It had all started innocently enough.
Spearheaded in a tag team sort of manner by professors Applejack and Pinkie Pie, the School of Friendship began a new unit of study focusing on family. The idea between the two mares, as they explained to their students, was to teach that the principles of friendship absolutely extended into families as well. As such both felt it important the students learn this so to strengthen their relations with their preexisting families, or someday apply it in the future when they begin having new families of their own.
This made enough sense to their students and many liked the idea of using class time to talk about their families, so the unit was accepted fairly well school-wide. It helped that Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both mares that felt very strongly about the importance of families, were able to teach the subject with such passion and enthusiasm that even those select few who weren’t as eager about the subject, such as Gallus, couldn’t help but get a bit caught up in it too.
These lessons proceeded fairly routinely until they started discussing genealogy. Specifically, how it was important to keep good genealogic records whenever possible with Applejack and Pinkie Pie both citing as an example how there was evidence suggesting they themselves might be distant cousins…but due to incomplete or damaged family records, they couldn’t be certain. This news actually disappointed a couple of students, thinking there must still be a way to confirm one way or another. Silverstream, in fact, went to Headmare Starlight Glimmer to inquire if there was some way they could help find a solution for the sake of their professors.
“I mean, the headmare’s a pretty smart mare,” the hippogriff later related to her friends, “and she knows all that awesome magic-y stuff, so I figured there must be something she could do.”
However Starlight, already quite familiar with Applejack and Pinkie Pie’s genealogy problem, did not have a solution nor knew of any means around the problem, and she didn’t think it was something magic could provide the definitive solution Silverstream sought. But, conceding that genealogy and genetics weren’t her typical area of expertise and in the spirit of the school’s ongoing family-based studies, she agreed to do some investigating—see if something new was available that they could try. She did so stressing that she could make no guarantees of success and openly stated she did not think the chances of a solution were very high, much less quick.
Instead, one letter to Equestria’s new ruling princess inquiring for resources to study proved all that was needed, for it just so happened that Twilight Sparkle now knew of a pony that likely could help.
As would be later explained to the student body in an assembly, he was a unicorn named Gene Type who primarily worked for the Royal Guard as a forensics specialist and geneticist, but also did a wide range of freelance scientific projects in his spare time. Much of his Royal Guard work typically dealt with matters of security and thus wasn’t free to be discussed, hence why he wasn’t too publically known outside of the upper levels of the Equestrian government. But after being crowned ruler not quite a year earlier, Twilight had come to know him and claimed him as “one of the best, if not the best, in his field.” Even better, he’d already had past success accurately tracing back some generations the family lines of not just ponies but several differing creatures via a number of cold cases he’d worked on, including a recent one Twilight had overseen. Thusly impressed with his work, Twilight figured that if any pony could assist with this genealogic issue, it was him. And as luck would have it, he was currently on leave focusing on a personal project, meaning he not only had the free time, but was also quite interested in the challenge and happy to try.
And so a couple of days later, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were ecstatic to report that Gene Type had made good on his word and successfully confirmed they were indeed fourth cousins twice removed as suspected. With the two mares pleased by these results, the students of the School of Friendship excited by the news, and Gene Type having enjoyed the project and still having the time to spare, a new idea was had. Since the school was already studying genealogy, why not let the student body have their chance for Gene Type to test their heredities and see if he could uncover any new information about their own family lines?
And so began a new school project.
“Apparently it’s pretty simple,” Sandbar explained once back in the dorm room after the assembly. He laid out a small kit on the table before him and Gallus and reviewed the included instructions. “All Dr. Gene Type needs is a couple of genetic samples to test with.”
“What sort of samples?” Gallus asked as he half-heartedly watched, leaning his head on one arm and appearing skeptical. “Nothing invasive or private, I hope.”
“No, no, not according to this,” Sandbar said, tapping the instructions. “There’s really just the two.” He picked up a small vial and opened it, pulling out a cotton swab contained within. “The first is a saliva sample.” He opened his mouth and rubbed the swab around inside while Gallus rolled his eyes, not keen to see the inside of the earth pony’s mouth. Sandbar then stuck the swab back into the vial and closed it up before glancing at the instructions once more. “And then a…‘follicle growth sample’…like hair, feathers, scales—whatever is relevant to the creature, I guess. For me, it’d be hair.” Taking a compact pair of clippers included with the kit, he pulled taunt a couple green hairs from his mane, neatly trimmed them off, and put them in a small resealable bag. He then held out his hooves happily. “And that’s it!”
“Really,” Gallus deadpanned cynically, watching as Sandbar packed up the kit. “That’s all the guy needs to find out everything about your family history.”
“Well, it’s all just genetics when you get right down to it,” Sandbar reasoned with a simple shrug, proceeding to fill out an attached tag with his information. “And genes are passed on from creature to creature in a family, so with the right samples, I’d imagine you can trace it back pretty far.” When his griffon roommate just snorted, he tilted his head. “You don’t think so?”
“It just seems too simple and easy, you know?” Gallus said and waved his talons over the now neatly repacked kit, ready for mailing to Gene Type for analysis. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for the guy doing it practically for free, I’d say he’s scamming the whole lot of you.”
“Well I trust him,” Sandbar assured nonetheless. “And I’m actually pretty curious to see what he might discover and if there’s anything new to learn about my family history.”
Gallus snorted and sprawled out on his bed, rolling over so his back faced the pony. “Betcha there isn’t,” he groused as he did so.
Sandbar studied his friend’s blue back for a long moment. “Is there something wrong?” he asked. “I would’ve thought you’d be clamping at the bit to do this yourself because…” he trailed off, knowing it was a touchy subject.
“Nuh-uh,” Gallus immediately replied. “I don’t need to know whatever that stallion thinks he can tell me.” He curled up a little tighter. “I already know everything I need to know about my family anyway.”
A poignant silence briefly fell. “Gallus, you don’t know anything about your family,” Sandbar pointed out knowingly.
“I know they’re gone,” Gallus retorted firmly. “And apparently didn’t care enough to ever come back, so…” he trailed off, the fight leaving him with a sigh. “It’s just…not something I feel I need to know. Besides…what use could anything this Gene guy found be?”
Sandbar shrugged. “It could still be more than you know now,” he reasoned, but reading the room, he didn’t press the subject further and instead gathered up the kit, turning to go. “It’s your choice either way, I guess. But…you’ve got another two weeks to think it over.”
“I don’t need it,” Gallus assured as Sandbar left the room. “This whole thing’s probably overrated anyway.” He told himself that surely the results for Sandbar’s samples would be very underwhelming and only prove his point.
This didn’t come to pass, though. “So it turns out I’m a little bit crystal pony!” Sandbar happily announced during their lunch break a few days later.
“You’re what?” Smolder blurted out as she and the other four friends of their group all looked up from eating. “Seriously?”
“Apparently!” Sandbar said, holding up the test results he had just gotten earlier. “One of my distant relatives on my mom’s side was a crystal pony, and according to this, a little bit of their genetics still lives on through me. Not enough for me to appear as anything but an earth pony of course, but it’s still noteworthy.” He reviewed the paper of results briefly. “I’m also part unicorn and part pegasi, but I already knew that—my maternal grandma is a pegasus, and my dad’s grandfather was a unicorn. Pretty cool to think there’s this much diversity in my family though.”
“So wait,” Gallus said, surprised by these results and pointed a talon at the sheet in Sandbar’s hoof. “That Gene Type guy really got all that from a hair and bit of spit?”
“Yup!” Sandbar confirmed with a nod, folding up the paper and setting it to one side so to eat his lunch. “Pretty neat, right?” He looked at his friends. “Has anybody else done the testing too?”
“Nah,” Smolder replied, thumping a fist to her scaly chest. “Dragons are actually pretty good at keeping tabs on our family lines, so I don’t feel the need to.” Nevertheless, she gave Sandbar a fistbump. “Still, that’s pretty cool, dude. Almost makes me wish I had anyway.”
“I did,” Ocellus piped in, the changeling raising a chitinous hoof into the air as if volunteering to be picked on in class. “I haven’t gotten the results back yet, but I’m hoping it will prove once and for all that I am definitely NOT related to Queen Chrysalis.” Noting her sudden intensity drew questioning looks from her friends, she turned bashful. “See, a rumor has started going around that I’m somehow Chrysalis’s long lost secret daughter or something, which is patently ludicrous, because not only was Chrysalis not exactly the mothering type, I already have all the definite confirmations I need back home from my actual family that I am of no relation to her. But I’m hoping the addition of Dr. Gene Type’s test results will be enough to finally put to rest that silly rumor once and for all.” She looked skyward, turning wistful. “It should be any day now.”
“Well, Yona has her results!” Yona said, the yak fishing out the wrinkled paper from within her thick fur, smoothing it out on the table. “Yona not understand all big words, but results tell what Yona related to!”
“Ooh, like what?” Silverstream asked from the far end of the table, having been eagerly taking in the whole conversation.
“Yaks!” Yona proudly declared.
“Shocker,” Gallus deadpanned, unimpressed.
Yona shot him a look. “Griffon not understand! Yona means yak-yaks!”
Smolder shrugged. “What’s the difference?”
“Yak-yaks are ancient yaks from ancient yak tribe that built Yakyakistan and brought all other yaks to live there!” Yona explained. “Not many yaks still related to ancient yaks, but now Yona knows Yona is!” She grinned proudly. “Big honor for Yona!”
“Oh, Yona, that’s wonderful!” Ocellus praised happily.
“Yeah!” Silverstream said, likewise gleeful for their yak friend before turning thoughtful. “Ooh, I wasn’t going to do this testing thing myself, but after hearing everybody else’s results, I’m thinking I will now while there’s still time!”
“Wait, aren’t you like royalty and all that?” Gallus asked. When the hippogriff nodded, he added, “Aren’t most royal families real big on keeping track of their bloodlines already?”
“Well yeah!” Silverstream said. “But maybe someone missed something and the test can tell me something new that I didn’t know, like some long lost relative nobody knew about! Ooh, maybe I’m part-some-other-creature too, like Sandbar!” She gazed skyward excitedly as she considered the possibilities. “I wonder what creature that could be! Ooh, maybe I’m related to something cool, like…like an octopus!”
Sandbar pulled back, his brow furrowed. “Sil, is that even possible?”
“Yeah, one kinda has to wonder how exactly an octopus would get it on with a hippogriff,” Smolder added flatly.
“Gah, I don’t I even want to know,” Gallus declared, squeezing his eyes shut in a full body cringe.
“Mm, too kinky then?” Smolder asked thoughtfully.
“Very,” Gallus confirmed with a nod.
“Okay, so maybe not an octopus,” Silverstream conceded. “But still, I won’t know until I try, right?”
“Well, there’s still plenty of time for you to send in samples for testing if you want to, Silverstream,” Ocellus reasoned. She then glanced at Gallus. “What about you, Gallus? Have you gotten the testing done too?”
“No,” Gallus flatly replied. “And I don’t plan to.”
“Aw c’mon, why not?” Smolder asked teasingly. “What are you afraid of? That you’ll learn you’re part chicken or something?”
“No,” Gallus replied again. “There’s just…not anything there I need established for me.”
“Really?” Ocellus asked, surprised. “I would’ve thought you’d be very interested in having the tests done.”
“That’s what I told him!” Sandbar agreed.
“Yeah, Gallus!” Silverstream said before adding without thinking, “Maybe you’ll find out who your family is!”
An awkward silence followed after that, the subject the rest of them hadn’t wanted to directly say now in the open and leaving them unsure how to proceed. Eyes gradually turned to Gallus, awaiting his reaction first.
Gallus frowned, feeling increasingly annoyed. “What if I don’t want to know?” he challenged after a moment.
“Gallus, not to put too fine a point on it, but…it could be your chance to find out just who they were at all,” Ocellus offered. “Wouldn’t you want to at least…settle the questions there?”
Gallus snorted and didn’t reply, hoping his silence would cause the topic to be dropped.
It didn’t. “Dude, look,” Smolder began, “If you’re afraid of what you’d find out…”
Gallus gave her a glare. “I’m not.”
“You totally are,” Smolder stressed with absolute certainty. “We might as well just call you out on that much, because you are NOT being subtle about it, like, at all.”
Gallus scowled. “So…what if I am, then?”
“Gallus, everybody has those in their families they aren’t proud of,” Smolder said and motioned to herself. “I have a great uncle that everybody in my family hates. He’s a real jerk even for a dragon, in fact. But I’d still want to know about him because he’s still part of my family. I know it’s probably weird hearing it from a dragon like me, since dragons aren’t big on bragging about it, but…even dragons know family’s important.”
“And at least then you’d know,” Ocellus reasoned. “No more guessing, no more mystery…”
“And learn what?” Gallus challenged. “Obviously, my parents, whoever they were, weren’t exactly the pinnacles of parenting if I just ended up on the streets.”
“But it’s not just your parents,” Sandbar reasoned. “Maybe you could find out that you have…an uncle or something you didn’t know about.”
Gallus snorted. “Some uncle if I’ve never even heard of him then!”
“Well, maybe he was never told you were born,” Silverstream reasoned with a shrug.
“Besides…do you really know what actually happened with your family, why they’re…gone?” Sandbar asked gently. “Maybe it wasn’t for the reasons you think it was, and if so…this could be your chance to find out, or at least get some clue as to what really happened…if just to set the story straight once and for all.”
Gallus opened his beak to retort, but then realizing to his shock that Sandbar did have a point, he closed it again and said nothing so to avoid acknowledging it.
Fortunately Yona came to his rescue. “Whatever is done, it Gallus’s choice, not friends,” she reminded patiently.
“Yes, thank you, Yona,” Gallus replied.
Yona gave him an understanding grin. “Griffon is welcomed.”
“Then we’ll not bother you about it,” Ocellus concluded with a sigh. She gave Gallus a concerned look. “But…for the record…”
“Yeah, I get it, Ocellus,” he said, then sighed himself. “And I know you’re all just…trying to help. But this is something I gotta figure out, okay?”
The rest all murmured their acknowledgements and the conversation finally moved on to other, more welcomed, topics. True to their words, his friends did not raise the subject again for the rest of the day. Frustratingly though, Gallus found the metaphorical seed planted in his mind anyway, and as the day wore on, he was unable to resist pushing it away anymore.
What if Sandbar’s right? He couldn’t help but think to himself. What if there really IS more to whatever happened than I think? Could these dumb tests even tell me?
Because the fact of the matter was that he didn’t know. He scarcely recalled anything useful of his mother, nothing at all of his father, and what scant little he could recall was from so long ago, from such a young age…it was entirely possible the memories were inaccurate anyway. In any case, he certainly didn’t know what had become of his parents—no one did. By all accounts they just…vanished one day. As far as any griffon could ever tell Gallus, assuming they knew anything at all (or even cared), one day he’d just wandered into Griffonstone as a youngling, entirely on his own, and no griffon ever came for him or claimed him as their own. Since he pretty much kept to himself, most everyone else chose to ignore him. And…that was that. Given the circumstances, assuming he’d just been abandoned by unloving parents wasn’t that unreasonable.
But, Gallus had to admit, it also wasn’t the only possible explanation for it.
So finally, against his better judgment and only because his brain wouldn’t stop nagging him about it, he relented and discreetly collected one of the test kits and filled it with the needed samples that same evening. When filling out the attached slip of paper with his information, he paused upon reaching the final box, which asked: “What sort of information are you hoping to learn from this analysis?” After some hesitation he decided to just admit the truth and wrote: “who my family is.” He then took the kit and put it in the box for mailing to Gene Type that the school had set out. That finally off his chest, he then resolved to not think further on the subject until the results came in, still telling himself that they probably wouldn’t tell him anything useful. Not that this stopped him from being uneasy about their eventual delivery, almost dreading the day they finally arrived into his talons.
But the days passed, soon turning into weeks, and before he knew it, it was nearing the end of the time arranged for the testings to take place. And yet, even though everyone else he knew who’d sent in samples had their results back in only a couple of days, no response of any sort had been returned to Gallus.
“Don’t know what to tell you, honestly,” the residential and uneven-eyed mail carrier covering the school—Ditzy Doo according to the nametag pinned to her brown uniform—told him after he finally asked about the delay. “I haven’t seen or heard anything about it one way or another, but I just deliver what comes into the post office. I don’t know what happens to them in-between.” The friendly grey pegasus then gave Gallus a playful nudge. “But you just wait, I’m sure it’ll get here okay in the end.”
“There’s no rush,” Gallus flatly assured her before they parted ways, “I was just wondering.” He was almost relieved it’d failed to arrive anyway, taking it as a sign that there really wasn’t anything to uncover, so much so Gene Type must have decided it wasn’t even worth sending back a response.
And then, incidentally during yet another lunch break on nearly the last day samples could be submitted, an announcement was made on the school intercom: “Gallus Griffon, please come to the headmare’s office. Gallus Griffon, please come to the headmare’s office.”
Gallus abruptly froze midway through taking a bite of his lunch, not expecting the announcement. Meanwhile, all of his friends immediately locked their eyes on him with knowing looks.
“Oooooh!” Sandbar teased the griffon. “Called to the headmare’s office!”
“All right, fess up,” Smolder instructed, leaning closer. “What did ya do this time, and why on earth did you not include me in all the fun?”
“But I-I didn’t do anything,” Gallus replied, completely surprised by this development.
“Uh-huh, sure,” Smolder replied with a smirk, unconvinced.
“Seriously! I haven’t done anything!” Gallus insisted, and was currently racking his brain for any possible answers. He was no stranger to some playful troublemaking, true, but for once, he didn’t know of anything that would apply this time. “I honestly don’t know what this could be about!”
“Well, griffon must have done something,” Yona reasoned.
“…maybe you did something to get in trouble without knowing you did it?” Silverstream offered, trying to be helpful.
Gallus’s brow furrowed, doubtful, but at the moment it was the only explanation he could think of. “Well…if I did, it was entirely on accident…”
“Whatever it is, you probably shouldn’t keep Headmare Starlight waiting,” Ocellus said logically. She then shrugged. “Maybe this is about something else entirely than troublemaking anyway.”
“Really, Ocellus?” Smolder questioned, clearly still doubtful. “Since when has Gallus ever been called to anyone’s office for anything but trouble?”
To Ocellus’s credit, she did honestly try to come up with an example. But after several seconds of struggling and failing, Gallus decided to take mercy on her. “Well, whatever it is,” he said as he got up to leave, “I guess there’s no point in putting it off, so…wish me luck, I guess?”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay, Gallus,” Silverstream assured. “Whatever you did probably wasn’t anything so bad that it’ll get you more than the usual amount of detention.”
“Yeah, really helping to boost the confidence there, Sil,” Gallus groused, turning to leave.
“If you don’t make it back though,” Smolder called after him, “Can I have your stuff?”
“No.”
“Well, you can’t blame a dragon for asking, can you?”
Gallus just rolled his eyes and walked off. Since there wasn’t any point in avoiding it—in fact, if he was in trouble, putting it off probably would only make it worse—he did as instructed and went straight to the headmare’s office, politely knocking on its double doors to announce his arrival.
“Come in!” he heard Starlight Glimmer call from within. She didn’t sound angry, so that seemed like a plus.
Hoping this meant it was just a minor thing then, Gallus let himself into the office, trying to get a bead on the situation as he did so. “Hey, so, what’s this about?” he asked while approaching the unicorn headmare seated at her desk, “Because if I’m in trouble for something, I’m pretty sure that…” he trailed off upon suddenly realizing there was a second pony in the room standing to one side where he hadn’t immediately spotted her, but was now moving to join them. He recognized the purple alicorn immediately. “Headmare Twilight?!” he blurted out without thinking.
Twilight Sparkle giggled as she sat herself down to the right of Starlight’s desk. “Not your headmare anymore, Gallus,” she gently reminded.
“Oh, right,” Gallus muttered, catching himself and dropping into a haphazard bow. “Uh, I mean, Princess Twilight.”
“Yeah, let’s just drop the formalities entirely and stick with Twilight, thank you,” Twilight suggested with an amused roll of her eyes, motioning for him to have a seat. “I’m more here for friendship reasons than business, anyway.”
“Friendship reasons?” Gallus repeated, now thoroughly confused as he sat down in front of the desk, looking questioningly between the two mares. “Seriously, what’s this all about? Am I in trouble or aren’t I?”
“Surprising as this might seem given your track record, Gallus, you’re not in trouble,” Starlight assured with a grin as she took control of the conversation. “We called you here because we figured you’d prefer to talk about this in private.”
This didn’t reassure Gallus much, who only further tensed. “Talk about what, though?”
“Well, I understand you’re among the students who sent a testing kit to Gene Type for analysis,” Starlight continued.
Gallus blinked, surprised. “Yeah…” he admitted slowly, wondering what this had to do with it and if he should be concerned. “…but I never got any sort of response back. I’ve honestly started thinking it was a dud and there was nothing to report.”
“On the contrary,” Starlight clarified, and held up a response letter with her magic, “According to this, Gene Type definitely has the results for your tests, but that’s what we need to discuss.” She leaned closer, turning more professional. “You see, Gallus, when we arranged with Gene Type to conduct these tests, the school gave him a record of basic information for all of the students currently enrolled. Nothing too personal, of course, just the same information that’s already publicly available, but enough to give him an idea of each student tested and the sort of things he might want to focus his findings on. Obviously, he’s done just that with you, but apparently has also used it to go the extra mile and…” Starlight paused, uncertain how to put it, “…it seems he struck gold.”
“What are you saying?” Gallus asked, feeling confused and not understanding where this was all going, but also feeling things building towards some sort of reveal he wasn’t sure would be a good thing or a bad thing, much less ready for.
Fortunately, Twilight chose to not leave him in suspense any longer. “Gallus,” she explained patiently but seriously, “According to the correspondence he’s sent us…he thinks he might have found a strong lead towards the identity of your parents.”
Gallus’s eyes bulged as his heart…leapt? Dropped? Clenched? He wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling it do…it sort of felt like it couldn’t make up its mind, so he finally ruled his heart had a brief mini-seizure instead. “Are you saying those tests of his actually worked?” he blurted out, shocked all his skepticism had proved unfounded.
“Maybe,” Starlight stressed. “None of this is definite just yet. Gene Type wants to be absolutely certain he’s right first before we go around saying one way or the other, but to do that, he wants to conduct a couple more tests with you directly, in person.”
“And that’s where I come in,” Twilight said, drawing Gallus’s attention back onto her. “I trust you were told that Gene Type is currently on leave so to pursue a personal project of his?” When Gallus nodded, she continued. “That project is to study how the distribution of common microbial flora are affected by the more wild and unregulated weather that takes place out at sea—see how much of an impact that might have on such microbes and their life-cycles in comparison to like microbes living where the weather is more routinely regulated and maintained by ponies, whether negative or positive. It’s actually a very interesting study, because it could give us a better understanding of…”
“Twilight,” Starlight interrupted.
“Right, ultimately not relevant to this—the point is,” Twilight said as she got back on track, “for this study, Gene Type took an airship equipped with a portable lab and flew it out to around the Griffish Isles, where he could adequately monitor conditions of the sea and weather for his studies. Because the sea weather isn’t regulated out there, he can’t precisely predict when and where the weather might change and require him to adjust his monitoring equipment accordingly, making it more ideal for him to just stay there continuously until his studies are done—that’s why you were mailing the sample kits out to him rather than him simply coming here to conduct the tests.”
“So I’m guessing that if we’re doing these additional tests he wants to do, I’m going to have to go to him,” Gallus surmised.
Twilight nodded. “And that’s primarily what we wanted to talk to you about, so to work out the logistics of getting you out there and back and what arrangements needed to be made so to excuse you from any classes you’d miss in the process.”
“Assuming you’re interested in going at all,” Starlight added in, “because we don’t want you feeling like you’re being pressured into going if you don’t want to. I assume you sent in a sample kit in the hopes of something like this would be uncovered, of course, but I want it clear you have the option of turning Gene Type down if you’re getting second thoughts. So we also needed to see how you…wanted to proceed from here.”
As both mares looked at him awaiting a response though, Gallus wasn’t sure what he thought about all of this. He really hadn’t been expecting this outcome, thinking he at best might have gotten some vague clues about some ancient ancestor like Sandbar’s crystal pony relation, and even that he had doubts about. He’d really only done it at all because he couldn’t deny it was probably worth taking the chance anyway even if it did turn up nothing, like his friends had told him.
And even though the whole prospect of possibly finding out who had brought him into this world in the first place intimidated him greatly, he still couldn’t think of any good reason why he should let this quite probably once-in-a-lifetime chance pass him by. Nevertheless, he made a show of mulling it over, mostly just to stall and give him a chance to even process what he was being told, consider all of his options, and decide how to best respond.
“So the Griffish Isles are a bit far away for me to fly to on my own,” he finally began by pointing out the obvious concern.
“I’ve already made arrangements for a guard and carriage that can pick you up and take you out there and back,” Twilight assured.
Gallus’s eyebrows went up at that. “Really,” he deadpanned, “You’re that confident that I’m going to agree to this.”
Twilight hesitated for a spilt second. “…well, the carriage is going out to the Griffish Isles regardless of whether or not you’re on it,” she explained, “because you won’t actually be the only one visiting Gene Type for testing.”
As if the news that Gene Type could possibly ID his parents wasn’t enough, him apparently going with company was an additional surprise for the young griffon. “Who else would need to have these test things done too?”
Twilight seemed reluctant to just say it, probably for respect of their privacy, but since Gallus would only find out anyway, she yielded. “…Spike. Since we knew Gene Type was already conducting the tests for the school, he figured he might as well join in.”
“Spike?” Gallus repeated in surprise, but no sooner had he done so did he realize it probably made sense—he was aware Spike also knew relatively little about his own heritage. “So, wait, the guy’s got a lead on IDing his family too?”
“…Sort of,” Twilight admitted with a small wince, seeing this would need explaining. “You see, the sort of tests the school’s been doing were already done for Spike years ago now, and…that hadn’t really gotten us anything useful. Knowing that though, Gene Type suggested doing some more thorough tests, and, well, since he wanted you to come up for similar testing already…”
“So wait, the same tests he wants to do with me? Like the exact same?” When Twilight nodded, Gallus made an amazed hum. “Well, that’s a heck of a coincidence.”
“That’s what I said,” Starlight agreed and again held up the response letter. “But apparently Gene Type is confident he can also find a lead for Spike through much the same means he found yours.”
Gallus made a confused frown, not seeing how the two would interconnect. “How?”
“Again, he’s reluctant to give all the details until he’s done these final tests to confirm,” Starlight explained, then seeing Gallus’s frustration at that, added, “You have to understand, Gallus, he gets how sensitive a matter this is for the both of you. No doubt he doesn’t want to risk either of you getting your hopes up too high in case it turns out to be a dead end. You can’t fault him for taking precautions, can you?”
Gallus sighed. “No, I suppose I can’t,” he admitted begrudgingly. “But it’d help me understand how the heck he managed to do this for both of us in the same fell swoop.”
“I’m not an expert in genetics myself,” Twilight offered, “but I am somewhat familiar with how the tests for this work, so my guess is that he can simply do it through the same procedure and methodology. If so, then it’s really only a coincidence in the sense that both you and Spike happened to inquire about it in close succession like this.” Watching Gallus mull that over, she then added, “In any case, at least you’ll have a…kindred spirit, so to speak?...there with you for the testing.”
“Someone who’ll probably relate to you on this whole matter about as well as you can for him,” Starlight added wisely, “anxieties about the testing and all.”
Gallus snorted at the implication that he and Spike had that much in common over this, but decided complaining about it would only be counterproductive and mean spirited. And while he didn’t know Spike especially well, he still knew him well enough from back when the dragon had worked at the school to see he was a good kid that didn’t deserve the lashing out just because this whole situation made Gallus feel…uncomfortable.
“Assuming you want to go at all,” Twilight added again when Gallus didn’t immediately speak further. “No one will hold it against you if you decide you don’t want to.”
“We could even get Gruff’s input on this if you want,” Starlight also offered. She gave Gallus a sympathetic grin. “Though I think you and I already know what he’d say about this.”
Gallus huffed and rolled his eyes at the thought of the aging griffon that’d been unwillingly roped in as his de facto guardian while attending the school. “Gruff’s not going to care one way or the other,” he concluded with confidence, envisioning Gruff just waving it off as an annoyance not concerning him as usual. “So it might as well be my call to make anyway.”
“Then what is your call on it, Gallus?” Starlight prompted gently.
Gallus didn’t respond right away, once again running his options through his head, but his brain was locking up unhelpfully. “I suppose you both think I should go,” he reasoned, glancing at the two mares. When neither of them immediately responded, he continued. “I mean you might as well as admit it. Do you think I should go?”
The princess and headmare exchanged glances briefly, silently conferring with each other. “I think it’s a chance you might not get again at least,” Twilight admitted finally, though without definitively answering one way or another.
Starlight was a little more open though. “To be honest, Gallus…I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t at this point. It’d at least…give you closure, wouldn’t it?”
And she had a valid point. But Gallus still hesitated, the prospect daunting him. He’d spent most of his life knowing just shy of nothing about his parents, and now he had a chance to possibly change all that. Maybe even find out why his parents had vanished from his life at all. But would he even like what he found if he did? Did that matter? He supposed Starlight had a point in that he owed himself the chance to fill that gaping hole in his life…even if it just confirmed the worst he’d always feared.
And indeed, it was that “worst” that he feared the most.
But admittedly, refusing the chance just because he was too afraid to face it wasn’t very flattering. And now that he was thinking about it…he wasn’t sure he would forgive himself later if he really let this chance slip through his talons like that.
So ultimately, he concluded his choice was already made. “I’ll do it,” he resolutely announced.