Chapter 1
Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.
-St. Thomas More
"Somehow… I shouldn't be shocked by any of this." Gallus muttered with a claw holding up his head on the iron bars, but his comment went unnoticed. For the last hour or so, he, Silverstream, Sandbar, and Yona had been prisoners deep underground. Somewhere above them, their captor had persuaded his fellow Diamond Dogs to join him in world domination. Something that the griffon felt was almost routine by now.
Of course, that didn't mean he liked it. Stopping the Looney Toon of the week while trying to balance studying at school did take a toll. Not only did the students have to deal with their everyday problems, but they now had to take care of the world too. Bringing down Cozy Glow was the start. For the past few years, they had to take down a cursed artifact, a plague of world-eating locus, a fiery monster, the real Grogar, a communist dragon and his revolutionary army, an undead army, all while trying to study to get a passing grade on their tests. On some days, Gallus thought that he and his group of friends had gone on more adventures than even their predecessors: Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
"Did you say something?" Sandbar asked.
Gallus shook his head, "Forget it."
Several years at the school had Gallus recognized that life as he had known it had taken countless twists that he couldn't foresee from the start of his days at Friendship Academy. From having no plan in life to juggling a billion issues at once, it was amazing how things had changed in such a short amount of time! A single afternoon could be nothing but him and his friends expressing their dreams of what they may do once they graduate to studying battle strategies at night in case the next villain might come along. Hell, they were close to graduating soon, and all of his friends had goals they aimed to accomplish after school. Silverstream wanted to become the Hippogriff's ambassador for Equestria. Yona and Sandbar thought of going into the fashion industry with Professor Rarity as her apprentices. To nobody's surprise, Ocellus thought of becoming a professor, and Smolder had recently thought about doing monster hunting (although that one was up in the air). Gallus himself was even thinking of getting a job as a Royal Guard since saving the world had become such a norm for him that he might as well make money off of it.
Yet, even with all of these accomplishments, there was a part of Gallus that felt like he hadn't begun to fully live. Looking over his shoulder, Sandbar and Yona were huddled together in the corner of their cell. To a degree, he envied them for gaining the courage to date each other. Nothing serious as far as Sandbar had told him, but they were noticeably close.
Not that he wasn't happy for the two. There was a part of him that was glad that at least Sandbar was delighted in having a special creature that loved him. 'And yet, he still has no idea.’ Gallus thought with a heavy sigh as his inner feelings began to nag him more and more.
The griffon had many secrets - one of them being that Sandbar was his first crush. Not love at first sight, but the more he got to know the pony, the more he noticed his friend in a different light. It wasn't that hard either, since they were the only two guys in their group (if one didn't count Spike hanging out with them once in a while). Sandbar was a loyal friend and was a great listener whenever Gallus had something to grip about, and that happened a lot. Plus, although the griffin hated to admit it, Sandbar did have kind of a cute smile. He even debated over the early weeks whether he should say something to Sandbar and see if something between them could work out. However, by the time Sandbar had asked Yona out to that fateful dance - it was too late. Not that Gallus was upset too much. He was happy his friend found someone he was very fond of and supported him throughout their relationship. However, his feelings soon paled in comparison to another creature that caught his eye.
For a long time, Gallus didn't know if he was into boys or girls since he had found himself initially liking girls, then Sandbar, though finally he set his eyes on a special one: Silverstream. After all, that hug during their friendship trials from Silverstream helped him realize that he had a growing attraction to her too. Unlike Sandbar, Silverstream in his eyes didn't seem so out of reach, especially when he started hanging out with her more. Silverstream quickly filled the gap by always inviting Gallus to hang out with her, even taking him back home to spend Hearth's Warming Eve one time. For years, he longed to tell her how he felt about her, but he didn't say anything in case she fancied someone else - like what Sandbar did.
Glancing at Silverstream, who was at the other end of the cell, her attention wasn't on any of them but the Diamond Dog across from them, standing guard. He was under no illusions that their adventures could result in one of them not coming home alive. While this wasn't the worst outcome they had ever been in, things were looking pretty grim. Was it better to say something just in case?
'Do you really think this is the right time to bring it up?' he silently asked himself. 'None of us know where Smolder or Ocellus are. They could be dead for all we know, and maybe the nutcase might do the same to us any moment now. You could just go ahead and say it while you still can. They would understand... Right?'
Gallus took a moment to reposition himself to where his back was against the iron bars.
'But what if you do get out of this? What if you told them - Silverstream most of all - about what you've always wanted to tell her? I mean, if Sandbar could tell Yona, surely you could do the same here.'
He took a deep breath. "Hey uh… Silver?"
"Huh?" Silverstream snapped out of her concentration, turning her attention towards him. "What is it?"
"I was just thinking…" He took a moment to form his words, "If we… don't get out-"
"We will," she immediately told him, "Smolder and Ocellus are still out there. Don't lose hope. They'll help us any minute now."
"Sure, but… if we don't, I uh…" He swallowed and took a deep breath, "I thought I'd let you know something."
"Yeah?" She blinked, "What is it?"
Gallus opened his beak, but before he could gain the courage to spit out what was on his mind, he was interrupted by a sudden cling. They looked around the dungeon for the source until another Diamond Dog with a plate of sliced bread and a bowl of soup came near.
Their guard raised an eyebrow, "I thought changing posts were supposed to be later. Why are you here?"
The other Diamond Dog held up the plate. "Dinner for the uh… prisoners."
"Oh?" The guard blinked, "It's dinner time already? I must have been here longer than I thought."
"Uh… yes, you have."
"Hey, since you're here, did they find the other two yet? I was told they were going to bring them here forever ago."
"Well… no, I heard they're still looking for them."
"Rumor has it that one of them is a Changeling." The guard scoffed, "I heard they're impossible to find."
"Yeah…" The Diamond Dog holding the plate looked over to Gallus, "You have no idea," and winked at him.
Gallus raised an eyebrow.
"Well, regardless, give it to them and go."
"Can't," the Diamond Dog picked up the bowl and tapped it against the bars. "The bowl won't fit."
The guard gave a grunted sigh, grumbling about something. "Alright, fine." He pointed his spear at Gallus and Silverstream, "You two, back to the wall over there." They obeyed. The guard reached for the keys on his belt. "Now where did I put that - here it is." He said. He walked up to the lock and picked out the right key to stick in the lock. "Say if it's dinner, do you mind bringing me-"
Crash!
Before the guard could do anything, a plate was quickly bashed over the head, knocking him out.
"What the-" Sandbar looked up from the sudden crash. Everyone in the cell was taken aback by the other Diamond Dog in surprise.
Acting quickly, the dog turned the key in the lock. "About time he got distracted," they heard the dog say. But when the cell door was opened, the dog was suddenly engulfed in green fire, leaving a blue Changeling in its place. "Did you guys miss me?"
"Ocellus!" Silverstream rushed over to hug her. "I knew you'd come to save us."
"I'm glad you're all safe," She hugged back, "I tried to get here as fast as I can, but I'm afraid we don't have much time. The Sorcerer is about to perform the ritual at any moment now. We have to go up there now!"
"Finally!" Yona joyfully got up and out of the cell, galloping down the halls of the dungeon while yelling. "Yak smash!"
"C'mon!" Ocellus ordered, getting Sandbar, Silverstream, and Gallus to follow after her.
"Where's Smolder?" Sandbar asked as they hurried down the dark halls.
"Right above us, Smolder's going to try to get close enough to get the artifact, but she's going to need our help to make our escape."
"Stop!" Looking over their shoulders, the guard they knocked out was awake, "Prisoner escape!" He then started blowing a loud whistle that echoed in the halls.
Out from the passageways and narrow holes in the underground tunnel, Diamond Dogs in armor rushed out, grabbing whatever weapons they could at the last moment to confront them.
In front of them, many more guards with spears and diamond swords rushed over towards them. From behind, a group was unfurling a net to catch them in. And from the sides, the dogs tossed whatever they could get their paws on to slow them down.
Yona, screaming out a battle-cry, charged forward with her head down and horns pointed at them. She aimed low at the legs, knocking and tripping them in her way. Silverstream, Gallus, Sandbar, and Ocellus grabbed whatever weapons that dropped to defend themselves. With adrenaline pumping through her, Silverstream took a spear and quickly turned around to slash the net before it could be used on them. It had been a surprise to the group when they first found out that Silverstream had martial training, but she said her Aunt wanted her to learn at a young age just in case. It only made her hotter in Gallus' eyes. Meanwhile, with a sword in his teeth, Sandbar helped clear the way for them to escape. Ocellus turned into a shield for Gallus, who also had a sword, and started to fly around the tunnel to block arrows and rocks from the Diamond Dogs attacking from range.
One thing that Gallus had found out about himself was that he was very good at fighting. He chalked it up to being a griffin, a race that once held a mighty military empire, but according to Prince Shining Armor, he had a natural talent. It was helpful when fighting against that horde of the undead invading the Crystal Empire last year, and the prince even recommended trying out for the Royal Guard after graduation. Using that talent, Gallus had managed to block a blow from a Diamond Dog before pushing him back and striking hard enough at another to cut his arm and get him to drop his weapon. He had no intention of killing them if it was possible, but if something wasn't going to change soon, he might have to change that tactic.
"There's too many!" Silverstream called out, noticing even more Diamond Dogs that were coming up from behind.
Yona looked around and noticed the beams that held up part of the tunnel. "Make cave-in!" She told them. "Smash beams!"
Sandbar, Silverstream, and Gallus, who carried Ocellus, went behind Yona as she went as hard and fast as she could to break one of the wooden beams. She charged, and upon impact, there was a loud but noticeable Crack! Just as quickly, she pulled away in time before the dirt and rocks from above fell into the tunnel. In a matter of seconds, they were cut off from the Diamond Dogs by a wall of dirt.
Ocellus changed back into herself again. "Good thinking Yona! That should slow them down, but we need to get up there now."
They raced through the halls and up the winding stairs into the great hall where the Sorcerer was conducting the ritual. Before their eyes stood the clay army that had taken the Diamond Dogs' form in armor in the thousands, each one had a marked engraving in their chest, no doubt part of the spell that will help bring them to life. On the other side was the Sorcerer Diamond Dog in a black robe, chanting the phrase, "Enital suoivbo enoitatnacni acigam ni ilam madiuq." over and over. His arms reached out to the glowing green orb just above him.
"Where's Smolder?" Silverstream asked, looking around and seeing no sign of the dragoness.
The Sorcerer took notice of them. "What? How did you…?" Taking off his hood, the dark-furred Diamond Dog with an eyepatch was puzzled at first but shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You're all too late! All I have to do is carry out the final part of the ritual, and my army of clay will rise to overthrow Equestria! I, Sirius the Conqueror, will be the lone ruler of-"
"Oh, put a tennis ball in it!"
"Pardon?" He looked around, "Who said that?"
"Me!" Unexpectedly, Smolder came swinging in on a root vine. A free claw reached out and snatched the glowing orb from its position before she swung herself over to a nearby cavern. "Yes!" She held the ball up triumphantly, "Looks like you're out of luck, scruffy!"
"What do you think you're doing!" Sirius screamed in terror. "You idiot! You've killed us all!"
"What are you-" Smolder inquired, but before she could finish, a beam of pale, greenish light darted from the orb into the middle of the clay army. First, the symbols on the chests lit up, then their eyes. All at once, the army turned to look at her. "Uh-oh."
"It's everycreature for themselves!" Sirius ran as quickly as he could out of the chamber. However, the would-be conqueror didn't get far as the clay soldiers took notice. One of them raised their paws and fired a bright green light. A scream was heard, and the sorcerer fell onto the floor, crying out in agony as his back was smoldering. Even his black cloak was melting into his flesh. Dozens of clay soldiers raised their paws aimed at him. "No! Wait!" But his plea went underheard as dozens of bright beams were fired upon the Diamond Dog. They didn't stop firing until all that was left was a skeleton that resembled freshly burned charcoal.
"Holy sh-" Was as far as Smolder got before the army quickly noticed her, and she too was fired upon. However, thinking fast, she ducked back into the cavern before the beams could touch her. "Guys! Get out of here!" She called out.
"Scatter!" Sandbar yelled, thus getting the attention of the army.
Now, they had to run.
Sandbar and Yona spotted a nearby cavern, galloping as fast as they could down it while Gallus and Silverstream took flight in the opposite direction. Ocellus spotted Smolder from above, and she flew up there to join her. She barely managed to get out of the way in time before the deadly beams could hit her.
The worst part of getting lost in the Diamond Dogs' mines was that unless you knew where you're going, running down the twisting, turning tunnels was confusing. Gallus and Silverstream hurried through the tight corridors, the oddly shaped tunnels, and the countless deadends in the dark.
"Which way? Which way!" Gallus asked frantically, trying to remember the way they came in.
"Here! I think it's this way!" Silverstream grabbed his arm, pointing down towards one of the tunnels.
"You sure?"
"Maybe," Silverstream said, leading Gallus down one of the tunnels. However, when they entered, they quickly realized that they had made a wrong turn. They didn't remember a place where there were wooden crates everywhere in such a small space. "Wait, I think it might be the other-" Silverstream tried to lead him back out - only to be fired upon by the clay soldiers. Instinctively, they had no choice but to flee behind the crates.
However, it made no difference to the soldiers as they began to fire their beams into the small room—one of the boxes that was hit quickly splintered into tiny pieces. The two students had to run to the very back of the room with the most crates to avoid the death ray barrage.
"We're done for! There's no way out!" Silverstream panicked.
With blasts of the deadly green light cutting and banging away at them, Gallus shut his eyes to try to think of something - anything to get out of this alive. The only way out is through those soldiers that won't stop until they're - his eyes opened. "I got an idea. It's stupid, but it's the best we got."
"What is it?"
He looked at her in the eye, "You trust me on this?"
A blast fired over their heads. "I don't think there's much of a choice here!" Silverstream replied, "What do we do?"
"Play dead."
".... What?"
"They won't stop until we're dead. So maybe we need to convince them. Just pretend we got shot and don't move afterward. Their heads were made from clay, so hopefully, they wouldn't overthink about it."
"How do you know that would work?" Silverstream questioned before another blast missed her.
"You got any better ideas?"
She shook her head.
"Here, I'll go first so you'll have an idea how to do it."
"Wait before you do." Before Gallus could ask what, Silverstream leaned in and kissed him on the beak. Although caught entirely off guard, Gallus wasn't complaining at the moment, even when she pulled away, blushing, "Well… just in case…"
Gallus grinned, filling him with parts of hope and confidence. He placed a claw over his heart and cried out loud enough for the soldiers to hear him. "Ah! Oh no! They got me!" This seemed to catch the clay army's attention as their blasts died down. So standing up, Gallus wheezed and stumbled around. "Owie my chest, it burns!"
Catching on what Gallus was doing, Silverstream clutched her stomach and stood up. "Ouch, they got me too. Ow," she stumbled over to a nearby shattered box. "I'm seriously hurt."
Gallus labored his breathing, reaching out with a free claw in the air. "Everything's going cold! I-" he coughs, "but what's this? There's a light coming here. Silver, do you see that?"
"I think we're dying Gallus," Silverstream replied, her back against the broken wood. "But I can't die, I'm too young, and there's so much I wanted to do."
"Hey," Gallus reached out his free claw as if to try to grab something, "I think I can hear my parents calling to me." He stepped forward towards the army, but he was still looking up.
"Gallus, don't leave me," Silverstream went over to lean on him. "I feel so cold."
"Goodbye, Silver," Gallus said, his hindlegs buckling, "I'm just gonna lay here - dead." He fell over and rolled on his back, his arms crossed his chest, his hindlegs up, and his tongue hanging on the side.
Now the army looked over to Silverstream.
Melodramatically, she used a free arm over her forehead. "Thus die I, thus, thus, thus-"
"Silver, get on with it," Gallus whispered.
"Oh, sorry," she cleared her throat, turning to the army, "Now I am dead, now I am fled; my soul is in the sky: tongue, lose thy light; moon, take thy flight; Now die, die, die, die, die." She fell over onto the ground, hind hooves sticking straight up and tongue sticking out.
For a moment, the clay soldiers looked at one another. Then after shrugging, they left the small room, leaving the two of them behind.
As soon as the last soldier was gone, they rolled over to applaud one another. "Wonderfully done!" Silverstream clapped, "I didn't think that would work for a moment."
"And I didn't think you would use that lame line from Shakespur, but here we are." Gallus chuckled. "Still, we should get out of here."
"Right," Silverstream nodded, "I think I have an idea how to get back." With that, she took the lead.
In another part of the catacombs, Yona and Sandbar were making a full gallop, heaving along the way. Lost in near darkness, the two ran for their lives as a few of the clay soldiers were still after them, still shooting at them. Neither of them had time to think about which way they were going and hoped that the other had some idea. They hurried around in the snake-like tunnels, very narrowly dodging the deadly blasts from the soldiers. It was becoming harder to breathe, with every step they came closer to collapsing to exhaustion.
To Sandbar's alarm, he was getting slower with every passing second, falling behind Yona a little at a time. He wanted to call out to her, but all the air in his lungs was too busy being used on running. And with every blast that was getting closer, Sandbar became very aware of how much closer to death was coming towards him.
They rushed out from the twisting tunnel and into an enormous cavern where the only thing connecting the other side was a stone bridge. Sandbar dreadfully knew that it was only a matter of time until the soldiers got a clear shot of them. While they ran, he heard something coming from above; only he couldn't be sure in his exhausted tunnel-vision. All he was trying to do was try to catch up to Yona, who was getting further away. Suddenly, a bolder from above fell in between him and her that ended up smashing a portion of the bridge, leaving nothing but a gaping abyss. The unexpected crash nearly gave the stallion a heart attack while he tried to stop himself. With the rushing momentum, Sandbar came within inches of falling into the darkness.
"Sandbar!" Yona screamed, turning around to find that her special someone was on the other side with a few clay soldiers rushing at him. Sandbar turned around in horror across the other side as he realized that he had no way to escape. The soldiers raised their paws, and they aimed at the pony with their deadly green light becoming brighter. Yona screamed again, louder than before, followed by another rumble with rocks and dirt falling from the ceiling. The clay soldiers noticed this too and looked up - only to find a boulder to come down at them, crushing them and a part of the bridge, yet leaving Sandbar unharmed.
Out of his near-death experience, Sandbar sat on his hunches, a hoof over his withers, taking a moment to catch his breath. His breathing was erratic, eyes wide, and he could feel his heart beating at an insane pace.
"Sandbar!" Yona called out, "Is pony okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, I almost died twice today, so I'm wonderful." He breathed deeply.
"Can Sandbar jump?"
It took a glance to conclude that between him and her, it was too far to make that leap without falling into nothing. However, looking the other way, the gap where the soldiers were was narrow enough for him to get across as long as he makes a head start.
As soon as he was able to talk, Sandbar said to her, "Yona, I hate to do this, but you've got to go on without me."
She stomped her hoof. "Yona not leaving without Sandbar."
"Yona, I can't make the jump over to you. I have to find another way out on my own."
"But-"
Another boulder fell between them, followed by falling dirt from above.
"I don't know how much longer this place is going to hold up." Sandbar told her, "Go meet up with the others; I'll join you on the other side."
"Sandbar, just-" dirt and dust fell on Yona before she could finish.
"I'll be fine." Sandbar turned around, galloped as fast as he could to leap over to the other end of the cavern. "Get yourself out. I'll be okay."
Yona hesitated but nodded, "Hurry back, Sandbar."
"I will." Sandbar nodded as he returned to the twisting tunnel while Yona went the other way.
"Look! I see the way out!" Silverstream pointed, dragging Gallus along towards the exit.
The two Griffs rushed out towards the light of day at the end of the labyrinth. Running out into the empty dirt fields, they spotted Smolder and Ocellus, who were trying to catch their breaths.
"Ocellus! Smolder!" Silverstream rushed over to them, embracing them in a tight hug. "Thank the gods! You're safe!"
Gallus looked around and then asked, "Where's Yona and Sandbar?"
"Wait," Smolder freed herself from Silverstream's arm, "they're not with you?"
"I thought they were with you."
Before the dragoness could respond, they felt the ground tremble and shake underneath them.
"What was that?" Ocellus asked, "An earthquake?"
"No…" Gallus looked around, "that was too small to be an-". The ground shook again, and, to his alarm, there were immediate cracks in the ground that started to sink. "Cave in!"
Grabbing his friends, Gallus used his wings to fly them towards the entrance as parts of the ground buckled and fell. Fortunately, this lasted for a moment. But the thought of what they saw alarmed them.
"Yona and Sandbar are still down there!" Ocellus exclaimed, "We got to go back and find…" She trailed off as she and her friends heard galloping hooves coming from the cave. Much to their relief, Yona emerged from the darkness. But that was all they saw. "Yona, where's Sandbar?"
"He not here?" She asked, almost out of breath. "With friends?"
"Oh gods, he's still down there!" Silverstream said in alarm. "We got to do something!"
Gallus stared down the inky abyss where Sandbar was. Although they completed their mission and the clay army will undoubtedly be trapped underground, he could not leave. Not until all of them were together.
"Guys, I'm going to go in."
"You don't know where he is!" Smolder yelled at him, "You saw what just happened. He might not-"
"But you don't know he's dead!" Gallus spread his wings, "I'm going to go look for him. All of you, get to Ponyville to put that orb back where it belongs. And Silver?" He looked at her, "Thanks for the first kiss." Despite the protests of the girls, he flew back into the darkness.
Flying almost blindly, the griffon rushed back into the labyrinth, calling out his friend's name. He hoped that maybe he was still alive somewhere and in a different part of this underground network where the cave-ins didn't hit.
"Sandbar!" he screamed into one of the tunnels. "Where are you!"
"Help!" Without giving another thought, Gallus flew down into an increasingly tight tunnel. Despite being in a place where it became smaller to fly in, where he could feel his shoulders rubbing against the cold walls that felt were pressing him and even snuff him out - his fear of losing Sandbar outweighed his claustrophobia. He pushed himself further and further into the depths until he fell out from the other side.
There, trapped at a dead-end of the cave with falling rocks and debris, Sandbar was backed up against a wall with three of the clay soldiers having a clear shot at him. Without thinking, Gallus picked up whatever rocks he could grab and took flight. Using a free claw, he threw a stone at the head of one of the soldiers. It stuck to its head, thus getting it and the other two's attention. "Hey! Why don't you pick on a flying target for once!"
Now distracted, the soldiers fired their green blasts at the griffon. But Gallus, being airborne, dodged and weaved between the stalactites and the deadly light. Almost dancing, twisting, and somersaulting through the air. But with each blast, the soldiers came closer to him - which was what he was hoping for. As they missed, they hit the ceiling, chipping it away until the boulders loosened up and fell. The first soldier was squished, the second was buried under a pile of debris, and the third had its legs trapped underneath the huge rocks.
Then Gallus flew in to scoop his friend up. "Gallus?" Sandbar asked as he was carried, "What are you doing? This place is gonna fall apart!"
"What does it look like, numbnuts?" he smirked, "I'm here to save your sorry green butt from being fried." Quickly, he flew over towards the tunnel that he came in. "The way out is through here and up the-" Gallus let out a scream as he felt something hot burn his back, so painful was this that he dropped Sandbar.
Hitting the ground, Sandbar saw that his friend's back was smoking while he was screaming in agony. The stallion found the source behind him: it was from the third soldier that used its remaining half to fire at the griffon. However, before it could do the same for him, the chamber further collapsed, and the clay soldier was destroyed underneath the heavy rock.
"Gallus!" Sandbar rushed over to his friend. He found a smoldering black spot just underneath the wings, yet Gallus clutched at his chest, and moving one of them away, he found out why. A dark wound in the middle of his chest was growing, slowly burning away the feathers. The blast hadn't just hit him. It had gone right through him. "C'mon, I need to get you out."
"I-I can't," Gallus stuttered, breathing heavily as if all the air was deflated from his lungs, "breathe."
"You're gonna be okay," Sandbar lifted his friend on his back, "just stay with me. I'm gonna get us out."
"No…" Gallus breathed deeply again, "Leave… me…"
But Sandbar ignored him. As fast yet carefully as he could, he carried him through the narrow passageway and began to make the trip back to the surface. All around, echoes of the labyrinth banged against the walls in seemingly every direction. Yet, Sandbar kept moving. The smell of the burning feathers was sickening, but he still pressed forward. He listened to his friend's heavy breathing and told him to hold on just a little longer. That he would get him to a hospital, and everything was going to be okay.
Then he saw the light at the end of the cave. He could make out the shadowy outline of his friends that were just waiting.
"See, dude," Sandbar told him, "We're almost there."
"I can't… go on…"
"Yes, you can. We're almost ther-" a loud cracking sound knifed Sandbar with dread as he looked up. The rocks above him were becoming loose.
Gallus noticed this too, and using what energy he had, he slipped off of Sandbar and pushed him towards the exit. "Run!" he breathlessly screamed, "Run, idiot!"
Another loud crack, and before either of them could react, the ceiling came down on them.
"Sandbar! Can you hear me?!"
Although he could not move, Sandbar felt pain all around. No, this was more than just pain - he felt broken. Everywhere he was bruised, crushed, and shattered. Even if he tried to move slightly, it was worthy enough to let out a feral scream.
"Sandbar, wake up!"
It was like being asleep and awake simultaneously - he couldn't tell where his awake agony began and his blacking out ended. He wasn't sure if he heard the rocks being moved or the girls' cries calling out their names.
"C'mon, stay with me."
But somehow, he heard Gallus's voice. It was full of fear and desperation. Despite the other voices, his came in the clear.
"Please don't go, just hold on."
Sandbar wasn't sure how long he laid there, nor was he aware of the rocks that were being lifted. He wasn't certain if he was being carried or still in the cave. At one point, he tried to open his eyes, only it wasn't clear at first. The girls' voices, though frantic, were still unintelligible.
"It's gonna be okay, Sand, you're going to be okay."
It was altogether strange. Even Sandbar's sense of time became fluid. He wasn't sure if it had been minutes or hours. Every time he opened his eyes, he would glimpse at the changing landscapes, blots of color moving in and out of his vision, and at times it would become clear while others were muddy. One moment it seemed he was outside, and the next, he was inside.
"Don't go asleep! Stay awake!"
".... emergency room, now!" Now he heard new voices, unfamiliar voices. Opening his eyes, he saw the lights being rushed by while nurses in surgical masks looked down at him. "Red, where's that anesthetic? This guy needs surgery here!"
Sandbar tried to open his mouth, but even his jaw refused to move as if wired shut by the splintered jaw itself. He wanted to know what was going on. Where was he? Where were his friends? What were they doing?
"Sandbar! Don't leave me!"
And where was Gallus?
".... blacking out more and more." He heard a nurse say. "What happened to this guy?"
"I don't know," another nurse replied. "Something about a group of friends being in the Diamond Dog caves where boulders and such fell on them. As far as I know, one of their friends, a griffon, I think, was crushed and died pretty much immediately."
Sandbar's weak eyes opened. He tried his best to open his mouth to get some answers, but something wet was in his throat, and he coughed. He couldn't breathe. He felt he was drowning. The nurses above him pulled away, but he saw what he coughed up that landed on one of the nurse's uniforms to his horror. Blood. He was coughing up blood.
He wanted to scream, but his blood drowned his vocal cords. This had to be a nightmare. Gallus couldn’t be dead. He’d just heard him!
"We're ready for him," Sandbar heard another voice, and the lights above were moving while the nurses put a thin tube and a mask over his muzzle.
"Sandbar, for the love of all that's holy, wake up!"
Sandbar briefly opened his eyes again. He could have sworn that he heard his friend scream in his ear that time. Only he couldn't see the source of where it was coming from. The only thing he could see was a ring of light above him with half a dozen heads silhouetted in the glow.
"Hurry! Hurry!" A demanding, impatient voice called out. "We're losing him over here!"
He was choking, trying to gasp for air that never came. In his brittle chest, he felt something was collapsing. As scared as he was, he couldn't move, couldn't do anything; yet, he felt talons gripping his hoof tightly. As if Gallus was still there, refusing to let go.
"Please... don't go."
What happened next was something so surreal that Sandbar could barely comprehend it. In his vision, everything became darker - yet lighter. That everything became unbearably painful but somehow relieved. He was more afraid than he ever was in his life, yet something was there to comfort him. He felt cold and warm at the same time.
And as the surgeons above him faded out, Gallus faded in.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
643 users online
994,290 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Don’t forget that fire monster.
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/5/5e/Twilight_and_Luster_pass_by_stained_glass_windows_S9E26.png/revision/latest?cb=20191028202708
10776540
Fixed and thanks.
I hope you don't get flak for one of them being a seventeen year-old fictional angel ghost cartoon magical talking horse person, but you take a dangerous risk among the readership of Fimfiction when Sandbar's transparent-ghosty-wing-thing falls below the age* of fictional angel ghost cartoon magical talking horse person consent.
(*Which, for the record, is thirty-six. Obviously.)
10776819
Oh don't worry, since this is the first story that’s been written out from start to finish, I'm very aware of this. All I ask is to be patient with this story. There will be a point where that changes. One of them will turn 18, but even then, it will be a while before any romance between the characters really start to blossom.
10776830
Hmm. Well, I suppose that's okay as long as you have their fictional angel ghost cartoon magical talking horse person birth certificate well-documented and officially notarized in the story. (Although fictional angel ghost cartoon equine-based notaries public are a lot harder to locate than you might think.)
10777128
That's covered in the next chapter.
We are going to see how the girls deal with the loss right?
10777485
Oh hell yeah
10777488
Good to know. Also when did the kiss happen?
10777502
Which kiss?
10777505
This one
10777517
She kissed him right after they fooled the stone warriors they were dead
10777517
Correction
10777558
I do not know how I missed that.
Good evening,
If I may make a suggestuon to improve the experience of this story, I think you should call this afterlife Elysium instead of Heaven. There are several reasons for this.
First, many of the creatures in Equestria hail from Greek Mythology, so it would make more sense for them to go to the Greek afterlife, rather than Heaven. Heaven is primarily an aspect of Judaism and Christianity.
Second, Heaven is synonymous with ultimate perfection, a constant state of satisfaction and contentment, lack of any kind of a want, and zero conflict of any kind; while Elysium is more of a second life with possibilities for uncertainty, conflict, and desires. Elysium's not conpletely perfect nature simply has more leeway to make for an interesting story, while Heaven by definition cannot provide the plot you desire. Going by what you put in the summary, Gallus and Sandbar are supposedly going to face some uncertainties/fears/issues/problems. This would be impossible in Heaven, but fit right in home in Elysium. (Also, Heaven suggests the presence of the LORD and Christ, and I don't think you plan on going in that direction with this.)
Maybe I've been playing Supergiant Game's "Hades" too much, but I really do think your story would benefit by having it take place in an Elysium style afterlife. Calling it Heaven seems to break immersion a little too much.
10778672
I will not lie, this will be a complicated thing to answer. If anything, I actually find this rather... awkward to tell you the truth. Because if this was written how I usually do, (whereby I just write out and immediately post one chapter at a time) I would have gone on with the name change easily. I would be able to change it while it's still in production so to speak. However, the circumstances have changed because this is the first story that has been entirely written out from beginning to end. In other words, things have been written down in a certain way that if something is changed and it clashes with descriptions, characters, etc... I'm just concern about creating even more confusion as this kind of afterlife is - I guarantee it - not exactly like how Elysium would even function. Not only that, but this had a co-author, so even if I agree with you, I would have to get consent from him too. Whether or not he would agree that doing so wouldn't affect the story as a whole... I currently don't know.
Please don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm saying no. It's just that since the story has already been written up, that it makes mentioning of such things as reapers, angels, and much, much later on the Creator God (no, not Faust. And yeah... kinda... sorta the one you're thinking of). It's that I'm in an awkward position where I'm not sure if doing so would be a good idea or if it might risk mass confusion.
10778731
No problem. It's just that the Afterlife is a real hard concept to grasp/write about. I once read a Sonic X fanfic called Cosmo: A Metarex Story or something like that, and it tried something like this, and it was BAAAAAAAD! So, I got nervous going into this. The two of you have a serious challenge on your hands and I thought that using Greek Mythology as a guide might be helpful. Either way, im sure your story will be good just the way it is as long as you write smart, which I know you two can. Your stories are always top notch on this site, your two of the famous ones.
Wow, this story made something that just a couple do...
Made me cry.
hehehe love it!
aww, the former Captain of the Guard recognizing the future one
good ponification
oof, bad feeling about this
the mantle of being the saviors of Equestria falling to the Student Six even as they have to navigate being in school and their friendships and relationships with each other at the same time feels right at home as something that could be a sequel to the original series. this adventure in particular is a great homage to the tropes of adventuring stories, including that reversal of expectations. i love how it settles the reader in before what i presume will be a sharp shift in genre and tone, given what the story is about