Disclaimer: I do not own "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" or its characters. They are property of Hasbro Studios and DHX Media.

"Gallus' Tragedy"

By TwilightSparkle3562

Chapter 1

"He's Hiding Something"

Hearth's Warming break had ended and the school of friendship was back in session. But for Twilight Sparkle, there were questions running around her mind. Even though she seemed happy to be welcoming her students back, there was something inside of her that was off.

It wasn't herself.

It wasn't her dragon assistant, Spike.

It wasn't any of her friends.

It wasn't even her own former student, Starlight Glimmer.

It was one of her current students that made her mind set off.

"I can't understand it," she thought to herself as she sat in her office. "There is something more to Gallus' actions than meets the eye. I know Griffons don't like each other, but I have a feeling it goes more deeper than that. Otherwise, how else would he go so low to sabotage school property and keep creatures away from their families? It doesn't make any sense at all. Still, at least I can start to get some leadway."

Twilight looked up and saw a small circle shaped table in the center of her office that had just been brought in. A few moments later, the doors opened and in stepped Starlight Glimmer with five of the six multi-creature students.

"Thanks for coming," Twilight said to the students. "Have a seat."

So they all sat down and Starlight stepped outside leaving them alone with Twilight.

"We aren't in trouble, are we Headmare Twilight?" asked Sandbar, the lone pony in the group. "I mean, you calling us down here and…"

But a nudge from the dragon, Smolder, stopped him from saying another.

"Don't you remember that Headmare Twilight wanted us to have these group meetings after the whole tree situation?" remarked Smolder.

"I did, Smolder," interjected Twilight as she sat down at the head of the round table. "There is something about the six of you that reminds me a lot of myself and my friends. Of course, it did have to take you delaying your own school breaks to prove that to me."

Twilight then pulled over a small note from her desk and handed it over to Silverstream, the hippogriff.

"Still, I had my own consequences to deal with," she sighed. "Your aunt wrote this to me, Silverstream. She threatened to pull you from here because I kept you all from returning home."

"Don't worry about it," chuckled Silverstream, not even opening the letter. "Aunt Novo really gets riled up when these things happen."

"Nevertheless, it was hard on us all, Headmare Twilight," added the changeling, Ocellus. "You…you did your job, but before Gallus confessed…"

"It's all in the past now, Ocellus," Twilight interrupted with a smile. "The only reason why we kept you all is so we could find the one responsible and Gallus confessed to his involvement."

But Twilight's smile disappeared with what she said next.

"Still, ever since then, hasn't any one of you noticed that Gallus seems to be…I don't know? Hiding something from everycreature?"

"Gallus been acting weird," said Yona, the female yak. "Yona notices it."

"I did see him starring off into oblivion a few times during Professor Rarity's class," added Ocellus. "He always seems to have a look of despair deep in his face or something like that."

"We tried talking to him about it," added Sandbar. "But, he'll just brush it off like it is nothing. I know he didn't want to go back to Griffonstone for the Blue Moon festival, but it seems like there is something else."

"And that's why I wanted to bring you all here," said Twilight. "I've been to Griffonstone for royal summits and the animosity is so tense, you can cut it with a knife. In regard to Gallus, he just tries to hide it. Didn't any of you notice during our Hearth's Warming feast that he just said nothing?"

"He was probably drained from confessing his actions," remarked Ocellus. "I mean, that was a lot of guilt he was hiding inside of him. Or something happened to him in his past that he just doesn't want to talk about it."

Twilight took in what her student had said. She knew very well that a creature's past determines their present character.

"You don't think that maybe…" Sandbar started to say only to stop at midsentence. "Oh, dude…"

"Nevertheless, we are all concerned about him, Headmare Twilight," said Ocellus. "We want to help Gallus, but we just don't know how. He just has this scowl on his face that he usually keeps on him for a good hour or so. None of us can ask him because we are just too scared at how he is going to react."

Twilight took in what the young female Changeling had said and sat back in her chair in deep thought. Everything that had been told to her was more than enough to confirm her suspicions about Gallus.

"Has he done any actions to further his troubles?" Twilight asked.

"He does keep muttering something over and over again," answered Smolder, catching Twilight's attention. "Something about his parents and how he misses them."

"Griffon has no family?" Yona cried, small tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"Of course, he doesn't have a family because he told us about it," said Smolder. "Still, he never told us the circumstances surrounding what happened to his family. Sooner or later, the truth is going to come out."

"What can we do about it?" asked Silverstream.

"I will say this," said Twilight, getting the attention of her young pupils. "When you feel that the time is right, I want you to approach Gallus and offer him whatever support you possibly can. If he feels like he doesn't want to tell you about what happened to his family, then I ask you to respect his wishes."

A pained look on Twilight's formed as she said what she needed to say.

…

Meanwhile, Gallus the Griffon arrived in his dorm alone and reached underneath his bunk bed, pulling out what appeared to be a picture frame. He looked down at the pictures and tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

"Mom…dad…I miss you so much," he silently cried to himself. "Why did you both have to leave me so soon?"