//------------------------------// // Visitors in the Dream Realm: Pt.2 // Story: A Griffon's Farewell // by 1jckuhn //------------------------------// 11:05 P.M. Gallus and Princess Luna lead the way to the dreams of the School of Friendship's teachers. Gallus' family, friends, and Grampa Gruff followed close behind. It didn't take them long to reach the dreams of Twilight, Spike, Starlight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Gallus and his family already knew the plan for the teachers and had briefed Silverstream, Sandbar, Yona, Smolder, and Ocellus on what they were going to do. "Everyone ready?" asked Gallus. The nods from the other ten creatures answered his question. "Excellent," said the angel Griffon. Pinkie Pie's Dream Pinkie Pie was lining up her party cannons for the big Hearth's Warming celebration at the Castle of Friendship. "Okie Dokie!" she chirped in her usual upbeat tone. "Just need to test them!" She walked over to the first cannon and set it off. As the confetti dispersed, a bright, white light illuminated from the barrel of the cannon. "Huh," said Pinkie. "That's odd. None of my cannons have ever emitted light." She walked around the front of the cannon to inspect what was going on, only to be pulled off of her hooves and sucked into the barrel without warning. Rarity's Dream Rarity grinned as she finished setting up the decorations. The Hearth’s Warming party at the castle was just a few short days away. She stopped for a second to admire the beauty of the decorations. They were her own work and, as always, they looked flawless. "Perfect," she said. "Now for the finishing touch." She walked over to a bag that was filled with gems the Spike and she had collected a few days ago. The fashionista opened the top of the bag, expecting to be met with the sight of the flawless, colorful rocks. What met her instead, however, was a blinding white light. She was pulled off of her hooves and sucked inside of the bag in the span of less than a second. Fluttershy's Dream The sun was starting to set as Fluttershy was preparing some tea for herself inside her cottage. Soon, it would be time for her to leave for the big hearth's Warming celebration at the Castle of Friendship. The cream-colored Pegasus looked outside, watching the snowflakes gently falling from the sky as she waited patiently for the kettle to boil. "Wintertime is always so beautiful," she said to herself. Presently, there was the sound of whistling coming from the kitchen, signaling that the water was now ready. Fluttershy walked into the kitchen and turned off the stove. As she tipped the kettle into her teacup a bright, white light began to come out of its spout. Confused by what she was seeing, Fluttershy set the kettle down, took off the lid, and looked inside to see where the source of the light was coming from. As she looked, an invisible force began to pull her inside the kettle without warning. She tried to fight the force, but it was no use. The Pegasus was sucked inside the kettle almost instantly. Applejack's Dream Applejack rolled the last barrel of apples off of her cart. The barrels of apples would be either sold during the Hearth's Warming Celebration or baked into pies and other goodies by the apple farmer herself with the help of Pinkie Pie. "These apples are going to taste better than a glass of cider on a summer day," she said as she tipped the barrel back onto its header. Applejack opened the barrels one by one to make sure all the apples were still ripe and not bruised. Soon, she was down to the last one. When the orange Earth Pony pulled the top of the last barrel, a blinding, white light met her eyes. "What the-?!" she exclaimed as she was abruptly pulled off of her hooves and sucked inside the barrel. Starlight's Dream It was the morning of Hearth's Warming and Starlight Glimmer was at her dad's house. Firelight and she were preparing to open the gifts under the tree. "This first one's for you, sweetie," said Firelight, as he gave Starlight a present with red wrapping paper and a yellow bow. Starlight gave her father a quick hug and nuzzle before she used her magic to pull off the wrapping paper and opened the box underneath. Her excited expression immediately went away as her eyes were hit with a blinding, white light. Without warning, the pink Unicorn was sucked inside the box. Twilight and Spike's Dream Although, Spike and Twilight could not have known it, they were both sharing the same dream. In the dream, the Dragon and Pony were in the teachers' lounge after dismissing the students for winter break. Alongside them was Rainbow Dash. Spike was busy shaking presents under the tree, trying to guess what was inside each one. Rainbow and Twilight just sat there and smiled as they watched the little Dragon shake each gift. Unfortunately, the Ponies were so focused on Spike that they had failed to notice a cloaked figure sneaking up onto the rafters and with a jar of magic powder. The cloaked figure dumped the jar of powder onto the fire of Friendship without hesitation. The contents of the jar reacted of the bright pink heart instantly. It began to spark and glow brighter and brighter. Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash looked up to see the Fire of Friendship exploding into a large wave of purple goo that rapidly began to cover the whole tree and the presents underneath. Some of it had even gotten on the walls and furniture. While Rainbow had been flying out of the blast radius and Twilight had protected herself with a magical shield, Spike wasn't so lucky. He was covered from head to toe in purple goo. Using her magic, Twilight quickly freed the Dragon before the trio turned their attention back to the tree. "What-What happened?!" asked Spike. "Everything's ruined," cried Twilight, looking over the now goo-covered tree and decorations. "That's what's happened." Then, Rainbow caught sight of something up in the rafters. She flew up to have a better look at what it was. Upon seeing the jar of powder tipped over, her expression soured. "And I don't think it was an accident," she growled, turning back to face Twilight and Spike. "Somepony was up here!" Right as she said that, Spike caught sight of a cloaked figure making their getaway. "Over there!" he exclaimed. Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow watched as the cloaked figure hastily made their way to the windows. They opened the windows and ran outside, the two Ponies and Dragon following close behind. The snowfall was thick, and the wind howled, but that didn't stop them from chasing after the mystery creature. They lost sight of the cloaked figure for a few seconds, until Spike spotted a door closing. "That's the students’ quarters!" he said. The trio raced to the door and flung it open, only to be met with a bright, white light. Before either Spike or Twilight could even process what they were seeing, they were both sucked into the light. Rainbow Dash's Dream Darkness. That was all that surrounded Rainbow Dash. She had no clue where she even was and had spent what had felt like the whole night wandering around aimlessly, trying to make sense of what was going on or finding an exit out of the black void. "Damn it, what is this?" Rainbow let out an annoyed grunt. "Why can't I get out of here?" "I-I can't take this anymore." Rainbow froze when she heard that voice. It sounded strangely familiar. It also sounded like the creature that it was coming from was on the verge of breaking down crying. "H-Hello?" she called out softly. "Wh-Who's there?" No response. Rainbow tried again, "Is there anycreature there? If there is, please say something. I won't hurt you. I promise." A single beam of soft white light stabbed the darkness in front of her. The Cyan Pegasus' whole body grew cold and numb when she laid eyes at what the beam of light was shining on. It was Gallus, sitting on his haunches with his face buried into his crossed arms, his sobs now becoming more vivid and painful. In Gallus' left claw was a shiny, metal object. A sharp glare from the stainless metal hit Rainbow right in her eye and temporarily blinded her, before she got a good look at what the object was. A large knife. She turned her attention back to Gallus himself, only to find him now looking right at her with bloodshot eyes. The fur on his cheeks was matted with his own tears and his whole body was shivering. "G-Gallus?" Rainbow stammered, hesitant for the answer to the question she was about to ask. "What are you doing with that knife?" For a few tense seconds, there was silence as Gallus just stared right into Rainbow's worried eyes. Until the knife's handle was gripped by both his claws and held level with his throat. It was only then did one word, and only one word, leave his beak. "This." The sickening sound of flesh being stabbed could be heard for miles around as Rainbow staggered backwards in horror, watching her student yank the knife out of his neck and the streaks of dark red that came pouring out of the large, fresh gash seconds after, staining the light grayish amber fur on his underbelly. "Someone, please help!" Tears began to stream down Rainbow's face as she looked around frantically, desperate for any sign of another creature in the void. "He's hurt!" Silence was the only thing that responded to her. Rainbow turned her attention back to Gallus only to see him now crumpled on the ground, blood still spraying from his open wound. Left with no other choice, Rainbow Dash raced over to him and began applying pressure to his neck. "H-Hang in there, Gallus," she choked through sobs as she looked into his fading azure blue eyes. "Everything's going to be okay, buddy. I'm here. Please just don't die on me. I'm going to make this up to you. I promise. Y-You're going to have a happy time just like everyone else this holiday season. I-I'm going to make sure of that." Without warning, Gallus' whole body suddenly engulfed in a bright, white light that blinded the Pegasus even worse than the glare of the knife's stainless-steel blade. Rainbow had no time to express the shock that washed over her as she was sucked in toward it. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. When the Ponies and Spike opened their eyes, they found themselves in a dark blue room. In front of them stood Princess Luna, Silverstream, Smolder, Sandbar, Ocellus, Yona, and Grampa Gruff. They all seemed huddled together in front of someone or something. "Princess Luna?" asked Twilight. "What's going on? Why are we here?" Rather than answering Twilight's question, Luna and the other creatures split off from their huddle, revealing none other than Gallus, his parents, and his sisters to the other eight creatures. Upon seeing the five Griffons for themselves, mainly Gallus, the Ponies and Spike were all rather taken aback. While they knew Luna's plan was mainly for providing closure for Gallus' friends and Grampa Gruff, they weren't expecting the Griffon and his family to pay them a visit as well. They all began to wrack their heads to wonder why Gallus was here to see them. All except one. Rainbow Dash began to feel her stomach being tied into an octuple knot. She already had a feeling what Gallus was going to say to them. Or so she thought. "Hello, everyone," Gallus said simply, calmly walking toward his teachers to get a better look at them. "U-Uh, hey, Gallus," Rainbow Dash stammered. "Why are we getting a visit from you, Gallus?" asked Starlight. "We thought you were just going to talk to your friends." "Because, Starlight, it has also come to my attention that all of you have taken my death as hard as my friends have," replied Gallus. "You could say that,” said Rainbow Dash despondently. Gallus turned to face Rainbow Dash and looked at her from head to hoof. This once cocky, headstrong, overconfident Pegasus now looked like a foal that had been caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. "However," continued the Griffon. "It seems that, out of the eight of you, there's one pony who seems to have taken my death the hardest." Rainbow Dash began to tear up as the angel Griffon looked her square in the eyes. Right as Gallus was about to speak, it finally became too much to bear for the cyan Pegasus. She fell onto her haunches, buried her face into her hooves, and began to cry as her guilt hit her at full force. Everyone winced as they watched her break down. “I’m sorry, Gallus,” Rainbow sobbed. “I never wanted this to happen. I didn’t know you were suffering, but that still doesn't excuse what I did." Gallus' expression saddened as he watched the Pegasus begin to cry. He cupped Rainbow Dash's chin with his right claw and pulled her head up until her nose was level with his beak. “Rainbow, look at me,” Gallus said, his tone soft as Fluttershy's as he locked eyes with the rainbow-maned Pegasus once more. “I don’t want your forgiveness, Gallus,” croaked Rainbow as she met eyes the Griffon’s. “I don’t deserve it.” "Rainbow, listen to me," Gallus said, his tone now becoming firmer. "You have to stop this." Rainbow became confused. "What do you mean?" she asked, wiping away her tears. "Stop what?" "Blaming yourself for my suicide," said Gallus. "I've said this to my friends and Grampa Gruff, and I'll say it to you. You didn't do anything to contribute to my actions that night. I don't harbor any feelings of enmity against you, Rainbow." Rainbow just stared in shock as she processed what Gallus had just said to her. While the Pegasus did that, the Griffon turned to face the six other Ponies and Spike. "This goes for the rest of you as well," he announced. "I don't want any of you feeling like you were responsible for what happened that night either." "I was still in on the plan to get you to crack, though," said Rainbow mournfully. "I can't help but feel I was too hard on you that night and it drove you to this." "You weren't too hard on me, Rainbow," Gallus said firmly. "You and the other teachers did not, in any way, shape, or form, drive me to suicide. From the day my family was killed to the day I died, I was locked in a constant state of grief that just would not go away no matter what I did or where I went. There was literally no one in town I could turn to for any sliver of comfort. Any extended family members I did have were all dead and gone by the time I was five. I had no choice but to live my life on the streets." “Why did you have to do that?” asked Fluttershy. “Certainly, other Griffons would’ve been kind enough to take you in or, at least, give you some morsel of food or money.” “I thought the same thing too, Fluttershy,” said Gallus, letting out a sad sigh. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Griffons of my own town didn't give me any food or money. They just pushed me aside and called me names. I was a homeless, orphaned, and still only a child and not one Griffon of my own hometown showed me an ounce of sympathy." Fluttershy let out a soft gasp upon hearing that. The other Ponies and Spike were also appalled. "They didn't care if you starved or froze to death on the street?" asked Rainbow, now becoming angry. "Nope," said Gallus simply. "That's ultimately where my self-hatred stemmed from. Each time other Griffons acted rude or dismissive toward me, I was left wondering why they were treating me like this, but each time, I couldn't come up with an answer. All it led me to was more questions. Eventually. the only explanation I could think of was that everyone in town blamed me for the death of my parents and sisters because I didn't do enough to save them and, as time went on, I began to feel that their reactions to me were justified. I gave up on trying to beg strangers for resources and began to just steal food and build tents using sticks and leaves to keep myself alive." Gallus turned to face Luna. "Luna," he asked. "Could you please cast a memory spell on me?" "Certainly," said Luna. Gallus closed his eyes as Luna's horn lit up. A large screen appeared before the fourteen creatures just above Gallus' head. It showed a brown Griffon with a beige underbelly and cold, hazel eyes being approached by a blue Griffon with a light grayish amber underbelly who was much smaller than the brown Griffon. It didn't take a detective to figure out the small, blue Griffon was a much younger Gallus. "U-Um, excuse me, sir," the younger Gallus asked. "I'm really hungry, but I don't have any money. Do you have anything you could spare for me? Anything helps." Instead of a sad or sympathetic look from the brown Griffon, all the blue Griffon got was a cold, hateful glare and a harsh shove. "Get lost," scowled the brown Griffon. "I have no patience to be dealing with little brats like you." The little blue Griffon found himself tumbling hard into the cold, snow-covered ground. He pulled himself back up to see the brown Griffon spreading his wings to fly away. "Wait, please!" cried the Blue Griffon. "You don't understand!" The brown Griffon ignored him and took off toward the sky without another word or a look back at the little fledgling. "Come back!" cried the blue Griffon. It was no use. The brown Griffon was already too far away to hear him, and the blue Griffon hadn't completely learned how to fly yet. The younger Gallus fell onto his haunches and began to cry as the memory ended. The next memories played on the screen were all showed the same result. With the little, blue fledgling on the screen begging strangers for food, money, or shelter, only to be turned down in the harshest way possible. After showing a few memories of Gallus being rejected, the screen cut to a memory of a slightly older Gallus crying under a tree. He just couldn't understand why this was happening. Why were they all being so cruel to him? What had he done to warrant this treatment? He was trying to wrack his brain for any sort of explanation. "Was I mean to anyone in the past? No. Has anyone seen me stealing food yet? No, that can't be it either. What could I have done to make me such a bad Griffon in the eyes of so many creatures? I wish mom and dad were here, they'd..." Gallus trailed off as he said, "mom and dad," recalling that house fire that had taken both their lives, as well as the life of his little sister, Gwen. He burst into another fresh fit of tears the traumatic memories began to come flooding back to him. As he cried, however, a thought began to form inside his mind. It was one that made him sick to his stomach, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to feel it was the truth. His heart began to hurt more and more with each beat. "M-Maybe they're angry at me because I didn't do enough to save my family that night. I did promise to protect Gwen, like any big brother would, and I let her down. I let them all down." The distraught fledgling looked up toward the sky, as if he could somehow see the spirits of his parents and little sister looking back down at him, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I wish I wasn't such a screw-up. I failed all of you." The memory ended as the younger Gallus buried his face into his claws as he continued to cry and cry. Gallus' friends and teachers, Grampa Gruff, and Spike all stood there. Their expressions were all a mix of shock and sadness as they watched the memories of what Gallus' life was like out on the streets. "From that moment onward, the self-blame and the anguish fully set in, and it never left me until the day I died," explained Gallus. "My demons and grief thrived in the hole in my heart, and they led me closer and closer to the edge over the course of when I had just turned eleven to that fateful December night." The same rectangular screen appeared above the angel Griffon's head once more. Griffonstone, Equestria Grampa Gruff's House August 29, 2015, 12:41 A.M. Gallus shuffled his way into the kitchen of Grampa Gruff's house. He was having trouble sleeping that night. School was set to start in less than a week, and he wasn't looking forward to it in the slightest. It was just going to be another nine months of masking his depression and dealing with relentless bullying. It didn't help that he was thinking about the death of his family thanks to his supposed failures like had done so many times before. The young Griffon gazed up at the night sky. The moon was full and provided a soft glow for the room. He gazed up at the night sky for what felt like forever before he eventually turned his attention to turning on the faucet and filling up his cup. As Gallus turned off the faucet, he caught something out of the corner of his eye on the counter just to the left of the sink itself. The Griffon reached over and picked up the object. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a bottle of painkillers. He stared at it for about thirty seconds before a grainy voice inside his head that he knew all too well began to speak. "Well?" it asked. "What are you waiting for?" "I don't know if I should do this," Gallus said in his mind. "I-I mean what if I fail?" "You'll never know until you try," the voice said. "Or do you really want to try and go through another day of being reminded of the constant torture that your family is dead thanks to your own screw-ups?" Gallus began to tear up. For a split second, the Griffon did reach out to open the bottle of pills, but he fought against the urge hard. "I just can't do this," the Griffon said in his mind, his voice shaky. "Why not?" "I-I just can't. I don't want Grampa Gruff to deal with my issues in the event that I'm unsuccessful. I'm sorry, but I'm not doing it." "Fine, then," the voice said scornfully. "Stay alive. Continue to be reminded of why you're here to begin with. Continue to be a burden to everyone around you. Gallus slammed the bottle back down, dropped his glass in the sink, and tore off back to his bedroom, tears streaming down his face. He hid himself under the covers as he finally broke down into a fit of tears as the voice uttered two final words that made cut deeply into his already scarred soul. "You coward." The memory ended with the younger Gallus continuing to cry once more. Everyone was feeling queasy as they listened to the conversation between Gallus and the voice. The way it spoke to the Griffon made everyone's blood run cold. "It was even worse when the Blue Moon Festival rolled around," sighed Gallus. As the Angel Griffon said that, a new memory began to play. December 19, 2015, 7:23 A.M. "NOOOO!!" screamed Gallus as he shot up out of bed. The Griffon was sweating profusely as he frantically looked around his room. After a few seconds, he realized that he had just experienced another nightmare about losing his parents and little sister yet again. He buried his face into his claws and began to cry and cry. "I can't take this," he choked out through sobs. "There has to be a way out of this." He got up out of bed and steadied himself as he stood on the floor. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt it if I told Grampa Gruff about all this," he thought aloud, wiping away his tears. Gallus made his way to the front door of his bedroom and was just about to open it when the voice called out to him. "So, you're going to tell Grampa Gruff, eh?" it asked in its usual, grainy tone. "Yes, I am," Gallus said in his mind, trying to sound firm. "So, you're going to inflict your problems on another Griffon?" the voice said. "An elderly one at that?" Gallus began to tear up, but, like so many times before, tried not to give up right away. "I can't keep this all in the dark forever. I need help." "Are you forgetting the only one responsible for your situation is you? If you tell him about your past, all you'll end up doing is revealing what type of creature you really are. There is an easier way to end all this pain and anguish, though." "N-No." "It's the only way out." "Stop. P-Please." Gallus began to cry on the outside as the voice continued on inside his head. "Why? Don't you want to achieve peace from this world?" "I-I do." "So, why won't you do it?" "Because I don't want to inflict that trauma on Grampa Gruff. Plus, if I do attempt to do it and fail, I'll be forced to come clean about my past anyway." "By that logic, you shouldn't tell him the story about your past either. By that logic, you'd be inflicting trauma on him either. If you take my advice, however, you won't be able to witness his reaction, although I doubt he, or anyone else, would miss you considering all the things you've done. The choice is yours. Continue to live and be a failure to everyone around you, or quit while you're ahead so the Gods and Goddesses above can see if you have, at least, a sliver of good inside of you." "I said I'm not doing that." "Choosing to live and continuing to be a nuisance, huh? I expected nothing less from a disappointment like you." Gallus gritted his teeth and punched the wall hard, before he finally broke down. He curled into a tiny ball and began to just bawl and bawl in agony. By this point, a few creatures were crying as they watched the second memory play out. Gallus just allowed them to let their emotions flow before he spoke up again. "Now, this last memory I'm going to play is from the night I died. I'm going to give all of you a heads up, this one's obviously going to be the hardest one to watch for everyone here, myself included," he sighed. The screen appeared above Gallus' head once more as the fourteen creatures prepared to relive the night of horror. "GO AHEAD! PUNISH ME! SEE IF I CARE!!” Gallus screamed at Rainbow, Twilight, and Spike, finishing his confession about his involvement in ruining the decorations. Gallus didn't even bother waiting for a reaction from either Pony or Dragon as he abruptly spun around and took flight, blazing out the windows he had tried to escape out of earlier. He just wanted to be alone. The moment he was out of range from his friends and teachers, Gallus' chest began to ache, as more fresh tears welled up in his eyes and fell off his face as he made a beeline for the student's quarters, not once looking back to see if his friends and teachers were following him. He gritted his teeth as he felt the frigid weather hit every inch of his body. He made it inside and quickly bolted into his dorm room, slamming the door hard on his way inside. Another surge of emotions shot through the Griffon the moment he did this, causing his knees to buckle, and he collapsed on the floor, breaking down into a fit of even more dolorous sobs. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," the Griffon choked out through sobs. It wasn't long after Gallus started sobbing that the voice inside his head began to speak to him once more in its usual grainy tone. “Now look at what you’ve done. Your friends are being forced to stay here at the school because of your mistake,” the voice said. “I’m sorry,” Gallus thought. In spite of him crying on the outside, the Griffon's internal dialogue tried to keep a level tone. “I never meant for everything to end up like this.” “It’s your fault the holidays are ruined,” the voice continued scornfully. “It’s always so typical for a worthless little nothing like you to wreck everything with your issues." ”What was I supposed to do?” Gallus asked in his mind. ”Go back to Grampa Gruff again and just force another smile like I did for the past eight Blue Moon Festivals? I can’t keep doing that forever. At some point, he’s going to find out where I really came from. Then, what?” ”Well, he doesn’t have to find out. All you’d have to do is end it all and no one would ever know the full extent of your pain or how much of a problem you are,” the voice replied. ”You’d be doing both yourself and the whole world a favor if you did.” “N-No,” Gallus stammered in his mind. “I-I can’t.” “Why not? Do you want to endure another holiday without your family and be reminded yet again of what happened on that tragic day?” “What would my friends think if I did that?” “They’d probably be too busy celebrating the holidays to notice. They all have families. You don’t.” “Sh-Shut up.” “You can deny it all you want, but, at the end of the day, you know I’m telling the truth. The only one responsible for your situation is you. You didn't do enough to save them. Now, you've drug everyone else down with you. You’re worthless. This is your fault and no one else’s.” “S-Stop. Go away. Please just leave me alone.” “I’m trying to help you. You can end your suffering here tonight. After all, has your life been the same since that day?” “N-No, it hasn’t. I miss my family more with each passing holiday season. It’s only gotten harder for me as the years go on.” “Exactly my point. Do you really want to continue on with this grueling existence?" There was a long pause as Gallus began to contemplate what the voice had said to him. For years, this same voice had told him this exact same thing, but the fear of failure if he had actually followed the voice's advice ultimately stopped him every time. This time, however, was different. Recounting all the holiday stories that his friends told made him realize just how alone he truly was in this world. While the holiday seasons, as well as other special events, he had experienced since the day of his family's death were sheer torture, being in a cheerier place than Griffonstone and watching all the happy Ponies setting up for the holidays with their families just rubbed salt in the Griffon's unhealable wounds. The more he analyzed just how tragic his situation was, the more Gallus felt that the voice's advice was, indeed, the only way out. He started to cry as he began to finally give into his grief and misery. If I were you, I’d say, “no”," the voice continued. "Give up. Let go. It’s wonderful.” By this point Gallus was bawling, both internally and externally. The pain of losing his family began to completely consume him as he remembered hearing the screaming of the smoke alarm, smelling the sickening scent of wood and metal burning, tumbling out his bedroom window, and being forced to do nothing but watch as his whole world was completely decimated in the span of one night at only seven years old. He hated it all. He wanted nothing more than for his suffering to end in any way possible. He had reached his breaking point. Even with his friends by his side, he couldn’t bear it anymore. They didn’t deserve to go through any sort of punishment because of him. At that point, he made up his mind on what he wanted to do. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry, Gracie. I'm sorry, Gwen. I failed all of you. I could’ve saved you that day. I screwed up. I’m a horrible brother and son. I'm just as bad as a friend too. I've held everyone up from going home to be with their families. I really am worthless. These five don't deserve to be stuck here with me. They deserve better. They all do.” Gallus got back up, wiped away his tears, and began to search through his room. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for, a piece of paper and a pen. Through blurred vision, he began to write on it. He did this for a few minutes, all the while keeping an eye on the door to make sure that it didn’t open on him. As he finished, the Griffon opened up the bottom drawer on his nightstand and pulled out a large book. He ripped a piece of tape off a roll from the top of his nightstand, folded the piece of paper in half, and taped it inside one of the pages. He then quickly closed the book, put it back into its drawer, and raced back out his dorm room door. With no real reason to continue playing the memory, as everyone already knew what would happen next, the screen disappeared, leaving the fourteen creatures to digest everything they had just seen. "So, that is what I want to make clear to everyone here, especially to you, Rainbow Dash," Gallus announced. "None of you had a part to play in any of this. I was lost. I knew needed help, but I just didn’t know how to ask. It all just became too much for me to handle. That, along with being in a cheerier place than Griffonstone, listening to all my friends' Hearth’s Warming stories, and watching my worst fear, which was of all of you fighting, play out, finally drove me off the edge. I thought everyone's problems would've vanished if I just removed myself entirely from the equation. I never really understood how much all of you cared for, and appreciated, me. My own grief blinded me, and I ended up catching all of you in the middle unintentionally.” "Gallus, I'm so sorry," sniffled Silverstream. "No one should ever have to go through even an ounce of what you went through." "Well, we can help make sure that doesn't happen," Gallus said firmly. "Like I said to you all before, Silverstream, if you can share my story with the world and let others who are in the exact same situation I was in that they're not alone in this world. We may not be able to save everyone, but if, at least, one creature is able to see the claw or hoof reaching for them through the darkness before it's too late, I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there's one more creature who knows life really is fighting for." "We promise to share your story, Gallus," said Smolder. "Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, now regaining some of her confidence. "We won't let you down, buddy. You can count on us." "I know I can," Gallus smiled warmly. "My family and I have complete faith in all of you. We know that you will make us all proud." The Griffon and his family wrapped were all enveloped by the other fourteen creatures in a tight hug. The atmosphere stood peacefully silent as the group all held onto each other tightly for a full two minutes. “It’s time for us to go now,” Gallus said, as they broke away from the hug. “I hope that life brings all of you nothing but good luck.” “Do you really have to?” asked Ocellus sadly. “As much as I wish my family and I could stay with all of you tonight, we can’t,” sighed Gallus. “The spell Luna cast on us only lasts for an hour and there’s only a few minutes left before it expires.” The others weren’t eager to see Gallus and his family go away so soon, but they knew that the lessons that the Griffon had taught them, as well as the happy memories that they had made with him, from saving Applejack and Rainbow Dash from the Bite-Acuda’s to performing in the play, would stick with them until the end of time. "Goodbye, Gallus," said Silverstream. "We hope you enjoy your new life in heaven." "Hey, don't consider this a goodbye," said Gallus, taking a hold of Silverstream's claw. "Think of it more as a, "see you later." My family and I will always be watching over you all and we can still visit you here in the dream realm if any of you ever feel lost. Plus, we still have that date tomorrow night." Silverstream blushed and giggled, "Oh, that's right." Gallus and his family all waved toward Gallus’ friends, the Element Bearers, Starlight, Spike, and Grampa Gruff and they waved back as a bright white light surrounded all five Griffons. After ten seconds, it slowly began to fade away, revealing that the hour-long spell had expired and they were gone. With the meeting wrapped up, there was nothing more for Gallus’ friends, teachers, and Grampa Gruff to do except go back to their individual dreams. They gave each other one last hug, before Luna transported them one by one out of the dark blue room and back to their own dreams. Although they could not have known it, as they dozed in their beds, Twilight, Starlight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Smolder, Ocellus, Sandbar, Silverstream, Yona, and Grampa Gruff had began to tear up in their sleep. However, it wasn’t due to sadness. As tears began to peak from their eyes, they all had begun to smile, and in their sleep, they all mumbled the same three words simultaneously. ”Thank you, Gallus.”