A Griffon's Gang

by PonyPixel

Journey Beyond Equestria

The Young Six had been flying in a hot-air balloon for several hours. With Gallus, Smolder, Silverstream, and Ocellus the only ones that have wings, only two of them will fly, with ropes that are attached to the balloon tied to their torsos, and when they get tired, they switch places. As they have already passed Griffonstone, they carried on for a few miles. Gallus and Silverstream were the ones hauling the hot-air balloon first, with Gallus holding a compass on his claw, making sure that they’re heading south. Once they got tired, they swapped places with Smolder and Ocellus.

“Your turn,” Gallus said to Occelus and Smolder, as he and Silverstream untie themselves and gave the ropes to them. Smolder and Ocellus once again tied themselves tightly, flapped their wings, and flew off the basket to haul the balloon.

“How much further?” Yona asked.

“If we knew that, I’d have a good guess,” Gallus noted while holding his compass. “Instead, we just have to go by a single direction and follow a compass.” They looked up to see the sun was starting to set. Looking down, they could see what could be best described as a desert. There wasn't really much to see down there, just mounts of sand.

“Hey, Ocellus!” Sandbar called.

“Yes?”

“How much longer before we land?”

“We can carry on for another hour,” the changeling estimated. “If we don't see any kind of village, we'll have to camp out for the night.” She and Smolder began scanning the area for any kind of life. It was getting dark, so it wasn't getting easier for them to scan. “Maybe we should land sooner.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Smolder said and turned to her friends from behind. “Hey fellas! We’re coming in for a landing, so prepare yourselves.”

The dragon and changeling started bringing the balloon down for a landing as their friends started to look through their supplies: tents, sleeping bags, bottled water, canned food, medical kits, plastic utensils, and piles of logs for a campfire. They had everything for them to survive. After a quick landing, everyone got out of the basket with the needed supplies, while Smolder and Ocellus untie themselves from the rope and carefully deflates the balloon so it won’t fly away. As they do that, the other four had set up a campfire with the wood they had packed.

“Good thing we bought wood,” Silverstream commented.

“Indeed,” Sandbar said in agreement. He looked around not being able to see anything that would burn for very long. Then a cold breeze blew by, making them shiver. Smolder and Ocellus have finished deflating the balloon, and they noticed that they finished building up a campfire. They then approached it, and Smolder breathed out flames on the logs starting their campfire. They now felt warm. Sandbar then set up the grill grate and a pot over the fire to start cooking some of the food. “You know, this kind of reminds me of when my parents and I used to go camping.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Silverstream said. “How'd that go?”

“It was fun. Maybe if things go well, we could have Headmare Starlight arrange some sort of camping trip.” This made Silverstream excited.

“I'm going to set up the tents,” Ocellus proclaimed. “Hey, Gallus, can you give some help?”

“Sure,” Gallus responded, “right away.” The changeling and griffon got to work as Smolder helped open one of the cans with her claws. She opened it up then got a good look at her claw that grabbed the shuriken with the help of the flames. While it had healed up a bit with a scab, but it still looked pretty bad.

“How many weapons do you think those griffons have?” Smolder questioned. She handed the open can to Yona, who poured the chili into the pot.

“You’re telling me,” Sandbar said, “I knew nothing about this Gold Gang, nor am I not part of them. So, stay calm, Smolder. We're going to get through this.”

“Yes. Smolder have friends by side,” Yona proclaimed. “Friends together strong!”

“Yeah!” Silverstream agreed. “We're part of the Elements of Harmony. The spirit will be looking out for us.”

“I sure hope so,” Smolder muttered while she started opening another can of chili.

While they’re doing that, Ocellus and Gallus started setting up the first tent. “We're in some unknown territory,” the changeling muttered. “I'm not sure what we'll do before or when we find the griffons.”

“I don't think they’ve had much experience with changelings,” Gallus guessed. “They don’t know what hippogriffs are. Judging from what Gruff told us, they know nothing about how their pearl shards work either. Even if they did, I’m don’t know how they would use it to their advantage?”

“Fair point. Still, they could try and control the changelings.”

“They're not going to have good luck with that. Changelings like you aren't inanimate objects, so unless those guys have leverage, they're not going to get much work done.” Ocellus took her friend's word for it and continued with their work.

A little while later, the students all sat around the campfire, eating the chili that had been cooked. It wasn't the fanciest meal given how they were eating out of paper bowls with plastic utensils and drinking bottles of water, however, it was better than nothing. Three tents had been set up and they just had to place their sleeping bags in them. Silverstream could tell things were awkwardly silent, so she decided to start up a chat.

“So, what kind of creatures do you think we’ll meet out here?” she asked.

“Maybe ones that adapted to live in the deserts,” Sandbar guessed.

“Like camel?” Yona asked.

“Exactly, a camel. They do live in the desert.”

“I've never seen it before,” Silverstream spoke. “Isn’t that they have humps on their backs?”

“Yes, they do.”

“Guys,” Gallus called, and they turned their attention to him, “normally I’d be loving to explore other creatures’ cultures, but this is not the time to talk about it. We have a serious mission to do.”

“Gallus is right,” Ocellus agreed. “We're going up against a gang we barely know anything about to rescue our friends. We can't risk playing around.”

Smolder, Silverstream, Sandbar, and Yona knew that both of them were right. Given how a simple shuriken pierced Smolder’s scales and the fact their airship itself was armed was meaning these weren't like the rest of the villains they had faced.

“What do you think is stopping us from using our friendship laser?” Smolder questioned.

“Probably not a good idea to use our ultimate attack when we don’t know how to trigger it. Usually, it only happens when we’re about to die.”

“Uh-huh,” Yona commented. She didn't think this was really a good attack. “What friends do if we don't find griffons?”

“We’d rather start heading back once we start running low on food or water,” Gallus proclaimed.

“It would be best if we only eat at three periods per day while we’re out here,” Ocellus noted. “No snacks nor anything.” The friends agreed to this as Sandbar took a look at the pot of chili. There didn't seem to be that much in there.

“Yeah. I think we’re each going to have to deal with two servings each,” he guessed. The friends would have to plan out the meals smartly if they were going to find the griffons and return home safely.

After finishing up the food, they each went into the tents they had set up. They only packed three so they would share them in pairs, Sandbar & Yona, Ocellus & Smolder, and Silverstream & Gallus. The two griffs were getting comfy in their individual sleeping bags as Silverstream had to ask something. “Gallus, why are you so obsessed with this mission?” the hippogriff asked.

“Why shouldn't I be?” the griffon responded, “It’s very serious.”

“I know that but… it sounded like you had something you weren’t telling us.”

“And what would that be?”

“…Like… It’s with you and Griffonstone in general.” Gallus just sighed as he thought about that.

“It's not only that. Remember those portals?”

“You mean the ones to the human world?”

“No, I mean the one to where the Storm King won.” Silverstream went silent after hearing that. “Knowing that there's a team that’s almost like he is too much for me to bear. Grandpa Gruff said they were formed after Griffonstone fell, so who knows how long they formed.”

“And you don't want our friends to be tortured.”

“Exactly. I can only imagine how they’re doing right now. Probably terrified.”

“I know I would be. You... You're braver than I am.”

“I didn't want to bring you along for this one, but the spirit knows more than I do. Who knows, maybe you can solve something the rest of us can’t.”

“Like my pearl shard?”

“Yeah, like that. Plus, I know that your species is pretty fast. I guess that’s why you wanted to be a Wonderbolt, isn’t it.”

“It sure is. You should see the speed hippogriffs can get to.”

“I wish I could. We’re probably going to need the speed if we're going to deal with these griffons. Let's go to sleep. We’re going to start early until we catch up with the airship.” Silverstream knew Gallus was right and lied down to get some sleep. Both griffs couldn't stop thinking about the reason they were starting to adventure in the first place.

“I wish I can sleep with you longer,” Silverstream muttered softly.

“Me too,” Gallus muttered softly as well.

---

The next morning arrived, the sun has risen halfway. Gallus and Silverstream were still sleeping, and without noticing, her head is resting on Gallus’s soft chest. Their slumber ended when they were woken up by the sound of a pot and pan banging together. When they got up, Gallus noticed that Silverstream was resting on his chest; she noticed it as well and both of them freaked out a little.

“Oh, sorry, Gallus,” Silverstream apologized. “I didn’t notice.”

“It’s okay,” he said, “no need to apologize for that.” Gallus and Silverstream got up from their crumpled sleeping bags and poked their heads out of their tent to see Smolder making the noise. Yona and Sandbar groaned as they walked out of their tents, still a little tired, and their eyes still a little baggy.

“Oh finally,” Smolder said. “You’re all awake.”

“Smolder, did you have to be our alarm clock?” Gallus groaned.

“Hey, someone had to wake you up,” the dragoness noted. She pointed to Ocellus, who was busy cooking them a quick breakfast.

“Wasn't Gallus wanting to finish mission fast?” Yona asked.

Gallus was about to respond, though Yona was right. “Okay, you have a point,” he admitted, then turned to Ocellus. “Ocellus, how’s breakfast doing?”

“Pretty good,” the changeling responded. "Should be ready as any minute."

“If that's the case, we should pack up our tents.” Packing their tents up didn't take too long and they finished up just as Ocellus finished making breakfast.

“Remember, two servings each.”

“We got it,” Sandbar responded. As they ate, Gallus double-checked the compass to make sure they were still heading south. “Gallus, come here and finish your food before you plan our route.”

“Fine. Just thought we were all trying to get a head start today,” Gallus responded. He sat down with his friends and started eating his meal. The only thing they had to take care of now was getting the balloon reinflated.

After they finished with their breakfast, Smolder quickly reinflate the balloon. They made one last check to make sure none of their stuff is left behind. Smolder and Silverstream then tied themselves up to the balloon to help with the speed.

“They got to have some sort of rest point,” Ocellus guessed. “With a ship that size, something has to be fueling it.”

“Not to mention feeding the griffons that are on it,” Gallus added. “They have to have a big crew to keep that ship running. Plus food and water and somewhere to keep away from prisoners.” The balloon started lifting off the ground and the girls started pulling it south. As they did that, the friends in the basket tried to calculate how much food they would have.

"Okay, so if we have 4 cans a day,” Ocellus commented, "And we have 40 cans."

“Technically, we have 36 since we ate four in last 12 hours,” Gallus corrected. “If we keep up four cans a day, we should have enough food for… nine days.”

“But that's only for one direction,” Sandbar noted. "We got to have food for returning back home.”

“Exactly. So, I think we don't find anything in the next four days, we'll still have five days worth of food to get back to Griffonstone.”

Ocellus was impressed by Gallus's quick calculations. "You know, Gallus, if you had that kind of thinking in class, you'd probably be higher than a C student,” the changeling commented.

“We can think about that later. I'm going to scout ahead to see if there's anything we should look out for.” The friends agreed to the plan and Gallus took off.

“Don't go too far,” Silverstream called.

“Got it,” he said while giving a thumbs-up. He went as far as he was able to see the balloon. He then scanned the area while glancing back at the compass to make sure he was still going in the right direction. He made sure that he scanned the ground to make sure that there was something like a river, a village, or anything that would probably be important. There wasn't much aside from rock mounts and a couple of hills and cliffs, so they kept going.

---

Back in Equestria, an emergency meeting had been called in Canterlot to discuss the kidnapping that was happened in Griffonstone. No one was delighted about it, especially Gilda and Queen Novo, as their species had been the ones that had been kidnapped. Ember was also upset and at the same time disturbed since she had found out that weapons were being made of her species.

“How could that even kill a dragon?” the Dragon Lord questioned. “I've seen them take on landslides like they were raindrops.”

“I guess they found a way to get past their durability,” Thorax guessed.

“Enough! Can we focus on sending out a search party?” Gilda asked. “Those griffons are getting further away as we speak.”

“It won’t be safe if we don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Twilight proclaimed.

“We're dealing with heartless creatures who don’t care who they have to go through to get what they want,” Novo proclaimed. “Gilda’s right, we’re wasting time just sitting on our chairs conversating. I’ll have some of my guards start the search. It’ll be a good idea if we have some creatures traveling on foot.” Queen Novo then turned to Prince Rutherford, who sat in front of her. “Prince Rutherford, do you think some of the yaks can help out with this mission?”

“Hang on,” Gilda interrupted, “What about the buffalos? They seem to be better at fast traveling. Not to mention, they live out in a desert, so they should be better equipped for unknown terrain.”

“But yaks much stronger,” Rutherford remarked.

“I know, that is true, but they’re already suspecting me trying to fight them back. If they see an army of creatures who can shake the earth, they’re going to get suspicious."

“Earthquakes also might be an inefficient weapon against creatures who can fly,” Novo added.

“That too. Ember, since you have more combat experience than us, what do you think?”

“Well… Since they have weapons that could be lethal to dragons, we should stick with scouts and spies." She looked towards Thorax, who could tell where this was going.

“Okay, I'll try and ask a couple of changelings,” he spoke, “But aside from Pharynx, I can't say a lot of them are going to take that risk.”

“Just have them be whatever kind of wildlife are in that area,” Gilda said, “I don’t want to be responsible for what terrible things just happen back home.” The leaders and ambassadors could tell the griffon were rather upset about this.

“Gilda, this was completely out of your control,” Twilight noted. “And we are getting them back as soon as possible. Ember, try and find small quick dragons to help scout out the area.”

“On it,” the Dragon Lord nodded in confirmation as the alicorn turned to Little Stongheart.

“Little Strongheart, do you think you can convince Chief Thunerhooves to have some of the buffalos to help out.”

“I'll see what I can do, princess,” Strongheart responded.

“Novo, Thorax, Gilda, go and find any volunteers for this rescue.”

“On it,” Queen Novo confirmed.

“Will do,” Thorax added.

“No promises,” the griffon responded. Twilight understood this statement given how she had heard the parents weren't exactly that caring compared to other creatures. Still, Gilda was willing to do her best.

“Very well. Meeting dismissed.” The creatures soon went back to their kingdoms to try and gather search parties, and if needed an army.

---

Back with the Young Six, Gallus had flown back to switch around with Silverstream so she and Smolder could take a break. As Ocellus tied herself to the balloon, she asked Gallus a question. “Did you see anything?” she asked.

“Nope,” he sighed. “Nothing but more desert.” They kept on flying for a while as Sandbar looked ahead of them with a telescope.

“Anything?” Smolder asked.

“Just like what Gallus said,” the colt responded, “Nothing but more… Oh… Wait a minute.” This got his friends’ attention to him. Adjusting his telescope, Sandbar could see something. It looked to be a river with a camel gathering water with two big buckets. “Land there, guys.”

“Near the camel?” Gallus asked to make sure.

“Yep.” Gallus and Ocellus listened to their friend and slowly started bringing the balloon down.

“So, that’s what a camel looks like,” Silverstream said. “It does have humps on its back.”

As the camel carries two buckets of water, he could see the hot-air balloon coming closer. He was worried until he saw the balloon had a much more appealing color scheme and the creatures, while some of them were unknown to him did look friendly. Once the students landed nearby him, Sandbar and Ocellus approached it.

“Hello, sir,” Ocellus said. “Sorry if we disrupt you.”

The camel felt a bit suspicious seeing them even if they’re friendly, especially to Gallus, because he does remember seeing those species doing something destructive or rowdy. The camel sighed a little to calm himself down. “That’s alright. It’s just that I haven’t seen a different kind of creature like you, especially the blue one.”

Ocellus looked at Gallus, who he gave a low eyebrow. “Oh, I see. Anyways, I’m Ocellus, and I’m a changeling.”

“A what?”

“A changeling,” she repeated, “we’re like a bug version of ponies.”

“Interesting.” He then looked back at Ocellus’s friends. “Who are those guys over there?”

“Oh, uhh… This is Gallus the Griffon,” she introduced and then pointed to her friends who are already out of the balloon. “And that’s Yona the Yak, Smolder the Dragon, Silverstream the Hippogriff, and that’s… that’s Sandbar.” The four students then waved to him.

“I assume you’re friends, right?”

“Exactly,” Ocellus confirmed. “Anyways, we're looking for our friends. Our other friends to be precise. Is there a village nearby?”

“Indeed there is,” the camel responded. “I was just fetching water for my wife’s garden.” He paused as he picked his next words carefully. “Do you know anything about the Gold Gang?”

“Sadly yes,” Gallus spoke. “That’s the same group who kidnapped our friends.”

“You don’t say,” the camel said in shock.

“Yeah. And that is why we are here, we’re rescuing them.”

“Rescuing them? You’re all young!”

“We are young.”

“If you’re rescuing them at that age, that’s so foolish of you. The Gold Gang has a lot of very destructive weapons, I hate seeing you die at a young age like that.”

“Hey, we were given this mission by something more powerful than you could believe,” Gallus declared. “I and my friends have gone under dangerous risks before, and we’re able to complete those risks. Now, like what I said, our friends are kidnapped by the Gold Gang, and we’re here to rescue them. We can’t just sit on our flanks and do nothing, we have to take action. We may be young, but that doesn’t mean we are foolish to ourselves.”

The camel sighed as he knew if these students were the enemy, they probably would’ve attacked by now.

“Alright,” he admitted, “I guess you got a point there. You seem to be trusting.”

“Thank goodness.”

“Now, follow me. The village is that way.” The students listen to the camel who led the way to his village while Smolder pulled the balloon along with them.

It didn't take long until they made it to a small village. The Young Six were amused by the diversity and culture of the village. There are plenty more camels there and their homes looked to be huts made of sandstone. There are, however, a few ponies living in this area. They are wearing cloaks that covered most of their bodies with a hole for their eyes to look out of. These camels wore white or colorful fabrics on their backs, most males wore a turban or a skullcap, and most females only have flowers on their ears.

Soon, they arrived at the camel’s house to see a garden beside it, that had a couple of plants, most of which were cacti.

In that garden, there was another camel there who looked to be happy to see them. “Jerick!” she said with a joyful tone.

“Afya!” The camels then both hugged each other.

“You're back. What took you… so… long?" She paused and got scared once she saw Gallus and Silverstream. She would've freaked out if it wasn't for her husband speaking up.

“It's okay, honey,” the camel, known as Jerick, spoke. “They're not going to harm us. They're just children.” There were no weapons to be found with the young six. Not to mention, a dragon, a changeling, and a yak weren't creatures they usually see with the infamous gang.

“I’m… so sorry. The Gold Gang has a bad reputation around here.”

“We understand, madam” Sandbar said. “This is why we're here.” He began explaining to them what happened so far.

While he was doing that, Ocellus, Smolder, and Gallus look around for something to tie the balloon down to. This also gave them a chance to look at the other camels that were wandering around town. There looked to be a few ponies around here. The majority of the village’s population was camels, so the ponies stuck out a little bit more, one of the features as they were taller than the average pony. Smolder approached one of the cloaked ponies to ask them for anything to tie the balloon down to.

“Excuse me,” Smolder asked the cloaked stallion, and he turned around to see her standing. “Do you where we can park this? It’ll be nice if you can help out.” The ponies looked at the balloon and agreed to help the unfamiliar creatures get their balloon secure. Smolder will make a thank-you note for them.

While they did this, Silverstream was inquisitive seeing Afya growing exotic plants in her garden, and so she asked her. “Excuse me,” Silverstream said to Afya, “I was curious about what you’re growing here. Can you tell me about them, please?”

Since Afya was feeling safe around these creatures, she was happy to explain. “Sure,” Afya then explained. “These are cacti, and they have better access to water. I grow them, so that way we have an easier time to have it. The only reliable way is to get it from the river.”

“I see. So, do you grow all the food here too?”

"Indeed. It's a bit of a slow process, and we have plenty of crops to grow.” They looked at the large garden that the camels had growing.

“Wow, it sounds like you have a big job.”

“It is a big job,” Jerick said. "It’s worth noting we’re not to only ones who have to help with food around here.”

Ocellus and Smolder rejoined the group and had to ask the camels something. “Excuse us,” the changeling said, “Could you tell us where exactly we are? It Saddle Arabia around here?”

“Oh, I’m afraid you’re a couple of miles away from here,” Jerick explained.

“Well, in that case, do you know anything else about the Gold Gang?” Gallus asked. “Like, where they’d be?” Both camels looked at each other with fear. “Is… there something wrong?”

“There’s a reason why they have a bad reputation around here regardless of the Gold Gang,” Jerick noted. “You see, they…” He and Afya looked up in the air and could see something flying towards them. They got scared.

“What happened?” Yona asked. “Why camels scared?”

“Uh… uh… Get inside.”

“What?” Gallus said, feeling confused.

“Now!” He pointed in that direction, and the students looked behind them. They saw the airship heading towards them. While it wasn't the same size as the ship that attacked Griffonstone, it was likely from the same team that kidnapped the students. Jerick and Afya helped hide the students in their hut just as the airship came in for a landing. The villagers are frightened seeing that the airship landed, knowing that the Gold Gang was here, so they quickly ran back to their huts.

After the airship landed, the hatch slowly opened. Coming out of the ship came four griffons, one of which looked a little familiar with white and gray feathers and fur. All the other griffons looked menacing in comparison as they approached Jerick and Afya.

“Hello, you two,” the leading black and white griffon spoke. “You have our order ready?”

“Almost,” Jerick replied. “Just give us more time. Water is hard to get around here.”

“Yeah, and that's not going to please the boss. You either give us the goods now, or you get the dragon treatment.” Jerick and Afya sounded horrified by the sound of that.

Another one of the griffons, who was blonde and beige looked to see the balloon that the students had ridden in. “Where did you get that?” he asked.

Jerick and Afya didn’t answer. The third griffon, who was a brown and white female, was a little confused by why the village would need a balloon, or why it was so colorful. She smirked as she flew up to look at Jerick eye to eye. “You have some visitors, do you?” she asked.

“Ugh… No… That balloon just landed here without any passengers,” Afya fibbed.

The second griffon flew over to check the basket and could see there are supplies loaded in it. “If there are no passengers, would they leave this there?” he angrily asked. He picked up one of the cans and showed it to the camels.

“I've never seen that before,” Jerick spoke.

“So, you won't mind if we check your hut,” the first griffon said. Before camels were about to object, but the griffons, except the fourth one, showed off their daggers, crossbow, and knives, showing they were going to fight back if they weren't given what they wanted. The Young Six overheard what they had said. The griffons were getting closer and they didn’t know what to do. Then Gallus saw potted cacti sitting on a shelf.

Just as the griffon bashed down the door, Gallus threw one of the cacti into the first griffon's face. It fell back and held cried in pain while Yona rammed into the second griffon, making him drop his crossbow. The third griffon tried throwing her knives at the students, who barely had enough time to grab a box and shield themselves before Smolder tackled the griffon to the ground. She didn't go down without a fight and managed to get one stab in before the dragoness knocked her out with a strong boost from the pain. The first griffon was still in pain with some spines around his eye, Gallus and Jerick held him down as Sandbar ran over to their balloon and helped tie the griffons up.

“Gah! Let go of us,” the second griffon ordered.

“Fad chance,” Jerick said. "I've been wanting to do something like this for years!"

“Congratulations then,” Gallus said.

“Thanks,” he smiled.

As he helped them tie them up, Silverstream recognized the fourth griffon that was just standing there watching, not doing a thing. She realized that it was Gale, one of the students that got kidnapped.

“Gale?” she gasped. The other students saw then saw him.

“Uh... Hey, guys,” he said. “How are you doing?”

"How do you think?" Smolder questioned. She was trying to cover up her wound where the griffon had stabbed her. It wasn't too serious, but it wasn't something she was used to. Ocellus quickly flew to the basket and got a first aid kit to patch her friend up.

"Gale, what are you even here?" Gallus questioned.

"You know this guy?" Jerick questioned.

“Yes. He's one of our friends that we're trying to rescue. Gale, how did you get here?”

“I was just chosen to be one of the newbies to see what happens on a goods run,” Gale explained. “Kind of wish they would've sent more than us.”

“Why'd you say that?” Sandbar asked.

“Let's just say… I’ll never complain about being stuck in class again. Pearl, Sunshine, Gus, Grace, Gabby, and Gregoria are still at the base stuck in cages until we’re proven to be good enough.”

“And how do you become good enough?” Silverstream asked.

“Do you really want to know that answer?” Jerick asked. Hearing that made the students feel a little bit worried.

“He's got a point,” Gale informed with a sigh, knowing that it’ll be bad if he said how. “The less you know, the better. What I know is that they, including me, want to get out of there as soon as possible. We just wanted to be safe.”

“We can do that as soon as we know where they are,” Ocellus noted.

“They kept me below deck for most of the trip. I’d just be guessing on where they are.”

“I think we saw where the ship came from, we could probably make a guess on where they are,” Ocellus proclaimed. “If this is a scout ship, the base shouldn't be too far away.”

“What about other griffons?” Yona asked. She pointed to the griffons they had tied up and were trying to break free.

“Leave them with us,” Jerick proclaimed. “These griffons have been pushing us around for too long.” The griffons were furious with being held hostage, though the second one wasn't too distraught.

"What makes you think you're going into the base?" he asked, still struggling to untie himself. “You'll get shot down on sight."

“Not if we take your ship,” Smolder chuckled. She then looked at the griffon who had spines in his face. “What's his name?”

“I won’t tell you.” Smolder then threatens him with another cactus she found. “OKAY, fine! His name is Guy. What are you going to do with that information?” The Young Six looked towards Ocellus who understood what Smolder was planning. She got a good look at the griffon's appearance and shape-shifted into an exact replica. The creatures that hadn’t met Ocellus until now were shocked.

‘How did you do that?” Afya questioned.

“She's a changeling,” Silverstream informed. “And changelings can shapeshift into any creatures.”

“It comes in pretty handy for things like this,” Gallus added. He quickly started forming a plan and looked over to Gale. “Gale, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Yes, thank goodness I’m not dead.”

“Now listen here, you stay here until we get back. These villagers are going to be a little suspicious if we only have a griffon they know.”

“Then what's my story?” the disguised changeling asked.

“You’re taking us to the base while your goons are trying to catch Gale, who’s making an escape.”

“Sounds believable to me,” Sandbar commented.

“Is Gallus going to pretend to be prisoner?” Yona asked.

“I’ll be trying to get onto the griffons’ good sides until we can figure out a proper escape.”

“I hope your plan will succeed,” Gale added. “I heard that most of the gang’s goons are imbeciles, so you might wanna be careful with what you say and do before gaining their trust.”

“Noted. Thanks, Gale. Can you help us transfer the supplies?”

“Sure thing.”

With Gale’s help, the Young Six took some supplies from their balloon, which they deflated since they weren't going to use it for a while. They loaded only what they needed into the scout ship and tried to figure out how to make it start. They had never flown an airship before so it was confusing.

Eventually, they tried getting more information out of the griffons by threatening them with more needles. This only got a laugh out of Guy. “You really think that more needles are going to get me to talk?”

“How about this?” Smolder asked. She began taking a deep breath which was more than enough to scare Guy into spilling the beans, much to his colleague's disappointment. Now with the information they needed, the Young Six got back onto the airship and started rising off the ground. They turned it around and took off to the griffon base heading North-East. Gale and the villagers watched them take off then paid their attention to the griffons, who were a little worried about what would happen to them.

---

The sun was setting on the edge of Equestria. Various creatures were scouting the area trying to see if they could find any clues. Buffalos, changelings, and hippogriffs were running and flying all over the place. The only griffons that were there were Gilda and Greta, the students that were still at the school were wanting to help weren't allowed considering how risky this mission was.

Pharynx could see Gilda stopping in the air to scan the area, so he flew over to check on her. “Any luck?” he asked.

“I’ve got nothing,” Gilda sighed.

Pharynx watched Greta flying around, having just as much luck as them. “You couldn't find any more griffons?”

“I tried. Those griffons just don't care anymore. That's why Griffonstone is such a train wreck.” The griffon and changeling started going down for a landing. “I feel like I'm one of the only griffons who actually care about what they want to do. I see why I couldn't get friendship to work there.”

“Hey, are you going to be like that until we find anything, or are you going do something useful?” Griffonstone’s ambassador took a minute to think before responding to the changeling prince.

“You’re right. I’m going to be a drag thinking like this.” Gilda looked at the sunset as Pharynx changed his into that of a wolf to boost his senses. “We should call it a day and get an early start tomorrow."

“That won't be so easy.”

“Why not?”

Pharynx's ears twitched as he sniffed the air. “Because we're about to have company.” Gilda was confused and flew into the air to get more answers. She could see large clouds of sand heading towards them, then she saw what was causing those clouds; kobolds. Pharynx braced himself for combat while Gilda flew to warn the other creatures. One of the kobolds lept at the changeling and tried using pressure points to disable him. Instead of falling over limp though, Pharynx just laughed. “Cut that out... That tickles!”

The confusion distracted the kobolds from being rammed into by one of the buffalos. Some managed to avoid them and launch their shurikens. They didn't cause any serious injuries or they just missed their targets as the ninjas didn't expect the hippogriffs to be armed with spears. The creatures began getting the upper hand until the sand clouds covered their area. The kobolds used this to their advantage until the changelings showed them what they could do and shapeshifted into whatever species they needed.

Pressure points had no effect on the shape-shifters, so the kobolds were finding themselves struggling. One of the ninjas got disarmed and had its katana fly out of its claw and landing right in front of Gilda, who almost had a heart attack thinking that she would've been impaled. The griffon picked up the blade but it sounded like there were kobolds coming in, judging by the sound of footsteps, blades clashing, the fact that the sand clouds were getting worse. Gilda did her best to defend herself while trying to get to safety.

The battle felt like it went on for hours until the clouds began dissipating and the kobolds saw themselves being outnumbered. They would've retreated, but Pharynx had another idea. Transforming into a Maulwurf, he dug under the sand and gave the fleeing ninjas a surprise attack. Now, the kobolds were defeated, with only minor injuries on the heroes’ side. Greta helped to make sure that everyone was alright until she noticed somebody was missing.

“Where's Gilda?” she questioned. All the creatures that were caught up in the crossfire didn't have an answer as nobody saw the griffon before the sand cloud hit them. Greta flew up to see where Gilda went, but they fought for so long it was getting too dark for her to see clearly. “Darn it.”

"Just fall back now," Pharynx called. "We're searching for her tomorrow. Right now, we need to get a medic for some of these creatures." Greta knew that the changeling was right. She came down to help the injured creature and deal with the kobolds. Their weapons were confiscated and they were tied up or cuffed to keep them from running away or attacking. Greta looked out at the desert that looked to be getting darker. She hoped that Gilda was alright.

The ambassador of Griffonstone flew on until she noticed that she had no clue where she had gone. Since she was flying, there were no footprints to follow. Gilda could feel the cold air blow past her. She couldn't stay out in the middle of the night, so she could only think of one solution; keep going in a straight line. Hopefully, she would find someplace to take shelter.

Comments

[Melody Song]

Ooh! So pressure points don't work on changelings...must be the shapeshifting ability or something. It was pretty funny to hear Pharynx respond with "that tickles!" to it, anyway. Though I wonder who'll find the students first, Gilda or the other scouts...

Either way, great chapter!

[Gregory the Griffon]

10965510
Hello, PonyPixel’s editor here, I’m glad you’re enjoying it ^^
So far, it was going well. Stay tuned for more ^^

[Melody Song]

10965529
I will! You're doing a great job by the way, both of you are

[Yoshifan30]

“No, I mean the one to where the Storm King won.” Silverstream went silent after hearing that. “Knowing that there's a team that’s almost like he is too much for me to bear. Grandpa Gruff said they were formed after Griffonstone fell, so who knows how long they formed.”

Ohhh he mention about the alternate universe I'm sure he has a lot of PTSD from that experience

[Yoshifan30]

“…Like… It’s with you and Griffonstine in general.” Gallus just sighed as he thought about that.

Griffonstone

[Yoshifan30]

“We are young.”

sorry when I saw that sentence I have to 😅

[Gregory the Griffon]

10965553
Oh, sorry. I forgot to check it.

[Yoshifan30]

10965649
That's OK man

[Yoshifan30]

Ok so it looks like the young six journey is be go to rescue their friends from the gold gang but it looks like they stopped for a while and gallus is worried about the others after that experience of that alternate universe I wouldn't blame him to be worried but it looks like they spotted a creature a camel name Jerick he was a little suspicious of the creature has mostly the Griffin and the hippogriff but they mean no harm so he offered them to stay for a while but until the Airship came around and it's the Gold gang and it turns out to be there spot and worried they will get caught the kids fought off the Griffins and it looks like they say one Griffin name Gale so they're using the Airship since Ocellus can transform until one of the Griffins they can use the airship meanwhile the other leaders a worrying about the missing children so they spread out to the desert but they got ambushed by ninja kolba and it looks like Gilda went ahead which that was a bad idea because she has no idea where she's going I just hope she can survive the desert this is pretty exciting I wonder what's going to happen next guess we'll find out next time

[BezierBallad]

10965510
If anything, it just confirms he’s ticklish.

[Melody Song]

10968719
Yes!