The sun rises on a Saturday morning, the start of the weekend is here. Gallus was happy about this since he can sleep in. Sandbar, who woke up first and got out of the top deck, didn’t disturb him and just went out to the cafeteria to get breakfast for himself. After resting a little longer, Gallus hears the door squeaking open. He raises his blue head, opens his eyes, and clears his vision, he can see an embraced Silverstream standing in the doorway.
“Oh, sorry, Gally,” Silverstream apologized, looking a little ashamed of waking him up. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“…Good morning, Silver,” Gallus mumbled. He tried sitting up before he collapsed back onto his bed. “Help me up, will you, please?” Silverstream did so, helping Gallus get out of bed and onto his paws. He was feeling stronger than he was yesterday, but he still had some work to do.
The two griffs headed down the hall with Gallus getting back to his normal walking pace. “It’s great that your parents are back, you know,” Silverstream commented.
Gallus nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it is. Just hoping they’ll be able to adapt after… all of that.” Silverstream was a little confused by what he meant until she remember how they met Gallus’s parents. Not much was said until they got to the lounge, where Smolder was sitting. She was just reading a book with a bag of hayburgers sitting beside her.
“Morning,” the dragoness greeted, and then sees Gallus becoming better than before. “I see you’re getting better with yourself.” She opened up her bag and held a wrapped burger before handing it over to Gallus. “Here. Take this.”
“Thanks, Smolder,” the griffon replied. He unwrapped his delicious hayburger, and took a bite of it before asking, “So… what’s new?”
“Not too much. They’re still looking for someone to buy Gilda’s bakery.”
“Really? Still no new buyers?”
“They wouldn’t want to given how most creatures like you view it.”
Gallus swallowed what was in his mouth. “Fair point. By the way, have you seen my parents yet?”
“We were about to see how Quartz’s new leg works after we got you up,” Silverstream answered.
“Huh… Sounds interesting. Where are they now?”
“Downtown. They’re probably testing it out right now.” Gallus could tell his girlfriend was getting excited.
“Ok, I… guess we can do it now.” The hippogriff happily flew off as the griffon tried to follow her, but he was still a bit slow. Seeing this, Silverstream slowed down so he could keep up.
Downtown, Quartz had his leg hooked up and was getting used to walking on his metal limb with Gadget and Glynn flying by his side. “You’re doing great, Quartz,” Glynn commented. Quartz smiled and gave a thumbs-up as he tried picking up the pace.
“Take it easy,” Gadget warned. “It’s likely we’ll need adjustments to it.” Quartz kept going and looked over to some buildings that were close to some trees. Wanting to take this to the next level, Quartz jumped up to grab one of the branches and swung himself onto one of the roofs.
Both griffons were shocked by this. “…Should we stop him?” Glynn questioned.
“Just… get ready to catch him if he’s over his head,” Gadget responded. They flew upwards as the kobold began running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. “Quartz, you shouldn’t be doing this!”
“I need to get back in shape at least,” the kobold responded. He kept running and lept towards a building that was quite far. Too far perhaps. When Quartz realized his mistake, it was too late. He would’ve fallen to the ground if it wasn’t for Glynn catching him in time.
“And this is why we walk before we run,” he noted. They slowly lowered back onto the ground just as they saw Silverstream and Gallus walking by.
“Hi, Quartz, hi, Glynn, what are you doing?” the hippogriff asked.
Quartz rubbed his neck as he felt a little embarrassed. “Hello there. I got a little overzealous,” he explained. “But we do know my leg can keep up with me.”
“That's good to hear,” Gallus commented. He finished up the last of his hayburger as Smolder caught up with them.
“Hey, did you guys see the open lot for a new restaurant?” the dragoness asked.
“Oh, really?” Silverstream asked.
“Yep, not too sure who bought it. Anyways, what do I miss?”
“We just finished with our test run,” Gadget said. “Even though we had a bit of a near miss.” Quartz felt a little embarrassed again.
“I guess we can call it a success so far and grab some lunch,” Glynn proclaimed. “Is anybody hungry?”
“I just had a hayburger for breakfast,” Gallus informed. “So… yeah, I’m still pretty hungry.”
“Good thing the cafe isn’t too far from here,” Silverstream noted. “We can eat there.”
“Alright, sounds good to me,” Glynn commented. “Lead the way.” The happy hippogriff did so with the griffons following with Quartz and Smolder coming along. She noticed that the kobold looked a little guilty.
Glynn could feel the awkward silence and quickly thought of something to break it. “So, Gallus, have you gotten any exercise with your wings yet?” he asked.
“No, I was too tired from yesterday,” Gallus responded. He looked at his wings which felt pretty numb at the moment. “Maybe I could get some work done while I wait for my meal.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I want to fly again. The doctors said I had to exercise when I could.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to push yourself.” Gallus just grabbed one of his wings which went limp when he let go of it. It dragged on the ground for a bit until Glynn picked it up and helped put it back into a folded position. They eventually made it to the cafe, which already had a couple of ponies there enjoying their meals. They looked over to the visitors with metal limbs, being unable to help and stare.
“Don't they have anything better to do?” Gadget questioned.
“They were like this when we first came to Ponyville,” Smolder noted. “They then stop after a while.” They all found a table to sit at and waited until a unicorn waiter walked over to them.
“Hello there. What can I get you?” he asked. Placing their orders, Gadget was getting fairly annoyed with everyone looking at them.
“Do you mind!?” she roared. Everyone quickly pretended to be looking at their menus, eating, or doing something that made it look like they weren't looking at the disabled creatures.
Everyone was taken aback by her outburst. “Honey, relax,” Glynn requested. Gadget took a deep breath before telling the waiter what she would have for lunch.
After the waiter left, Silverstream decided to break the ice. “So, Quartz,” she said, “Now that you’re no longer a part of the gang, what are you going to do afterward?”
The kobold ninja rubbed his chin as he thought about this. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’d try out a couple of hobbies. Though I should find a place to stay before any of that.”
“How about trying to get a job at the school,” Smolder noted. “Princess Twilight’s school is good, but they can’t do everything there.”
“Hmm, not too sure about that.”
“Come on, I bet you could help with PE,” Silverstream noted. Then she gasped as she got an idea. “Maybe you could teach us ninjutsu! That’ll be epic!”
Quartz didn’t seem too pleased with this idea. “Sorry, I don’t think many of them would be happy with learning fighting techniques that are for… killing dragons.” Smolder could tell how he was feeling about this.
Gallus wasn't feeling very comfortable about talking about the past of the infamous gang. “I’m going to do some pushups with my wings,” he announced. “Come and get me when our food’s here.” The blue griffon walked away as his parents and friends could tell he was upset.
Meanwhile, in Griffonstone, Gilda was going over the notes that she wrote while in Hippogriffia. She also wrote down additional notes she remembered from Ember and Thorax, taking in all the information she was given and thinking about her new role.
She was in deep thought and was snapped back to reality when she heard a knock on her door. Getting up to answer it, Gilda was surprised to see, of all creatures, Rainbow Dash. “Hi, G,” the Pegasus spoke.
“Dash?” Gilda questioned. “I’m surprised! What are you doing here?”
“I’ve heard you were going to become queen soon, so I figured that we’d talk about it over lunch.” Dash showed Gilda two boxed lunches she brought from home. The griffon let her old friend inside and sat down so they could eat the lunches she brought. Gilda would prefer meat, but ponies didn’t usually have that kind of food, so it was mostly a vegetarian meal. Still, it had been a while since she and Dash spent some time together, so she couldn’t complain. Rainbow Dash decided to talk about a few things while they ate.
“So, I’m pretty sure how you blew up Gideon at the base,” Dash reminded. “Kind of fitting of how things blow up in his face.”
Gilda laughed as that did feel like a fitting defeat. “Yeah. But I think the less spoken of that guy, the better.”
“Right then. Anyway, what kind of changes will you plan on doing?”
Gilda sighed as she couldn't think of what to say. “I’m trying to figure out how to take care of the issues we have right now,” she admitted. Dash could tell that her friend was still upset.
“You could ask Twilight about this. She’s a princess, obviously. She can give you some of her ‘lengthy’ advice.”
“I’ve already talked with 3 of them, specifically Ember, Thorax, and Queen Novo. Look at these notes of their advice I’ve written on. This is more complicated than it looks.” Gilda rested her head on her claw as she was getting frustrated again.
Dash decided to try and get the griffon’s mind off of her new responsibilities. “How about just some fun to get your mind off of this stress?” the Pegasus asked. “Maybe a race like the ones back in flight school?”
A smile crossed the griffon’s face. “Alright, where to?”
“How about getting to the train station and back.”
Gilda grinned as was up for the challenge. “You’re on, dweeb!” The two stepped outside the moment the door was closed, Gilda took off to get a head start. Dash flew after her and didn’t take long for her to catch up.
“Nice try, G! There’s a reason I became a Wonderbolt!” The two friends shot through the air like bolts of lightning as the train station came into view. They flashed past it and turned around heading back to Griffonstone. The pegasus and griffon were soon neck and neck, trying to keep ahead of each other. Gilda looked down to see if there was any place to land when something caught her eye.
Gabby was taking an unfamiliar griffon wearing a chef’s hat over to the bakery. The griffon that would be queen stopped in mid-air as her friends flew on. She could see Greta step out of the bakery and looked delighted to see the other griffon. “Oh, hi Gabby,” Greta spoke. "Who do you have here?”
Gabby was about to speak, but the griffon spoke first. “Gustave le Grande,” he spoke proudly. “I’ve moved away from here when I was 13 years old. I’ve heard this bakery is up for sale, and I also heard that Griffonstone is entering a better age, so I’m thinking about starting my own business here.”
Gilda had heard what Gustave said as she landed behind him. “Hey, we didn’t need your whole life story,” she spoke. “We just needed to know why you wanted to buy this place.”
Gustave simply twirled his mustache. “I was simply asked who I was.”
Gilda just rolled her eyes. “Anyways, since Griffonstone is doing better, you think you’ll settle here for a while?”
“But of course. I’ve also some… certain news involving the griffons at the friendship school.”
“Let’s not talk about that,” Gabby spoke. Gilda and Greta respectively said nothing more about them.
“So, let's just get started with what’s inside, shall we?” Greta spoke. “We’ve already got some ingredients for you to use for your cooking.”
“Ooh, perfect,” Gustave commented. The two griffons walked inside, leaving Gilda and Gabby outside while Rainbow Dash landed beside them.
“Hey, Gilda, why’d you stop?” the rainbow-maned pony asked.
“Sorry, Dash, I just met Gustave,” Gilda explained. “I’ve now found out that he’s the first one who wants to buy this bakery.”
“It’ll put it to use,” growled a voice. Mare and griffons looked over to see an elderly griffon in a fez. The three groaned as they saw Grandpa Gruff walk over to them.
“You know, Gruff, we should be happy that most buildings are… not collapsed,” Gilda spoke. By the tone of her voice, she didn't want to talk with the old griffon.
“What’s his deal this time?” Dash questioned.
“My deal is that those metal-limbed griffons haven’t shown up since yesterday,” Gruff explained.
“What? You mean Glynn and Gadget?” Gabby asked.
“Yes, them! You can’t trust any member of that gang!”
Gilda looked fairly offended by this remark. “Gah… They’re one of the reasons the gang was taken out at all!”
“And also how we got out alive,” Gabby added.
“Exactly!”
Grandpa Gruff wasn't easily convinced. “I’ve seen what those griffons are capable of. I’m not trusting any of them.” Gilda clenched her talons as she was tempted to punch him in the face until she felt Dash placing her hoof on her shoulder.
“Let’s get back to our lunch,” the pegasus suggested.
“Right.”
“Can I join you?” Gabby asked. “I haven’t eaten for a while now.” The two friends agreed and they walked away from Grandpa Gruff. “Maybe you could do some queen practice with us.”
“Uh-huh, sure.” Gilda glanced back at Gruff, who Rainbow Dash could tell was going to get on the soon-to-be queen’s nerves.
Back in Ponyville, the meals that were ordered got to the table. Glynn got up and went to find Gallus, who hadn’t returned yet. When the father found his son, the young griffon was lying on the ground out of breath. Glynn was alarmed.
“Gallus, are you alright?” the older griffon asked.
Gallus took a minute to breathe before responding. “Just did… one too many… push-ups,” he answered. Glynn could tell his son didn’t have enough strength to move right now, so he picked Gallus up and carried him back to the table.
“I told you not to push yourself. You were barely able to walk yesterday.”
“I know.” Gallus was sat down at the table where he rested his head. “I just want to get flying again.”
"We understand that, but you can’t fly if you don’t have the energy to do that. Just have some food.” Glynn started eating his meal as Gallus just stared at his plate for a minute. He eventually started eating as Silverstream decided to try and cheer him up.
“I’ve got a few extra bits,” the hippogriff informed. “We can order any dessert of your choice.”
“Alright,” Gallus muttered. He started eating the sandwich he ordered as Gadget decided to speak her opinion.
“You know, the other students have been here for what? Two years?” she questioned. “I thought they would have some kind of meat here.”
“Well, it’s we were three of the five students from the other kingdoms when the school first opened,” Smolder informed.
“Then it cost more than it would be worth to get meat for just five students,” Glynn commented.
“It’s going to change soon. I know this young griffon a couple from Cloudsdale that got adopted. His family goes fishing so he can have the meat he needs to get strong. We can visit him if you want.”
Glynn liked the sound of a griffon being adopted into a new family. Gadget liked it too but still didn’t feel too confident at the moment. “Maybe once Gallus starts flying again,” she suggested.
“Or you could take a hot air balloon,” Silverstream noted. Gadget tried covering her face so only the hippogriff could see it. Judging by her expression, she wasn’t happy with what Silverstream had said. The young hippogriff didn’t say anything else and resumed eating.
It was a bit of an awkward lunch as they had little to say. Eventually, Smolder had enough and slammed her fist on the table. “Quartz, you want to talk to the other students?” she asked.
The kobold ninja was a little surprised by this question. “Um… are you sure about that?” he asked.
“They’re not going to warm up to you if they only know what they don’t know about the real you.”
“…She’s right,” Glynn noted. “We have to start warming up to them at some point.” Gadget sighed as Glynn and Smolder were right.
“Where exactly do we start?” Quartz asked.
“Hard to say,” Glynn said. “We weren’t given many options for hobbies back in the gang.”
Gadget decided to voice her opinion about this. “The closest I can think of a hobby for me is tinkering,” she admitted. “Not too sure where to go from there.”
“We can help you,” Silverstream spoke.
“Are you sure?"
“Of course. You’ve got to have something fun to do.” Glynn, Gadget, and Quartz did feel that hobbies would help them move on from their previous experience.
“Any recommendations?” Quartz asked. Silverstream began thinking of what they could try out.
Back in Griffonstone, Gabby and Rainbow Dash were putting on an act. “I need that money!” Gabby said with a deep voice. “I have a family to feed!”
“Well, I need that money for a ride to Manehattan,” Rainbow Dash spoke nasally. “I can’t pay that much fish. Your highness, please get this airhead back to earth!” They both looked towards Gilda, who was staring out in space. Dash dropped her acting voice to snap her friend back, “Gilda?”
“Huh?” She looked at her friends which were now confused.
“How long were you not paying attention?”
“Hey, I’ve got a lot on my mind!” Gilda retorted. “How would you feel you were going to be the new captain of the Wonderbolts in less than a week?”
“Well… I would question why the short notice.”
“And I’m under a lot of stress!”
“Stop, will ya!? This is no time for quarreling!” Gabby yelled. Rainbow Dash looked towards the mail griffon before calming down.
The future queen took a minute to find her words before she spoke. “Listen, Dash, I'm just concerned about how this will go,” Gilda admitted. “I mean… being the queen of a kingdom that didn't have a leader for… what, a century?”
“I get that,” Dash spoke. “It’s not going to be that simple.” Gilda looked down as she didn’t know what else to say about this. The girls then heard some grumbling not too far from where they were.
“I can’t believe he’s making me do the shopping,” a female complained. “I clean, I pay attention to what happens at our child’s school. He just sits on his rear while I do everything to keep us alive." They looked to see a griffon that was blue, white, and black, similar to a bluejay. She walked on past them and headed towards the market.
“Who’s that?” Dash asked.
"That’s Gloria," Gabby informed, “A mother of Geena.”
“Huh, neat. How’s she doing knowing her daughter’s at a school to help with her friendship skills?”
“Pretty good. She’s been happy for Geena. Though… he isn’t that nice to her.”
“Who’s he?”
“…Grayson, Gloria’s husband. He’s…”
“One of the worst,” Gilda finished. “He’s a couch potato and yells at anybody that tells him in the wrong. He is one of those creatures who when he loses an argument goes, ‘Well, that’s my opinion.’”
“That kind?” Dash questioned.
“Yep. And there’s plenty more that I’ll have to deal with.”
“Maybe you can talk with Gloria first,” Gabby suggested. “This would be your chance for you to make the right decisions as a ruler; if you’re nice to your subject, they’ll have more respect for you.” This idea didn’t sound that bad. A good ruler does have a healthy relationship with those that lived in their kingdom. Wanting to try it out, Gilda flew over to catch up with Gloria, who’s not aware that Gilda’s standing right behind her.
“Gloria, you have a minute?” the future queen asked.
The griffon that looked like a bluejay groaned. “I’ve got a lot on my plate,” she spoke, “Do you think I…” When she turned around, she paused. Her frustration quickly turned to fear when she saw who she was talking to. “Queen Gilda?! I… Pardon me, I didn't know it was you!”
“Um… You heard about my new role?”
“Gabby had said that it’s gonna happen sometime.” Both griffons looked over to Gabby, who gave a nervous shrug. “I was just… going shopping.”
“I understand that. You never steal a thing.”
“I certainly didn’t do it… It’s just…”
“Is it about Grayson?”
Gloria stayed quiet before letting out a depressed, “Yes… After Geena went to Ponyville for the first time to start a new school life there, Grayson’s been taking out all of his aggression on me. You know what that’s like?”
“I can picture that. But... Listen, Gloria, I’m willing to try and fix any issue that’s in Griffonstone."
“You can get started with griffons who don't pull their weight around the house!”
“And you can take it easy.”
Gloria could sense the annoyance in Gilda's voice. “…I’m sorry. It can only take so much.”
“I understand. Maybe I’d put in a new law for that kind of relationship.”
“Please do. Now, I’ve stalled long enough. I don’t need another reason for Grayson to hate me.” Gloria quickly flew away to deal with her business as Gilda returned to Dash and Gabby.
“I can help you schedule something with Twilight for discussing laws,” Rainbow Dash informed.
“That’d be nice,” Gilda responded. “Eh, how about a break?”
“Yeah, sure. I should be getting back to the Wonderbolts now.”
“And I should… get back to my mail runs,” Gabby added.
“You all go ahead,” Gilda told Dash and Gabby, “I’ll be going to try and clear my head.” Both Rainbow Dash and Gabby left Gilda to give her some time alone. Gilda head back home and looked at the list of what she had written down from the other leaders. The griffon rubbed her brow as she tried thinking about certain laws of fair prices and pulling the fair share of weight in the household. It was going to put a lot of stress on her.
It was around sunset when Gallus’s parents were at the school with Silverstream, trying out origami. Glynn was having a good time while Gadget found this about the same as working with her tools and metal. “This is relaxing,” Glynn commented. “Gadget, how about you?”
“Same,” she admitted, “, but just with paper instead of metal.”
“Still, it’s enjoyable,” Silverstream noted. “There are other things you could try. Sketching maybe.”
This seemed to catch Gadget’s interest. The hippogriff noticed this and was about to go get some pencils and paper when she saw Peridot walk in looking a little nervous. “Hey, Silver, I need to borrow some…” The dragoness paused when she saw Gallus’s parents. “Oh… Ugh…”
“You need something, young lady?” Glynn asked.
Peridot wasn’t sure what to say around these griffons given what she witnessed back in Griffonstone. “I think… I’m in the wrong room. Sorry for disturbing you.” The young dragoness quickly bolted out of the room before another question could be asked.
A few seconds later, Smolder and Quartz walked in. The dragon seemed to be annoyed as she looked around the room before staring at Silverstream. “Was Perri in this room a few minutes ago?” Smolder asked.
“Yeah, why?” the hippogriff questioned.
“I was trying to get her introduced to Quartz here, but that’s going as well as it looks.” The kobold looked to be a bit disappointed as he looked over to Glynn, who seemed to be offering him a seat.
“It’s hard to get used to normal life,” Glynn noted. “But it’ll be okay in time.”
“I guess you’re right.” As Quartz sat down, Gadget had a question.
“Have you seen Gallus recently?” she asked. “I thought we left him to rest in his dorm.”
“You did… but…”
“I told you, you should’ve listened,” noted a voice. In came Sandbar, who was carrying Gallus on his back into the lounge. The young griffon was too tired to respond to his friend.
Smolder looked to be frustrated with her friend’s condition. “Gallus didn’t listen, did he?” the dragoness asked.
Glynn just sighed before he got up from his seat. “Allow me to talk to him,” he requested. He got up and walked over to his worn-out son, who still looked to be frustrated.
“I know what you’re going to say…” Gallus spoke.
“That’s not all I was going to say,” Glynn spoke. “Why did you have your friend here carrying you here?”
Gallus didn’t answer this and just tried avoiding eye contact. “Um, he said he wanted to see you,” Sandbar explained. Glynn nodded at this information as Gadget… She was still having concerned feelings.
“Gallus, you should be in bed, or take a rest at the very least.” Again, Gallus didn’t say anything. “Smolder, could you help take him back to his room?” The dragoness nodded, held her griffon friend over her shoulders, and carried Gallus back to his bedroom with Glynn following them.
When they got back to the dorm, Glynn asked Smolder to leave so he and Gallus could have a private conversation. “Gallus, is there another reason why you want to be flying again?” Glynn asked.
Gallus was a little perplexed by his father’s question. “What are you talking about?”
“It’d be one thing if you had limited mobility but you seem to be walking just fine. At least when you're not pushing yourself.”
“Well, I don’t want to slow my friends down if we're ever going to visit Peter.”
“Your friends include Sandbar and Yona. The last time I checked, they didn't have wings.” Gallus tried to think of an excuse, but he was struggling to do so. “Is there something you're not telling me?”
Gallus looked at his father before spilling the beans. “I hate the fact I keep losing control.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… whenever I try to do something good like save my friends, it starts backfiring and puts others in danger. Not to mention when I thought I could make Gideon agree to a deal, he practically broke eighty percent of my bones.” The young griffon sighed as his father understood the situation.
Glynn helped his son onto the bed and they sat by each other. “I know things have been rough for you recently. All those hours of physical therapy and exhaustion would take a toll on any creature. Your mother and I have been feeling that kind of stress too. Wondering if we’ll ever be able to make up working for a tyrant rather than standing up as you did.”
“He kept things very tight.”
“He did, but he also didn’t pay most of his staff. So that pretty much blew up in his face.” Gallus chuckled, knowing that term was more literal in Gideon’s case. “You're only sixteen Gallus. Things get fairly complex later in life.”
“I know.”
“It’s getting a little late right now. Please, do give both of us a favor and get some rest.”
“Y… Yes, dad. I’ll just be reading a book or something.”
“I can help you with your exercise tomorrow, provided that you watch your limits.”
“I will.” Glynn and Gallus quickly shared a hug before the father left the dorm while the son found a book to entertain himself. Glynn stopped a couple of feet from Gallus’s dorm, knowing this was the most father-son interaction they had. Feeling good about himself, the older griffon went back to the lounge to continue his hobby hunting.