
“How about we just tell anyone that Guy got the wrong information not take her back to her cell?”
“Huh. That's probably our best bet. Let's just get out of here before someone sees us.” Ocellus put her disguise of ‘Guy’ back on and carried the sickly dragoness towards the exit. She put on the persona of giving Silverstream a hard time. “Get lost, kid, before we both get in trouble.” She quickly then whispered, “That’s not a joke. Find Gallus and pretend like what we saw never happened.”
The hippogriff listened and flew away to find the blue griffon, leaving the disguised changeling to put Smolder in the cells. Getting a little bit of her strength back, Smolder could see that she was being carried by her disguised girlfriend. “O… cell…” Smolder murmured.
“Save your strength, Smolder,” the fake griffon ordered. “Just hang in there a little longer.” They made it to the cells where all the other griffs were being kept. She put Smolder back into her cell and it looked like the dragoness was too weak to attempt an escape.
As she began leaving the cell and going into a different room, she was stopped by Gram. “What are you doing here?” he questioned.
“I thought I was told to help with the dragoness,” ‘Guy’ responded.
“What did you do?”
“I just put her back in her cell. She’s too weak to move.”
“Hmhmm. Yeah, should’ve seen that coming. Get lost, so I can take care of this.” ‘Guy’ listen and flew away.
Gideon, meanwhile, checked the pocket watch he had on him ever since Gilda was found out. He smiled as it was nearly time.
Gallus was trying to act naturally until he saw Silverstream speeding towards him. “Gallus!” she cried. Without waiting for a response, the hippogriff hugged her boyfriend tightly. She sounded like she was almost at the point of crying.
“Silver, what’s wrong?” he asked.
The hippogriff released him from the hug before she explained what she saw. “I and Ocellus found Smolder at the storage room, and… eek… skeletons… of all full-grown dragons…” Silverstream shed a tear.
On one talon, Gallus was happy was Smolder was still alive. On the other, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to discover a set of dragons’ skeletons. He rubbed the back of Silver's head to calm her down. “You’re okay. I'm here. Did anyone see you?”
"No… We got out. But… we couldn’t find any shards."
Gallus looked down knowing they didn't have anything to help Gilda now. “I don’t think we should go back there. It’s too risky.”
“But what about...?”
“Hey, you two!” called a voice. Both students looked at a messenger griffon, who was approaching them. “Gideon says it’s time for the sleepover.”
“And… what does he want us to do?”
“Watch what happens when you step out of line.” Both young griffs gulped by the sound of that.
“Have we been caught?” Silverstream fearfully whispered to Gallus. “Without noticing?”
“I don’t know…” Thought they didn’t want to, they followed the messenger up to the second-highest floor. They were taken into the room which led to the top of the waterfall, where Gilda was restrained. The armor of the guard that Ocellus took the identity of was still next to the ambassador.
‘Guy’ met up with the two griff students. Gabby, Gadget, and Glynn were there too. Gideon stepped forward with two fully armored griffons by his side. “My fellow griffs, it is time for the sleepover. We can all agree that we hate it when things get out of claw,” Gideon spoke. “Sometimes, it’s out of our control, while other times it’s due to creatures who think they can do things without consequences.”
“Like you?” Gilda questioned. “Being a li’l s*** you are?”
A long glare was given to her for speaking up. “Before we start, I have a quick request. Guy, please, come here.” Concerned, ‘Guy’ walked towards the gang leader.
“What is it, boss?” she asked.
“We all know that Gilda here is in this position because she tried to be something that she wasn’t. Tell me, do you think it was a good idea… to do what she did?” The disguised changeling and her friends’ eyes widened as they had a feeling they had been caught. Before Ocellus could react, she was impaled in the back by a kunai. Oynx, who had thrown the kunai, landed behind her as green blood started to bleed from the changeling’s back.
Everyone who didn’t know what was going on was confused until Ocellus shifted back into her base form before she collapsed on the ground. “Ocellus!” Gallus cried.
“Ah, so you do know her,” Gideon commented.
A lot of muttering could be heard amongst the crowd, mostly questioning what the injured creature in front of them even was. Gideon and Oynx looked down at Ocellus, who was starting to blackout. Enraged, Gallus charged forward to try and tackle the gang leader. It didn't work out as he was taken down by the armored griffons, bruising him up quite a bit.
“Smooth move, kid,” Oynx commented.
“You… You f***ing monster!” Gallus growled.
“Don’t worry, we’ve made plenty of room for you and more.” As Gallus started getting chained up to the boulder with Gilda, two kobolds carried a beaten body towards them. It was Quartz. He groaned in pain as he was carried and then dumped on the ground. “We got everything we needed from the traitor. He’ll be fine to take a nice dip with you.”
Gallus looked down at the injured creature. “I'm sorry, kid,” he groaned. “…They broke me.”
The young blue griffon could feel his blood starting to boil now. “You didn’t even hesitate to beat him up, do you?!” he yelled.
“He was a waste on the team, bluebird,” Oynx informed. “This is the best use we’ve ever had for him.” He smiled as Oynx was chained up like the two griffons.
Gideon started getting uncomfortably close to the blue griffon. “Now, maybe I should give you a parting gift,” the leader said. “Maybe something to make the trip easier.” He pulled out a knife and was about to plunge it into Gallus's body if it wasn't for someone running up and smacking Gideon with a metal object. After hitting the ground, everyone looked at Glynn, who had removed one of his wings to strike the gang leader while he breathed heavily.
It didn't take long for the armored griffons to take the medic down. During this, he dropped the note he had been carrying on him showing the test results. Oynx took a look at the note while Gideon stood up, with fury in his eyes. “What do you think you’re doing!” the gang leader roared.
“I’ve had enough of you causing so much misery to us!” Glynn responded. “You don’t deserve to be a leader.”
“He’s right,” Gilda said. She looked towards the crowd, who were a little speechless from what they saw. Gadget wanted to get Glynn, but she would be taken down with him and the other three. “What’s wrong with all of you? If you aren’t getting paid to do any of this, why are you still following him?”
“Griffonstone is such a big mess,” Gideon noted. “It’s better for them to be here than there.”
“That’s why we were going to fix it up until you came in and kidnapped the students, who by the way are all 14, 15, or 16 at best.” Gilda looked back at the crowd, who were starting to think about what she was saying. “Do you want to live your lives like this?! Look what happens when you don’t want to do what this maniac says!” She was smacked across the head by Gideon, who had lost his patience.
“Enough with this nonsense!" He glared at Glynn, who had both his metal wings removed. “Chain him up too.” The griffons did as they were told as Onyx showed the note that Glynn dropped. “What’s this?” Gideon read the note before grinning and looking towards the medic. “Well done, Glynn. Truly setting a good example for your son.” Gideon then turned to Gallus.
“What?” Gallus questioned. He looked at Glynn, who felt ashamed of himself. “Gilda, what’s going on?”
Gilda looked down as this wasn’t a good way of telling Gallus the truth. “Gallus… it… This isn’t the best way for you to find out,” she sighed.
Gallus still didn’t understand until Gideon spelled it out. "Think about it, Gallus. You’ve made a bad decision, and Glynn has made a bad decision too. Like father, like son.” Gallus then connected the dots, so did Gadget. Once they figured it out, Gallus was in full shock, especially Gadget.
“Wait! Are you saying that…”
“Yes, Gallus. Glynn is your father, and Gadget’s your mother.”
Silverstream and Gabby were shocked when she heard that Gallus’s parents were them the whole time. Never since Silverstream heard Gallus’s story when he doesn’t have parents.
“I’m not expecting that,” Silverstream said.
“Me too,” Gabby added. “No wonder why he looked like Gallus.”
Gadget was surprised as well. She remembered when Glynn mentioned the egg they’d hidden from the Gold Gang. That egg they’ve hidden is Gallus’. “Why didn’t you tell me in the first place that he’s our biological son, Glynn?”
“I was about to, but I’m afraid that it’s not the right time to reveal that to you!” Glynn then turned to Gallus, feeling bad for him. “I’m sorry, Gallus. We hid your egg for your safety. And look at you, you’re fully grown.” Glynn smiled, almost shed a tear.
“So, this whole time…” Gallus murmured, “…I do have a family.”
“Now you know,” Gilda stated with a sigh. A few seconds of silence filled the air until Glynn spoke up again.
“Y… You know what, Gideon?” Glynn stated. “There is one thing that has taught me: even though I’ve only met him for a couple of hours, I know about loving my child more than I fear you. I still have my love for him.”
Gideon wasn't impressed with what he heard. “A poor set of final words, Glynn. Not even that can save your flank from this.” He looked over to the armored griffons. “Push them over.” The armored griffons listened and pushed the boulder closer to the edge of the water.
Gilda looked towards Onyx, who just smiling at the scene. “Hey, Onyx!” she cried. “Think about how much power you’ve got.” Those were the last words heard from her, Gallus, Quartz, and Glynn as they plummeted down into the water. An unsettling splash could faintly be heard. Gabby, Silverstream, and Gadget felt defeated, especially for Ocellus, knowing they didn’t have anything that could help them.
Gideon soon turned his attention to Ocellus, who was unconscious and bleeding. “Clean that up,” he ordered to the griffons.
In the water, everyone was trying their best to hold their breath as the boulder dragged closer to the bottom of the river. Gallus was giving up hope at this point until he saw something falling from Glynn, a pearl shard. Seeing this as his only chance, he tried reaching out to grab it just as they hit the bottom of the river. Their lungs were reaching their breaking point with the shard just out of their reach.
With seconds of air left, Gallus did his best to reach out and grab the shard with his arm just too short. Gilda let out a bit of air and tried to grab the bubble in vain to somehow drag it back to her. As a last attempt, Gallus used his wing to reach out and grab the shard. Just as they were about to drown… “Got it!” Gallus mentally cheered. Wasting no time, he used the shard to change himself and everyone else into sea creatures.
Everyone got to take a deep breath, or more accurately everyone got gills to help them breathe underwater. They all had similar features. Their talons were pointed fins, they had dorsal fins on their backs, and their beaks were muzzles with shark-like teeth.
“Well done, Gallus,” Gilda congratulated.
“Thanks,” Gallus replied. “I almost lost my breath.”
“What on earth is going on?” Glynn asked, looking at his whole body, feeling surprised that his claws, paws, and beak weren’t there, instead he had flippers and a fish tail.
“You just saw what makes these pearl shards so special,” Gilda informed. They all looked to Quartz, who had his changes. It looked to be a remora, a little large one. He reached up to his head, which now had a suction cup.
“This is surreal,” Quartz commented.
“You're telling me,” Glynn said. Unlike Gallus and Gilda, he didn’t have wings to help him swim around so he just sunk and rested on the floor. Not to mention, everyone was still chained to the boulder. Looking at the chains, Gallus chomped down to try and bit through them. Everyone was against it until he was successful in the process. Gilda and Glynn tried this out and they all managed to break free.
"Gotta admit, this is kind of cool," Gilda commented. She had been curious what the shards did to creatures like griffons.
Now that they were free, Gallus swam around to get used to his body as there was only one instance of having before this whole adventure started. Gilda and Quartz had a bit more trouble as they had no experience swimming like this. Glynn just stayed on the ground as he was missing the wings like the other two griffons.
“A little help here?” he asked.
Gallus was tempted to ignore him, though Quartz wasn't like that. Despite his inexperience, he swam over to the disabled creature and accidentally got himself stuck to the medic's chest with his suction cup. “Well… this is awkward,” the remora commented.
“I think you still might be onto something.” He helped the remora off his chest so he could turn himself around and stick to his chest again so they were facing the same direction. Once they did that they both tried swimming, allowing Glynn to get off the ground and start swimming around. “Ah, finally.”
“So, now what?” Quartz asked.
“We should head down the river until we get to the village,” Gilda suggested. "The river isn’t too far from it.”
“You mean the village that has camels?”
“That’s right. C’mon, let’s swim.” The four creatures started swimming up the river, happy they were getting away from the base, despite the ones they cared about still stuck inside.
As they swam along, Glynn tried to speak with Gallus, who would just swim ahead of him to avoid a conversation. Gilda would often poke her head out of the water to check if they were close to the village or not. After a short while, she saw what they were looking for.
“Found it,” Gilda called. They all swam back up and climbed back to the riverside. Using the shard to turn themselves back to their original species, they all walked towards the village to see if there was anything useful.
“Boy, that was weird,” Glynn murmured to himself.
“You sure there’s somebody who can help?” Quartz asked.
“Don’t worry,” Gilda replied. “I know who’s going to.”
Gale was there, helping Afya with her garden. They were finishing up for the day when they could see three griffons and a kobold approaching them. At first, they were afraid this was an attack to get retrieve Guy, Gwen, and Gene. However, once two of them were familiar faces, they calmed down though kept on the side of the cation with Glynn and Quartz.
“Are you okay?” Afya asked, noticing the bandage on her chest.
“I’m fine. He stabbed me here with a dagger after the boss found out about my disguise.”
“At least you’re okay now,” Gale said.
“Thanks, Gale. And uhh… don’t worry about these two. They’re not like the other gang members back there, and besides, they are not the only ones.”
“Did they try to execute you?” Jerick said.
“Yes. All of us. Chained up with boulders and then being pushed until we fall and drown. And thank goodness a pearl shard saved us.” Gilda then pointed to Gallus, who’s wearing that shard. “That turned us into sea creatures, and we’re able to ourselves free.”
“So… these shards are magical?"
“Sure are,” she confirmed. "But that’s not what’s important right now. The gang’s coming to get their members back.” This was a big concern to everyone in the village. A normal errand run from them was bad enough, but now they were coming to attack them. “You need to hide out in the desert if you want to be safe.”
“Hmm, I knew something like this would happen.” He looked towards the three griffons, who they still had tied up. “What should we do with them?”
Gallus looked over to the hot-air balloon that had been resting in the village since he and his friends showed up. “We’ll take them with us,” he declared.
“…Are you sure? There's a good chance they could break free.” Gallus, Glynn, and Gilda looked towards Quartz, who realized he was now the center of attention.
“Why’s everybody looking at me?” he asked, and then realized what they meant. “Oh… right.”
Quartz came closer to Guy, Gwen, and Gene and swiftly jabbed their pressure points. After jabbing them in the right spots, their bodies went limp and unable to move. Everyone in the village was patching up some supplies to help them camp out in the desert until they knew it was safe to head back. While they did that, Gilda’s team began heating the balloon to carry the griffons to Equestria.
“It’s a good thing you kept this thing here,” Gilda commented to Gallus.
“Yeah. I hope we can get to Equestria and back in time,” he muttered. Gilda could see what he was worried about.
“Don't worry, we'll save them.” She took a look at the rope that was inside the balloon’s basket. She looked towards Gale, who was taking off the cloak that Afya offered him. “Gale, we need your help if we want to save our friends.”
“How do I do that?” the young griffon asked.
“Here. Tie one of these ropes around you and connect it to the basket.” Gale did as he was told as he, Gilda, and Gallus all tied some rope around their waists. Everything was set now, Glynn and Quartz rode in the basket with the disabled griffons as the balloon was now fully inflated.
Gallus looked at Jerick, who had some supplies on his back for him and everyone else to camp out. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” the griffon asked.
“Don't worry about us, young one,” the camel responded. “Save your friends. Do what you have to do.” The blue griffon simply nodded before he and the other two started flapping their wings and took off back to Equestria. Once they were in the air they sped up to get home faster as they could feel the time was at the essence.
As they flew along, Gale could hear the awkward silence from the two griffons helping to pull the basket. “So… what's the deal with those guys?” he asked, pointing back to Glynn and Quartz.
“One’s a ninja who doesn't want to murder anyone,” Gallus informed. “The other’s a dad who leaves you to fend for yourself.”
“A dad?” Gale looked towards Glynn and could piece together to tell which description belonged to who. “Are you saying…”
“Yep. Exactly.”
“No way!”
“Dude, he smacked him hard when you were getting chained up,” Gilda reminded.
“Yeah, does that make up for over ten years where I didn’t have a family?”
“Um… Should I say something?” Gale asked.
“I wouldn't,” Gilda responded. She focused her attention on Gallus, who was feeling rather bitter with the fact his real parents had been in the base with him the entire time. “Listen, Gallus, I know you’ve had it rough in your life, but you’re doing way better now. I mean… you and Silverstream have been dating, right?”
“Of course,” Gallus responded flatly.
“I don’t think you’d be lucky to have a special someone like her if you never went to that school. Speaking of which, you helped give a chance to griffons like Gale here. He’d still be at home with parents who just don’t care. You know what, that’s something Glynn does care about. He wouldn’t smack Gideon for you if he didn't care about you.” Gallus didn't say anything. He just kept thinking about what he had found out. He looked down at the pearl shard and thought about his friends and everyone else that was stuck in the base. He sped up, wanting to get Canterlot to inform everyone about what they needed to do.