The Revolutionary Six

Today was a good day. The things going on around the group of six couldn’t compare to what had been going on with them. Even as the strange disappearances of some ponies failed to reach the knowledge of the most socially aware members of said group, they kept to themselves keenly; not a disturbance made on the perfectly balanced schedule they all kept. All except for one creature. “Where is she?” One creature, or pony, in particular whined, swatting his hooves across the table. Sandbar got countless weird looks from the rest of the party occupying the table.

“Seriously, Sandbar,” Gallus was now attempting to give his friend a harsh taste of reality, if not sense. “Smolder’s been avoiding all the shit we do for weeks. Stop acting like it’s anything new.”

“He’s right, Gallus.” Ocellus chimed in. Gallus looked over to her calmly, yet, defensively. “She hasn’t been here for a while. It’s like she’s been avoiding us this whole time.” She looked to Silverstream as if begging for support. Silverstream coughed in reply.

“Oh... right... um. Yeah, Gallus! Smolder hasn’t been hanging out with us and...” She paused. “Who am I kidding? Guys, Smolder’s Fine. It’s not like her to just up and leave her friends without giving a reason.” Everyone looked at her quizzically. She ended up openly questioning herself. “...Right?” Yona stepped in.

“Friends worry too much. Smolder good friend. Smolder not leave friends alone for no good reason!” She spoke, cheering the rest of the group up. “Oh, wait! There go dragon now!” She pointed in a direction to which all of them looked. There Smolder was, sitting in the library at an isolated table. The group themselves weren’t much for confrontation, except for maybe Gallus, but, at this point, they’ve been wanting answers for weeks. Gallus was the first to make his way up to her.

“Where the hell have you been all week?!” He snapped. “We’ve been worried sick!”

“Bullshit.” Smolder rolled her eyes. “I try and take a little freetime, and the first thing you do is attack me?!” She hissed. Ocellus started to speak, but decided against it. As weird as it sounded, Smolder began to sound... vulnerable. Like she didn’t know what to say. She was rarely ever caught by surprise by any creature. The way she spoke now compared to how she used to was completely different.

“Smolder, he’s right.” Ocellus stepped up from behind Gallus. Smolder’s eyes widened slightly, but then narrowed soon after.

“Oh, yeah, let’s just all attack Smolder.”

“We’re not attacking you.” She said. “We just want to know where you’ve been.”

“We can talk about it at the clubhouse.” She rushed.

“And, you’re sure you’ll explain everything?

“Promise.”

“You still haven’t explained to us this shit yet. Where the fuck did these ‘powers’ you’re talking about even come from?” Gallus inquired, hovering up to Smolder who was somehow sticking to the roof above them.

“You ask me like I know how this bullshit happened.” She rolled her eyes. “I was by myself one day, and next thing you know, my claws were all sticky.”

Storytime!

Smolder was relaxing on her floor, something in particular she found comforting compared to the rocks in the Dragon-lands. Between those and the soft, cushy mattresses, she favored the floor more than any of them.

“It was like any regular day. Y’know, just me, in my dorm, chillin’ it out.”

Smolder got up to look over her homework assignments for the evening. She walked over to her desk which had papers scattered all over it; a problem she thought she’d never be so nit picky about. Smolder picked up a sheet and skimmed through each and every paragraph doubtfully. She had no idea what was on that paper.
Maybe Professor Fluttershy would take a late assignment. Or not. Smolder annoyedly shook the paper. It wasn’t moving. It was like the paper was superglued to her claw.

“I went to do my homework like a good, honest, moral straight A student would.” She chuckled coyly. The rest of the students rolled their eyes. “I picked up a piece of paper, and next thing you know, the little shit started to stick to my claw.”

Smolder was a little annoyed at first. She shook her claw rigorously in attempt to set the paper free. The sheet of paper, staying resilient, stayed stuck to her claw. Smolder growled contemptuously and snorted smoke. She could try setting it on fire, but that would mean risking setting the whole room on fire in the process. She could attempt to control her fire breathing, but, she had to face it; she was no good at controlling herself when she was this annoyed. She reached for some scissors on her desk and laughed to herself, seeing that she was about to win this battle.

“So what did dragon do?” Yona asked. Smolder unstuck herself from the ceiling and let herself fall to the ground. She landed in her feet, luckily, but her ankles nearly collapsed into themselves with a “crack!”

“What any normal creature would do.” She replied pretentiously. Her feet wobbled from the impact of the floor beneath her.

“And that is...?” Gallus waved his claw around in suspense while looking at her expectantly. She stood back on her feet proudly, but actually ended up falling onto her haunches.

“I grabbed my scissors and tried to cut it off. Or so I tried.”

Smolder attempted to cut the paper from her claw. She positioned the blades right between her scales and the assignment, ready to cut. When she squeezed the handles, the blades snapped through the paper and left it drifting onto the ground. She had succeeded, but at the expense of one more small, insignificant detail she hadn’t considered.

“The scissors started being bitches too.”

“‘Bitches’?” Gallus quoted, looking at Smolder confused.

“Hey, respect the plural nouns here.”

“Looks like someone pays attention in Twilight’s side-grammar lessons.” Ocellus replied with a coy smirk.

“Not you too, Ocellus. Don’t be a bitch.” Smolder glared at Ocellus, crossing her arms as she did. She only giggled back at her. “Anyway...”

Smolder growled in frustration. Her only way out actually ended up pushing her back in. Then, she figured it out. She’d ask her friends for help, that’s what she’d do. Smolder rushed toward the door as fast as she could. When she reached for the doorknob, she came to find out that, unsurprisingly, her claw stuck to it as well. Angered by this, she placed her feet onto the base of the door and launched herself backward. She pushed, and pushed as much as she could, the doorknob shaking and sticking as she did.

The door collapsed over her and she peddled herself backward. Good news; she was free. Bad news; she had taken the door off the hinges. It was as if the door were as light as a feather as she pushed herself. The disgruntled dragon stumbled with the door over her. She couldn’t focus, not like this. The door followed her every step she took.

The weight of the door shifted steadily and broke her concentration. The leverage she gained from being on top of her door was soon lost. She clamored toward her window and whipped around swiftly, the door following her arm as if it had been gripping it the whole time. It broke through the window pane, and glass flew from the empty space it left behind. The door, stuck in the pane, was being steadily pushed through by Smolder in a feeble attempt to free herself. The door collapsed under her. Then, she fell.

“Wait a minute. You fell out of a window?!” Ocellus exclaimed. “A-Are you okay?!”

“Ocellus.” Smolder answered. “It’s been a week.”

“Oh.” She grinned sheepishly. “Right.”

“Yak confused. Couldn’t dragon just fly?”

“Yeah, but then...”

This was fine. It was okay. All she had to do was extend her wings and fly, right? Right? She aimed to extend her wings and tossed as she fell. The wretched reptile flipped around frantically in a panic. Her wings in a frozen state. Was she scared? No. She couldn’t be. She wasn’t scared of anything, and—

‘Crack!!!!!’ Smolder turned in the air and let out a cry of great pain. Her wings got hit on a ledge of some sort. Maybe the air pressure at such a high rate didn’t mix very well with chunks of land. Her body was still rotating with the consistent air pressure while she fell, and her wings flapped, fluttered, and twisted brokenly.

Now, the only thing stuck to her claw at this point was the doorknob. Upon instinct she held out her arm and tried to see if she could reach for a ledge on the building or something. That’s when she knew. She dug for copper, and struck gold. A mysterious web shot out from in between two of her fingers and latched onto the side of the school building. She instantly gained air as she grappled toward it. In a frenzied panic, she crashed. Right into the side of the building.

“And, now, I’m practically in control of these powers.” Smolder quipped. She extended her arm and let out a string of web that latched onto the crystal walls of the clubhouse. Catching air, she decided to try and do a backflip. When she was launched into the air, she shot another string out of her other claw to the opposite wall. When she let go of her previous string, she ended up flying straight into the other wall. She hit the ground. The other five laughed for a bit and attempted to help her up.

“Thought you said you had this in the bag.” Gallus deadpanned.

“I...I said practically. Asshole...” she groaned. Helping Smolder up, the group happily said their “good nights” and left for the School. Neither of them knew what would happen next, or where they’d go in the moment. All they knew was, it was a crazy story told that night, and little did they know, theirs was soon coming.