Episode 22: "Gales of Griffonstone"
…
…
It was a well known fact by now that Griffonstone was not like other kingdoms throughout the world. And so it was that, while all the other kingdoms were on high alert as the advances of Grogar's forces seemed to become endless, the griffons didn't do anything. For them it seemed to be life as usual, complaining and moaning about the world around them. They were too stubborn and prideful to accept help from others in rebuilding their once proud heritage.
And so it was that another average day in Griffonstone unfolded with Gilda doing what she'd been doing for a long time. "Griffon scones, get your griffon scones here. Whoop-de-doo," Gilda remarked as she went about her business attempting to sell the baked goodies. "Not that anygriff really cares about 'em."
As the griffons walked by, Gilda anticipated not getting enough customers. To her, she was used to it.
"All right, Missy, what are you doing?" A familiar old griffon with one eye croaked out as he landed by Gilda's cart. "Selling this trash again, aren't you?"
"Ya think?" Gilda sneered. "It's all I do unless Rainbow Dash is here visiting with that Pinkie Pie. A griffon's gotta make a living."
"Ahh, don't even bother with your friends' thoughts," The old griffon bitterly snapped. "They have more important things to do than visit this trash heap! If they'd really cared they would've come back by now like you said they would."
As she listened, Gilda couldn't help but feel bad for the times she had treated Rainbow Dash's friends so poorly. Now more than ever with the fact that Equestria was at war. It felt to her like that was enough to warrant that the behaviors around Griffonstone needed to change for the better.
Just then, however, Gilda looked up and saw rotating clouds beginning to circle around the village center! Immediately, Gilda felt her survival instincts start to kick in! "Grandpa Gruff, look up there!" She shouted, directing him to point up to the darkening sky. "Do you see that?!"
"Ahh, it's probably another windstorm!" Grandpa Gruff huffed. "Do as you always do, ya…"
But suddenly, there was a flash of lightning followed by a loud bang of thunder! Gilda began to get a bad feeling that something was about to happen. And she was right, the winds grew stronger and the clouds began to spin around as well! "Time to bail!" Gilda screamed as she prepared to leave her spot just as a tornado began to come on down towards the ground!
"Scared of a little wind, chicken?" Grandpa Gruff sneered, looking over at the fleeing Gilda. "It'll pass just like this…" But just as he prepared to finish speaking, the twister expanded and all Grandpa Gruff could do was attempt to flee, but it was too late! A massive tornado was bearing down on Griffonstone, and the old griffon was caught out in the open!
…
…
Running away and taking shelter in the basement of her home, Gilda understood right away that this was no ordinary windstorm! "Griffonstone doesn't get tornadoes!" She said repeatedly to herself. Suddenly, she heard a loud crashing noise followed by the sounds of snapping wood and branches! Then as quickly as it began, it ended, with darkness followed by a tense silence.
The storm was over.
"Is it over?" Gilda asked herself, taking a match and lighting a lantern with it. "It's gotta be over." Slowly taking the lantern into one of her talons, the young griffon slowly climbed up the stairs of her basement and found that at the top of the basement stairs only her door was left standing. The shock of what just happened sent a chill down her spine. Her house was gone and the cloudless blue sky hung overhead.
"No way!" Gilda gasped! "No way!"
Stepping through the door, Gilda was shocked to discover that not only her house was gone, but all the other structures in Griffonstone. Buildings had been ripped from their foundation and the sounds of screams could be heard from beneath the rubble. "Grandpa Gruff?" She called, but got no answer. "Anygriff?"
A sickening feeling befell Gilda's stomach at what just happened. Griffonstone, her home, had been completely destroyed. "It's gone," She cried. "It's really gone!" Just then, she heard a loud cry coming from one of the destroyed buildings and immediately flew over to investigate.
"Anygriff up there?" A frightened voice cried. "Help me!"
Immediately, Gilda recognized the voice's owner. "Gabby?! Is that you?!" Gilda shouted as she began to dig through the rubble of Gabby's home with her own strength. "Can you hear me, pipsqueak?"
"I'm trapped in here!" Gabby called. "Help me, Gilda!"
Try as she might though, Gilda found herself unable to lift anymore debris. "Gabby," She panted. "I...I can't do this alone! There's too much debris!"
"Get somegriff to help us!" Gabby cried, but there was no one else around. "Please!"
A look of fright befell Gilda's face both for the fear of her fellow griffon trapped under the rubble, and the fact that Griffonstone was completely leveled. There was nothing that Gilda could do at that moment. She couldn't save Gabby or anygriff by herself.
…
Meanwhile, Gallus had been pulled out of one of his classes and was brought down to Starlight's office. Just then, he discovered that he was not the only one. "Icarus? What are you doing here?" Gallus asked with a confused look on his face. "You got in trouble again?"
"No, not quite cuz," Icarus answered while sitting down next to his cousin. "Right in the middle of Professor Spitfire's gym class, I was pulled aside and told to come straight to the office."
"Really? What were you doing?" Gallus questioned.
Icarus shuddered briefly as he replied. "The Dizzitron."
"Interesting, that's only only for winged flyers though, right?" Gallus remarked. "I wasn't really interested in Professor Styigan's class, anyway. I'm glad I got pulled out of it."
Icarus couldn't help but question. "What were you doing?"
Gallus bluntly remarked. "Poetry." And then both griffons groaned at the prospect of learning the art form.
Just then, the door opened and Starlight peaked out from behind her office door. "Hey guys, come on in," She called, beckoning the two griffons to come inside. Once inside, they saw Sunburst, Trixie, Celestia and Luna all standing around Starlight's desk.
"Um, what's going on here?" Gallus nervously asked, suddenly fearing he had done something wrong. "In fact, what are you all doing here?"
"There's something we need to...to tell you both," Sunburst sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "It's about Griffonstone."
"You brought us here for that?" Icarus remarked, but Gallus could see that it was a serious matter and nudged his cousin on the side.
"Ixnay, Icarus," Gallus grunted before turning to the four ponies standing in front of him. "What's really going on here? If we didn't get pulled out of class…"
"We pulled you out of class for your ears only," Trixie said, much to the griffon's confusion. "It means we have something important that only you need to hear. And it concerns Griffonstone."
Still the griffons were confused.
"Let me explain it like this," Starlight said, silencing Trixie. "There was a confirmed tornado in Griffonstone yesterday. A pretty bad one."
Both Gallus and Icarus were shocked by the news, their eyes widened with disbelief at what just happened!
"A tornado?" Gallus cried, his claws moving to his face in horror. "Is anygriff hurt?! What about my parents' grave?! Well, my mother's mostly…"
"They are still assessing the damage, Gallus," Luna somberly informed him. "But we didn't want to start a panic because…"
"Because you wanted to tell us, is that right?" Gallus sighed, looking back at Luna with a bitter expression on his face. All the older ponies realized that Gallus was an orphan, but they had every reason to be mindful of the damage Griffonstone had sustained.
"The tornado was no accident, was it? Who caused it?!" Gallus angrily demanded! "Was it one of Grogar's goons?! Is that what you wanted to tell us?"
"We aren't sure, Gallus," Celestia replied. "Details are still sketchy, there aren't many witnesses willing to testify at the moment, and most of the work is going into looking for any survivors trapped in the wreckage. But I can assure you both that Princess Twilight and the other princesses are doing everything in their power to find out what happened. Emergency aid to Griffonstone has already been approved."
"It was Arabus, wasn't it?" Gallus replied. "That rotating dude with the green forehead?! I heard about him once, how he had the power of wind and storms. Griffonstone's never had tornadoes, especially not ones that spin up out of nowhere."
Immediately, all Gallus cared about was finding out the truth. Had Arabus or some other sinister power been responsible? Was it a not so cleverly disguised attack on Griffonstone? Or was it really just a natural disaster, perhaps caused by some malfunction at the weather factory?
"Now Gallus," Starlight cautioned, sensing that Gallus was about to revert back to an old habit. "This isn't going to make you think about…?"
"No," Gallus firmly answered, looking away from the administration and his closest teachers. "No, it won't."
"Are you sure about that?" Trixie asked. "Because Trixie doesn't believe that…"
"No, you don't have to worry about a thing," Gallus firmly insisted. "You all don't. I don't plan to join the Equestrian forces at all because of this. Even if this was an attack, it's one Griffonstone never saw coming. It never stood a chance."
At that moment, Gallus turned and prepared to leave the office.
"Gallus!" Starlight firmly called. "I have not dismissed you yet."
"I'm aware of that," The young griffon replied.. "But I know there's something else I can do to contribute to what just happened."
"And what's that?" Celestia asked.
"I want to go to Griffonstone and help anygriff out," Gallus declared. "And don't any of you think about stopping me from thinking otherwise! After the day is done, I leave for Griffonstone. No ifs, ands or buts about it."
The sounds of firmness in Gallus' voice made all the adult ponies quiver in slight fear. Even Icarus was taken aback. "Cuz, maybe we should wait until they say it's okay," He cautioned. "Let the grown-ups handle this in case it's still really bad."
But Gallus said nothing, the look in his eyes confirming his intentions to make his longstanding contribution to the war against Grogar.
"Very well, Gallus," Starlight reluctantly sighed upon sensing the griffon wouldn't be deterred. She promptly sat back down at her desk. "You can go to Griffonstone to help out, but you will not be going alone."
"I didn't plan on going alone anyway." Gallus firmly (and somewhat aggressively) replied.
"I'll go with you, Gallus," Luna offered, stepping forward. "And if you like, I can try to persuade some of your other friends to join you."
"Please do, Professor Luna," Gallus added. "My friends will not deny helping me in any way."
"In that case," Starlight sighed. "You and Icarus can go back to class now. Professor Luna will meet you at the Castle of Friendship after the day ends for your departure to Griffonstone."
Bowing his head in acknowledgement and respect, Gallus left the office with Icarus in tow, determined to carry out what he felt he needed to do to help his homeland.
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…
When the school day ended, Gallus waited in the lobby with Icarus. All he could think about was what he was going to see in Griffonstone.
"Cuz, you've been pacing back and forth for the past ten minutes," Icarus pleaded. "Give it a rest."
"I can't," Gallus replied. "I can't stop pacing until I know if anygriff is still alive. That wind demon caused this somehow, I know it."
Icarus was not so sure. "It could be just a natural disaster as far as I am concerned."
Gallus ignored his cousin's remark.
Still, Icarus persisted. "Come on, cuz. Maybe it's not as bad as you think, it's been a day at least. There should've been time for help to arrive. Besides, we aren't going into this alone."
At that moment, the sounds of hoofbeats approached the two griffons as Luna approached with Silverstream, Ocellus, Sandbar, Yona and Smolder all in tow.
"Thanks for coming guys," Gallus gratefully greeted. "There's no time to lose!"
"Remember to stay together," Luna advised, opening her wings. "Who knows what we might find in Griffonstone?"
The doors opened and Luna, Smolder, Silverstream, and the two griffons took to the air. Ocellus took on the roll of a bugbear and carried Sandbar and Yona in her claws.
During the journey over, Silverstream kept a close eye on her boyfriend, his eyes still showing fear and anxiety. "Gallus, how are you feeling?" She nervously asked, not wanting to risk upsetting him any further.
"Better now that you guys are with me," Gallus slowly and reluctantly answered. "But I can't shake the feeling that this was no random storm. That Griffonstone was targeted knowing that the griffons couldn't fight back. And part of me thinks that maybe what my dad attempted to do was really a lost cause all along," He then saw that he was caressing his dad's ego and quickly corrected himself. "What am I saying, Silverstream? Forget what I just said, all right?"
Gallus then had another thought come into his mind. "I'm more concerned with saving anygriff who survived and checking on my mom's grave."
"What about your…?" Silverstream questioned.
"Whatever happened to his grave isn't important to me!" Gallus cried! "I'll still...never forget what he did."
Silverstream remembered very well how Gallus confessed his father's actions had brought Gallus, her and their friends together.
"We should be nearing Griffonstone, students!" Luna called out as they all flew over the rocky terrain boarding Griffonstone. "I can see smoke and rubble now! Be careful!"
Gallus took a deep breath, anxious about what he would be seeing just up ahead.
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…
Meanwhile, Gilda continued to struggle with getting Gabby out of her destroyed home. Despite the fact she had managed to pull up a good deal of debris, she found could not get anymore out. All her strength had been used up.
"Gilda, are you still there?" Gabby weakly cried in fear.
"Pipsqueak," Gilda gasped, collapsing forward from exhaustion. "I can...I can't free you, there's too much debris. I need help and there's no griff around!"
From underneath the debris, Gabby's eye began to well up with tears. "I'm scared, Gilda!" She bawled. "Where's Grandpa Gruff? Is he with you?"
Breathing heavily, Gilda collapsed couldn't help but feel afraid of how to explain to Gabby of all griffons about what had happened to Grandpa Gruff. She hadn't seen him where she had last remembered seeing him, which could mean only one thing to her.
"Gilda... is he?" Gabby asked, fearing the worst.
"He's...he's not here," Gilda weakly sighed. "He's not here, doofus. He's gone, forever." For the first time in a long time, Gilda felt her tough nature start to slowly leave her body. Her futile efforts to free her fellow griffon all but evaporated what will she had to keep going. The sun was starting to go down and time was running out for Gabby.
Gilda feared the worst, that Gabby would not survive and she would have lost the only other griffon in Griffonstone willing to talk to her.
At the same time, Gallus and his friends arrived at the outskirts of Griffonstone and were mortified to see the entire kingdom reduced to rubble. All but a few structures no longer standing, and even those that were standing looked badly battered and in danger of possible collapse.
"Stay close as we land, young ones," Luna cautioned as she landed on the rough surface. "There's debris everywhere, don't touch anything!"
"Wow, look at this place!" Smolder gasped! "It's gone!"
"Do you think anyone survived?" Ocellus asked in a worried voice. "It doesn't look like it to me, but for once I hope I'm wrong."
Tapping into her alicorn powers, Luna activated her Royal Canterlot Voice in an effort to attract attention. "IS ANYONE ALIVE OUT HERE?!" She called, her voice echoing through the canyons. "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?! IS ANYONE ALIVE OUT HERE?!"
But all the group got was silence.
"HELLO!" Gallus frantically shouted as he took to the air. "Is anygriff alive?! Can you hear me?! Hello?!" But he got nothing but silence. There was no response, no voice of a griffon crying out in fear. Had they all perished? Were he and Icarus the only griffons still alive?
"Professor Luna, maybe we should split up," Sandbar suggested. "There's got to be somegriff around here to rescue, right? Maybe they're too far away to hear us?"
Luna stood in thought. She didn't want to risk her students being put in harm's way. She activated her Royal Canterlot Voice again. "HELLO! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?! PLEASE SPEAK UP IF YOU ARE ABLE!" Still, there came no replies.
"We might as well face it, young creatures," Luna sighed. "There may regretfully not be any survivors."
"I don't believe it, Professor Luna," Ocellus cried. "Maybe there are griffons still under the debris. I can try and lift up the rubble by transforming and…"
"It may be too dangerous for anyone to be alive under the rubble," Luna declared, proceeding to activate a light from her horn. "Still, I'm not holding out hope. If strength is needed, then we have a strong creature who can help."
Luna then looked down at Yona, who was grateful to be recognized.
"Yona willing to rescue any griffons in need of rescue!" Yona declared! "Just like yaks help dig each other out of snowbanks when yaks stomping cause avalanches. Yona and Ocellus work together to free all trapped griffons!"
Suddenly, Luna felt a summons on her horn and detected movement coming from one of the destroyed buildings. "This way, young ones," She called, motioning for the other students to follow her. "I sense something, something alive!"
…
…
Back at the destroyed home of Gabby, Gilda slowly started to fall asleep out of exhaustion.
"Gilda?" Gabby asked. "Gilda?" But she heard nothing. Had Gilda given up and left her due to her inability to free the trapped young griffon?
Unknown to either griffon, help was on the way!
As Gilda collapsed onto some of the debris she'd hastily made into a pile, the light from Luna's horn drew closer and closer to the destroyed property. "It's coming from over here!" Luna cried, but Gallus flew ahead of her followed by Icarus. "Gallus, Icarus, wait!"
But the two griffons wouldn't wait, they arrived on the scene and found Gilda collapsed on the debris.
"We gotta get her off of there! She must be hurt!" Icarus shouted! "Ready. cousin?!"
Nodding, both griffons flew onto the collapsed body of Gilda and gently lifted her off.
"Huh, is anyone up there?" Gabby called out in hope when she heard the sound of wing flaps overhead. "Who's up there?!"
"We're here to help you!" Luna called back. "Don't move, we'll get you out as soon as we safely can," And she then instructed. "Smolder, Ocellus, work on lifting the debris. Silverstream, stay in reserve with me. Yona, try to break down any hard spots. Sandbar, you help Yona."
"Right professor!" The group all said at once and rushed to carry out their assigned task.
"We'll help too!" Gallus and Icarus called as they finished rescuing Gilda.
"Good, you two stay with me," Luna ordered. "Once the path is clear, we'll go in and help whoever's trapped underneath. We must be careful not to risk further collapse."
Working hard, the students used their strength and their abilities to clear away the debris from Gabby's destroyed home.
At long last, a path was cleared. And then illuminating her horn, Luna led Gallus and Icarus into the remnants of the destroyed home.
"Watch your step!" Gallus cried as he felt a stair give way underneath. "Who knows when this place will collapse?"
"Gallus! Gallus are you there?! Oh thank goodness you've come!" Gabby cried behind a wall of debris. "Get me out of here! I'm trapped! I don't like this! It's dark and cramped in here!"
"Gabby! Gabby, hang on! I'll save you, I promise!" Gallus shouted as he and Icarus proceeded to dig through the debris!
Suddenly, all heard a loud creaking noise that Luna was quick to take notice of! Activating her shield spell with a flick of her horn, she protected Gallus, and Icarus from a falling table that would've landed right on top of them!
"We're coming up!" Gallus shouted to his friends as he and Icarus pulled the injured Gabby up from the debris. "Get ready to help! Gabby's hurt badly!"
"You heard the griffon! Let's go, gang!" Silverstream shouted as the rest of the students lined up to help their professor and fellow students get Gabby out. Carefully, all worked together to pull Gabby to safety. Just then, several platoons of guardsponies arrived on the scene with Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Gusty leading the charge.
"Ay caramba!" Gusty gasped! "What happened here?! Man, I've never seen anything like this!"
But Twilight said nothing and instead flew towards Luna and the students. "Luna, what's going on?" She inquired of her big sister figure. "Celestia said you were coming here with the students! She didn't say anything about this!"
"We found this griffon in the wreckage of this house," Luna explained. "She's hurt, but she'll survive thanks to the students' quick thinking."
Immediately, Twilight took off her battle helmet, recognized Gabby and walked over to her. "Gabby!" She gasped in a hushed voice. "Gabby, I'm so sorry!"
All Gabby could do was look away in sadness, not wanting to have Twilight see her in such a sad state.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called and Twilight and Luna both saw Rainbow Dash lifting Gilda onto a stretcher. "Gilda's hurt! Really hurt!"
Twilight then turned to several guardsponies. "Get a stretcher for Gabby, now! She's going to need one too!" She commanded the guardsponies, who obeyed without question.
"It...happened so suddenly…" Gabby panted while wincing in pain. "It just...came out of nowhere!"
Gently, Gallus and Icarus placed Gabby on a stretcher while the guardsponies took her away to be checked out by a medical team.
"Arabus was behind this, this has all the hallmarks of his doing. A tornado that spun out almost out of the blue" Twilight declared as she watched Gabby be taken away and briefly scowled. "The griffons should not have ignored our warnings the way they did! We could've prepared them."
"I can't understand it," Gallus sighed as he sat down. "Was rallying the griffons to defeat the Legion of Doom not enough? I thought I inspired them to fight back against any evil! Maybe I should have done it some more…"
"You did all that could be done, Gallus," Luna reassured him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. "They believed you, but...it seems they wanted to fight their own way, I guess."
…
For the next hour, the search and rescue continued around Griffonstone. Those who were found dead were lined up with blankets covering their bodies. As time went by, the search for survivors continued to move slowly more and more towards a recovery mission. There weren't many survivors and it seemed even those who had survived the initial disaster had mostly not been reached in time to be saved.
Still, Gallus found the time to visit his parents' grave. Their stones were still intact, but as usual, Gallus turned toward his mom's grave. "Glad to see you're okay, Mom," He said to himself as he cleared some of the debris away. "Thank Celestia you didn't have to live through this." Gallus then turned over to his dad's grave and said nothing.
At that moment, a loud noise went off in the distance Gallus and saw several guardsponies carrying a body underneath the battered and partially torn flag of Griffonstone. Flying over, Gallus was stopped by Icarus who held him back. "Is that…?"
Icarus nodded. "Yes, it's Grandpa Gruff. They found him."
"Where?!" Gallus frantically asked.
"In the abyss where the idol fell into or something like that. Princess Rainbow Dash led the group that found him," Icarus explained. "He never had a chance, caught out in the open."
A look of emotion befell on Gallus' face in disbelief that the griffon who'd not only led the griffons, but had raised him after his parents' death was dead. And now he was left alone to pick up the pieces. "What happens now?" He asked. "His place was the closest thing I had to a home."
"I don't know, cuz," Icarus sighed. "Guess maybe this is gonna get chalked up as a loss in this war. Don't know who you might move in with."
…
…
Meanwhile, back in the Distant Lands, Grogar was delighted to hear about Arabus' recent victory. "Arabus, I want to congratulate you on your accomplishment," The ram laughed as he sat on his throne while looking through his crystal ball. "Those griffons made it easy for you."
"Of course, my emperor," Arabus gleefully reported. "They didn't even have any defenses set up, which made it all the more easier. They fell like tin soldiers."
"Excellent, but your work is not done yet," Grogar replied. "Bring whatever survivors you have captured to me. I can always use more forces. And Griffonstone's demise will serve as a warning to the rest, all will fall before me eventually."
Acknowledging, Arabus disappeared from Grogar's view as he floated the ball back to its proper location next to the map of Equestria.
"Well, how does it feel to finally get a victory again, my emperor?" Sombra questioned as he entered the throne room.
"Let's hope it's the beginning, now that Griffonstone has been completely decimated," Grogar answered with a sadistic smirk. "With Griffonstone defeated without even putting up a fight, there will be a ripple effect that will help bring Equestria to its knees once and for all! The dragon lands and the joint kingdoms of Mount Aris and Seaquestria will soon learn that their earlier victories were flukes."
And Grogar laughed loudly at his first triumph and looked to ride the momentum to the next phase of his conquest!
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10946584 The versions of them appearing in dreams were fakes (or at least Nightmare Moon was), but they felt very much real to those who saw them.
10947110
Still fakes though.
While the REAL ones still exists within Luna and Celestia.
It would be great for Luna's development if she were to deal with the REAL NMM waking up within her and having to accept it being a part of her, not dealing with a FAKE that is running around.
It bums me out the projects here is relying on fake clones or copies instead of the REAL Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker honestly..
Same with Midnight Sparkle apparently.
Given how easily the griffins were wiped out pretty much, wonder how it goes when the changeling hive gets attacked?
Given how badly de-fanged the changelings are with the whole "rainbow buggo sharing love" crap and essentially lost what makes themselves changelings, I can see they will get massacred/be in SERIOUS trouble before enough help arrives in time. Like I said, a few unreformed buggos managed to hold the entire rainbow buggo hive hostage.(They may handle one dumb monster but can they handle multiple of them or a bunch of intelligent foes? Most likely not)
Chrysalis would surely be horrified about how her hive is going to be wiped out due to this "sharing love" stuff weakening them, so I can see some conflict on is this "sharing love" saving or essentially destroying the changelings both physically and by culture there.
10947182
I would like to see that, Throax have to see that they can't always Rely on Superpower country Equestria
10947288
Or the fact they need to find balance.
Right now they completely lost what makes them changelings and completely de-fanged themselves.
This is probably why Chrysalis rejected this "sharing love" thing there. Believing it will screw her hive over in the long run while tossing away their dignity and culture.
They need to find a way to find balance between no longer having this hunger(but still feeding on love, just not attacking anyone anymore) but still having their culture and identity as changelings instead of being these hippy colorful buggos essentially acting like ponies instead of what they actually are.
Looks like Gallus has been orphaned all over again.
If David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wrote this episode, it would've turned out to be a natural disaster.