“And then he was like, don’t be shellfish, sis! Get it? Haha!”

“Yep,” Smolder muttered, clearly uninterested in Silverstream’s clichéd aquatic puns and jokes. Ever since the wild adventure beneath the School of Friendship, her bizarre experience with two unnamed ponies at a tea party had been rather enjoyable, to say the least. However, Smolder had ensured that no evidence of it remained – and Gallus had kept his promise to keep it concealed from everypony else. Her tail twitched from a full half hour of sitting, and soon her mind was lost in a trance of imagination. Deep in the little dragon’s mind existed a girly world a million miles away from any tomboy reality.

Eyes closed and an imaginative mind soaring high, she pictured it: a grand round table with a beige and pink tablecloth over it, adorned with two little teacups atop small saucers, along with little teaspoons, in the middle of a room that was hers. Neatly in the center stood a crystal teapot full of warm tea with a teeny little ceramic bowl of glistening sugar cubes. It was the ultimate setup for a lovely tea party.

Pushing back a curtain, Smolder stepped out from her changing area, fully adorned in a frilly pink-and-blue princess gown. Her clawed dragon hands passed over the outer skirt, gingerly stroking the lace that ran in half-circles around the waist as she quietly giggled to herself, admiring the little purple bow at the waist’s center and the three white petticoats that billowed out and ruffled noisily as she pranced and danced in joyful circles around the table. Then a tap came on her shoulder, and she immediately whipped around in fright, crossing her arm across her chest in embarrassment.

“Smolder? Smooooooolllllder! Lunch is over, we need to attend Rarity’s generosity class next!” Gallus called out, tapping the table in a rhythmic beat.

Smolder shook her head vigorously, yanking her brain out of the dreamy, hypnotic trance she was in, causing her to realize she was spinning in circles on the cafeteria’s grand tiling, looking like a wannabe ballerina.

“Uh…nothing to see here, ponies!” Gallus announced sheepishly, blocking the view of Smolder from the rest of the school’s students in the cafeteria. “Just… someone who’s got a bit of a dancing fit and is… what’s that word? Dizzy. Yeah, that’s it! A dizzy dancing fit.”

Not wanting to make his friend endure any more awkwardness, Gallus quickly hustled Smolder out of the room and beckoned his fellow students to follow to avoid suspicion.

“Yona confused. What was dragon doing?” Yona inquired, peering over. Smolder just trudged in silence, her eyes still in a daze of imagination.

“Are you okay? There seems to be something bothering you,” Ocellus added. “Is there – ”

“Nothing. It’s nothing, honestly,” Smolder suddenly replied, waving her hand in dismissal. “Let’s get on with class.”

Yona, Ocellus, and the rest of the students filed into the classroom to begin a well-prepared lesson. Rather than delve into the next level of hem stitching, Rarity began with a brief demonstration of the mutual bonds created by sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings between one another on an individual basis, as well as the effects of delivering acts of generosity on a wider scale of one individual to a large group of various types. All of this made Smolder bored, bored, and more bored than ever. At times her interest did peak a little, given the dragons’ selfish, close-minded nature, but overall nothing felt interesting or fascinating.

“You should be taking notes,” Ocellus whispered, handing her a spare pen and paper. “We’ve got a fair amount of homework on this one.”

“What? But I…” Smolder’s voice died in her throat as she realized how far her mind had fallen in relation to the information in front of her. Quickly whispering a thank-you to Ocellus, she tapped the quill in an ink jar and frantically started writing down as much pointers as she could gather. Within minutes half the page was used up – mostly with short phrases and incomplete sentences, all close together, as if loosely stitched. Right as class ended, Smolder’s quill tip snapped. Ocellus, generous and caring as ever, handed her another, even lending her her ink jar. Eventually as the lesson was wrapped up and students headed out to the next set of classes, Rarity caught on to the little dragon, whose hand was practically shaking with frenzy trying to jot down everything her little dragon brain could recall during the ‘boring’ moments of class.

“Smolder?” Rarity asked, a little O of surprise forming on her lips. “What’s got you worked up? You look stressed… and my word, darling, that is a lot of notes! Did you have trouble understanding the lesson? You could’ve asked me.”

Smolder shook her head as she finally finished writing the last of whatever her brain could recall and set the quill pen down with a sigh of relief. “It’s just…I…there’s something troubling my mind, but I can’t get to grips with it.”

“Is there anyone from among your fellow students who you can talk to?” Rarity suggested, pulling up a chair next to her.

Smolder turned slightly, as if to shake her head no, but froze. Lying was never an option, Applejack always said.

But what if Rarity discovers the real truth of the matter… Smolder thought worriedly, a bead of sweat trickling on her head. No, wait, if I just tell her about it in a vague enough way, she won’t pick up the trail…

Enough, brain! Enough! Just spit it out!

“There are two,” Smolder simply stated in a low voice. “Gallus and Ocellus. Though, to be honest, Gallus knows the bigger half of it.”

“I believe then you should talk with him about this. Perhaps he might have better knowledge on how to deal with your mental troubles. If he truly is your friend, he’ll be kind and generous enough to help you out.”

“Point taken,” Smolder replied. “Don’t worry about the notes, I can fix them with Ocellus’s help later.”

Later that evening, Gallus, Sandbar, and the others gathered around a small table in the library to complete their homework. Ocellus covered her math and history questions one by one, going over the source material and trying her best to understand what was being explained and implied. Yona ate some snacks and read the same story over and over, trying to grasp the value of the story within to write her short essay on it. Smolder, on the other hand, couldn’t even think. Her mind was so cloudy she felt like giving up and turning in a D-.

“You alright, Smolder?” Ocellus inquired, looking over at her friend. “You’ve been… kinda out of line today. What exactly is bothering you?”

Not wanting to be left out of the conversation, Gallus chimed in. “Is it about your brother? Or is there a secret within that’s itching you?”

“It’s okay to tell us,” Sandbar added, sliding in his two cents. “We’re friends here, which means we don’t judge or mock. Not at all. We try to help, support, and understand.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Smolder replied slowly. “It’s just… hard. Hard to reveal that I still enjoy and miss something dear to me that no one should know about.”

Ocellus, Yona, and Silverstream pondered over it, realizing that Smolder had left them no option but to guess. Finally, Gallus figured it out, holding up a finger with a smile.

“Uh, could you give us a second?” he announced sheepishly, grabbing Smolder’s arm and rushing off to the far corner of the library, out of earshot of the others. Not wanting to beat around the bushes, Gallus cut straight to it.

“It’s that test from the Tree of Harmony, isn’t it? The tea party and…that dress."

Smolder gasped and whipped around, throttling Gallus and pinning him up against the back of a bookshelf. “Why did you tell-”

“I… haven’t,” Gallus croaked. “But I don’t need to. You need to.”

Relaxing her grip, Smolder’s eyes narrowed. “And why would I do that?”

“Because we’re your friends,” Gallus stated flatly. “Face it, Smolder, you miss being in that dress. And drinking tea, having those happy, free thoughts in your head. We can assist you in reliving that moment. Rarity can help too. What’s there to hide when those you are hiding from mean no harm or embarrassment?”

“But…” Smolder pouted, a little blush forming on her cheeks.

“You know dragons are known to be strong and brave, right?” Gallus asked, his tone stiffening. “Well, one way of being strong and brave is to own yourself. Meaning, be happy and proud for who you are and what you love, regardless of it being visible to others or not.”

With soft eyes and a trusting hand, Gallus put a finger under Smolder’s chin. “Tell you what, if you’re still too afraid, I’ll take your measurements and request Rarity to make a dress for you myself.”

“Really? Y-y-you serious?!” Smolder snapped to attention, smiling eagerly.

Gallus looked straight back into his friend’s eyes and smiled reassuringly, before opening his arms wide. “Yes, really, Smolder. Now, if you don’t mind?”

“Fine with me,” Smolder replied, leaning into Gallus’s arms in a loving, comforting hug.

“What was that about?” Sandbar interrogated, as Gallus and Smolder reappeared at the table.
Gallus turned and looked at him with a smirk. “Let’s just say I know of a vital piece of information that needed to be shared privately for a moment. Smolder here has something she needs to tell us, right?”

Smolder gulped and nodded. “Yes. It’s…”

Gallus looked over at her, beaming with a smile and a nod of encouragement and hope.

“I… miss what I experienced with the Tree of Harmony. It actually felt good to release a side of me that I enjoy. Sometimes, it’s nice to peel away from being so much like what the culture you’re brought up in expects you to be. And in that moment, that’s when you can be happy, and even fantasize about some things. For me, it was…”

Smolder bit her lip and let out a big sigh. This was it. The one moment of complete confession. “It was being invited to a tea party. Not just sitting and drinking, but stepping into a dress – one with a few lacy, billowing petticoats and puffy sleeves. Sitting down, feeling all that beneath my legs, and a pretty little tiara atop my head. And within, knowing that I both look and feel beautiful via such a visual transformation. I should also mention that that tea tasted good. It’s… okay if it seems all silly to you guys.”

“It does seem a little awkward imaging it now,” Sandbar confided, grinning to avoid chuckling. “But in that setting, in that scenario, it fits like two pairs of socks.”

Yona walked over to her friend, whose face was now red as a cherry. “Yona will say it now! Pretty and cute Smolder is still Smolder, and will always be our friend! We friends, support and love dragon, dress or no dress! Yak calls for group hug.”

Silverstream rushed forward and held Gallus and Smolder in her long arms, and Yona nuzzled Sandbar as they, together, embraced their dragon friend. Coming in front, Ocellus wrapped a leg around Smolder and gave her a kiss on the head. All together, they were happy that Smolder had fully accepted herself for who she was and what she loved doing.

“So… who’s ready for the next school dance event?” Sandbar suddenly asked.

Smolder’s eyes bulged, and the tight-knit hug broke up. Wait a minute…

Author's Note

Yona and Sandbar aside, shipping was not intended in this fic.