“More tea, Lady Smolder?”
“Hmm? What?” Smolder glanced up from her empty teacup, looking across the table at Ocellus as the changeling held up the teapot with her magic. “Oh… yeah, sure…”
Ever since they and their friends had been tested by the Tree of Harmony in the caverns underneath the school, Smolder had kept her promise and had invited Ocellus to a “super secret tea party” in her room, complete with dresses for the both of them from Smoulder’s secret collection. It was supposed to have been just a one-time thing, but Smolder couldn’t deny how much she’d loved getting to indulge in her girlier side with Ocellus, so one tea party had then turned into two, then three, and so on until it had turned into an almost weekly event for the two of them to relax and have some fun together after classes were finished for the day.
As Ocellus refilled Smolder’s teacup, she asked, “Wonderful weather today, is it not?”
“Yeah, sure…” Smolder halfheartedly replied, just staring at her reflection in her tea.
Frowning, Ocellus set the teapot aside as she focused on the young dragon. “Smolder, something’s bothering you, isn’t it?”
“What? No, nothing’s wrong! I’m just… tired! After today’s classes and all.” Smolder quickly replied, lifting her teacup to her lips and taking a long sip of tea before putting on a clearly strained smile. “See? I’m fine!”
Ocellus was quiet for a moment. “You forgot to hold your pinky claw out.”
“Huh?” Glancing down, Smolder saw that her pinky claw was indeed still curled against her palm. “Yeah, so?”
“In all the times I’ve seen you drink tea, you’ve never forgotten to hold your pinky claw out.” Ocellus replied matter-of-factly. “Ever.”
Smolder tried to come up with some witty response to defend herself, but after several seconds of drawing a total blank, she just sighed loudly. “Fine, ya caught me. Happy now?”
“No, I’m not, I’m worried. It’s not just that, I’ve noticed you’ve seemed a bit distracted ever since you came back from the Dragon Lands. Did something happen while you were there?”
Smolder glanced down at her half-empty teacup, hanging her head as she sheepishly asked, “Could... Could I get some more tea first, please?”
Nodding her head, Ocellus topped off the dragon’s tea and waited for her friend to take a sip. She could tell from the look in Smolder’s eyes that she wasn’t stalling to get out of telling her what was on her mind, merely taking a moment to collect her thoughts for the discussion that was about to occur. Knowing that sharing your feelings wasn’t something that came naturally to most dragons, Ocellus waited patiently as Smolder collected herself.
“You do know why I went back to the Dragon Lands for a bit, right?” Smolder asked after a moment.
Ocellus nodded. “I heard it was to visit your brother. Something about him feeling lonely and wanting to go cheer him up?”
“Kind of. Gar-Gar is… complicated. Dragons are supposed to be tough and fearsome, so he puts on this big show for his friends that he’s large and in charge when deep down he’s really the sweetest guy. One of his favorite things to do is write these awesome sounding beat rhymes, and he loves to put on a show for me whenever he comes up with a new one.”
“Aww, that sounds so sweet!”
Smolder chuckled. “Yeah, Gar-Gar’s great. He was so afraid of admitting he had a softer side to anydragon for so long, but when the dragon eggs were in danger of not hatching after his idiot friends drained all the lava from the lake, he didn't even hesitate to show off his rhymes so that everydragon’s laughter-fire would make the eggs hatch. He even earned the respect of Dragon Lord Ember, who went so far as to call him a hero!”
“Wow!” Ocellus’s wings buzzed gleefully as she clapped her hooves. “You must be so proud of him.”
“Ya got that right! Except… on the way back...” Smolder’s joy at her brother’s accomplishment turned to shame as she hung her head. “... I realized that I’ve been doing exactly what I told Gar-Gar he shouldn’t do for fear of being mocked. I mean, just look at me! I’m wearing a super frilly dress while having a silly tea-party, and I’m enjoying it! And yet I get all flustered and embarrassed when I think of anycreature ever finding out about this.” Sighing, Smolder rested her claws in her lap as she muttered, “I’m such a hypocrite…”
“Smolder…” Ocellus frowned as she watched her friend wallow in her own self-pity. “You’re not a hypocrite, you’re just…” Racking her brain for the right words, Ocellus fell back on the lessons she had learned from Professor Applejack and Fluttershy. “Everycreature has secrets, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, I’m a changeling, so I like to imagine I know what it’s like putting on another face to try and hide myself from others. Meeting you and the others though has shown me how great it can be when you have friends you can just be yourself around.” Walking around the table, Ocellus embraced Smolder in a hug, the normally tough dragon relaxing slightly as she leaned into the hug.
“You don’t have to tell anycreature about this if you don’t want, it can just be our little secret and I’ll still be your friend no matter what. I’m sure our friends won’t mind it either, and if they do laugh, then I’ll just show them how scary a Bugbear can be up close!”
The two shared a laugh at that as smolder noticeably perked up, the smallest of smiles poking at the corner of her mouth. At that moment, she made up here mind. “I… I want to tell our friends too.”
“And I’ll be there to support you the whole time,” Ocellus added with a smile. Pulling away from Smolder, she levitated her teacup over and said, “Cheers.”
“Cheers!” Clinking their teacups together, Smolder raised her teacup to her lips –pinky claw out– and took a sip.
***
“Do friends know why Smolder asked us to come to room?” Yona asked the others as the group approached Smolder’s room.
“Not a clue, “Gallus replied with a shrug. “All Smolder and Ocellus said was to come to Smolder's room after classes ended.”
“Ooh! I wonder if they have a surprise for us!” Silverstream squeed as she clapped her talons in excitement. “Oh, is it one of our birthdays today? Why did nocreature tell me?”
“Whatever it is, we’re about to find out…” Sandbar said as they reached Smolder’s room, the Earth pony knocking against the door. “Smolder? Ocellus? You in there? We’re all here, like you asked!”
“~Come innnnn!~” Came a sing-song voice from inside, earning confused look between the four standing outside.
“Was… was that Smolder?” Gallus asked, twisting a talon in his ear to check that his ears weren’t blocked with ear wax or anything.
“Yona… Yona think so?”
“Well, one way to find out.” Sandbar said as he pushed the door open. “Smolder, was that–” Sandbar’s words left him as he stared wide-eyed at what lay before him, a look shared by the rest of the group.
A small table had been set up in the middle of the room, covered in a royal purple cloth that looked to have been borrowed from Professor Rarity and topped off with a simple tea set, complete with a pot of freshly brewed tea and a nearby plate of teacakes. None of that could compare, however, to the sight of Ocellus and Smolder seated on either side of the table, both dressed in appropriate dresses as they enjoyed their tea party.
“What.” Was all Gallus could think to say he took in the sight before him.
“Ah, look, Smolder!” Ocellus remarked as she noticed the group still standing in the open doorway. “It appears that our guests have finally arrived!”
Smolder gulped, doing her best to not appear as nervous as she felt as she looked over at her friends. “Wh-why yes, it appears they have! Would you like to join us? The more the merrier, after all.”
The four creatures continued to stare in stunned disbelief for several moments, adding to Smolder’s building fear as the seconds ticked by. Oh, for Dragon Lord Ember’s sake, somecreature say something!
Gallus rubbed at his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “You… you look ridic–”
“Eeeeeeeeehhhhhh!” Gallus was cut off as Silverstream let out a high pitched squeal that caused the windows to shake in their frames. “So adorable!” Swooping into the room, Silverstream wasted little time in hugging Smolder before moving on to hug Ocellus. “Oh, this looks like fun! Can I join? Can-I-Can-I-Can-I-Can-I?”
Silverstream’s bubbling excitement practically melted away all the fear building up in Smolder like a hot lava bath, a genuine smile on her lips as she giggled at Silverstream’s reaction. “But of course you can join us, Silverstream!”
“Yaaaaay! Do I get a pretty dress too?”
“Mhhm,” Smolder replied with a nod of her head. “Ocellus, would you like to do the honors?”
“It would be my pleasure.” Fluttering over to Smolder’s closet, she pulled out an ocean blue dress and held it out for Silverstream to see. “I think this would look rather pretty on her, don’t you agree, Smolder?”
“I do agree, Ocellus.”
Passing the dress over to the excited Hippogriff, Silverstream wasted little time in putting it on, grinning as she looked herself over. “Best. Day. EVER!”
“You say that every day, Silverstream,” Sandbar remarked from the doorway.
“That’s because it’s true!” Giggling, Silverstream took a seat at the table as she picked up a teacup and held it out to Ocellus to be filled. Once her cup was filled with fresh tea, she was about to bring it to her lips when she heard Smolder cough next to her. “Hmmm? What?”
“Pinky out, Silver,” Smolder said, demonstrating by extending her own pinky claw out as she took a dainty sip from her own teacup.
“Oh, of course!” Clearing her throat, Silverstream thought back to the etiquette lessons she’d shared with her cousin Skystar. “Do forgive me, that was most uncouth of me.” Making sure to extend her pinky talon this time, Silverstream mimicked Smolder as she took her own dainty sip of tea.
“Yona confused…” Yona spoke up as she walked into the room and up to the table. “What is it friends are doing?”
“It’s a tea party,” Ocellus was quick to inform Yona. “Basically, it’s an excuse for friends and acquaintances to get together, relax with some tea, and wear pretty outfits.”
“Yona still not understand, but Yona like spending time with friends.” Sitting down, the whole room shook, yet not a single drop of tea was spilled as the room settled again. “Yona get pretty dress too?”
“Uh… I don’t know if I have a dress that’ll fit you, Yona,” Smolder replied, wincing at the image of Yona trying to squeeze into one of her beloved dresses and ripping it apart at the seams.
“Ooh, I have an idea!” Ocellus said, reaching into Smolder’s closet again and retrieving two lengths of ribbon. Wrapping a ribbon around Yona’s horns, Ocellus smiled. “There, now Yona all pretty like us now!”
“Yay! Yaks best at being pretty!”
“Well, it’s official,” Gallus muttered from the doorway. “You’ve all gone mad. C’mon Sandbar, let’s get out of here before—” Gallus blinked as he looked over to find that Sandbar was no longer standing next to him. “Sandbar?”
“More tea please, Lady Ocellus.”
“But of course, Sir Sandbar.
Gallus snapped back to look at where Sandbar was now sitting around the table with the others, somehow in the span of a blink getting dressed up in a ridiculous looking, poofy dress as well as he sipped his tea. “Wh-what.”
“Don’t just stand there, Gallus!” Sandbar called out as he waved a hoof towards his griffon friend. “Come on and join us! These teacakes are really good!”
“... Fine…” Gallus grumbled as he realized he was the odd one out here and dragged himself into the room to take a seat at the table. Snagging a teacake from the plate, he took a bite, mumbling, “Hmm… these are good…”
“~Hey Gallus~…” Smolder suddenly said in the same sing-song tone as before.
“Yea–HEY!” Before Gallus could react, a frilly dress was pulled over his head, and a pink one no less. Blushing redder than a tomato, Gallus glanced up and glared at his friends, all of whom were trying their best to hold back their snickering. “Not. A. Word.”
And so, the group of six friends enjoyed their tea-party together, especially Smolder, who had only ever dreamt of being able to share this part of herself with her friends.
It’s great having friends like these. No matter how much they may drive me nuts, I wouldn’t trade them for all the gems in the world.
Smolder smirked as she took another sip of her tea, pinky claw out. Well… maybe Gallus...
