Fools Gold
The sun was setting over Canterlot. Princess Twilight was trying to finish up a meeting with the leaders of different kingdoms, with Greta taking Gilda’s place as she was missing in action. “Has anyone had any luck?” Thorax asked.
“No buffalo has seen anything,” Little Strongheart reported.
“Same here,” Queen Novo added.
“The dragons have heard that their weapons will kill them,” Ember informed, “so we’ve been getting less assistance.”
“What about those kobolds?” Greta asked.
“We haven’t gotten anything useful out of them,” Twilight sighed. “They just stood silent throughout.”
“Let Iron Will take care of them,” Iron Will proclaimed.
“Iron Will, it’s incredibly tempting, but we need them alive for answers.”
The kingdom leaders looked towards the room’s doors which were open and could see a royal guard coming in. “I apologize for interrupting, your highness,” he apologized, “But there are some griffons here to speak with you.”
“Friend or foe?” Twilight asked.
“The ones who want to speak are the friendly kind, your highness. Familiar too.”
“Bring them in.” He opened the second door to show two griffons that the leaders knew too well; Gilda and Gallus. They were consuming some water and a donut respectively as they walked in. Needless to say, everyone was relieved to see them again.
“Gilda!” Greta cheered. She flew over to Gilda and hugged her, making Gilda drop her water bottle. “I’m so glad to see you again! Do you realize how scared we were?!”
“I could,” Gilda responded. “It was a nightmare there.”
“No kidding,” Gallus agreed. “Lots of internal conflicts are happening there.” They both looked back to see Glynn and Quartz walking into the room with some guards. The leaders weren’t as happy to see them as they were to see Gilda and Gallus.
“Hold on! Why are they doing here!?” Ember exclaimed, almost bursting out her fury.
“We don’t mean any harm, especially to all creatures here,” Glynn spoke. “We were given the same punishment that your kind received.”
“And why should we care for some creatures who are hunting my kind?” Ember objected, looking at Quartz.
“Not all of us want to do what the boss orders!” Quartz stated. “I never wanted to be a ninja!”
“Not to mention, we have gang members that could provide information that has done several crimes.”
“They're not lying,” Gilda confirmed. “I saw Quartz get beat up for answers. Also, we all nearly died from having a ‘fishy sleepover’.”
This statement was rather confusing to the other creatures. “Fishy sleepover?” Queen Novo asked.
“How do you sleep with a fish without your pearl shard?” That statement was enough for the creatures to connect the dots.
“Ohhh… my!”
“That’s horrible!” Thorax gasped.
“They’ve gone too far already!” Ember exclaimed.
“Wait a minute,” Novo spoke. She looked at the necklace that was around Gallus’s neck. “Where are the other students?”
“Gale is the first one to be released safely, and he’s on his way back to the School of Friendship,” Gilda explained. “We even had Spike travel along with him just in case. While everyone else is still stuck in their base.”
“…But… You do know where it is, right?” Twilight asked.
“Of course, we do. I should warn all of you… We’re going to have to be fully armored to the teeth if we want to get in.”
Glynn bravely decided to speak up to offer some help. “If I… might suggest… Quartz and I will help rescue the captured griffs.”
“What about Smolder and Ocellus?” asked Twilight. Gilda and Gallus both looked at each other as the changeling and dragon’s situation was dire.
“They’re… in a… let’s just say, a bit of trouble,” Gilda spoke.
“How could it be compared to the others?” Strongheart questioned. One should never ask such questions.
Gallus then spoke up. “Smolder was treated badly, rarely fed, and fully unconscious and unstable, having no amount of strength left. For Ocellus, she was in disguise long enough until she was caught and stabbed in the back, losing her blood. Both of them were about to be… dissected soon.”
Ember and Thorax were shocked and furious to hear that these two were deteriorating to death by the Gold Gang. The ambassadors in this room didn’t know how much time they had, so they made plans quickly.
“We’re going to round up all of the creatures that are willing to fight,” Twilight confirmed. “Anycreature?”
“I’ll prepare our navy,” Queen Novo proclaimed.
“Yaks get prepared,” Rutherford added.
“I can’t make any promises with the dragons,” Ember noted. Everyone raced back to their kingdom to prepare an army. This left Twilight, Quartz, and all four griffons at the castle.
The alicorn princess could see Gilda, Gallus, Glynn, and Quartz were worn out. “Guards, escort them to the guests’ rooms,” Twilight ordered. “They need a lot of rest and we’re going to have an early start tomorrow.”
“Can I stay here too?” Greta asked. “I don’t want to be alone by myself.” Twilight simply nodded and the guards guided the griffons and Quartz to their rooms.
Gallus shared one of the rooms with Glynn and Quartz, while Gilda and Greta shared their room too. While the kobold got to sleep quickly, the father and son took a bit longer given their conflict. Glynn kept trying to start a conversation, but Gallus wouldn't pay him any attention. “Gallus, please,” Glynn begged, “I just want to talk.”
“About what?” Gallus asked. “The fact my friends are in danger, some in a position where they could die? Or maybe it's the fact you were with a monstrous gang instead of… you know… being a father!”
“I’m sorry, Gallus, it’s just that… Gadget and I were so scared about your future…”
“Oh, yeah, because being a homeless orphan for most of my life is luxury.”
“And how would you turn out if you were in the gang!?” The sound of Glynn’s voice woke Quartz up, he sounded like he had just snapped. “Do you think we wanted you to become a serial killer like Gideon and Gram? We wanted to spare you from that fate, but… it sounds like we were forced to make a bad choice no matter what.” The wingless griffon gave a depressed sigh as he looked like he was about to cry.
Without saying another word, he lay down in his best and tried to get to sleep. Gallus would stay up a little bit longer, as he couldn’t help but think about his friend. Now he was thinking about what his life would be like if his parents had no choice but to have him in the gang. He would’ve been with them, yes, but that didn’t feel that good to what he would go through on a day-to-day basis. He couldn’t stop thinking about the pick your poison situation.
In another room, Gilda was trying to get comfy but Greta was feeling a little needy. “Greta, are you okay?” Gilda asked.
“I… I missed you so much,” Greta spoke. “I didn’t think you were going to come back.”
“Well, here I am.” Gilda chuckled as Greta suddenly hugged her tightly. They both lay down in the bed, which looked like they would be sharing. Greta snuggled against Gilda, both of them blushing.
“It feels nice to be in touch with your emotions.”
“Yeah, Ember could learn from that. If this attack happened back in the day, I think I wouldn’t have anything to come back to." The two griffons looked at each other eye to eye, blushing even more now.
“I'm… really happy that we gave friendship a shot.”
“Maybe we’re having more than friendship.” Both griffons gave a nervous grin as Greta couldn’t help herself. She wrapped her arms around Gilda’s head and went straight in for a kiss. The ambassador wasn’t ready for this and didn’t know how to react. The kiss stopped and Greta hugged her girlfriend tighter.
“Gilda, please… don’t ever scare me like that again.” Some sobbing could be heard as some bottled-up emotions were starting to pour out. “I love you.”
Gilda simply placed her talon on the back of Greta's head. “I love you too.” Both of them embarrassed each other as they soon fell asleep, bracing themselves for tomorrow.
When the morning sun shone over the Gold Gang’s base, Silverstream sadly woke up. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she saw. One of her closest friends, heck, her boyfriend was just pushed to his watery grave with no shard to save him. At least, to her knowledge. She didn’t want to get out of bed, but Gideon wouldn’t give her a choice.
She sadly walked towards the cafeteria by herself, not saying a word to anyone and nobody spoke to her. She just got her food in the cafeteria and sadly ate her meal. It wasn’t just Gallus she was upset over, Yona and Sandbar were still stuck in the mine and she hadn’t heard from them since they got to the base. Ocellus and Smolder were in another story, most likely they were going to be dissected and used for the gang’s evil plans.
Silverstream finished her breakfast and soon left the cafeteria when she met up with Gabby. “Hi, Silver,” Gabby said. The hippogriff didn't respond, only glancing at Gabby before looking back down at the floor. Soon, Gadget joined them, looking just as depressed as Silverstream. Gabby looked at her, who looked like she had been crying. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay,” Gadget responded. “I just saw my husband and son fall off a cliff and drown. How am I supposed to be okay with that?” She placed her talons on her face as she felt like weeping. Silverstream walked closer to the crying griffon.
“Gallus was a great griffon,” Silverstream informed while shedding a tear.
“I guess that…” Gadget didn’t know what to think or say as she was too upset. Still, it felt nice to know some creatures wanted to cheer her up. However, she did get curious about something that the other griffons were saying.
“Those bug things could be any one of us,” one griffon said.
“It looks exactly like Guy,” another added.
“How do I not know you’re the one,” a third spoke.
“The feeling’s mutual,” a fourth said. It was becoming clear that there was some conflict going on in the base, and it wasn't helped out by the confusion of how little they got paid.
A little while later, Gideon was up and heading towards the storage area. He had Smolder and Ocellus stored there for dissection since they were much smaller than the dragons they usually capture. When he got into the room, he found the griffon he hired for the job sleeping on the floor. Ocellus and Smolder were chained to the wall and looked to still be breathing and unconscious at the same time, much to the leader’s confusion and frustration.
“Wake up, you sleepy nincompoop!” He smacked the griffon in the face, making him awake, and was quick to criticize him. “Did I tell you to take a nap?!” Gideon questioned.
The griffon who was asleep quickly tried to explain himself. “I’m sorry, sir, but…”
“Those two were supposed to be cut open, especially that changeling over there!” He pointed to Ocellus, who looked to be drugged as she wasn’t awoken from the screaming. The same could apply to Smolder, that or she was too exhausted from the lack of food.
“Sir, I’m not the only one who thinks there’s more than one changeling among us. I wanted to keep her alive for answers but the drugs kicked in and…”
“Those drugs are for surgeries that griffons need. Not them!”
“Well, I’m sorry because I don't want to get stabbed in the back! Not to mention you drowned our best medic in the group!”
Gideon didn’t like the attitude coming from his backbone. Without warning, he pulled out his knife and stabbed the griffon in the talon, making him cry out in pain. “Don’t you ever talk back to me! Now, I’m going to do this myself because things have to be done right!” He looked the griffon dead in the head while he said this, causing fear to develop. With that, he pulled the knife out and the griffon flew away holding his crippled appendage in agony. “Dumb***es.”
He looked at his knife and then towards Ocellus. Judging how much she had, the changeling would be out for a while. He left to take care of one more thing before he saw what made changelings tick. Gideon was about to check on the team that would be sent to find the real Guy and Gwen when there was a loud horn sounding off. Confused, Gideon went to investigate and could see a swarm of unfamiliar airships.
They had a lot more colors of white, gold, and violet. Flying alongside the ships were a variety of creatures, such as, pegasi, changelings, hippogriffs, and what caught Gideon’s eye, dragons. It looked like an army and defenses had to be prepared. The gang leader flew off and found Gram just leaving the cafeteria.
“Gram!” Gideon cried.
“Boss? What happened?” Gram questioned. “Who sounded that horn?”
“We’re about to be attacked! Get everyone to their battle stations!” Gram gave a quick salute and flew off to prepare their soldiers.
As the airships got closer, Twilight looked at the base with Gilda walking up to her side. “So, who goes first?” Griffonstone’s ambassador asked.
“I am. I’m going to try something that might not work,” Twilight spoke. The ships and flying creatures stopped as the alicorn princess flew forward and used a spell to make her voice louder. “Gideon the Griffon! Your crimes against creatures big and small from Equestria and beyond have been causing disharmony to all! We’re willing to give you and your army one last chance to stand down and surrender.” The princess stopped talking and used her magic to change the volume of her voice back to normal.
Suddenly, a blast of fire was launched towards the ship, to which Twilight quickly used a forcefield to block it. The blast was strong and the forcefield was barely enough to hold it back and the princess went flying back into one of the airships’ decks.
“Twilight!” Gilda cried.
The alicorn managed to stand back up and looked towards Dragon Lord Ember, who flew alongside the ship while wearing a full set of armor. “Ember, send in the first squad!” she ordered. “Remember to take caution.”
“Roger that!” the Dragon Lord responded. She flew to the armored dragons and they flew down to attack the griffons head-on. They all split apart so they wouldn’t form a bigger target, which in turn made it harder for them to get shot out of the air. The Gold Gang's airships were still getting loaded with griffons who were still armoring up. As Ember’s army landed on the ground, the dragons quickly started knocking out griffons that weren’t fully prepared.
Things would start to get more even as fully armored griffons ran out to fight. The dragons were quite surprised and were barely able to keep up at first. These armors were something they had never seen before and could easily give them a run for their money. Still, Ember’s squad stood their ground.
Several griffons had lighter armor and flew towards the attacking airships. Queen Novo’s hippogriffs and the Wonderbolts flew in and started clashing with them. The Gold Gang would prove to have the edge given their weapon’s variety in having more than just spears, but also their elemental gemstones. Many hippogriffs were nearly sent falling when they went against fire giving them third-degree burns, ice freezing their wings, or electricity knocking them out. Thankfully, they started falling back as more dragons were called into a fight with the flying griffons. With their fire breath helping to give the edge in range, this would help keep many of their allies alive, though their strength would quickly be dwindling. To help with this, the yaks were sent down to help the dragons on land with the changelings sneaking in to play a couple of tricks.
The yaks plowed right into the fully armored griffons who struggled to keep them uncontrollable. The gang’s airships were beginning to take off, specifically the ones that were meant to take down full-grown dragons. Grayson, one of the captains, was in control of the ships that had a cannon hooked up and it was being aimed towards Equestria’s fleet.
“Hey!” called a voice.
Grayson looked to his side to see Gram landing beside him. “What is it?” the captain asked.
“Where’s the canon?”
“It’s below deck! Where else would it be?” Gram just nodded before running to where the canon was. Grayson was suspicious and ordered somebody to take the wheel from him. When he did get below deck, he saw Gram standing right next to the large cannon and its power source; a giant red gem. Gram eyed it with a smirk before his arm flashed; he jabbed at the gem, cracking it and making the canon lose its power. “What did you just do!?”
“Oh, sorry, was that important?” Gram turned his head while saying this to make sure Grayson saw his eyes were completely purple. Confused, Grayson was about to grab his crossbow if it wasn’t for Gram pouncing at him and grabbing the weapon before smashing it to bits. The griffon then showed his true colors and revealed that it was actually Pharynx in disguise.
He wouldn’t be the only changeling pulling this trick. Plenty of them infiltrated the ships, disabled the canons, then got out as soon as they could. Pharynx was the only one who intentionally fought a few griffons on the way out. This doesn’t mean other changelings didn’t throw a couple of punches, they just had to get out. However, not all of them were unscathed.
One of the changelings got several cuts by some griffons before it flew back to the Equestrian fleet. A hippogriff luckily flew in and carried her back to the ship Twilight was on. The changeling wasn’t the only one who needed medical treatment as a few hippogriffs were injured after going up against the elemental arsenal. Twilight was horrified by what she saw. Gilda knew what to do.
She went below deck, where other soldiers were waiting. Gilda made a beeline towards Quartz and three other griffons that were waiting if they were needed. “Glynn! Your help was needed!” Gilda cried.
“What’s wrong?” the medical griffon questioned.
“We have a lot of badly injured creatures. One of them is a changeling, and I think it needs some stitching!”
Glynn stood up and took a deep breath. “If only I have the proper medical equipment, I’ll do what I can.” He followed Gilda up to where the injured creatures were being taken.
Gilda tapped on Twilight’s shoulder to get the alicorn’s attention. “Twilight, Glynn here is a medical expert. I’m sure he’ll be a big help here.”
“Are you sure about this, Gilda?” Twilight asked.
“Gideon’s army is tougher than we thought, so we need all the help we can get.” Gilda then looked towards the top of the base, where the vault was kept. “And I have an idea of how to take care of his goons. I just need to get inside.”
“Gilda, I can’t let you do that!”
The ambassador flared at the princess while pointing down at the war zone. “Creatures are putting their lives on the line to save students that I couldn’t help. There’s a way to stop the gang now, and it’s inside that base.”
“If you have to go in, I recommend taking Quartz,” Glynn suggested. “He’ll be called in at some point and that’s when things will get ugly. They could just apply pressure points and any creature is left wide open.”
The mention of pressure points made Gilda think back to the night she got lost in the desert. Pharynx was attacked by a kobold trying to use the pressure point method, but it only made him laugh. This gave her an idea.
“What if we sent in changelings?” Gilda suggested. This was confusing to both Princess Twilight and Glynn. “I saw one attack Pharynx while we were having a search party. The kobold tried to use pressure points to stop him, but it only tickled him.”
This got Twilight thinking. After forming a plan in her head, she told Gilda what to do. “Get below deck and armor up,” the alicorn said, “While you do that and get Quartz, I’ll talk with Thorax about the changelings and get some to assist you.”
“Alright. And make sure they’re strong.” Gilda raced off to get prepared, but not before Glynn stopped her.
“Gilda, while you’re in there, can you please make sure Gadget’s okay?”
Gilda had a look of confidence in her eye. “I will,” she declared with a salute. With that, she hurried below deck while Glynn went to help with injured creatures.
He was provided with some medical supplies and was given the task of seeming up the changeling with several cuts. Taking out a needle, Glynn filled it up with Lidocaine, then injected it into the bleeding Changeling. As soon as he confirmed that the changeling felt numb, the griffon took out a needle and some thread to sew the cuts closed.
Down below, Gilda was given a helmet, a chest plate, and a shield to help protect her. After suiting up, she found Quartz, who was still sitting with Gallus and Greta. “Quartz, I’m going to need your assistance,” Gilda said to the said kobold.
“Why are you wearing armor…?” Greta asked. She quickly realized what was going to happen. “No!”
“Greta, I know what you’re thinking, but this has to happen. Gideon has a trump card and I’m going to rip it up. Quartz, you ready?” They looked to where the kobold should’ve been, though now he was missing. Suddenly, he took Gilda by surprise by jumping on her back while holding a small sword, which was the closest thing to a katana.
“Ready,” Quartz answered.
“That’s good, but please just don’t pull something like that in moments like this.” The kobold blushed with embarrassment as they were about to leave if the youngest griffon in the room didn’t speak up.
“I’m right behind you,” Gallus announced.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Gilda stated. “We were too close to dying and I’m not putting you in that scenario again!”
“All of my friends are in there! And possibly my mom. There’s no doubt Gideon is going to do horrible things to them and I’m responsible for getting them in that mess, so I’m going to save them!”
Gilda knew Gallus was a creature that set his mind on something and wouldn’t stop until that thing was accomplished. She handed Gallus the shield to give home protection. “I might regret this,” Gilda muttered, “Just… promise me, don’t do anything foolish.”
“Roger.”
Gilda was about to leave if it wasn’t for Greta stopping her. “Gilda, please… You…” She looked like she was struggling to find her words. Gilda simply planted a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek, making her blush.
“I’ll be fine. Just stay safe,” Gilda said quietly. Soon, she, Gallus, and Quartz got up to the deck and were about to take off. Quartz has to hop on Gilda since he can’t fly. They took off and flew towards the base. A dragon that was familiar to the griffons joined the party as they got closer. It was Garble.
“Hey, Gilda,” called Garble. He flew alongside the three creatures wearing armor like all of the griffons. “Thought you guys could need some help.”
“Good to see you, Garble,” Gilda gladly responded, seeing him joining the battle. “I just need you to help me with something on the top floor. Quartz, you go with Gallus.” The kobold agreed to the plan and hopped over onto the blue griffon’s back. Garble led the charge into the base, plowing through a couple of griffons to get inside.
Down in the mines, everyone had no idea what was going on. They could hear commotions outside and many of the griffons had abandoned posts. Sandbar saw this as their chance. He whispered to Yona. “Get to charge at the exit,” he informed. Yona was about to do this until Bill’s cuffs activated, giving him an electrical shock. It wasn’t just him though, every minotaur in the mine had their cuffs going off.
Gideon was the one who activated this shock. “Alright,” he spoke. “You all want to be free, right?” Many of the minotaurs did want to get out of the mine though they had a feeling there would be a catch. “If you want to be free, head outside and kill every creature trying to take this place down.” This was hard to ask from anyone who had a heart. Skyline couldn't accept this option and didn't keep her opinion a secret. She picked up and rock and chucked it right at the gang leader. Hitting him in the head, Gideon looked at the stone with fury in the eye. “Alright! Who’s the smart flank who threw that?!"
Skyline knew she was in trouble now and was about to speak if it wasn't for Bill speaking up. “I’m the smart flank,” he said. This was surprising to Sky, Sandbar, and Yona. Gideon was just about to send in some guards to take care of the minotaur until Sandbar spoke up.
“I’m the smart flank,” the colt said. With Sandbar joining in with Bill’s fib the idea was starting to catch on.
“No! I’m the smart flank,” spoke a random stallion.
“No! I’m the smart flank!" another minotaur called.
“No! I am!" a mare cried. It seemed that almost every creature in the mine was calling out they were the ones who threw the stone. Gideon’s blood was boiling until a guard flew up to him.
“Sir, some of the creatures have broken into the base!” she cried.
“…Are you f***ing kidding me!” He looked at all the creatures claiming they were the smart flank. “Just… that’s it! Kill every one of the miners.”
“…What?”
“I said kill them all! NOW!” He shoved the confused guard to the side to take care of other business. The guards had heard the order which would’ve likely brought the entire mine to a halt. It wasn’t pleasant sounding to the miners either. When one of the guards flew down to take care of Sandbar. The second they landed, Yona started stomping on the ground and the mine began to shake. The guards were knocked off their feet and tried to fly away but it looked like the stomping was more than the mine could take.
Stones fell from the ceiling and crashed down onto the griffons, knocking a couple of them out. However, one of them managed to avoid getting a concussion and grabbed a hold of Skyline. Bill saw this and grabbed the pony’s tail to try and pull her back. The guard decided to activate the shock cuffs, electrocuting the minotaur. Despite the pain he was going through, Bill gave a tug which pulled Skyline back down and made the guard faceplant. Bill could feel the electricity stop as Sandbar grabbed a hold of the device that the griffon was using to electrocute the minotaurs.
As he looked at it, Bill didn’t waste the chance to smash his cuffs on the rocky walls until they broke off. “Man, I’ve been waiting to get those things off,” he muttered.
“Let’s see if we can help the others,” Sandbar noted. They could see other ponies and Minotaurs fighting back from the griffons. The ponies stopped the griffons from using their gadget from tweeting the Minotaurs, while they helped break the ponies out of their chains.
“This is better than I ever imagined,” Skyline commented.
“Friends break out, now!” Yona declared. She and the other three charged towards the exit helping any other miners break out along the way.
Down the hall, Gideon found Gram gathering his weapons. “Crossbow?” the right taloned griffon offered. Gideon accepted the weapons as they soon heard their troops struggling. They were just in time to see Garble and Gilda split off from Gallus and Quartz after defeating the guards in their way.
The blue griffon and kobold were about to continue when they noticed the two head honchos of the gang. Gideon and Gram were confused to see them and couldn’t help but blurt out, “Why aren’t you dead?!”
Gallus didn’t give them an answer and instead booked it down the hall towards the workshop. He and Quartz used the shield to block the arrows that were fired at them until Quartz drew the sword he picked up. “Get to the workshop!” the kobold called, “I’ll hold them back!” With that, he kept off of Gallus’s back and landed right behind the ensuing griffons. Gram and Gideon dodged Quartz’s attacks as the leader saw Gallus getting away.
Quartz used his pressure point disability on Gideon, making his arm go limp. Gram flew above the kobold and managed to parry his attacks with his own sword. When the ninja tries to hit his pressure point, Gram grabbed the kobold’s arm, slammed him on the ground, and before Quartz could stand up he felt excruciating pain, making him scream.
He collapsed as Gram took a look at where his right leg used to be. The griffon then used the pressure point method to deactivate Gideon’s arm. “Not bad,” the leader said. They looked down at Quartz who breathed heavily no longer able to fight.
“What should we do with him?” Gram asked.
“We’ll let time kill him. Get the heavy armor and check upstairs. If that kid’s alive, the same should imply for Gilda.” Gram gave a salute before heading towards the armory. Gideon then looked at the sword Quartz had dropped. He picked up and muttered to himself, “Time to make sure this kid stays dead.”
In the workshop, Gadget, Gabby, and Silverstream had locked the door to try and protect themselves from the attack. “Are you sure that door will hold any longer?” Gabby asked.
“As long as they don’t use the heavy armor, we should be fine,” Gadget responded. “Now, if we stay quiet, we’ll be fine.”
Silverstream stayed quiet during most of this until she jumped when there was a banging on the door. Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire, they all stayed quiet until the one who banged on the door spoke. “Let me in!” he cried. The voice sounded familiar to the griffs. Bravely, Silverstream opened the door and a familiar blue griffon burst into the room, locking the door behind him.
The hippogriff looked at him and even rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. “Gallus?!” she questioned. Before the blue griffon could get a word in, his girlfriend hugged him tightly. Gabby and Gadget were also surprised by this. “How are you…?” She paused when she saw the pearl necklace around Gallus's neck. “You have a shard?”
Gallus nodded. “Glynn wasn't been holding onto it,” Gadget commented. “But if it helped you survive, how did it work?”
“I’ll explain later,” Gallus responded, “Right now, Gideon’s out there trying to kill me. I needed defense.” This was concerning, but Gadget had an idea.
“You came to the right place because I have a solution.” She looked towards the blue gemstone on the shelf before grabbing it and leading Gallus around the corner. There was the finished armor that the griffon with a metal arm had been working on. It was similar to the other armors, but I had its wings folded out. Gadget opened the chest plate open to insert the gemstone in. The suit looked to power up, now it just needed somebody to put it on.
“This looks different.”
“It’s the new model Gideon ordered me to build. It’s kind of nice to feel that it’s going to be used against him. Very ironic.” A loud bang was heard against the door, followed by the sound of clashing metal.
“Gadget, I know you're in there!” Gideon screamed. “Open the f***ing door!”
“Gallus, quick! Put them on!” Gadget ordered. “Girls, need your help as well!”
“We’re coming!” Gabby and Silverstream exclaimed. The girls wasted no time helping Gallus get suited up. After bits of banging and crashing metal, Gideon broke the door down. He looked around the workshop until the girls poked their heads around the corner.
“Where is he?! I know he’s in here! Don’t even think about lying!”
“Gideon, put the sword down before you do something… Who am I kidding, you’ve already done a lot of stupid things," Gadget scoffed.
The gang leader pulled back his sword to bring it down to slice the girls up if it wasn’t for the armored arm grabbing it. Gallus walked around the corner, fully armored, and had a lot of anger to let out. “Ready when you are,” the armored griffon said.
He broke the sword in his talon and tried to throw a punch at Gideon. The leader dodged the attack which cracked the wall instead. Gideon made a run for it and flew around a couple of corners to try and lose Gallus. He growled as he knew he was losing control of everything. Knowing that the new armor would likely curve stomp him, he decided to head to storage and grab someone and make them useful.
Meanwhile, Gilda and Garble fought their way to the top floor where the vault was sitting. Using his fire breath, Garble melted the metal and left nothing to prevent them from getting inside.
“Sweet Torch, look at all of this treasure!” the dragon gasped looking at all the riches.
“You can take what you want later,” Gilda spoke. She flew over the hot metal and picked up the idol that rested on the pedestal. “Right now we need this.”
“An object that doesn’t belong to you,” informed a certain griffon. The two looked back and could see Gram standing in the doorway, fully armored. Garble realized they were in trouble and tried to punch the griffon only to have his fist caught.
The dragon groaned in pain as he could fist his claw getting crushed. Gilda quickly flew up and tried to take Gram’s helmet off only for him to use his other talon to grab her arm. Garble used this chance to breathe fire in the armored griffon’s face making him instinctively try and fan it away, making him let go of the intruders.
The second they were free, Gilda and Garble made a run for it with the Idol of Boreas in their grasp. Garble rubbed his sore claw while they flew down to the floor below them. “Tell me why that statue is so important?!” he asked.
Gilda was going to answer him if it wasn’t the bolt of lightning nearly hit them. Gram was firing lightning and ice from his suit’s gems. Fortunately for Garble and Gilda, they had made it to where the waterfall was and they flew off the cliff, something Gram was unable to do while he wore the armor.
He tried firing a couple of shots at them, but Gilda and Garble were out of range. “S**t,” he swore.
Back in the workshop, Gadget gathered up the yellow power gem and other essential items before she, Gallus, and the girls made a break for it. “So, we’re just going to run through the battlefield?” Silverstream asked.
“We don’t have any choice,” Gadget noted. “Hopefully, Gallus’s armor will… be enough to get us out of here.” They could hear the concern in her voice and they could figure out why.
“I’ll be fine in this,” Gallus stated. “We just have to make sure all of you are okay.” He looked over to Silverstream before handing her the necklace he had been wearing. “I’ll make sure you make it.” The hippogriff smiled and hugged her boyfriend.
Gadget took two gemstones and placed them into the slots where most armors had elements stones. “Okay, you have fire and ice,” the griffon mechanic explained. “We haven’t had a good time to test this, so don’t push yourself.”
“No promises. Let’s just get to the prison cells, free the students, and get them out of here to safety.” With that, Gallus led the charge out of the workshop and towards the prison cells. Along the way, they could hear hoofsteps and thought that the soldiers had gotten in. Surprisingly, when they got to the cells, Gallus was about to break open one until they saw the minotaurs from the mine run with Sandbar and Yona as part of their rebellion.
“It’s another one of the guards!” Bill cried. He was about to lead the charge to take on Gallus if Silverstream didn't step forward.
“Hold it, wait!” she cried, “It’s Gallus!”
The charge stopped with Sandbar speaking first. “Gallus?” he questioned, “You’re in that armor?”
“Yeah. It's a new model,” Gallus spoke. “What do you guys think?”
“I’ll like it when we get out of here,” Gus spoke up.
“Ehh… I starting to be narcissistic, am I?”
“Only a bit, but not overall.” Gallus obliged and with the armor’s strength, he bent the bars like they were bendy straws.
“Off you go,” he said as Gus got out of the cage feeling relieved. “Help me with the others.” Bill and the minotaurs helped to free the students too, including the other griffons who weren’t students.
“Ahh, finally!” Gregoria exclaimed with glee. “We’re free!”
“Yes!” Grace also exclaimed with glee.
“I’m so happy that I’m out!” Gleaming Pearl added.
“Me too!” Sunshine also added.
As the others helped the other prisoners, Yona noticed something. “Where guards and ninjas?” she questioned.
“They’re busy outside,” Gadget noted. “It’s not going to be easy to get through.”
“We’ve come this far,” Sandbar noted. Yona and the other miners agreed, they finally had a chance to be free and they weren't giving it up. Eventually, all the griffs were out of their cells, even ones who weren't from the school of friendship, now they just had to make it through the crossfire.
Still, there were two creatures Silverstream was worried about. “What about Smolder and Ocellus?” she asked.
“We’ll check on them,” Gadget reassured. “Right now we have too many creatures to risk getting caught.”
“We’ll send in another team after we wear the gang down,” Gallus noted, and then faced the students. “Now listen here, I’m glad that all of you are safe. Now, here, once we’re out of this place, get to the fleet, where Princess Twilight was on, with assistance as quickly as possible.” Gallus then turned to the others. “Same goes for all of you. Let’s go!” And that was just what they did, they all made a beeline for the exit where another armored griffon caught them in the act.
Outside, the kobolds had been called in that battle by Equestria’s army. The changelings came down to even the battlefield as the ninjas found out when trying to use pressure points, only to have the changelings laugh in response. They would be distracted from this confusion as they and many griffons were shot with ice, freezing them in place.
Gallus led the charge towards the Equestria airships while shooting at any griffon in armor. Gadget helped out as she had brought a crossbow with her to help fire at anyone that would attack them. The Minotaurs were the ones who fought anyone too close to them, not to mention some of them brought some tools from the mines to help them out.
Rutherford and Ember came running up to them and would’ve smacked Gallus if they weren’t quickly told about what was going on. “Yak protect creatures!” Rutherford spoke. He took Gallus’s place at the front of the charge, bulldozing through anything in his way.
“We need to go back inside for Smolder and Ocellus,” Gallus noted, “and Quartz too. I haven’t seen him since he distracted Gideon.”
“Go and find them!” Ember commented. “Right now, we need to get these kids to safety!” Gallus nodded before turning on his paws and running back into the base.
“Shoot, I forgot to tell him about the suit’s new ability,” Gadget muttered. She turned around and tried to catch up with her son if a kobold didn’t show up and disabled her body. The griffon crashed on the sand and looked up to see a katana about to be impaled in her if it wasn’t for a famous Minotaur running up and decking him in the face.
Gadget soon found herself picked up by Iron Will before running back to the Equestrian fleet. “Iron Will’s been told you’re not like other griffon gang members,” he spoke. “You’ll be lucky when we get back on princess’s ship.”
“Wait, princess?” Gadget questioned, “Who’s the princess?!” Iron Will was too focused to give her an answer and kept running.
Gilda and Garble we’re flying around the base, much to the dragon’s confusion. “Okay, what do we do now?” Garble asked.
“We need something to get everyone’s attention,” Gilda responded. They looked down at the warzone, everybody was on their toes.
“Yeah, I think that’s easier said than done.”
Then, Gilda remembered the spell Twilight used before the battle started. “We need to get back to the ship and… GAH!” They were interrupted with a shot of fire nearly hitting them. Several griffons saw that they had the idol and they weren’t happy. “Alright. Plan B; keep away!” The duo retreated with the guards hot on their tails. Gilda tried to talk them into listening to her for just a minute, but if she could get them to stop, this was nowhere enough of the can to know the truth.
Gallus was having just about the same difficulty. As soon as he made it into the base, he was tackled started getting a beat down from Gram. “You just couldn’t stay dead, do you?” Gram questioned. He kept throwing several punches until Gallus shot some fire in his face to help push him off. “This time, I’m going to make sure you stay dead!”
Gallus quickly made a run for it as Gram tried shooting him with lightning, but kept missing. Gallus didn’t plan for this and had to think fast. Three creatures needed his help.
Things were happening fast and were taking a turn for the worst while the students and the other prisoners and miners started getting on board. The ship was just starting to take off as one of the griffons chasing Gilda and Garble saw it taking off. Thinking that they could use a hostage to offer a trade. A few of them stormed the airship, which was ready for a sudden attack, and the unlucky victim would be Silverstream.
Before anyone could act, the young hippogriff was swooped up and she felt her wings getting encased in ice. Gilda looked back and saw what was happening. She and Garble charged after Silverstream, to which Gilda realized she was wearing her pearl shard. Griffonstone’s ambassador looked at the river and a couple of boulders that were just sitting near the base.
“Garble, make a dam in that river with those boulders!” Gilda ordered.
“Seriously, right now?” Garble questioned.
“Just do it! I have a plan.” Garble groaned as he did as he was told while his ally tried to catch up with the troopers that had Silverstream captive. “Hey!” The scream caught their attention so they stopped in the air and looked towards the creature that stole the idol. Gilda took a minute to make sure they were above the river, which Garble was quickly damming up. “Look, just hand over Silverstream and you can have the idol back. I don't want her sleeping with the fish. A sinking feeling like that would be horrible.”
Silverstream was a little confused. “Why are you talking like that?” questioned the hippogriff
“I think you know it’s hard to see ponies as equals when they’ve done nothing but let you sink in your problems.” Gilda made a gesture of scratching her neck winking at Silverstream. The hippogriff looked down at the water and finally realized what Gilda was implying. Before the guards could figure out the odd speech, Silverstream used her pearl shard to turn herself and the griffons into seaponies.
With no wings keeping them up, they fell like stones and splashed into the water with some of their weapons joining them. Nobody was impaled and as soon as she was in the water, Silverstream used her pearl again to change back to a hippogriff to fly back to Gilda.
“So long, suckers!” Silverstream exclaimed to them with a sarcastic salute. The guards all sank to the bottom of the river, flopping around not sure how to control their bodies. Even if they could, they would be trapped, due to Garble damming up the river with boulders, and the other way led to the waterfall, which they had no way of climbing. Garble and Silverstream joined up with Gilda and flew back to the ship. “Smart idea, Gilda.”
“Don't thank me yet,” Gilda responded. “We’ve still got to show them what this thing is.” Gilda looked at the fake idol and then flew towards the ship Twilight was on. She made a beeline towards it while Garble made sure that Silverstream made it to the other ship safely.
Back in the base, Gallus was still having a bad time. The armor was helping him stay on a level playing field with Gram, but his experience was giving the blue Griffon some trouble. Several punches and shots were fired, but it seemed that Gram was starting to get the edge. Despite this, Gallus didn’t give up.
“Do you think you could take on a gang like this?” Gram questioned. “One that kills dragons for a living!”
“Yeah, and you also torture your kind,” Gallus reminded. “I’m fighting for the right cause. And you’re not the first idiot my friends and I have taken down!” Gallus used the fire gem to engulf his fist in flame before rocketing forward and slamming into Gram. The two rammed right through several walls until they made it into storage.
After taking a second to recover, both armored griffons took a minute to take in what happened. “How are you flying in that armor?”
“Hey, your boss was the one who commissioned this. And I thought you’re his right claw griffon.” With that, Gallus shot some ice in his opponent’s face, blinding him long enough so he could find his friends. Even trying to use his surprising ability to fly in such heavy armor, the young griffon couldn’t find Ocellus or Smolder in storage. He was about to look for them and Quartz in the base, if it wasn't for Gram grabbing him by the leg and started slamming him around like a rag doll.
Despite being slammed around, Gallus used the momentum to get himself and his foe flying. With them both in the air, the blue griffon rammed his opponent through the ceiling and several floors until they charged through the top of the base. Before Gallus could slam Gram back down into the ground, the associate of the Gold Gang used electricity to stung Gallus before freezing him solid. With no method of flight, the two armored fighters plummeted through the first two floors.
The two of them took a minute to recover from the fall as somebody looked down at them. “Hey, Gram!” Gideon ordered, “Get up here!” The right claw griffon did as he was told as Gallus only managed to catch up with his flight. On the roof, Gallus saw that Gideon had brought Smolder and Ocellus up there. Gram stood in the middle so Gallus couldn't get too close. “Looking for these? Looks like your friends have gotten something I want."
“Yeah, well I want them back!” Gallus was about to fire at Gideon, who retaliated by holding a dagger to Ocellus’s neck. The young griffon slowly lowered his arm as he knew his friends were in danger.
“Smart move kid.”
From the ships, Twilight could see what was happening through a telescope. “Gilda, you might wanna see this.” She handed it to Gilda, who was just as concerned.
“Great,” the Griffonstone Ambassador groaned. “If we show them the truth now, Ocellus and Smolder are done for.”
“We need to find a way to get them away from Gideon. Maybe if…”
“Wait, what is Gallus doing?” Gilda handed the telescope back to the princess, who used it to see that Gallus was taking off his armor in an attempt for his friends to be spared.
Gadget and Silverstream overheard Gallus' mention and ran to see what was going on. They were each given a chance to look through the telescope just in time to see Gram getting into Gallus’s armor while Gideon put on the older model.
“Why aren’t you getting a new model?” Gallus questioned.
“Because Gram enjoys having a new toy,” Gideon responded. “I want to see what this suit can do in the claws of a professional.”
“Okay. You have the new toy that was on your wishlist, now give me my friends!”
Gideon thought for a second before responding. “How about no?” Without warning, he smacked Gallus in the face. The young griffon groaned as a large bruise was where he had been punched.
The creatures on the ship had seen enough. “We’re going in to help him!” Glynn declared.
“Glynn, they’ll kill you!” Gadget informed. “I can’t allow you to be dead again!”
“We can’t just stay here!” Silverstream cried. “Gallus is already in danger, Please tell me you have something that can help us."
Gadget thought for a second before she remembered some information she was told about earlier. “Maybe there is!” She took out the yellow gemstone and showed it off to everyone. “They said that this and the blue gemstone react violently with each other. Apparently, they’re the cause of the earthquake we felt the other day.”
“You think we could use that against them?” Gilda asked.
“Hmm, maybe if we can trick him,” Silverstream said. “Like… double the power.”
“We’ll be lucky if we do that,” Glynn said. "Not to mention the hostage situation. If we give him what he wants, he’ll let them go… Hopefully.”
Gilda looked at the fake idol and sighed. “We’ll do what it takes,” she sighed. “Gadget, care to follow?” The griffon mechanic nodded and the two of them cautiously flew towards the leader and his right claw mate.
Gideon and Gram showed no mercy against Gallus as they beat him into submission. While they did this, the gang leader decided to monologue. “I really enjoy showing who pulls the strings around here,” Gideon said, “Stopping creatures who try to play god. You think you’re that tough, little kid?" He gave another punch to Gallus’s face, making blood spit out of his mouth. “You played a super dumb game and here’s your prize.” Just before he could give another hit at the injured student, a voice call out.
“STOP!” The armored griffons looked behind them to see Gilda and Gadget landed with the idol. The ambassador didn’t hesitate to give him the command. “Let him go!”
“You sure you want him now?” Gram asked. “Not much he can do.” He kicked Gallus”s body, to which the bloody and bruised griffon could only groan. Gadget could barely look at the condition of his body without crying.
“If you let him and that dragon and changeling the go, then you can have your stupid statue!” Gideon looked at the idol, then to the one who was giving him the offer.
“What’s the catch?" he asked. “Are you tricking me? If you were, then nice try.”
“There’s no trick. Do you want it or not!?”
“Of course, we do!”
“Then let them go.” Gilda stared down at the gang leader, not caring if he used that armor he was wearing to put her in the same position Gallus was in. She didn’t want anyone else to suffer.
Gideon smiled behind his helmet before looking towards Gram. “Hold them down, I'm having some trust issues.” Gram nodded. He was about to do as he was told if it wasn’t for a scream they all heard. Silverstream charged towards them while carrying Glynn, who held a spear that was driven right into the cavity that held the blue gemstone.
Gram wasn’t phased by this and just yanked the spear out, which broke open the door to reveal his gemstone. He then tried firing at the hippogriff, who ended up dropping Glynn, who fell into the hole that Gram and Gallus made during their fight. He was going to try and find out how to get back up there if his wife didn’t stop him.
"Glynn, get out of here!" she cried. Gadget was pulled back by Gram, who was done with all of this. Glynn knew had no choice but to listen. He could only flee down into the base. However, he did know Quartz had been unaccounted for. When he did find the kobold, his breaths were weak his injury was beyond severe. With hesitation, the medic helped the kobold up and took him to the medical bay.
Gram dragged Gadget closer to the cliff as Gideon looked towards Gilda, who wasn’t sure what to do. “How’s our deal, Gilda?” Gideon asked. “Can we have the idol back?” Gilda looked around her, Gallus was injured, Silverstream was flying around trying not to get shot down, and Gadget was caught in an arm lock. During this struggle, she saw the yellow gemstone slip out of the Gadget’s bag. She remembers the mini earthquake that they went through.
Gilda and Gadget both looked at each other with grins and gave a nod. The mechanic even gave an expression that read, “Just do it.” Gilda looked Gideon in the eye and said, “You know what, Gideon? We’re taking you with us!”
“What?” Without warning, Gilda tossed the idol into the air, to which Gideon instinctively tried to catch it. While he was distracted, Gilda grabbed the yellow gemstone and slammed it into the cavity with the blue gem.
Almost immediately, the gemstone started glowing and the suit started shaking. “What… What did you do!” Gram cried.
“I forgot to tell you that I added a new feature. It’s called, ‘self-destruct’.” With the suit overloading, Gram let go of Gadget as he could feel himself getting hot. Just as Gideon got a proper hold of the idol, he saw Gadget grab her injured son while Gilda grabbed a hold of Smolder. They were concerned about Ocellus if it wasn’t for Silverstream swiping in and snatching the changing. The three flying all made a break for it as Gideon saw Gram’s suit starting to glow brighter than usual. Realizing what was going to happen, he tried to get to the hole.
However, it would be too late as Gram let out one last scream before the gems caused his suit to explode, taking the top half of the base with him. Everyone stopped to look at the explosion and the partly destroyed base. Another scream could be heard as Gideon slammed across the ground with his suit broken apart, revealing his severe injuries. The idol toppled down not too far away from him.
Gilda helped make sure Gallus, Smolder, and Ocellus got back to the ship for medical attention before flying down and landing in front of Gideon. She could see the burn marks on the leader as well as the blood on his face. Griffonstone’s ambassador didn’t say anything and just walked over to the idol while the gang leader failed to get himself back onto his legs.
He breathed heavily as he saw other griffons landing nearby. “What are you waiting for?” Gideon questioned. He coughed up some blood before yelling out. “STOP HER!” The griffons started walking towards Gilda, who just picked up the idol, which was now in pieces. For a moment, they thought she had ruined everything, until they saw Gilda scratching the paint of the metal, revealing the silver metal beneath it.
Everyone was confused at what they saw. “…It’s… Fake?" questioned a griffon.
“No, duh,” Gilda responded. “He’s been lying to you this whole time.” All of the griffons looked towards Gideon, all feeling mixed opinion, though all of them felt some sort of rage. “Are you proud of yourselves? You’ve followed this guy for years all because he had a statue that might as well be a participation trophy. Even if he had the real idol, I wouldn’t listen to him. He uses nothing but force and fear to get what he wants and you all suffer for it.” The leaders could all hear Gilda’s speech and simply took care of the gang members that were being more difficult so she wouldn’t have any distractions. “I know that Griffonstone is a huge mess and instead of trying to fix it, you kept listening to him. I know it’s because he had too much power and I don’t fully know how it started, but it shouldn’t have happened. We have the chance to rebuild our home and I hope all of you will do the smart thing and help others instead of blindly following the ones who are mad with power.”
Gilda just looked down at Gideon, who only sat there and lay there as he knew he lost. “What are you waiting for?” he asked. “…Kill me then!”
The heroic griffon just looked down at the fallen leader. “Sorry, pal. You’re not getting the easy way out.” Gilda then looked towards the base, where she saw Glynn walking through the silent battlefield. He was carrying a bag of medical supplies, as well as Quartz, who had a special gemstone attached to him. She walked over to give some help and get them onto the ship.
All of the griffons that listened to Gilda’s speech were in deep thought before almost all of them dropped their weapons and removed their armors as they stepped towards the Equestrian fleet to surrender. Those who didn’t make a run for it, not want to have any punishments assigned to them, along with the kobolds. A couple were caught and were cuffed so they could be taken back to Equestria and be punished.
Some hippogriffs and dragons stormed the base to salvage anything they could while Glynn was helped back onto the ship. “Are Gadget and Gallus okay?” he asked.
“One of them is,” Gilda answered. They found the blue and bruised griffon, who was lying on a bed similar to Ocellus and Smolder. Like Quartz, they were barely breathing. Another bed was brought out for the kobold when Gilda noticed the gemstone that was hanging around his neck. It was long, thin, and red. “Is that one of the medical gems?”
“It sure is. Hopefully, it should help with Quartz’s blood." He took out three more to be given to the students. Smolder was given violet, while Gallus and Ocellus were given red. When they made contact, the crystals glowed and their breathing seemed to improve slightly. Gallus and Ocellus had a couple of cuts that had been taken care of immediately, Glynn volunteered for it. He started with Ocellus as he looked back at Gallus a few times. Gadget peered into the room and looked at the condition of their son. She wiped some tears as she looked away which felt like the only way to stop herself from crying. Gallus was unaware of all of this, his injures had knocked him unconscious and it would be like this for the whole ride home.
The sound of a steady beep could be heard. Gallus groaned as he started opening his eyes, which felt like they were weighing a ton. He could barely make out where he was with his blurry vision but he could feel himself lying on something soft. There was something on him keeping him warm. As his eyes opened wider and his vision cleared up Gallus could see where he was: the hospital.
He could barely move his body. His neck felt like it had whiplash with every degree he turned to the left. Eventually, he could see there were some roommates, an orange dragoness, and a blue changeling. They looked to see that he was awake and were happy about it. “Gallus!” Ocellus cried. “You’re awake!”
“Thank goodness!” Smolder said in relief.
“…Smolder? …Ocellus?” Gallus groaned. He felt like there was no energy at all in his body.
“Easy buddy,” Smolder responded. “You’ve got some healing up to do.”
Gallus moved his eye to see he was covered with bandages and had a glowing green crystal resting on his chest. “How bad?”
“A few broken bones, several cuts, and bruises,” Ocellus noted. “You lost a lot of blood as I am.”
“Wha… What about you?”
“We’re doing better,” Smolder noted. “Having some real food in your stomach helps with that. I haven’t eaten them for days.”
“What about… Your stab… Ocellus?”
“It's heeling up, but the doctors say I shouldn’t try shapeshifting or flying for a couple of days,” Ocellus noted.
“Before you say anything else, blink twice if you want to know about the others,” Smolder said. Gallus listened and blunk twice, which felt like the easiest thing he could do right now.
“Sandbar and Yona are with the mining group,” Ocellus explained. “They're getting the proper amount of food they’ve been lacking. I hope they're doing alright.”
“How… How long have we…” Gallus coughed in the middle of his words. “Out?”
“We woke up when we were getting settled in the hospital. While you… were out for a day.”
“Though someone here stood by your side,” Smolder chuckled. Gallus struggled to turn his head until he was able to see who was to his right, Silverstream. The hippogriff had fallen asleep from how long she was sitting by his side. “She’s been there just as long as you have. Only gets up for bathroom breaks.”
Gallus looked at his sleeping girlfriend who he knew had been through a lot. He gave several loud coughs which soon became real given his injury. It managed to die down just as Silverstream started waking up. The usually bubbly hippogriff opened her eyes and stood up to see her boyfriend awake. “Gallus!” she cheered. A couple of tears of joy escaped from her eyes as she had to resist hugging the griffon as they might make his injuries worse. “How...? Are you feeling better?”
“I feel like I was… at the dance floor… during the Yakyakistan stomp,” Gallus wheezed.
Silverstream whipped her tears away before she spoke again. “I’m… just so happy you're alive.” She carefully leaned forward and kissed the griffon’s cheek. Gallus managed to crack a smile as he felt a little bit better. He looked down at the green gemstone he had.
“What's this?” he asked.
“Glynn says that these crystals are better for different medical emergencies depending on their color. The green one you have helps with broken bones.”
“And red ones help out with our bodies’ regeneration," Ocellus added. “They’re impressive.”
“Yeah. I know, right,” Smolder agreed. “I wish all hospitals will have like these.”
“Too bad they're rare,” Gallus groaned. He then thought of another question. “Where’s… Quartz?”
“The kobold you’ve mentioned?” Gallus nodded. “The doctors said he’s in the other room. He’s in a pretty bad condition, but… he should be alive.”
“I can go and check on him for you,” Silverstream spoke.
“That’ll be… Great. Thank you.” The hippogriff flew out of the room for a few minutes. Soon she came back with a kobold in a wheelchair. It was Quartz, who surprised the students with his missing leg.
“Hey, kids,” he spoke with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m feeling better.” The three students all confirmed they were doing better, slightly, though they couldn't ignore the missing body part. “I know, it sucks missing a leg. Gadget says she’ll be able to build me a new one.”
“That’s cool,” Silverstream commented.
“It kind of does. Honestly, it's gotta be better than being a part of the team that shouldn’t be named.”
“Quartz, what are you doing out of your room?" asked a voice. Looking towards the doorway, two familiar griffons walked in, Glynn and Gadget. Both of them were surprised to see that Gallus was awake. Awkwardness started to be felt in the room.
Quartz managed to turn his chair around so he could look at them. “You three need a minute alone?” he asked.
Glynn took a deep breath before he responded. “That’d be wise of you,” he answered. With some assistance from the medical staff, Smolder and Ocellus were temporarily escorted out of the room with Quartz and Silverstream. Now it was only the family of three in the room. Gallus didn't want to speak mostly because of how their relationship was. “Gallus, I know we have bad blood, but…”
“I’m sorry,” Gadget interrupted while whining. The two males looked towards the mechanic, who couldn't hold back her tears. “We’re so terrible. We left you in Griffonstone and had you fend for yourself and you had it rough… But if you were in the gang… Gideon… Everyday…”
Glynn turned his wife around so they could look at each other face to face. “Gadget, please don’t cry.”
“Glynn, look at our son! No matter what we chose, his life was going to be terrible. We should’ve never chosen to be parents!” She began bawling into her husband’s chest as the years of fear and guilt were being let out. Glynn did his best to comfort the weeping griffon as he looked at Gallus, who looked to be just as upset.
“It's not your fault,” Gallus muttered. Both of his parents looked over to him after what he said. “My life has been rough, but… it’s better if I didn’t join the gang. I would’ve never met my friends, or saved Equestria. It’s never easy, is it?”
Glynn sighed. “It isn’t,” he agreed. “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. You do care a lot for your friends if you were willing to put yourself through that much pain. We were… the gang had a hard hold on us, but… here we are, we're finally together… as a family.” Both parents walked on different sides of their son’s bed and carefully hugged him. It seemed that each other had tears of joy cry from their eyes. Gallus has never felt this type of joy in his life, now that he discovers that he found his biological parents, he no longer considers himself an orphan anymore. They were finally a family again.
Silverstream, Ocellus, and Smolder were outside of the door, listened to the whole conversation. Both Smolder and Ocellus were surprised to hear when they mentioned Gallus as a son.
“Did we miss something?” Smolder said. “I swear she said ‘our son’.”
“It’s true!” Silverstream replied. “Gallus discovers that Gadget and Glynn are biological parents. He’s no longer an orphan anymore.”
“Wow! I was not expecting that,” Ocellus said with a shock on her face, including Smolder’s.
“Uh-huh, exactly. That’s the same feeling I had. Including Gabby.”
“Well then, just wait until we tell Sandbar and Yona about his discovery,” Smolder chuckled.
Just then, Silverstream’s beak, Smolder’s scales, and Ocellus’s wings started glowing. They all smiled as they knew that their mission was complete. “Alright!” Silverstream cheered.
“That’s a job well done,” Ocellus said with a grin.
Meanwhile, back inside, Gallus’s beak glows as well. He noticed it, except for his parents. He smiled to himself as he knew that his mission is complete. He made a mental thank-you note for the Spirit of Harmony. Sandbar and Yona, on the other hand, saw his cutie mark and her horns glow. They smiled as they knew that it’s finally over.
Gilda was with Twilight Sparkle, both of them looking at Gideon who was in a gibbet. The parts of him injured were bandaged up and a violet crystal was attached to him. “Are you sure that crystal will keep him alive?” the alicorn asked.
“Trust me,” Gilda said, “Glynn said that crystal will keep him well fed.” The two turned around and left the gang leader to his punishment. “I can't believe some of them got away.”
“I know it’s hard, but we still got a good amount of them. And the students are all safe.”
Gilda smiled at this thought. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m honestly surprised how well I got out of there.”
“Everyone we rescue is recovering. You shouldn’t be hard on yourself,” Twilight smiled. The griffon thought about what she had heard.
When they walked through the castle, Gabby and Greta over to Griffonstone’s ambassadors. Greta was the first to go for a hug and even kissed Gilda. “Hey, I'm fine.” She looked at her girlfriend's face, which looked to be at the breaking point of crying.
“What did I say about putting yourself in danger?” Greta wept.
“Look, I’m still here. And all the griffs are safe, right Gabby?”
“They sure are,” she confirmed. “In fact, I saw some of them wanted to talk with you.”
“Really?”
“It's true,” Greta confirmed. “Come take a look.” The three griffons headed down the hall to where some rescued prisoners were. They were unfamiliar to Gilda, making her think she didn't see any of them being enrolled at the school of friendship. That and some of them looked to be older than teenagers.
“You must be Gilda, right?” one of them asked.
“Um… Yes,” the said griffon responded. Some of the freed prisoners bowed or kneeled before Gilda, much to her surprise, telling her that they thanked her for the rescue.
She leaned towards Greta to whisper. “Care to tell me why they’re doing this?”
“They think you’re fit to be Griffonstone’s queen,” Greta answered.
“Queen!?”
“Yes! You’d be a great one,” Gabby commented, “since you’ve already done a lot to help our home.” Gilda looked at the griffons who bowed to her and gave a nervous smile. She was hesitant about the idea of being royalty, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt right. Not to mention that she worried about abusing her power that could lead to the downfall like what happened to Gideon. Being a ruler can be her chance to restore it once again.
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Well at least the plan still kind of work getting them a little a paranoid about the situation how Gideon never paid his crew and they think some of them are spies
that kind of reminds me of that song
Smolder
Whoa that was pretty intense store here so it looks like glida and the others finally made it to Twilight and the other leaders they even told them about the information what did the gold gang did now they are preparing for a battle a day later they stormed into Gideon airship and basically prepare for battle and what a battle it is every creatures did pretty well although I was kind of wish the other main five would help out the situation as well especially Rainbow dash and the Wonderbolts but still it was pretty awesome they got the miners and the catcher students and even the Griffons who were prison for a long time we're free and basically after the big battle with Gideon they finally stopped him the other griffons who are still loyal to Gideon were about to attack again but glida got the idle and show them the truth that it was fake and what he said was a lie they all listened to her speech which that was pretty inspirational and deciding to give them self up after that it looks like the young six at least three out of six or pretty injured so badly but it looks like they making their full recovery and now Gallus was talking to his parents they are still feel ashamed for what they done to him but with all circumstances he was kind of glad or else he would never met silverstream and the others and I had to admit it was pretty emotional that he actually found his family after all these years Meanwhile Twilight and glida putting Gideon into prison for a very long time and face the consequences for his crime but it looks like the other Griffins voted for Gilda to be then the queen of griffonstone which that is a pretty huge step for her but I'm sure she can do this wow okay this was a pretty good story and a lot of action to it and hey congratulation having fifty stories you guys really did an amazing job keep up the good work can't wait to see more ahead 😉
11031063
Every time! Why does that happen to me!
11031078
We’ll, there was a lot happening in this chapter and I was focused on things I had planned since the third chapter. Who knows, maybe when I go and fix the Smilder typo (no idea how that happen) I could add a few other details.
What an ending!!! Nice job!
Nice Spartacus reference 👌
I absolutely loved this story!
Thank you and keep up the great work 👍🏻
Wait where is gruff?
11126854
Probably back in Griffonstone.
Before I read this, I must know: Why would a group of random griffons be against restoring Griffonstone?
11163717
It’s to bring a brighter future for the griffons living there