School reunions are weird.
They’re pretty much the only place where a pony could figure out who did well, who didn’t, who was chugging along, who was in prison, pregnant, got married, had a family, was dead. Every single fun little development that could‘ve happened over the course of a decade laid out for everypony to see.
Sandbar felt secure with his place in life: a tenure at the school of friendship and a diploma with decent grades had set him up with a pretty great scholarship at the University of Canterlot. From there, he went off to the foreign service where he was now spending eight hours a day exporting Equestria’s unique brand of friendship across the globe.
As he looked around the room, he saw familiar faces, each of them ushering in a happy little memory of bygone years.
There was Ocellus, the little grub now a fully-grown queen with her colourful carapace proudly on display.
Near the buffet table was Silverstream, dressed in a formal military uniform, chatting happily and laughing along with Yona, who was adorned in the finery of a Chief.
Sandbar’s eyes slipped to the side, noticing a familiar bundle of blue feathers hovering near the edge of the room: Gallus, unmistakably, and yet he looked... weird, almost smaller, shrinking away from the bulk of conversations, maybe content to etch out an existence on the periphery of festivities.
It was like Gallus was more comfortable sharing the night with his punch than anypony else.
Maybe he’s just a little shy?
Nah, there was no way. The guy was a lot of things, but shy had never been one of them.
Maybe he’s planning a littletenth anniversary prank?
Far more likely.
Sandbar trotted over, flashing a smile as he approached. “What’s up, dude? I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Sandbar’s smile slipped.
As he got closer, he noticed lots of little… oddities.
Gallus’ feather-crown was styled in a distinctly… feminine fashion, each of its tips dyed a faint shade of pink. Plus, Gallus didn’t seem smaller, he was smaller. His thinner and lankier curves yet again added to the oddness. Was he trying to look like…
Finally, Sandbar noticed the make-up. A thin layer matting Gallus’ cheek feathers and eye contours. It was neatly done, discreet, and yet, still meant to be noticed.
Was he…
“Oh hey, Sandbar,” a vaguely familiar murmur greeted back. “How have you been?”
Was Gallus straining his voice?
“You, uh… you look different,” Sandbar said, his smile growing unsure. “But, good! You look good, I mean.”
“Well, you know, ten years can do a lot to a creature,” Gallus said with a nod. “You seem to be doing pretty good for yourself, too.”
Sandbar chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. “Yeah, I’m working for the foreign office these days. How about you?”
“Err… I’m between jobs?”
“Didn’t like your last one?”
Gallus sighed. “Yeah… something like that.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Sandbar said, slapping him on the back. “I’m sure you’ll find something soon, Gallus.”
Gallus visibly cringed, his skin practically crawling.
“I’m actually going by, uh, Gabriella these days,” he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper.
Sandbar blinked. “Pardon.”
Gallus poked the nametag on his chest. It did in fact read Gabriella and also came with a pastel pink little sticker underneath, which read, she/her.
“What’s that?” Sandbar asked, getting closer and squinting to read.
Gallus flinched away. “What’s what?”
“She… her?”
Gallus cocked a brow. “They’re pronouns, Sandbar.”
“I know that but why are they…?”
“Are you familiar with the term transgender?” Gallus asked, sighing.
Sandbar paused, looked down to read the tag again, and finally glanced up at his friend.
The strained voice, make-up, feminine crown of feathers…
“No way,” Sandbar mumbled, eyes wide.
“Is it honestly so hard to believe?”
“K–kinda?”
Gabriella frowned and pursed her beak. “Why?”
“You were always such a dude’s dude back in school.”
“I was a miserable twerp who took out her aggression on any creature around,” she grumbled.
Sandbar bit his lip. “I just assumed that’s because you were a gryphon.”
Gabriella snorted. “That’s part of it. But no, I…” She sighed. “A lot has changed in ten years.”
Sandbar slid up alongside her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it, dude?”
“Don’t call me that,” Gabriella growled, her posture tensing.
“Call you what?”
“Dude.” She practically spat the word.
Sandbar winced. “Sorry, sorry, force of habit.”
“It’s…” Gabriella deflated a bit. “It’s… Thank you.”
“So, tell me about…” He motioned towards her, “this.”
“What do you wanna know?”
Sandbar shrugged. “Everything?”
“That’s… a pretty big can of worms.”
“Well, alright, how about…” Sandbar waved his hoof as if to summon the right words. “Okay, tell me this. How did you know?”
Gabriella looked at her drink, slowly swirling the bright contents in her little paper cup.
“Have you ever felt like you were… wrong?”
“I mean yeah, duuuuu–er–dette. We took classes together. I was wrong like…” He snorted and shook his head. “A solid forty percent of the time?”
Gabrielle brought the drink to her beak and downed it in one pull. “I mean like you, yourself, were wrong. Like you’re invalid, fake, incorrect.”
“N–not really.”
“Well… I felt that way about myself, and honestly, I had no idea why? I’d wake up, wrong, go to work, wrong, eat, wrong. There was this wrongness which seemed to just...” She clenched her talons, crushing the little cup as her voice dropped to a more familiar tone, “to be this thing that would haunt me forever. Permeate me, that’s the right word I think.”
She cleared her throat and suddenly the strained rasp returned. “Sorry.”
“No, nothing to be sorry about,” Sandbar said. “Are you on… the hormones?”
Gabriella chuckled; it was harsh monosyllable note.
Sandbar looked over. “What?”
“Sorry, ‘the hormones’ is such a cis-way of putting it. But yes, I’m on… the hormones.”
“And, are they helping?”
“Sometimes? Maybe? I don’t know. I guess that like… I don’t feel as wrong as I did before. But…” She growled and threw up a talon. “I don’t really wanna talk about it, dude.”
Sandbar raised a defensive hoof. “No, no, that is totally understandable. Just know that I’m here for you, Gabriella.”
Gabriella’s postured slackened along a stretched-out sigh. “Thanks Sandbar, it’s just… I’m used to trying to justify myself to gryphons.”
“Hey, ponies are a lot more open-minded about this kind of stuff. Like, my cousin’s friend’s roommate is, uh… he is a girl who wants to be, like, male?”
Gabriella snorted. “Cousin’s friend’s roommate? Sounds legit.”
“I swear to Celestia she’s real!”
“I’m sure they are,” Gabriella grumbled, rolling her eyes.
Sandbar held up a hoof. “Point is, we aren’t going to ostracize you for wanting to be a mare.”
“I am a mare.”
Sandbar grinned. “That’s what I said.”
“No, you said ‘wanting to be a mare.’”
“Is that…”
Gabriella crooked slightly forward, eyes cast low. “No, it isn’t the same thing.”
“Sorry, sorry, I’m just… I’m new to this.” He smiled sheepishly. “Give me a little bit of time to understand, okay?”
“I’m tired of trying to make creatures understand,” Gabriella muttered.
There was a hollowness in her eyes.
“What was that?” Sandbar asked.
“Nothing.”
“Anyways, are the pills helping?”
“Yes… my meds are working… I feel… they make me feel better!” Gabriella said, her voice shivering with half-hidden uncertainity. “I just…” She sighed and shook her head.
“You just?”
“I hate feeling like a freak, Sandbar.”
“You’re not a freak.”
“I am a freak!” Gabriella growled, her wings flaring. “I’m a tranny, a trap, a transvestite. I’m wrong. I was born wrong. Everything about me is wrong! Wrong. Wrong... Wrong.” She huffed, closed her eyes, and covered them with a claw. “Like, every time I think things are getting better, every time I try and put myself out there, I get a nice slap across the face from reality, reminding me that I’m still ‘dude’ or ‘Gallus.’ I don’t pass and I never will, I’ll just have to get used to feeling wrong until I decide to finally do the sensible thing and off myself.
Sandbar went dead silent and stared vacantly ahead, at a loss for words.
The whole room was quiet, all eyes locked upon Gabriella. Everycreature stared at her, each seeming more shocked at the display than the last.
“I’m sorry,” Sandbar muttered.
Gabriella stormed off towards the entrance.
“Don’t even worry about,” she rasped. “It was a mistake coming here.”
Sandbar galloped after her.
“No wait, just give me a second to…”
“Forget about it!” Gabriella snarled and placed her talon against the door. “It’s water under the bridge. I’ll see you again in another decade.” She snorted and shook her head. “If I even make it that far.”
As she went to open the door, Sandbar placed a hoof against it. It was weak, by earth pony standards, but more than enough to hold her at bay.
“Let me go!” Gabriella growled.
“Not until we’ve talked about this.”
Gabriella spun around, thrusting a single claw forward and jabbing Sandbar roughly in the chest.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she snarled. “I’m done with this, with trying to justify myself, to try and make others understand what I’m going through. They’re never going to understand.” She waved her talons in front of Sandbar’s face. “At least, not really. They pretend to understand, to feel my pain, but you just…” Tears twinkled in her eyes and she sighed. “You just… you’ll never get it.”
Sandbar brushed aside her talon. “Maybe not, but you don’t have to justify yourself to me, Gabriella. If you’re a hen, then you’re a hen. A very beautiful hen.” He smiled and ran a hoof across her cheeks. “Who is apparently really good at make-up.”
Gabreilla warmed. “My, uh… henfriend did it for me.”
“Well then, a hen who has absolutely gorgeous feathers.”
“Also… because of my henfriend.”
Sandbar deadpanned.
Gabriella smiled sheepishly. “Fashion is hard.”
Sandbar shrugged. “Still you pull it off really well.”
“Do you… do you really mean that?”
“Of course, I do. Like sure, maybe I was a little confused at first but after getting to appreciate it up close, I can totally tell how much work you’ve put in. You look fantastic, Gabriella.”
“No, I…”
“Yes, you do,” another voice called forth.
Sandbar looked over his shoulder and saw Silverstream rushing forward.
“You are by far the most beautiful gryphoness I’ve ever seen.” She beamed. “I love what you did with your crown. Like the colour, the style, the…” She giggled and shivered. “It’s just so awesome.”
Gabriella sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “You two really…”
“We three think so,” another voice joined in.
Sandbar noticed Yona approaching. By gods, the yak was way bigger than he remembered.
“Yona is yak, and yak’s cannot lie. You are very beautiful.”
Gabriella opened her mouth, only to close it without a word. She tried again but whatever statement she mouthed, preemptively died at the tip of her tongue.
Silverstream grinned. “This calls for a group hug.”
Sandbar nodded and offered an assured smile. “I think it’s required, according to Headmistress Twilight’s rules.”
Together the three of them stepped forward, pulling Gabriella into a crushing hug. Soon they were joined by two other very familiar bodies.
For the first time in years, all six were reunited.
“I love you, guys,” Gabrielle murmured, her ached voice shaking, flitting past her lips that caught the tears rolling down her cheeks.
And a familiar chorus promptly chirped back, “We love you too.”
Author's Note
I did not go into this contest expecting to write a vent piece, but well... here we are.
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