After meeting up at the School of Friendship, a dragon and a griffon flew into the night as Luna’s moon rose from the jagged mountains. After some time in the sky, the two creatures landed in a shabby town that was covered in snow. For one of the creatures, it was their home.
“Well, welcome to Griffonstone,” Gallus said plainly as he showed his friend the sight. “It’s not much, I know, but it provides enough for us.”
The dragon took one look at the view then just shrugged. “It doesn’t look that bad to me,” she said.
“Under the snow, it’s worse.” Gallus pointed out.
“Meh. The Dragonlands are emptier than this, so it’s fine,” she reassured him with a pat on his shoulder.
“If you say so, Smolder,” Gallus sighed.
Gallus wasn’t fond of the idea of Smolder coming to Griffonstone to celebrate his holiday. He appreciated it, obviously, but, despite it being the only time of year when griffons are nice to each other, they still can get rather assertive… just on a smaller scale than usual.
“So, when does the moon thing start?” Smolder said as they started walking in the town. “The moon has risen, so it should start right about now, right?”
“It doesn’t matter if the moon rose. It’s an all-day thing,” Gallus explained to her.
As they walked past a house, one of the griffons opened it and walked out its house with a newspaper in his claws. After shuffling the paper, the griffon’s eyes slowly gazed off of the paper, and instead landed on Smolder.
“Ah, the little griffon boy has a new girlfriend, eh?” the elderly griffon said. “My eyes aren’t what they used to be but my, oh, my I’ve never seen a dragon paired with one of our kind before.” he croaked.
Gallus blushed out of embarrassment, but Smolder immediately reacted to the griffon’s statement. “Hey, we’re just friends, ok? There is nothing happening between us—“ she tried defending herself, but then the griffon got right up in her face.
“Good! I may be forced to act nice in front of griffons, but it never said anything about being nice to dragons,” the old griffon rasped when Smolder was about open her mouth to say something about the festival, most likely.
The griffon turned and walked away with his head tilted up proudly and his eyes closed out of pride.
Smolder growled when she saw the old griffon walk away without a care in the world. “Who was—“ Smolder was about to ask, but Gallus dismissed the problem with a wave of his claw.
“Don’t mind Everest. He’s usually worse than that.” Gallus told Smolder as he walked away. “Don’t take what anyone says too seriously. They don’t mean it. Most of the time.”
Smolder gave Everest a slight stink eye before running back to Gallus. “I guess so,” she grumbled.
“Hey, Gallus!” an unusual peppy voice chimed in out of nowhere. Smolder and Gallus turned around to see a young, gray-feathered griffon land on a pouch of snow. She carried a brown pouch that she wore around her body. Her aquamarine-colored eyes were filled with softness and amusement, which was unusual for most griffons.
"Oh, uh, hi, Gabby.” Gallus greeted, still feeling a little startled by her sudden appearance.
“Is she one of your friends?” Smolder asked as she eyed the peppy griffon.
“Oh, somewhat,” Gabby responded for Gallus. “You know, I haven’t seen you around these parts before! Is this your first time here in Griffonstone?” she asked energetically.
“Yes…” Smolder said slowly as she narrowed her eyes in confusion when she saw the griffon start to jump up and down from excitement.
“Wow! This is so exciting! I don’t think I’ve ever met another dragon before! Well, except Spike… but he never tells me stories about the Dragonlands!” Gabby said before zipping away. She returned a second later with a checklist and a pencil in her claws.
“What’s it like over there? Is it hot? Is it cold? Is it rocky? Flat? Anything in particular that I should know about?”
“Okay, this is weird,” Smolder spoke up as she pushed Gabby away. She turned to Gallus. “I thought you said that everyone in your town was grumbly and snippy.” she raised an eyebrow.
Gallus rubbed the back of his head as he glanced at Gabby with annoyance. “Except her, I guess.”
Gabby stopped smiling when she noticed Smolder's discomfort, so she put her checklist into her pouch. "I'm sorry if I acted like that," she apologized when she closed the pouch. "I get easily excited over things like this." she said with a sheepish smile.
Gabby then turned to face Gallus, her expression more serious. "Grandpa Gruff has been acting quite peculiar lately,” she said with a frown.
Smolder raised an eyebrow again, and Gallus just rolled his eyes. "Of course, he does. It's the one time of year he doesn't harshly criticize someone," he huffed.
"N-No. It's different,” Gabby said as she rubbed her other claw in a nervous fashion.
"Huh?" Now it was Gallus' turn to be surprised. "What do you mean, different?"
"Oh, would you look at the time? I need to mail all of these letters and then I'll be on break for the Blue Moon Festival," Gabby said as she flew away in a hurry. "Duty calls!"
Smolder and Gallus watched her fly away and gave each other a puzzled glance.
"What... was that about?" Smolder questioned once Gabby was in the distance.
"Usual Gabby stuff," Gallus shrugged once more.
"I don't know, but that was rather suspicious," Smolder thought as she put a claw on her chin. "She didn't seem to care much about the mail when she asked me various questions about my home."
"Let's just ignore her for now," Gallus told Smolder as they continued their walk around town. However, as they walked, Gallus couldn't ignore the words Gabby spoke before she left to "post mail": "Grandpa Gruff has been acting quite peculiar lately." The words rang in his head.
Gallus didn't know anything was wrong with Grandpa Gruff when he was still in Griffonstone earlier today. He saw him complaining about the muffins Gilda baked, only for him to stay quiet when he realized what today was. That was something he always saw Grandpa Gruff doing: complain, complain, complain. So, what was different now that it made even Gabby concerned?
Gallus decided to shut the thought out of his brain. Maybe Gabby was just being overly anxious, and nothing was really wrong with him.
Yeah, maybe that’s what it was.
Gallus and Smolder arrived at Grandpa Gruff’s house by casually opening the door. The two creatures peered inside, looking at the empty room where a wooden table filled with various mugs lay. The two strained their ears to listen to any noise in the house, but it was dead silent.
“He’s not home,” Smolder noted once they stepped into the house.
“Maybe he’s visiting someone,” Gallus guessed once he inspected the table. He gagged when he accidentally looked inside the dirty mugs. “Does he ever wash these things?!” he exclaimed out of disgust.
“Forget the mugs, does he ever even clean this place?” Smolder commented harshly when she looked around the dirty and messy rooms.
Gallus frowned when he saw her reaction. He really didn’t want her to be uncomfortable in a messy environment. Especially since this is her first time visiting.
“We should leave. It’s clear that he’s not home.” Gallus said abruptly as he immediately turned around and headed for the door. “You’ve seen everything—“
“Wait a minute!” Smolder shouted. She rummaged through the things and found a picture of a certain blue griffon with yellow ends on the feathers on his head.
“Awww, is this you?” Smolder giggled as he showed Gallus the picture.
Gallus’s cheeks flushed bright pink as his feathers ruffled out of raw embarrassment. He immediately grabbed the picture from Smolder’s claws and threw it out through the door. The picture landed softly on the snow, but it made a little crack at the corner of the glass.
“A bit extreme, huh?” Smolder smiled, clearly very amused.
Gallus took a moment to register what he just did. He glanced at Smolder over his shoulder. “Maybe,” he muttered.
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad,” Smolder chuckled when she flew outside and grabbed the portrait from the snow.
“It’s… not?” Gallus asked hesitantly when he glanced down at the picture.
“Nope. At least someone took the time to take a picture of you as an infant,” Smolder told him when she gave him the portrait.
Gallus glanced down at the portrait he had in his claws, then back at Smolder with a thoughtful expression.
Smolder smirked at him before her eyes glanced at the side. She saw a cart that sold pies and muffins next to a few of the nests. There was a line, yes, but that didn’t bother Smolder.
“Finally! I’m starving!” Smolder exclaimed as she raced to the cart and waited in line.
Gallus watched her go with the same thoughtful expression. His gaze shifted back onto the baby portrait of himself. He walked back to the house while still looking down at it. He placed the portrait back to where Smolder had found it.
His mind was racing with questions now as he walked away from the spot. Why did Grandpa Gruff of all griffons have a picture of him as a baby? It made no sense.
He shrugged it off once again. He probably kept it so he could find something to mock Gallus about whenever he got bored. It wouldn’t surprise him if that was the case.
Smolder and Gallus waited in line outside the bakery cart.
While they waited, Gallus was evaluating their visit so far. He was impressed that, aside from Everest, none of the griffons acted passive-aggressive towards him or Smolder, which was something he didn’t expect. He thought that not saying at least one harsh retort would be impossible. But then again, it was the Blue Moon Festival.
However, what he just evaluated meant nothing when a brown-feathered griffon in front of Gallus lightly shoved another brown-feathered griffon, but with a white chest and tail.
“Excuse you!” the white-chest griffon shouted. “I was trying to order!”
“Order? Seems like you’ve been staring at the menu all day as if everyone behind you has an abundance of time. Hurry up!” the brown-feathered griffon shouted back, his green eyes narrowed in anger.
“I may be slow, but that gives you no excuse to shove me like that!” the white-griffon spat.
“I’ll shove you out of this line if you don’t order in five seconds,” the brown-feathered griffon threatened as he stared down at her.
The two griffons seemed like they were ready to physically fight each other until a beige-colored griffon shouted from behind the stunned Gallus and Smolder.
“Amaya! Havard! You need to stop! Have you forgotten what today is?” the griffon chided.
Havard smirked at the beige-feathered griffon. “Oh, you don’t understand, Mordecai. This is personal,” he snickered before turning back to Amaya and slashed her face with his sharp claws. Amaya screeched in pain but retaliated by lunging at him and digging her claws deep into his shoulders. A light stream of blood seemed to trickle down from his skin as Amaya kept her claws dug in his skin.
Gallus and Smolder and the other Griffons watched the fight, completely stunned.
“What’s going on with those two?!” Smolder demanded Gallus.
“I-I don’t know!” Gallus responded quickly. He had seen the rivalry between Amaya and Havard, but they usually kept their claws to themselves. But never in his life would he ever think they would fight over the wait times, and especially not on Blue Moon Festival of all days!
Gallus looked nervously at Smolder. He felt really embarrassed that she was witnessing this. The last thing he wanted was for Smolder to get the wrong idea that Griffons didn’t take the holiday seriously.
Gallus noticed that Mordecai was watching the scene like a deer in front of a flashlight.
“Mordecai! Do something!” Gallus commanded the scared griffon.
Mordecai quickly gazed at Gallus. “What do I do? I haven’t witnessed a fight this bad!” she blurted out.
“I have!” a female voice popped in as another griffon jumped into the scene and got between the griffons. She got clawed in the process and had some of her brown-feathers torn off; but by that time, the two fighters had gotten worn down and couldn’t even try to avoid the the newcomer’s presence. The griffon’s white-feathered looked back and forth at the two, her golden-yellow eyes blazing with anger.
“What is wrong with the two of you?!” Gilda shouted at the two tired griffons. Each of them were bleeding from the claw marks that were slashed onto their skin. Amaya received a black eye and Havard’s feathers that were on his right shoulder were torn off, exposing bare skin.
“It’s not my fault she takes an eternity in line!” Havard screeched as he glared at Amaya, who glared back at him.
Gilda gave Havard a dumbfounded look. She rolled her eyes and covered her face with her claw. “That’s what the fight was about? It’s the Blue Moon Festival and you break the tradition because of your impatience?!” Gilda scolded Havard as if he were a child.
“Well… I-I-I mean, I can’t hold it in for so long—“
“Can’t you go one day without acting stupid? Is that even possible?” Gilda scowled at him as she gave him a glare that was as sharp as a knife.
While Gilda was scolding the griffon, Smolder nudged Gallus. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t feel hungry,” Smolder whispered to him before she flew away.
Gallus watched her fly away with a heavy heart. She was probably starting to get weirded out by now because of the griffons of his hometown. I mean, some couldn’t even hold up to the tradition because of something so small and so stupid stupid; specifically cases like Amaya and Harvard’s.
Gallus glared at Havard and Amaya before taking off and following Smolder.
So far, things were not going as Gallus had planned. Especially with the griffons fighting—and physically too—on this special holiday. What would Grandpa Gruff think?
Speaking of that… where is he? Gallus now began to wonder. He hadn’t seen any signs of the elderly griffon at all during the visit, and he help but start to feel a little concerned. But, like before, he simply shrugged it off. He figured that he would be fine as always. Besides, he was in no mood for his condescending words if he were ever found. Especially with Smolder around.
That was when an idea popped into his head. He felt a little stupid that he hadn’t thought of this before until now. His lips curled into a smile as he flew a little faster.
“Smolder! Wait!” Gallus called to her as she sat down on one of the tallest houses in the town.
“What is it?” Smolder turned around to face Gallus when he sat down next to her.
“I got an idea of where we can visit next.” Gallus explained. “It’s very beautiful, and I always feel better whenever I visit the place, and… hopefully it will make you feel better too”
Smolder blinked. “Huh? Gallus, I’m fine—“
“If you’re willing!” Gallus finished abruptly.
There was a long silence. The two just stared at each other. Then Gallus sighed.
“I’m sorry if you’re not enjoying your time here. I just wanted to impress you, and seeing how you reacted when you saw the fight, I feel bad for it,” he told her before avoiding eye contact.
“Why would you feel bad? I was the one that invited myself to Griffonstone so I can be with you. Besides, you weren’t involved in the fight, anyways. Why would it be your fault?” Smolder asked.
“Because I didn’t want you to think that those griffons represented me.” Gallus told her. “We take the holiday very seriously, and seeing those two break the holiday tradition and fight over the wait-times, it represents a bad part of us that I didn’t want you to see. I didn’t want you to think that I was like those two.
“That was why I was so nervous when you invited yourself to Griffonstone. I mean, I didn’t expect a full-on fight to occur, obviously. But due to their concealed attitudes, and the way griffons like Everest treat you, I feel like it’s making you unwelcome, and that’s the last thing that I want.
“I just wanted to impress you, and I failed,” He finished with a sigh.
It took a moment for Smolder to register what Gallus had just said to her. She gave him a soft smile as she patted him on the back.
“Gallus, what are you talking about? I don’t feel unwelcome here,” Smolder told him. “In fact, I’m enjoying my time here because I’m with you.”
Gallus’s eyes widened. “Really? But why did you leave the line saying that you were not hungry? Didn’t you say that you were starving just moments ago?”
“That wasn’t because of the fight,” Smolder explained to him. “It was because I looked at the menu very clearly. All the food they had didn’t sound very appetizing to me, so that was why I left.”
“Really? You weren’t intimidated by the fight at all? Even during the holiday?”
“Gallus, you’re acting as if I never witnessed a fight before.” Smolder chuckled. “I was stunned by the sudden act of violence, yes, but it wasn’t enough to completely ‘intimidate’ me.”
“Oh,” Gallus rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I guess that was a stupid assumption, wasn’t it?”
Smolder chuckled softly. “Maybe, but I do appreciate you caring about how I feel. That was really sweet.”
Gallus blushed as he chuckled awkwardly. “I mean, of course I care about you, Smolder. I-I-I just didn’t expect something like this to…”
Smolder sighed in amusement. “Come on, let’s go to this place that you were telling me about before your face is as pink as cotton candy.”
Gallus chuckled nervously as he got back onto his feet. “Oh, yes, right. Of course,” he cleared his throat.
Gallus and Smolder flew down behind Griffonstone’s mountain after they had their talk. There was a hole inside the mountain, leaving enough room to get inside.
“It’s a little dark in here,” Smolder commented as they walked in.
“It won’t be for long,” Gallus smirked.
They turned ‘round the corner, and Smolder’s eyes widened when she saw the beautiful, shiny gems that were embedded in the cave’s walls. There were some torches that were lit up on the wall, revealing the gems.
“Wow, this is cool!” Smolder exclaimed when she got a closer look at the gems. “They’re so shiny! Am I allowed to eat them?” she asked excitedly.
“Hold on a moment,” Gallus observed the torches that were lit. “These torches are never lit whenever I come down here.”
“What does that mean?” Smolder questioned when she also gazed at the torches.
“I don’t know. Maybe we’re not the only ones down here—“
“Gallus, is that you blabbering in there?” an old, agitated voice echoed throughout the cave.
Gallus immediately recognized the voice, and he didn’t know whether to feel relieved or worried. The two creatures saw Grandpa Gruff walk out of the shadows of the cave. He was holding a shiny emerald in his claws. He glared down at Gallus.
“You’ve arrived at the worst time, sonny,” The elder grumbled. “You weren’t supposed to be here, and who’s this?” He cast a look at Smolder.
“That’s Smolder, Grandpa Gruff. She’s just visiting for the holidays.” Gallus explained. He felt he would be a little defensive if Grandpa Gruff ever criticized her.
But Grandpa Gruff just shrugged. “Whatever. I don’t care. I still don’t want you to be here.” he said while pointing at Gallus with the emerald in his claws. He realized his mistake and quickly put it behind his shoulder.
“What is that? An emerald?” Gallus narrowed his eyes. “What are you hiding?”
Grandpa Gruff grumbled some more until he shoved the emerald at Gallus. “Fine! Yes, it’s a stupid emerald. It was meant to be a “you’re kinda tolerable now” gift for the Blue Moon Festival. Of course you had to ruin it, along with your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girl— wait. A gift? For who, me?” Gallus looked at Grandpa Gruff in a confused manner, and so did Smolder. “But you never give gifts to anyone.”
“And I never will again once this is over!” Grandpa Gruff squawked. “But… yes, it’s a gift. It’ll be the only time you’ll ever receive one from me, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Gallus and Smolder inspected the emerald. The emerald was beautiful and seemed like it was cleaned from the dirt and rubble.
Gallus looked at Grandpa Gruff again. “Why?”
For once, Grandpa Gruff was silent. He tapped his claw on the ground until he finally spoke. “It’s… more like an appreciation gift for… ugh. I hate to say this. How far you’ve come in your life.” he shuddered when he said the words. “I hate getting mushy like this.”
“What do you mean ‘how far I’ve come?’” Gallus tilted his head to the side.
“What I mean is,” Grandpa Gruff rolled his eyes. “I was… ugh, impressed by how you helped defeat those three good-for-nothing villains. So this was a gift to express how I’m impressed I am; because you’re usually a pathetic failure.” he grumbled.
“I was originally going to give you a rock as your gift when I casually eavesdropped on Gabby. She blabbered on about gems and this gal named ‘Rarity’, or whatever her name was. I think she noticed me eavesdropping, so I kept avoiding her the entire day so she wouldn’t pester me as to why I listened to her conversation.”
“That does explain what Gabby said,” Smolder noted as she listened to the story. “But what about that picture of you as an infant?”
“You went into my house?!” Grandpa Gruff looked angrily at the two creatures. “You can’t just barge into anyone’s house! That’s my thing!”
“We were looking for you,” Gallus explained, waving his claws to calm him down. “And yeah, why do you have a picture of me as an infant? Is it to reflect on how much I’ve grown since that stage?”
“Oh, I kept it so I could find something to laugh at.” Grandpa Gruff snickered.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Gallus sighed.
The three creatures walked out of the cave and stared at the beautiful night sky. The full-moon was bright and its moonlight reflected off of the mountain.
Grandpa Gruff sighed before glancing at Gallus again. “Everything was all well and good until you came in, but I won’t berate you as usual. Count yourself lucky!” he said before flapping his wings and flew back up to Griffonstone.
Gallus and Smolder watched him go.
“He sure is an interesting Griffon,” Smolder whispered to Gallus, in case Grandpa Gruff could somehow hear them.
“Yeah, he is,” Gallus smirked.
He and Smolder looked up at the moon again. They sat next to each other as they gazed in awe at the scenery.
“This was an interesting night,” Smolder said as she stared at the moon.
“Maybe, but at least I got to spend it with you,” Gallus said as he smiled at her.
“Yeah? Well, wait until you come to the Dragonlands for the holidays. You haven’t seen nothin’ yet,” Smolder said, looking rather smug. “You thought Grandpa Gruff was bad? He’s a softie compared to some of the dragons there.”
Gallus chuckled as his gaze shifted back to the bright and beautiful moon.
“Alright, bet.”
The two sat together and stared at the sky for the rest of the night, and they enjoyed every second of it.