> Pony and the Yak
>  by Majestical4729
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a faraway land, a huge castle nested right in the middle of a large forest filled with natural green leaves grown on the branches of the trees, making it an amazing sight. But not all was good about the castle, as only the surroundings and outside of it were beautiful, while on the inside, things were no where near good.

"This is no dinner!" an angry voice roared, tossing a plate full of food on it onto the floor, ruining and wasting the dish.

"I'm so sorry your majesty..." a pegasus mare apologised, "I did the best I can you know..."

"Best?! The best?! That food's nowhere near the best! Find something better!" the earth pony mare roared.

"Right away, your majesty!" the pegasus saluted, quickly picking up the plate and dashing off into the hallway nearby.

As soon as she was out of the yak's sight, she bumped into her fellow Pegasi castle servants who were all about the same age as her and the bossy brown earth pony mare.

"Another dish rejected, Silverstream?" a male blue pegasus asked the pegasus mare who just recently tried serving their boss.

"I am afraid so, Gallus..." Silverstram sighed in a sad tone.

"I'm already getting sick of going through this day after day!" an orange pegasus complained.

"Sorry Smolder, but with this personality, there's no way that that mare can be reasoned with." a cyan pegasus informed her.

"It felt like it was forever we've been serving her like this, Ocellus!" Silverstream complained to the cyan pegasus,  just before they all heard a knock on the large doors that served as the entrance and exit of the castle.



"Some creature! Get whoever that's knocking on the door to stop!" the pony-in-charge demanded.

"Right away, your majesty..." Smolder saluted, before flying towards the door.

On the other side of the door, was a hooded stranger who stood on four legs.

"I am so sorry to come so unexpectedly tonight, I just hope that staying here for a while is alright..." the stranger told the pony who opened the door.

"You just spoke in rhyme..." Smolder pointed out, a second before the mare who ruled the castle marched forward and rudely pushed the servant aside, then told the stranger in a cruel tone, "Sorry, but this castle has no room for temporary guests!"

"This castle is actually big enough for hundreds more..." Ocellus pointed out, only to receive a cold glare from the mare, causing her to back off.

"If you're not letting me stay for free, I surely will pay. But all I can give you is this rose that  I brought with me today." the stranger informed, showing a beautiful red rose.

"A ROSE?!" the mare asked in a harsh, loud tone, "All you give Yona is a rose in exchange to stay as a guest of Yona's?! NO THANKS!" 



Yona then slammed the doors on the stranger and turned away from the said doors, which suddenly burst open the very next second. All the creatures gasped as they saw the stranger remove her hood and revealed herself to be an enchantress.

"I gave you a chance, but you rejected. You are a lot colder, than I expected. As punishment for your personality, you and all around you shall lose their outer beauty. Your castle will now look scary, the forest around shall now on be thorny. Your servants are now creatures... and you, young mare, will forever be a yak. Unless you can love some creature and have them love you back."

As the enchantress spoke, everything went through a magical transformation. Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder and Ocellus turned into a griffon, hippogriff, dragon and changeling respectively, while Yona's shriek sounded deeper and deeper as she transformed from a mare into a yak.



> In the Village
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

About a mile away from Yona's castle, a village full of ponies were having another normal morning and normal day. Greeting each other Bonjour, shopping or selling, cleaning or harvesting crops, playing or working, like every other day. Among the many ponies was a young stallion named Sandbar, known for his friendliness and kindness.

Sandbar lived with his father, an earth pony who was obviously nowhere near young. By the looks of it, Sandbar's father could be assumed to be older than forty. Despite his age, Sandbar's father was still hardworking as a delivery pony who deliver packages from their hometown village to other villages and back.

"Bonjour, dad." Sandbar greeted his father, upon noticing the grown-up's return to their house after another long delivery walk.

"Bonjour, Sandbar." Sandbar's father greeted back, "It's always a pleasure to see you, my son. Even though my job is making it difficult too."

"Don't worry Dad," Sandbar replied, "I understand. The only reason you chose this job over al the other jobs that you can possibly have is because this one's the most beneficial one to you."

"Indeed it is," Sandbar's father elaborated, "Sending others' needs and wants back and forth, getting to exercise at the same time, what can be even better?"

"Nothing better than helping others by doing something good for sure," Sandbar responded.

"That's my son, Sandbar." Sandbar's father gently stroke his son's mane in a loving manner, before leaving with the deliveries that were to be delivered from their hometown to another village.

"Goodbye, Dad!" Sandbar waved, "And bonjour! That means good day!"

"Bonjour to you to, son." Sandbar's father smiled before leaving with a wagon full of packages.



> Sandbar and Cozy Glow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandbar watched his father walk further and further away, until the latter was completely out of his sight. Unknown to the earth ponies, a pegasus mare about Sandbar's age was spying on them from afar.

The pegasus mare was named Cozy Glow, despite being seen as a sweet, helpful pony, this mare had been hiding her true power-hungry colours from every pony the entire time, wanting to be popular so she could get everything she wanted. She was also aware that Sandbar was popular in their hometown as well, for being friendly and kind. Not wanting him to be a competitor against her, she figured that getting together as official family with him would do the trick...

"Hello, Sandbar!" Cozy Glow greeted, approaching him from her hiding place.

"Bonjour, Cozy." Sandbar greeted back.

"So Sandbar, all alone at home again after your dad's gone?" Cozy Glow asked, circling around the young stallion.

"Actually, I'm usually at home alone doing the chores while my father's away at work..." Sandbar began.

"Oh, Sandbar. You know that stallions should not house-sit, they should be doing the best work of all time!" Cozy Glow claimed.

"But...some pony has got to watch the house and do the chores to keep it ship-shape!" Sandbar pointed out.

"You can always get some pony else to do it for you!" Cozy Glow insisted.

"But that will mean that I have to pay them! And you know that my father and I are not rich enough to afford that!" Sandbar argued.

"No worries, Sandbar." Cozy Glow approached, "Because I, Cozy Glow, am the solution to all your problems!"

"Really?!" Sandbar asked, "How?"

"Hello, I am the most popular mare in this whole town!" Cozy Glow proclaimed.

"This is a village?" Sandbar reminded.

"I helped every pony here! Tidy their things, organise their stuff! I'm the number one right-hoof mare!" Cozy Glow continued.

"But Cozy, I don't think my family here can pay you if you work as the house-sitter..." Sandbar began.

"Doesn't matter, since you are a very special stallion Sandbar, I work for you for free!" Cozy Glow declared.



The ponies nearby who overheard hat Cozy recently said were shocked and annoyed to see that Cozy Glow had only made one exception so far.

"It's not fair!" an earth pony mare shouted.

"I had to pay her one or two bits every time she house-sits for me!" another stallion called out loud.

"Why does Sandbar gets it for free?!" another pony asked in an angry tone.

"Because he is the special stallion here!" Cozy Glow announced to the crowd, defending her decision, "He is the most extraordinary pony here, pure of heart! He deserves the best doesn't he?"

"But Cozy, I don't want to be special in a way like this, even if I earned it!" Sandbar tried to reason with her.

Unfortunately for him, Cozy Glow obviously did not take in any of his words, as she continued, "And by the way, to prove that this isn't favouritism, Sandbar and I will becoming part of the same family!"

The crowd gasped to hear it, including Sandbar.

"You don't say..." Sandbar began, only to be cut off by Cozy.

"There will be a wedding soon! And when it happens, I will move in with Sandbar to live with him as family by marriage, thus making it a right for him to have no need to pay him as I house-sit for him!" 

That was all Sandbar could take! Despite being unhappy with Cozy Glow's most recent actions, Sandbar still calmly and respectfully stepped forward and asked the crowd, "Can you all please excuse us for a minute?"

Cozy Glow then followed Sandbar to the front door of his house.

"Cozy, have you lost your mind?! We never dated, never proposed, never agreed on this!" Sandbar asked, controlling his anger as he kept his temper at a low level despite how angry he was.

"Oh come on Sandbar! There's always a first time for everything!" Cozy Glow assured.

"Yeah but, marriages require both ponies to love each other and free!" Sandbar explained.

"I already know that you will agree," Cozy Glow approached, "Because all the stallions here would."

"Actually, not all of them. Because I'm not like them!" Sandbar pointed out.

"What are you talking about? You are a stallion!" Cozy Glow pointed out.

"What I meant was I am not like the other stallions, because of my personality." Sandbar clarified, "I may be kind and friendly, but there's no way I will easily want to marry a pony like you, Cozy!"

With that, Sandbar galloped away from his house and the village, in the same direction his father went.

"Where is he going?" one of the ponies asked.

"Don't need to worry every pony, once he comes back. The wedding will have already started!" Cozy Glow announced.



Once he was out of the villagers' sight, Sandbar talked to himself, "I cannot believe that Cozy Glow will do this sort of thing! And how can she be the most popular mare if she will do something like this?! And say that I am like the other stallions because I am one? She really never understands me!"

Sandbar then stopped running and began walking after looking back at the direction of his village for a while.

"There is no way I'm going back without my father knowing about this first. I am going to meet up with him in the village where he's going to deliver the packages to, and hear what he has to say!"



> Sandbar's Father and the Yak's Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown to Sandbar, his father accidentally made a wrong turn and got lost in the woods with his wagon of packages.

"Of dear, I've lost my way!" the grown-up said to himself in a scared tone, "Ooh....I have to find a way out of this! The villagers in that village will probably never forgive me for being lost and late!"

Just then, he noticed a shadow lurking over him and turned his head to look at the shadow's owner; a hungry, carnivorous wolf!

"And another thing they probably will never forgive me for is...being a wolf's meal!" Sandbar's father raced away from the predators as fast as he could while pulling the wagon full of packages through across the first floor.

Unfortunately for the pony, with the wagon's weight acting as resistance against his full speed, it was not difficult for the wolf and its pack to catch up. One of the wolves leapt onto the pony's back, accidentally detaching the wagon from Sandbar's father, causing the wagon to crash and send the packages flying out.

The wolves were still determined to eat the only non-wolf they found, chasing him all the way to the gates of the yak's castle. Fortunately for Sandbar's father, he managed to open the gates and get to the other side, before shutting the wolves out.

"Thank goodness!" the earth pony sighed in relief, before attempting to walk further away from the wolves and the gate, only to feel pain in his back leg as he suffered from injuries during the earlier attack. 

"This is terrible; first lost and late, then wolf attack, next losing the packages and now my leg?! How can things get any worse?!" Sandbar's father asked, a second before thunder was heard and rain began pouring down on him.

"Of course they can get worse," Sandbar's father said to himself in monotone, before the lightning revealed a huge castle right in front of him.

Injured and in need of shelter, Sandbar's father knocked on the castle's door, before one last hard knock revealed that the door was not locked.

"Hello?" Sandbar's father asked, entering the castle. "Is any pony here? I was just lost and injured in the woods! And need a place to stay just for tonight."

The poor pony was being watched by the yak who ruled the castle, and was quickly confronted by the latter.

"Trespasser! You should never be here!" the yak roared.

"I'm so sorry! I mean no harm!" I just need a place to stay..." Sandbar's father began, only to be cut off by the yak.

"Oh Yona shall give you a place to stay!" the yak declared, stomping onto the ground, causing the pony to leap up in the air because of her force, before she bit his mane and dragged him off with her.



> Sandbar Searches For His Father And Takes His Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the village that Sandbar's father was going to deliver the packages to, the said pony's son was looking around.

"Dad? Dad?" Sandbar called, before talking to himself, "Dad should be here somewhere now...especially when he got the head start, and will be delivering the packages door to door before getting more packages to deliver from here to hometown!"

"Why isn't my package here yet?!" a pony could be heard asking.

"Not just yours, my package isn't here, too!" the pony's friend added.

"Neither as mine! Nor mine!" different ponies from the village complained upon hearing others having the same problem.

"Something's totally not right." Sandbar said to himself in a tone quiet enough for only he himself to hear, "Dad will never leave packages undelivered unless something's wrong!"



Sandbar galloped back the way he came, going through the woods and calling his father as he went, "Dad! Dd! Where are you?! Dad!"

Sandbar's calling only caught the attention of the wolves, who quickly chased him throughout their habitat. As he ran, Sandbar noticed something familiar up ahead, right in front of him.

"Dad's wagon! And the packages he's supposed to deliver!" the earth pony gasped, "But how did this happen?"

Before Sandbar could further examine the wagon and packages, the  wolves were catching up, forcing him to run off towards the gates of the yak's castle. Just like his father did, Sandbar shut the wolves out once he was on the other side of the gates. After walking a few hoof steps away from the gates, Sandbar noticed a huge building in front of him; the yak's castle.

After knocking and finding the door unlocked, Sandbar let himself in, asking, "Hello? Is any pony there? I hope that I am not much of a bother, as I was looking for my father, whom I figured got lost in the woods..."

As Sandbar walked deeper into the castle, he was spied on by the castle servants, who were all creatures due to the curse.

"No way!" Silverstream said to herself, before flying off and bursting into a room where her best friends were, "Guys! Guys!"

"What is it, Silverstream?" Gallus asked.

"There's a young stallion in the castle!" Silverstream announced.

"A young stallion in the castle? You sure you weren't dreaming, Silverstream?" Smolder asked like a dragon would.

"Yes! Positively sure! I saw him and heard him!" Silversream continued.

"Sorry Silverstream, but ponies elsewhere barely visit the castle, especially ever since the curse..." Ocellus reminded.

"But, if you did see and hear a young stallion in here, I will like to see if it's true!" Gallus pointed out.

"If you're going, I'm going bro!" Smolder replied.

"You two aren't really siblings," Ocellus reminded.

"The word 'bro' can be something you call a friend of yours who's a guy!" Smolder explained, before flying off with Silverstream and Gallus, with Ocellus following behind.



"Please, I'm looking for my father! If you can help, please! Do..." Sandbar pleaded, walking and calling around the castle, unaware that the creatures were spying on him from a nearby room.

"It really is a young stallion," Gallus gasped.

"And he's so handsome," Ocellus commented.

"And sounds like he's looking for his father," Smolder added.

"And look! His mane! It's colour is almost like..." Silversream pointed a claw at Sandbar while saying her thoughts out loud, before being cut off by Gallus.

"The prisoner's!" 

"Could this mean that his father is the..." Ocellus began before gulping, "Prisoner?"

"Could be, or maybe it's just a coincidence!" Smoler figured.

"But if the prisoner really is his father, we should lead him to him!" Silverstream told the others.

"I don't know Silverstream, what do you think her majesty will do if we did what you said?!" Ocellus asked in a scared tone.

"Blow up her anger that's what," Smolder replied.

"I'm with Silverstream's idea," Gallus announced after silent thinking for a while.

"WHAT?! Why?!" Smolder asked.

"Come on, prisoner's the father or not, at least let this young stallion find him!" Gallus told the others.

"If you insist..." Smolder gave in.



Sandbar continued looking around, just before he saw a small patch of glowing light around the corner.

"Is some pony there?!" Sandbar called, before following the light.

"He's coming!" Ocellus cried to her fellow castle servants.

"That is the plan," Gallus reminded.

"Using this candle that I lighted to lure him right to where we want him!" Smolder added, holding up the lighted candle.

"We're almost there!" Silversream informed.

Sandbar followed the light all the way to where Smolder left the candle, as she and the others hid themselves around the corner at the end of the hallway.

"Is any pony here?" Sandbar asked, just before he heard some pony coughing.

"Sandbar!"

"Dad!" Sandbar cried, running up to his father who was on the other side of the door to the dungeon.

"Sandbar, how did you find me?" Sandbar's father asked, before suffering from the pain caused by his injuries.

"Dad! It doesn't matter how I found you, who did this to you?" Sandbar asked.



"ENOUGH TRESPASSER!" an angrier than angry voice yelled, as Yona revealed herself to Sandbar, who was shocked to see a huge, hideous yak right in front of him.

"Who are you?!" Sandbar asked.

"Yona,  the owner of this castle. So Yona rules and makes every order that has to be obeyed here!" Yona roared.

"Who's Yona?" Sandbar asked.

"Silly pony! I am Yona!" Yona roared, causing Sandbar to back off a little.

"I am so sorry if I have been a bother to you Yona," Sandbar politely apologised, but Yona was not buying it.

"BOTHER YONA?! YOU TRESPASSED INTO YONA'S CASTLE!!!" Yona roared at Sandbar's face.

"Only because I was looking for my father!" Sandbar explained, "I figured that he was lost in the woods, and I found him here..."

"JUST LEAVE!" Yona roared.

"No! Not without my father's freedom!" Sandbar bravely declared.

"He's Yona's  prisoner!" Yona sneered.

"But he's injured, can't you see?!" Sandbar cried.

"That's old pony's own problem!" Yona snapped.

"Just please, let my father go! I'll do anything for that!" Sandbar pleaded.

""There is nothing you pony can do!" Yona argued in response.

"Wait," Sandbar began, "What if I took his place?"

"Pony what?!" Yona asked in shock.

"What if you have me as prisoner instead?" Sandbar asked, "Will you let my father go?"

Yona thought or a while before answering, "Yona will let old pony go, but...young pony must promise to stay here and never leave!"

"Then that's what I'll do," Sandbar bravely declared, "I promise."

"What?!" Sandbar's father asked in shock, "No, Sandbar, son! Don't! You are more worth it than I am! You should be free!"

"I'll never be happy knowing that you don't have freedom while I do!" Sandbar replied.

"ENOUGH!" Yona roared, before dragging Sandbar's father out and away from the castle.

"Sandbar!" the grown-up pony called.

"Dad!" Sandbar cried, as he watched his father being forced to leave.

"Go back where you came from pony!" Yona roared at Sandbar's father once they were on the other side of the castle gates.

"Right away, whatever you say!" Sandbar's father panicky saluted.

"And never come back!" Yona delivered one last roar to the fleeing earth pony, all while Sandbar watched from the window, sadly crying, "Dad..."



> Sandbar's New Room
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After taking care of Sandbar's father, the yak marched back to the hallway where Sandbar was sobbing, "You didn't let me say goodbye to him the way I wanted...now I'll never see him again..."

The yak's eyes slowly widened as she felt sorry for the devastated Sandbar. However, she quickly recovered and told Sandbar, "Come, I'll take you to your new room." in a tone that did not sound sad nor sorry at all.

"My new room? But I thought I was your prisoner." Sandbar asked.

"What?! You want to sleep in a hall way?!" the yak asked.

Sandbar did not reply through words, but through motion as he shook his head left and right.

"Then follow Yona." the yak instructed, signalling Sandbar, who was wiping out his tears, to follow her.



As they walked, Sandbar noticed states of fierce-looking monsters on the top of the pillars, before rushing off to keep up with the yak.

Once they were there, the yak told Sandbar, "This is your room. It's the best Yona can offer to you."

Sandbar gasped to see a comfortable bed for him, as he thought that as a prisoner, he would never have something like that.




"Thank you, Yona...you're really surprisingly nice in a certain way to give me a bed like this to sleep on..." Sandbar thanked, trying to sound the best he could while still trying to hold back his negative emotions.

"Don't get too comfortable, it's the least Yona can offer after all!" Yona quickly backed off.

"But you said it was the best you can offer earlier!" Sandbar reminded.

"Doesn't matter!" Yona snapped, scaring Sandbar.

"Please, Yona doesn't want to talk right now..." Yonathen walked off, leaving Sandbar in his new room.



> The Castle Servants Attempt To Help
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your majesty, can't you be a little nicer to him?" Silverstream asked the yak.

"What?! Silverstream thinks that Yona giving pony a room with a comfortable bed is not nice enough?!" Yona roared at Silverstream's face.

"What Silverstream meant is, you can do more than that! You have the ability to do so!" Gallus clarified.

"Do what?!" Yona asked.

"How about giving him food?" Ocellus suggested.

"Or invite him to dinner?" Smolder added in a tone that sounded sarcastic.



"You what?!" Sandbar asked in a shock tone.

"Yona's inviting you to dinner! That's clear!" Yona shouted, angry to report what she said before.

"Do you really mean it? Do you have food fit for..." Sandbar began.

"YONA SAID THAT SHE INVITED YOU TO DINNER!" Yona snapped, unable to take anymore of Sandbar's questions. The yak than rudely slammed the door at Sandbar, causing him to run towards his comfortable new bed, crying once he was lying on the said bed.



"Your majesty, that's no way to invite some pony to dinner," Ocellus began, only to get a harsh response from Yona.

"Pony asking too many questions! And Yona doesn't like that many questions!"

"He just finds it hard to believe that you'd do something like that," Smolder explained.

"But that doesn't give him the rights to ask Yona that many questions!" Yona roared.

"Maybe we should just put this all aside and get the dinner ready?" Gallus suggested.

"Yes...we should..." Yona replied.



> Sandbar's Father's Unsuccessful Attempts To Get Help
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the village, Cozy Glow was still aiming to become family with Sandbar, despite the fact that the said stallion did not want the same thing she did. 

"What's taking Sandbar so long? Doesn't he know that he should be happy that the legendary mare of this village will like him over all the other stallions?!"  Cozy Glow asked, a second before Sandbar's father showed up at her tavern where she and all the mares of the village would spend their nighttime gatherings.

"Help! Somepony help! Sandbar's been locked in a dungeon!"

"Easy there, who's got Sandbar locked in a dungeon?" Cozy Glow asked, pretending to be sweet and caring.

"A yak! A huge and horrible yak! She's got Sandbar in her castle as her prisoner!" Sandbar's father panicked, "Please! We got to go save him! There's not a second to lose!"

"Of really? How huge is the yak?" Cozy Glow asked.

"Monstrously huge!" Sandbar's father answered.

"Does the yak have strong teeth?" Cozy Glow continued asking.

"Incredibly strong!" was the reply.

"And the yak lives in a castle?" Cozy Glow asked once more.

"Yes! The yak's castle has a dungeon! She has Sandbar as her prisoner! Please, please, help me save him!" Sandbar's father pleaded.

All the other ponies just laughed at Sandbar's father, obviously not believing a thing he recently said.

"Oh alright, we will help you..." Cozy Glow responded.

"Oh, you will? Thank you, thank you..." Sandbar's father began to thank, but unfortunately for him, what Cozy just said turned out to be false as she had two of her ponies to shove him out of the tavern.

"Will no pony help me?" Sandbar's father asked to himself, once he had gotten up from being thrown out.



> Sandbar Meets the Creatures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In his new rom, Sandbar was still crying as he was lying on his new bed. Outside the room, Gallus, Silverstream, Ocellus and Smolder were watching the upset pony.

"Should we tell him that dinner's ready?" Silverstream asked.

"Of course we should, because we just got that ready!" Smolder replied in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Her majesty's orders, get the pony to the dining room," Ocellus reminded.

"To join her for dinner," Gallus ended.

"But the poor pony's so sad! He's still crying!" Silverstream pointed out.

"Obviously because he just lost his father," Ocellus stated.

"But he still has to go to the dining room!" an annoyed Smolder argued, giving away their position to Sandbar who heard her voice.

"Who's there?!" he asked.

The doors to the room opened, revealing the four creatures to Sandbar.

"Hello...pony..." Silversream greeted.

Sandbar was speechless to see fou creatures that he had never seen before.

"I'm...Sandbar...who are you?" Sandbar introduced himself before asking.

"I'm Silverstream," Silversream replied.

"I'm Gallus," Gallus flew right over the hippogriff.

"I'm Smolder," Smolder introduced, walking right beside Silverstream.

"And I'm...Ocellus..." Ocellus ended.

"You are all...creatures!" Sandbar gasped.

"Sure are! But we were once like you..." Silverstream answered.

"What does that suppose too mean?" Sandbar questioned.

"What she meant was..." Gallus began, before Smolder finished for him.

"We were once ponies like you..." 

"You were?!" Sandbar asked in shock.

"We all were, including her majesty, mistress of this castle, Queen Yona." Ocellus explained.

"Queen...Yona?" Sandbar asked in total shock, as he heard that the impatient yak was a queen.

"Yes, she is still queen as mistress of this castle," Smolder confirmed.

"Even after the enchantress cursed this whole place because of what her majesty did." Gallus added.

"What did her majesty do?" Sandbar asked.

"Shun the enchantress out when the enchantress was in disguise," Ocellus answered.

"The enchantress was testing her majesty's personalty in that disguise!" Silverstream continued.

"Shunning the enchantress out totally proved that her majesty failed the test," Smolder remarked.

"And the curse is the punishment," Gallus ended.

"But why are you all creatures under the curse, too? It was only her majesty, this queen...who shunned the enchantress out!" Sandbar pointed out.

"The enchantress probably felt that her majesty does not deserve any outer beauty around her," Ocellus sadly answered.

"The woods around the castle is actually a beautiful forest, just turned into the scary woods it is now, because of the curse..." Silverstream filled in.

"This is terrible!" Sandbar could not help but say, "This curse must be broken!"

"It can be broken! But..." Ocellus struggled to say the rest of the sentence.

"But what?" Sandbar asked.

"Only if her majesty Queen Yona learns to love some pony, and whoever that is, to love her back." Gallus finished.

"That's it?" Sandbar asked in a shocked tone.

The creatures nodded, before Smolder informed, "Don't be too surprised that that's all Queen Yona needs to do. I mean, it's impossible for some pony, or should I say some yak like her to do something like that!"

Sandbar thought for a while, before responding, "What if I become the one she loves?"

"What?!" the four creatures asked in unison.

"You got to be out of your mind, Sandbar!" Silverstream cried.

"Even if she loves you, you have to love her back!" Ocellus reminded.

"In order to break the curse!" Gallus ended.

"And are you willing to love a yak who took your dad prisoner, then sent him off by force, and never let you say goodbye to him?!"  Smolder asked, earning a glare from her fellow castle servants.

Sandbar was silent for a while, before answering in tears, "I'll just..at let give it a try..."



Just then, a white hippogriff entered the room.

"There you all are! What's taking you so long to just bring one pony down to the dining room? Her majesty's impatient, for pony sake!" the hippogriff said.

"Sorry, Terramar! We forgot!" Silversream answered.

"Better not do so ever again, sis!" Terrmar responded, causing Sandbar to gasp.

"Sis?!"

"Terrmar and Silverstream are siblings," Gallus explained.

"And you should be at the dining room right now...pony..." Terrmar informed.

"His name's Sandbar!" Smolder told Terramar.

"Sandbar, got it!" Termar responded.

"Alright every pony...I'm going..." Sandbar announced, before following Terramar.



"I think we should follow them, just to see how things will go..." Gallus told his friends.

"You sure can say that again, it's barely manageable when you have to deal with her majesty!" Smolder remarked.

"I just hope nothing too bad will happen..." Ocellus whimpered.

"At least they'll have dinner...." Silverstream pointed out.



> Dinner Disaster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the Dining Room, Yona really was impatient, shouting, "WHAT"S TAKIN?G THAT PONY SO LONG?!"

"Your majesty, I'm here." Sandba greeted.

"Great to see pony finally respecting Yona!" Yona grumbled.

"Of course, how can I say no to a queen?" Sandbar asked.

"Wait. Pony knows that Yona's queen?!" Yona asked in shock.

"Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder and Ocellus told me all about your past." Sandbar explained, "They said you all were ponies once, before the..."

"Don't even say it!" Yona roared, slamming her hooves onto the floor, making the dining table and all the platters of food on it jump into the air.

The spying Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder and Ocellus watched in horror, knowing that dinner was not going well already.

"Your majesty, I get it, you don't like being reminded of it. But you should not get angry over unfinished..." Sandbar tried to reason with the yak, only to get cut off again.

"JUST GET OUT!!!" Yona roared, breaking the potters with another stomp, scaring Sandbar away from the Dining Room.

"Promise or on promise, I cannot stay here anymore!" Sandbar cried, running out of the castle.

"Well, there goes dinner," Gallus sarcastically commented.



> Wolves Attack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandbar fled into the woods and galloped as fast as he could. Unfortunately for him, the sound of a stallion's gallop was loud enough to be heard by wolves, attracting a whole pack of them right towards him!

"Not you again!"  he could not help but say out loud upon seeing the wolves.

The wolves did not seem affected at all by what Sandbar said to them, chasing him like they did before.

Sandbar did his best to dodge all the attacks, but he was quickly surrounded on all sides as the wolves circled around him, beginning to close in on him all at the same time, indicating that they were going to deliver the final attack all at the very same instant in order to prevent Sandbar from escaping. 

Fortunately for Sandbar, Yona suddenly appeared and knocked the wolves in front of him away. The yak's attack triggered the rest of the wolves to attack her, completely forgetting about Sandbar.

Yona suffered the pain of the wolves biting her with their sharp carnivore's teeth, as well as the scratches of their sharp claws. But no matter what the wolves did, Yona managed to fight it off, until the every last wolf retreated.

Sandbar could not believe his eyes; despite angering her a few minutes ago, Yona fought off the wolves to save him. However, he could not thank her immediately, as Yona quickly fainted after the wolves' departure, suffering from the wounds she received during the fight.

He did not say anything, but he did express how worried he was bout Yona's wounds. He quickly approached her, before trying his best to pull her back to her castle.



"Need some help?" Smolder's voice could be heard asking.

"Sure do, please..." Sandbar replied.

"What happened?" Ocellus asked in a concerned tone.

"It's all my fault," Sandbar cried, looking down in shame, "If it weren't for me, she never would have needed to fight those wolves off. I got to make it up to her...but I can't bring her back to the castle all by myself..."

"Don't worry, we'll help." Gallus soured.

"Leave it to huge creatures, they can lift another huge creature." Silverstream announced, as Ocellus transformed into a bugbear.

"Looks like this curse is not all that bad!" Ocellus commented in her transformed form, "But I still will like it to be broken, though."



> Tending to the Yak's Wounds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once every creature was back inside the castle, Sandbar soaked a cloth into a cauldron of hot water that was heated up by Smolder's dragon fire.

"Got to admit, this curse is not all bad, I can breathe fire so we don't need to light it with flints or sticks!" Smolder told the others, "But, like Ocelus said, we'd rather have the curse broken rather than stay cursed..."

"Calm down, your majesty," Sandbar told Yona, as he held the cloth soaked in hot water on his front right hoof, "Don't move..."

Yona tried to dodge the cloth, but failed after a few seconds as the cloth came in contact with her opened wound. The pain caused Yona to roar uncontrollably, scaring the creatures who backed off.

"That hurts!" Yona complained in an angry tone.

"Well if you didn't move, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Sandbar argued.

"If pony didn't run away, this never would have happened!" Yona scolded.

"If you didn't scare me with your temper, I wouldn't have run away!" Sandbar argued.

"If you didn't remind Yona of why she became a yak, she never would have unleashed her temper!" Yona roared.

The rest of the creatures retreated once again, watching and hearing everything that happened.

"Well you should learn to control your temper!" Sandbar argued, before stopping, "And I should control mine, too."

Both the pony and the yak then calmed down, as Sandbar continued tending to Yona's wounds.

"Hold still, this may sting a little," Sandbar informed, as he gently tapped the cloth on the wound. Yona looked away, as Sandbar began to say, "I'm so sorry I got you into this, you don't deserve to this injury. I have to make up to you, especially when you were willing to save my life after all that happened between us before. Thank you."

Yona was silent for a while, since she never heard any creature thanking her before. But that did not prevent her from knowing how to respond.

"You're welcome, pony." Yona replied.

"You can just call me Sandbar," Sandbar informed.

"Sandbar. You're welcome, Sandbar." Yona corrected her latest words.



> Cozy Glow's Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the village, Cozy Glow was having a meeting with the town's  warden in the warden's place.

"So let me get this straight," the warden said to Cozy, "You want me to throw Sandbar's father into a prison?!"

"Exactly!" Cozy Glow confirmed, "That old pony is crazy, insane, a lunatic! He even claimed that a yak who owns a castle locked Sandbar up in it! Can you believe it?! A yak!"



"Sandbar's father is just old. It should be understandable since these things naturally happen to old ponies." the warden informed.

"But town warden, don't you think that this town shouldn't have a lunatic like him running free and about?" Cozy Glow asked, using her manipulation skills.

"Well....uh..." the warden struggled to answer.

"What kind of reputation do you think our sweet little village town will get if we have the father of the kindest, most charming stallion here, running wild as a crazy old pony who thinks such ridiculous things are true?!" Cozy Glow continued asking.

"Not a very good one..." was all the warden could think of as an answer.

"And does our village town deserve to have that kind of reputation all because of one pony?!" Cozy Glow asked once more.

"Obviously not!" the warden replied.

"That's right! Sandbar's father is out-of-control! We have to do something about him!" Cozy Glow insisted, "And the best way to make sure that he's under control until Sandbar and I are married, is...to lock him up!"



In his house, Sandbar's father was getting ready for a mission to save Sandbar, all by himself.

"Since no pony will help me, I'm going to save my son, all by myself!" Sandbar's father announced to himself, "I don't care what it takes! I'll find that castle somehow! Get Sandbar out of there!"

Not long after Sandbar's father left, Cozy Glow and the warden arrived at his house.

"Sandbar?! Sandbar's Dad?!" Cozy Glow asked, busting into their home to find neither father nor son present.

"Sorry Miss Cozy Glow, but they're not home now. Maybe we don't need to go through your plan..." the warden apologised, but Cozy was not buying it.

"They have to come home some time!" Cozy Glow insisted, "And when they do, you shall inform me! And before they do, you should never ever leave this spot!" 

Cozy Glow got the warden to serve as a servant following her strict order of standing right infant of Sandbar and his father's house, to ensure that the return of the house's owners would not be missed.



> Castle Tour Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There you go," Sandbar told Yona, after wrapping the cloth around her wound.

"Thank you Sandbar, for treating Yona's injuries." Yona thanked.

"You're welcome, your majesty." Sandbar bowed.

"Sandbar," Yona began, "Why don't you meet the rest of the castle servants here?"

"Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder, Ocellus and Terrmar are not the only ones?!" Sandbar asked in shock.

"Sandbar, how can you think that this huge castle only has them?!" Yona laughed.

"Well...they are so far the only ones I've met..." Sandbar reeled.

"Sandbar, allow Yona to give you a tour." Yona declared, signalling Sandbar to follow her.



"Meet the griffons!" Yona announced, once thy were in the hallway that contained the griffons' rooms.

"That's us! Half lion, half eagle, just like in those stories!" Gallus explained.

"Gallus!" Sandbar smiled, "Great to see you hear!"

"Great to see you here too, and meet you!" another griffon cheerfully crested, "I'm Gaby! And I'm a griffon! Actually, I'm a pegasus, cursed to be a griffon!"

"We all our Pegasi cursed to be griffons." a grumpy voice cold be heard saying.

"That's Gilda, she's part of our family, too!" Gallus explained.

"If I were to live forever under this curse, I'm done for!" an even grumpier voice could be heard complaining.

"That's Grampa Gruff!" Gallus informed.

"And the guardian of all griffons here!" Grampa Gruff added.

"Nice to meet you all, I can't believe I never saw you until now!" Sandbar greeted.

"And I can't believe that you were willing to take your father's place!" Gabby complimented, "You were so brave to do that! I wish I could do that!"

"Well, I sure don't know if I would..." Gilda commented.

"Come Sandbar, there's so many more creatures in Yona's castle that you got to see!" Yona exclaimed.



"Hi, Sandbar! I see that you're seeing dragons!" Smolder greeted, as Sandbar and Yona entered th dragons' chamber.

"So this is the pony you all were talking about?" Garble asked, pointing a claw at Sandbar.

"Indeed, Gar-Gar." Smolder replied to her older brother, before telling Sandbar, "By the way, only I call Garble Gar-Gar. Because he's my older brother."

"So ever creature else calls me Garble." Garble ended.

"Every creature?" Yona asked, seemingly getting angrier.

"Calm down, your majesty..." Sandbar pleaded, "Don't forget, control your temper...you don't want to wind up scaring Ouse pony...I mean, some creature...again..."

Hearing Sandbar's words, Yona started to calm down.

"That's better. I'm glad to see you taking in my words, your majesty." Sandbar politely said with a smile on his face.

Seeing Sandbar's smile warmed Yona's heart. At the same time, it made her feel weird, since she never felt that sort of feeling before.

"Well...anything for the better...Sandbar..." was all Yona could respond.

"Your majesty? Is there something wrong?" Smolder asked.

"Don't ask!" Yona blurted out, giving Sandbar a shock.

"Yona means...sorry...just don't ask, please..." Yona politely told the dragons before walking away.

"You're getting better already!" Sandbar praised Yona.

"Thank you, Sandbar..." Yona blushed, before shaking her head to shake the feeling off.



"Your majesty..." the kirins greeted Yona, upon seeing her.

"Kirins, meet Sandbar. Our guest." Yona announced, showing Sandbar to the kirins.

"Our guest?!" the kirins were shocked to hear what their superior just said.

"A guest?!" Sandbar gasped.

"That's right." Yona nodded, "Sandbar's prisoner no more. He's a guest!"

"Well, we're impressed!" a Kirin rhymed before introducing herself to Sandbar, "I'm Autumn Blaze, and I can't believe to see an actual pony again! I mean, every creature here used to be ponies, but they are all creatures right now..."

Autumn Blaze's words sent chills down Sandbar, as he remembered what angered Yona during his first dinner in the castle.

"Autumn Blaze, stop!" Sandbar cried.

Autumn Blaze quickly halted and turned to Yona, letting out a nervous chuckle, "So sorry, your majesty..."

"Please, don't blame her! Blaming does not help! We both learnt that!" Sandbar pleaded Yona.

Reminded of their latest argument, Yona quickly calmed down, "Sandbar, you're right. Blaming doesn't help. So Yona shouldn't blame Kirin, nor any creature."

"Thank you for your forgiveness, your majesty." Autumn Blaze bowed.

"So Autumn Blaze, you're a Kirin?" Sandbar asked.

"Yes I am, but before I am, I was a unicorn. All the kirins here were unicorns, too." Autumn Blaze explained, "And as Kirins, we can turn into Niriks!"

Autumn Blaze then turned into a Nirik, scaring Sandbar to the point that he hugged Yona.

Usually, Yon never liked any creature touching her, but seeing how Sandbar hugged her when frightened, gave her the feeling that he felt safer with her, a feeling that she came to like.

"Sorry, Sandbar. I just wanted to demonstrate." Autumn Blaze apologised.

"Don't worry, apology accepted." Sandbar smiled.



"Welcome to the Hippogriffs' Hall, Sandbar!" Silverstream greeted upon seeing him and Yona.

"This is where the hippogriffs in the castle live. Actually, where they sleep and eat." Terramar corrected.

"You know Sandbar, my brother and I are not even one tenth of the hippogriff population here! There's more than that! Our whole big family of relatives! All hippogriffs!" Silverstream exclaimed, as the huge family gathered right in front of him.

"We are all former Pegasi..." Terramar reminded.

"Just like the dragons, griffons and changelings in this castle." Silverstream sighed.

"Wait, if the hippogriffs, griffons, dragons and changelings are all former Pegasi, and the kirins are former unicorns, does that mean there aren't any former earth ponies here?" Sandbar asked.

"Actually, there are. You just haven't met them yet." Silverstream replied.

"Allow Yona to take you to them, Sandbar." Yona bowed.

"Of course, your majesty," Sandbar bowed back.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Silverstream raised her claw, "We forgot to show you something that we hippogriffs can do!"

Silverstream then transformed into her sea pony form, which scared Sandbar to the point that he hugged Yona once again.

"Don't worry, this is just my sea pony form!" Silverstream explained, before transforming back into a hippogriff.

"We hippogriffs can change into sea ponies and back." Terramar explained.

"Maybe we got to be hippogriffs who transform into sea ponies and back when we were cursed, is because we were great swimmers as Pegasi?" Silverstream said out loud, offending Yona a little.

"Sorry, your majesty..." Silverstream apologised.

"Anyway, we hope to see you more often here, Sandbar!" Terramar told the pony.

"Hope to see you all too! And sorry I was...freaked out to see you in sea pony form, Silverstream. You kind of look like a siren from famous myths in that form!" 

"It's alright! Understood!" Silverstream responded,



"Your majesty, is there something wrong?" Sandbar asked Yona.

"Sandbar, Yona may be a big, strong yak, but she...she..." Yona struggled to finish her sentence, as tears came out from her eyes.

"Your majesty, if you don't want to say it, I understand. Even I have some secrets that I can't bring myself to tell others, not even...my Dad..." Sandbar sadly said the last part, as it reminded him of his beloved father.

"The truth is....Yona can't seem!" Yona blurted out.

"You can't?!" Sandbar asked in shock.

"See?! Even Sandbar can't believe it! It's embarrassing!" Yona cried.

"Oh, Yona...I know some ponies who can't swim. So not every pony nor every creature knows how to. It's no big deal." Sandbar assured.

"But Yona doesn't like not being able to swim! And she's too embarrassed to let castle servants know!" Yona cried.

"Then I shall help you with that," Sandbar offered.

"Sandbar will do that for Yona?" Yona asked.

"Sure will if you wish, your majesty." Sandbar replied, causing Yona to hug him, to his surprise before he embraced it.



> Castle Tour Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welcome your majesty and your guest Sandbar!" the changelings greeted Yona and Sandbar, causing the earth pony to giggle.

"Nice to meet you, but please don't get too carried away. I'm not really that important."

"A very modest pony I see," a changeling commented.

"Making you even worthier to see a spectacular performance by us changelings!" another changeling announced.

"As you know, we changelings can change into anything we will like to be, and back!" OCellus began.

"Sure do," Sandbar replied.

"So we're going to change and change many times throughout this performance!" Ocellus' mother said.

"Please sit back and be our guest!" Ocellus' father instructed.



The changelings then transformed into various living objects (like the ones from Disney's Beauty and the Beast). 

"Be our guest!
Put our service to the test
Tie your napkin 'round your neck, chérie
And we'll provide the rest

Soupe du jour
Hot hors-d'œuvres
Why, we only live to serve
Try the grey stuff
It's delicious!
Don't believe me?
Ask the dishes

They can sing!
They can dance!
After all, Miss, this is France!
And the dinner here is never second best!


Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance and then you'll
Be our guest
Oui, our guest
Be our guest

You're alone
And you're scared
But the banquet's all prepared
No one's gloomy or complaining
While the flatware's entertaining

We tell jokes,
I do tricks!
With my fellow candlesticks

And it's all in perfect taste
That you can bet

Come on and lift your glass
You've won your own free pass
To be our guest

If you're stressed
It's fine dining we suggest!

Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!

Life is so unnerving
For a servant who's not serving
He's not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful
Suddenly those good old days are gone

For long we've been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!
Most days we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat and lazy
You walked in, and oops-a-daisy!

Be our guest
Be our guest
Our command is your request
It's been years since we've had anybody here
And we're obsessed

With your meal
With your ease
Yes, indeed, we aim to please
While the candlelight's still glowing
Let us help you
We'll keep going

Course by course!
One by one!
'Til you shout...

Enough! I'm done!

Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest

Tonight you'll prop your feet up
But for now, let's eat up
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Be our guest!
Please, be our guest!"



"Bravo!" Sandbar clapped as he praised and giggled, "That's the most extraordinary performance I've ever seen!"

"Glad you liked it, Sandbar." Ocellus replied.

"Your majesty, you really are lucky to have these creatures as your servants...cursed or not." Sandbar told Yona.

"Glad Sandbar thinks so...Yona herself never did..." Yona looked down as she said.

"Come on, dinner's served! Better eat before it gets cold!" Ocellus' mother told the guests.

"Sure thing!" Sandbar replied, before signalling Yona, "Your majesty?"

"Oh, right, Sandbar. Dinner's served. Let's eat!"

Yona then started gobbling down her food messily, to every creature's disgust. Seeing Sandbar shocked caused Yona to stop her rude behaviour and smile nervously. Sandbar then showed Yona how to eat politely with a fork and spoon, which she quickly learned from.

After dinner was finished, Yona led Sandbar out of the changelings' part of the castle.

"Thanks for the performance and dinner, they were the best!" Sandbar told the changelings as he left.

"Thanks for the compliments!" the changelings replied.

"Alright Sandbar, final stop is former earth ponies, the buffalos' place in the castle! Before we go out for a swim!" Yona declare.

"Of course, your majesty." Sandbar replied.



"Of course you can meet us anytime you like, your majesty and Sandbar!" a young buffalo told the stallion and the yak.

"Thanks...buffalos." Sandbar replied, hesitating for a while due to not knowing the buffalos' name.

"I'm Little Strongheart," the young buffalo introduced, "All the buffalos and I were once earth ponies. But..."

"But what?" Sandbar asked.

Little Strongheart then asked Yona, "Your majesty? Should I tell him about...you?"

Yona was silent for awhile, as she expressed a frown. She may only know Sandbar for less than half a week, but she felt that she could not hide a certain truth from him any longer.

"No, Yona should tell Sandbar that." Yona responded.

"Tell me what?" Sandbar asked.

"Sandbar..." Yona began, "Yona...Yona was once a pony, too."

"That's what Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder and Ocellus told me!" Sandbar replied.

"There's more than that!" Yona insisted, "Yona...was once...an earth pony."

"You were?!" Sandbar gasped, not being able to believe that the first creature he met in the castle was an earth pony the whole time.

"Yes...she's the only earth pony that did not become a buffalo...instead...she became a yak." Yona lowered her head in shame, looking down at the ground.

"Yona, I mean...your majesty...yak, buffalo or earth pony doesn't matter. Who you are is what does. As in, what you will do, what you like, what you love...that's what truly makes you you!" Sandbar told her.

"Thank you, Sandbar." Yona thanked.

"Anytime, Yona...I mean, your majesty." Sandbar shook his head upon making a mistake before he bowed politely.

"Sandbar, from now on, just call Yona, Yona." Yona informed.

"Sure thing, Yona." Sandbar smiled.



The buffalos all smiled to see that Yona and Sandbar were smiling warmly at each other.

"Look at those two," Little Strongheart told the others, "Pony and the yak."



> Something There That Was Not There Before
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Yona and Sandbar left the castle building to take a dip in the castle moat so Sandbar could help Yona with her swimming. While they did so, a song played in Sandbar's mind.

There's something sweet
And almost kind
But she was mean and she was coarse and unrefined
And now she's dear, and so unsure
I wonder why I didn't see it there before

Yona was getting a hang of basic swimming by carefully observing Sandbars' moves. As she did, a song was sung in her head.

He glanced this way
Yona saw with her eyes
And when we touched he didn't shudder at her size
No it can't be, she'll just ignore
But then he's never looked at her that way before

As soon as Yona was capable of swimming circles around the moat, Sandbar happily dived in to join her, while having a song playing in his brain.

New and a bit alarming
Who'd have ever thought that this could be
True that she's no Queen of Mean?
But there's something in her that I simply didn't see

From inside the castle, Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder and Ocellus spied on the couple from the window.

Gallus sang, "Well, who'd have thought?"
Silverstream sang, "Well, bless my soul"
Smolder sang, "Well, who'd have known?"
Ocellus sang,"Well, who indeed?"
Gallus and Smolder sang, "And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?"
Silverstream and Ocellus sang, "It's so peculiar."
All four sang, "We'll wait and see, a few days more
There may be something there that wasn't there before"

Smolder and Silverstream sang, "You know, perhaps there's something there
That wasn't there before"

Gallus and Ocellus sang, "There may be something there that wasn't there before"



> Getting Ready for the Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thanks for teaching Yona how to swim, Sandbar." Yona thanked Sandbar, as they walked back to the castle building.

"Anytime, Yona. You're a friend, and I always help a friend in ways that I can," Sandbar warmly replied.

"Now Sandbar, Yona's giving you another wish. What will you like to do in this castle?" Yona asked.

"Well, meeting all the creatures was great...I do love them all, they're like...my neighbours back at home..." Sandbar commented, "So friendly, and all around me...I just wish that we all can be together in the one same place...like having a huge gathering!"

"How about a huge party in the ballroom?" Yona suggested.

"You know about parties?!" Sandbar gasped, "I thought you didn't!"

"Just...came to Yona's mind." Yona quickly responded, "So...see every pony in the ballroom at sunset?"

"Sure thing, at sunset." Sandbar replied.



Time flew and the sky changed its colours long with the position of the sun.

"Thank you for helping Yona get ready, Yona's friends." Yona thanked Silverstream, Ocellus and Smolder, as they helped the yak get washed up and cleaned before the party.

"Yona's friends?!" Silverstream gasped.

"Your majesty, did you really mean?" Smolder asked.

"Sandbar's friendship opened up Yona's heart." Yona explained, "Yona likes having friends, and castle servants are the only creatures around Yona, so...they can be...Yona's friends."

"But, your majesty, don't forget that we're still...castle servants." Ocellus pointed out.

"So we're helping you, only because it's our job." Silverstream pointed out.

"Yona can take it from here, castle servant friends should just go and get themselves ready for the party!" Yona declared.

"But don't you know what to wear?" Smolder asked.

"Yona can use some help with that." Yona shyly smiled.

"Of course we can help you with that, your majesty." Ocellus replied.



"Thanks for helping me get ready, Gallus." Sandbar thanked the griffon.

"Anytime Sandbar, what are friends for?" Gallus asked.

"Helping each other when they need help?" Sandbar replied, "In the acceptable way, of course."

"I can't believe that you got her majesty to host a party for every creature here, I mea, this is the very first time that there's a party here!" Gallus commented.

"So...there were no parties used here until I came?" Sandbar asked.

"Not a single one since her majesty became queen and mistress," Gallus whispered into Sandbar's ear, before speaking in normal volume, "But, seeing that she was willing to host a party since you wanted something like that, I can see that you're helping her become the yak she needs to be."

"And maybe that means it's just a matter of time before the curse breaks!" Sandbar lightened up.

"Exactly!" Gallus replied, before they entered the ballroom from one side of the staircase, just in time to see their friends entering from the other side of the staircase.



> The Party/Dance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yona and Sandbar gazed into each others' eyes, before Yona walked down the staircase to announce, "Yona's fellow castle servants! Tonight, for the first time ever, Yona's hosting a party for every creature to get together! So enjoy while it lasts!"

Several changelings transformed into living instruments to play a romantic waltz piece for the other guests to dance to.

Every creature found a partner of the opposite sex to dance with, while Smolder and Ocellus lit the candles to make the atmosphere fit the piece's music even more.

Yona and Sandbar faced each other throughout their dance, as Ocellus sang,;

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then some creature bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small to take one aback
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Pony and the Yak

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun
Rising to bring day back
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Pony and the Yak

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Pony and the Yak

Every creature's attention turned to Yona and Sandbar's dance as it was hard to believe that the yak would ever be so nice to some creature. Smolder and Ocellus were the ones who smiled the most to see the couple getting closer together than ever, just as Smolder placed the last candle into place.



> Yona lets Sandbar go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the dance, Yona took Sandbar to the balcony to see the stars in the beautiful night sky. As they sat, Yona began a conversation, "Sandbar, are you...happy here, with Yona?"

"Well, yes." Sandbar quickly smiled, before frowning as he looked at the distance between the castle balcony and the vanishing point in the line of sight. "But..."

"But, what?" Yona asked in a concerned tone.

"But...I wish I could see my Dad again." Sandbar admitted, "Just for a moment, I miss him...so much..."

Yona thought for a while, before answering, "There is a way."



Yona took Sandbar to her room, where she kept something special.

"This magic mirror will show you anything you wish to see. Just tell it, and it will do the rest." Yona told Sandbar, placing her hoof right next to an oval mirror that was small enough to be held by a pony's hoof.

"Please show me my Dad." Sandbar told the mirror, holding it in his hoof.

The mirror glowed green before showing Sandbar what was happening to his father; the old pony was coughing and collapsing in the middle of the woods with no company.

"Dad!" Sandbar gasped, "He's sick! And may be dying! Plus, he's all alone! He needs some pony!"

Yona looked at a portrait of herself on the wall. It showed her what she looked like before the curse. Knowing that she had to choose between being freed from the curse and letting Sandbar go, she still made the decision.

"Sandbar better go and help his Dad." Yona declared.

"What?" Sandbar asked in disbelief.

"Sandbar's completely not a prisoner anymore. He can go. Yona allows him to do so." Yona explained.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much for knowing how much my Dad means to me." Sandbar thanked Yona, placing the magic mirror back where it was when Yona shoed it to him.

"Keep the mirror, Sandbar." Yona told him, "So you can always remember Yona, and every creature here."

"Thank you Yona...if I could...I will come back and visit." Sandbar told her, before galloping off with the mirror.



"Sandbar?" Silverstream asked, as she watched him race off to the castle exit.

"Where are you going?" Ocellus asked.

"To save his Dad," Yona answered, "His Dad needs him, more than ever..."

"But, that means that Sandbar..." Smolder began, before Yona cut her off.

"Is leaving. Yona allowed him too..." 

"But, he's our last hope to break the curse!" Gallus cried out loud.

"And you know that we all wanted the curse to be broken!" Ocellus pointed out.

"Yona knows that...but she also knows that...somepony's life is a lot more important." Yona declared.



> Sandbar and his Father return to their Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandbar rushed through the woods, before stopping for a while to ask the mirror, "Where is my Dad? How do I get to him?"

Like a GPS, the mirror showed Sandbar his position and where his father was not going anywhere.

"He isn't moving at all! It's worse than I thought!" Sandba said to himself, before continuing his journey. "Dad!"

Sandbar continued calling his father before finally seeing the said pony, "Dad!"

Sandbar's father was motionless on the ground, lying down as if he was dead.

"Oh, Dad...no?" Sandbar sobbed, letting a droplet of tear from his eyes land on his father's face, causing the old pony to react by coughing.

"Dad!" Sandbar cried, relieved to find out that his father was still alive, "Don't worry, we'll get you home..."



Sandbar used all of his might to carry his father on his back and walk all the way to their house and inside the said building. Unkownbewest to him, the warden that Cozy Glow was talking to earlier had hidden in the bushes in front of their house the entire time.

"They're back!" the warden said to himself, before galloping off.



> Cozy Glow's Plan Comes into Motion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandbar's father's eyes opened to see his son, to his disbelief.

"Sandbar?!"

"Dad, you're awake!" Sandbar happily cried.

"But, how did you gt here? How dd you get away from the yak?!" Sandbar's father asked.

"I did not get away," Sandbar giggled, "She let me go."

"Are you out of your mind?! That huge scary yak let you go?!" Sandbar's father asked.

"She's not scary anymore," Sandbar assured, "She just needed some pony to help her find her soft side and change her."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Hang on Dad, I'll go answer it." Sandbar told his father, before opening the door to find Cozy Glow.

"Hi, Cozy." Sandbar greeted, "May I help you?"

"Oh Sandbar!" Cozy greeted back, "If you must know, someone's come to collect your Dad."

"M Dad?" Sandbar asked.

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of him." Cozy Glow assured, showing Sandbar a crowd of ponies right in front of his house.

"What's going on?!" Sandbar asked, a bit scared.

"Don't you know what your father did?!" Cozy Glow asked, "In your absence?!"

"He left home to find me?" Sandbar answered.

"He also went insane!" a mare raised her hoof.

"Talking bout a yak who owns a castle!" a stallion added.

"And took you prisoner!" another mare shouted.

"Telling all of us that!" another stallion contributed.

"It is ru!" Sandbar's father cried, showing up at the scene.

"Dad!" Sandbar cried in response.

Two stallions then grabbed Sandbar's father away, causing Sandbar to confront Cozy Glow, "Cozy, why is this happening? Why are you letting them take my father away?"

"Oh I did not let them..." Cozy Glow replied, "We all agreed that your father needs to be kept under control."

"But you don't need to drag him out of the house!" Sandbar argued, "He can just stay in my house! Just stop them from taking him away! Please!"

"Of course I will stop them from taking your precious, beloved Dad away..." Cozy Glow began, before turning her attention entirely on Sandbar, "If..."

"If what?" Sandbar asked.

"If you agree to marry me!" Cozy Glow replied.

"What?!" Sandbar asked in shock, walking a few steps backwards.

"All it takes is two words 'I do', Sandbar." Cozy Glow smirked.

"Never!" Sandbar bravely rejected.

"If you say so..." Cozy Glow smirked even more, as Sandbar expressed more concern than ever, watching his father in deep trouble.

"Sandbar!" the old pony cried.



Sandbar quickly rushed into his house to bring the mirror out to the crowd, "My Dad is not crazy! The yak is real! Her name is Yona!"

Sandbar then told the mirror he was holding in his front hoof, "Show me Yona!"

The mirror then glowed green like it did before, only this time, it showed what Yona was doing at the very moment; sadly growling.

"Is she dangerous?!" a mare asked.

"Only when she is having a tantrum," Sandbar replied, "But she's gotten it under control."

"How do you know?!" a stallion asked.

"That's because I helped her." Sandbar replied, "You see, she actually has a soft side, and it finally showed when I helped her become better. Now, she's thoughtful, and values others, and most of all, she's my friend."

Cozy Glow picked up the fact that Sandbar was smiling warmly at the image of Yona in the mirror. 

"If I didn't know better, I believe you, Sandbar, have feelings for this monster." Cozy Glow faced Sandbar.

"Yona may be a yak, and you may be a pony, but she's no monster Cozy, unlike you are!" Sandbar confronted.

Instead of ashamed or remorseful, Cozy Glow was not hesitant on showing her real vicious nature level, "He's as crazy as the old pony!" 



Cozy Glow then forcefully snatched the magic mirror out of Sandbar's hoof, as she flew up above the crowd, telling them lies just to manipulate them to follow her in her latest plot.

"The  yak will make off with your foals! She'll come after them in the night!"

"No, that's a lie!" Sandbar cried, but Cozy managed to secure the crowd's attention.

"We're not safe 'til her head is mounted on my wall! I say we kill the Yak!" Cozy Glow announced, prompting the crowd to cheer, "Kill her!"

"No! I won't let you do this!" Sandbar confronted Cozy Glow, only to cause her to lock him and his father in their house.

"Anypony who is not with us is against us, and should be locked away until the yak's good as dead!" Cozy Glow announced, as she locked the only two ponies who were against her up.

"Let us out!" Sandbar cried, but it was no use, Cozy Glow was already leading the ponies to get rid of Yona.

"Show me the way to the yak!" Cozy Glow commanded the magic mirror, which turned into a GPS for her.



> Siege on the Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in the yak's castle...

"I can't believe it, we were so close..." Gallus sighed.

"At least her majesty did the right thing," Silverstream told the griffon, placing her claw on his shoulder.

"But, he will come back, he said he will!" Ocellus reminded, trying to cheer every creature up.

"May I remind you that he said that he will come back, if he could?!" Smolder corrected.

"Hey, I see some lights down there!" Gallus announced to the others, when he saw the torches that Cozy Glow's army was holding.

"IS it Sandbar?!" Silverstream asked.

"Is he coming back?!" Ocellus added, rushing to the window.

The four creatures gasped when they had a clearer view of the approachers.

"That's not Sandbar!" Smolder pointed out.

"And I don't think they're anything like him!" Silverstream cried out.

"They look more like invaders!" Gallus commented in shock.

"And look! The one leading them has got the magic mirror that her majesty gave Sandbar!" Ocellus pointed a hoof at Cozy Glow.

The creatures all gasped in unison once again.

"What do you think she has done to him?!" Silverstream asked.

"Nothing good I presume," Smolder answered.

"Uh, every creature? They're getting closer!" Gallus reminded his friends about the upcoming threat.

"I'll tell her majesty!" Silverstream told her friends, before racing off.

"And we'll get every creature ready to hold these invaders off!" Gallus added, before he, Ocellus and Smolder spliced up.



"Take whatever booty you can find," Cozy Glow told her army, "But remember, the yak is mine!"

Inside the castle, the castle servants, griffons, hippogriffs, dragons, changelings, kirins and buffalos all raced to the castle entrance, which was being banged on by a huge log that Cozy Glow's army had obtained from cutting down a huge, tall tree on their way to the castle.

"Don't just stand here every creature, we got to stop them!" Gallus instructed, leading the servants to block the door.

Meanwhile, Silverstream reached Yona's room where the yak was sadly looking out the window.

"Your majesty!" the hippogriff cried.

"Just leave Yona in peace." Yona sadly responded.

"But, your majesty, the castle! Your castle! It's under attack!" Silverstream informed in a panicked tone.

Back at the doors outside the castle, Cozy Glow's army was still banging it with the log, gradually breaking their way in.

"This is not working!" Smolder informed every creature, as they struggled to resist the force of their opponents.

"But if this won't work, what will?!" Ocellus cried.

"Wait a second, I know!" Gallus told the others.

In Yona's room...

"What?!" Silverstream asked Yona, "You can't be serious!"

"Just let them in! Yona doesn't care about anything now..." Yona sadly said, feeling like nothing without Sandbar.



> Castle Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kill the yak! Kill the yak! Kill the yak!" Cozy Glow's army sang as they banged the doors for the final times before they finally broke in.

Once inside, the ponies saw none other than many statues of creatures from mythologies that they knew; griffons, hippogriffs, dragons, changelings and kirins. They also noticed some buffalos, but not a single yak.

"Who will have all these statues right in front of their doors?" a mare from the army asked.

"Doesn't matter, we can take them after we dealt with the yak," Cozy Glow replied.

"Statues?!" an offended Garble could not help but ask in an angry tone, messing up the plan Gallus came up with.

"Now!" Gallus quickly announced, causing all the creatures to give up being motionless and start attacking the ponies.



The griffons quickly stole the ponies weapons as they swooped by, followed by the hippogriffs who picked up the weaponless ponies to use them as bowling balls to knock down the ponies behind.

"Taste fire!" Autumn Blaze exclaimed, as she and the kirins transformed into nirks to scare the ponies.

"Fire as you please!" Garble added, breathing fire at the ponies in front of his face as he flew.

"Like some music?!" Ocellus asked, before transforming into a trumpet to join the changelings, who turned into living instruments to play  randomly terrible music on purpose, causing the ponies to be unable to focus.

The buffalos raced around in random directions to scare the ponies off, as being hit by a buffalo would be like a human getting hit by a car in real life.



Meanwhile, in their house, Sandbar and his father did their best to pick the lock with a paper clip.

"Com eon...come on..." Sandbar cried out loud, before finally succeeding with a click.

"It worked!" Sandbar's father smiled.

"Yes it did, but no time to celebrate now!" Sandbar declared, before galloping away towards the yak's castle.

At the said castle, the ponies were having a terrible time as the creatures took the battle further.

"Still not convinced to leave?" Smolder asked the invaders, before starting to fire fireballs at them.

Several ponies fled the castle in order to avoid the fireballs.

"Now you're convinced!" Smolder happily said.

"If fire balls aren't enough, how about this?!" Ocellus asked, before transforming into a puckwudgie to fire her quills at the ponies, sending them screaming and fleeing off.

"Not bad," Smolder commented.

On one side of the battlefield, Gallus attempted to swoop in to grab one of the ponies' torch, but was knocked down by another pony, bringing him to their mercy. Fortunately, Silverstream grabbed the pony that knocked the griffon, and threw the pony onto the pony with the torch, before snatching the torch from them.

"Thanks Silver," Gallus thanked.

"No problem Gallus," Silverstream replied, giving the griffon the torch, before they both splitter up.

"I always liked playing platform jump!" Little Strongheart said, jumping from pony to pony before landing on the floor and rushing off.

"Smoke everywhere! Want to give up now?!" Garble asked the ponies, as he and several dragons generated smoke all around, causing many ponies to cough and retreat.

"Or come face-to-face with a nirik?!" Autumn Blaze approached the last ponies in her nirik form, followed by four other niriks behind her.

Terrified, the last ponies raced out of the castle, causing the creatures to cheer.

"And stay out!" Gallus told the fleeing, surrendered invaders. However, unknown to the creatures, they did not really scare off all the ponies, since Cozy Glow managed to dodge the fight earlier, and went off deep into the castle to find Yona.



> Yona vs Cozy Glow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cozy Glow burst into Yona's room, and finally found the yak, who was still upset about Sandbar's departure to the point that she did not even bother to react to Cozy Glow getting ready to shoot an arrow at hr.

Cozy evtualy released the arrow, hitting Yona, causing the yak to growl in pain before Cozy Glow flew over to kick Yona out of the room through the window that got broken as Yona was knocked against it. 

Cozy then kicked Yona even further down the outside of the castle, mocking the yak, "What's the matter, yak?! Too thoughtful and valuing others to the point that you won't fight back?!" 

Cozy then broke a piece of off one of the castle statues to use aas a club to strike Yona, just as Sandbar and his father arrived.

"No!" Sandbar cried out loud, to the point that Yona and Cozy Glow could hear his voice.

"Sandbar..." Yona said, regaining her senses upon seeing the stallion that she loved.

"Please, Cozy, stop!" Sandbar called, but Cozy obviously did not listen, as she continued lowering the statues's piece at Yona.



Unfortunately for Cozy Glow, Yona quickly moved to come face to face with her in a battle, using her yak horns to knock away the statue's piece.

Sandbar's father watched from below, while Sandbar himself bravely rushed into the castle.

"You came back!" Smolder gasped.

"You're okay!" Silverstream happy cried.

"Doesn't matter now, I need to get to Yona!" Sandbar told the creatures.



Speaking of Yona, she and Cozy Glow were still battling on the rooftops of the castle, as lightning struck. Cozy cruelly kicked Yona in the face, causing the yak to fall onto the roof. Cozy then approached the yak to give her a mighty kick in the face again, only to discover that she had mistaken a statue for Yona in the darkness of the storm and rain.

"Come on out and fight!" Cozy Glow demanded, but got no reply as Yona hid among the statues.

"Are you in love with him, yak? Do you really think that Sandbar will want you, when he has some pony like me?!" Cozy Glow mocked, walking pass Yona, who snarled in response before sneaking up behind Cozy to ambush the mare.

"It's over yak! Sandbar's mine!" Cozy Glow cruelly announced as lightning struck.

The words just enraged Yona to enable her to stomp her front hooves onto the roof, causing a vibration making Cozy loose her balance and fall. Yona then stood right over Cozy, putting the mare at the yak's mercy.

"Please let me go! Have mercy! I will do anything!" a cowardly Cozy pleaded Yona.

Yona fiercely glared at Cozy, before telling the mare, "Leave, and never return!"

"Yona!" Sandbar cried, reaching the balcony of Yona's room.

"Sandbar!" Yona cried, before racing up to her beloved pony, "You came back!"

"Of course I did." Sandbar replied, before nuzzling her face with his.

Suddenly, Yona growled in pain, as Cozy stabbed the yak an arrow, which quickly fell onto one of her pegasus wings as Yona's moves caused Cozy to lose balance and grip. Unable to fly with an injured wing, Cozy soon fell to her doom from a great height, unable to harm any pony and any creature ever again.



> Happy Ending
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yona..." Sandbar said, pulling the yak back up the balcony with the aid of Silverstream, Gallus, Ocellus and Smolder.

"Sandbar..." Yona replied weakly, badly injured from Cozy Glow's attack.

"This is all my bad Yona," Sandbar sobbed, "If only I had gotten here sooner, or, never proved your existence to Cozy and her army!"

"Maybe...it's better...this way" Yona said in an even weaker tone.

"No, don't say that!" Sandbar cried, "Please be alright! I came back for you!"

"At least I got to see you...one last time..." Yona said with her last breath, before shutting her eyes and collapsing.

"No...no...please don' leave me!" Sandbar sobbed, realising that Yona was no longer responding to changes like living things do, "I love you, Yona..."

Sandbar then let out another tear drop which landed onto Yona's body, which caused the yak to glow, to Sandbar's surprise. The yak then slowly rose up with her eyes still closed, as she went through a transformation, turning from a yak into an earth pony mare.



"Sandbar, it's me! Yona!" Yona happily told Sandbar, once she was a pony again.

Sandbar looked into Yona's eyes, before recognising her, "It really is you! The spell is broken!"

"IT sure is!" Gallus' voice could be heard saying, causing Sandbar and Yona to turn their attention to their closest friends in the castle, who had all changed back into ponies.

"Gallus, Silverstream, Smolder, Ocellus!" Yona happily cried, rushing over to them to hug them tightly, "You're all ponies again!"

"Thanks to you and Sandbar!" Ocellus complimented, as they witnessed the sky lighting up from the storm, and the scary woods turning back into the beautiful natural forest it was.



"Every creature is a pony again!" Little Strongheart (reverted to her earth pony form) announced, arriving alongside Autumn Blaze, who was a unicorn once more.

"Yeah! Kirins are unciorns again!" Autumn Blaze happily jumped.

"Buffalos are earth ponies again!" Little Strongheart added.

Every creature giggled, happier than ever to know the good news.



Yona and Sandbar were then seen in the ballroom once more, as a married couple in the centre of attention, as all the castle servants, alongside Sandbar's father watched them dance.

"Told you that he can break the curse," Smolder nudged her older brother.

"Whatever you say, sis..." Garble replied.

"Gallus told us the same thing," Gilda commented.

"And he was right!" Gabby squealed.

"I was right, too!" Smolder argued.

"Maybe we all were," Silverstream announced, arriving alongside Gallus and Ocellus.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Gallus asked.

"The spells's broken, we're all ponies again!" Ocellus pointed out.

"And I finally got a daughter!" Sandbar's father happily cried.

"Daughter-in-law!" all the creatures-turned-back-into-ponies corrected in unison.



Sandbar and Yona did not mind a thing that their closest friends and family member just said, as they continued dancing around in the centre of the ballroom and crowd, as the song from their dance earlier replayed its chorus.

Certain as the sun
Rising to bring day back
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Pony and the Yak