• Published 6th Mar 2019
  • 3,736 Views, 153 Comments

Freeing Gallus - CrackedInkWell



In the eyes of Griffonstone, Gallus isn't considered an adult as he has no one by blood or marriage to perform a coming of age ritual. Sandbar comes up with a loophole to free his friend, he'll simply marry him. At least, temporarily.

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Chapter 3: Dinner with a Princess

“Between you and me,” Gallus commented, “I’m surprised that you got your parents on board with this so quickly.”

“Yeah…” Sandbar nodded. The two friends were a few steps behind the earth pony’s parents who were chatting away, bouncing ideas off one another on their way towards dinner. Knowing what was available in town and his parent’s tastes, he had suggested a place called the Foxhouse Kitchen. One of those hole-in-the-wall places that, although of small size, provided very good food. In Sandbar’s mind, it was a stroke of brilliance. It accommodated to both his parent’s attitude of eating what’s locally around and Gallus’s taste in seafood.

“So…” the griffon began to break the awkward silence between them. “Did you invite the Headmare over?”

“Huh?” Sandbar snapped back into reality and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. She knows and she’s excited about both meeting my folks and the food. But at the same time, I didn’t exactly tell her my real reason for bringing her along.”

“I was gonna ask you about that.” Gallus raised an eyebrow. “So why the Headmare?”

“Well… I mean Ocellus said that for this to work we need somepony important like a city-official or a member of the Royal Family. Since she’s a real Princess I thought, ‘Hey, if there’s anypony that would most likely willingly to officiate the marriage, it’s her.’ Besides, if we explain to her about your situation, I’d bet it might give us some extra credit for going the extra mile in our friendship.”

“Ah, good thinking!” he chuckled. “But… yeah… I won’t lie to ya dude, to have you actually do this for me… It’s amazing. You should earn a medal for this.”

Sandbar chuckled. “Yeah, like a ‘Best Bro of the Year.’”

“No kidding! One more step closer to freedom, and there’s nothing, not even stick-in-the-mud Grampa Gruff could do a bucking thing about it.”

“Yeah…,” his green friend nodded. “Still… Gallus, can I ask you a very personal question?”

“What?”

“Well… if you don’t mind of me asking this, what are you into? Like do you prefer—girls, guys, or what?”

The blue griffon went quiet but continued to walk behind Sandbar’s parents. His eyes were turned away from the pony’s to focus on the snow on the rooftops. Finally, Gallus inquired with a “Why do you ask?”

“Partly because for the obvious fact that we’re gonna get hitched soon and partly because… well… you’re pretty much a mystery to us, dude. I mean, none of us had a clue that you didn’t have a family until Hearth’s Warming Eve. Despite any of us getting to know you for the past couple of months, I feel like there’s much more to you then meets the eye.”

“To be fair, I know I have been keeping things to myself.” Gallus shook his wings to warm himself up. “I’m not used to having others pry into my problems before.”

“Okay but you still haven’t answered my question.”

He shrugged. “I dunno.”

Sandbar blinked. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I-I don’t know. When you’re untouchable, you can’t really pursue a girlfriend. Not to mention that Griffonstone isn’t exactly the haven for gays either. So, I can’t exactly know who I like when practically everygriff avoids me.”

“Oh, that makes sense…” Sandbar nodded.

“And you?”

“Huh? What do you mean, like what I’m attracted to?”

“No, I was asking if we should buy a couch—yes that’s what I’m talking about, Sherlock.”

“Oh… Well… Between you and me, it’s kinda… complicated.”

Gallus raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“It’s… how do I explain this…?” the young stallion asked himself. “My family, as you can see, are pretty open-minded on most things. You could say that they’re kinda like hippies but with a brain. They’re pretty much open minded to most things except when it’s illegal. I mean, to be honest, I thought the deal breaker would be because that neither of us is twenty-one yet. But when it comes to what I might be attracted to, they gave the impression that I would figure things out for my own.”

“Let me guess,” his friend deadpanned, “you don’t know either.”

“Quite the opposite.” He gave a nervous chuckle. “I think I tend to be drawn towards personality than anything else. I suppose with me, it doesn’t exactly matter what they are, just that it’s better than I got to know and have a connection with. You know what I mean?”

Gallus paused in the middle of the snow. “So where do I fit in all of this?”

Sandbar looked around for a moment (especially at his parents who were unknowingly were walking further away from them). “I’m going to be honest with you, Gallus. While I don’t know if I consider myself gay, but if there’s anyone that I would be with, it would be you.”

It was a statement that was so unexpected that the young griffon felt compelled to try to catch up to Sandbar’s parents to spare the surprise blush on his cheeks.

The family plus a griffon made their way through the streets and into the doors of the Café. When they entered, it was busy with ponies having loud conversations and clanking of silverware against plates. There were only a few tables to spare and the bar area where the chefs cook in the open were full. Sandbar followed his parent’s gaze around of the decor of having a farm theme but spotting a fox motif that seemed to stare at the customers from the walls in seemingly at random places. Here an antique plate of China, there a baking tin, on that wall a ticking clock and on the other a calendar that shows the face of the orange furry creature.

But the aromas that greeted them, of brown butter, garlic, baked bread, cinnamon, and apples seemed to welcome each of their senses to stay, take a seat and see what they have to offer.

“I see our Headmare.” Gallus pointed towards the back of the crowded space where a purple alicorn sat, her back against them with only a glass of water and a menu to keep her company.

Sandbar’s parents took a couple steps towards Twilight, but Sandbar darted in front of them. “Mom, Dad, before you say anything to our Headmare, do you think that I and Gallus could at least talk to her a little bit?”

Autumn tilted his head. “I guess you can, but why?”

“I think it would be best to us explain the situation before anything could happen.”

His father turned to Spring, and with a knowing smile, she nodded. “Do you want to be left alone with her?”

After thinking for a minute, Sandbar decided that his family didn’t have to go anywhere as long as he and Gallus got to talk first. So, side by side, the pony and the griffon approached their alicorn Headmare. “Professor?” Gallus was the first to get her attention.

“There you guys are. I was beginning to wonder what was taking you.”

“Huh?” Sandbar tilted his head.

“Well you said that you want to have me to meet with your parents at seven, and it’s a good ten minutes after.” She got up from her seat and offer a hoof to the other ponies. “You must be Sandbar’s mother and father?”

“That’ll be us, Your Highness,” Spring said as she shook her hoof.

“Please, just Twilight is enough. So, you don’t have to call me ‘Princess’ every five seconds.”

“A fair point.” Autumn nodded while shaking her hoof. “Still, you’re here for a very special occasion.”

“Oh?” Twilight tilted her head. “And what’s that?”

While the family took their seats, with Sandbar and Gallus taking theirs between their Headmare, Sandbar started. “Well, you see Professor, we were hoping to ask a… very, big, favor from us.”

Twilight sat back down. “What do you mean?”

“Okay, before any of us go any further.” Gallus raised a claw. “I want you to promise us that you’ll at least hear us out. Because it’s… really important to me.”

She gave her word that she would. “Although if you’re asking me to make either of you into alicorns then I’m afraid that I can’t really do much of anything there.”

“No.” Sandbar shook his head. “It’s not that at all, I promise.”

“Do you want me to explain it or do you care to do the honors?” Gallus inquired. Sandbar told him to go ahead. Thus, the griffon explained to Twilight of his real position as an orphan in Griffonstone, of how that he wouldn’t be considered as an adult until he underwent a coming of age ceremony that could only be done under certain circumstances.

“I’m very sorry to hear that.” Twilight patted his back sympathetically. “Still, what does this have to do with having Sandbar’s parents being here?”

“About that…” the young stallion rubbed the back of his neck. “I uh… figured out a loophole. I’ve already talked to my friends earlier about it and they said that as long as my parents give their permission, that I can set Gallus free legally.”

“And what course of action would that be?”

Both griffon and pony looked at one another where at once, they said in unison, “We want you to marry us.”

Their Headmare’s wings sprang open as her face contorted in surprise. “What—really!?”

“At least temporary,” Gallus immediately added in. “We just need a legitimate reason for me to undergo the ritual so that I can get out of Griffonstone. But after that, I swear that we’ll separate once everything is said and done.”

“I know we’re asking a lot from you.” Sandbar pleaded. “But the fact is that we can’t wait until we’re old enough. If we did that, by the time that happens we’ll be out of your school and it’ll be too late to get him out. I promise, we won’t take advantage of this, just let us get married for a while and then undo it like it never happened.”

For a moment, Twilight looked between the two boys before turning to the parents. “Is this true?” They told her that it was legitimate. Upon hearing this, she opened her wings and wrapped it around both of them in a hug. “This is the greatest act of sacrifice, selflessness, and kindness that I’ve seen in a while. I will be honored to officiate the wedding, just say when and how, and I’ll make it happen.”

“Great!” Sandbar’s mother smiled broadly. “Now we got that out of the way, let’s get down to business!”


An appetizer of bread and soup, several entrees, three types of desserts and several cups later, the two students, parents, and Princess all came to an agreement. Although there was still much left to discuss, they all planned out the when and where the wedding will occur. The time would be the first day of Spring at noon. The place would be in the at the Castle of the Two Sisters (something that the colts were insistent on).

The only thing that Gallus insisted on above everything else, was that this should be kept a total secret from everyone in Griffonstone, especially from Grandpa Gruff. He insisted that if this was to work, absolutely no one from there should know. Otherwise, he might be sent back home before any of them could do anything about it.

They agreed.

“I’ll make a note of that,” Twilight told them. “With that, I promise that when I do have to report to Grandpa Gruff, I’ll keep that important detail out of it until after the fact. By then, he or any other griffon can’t do a thing about it.”

“You know Professor,” Gallus said, “I really appreciate hearing that you’re willing to stick your neck out for me.”

“It’s nothing,” she said with a wave of a hoof. “This would be the second time I would be doing something like this.”

The whole table went quiet for a moment. Sandbar raised a hoof. “What do you mean, ‘second time?’”

“Well to make a very long and complicated story short,” she replied, “this technically won’t be my first time to not only officiate a couple that are both males but one that happens to be both a pony and a griffon too. However, the only difference would be your unique circumstance.”

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!” Gallus waved his arms. “You mean that this type of thing has already happened before?”

“If you’re referring to a stallion and a male griffon getting married, then yes. In fact, they’re still together and their house is here in Ponyville.”

“Well, this is news to me.”

“Same here.” Sandbar agreed.

“Ah, I see,” Twilight nodded. “In fact, I’ve heard that there might be a possibility for one of them to come to teach out our school in the near future. Although I can’t say if this will happen or not given how busy they can be. But we’ll see what happens.”

Once the meal was concluded and Sandbar’s parents decided to go find a hotel, the students returned to their rooms back at the school. That night the young griffon sat in contemplation. With his thoughts of the future ahead of him, his curiosity was piqued. Who was the couple that Twilight was talking about? What would they say about all of this?

It would be nice for once to actually meet a fellow griff here,’ Gallus thought. ‘Hopefully, whoever the guy is, he might be a little more open minded than anyone back home.