The Castle of the Two sisters, in ancient times, would have been seen as a place of grandeur and awe. A place where the greatest of ponykind dwelt and ruled their domains. Now, however, it served a somewhat different purpose. For within the grand entrance hall, laughter rang throughout, as six young students of the School of Friendship had once more gathered there to spend time with one another. Sandbar, Ocellus, Yona, Gallus, Silverstream and Smolder, all sitting together upon large cushions in a circle at the bottom of the stairs, looking more than happy to be here. Which was surprising, given the rather dangerous time they had the last time they found themselves here. Still, danger seemed to be the last thing on the youths' minds right now, as all of them were instead looking to Sandbar, who was right in the middle of relaying a story, speaking with great passion and excitement as he did so.

"...and then wham! Princess Twilight used her magic and slammed Tirek right into the ground! But it wasn't over! The big guy got up and fought back, breaking off this huge boulder and throwing it at her!"

But, unfortunately, the young earth pony was soon interrupted by the snort of his friend, Gallus, who rolled his eyes before speaking up.

"Pfft! No way!"

Sandbar frowned to him.

"Yeah way!"

Gallus folded his arms.

"You're telling me that Princess Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, our by-the-book head-mare, got herself into a scrap that epic?"

Sandbar smiled widely.

"Yeah! It was awesome! You should have seen it! All of Equestria had been brought down by this guy, and then boom, along came Princess Twilight to show that monster what's what!"

Smolder chuckled.

"Real or not, it's still a pretty neat story."

Yona then looked to the storyteller, adding her voice to the matter.

“Ha! Tirek no scare Yaks! Yaks just smash big horned guy!”

Smolder looked to her.

“What, a great big magic-eating monster and you'd just...smash him?”

Yona nodded with a look of pride.

“Yes! Yaks mighty warriors! We no scared!”

Smolder let out a hearty chortle.

“I like the way you think, Yona. But we dragons would just roast the guy! Way cooler!”

Ocellus looked to her and tilted her head.

“Um...wouldn’t burning him mean it was hotter, not cooler?”

Smolder slapped her forehead.

“Ugh! It’s just a figure of speech, Ocellus!”

Ocellus looked a little embarrassed at that, and soon afterwards, she instead looked over to Sandbar, resuming her prior smile.

"Well...whatever the case, it was a really good story. You tell it well, Sandy."

Sandbar blushed to the small Changeling's remark, and together, the two of them laughed awkwardly, all while their friends looked to them both with knowing smirks. It was an image made all the sweeter by the fact that the young couple had scooted closer to one another than anycreature else in the group, making for quite a cute-looking moment between them. Yona, meanwhile, was busy chomping down on a particularly tasty-looking apple the group had brought with them.

"Hmmmm! Professor Applejack's apples is good!"

Silverstream giggled.

"Oh, I know, right?! They're so crunchy and sweet and...ooooh! I just love them!"

Gallus looked to her.

"Let me guess...you don't have apples down in Seaquestria?"

Silverstream gasped.

"How did you know?!"

Gallus rolled his eyes again.

"Just a hunch."

Gulping on the last of her aforementioned apple, Yona smiled widely to her friends.

"This place fun! Glad to be back!"

Ocellus looked over to each of her friends before responding to that.

"Yes...um...we're sure those creatures from before aren't going to come back?"

Sandbar looked to her with as small smile, placing his hoof upon her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Ocellus. Professor Fluttershy said they probably won't be coming back here anytime soon. And if they do, we know how to get away fast now. Remember that neat escape route map you came up with after reading those books on this place? That’ll be pretty helpful."

Ocellus appreciated her boyfriend's words, complete with yet another blush on her part, which Sandbar, naturally, matched her in. Smolder, looking around the place, leaned back into her large pillow before chiming in.

"That's all good to hear. Because I don't know about you guys, but I don't really want to have do deal with a bunch of nasty critters every time we come here."

Turning to her, Gallus took on a somewhat mocking expression and tone of voice.

"Oh, what, is the fire-breathing dragon getting scared?"

Naturally, Smolder responded to that with a frown.

"Hey now, how useful were you in that fight?"

Sandbar raised a hoof, pointing to them both.

"Come on, guys! Do we really want to start a fight here?"

Gallus and Smolder's answer to that was to silently turn away from one another, letting out a distinct "huff" as they did so. Though thankful that the two had settled down for the time being, Ocellus started looking around at the castle they were in.

"Um...do you think we'll get in trouble? You know, being here again?"

Yona shook her head.

"No trouble! Trouble only come from us running away! Us no run away now!"

Silverstream nodded, turning to her Changeling friend soon afterwards.

"She's right, Ocellus! It's not like we're staying here! It's just...um..."

She tapped the end of her beak.

"...hmmm...what's the right word for it?"

Smolder looked to her and raised an eyebrow.

"A club-house, maybe?"

To that, Silverstream let out a loud gasp and a squeal for joy, and Smolder, who immediately regretted opening her mouth, was soon on the receiving end of a very tight Hippogriff-induced hug.

"A club-house! Yes! Great idea, Smolder!"

Smolder, on her side of things, was simply trying to breathe properly under the crushing force of her friend's embrace.

"Ach! I think I made it clear how much I liked this last time, Silver!"

Gallus, of course, couldn't help but chuckle to this display, much to Smolder's chagrin.

"Oh, just you wait till I get out of here, Gallus!"

Silverstream, hearing that, tilted her head in confusion, letting her friend go.

"Oooh! What will you do?"

Smolder, giving her blue Griffon friend a dark smile, answered.

"This!"

And so she flapped her wings, sending herself shooting forward. Gallus reacted just in time, and spread out his own wings to escape her. The others watched, and as time went by, what had started out as an aggressive act on Smolder's part, soon became a playful chase, with the two fliers laughing loudly as they zoomed around the higher parts of the castle chamber. The others smiled, and soon, Ocellus started flying up to join them, followed shortly by Silverstream. Yona, grinning happily to this, charged out from her sitting spot, and though she could not fly herself, she nevertheless ran in circles in mimicry of her friend's movements high above. Sandbar, meanwhile, smiled warmly to this, sitting right back down on his pillow and watching each and every one of his friends, one of whom soon noticed him down there.

"Isn't this fun, Sandy?" Ocellus called to him.

The colt laughed, nodding back to her.

"Yeah, Ocellus...it is."

And so it was that Sandbar continued to watch his unexpected colleagues run and fly around one another, showing a great deal of enjoyment as they did so. As for the pony himself, he turned, looking out of one of the open windows of this ancient castle, in the direction of Ponyville and the school. And in that moment by himself, he smiled in a fond manner.

"Thanks, Princess Twilight. Thanks...for my new friends."

Next Chapter: Meet the Family? Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 2 Minutes