//------------------------------// // Hangouts and find outs // Story: Protectors of the Nations // by ChildishWriter //------------------------------// Sleep was not happening that night. The kids had way too much to discuss, all the plans they were going to make for the year, who, from their homelands, they hoped were gonna come to the school of friendship, and how their summer was. The best part was that almost every creature was having a sugar rush. So it was a little chaotic. It was now almost 12 am Yona with one paw was holding onto the end of the balcony and with the other was h holding onto Gallus' wing, with his other, was hooked to Smolders, who was hooked to Sandbar, who was hooked onto Ocellus, who was hooked to Sliver. The 6 had been dangling from the balcony trying to make a creature bridge from the end of the balcony to the tree branch closest to them. “ ok, guys one more time and we almost got it” Sandbar cheered. “ Silver make sure to stretch ok you got this” Gallus added, “ Yona use the yak strength and give us a good push.” “Gallus you could be a motivational speaker” “ Shut up Smolder” “Friends ready,” Yona asked getting into position “Ready!!!” They all cheered. “3…” Yona pushed them back and the Winged creature cupped their wings to get more power, “2..” Then the Yak moved them forward and Silver got ready to grip the tree branch. “1!!” They swung up, Sliver with all of her strength Wrapped her wing around the tree “I got it guys!!! I got it!!!!” Everyone cheered at their accomplishment, Yona, using her paw started to bounce the line up and down, causing multiple whoas, Wees, and laughter. “ Guys I’m not sure how much longer this branch can hold us,” Silver said between laughs “ Hold on for just one more second” Ocellus's horn glowed blue as a camera appeared out of nowhere “ uh, Ocellus? Where did you get the camera from?” Sandbar asked “My parents gave it to me before I left. I had told them I wanted to make a scrapbook so they bought me a camera” “ Cool what photos do you have too far” “ Just a few of the train ride here, I got some nice ones I’ll show you guys later” A grunt came from the hippogriff who seemed to be struggling “ Celly that’s cool but can you take the picture now, not sure how much longer I can hold on” “ Oops sorry “ Ocellus quickly snapped the photo. Right after the picture was taken the branch started to snap. Silver watched as a line quickly formed between the branch and the tree. “ oh shit” There was a Loud snap followed by screams. 1:30am Cards Against Humanity was a game. Sandbar had introduced to them last year. Smolder read the black card“What would make the world better?” Everyone looked through their cards, trying to pick the best one to play. After Smolder got five cards, she began to read aloud. “ using pickles for a bun instead of bread ” “Traveling to another dimension” “World War III” “Restoring the hi-“ Smolder couldn’t finish the sentence before she started busting out laughing “ Ocellus is this your card?” The dragon started to laugh more “What does it say?” Sandbar grabbed the card “Restoring the hi—ve to its former Glory” Not even a second later the group erupted into laughter. Ocellus’s face turned a shade of pink “Holy shit— is it actually your card?” Gallus asked Ocellus chuckled “Umm yes” Nobody could stop laughing for about five minutes after that 3 am One of the best parts about his friends coming back was that he could tell them stupid stories that happened while they were gone. Sandbar told them everything that happened while they had been gone, all the dumb questions he got, the random stuff that people in the town were doing, and the pranks that were pulled daily by Pinkie and Raindowdash. He basically tells his life story to these creatures. And they love it. " Half of the ponies are running, Twilight and Applejack are trying to catch it before it destroys anything, Rarity was just standing there looking like she was just done with it while Fluttershy hid behind her tail, and Pink and Rainbow were on the ground laugh with Discord while a Rubber duck bigger than the castles roll trough town." Sandbar could barely talk as he began to laugh remembering everything that happened that day. " Wait, he did that all because Professor Applejack said Fluttershy could do better!!" Sliversteam said between laughs. "Ok, but she totally could" Smolder added. The treehouse began to shake with force as the kids heard a loud growl "I heard that" Discord hissed from somewhere in the house. 4 am Music was blasting, Gallus and Sandbar were playing cup pong, and the girls were playing 'Sorry' Yona took a deep breath as she watched Ocellus knock her piece off the board for the 5th time. "If Ocellus moves Yonas thing one more time Yaks will declare war on Changelings" she huffed "Oh please Yaks wouldn't last a second in the desert" Ocellus chuckled "Bug don't know what Yaks can do" "Maybe not, but I do know last time Rutherford had to visit the hive Thorax had to use an enactment to surround him with snow because it was too hot. He had just gotten off the train." " then Prince Rutherford not go if he want to be baby, Yona will lead and defeat you" "All hail Princess Yona" The other three looked at each other mildly concerned 6:45 The sun was beginning to rise over Ponyvill, every creature had fallen asleep only hours ago. The rays of sunlight shined through the window hitting Sandbars eyes causing the young pony to be pulled out of sleep. He groaned as he rubbed his face. When he was somewhat awake he scanned the room. He was surrounded by pillows with Yona was asleep next to him, there were empty cans and wrappers everywhere, he was gonna have a lot of fun cleaning that up. He looked around at his friends next, Smolder was wrapped up in a blanket and lying on the couch sound asleep, she looked so comfy it was a little funny. Ocellus was on the other side but this changeling was only half on the sofa; her head and half her torso were, but the rest had slipped onto the floor. Loud snoring caught his attention, Gallus was sprawled out on the floor; his body all twisted up as if he had just fallen from a 12-story building; Sandbar held back a laugh at the sight. Carefully, to not wake up the sleeping creatures, he got up. Where's Silverstream he asked himself looking around for the pink hippogriff he realized she was nowhere to be seen. Is she already awake He waited a second to see if he could hear her anywhere. ... .... ...... Nothing complete silence. Did she leave? Sandbar decided to check outside, as he opened the door to the outside he had to shield his face from the rising sun hitting his eyes. When could see again he started to walk around. As he walked he enjoyed the scenery around him. The sky was becoming a nice baby blue, the green on the leaves looked beautiful, the branches danced slightly in the wind. he wouldn't admit it to anybody but he loved nature, a lot. Sandbar was about halfway around the treehouse the young bird lying on the ground facing the sky. Did she fall asleep here? As he got closer a smell hit his nose, he wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it was bad. "Silverstream" he whispered The young griff was not asleep because she turned around almost immediately and looked at her friend. " oh hiii Sandy" Silver looked she put something in her hair but Sandbar couldn't tell. " hey..how long have you been up?" Silverstream giggled " Shit it's already morning?" Sandbar nodded hesitantly "Then since yesterday. Since yesterday is how long I've been awake" Sandbar looked at his friend, she looked over really tired with bags under her eyes. but her eyes looked alive, very alive, Her eyes looked a little red and puffy. " Um Sil?" Before he could speak Silverstream cut him off " Are you the first one up" she started pacing around, flapping her wings but not taking off. " Yes are-" " Do you wanna go to Sugar Cube Corner? I'm going to need coffee if I'm going to make it through the day" " Since when do you like coffee?" " Hey what time is it" " around 7 I think. I can go wake up-" " Sandy knock knock" he rolled his eyes "Who's there?" She had a big smile on her face "Annie" " Annie who" "Annie thing you can do I can do better! Race you to Sugar Cube Corner" She took off like a bullet towards town Sandbar stood there for a second not knowing what to do. "Sandbar?" a voice called out. He looked over towards the blinding Sun as he saw a blue figure approach. " hey Gallus, you just wake up?" "yeah, you?" “Been but for a bit, the stupid sun woke me up” Gallus shook his fist in the air “Damn that sun for shining“ Sandbar chuckled “Are the girls up?” “Nah except Silverstream but I’m not sure where she went” “She was gone when I woke up too, I went to look for her and found her outside but she was acting weird, and she didn’t even sleep” Gallus raised a brow “It’s Silverstream..how weird can she act that’s out of the norm for her?” Sandbar explained the whole encounter from start to finish “Then she just flew off” Gallus thought for a moment “Well she is usually hyper in the morning” “Yeah, but she gets tired when she doesn’t sleep so how can she have THAT much energy? Plus her eyes were really red, like she was on something” “She was probably rubbing her eyes man I think you’re overthinking it. She’s probably fine” “ yeah…yeah I guess” Gallus padded him on the shoulder “Come on let’s go wake up the girls and go to sugar cube corner” Sandbar agreed and they started to make their way back into the tree house “Also when you woke up did you see the way Ocellus was sleeping” Gallus whispered Sandbar chuckled “Yes we have to get a picture of that before she wakes up. It’s the perfect thing to put in the book thing she is making.” 8:30 am The 5 friends were slowly making their way to Sugar Cube corner “Man this town is busy for so early in the morning,” Gallus noticed “It’s 8:30, People have jobs to get to” Sandbar explained Smolder yawns rather loudly “I don’t know why you two had to wake us up so early in the morning” “I don’t know why it took you so long to wake up” Gallus stated “Hey I’m a heavy sleeper” “We pushed you off the couch and you didn’t even flinch” " You gotta try harder than that buddy" Smolder yawned again "I'm still so tired I could sleep for 5 years" " that's too bad cuz we’re here” Smolder looked up at the cupcake sign with the writing sugarcube corner on it “Oh. Damn” The bell dinged as the 5 creatures entered the bakery. Gallus and Yona immediately got in line to order while the rest found a table to sit and chill. “I thought you said Silverstream was here” Ocellus questioned looking around. “That’s where she said she was going, maybe she already left” Sandbar guessed Smolder watched as one Miss Cake began to make her way to the kitchen “I’ll go ask Miss Cake,” Smolder said. She then got up and began to follow said store owner. In any other cafe, it would be rude and weird to just randomly walk into their kitchen without permission, but the kids knew Pinkie, and Pinkie knew the Cakes, so they had been given permission to come around anytime. It took a bit of getting used to but now it’s just normal Smolder walked into the kitchen and stood in the doorway for a moment not sure what to do. “Umm excuse me, Miss Cake” The Baker pulled her head out of the fridge to see who was calling her name. When she looked she saw the young dragon standing in the doorway “Oh, Smolder deary! It’s lovely to see you, how have you been” “I’m good how are you” “I’m doing wonderful are you here with your friends?” “Yeah we wanted to stop by and grab some breakfast” “Sweetie you don’t have to stand in the doorway you can come in a bit” Miss Cake Smiled warmly “In fact, I have some gems I’ve been keeping for you, one second let me grab them” Smolder walked over to the island and leaned against the hardwood The blue earth pony trotted over to the pantry and pulled out a box “ I wasn’t sure if Dragons had certain ones they liked, so I just guessed” The young dragon was a bit taken back by the assortment of gemstones, “Thanks Miss Cake, but I have a quick question, have you seen Sliverstream Yknow the Pink overly hyper hippogriff” “Oh yes she was just hear this morning, I was wondering why she came all alone but she seemed to be in a bit of a hurry” Miss Cake set the square brown box on the counter “Anyway here is the box deary. Now I’d love to stay in chat, but I have a lot of baking that needs to be done.” When Smolder looked into the box her mouth began to water. I love Equestria it looked like a rainbow had thrown up. It had all different colors, shining and ready to be eaten. Smolder was about to know what heaven tasted like. “Thank you Miss Cake, and don’t worry I understand Have a good day” “You too deary! Oh and I must say it’s nice that SilverStream is trying new things” Smolder stopped halfway out the door “Huh what do you mean” Miss Cake cleared her throat “Well she just ordered coffee that’s it. 3 cups of black coffee, must say very different from what she used to order” Smolder was now a little confused “ Huh that is a little interesting. You don’t by chance know where she went?” Miss Cake shook her head “ Sorry deary” “It’s all right have a good day” ~~~ Smolder had gone back to the group holding the box Miss Cake had given her "Sandbar I love ponies" she expressed with delight. She set the box on the ground, as she sat next to Ocellus who was enjoying a coffee cake. "I walk in there seeing if she has seen Silverstream and she just hands me a box of gems! just like that!! I didn't have to steal them or fight her to the death. She just gave them to me" "That's really nice Smolder but while you were giving things you don't deserve did you find out where Silverstream is?" Gallus asked, He attempted to grab one of the gems before the young dragon swiped the box out of his reach "I didn't find out where she is, but Cake did say she was here. But when she was here all she ordered was coffee, pure black coffee! No flavor! Like her taste in guys" "Fuck that suppose to mean?" " Since when does she drink coffee?" Ocellus wondered Smolder shrugged maybe but it wasn’t just 1 cup, it wasn’t just 2 cups, but it was 3 cups!!! who needs that many cups. She’s already hyper enough” the young dragon threw her hands in the air Smolder grabbed a gem from her box and crushed it in her hand, she then grabbed the coffee cake in front of her and sprinkled it on top of the dessert. "Where we think Hippogriff is?" Yona asked "pbebl a soo" Smolder tried to say with her mouth full Yona look confused trying to understand what she said, Gallus noticed and translated for her "She said probably at school" Yona nodded in understanding "Smolder please dont talk with your mouth full," Ocellus asked whipping crumbs off the table "You're getting crumbs everywhere" Smolder swallowed her food "Oops, sorry" " Well, I hope Sils hungry because I got her a cake pop. She likes these right?" Gallus asked looking at Yona who nodded "Silverstream had a bunch in the dorm room last year" "Did Yona tell friends about the time Yona got trapped in a snow cave" Everybody looked at the yak who took a sip of her hot chocolate. "Um No.." "Oh then let Yona tell. It all started in the middle of the night in Yakyakastain" After a very long, confusing, and Interesting conversation, the gang decided to head back to the school to find Silverstream. It was a nice day in ponyvill and lots of ponies were out today, may of them staring at the kids. "Why do so many ponies keep staring at us" Ocellus asked "Because we're awesome, because we saved the world, and because we look good" Gallus boosted, Gallus was loving the stares and attention him and his friends were receiving. "You like it now, but wait till you are running for your life from a mob of fans trying to take pictures and asking you weird question's" Sandbar recalled "Yona guessing Sandbar speaks from experience" "Yeah..." "I dont think it will get that bad" Sandbar, wanting to avoid confrontation, just rolled his eyes and kept quiet As they walked to the front of the school, they saw Terramar pacing back-and-forth by the entrance. “Hey Terramar” Sandbar waved “Where is Silverstream” he asked frantically Smolder scarfed dramatically “No hi, hello, how are you” The young hippogriff roll his eyes “hi hello how are you, where is SilverStream? Better?” Smolder nodded her head approvingly “ she left before most of us we’re up” “This morning she said she was going to go to Sugar Cube Corner” Gallus recalled “She could’ve gone to her dorm” “How was she acting? Was she ok?” Every creature looked at Sandbar since he was the only person to have actually seen her today “She was acting normal I guess, hyper as usual. Why?” “ Just wonder..come on let’s go see if she’s in her dorm, umm where is her dorm” “Follow us terry” Smolder said opening the doors to the school