The Revolutionary Six

Silverstream swung her hammer erratically at Cozy Glow, but she was disappearing every time she struck. Gallus was trying his best to steady his grip as he shot his arrows, which all ricocheted the moment they grazed by the flying filly. She cackled viciously. Gallus snarled and lunged at her with seething anger. His claws were at a strong blaze as he ripped at the string of his mighty bow. Each arrow struck hard on Cozy, but she seemed to take no effect.

Cozy grinned with pure evil, and then flashed her rather adorable, popping, bulging eyes at him. She raised both her forelegs and immediately responded.

"You think it's that simple, huh?" She giggled. Gallus cried out in fear as he was enveloped in a cloud of darkness. He flailed his limbs around as he tried to gain control of the things around him. Everything disappeared, and now he was just floating, right in time with the darkness. The frigid air of the space around him gently caressed his feathers. The wind felt like it was blowing, but he wasn't sure which direction. Whatever this is, it was torture.

The empty space that just sat there, left, right, and possibly inside him felt like an entire cloud of conflict. Cozy had some power, and whatever it was, he had to stop it. Flexing his wings, he attempted to fly around and gain knowledge of what surrounded him. He tried looking left and right, calling out a few names, but, nobody came.

He darted from place to place, only looking for one thing, or, possibly, one griff. Silverstream was gone, and so was Cozy. Nothing but melancholy around him. He was sure that he was flying in the right direction up until now, but there was one key thing he had to wonder. What did Cozy just do? She didn't lift a hoof and had already trapped him in some sort of sunken place. It grew difficult move his body, and the fear paralyzed him, like he could barely breathe.

He flared his wings faster though, in hope of getting some sight of the outside world. Silverstream was waiting for him. She needed him right now. Who knows what Cozy could be doing to her right this moment? Thoughts continued to clog his mind up, but they didn't matter. All that mattered was finding Silverstream, and--

"POW!"

Gallus hit a rough, solid substance. Bits of it got caught in his feathers, and even then, they started to drip blood. "Gallus!" A familiar voice gasped. It was close, and it sounded like a certain griff he knew. "Are you okay?! You rammed straight into a tree trunk, and I-- AAHH!”

A strong breeze caught her off guard. Her and Gallus were being swept through the air somehow, but with all that weight, there was no way they could’ve carried them that far. That was probably why they collapsed a few seconds after.

“Geez, you guys are heavy,” groaned a strained voice. Gallus rubbed his badly bruised head, and then looked up. It was Smolder, who was standing there, looking down at them with a probable smile. “Sorry it took me so long. Sandbar, Ocellus, and Yona decided to lay low for a while before Equestria’s authorities get here.”

“Yeah, I could tell.” Gallus sputtered, Silverstream inspecting the scratches and bruises on his forehead. “I didn’t know all this stuff was going down so quickly. Cozy managed to show us when shit hit the fan.” When he finished, Silverstream stepped forward and began to speak.

“Right. We should probably lay low as well. Wouldn’t want to risk revealing ourselves.” She looked at Smolder, whose displeasure was quite clear. She huffed in protest, and Silverstream frowned as she started to sweat. Gallus’ pain turned to concern.

“No,” She hissed, pushing her displeasure even further. Silverstream stepped back, and Gallus leveled with her, placing a claw on her shoulder.

If Smolder refused to retreat with them, who was going to protect her? It was much too dangerous, even for her level of determination and speed. Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, but she had to be the one who was the most handicapped out of all of them.

Her legs were close to a broken state, her wings were nearly battered, and there was so much blood on the interior of her mask that it began to stain the once white fabric mesh of her “eyes.” Even much to her dismay, Silverstream stayed silent, and so did Gallus, despite his ongoing thirst to voice his objection.

“Smolder, let’s go.” He pressed firmly.

“I said, No! You guys’ve been pushing me to the side so many times, how the fuck am I supposed to help you?!”

“You don’t!” Shouted Silverstream, who was nearly careful to keep her voice low. “We’re still waiting for the teachers to get here!”

“And how do we know it’ll be enough?!” Smolder argued, stepping forward. “Maybe since I’m the only one here that’s willing to stand up against those jerks, you should just let me fight with them!” Gallus face-clawed and stepped forward. Smolder was breathing heavily and harshly perspiring half the reason being because of the heat of the moment, or because of the sun beating down on them.

“Smolder, listen—“ Gallus tried to reason with her, but she wasn’t budging. In fact, she extended her arm and shot a web that latched around Gallus’ beak in a second. After this, she’d drive her point home the hardest she could. So hard in fact that she’d make everyone bite their tongue to brace her words.

“No! You listen!!” She barked, pointing a burning claw at Gallus and Silverstream. “You guys’ve been getting your asses kicked, and I didn’t get to lay a finger on anyone yet! You act like I can’t defend myself!”

That’s when Silverstream spoke up. “That’s why we’re hiding. We’re not meant to take on the enemy right now. That’s why Ocellus called for help.”

“So... you guys’re just leaving me out here? To fight alone?”

“That’s not what we said.” Explained Gallus, who had ripped the web off his beak.

Strange. Smolder’s webs were really strong. Gallus would have to have at least twice the strength of her to break through a fiber. Had Gallus somehow trained harder than her at some point, or did Smolder just shoot a weak web? Had she grown weaker? That couldn’t’ve been it, especially when she trained so hard to gain the physical advantages she had to maintain her powers. Was Gallus just stronger than her? Whichever it was, the very subject tore Smolder apart from the inside.

She shook her head in disbelief, the tears in her eyes beading in the corners and almost being visible. Shutting her eyes, she turned away in shame. How could she have let this happen? She was the first for this horrible turn of events to happen to, shouldn’t she have trained enough to be higher in terms of strength?

"Smolder," Gallus started. "Are you alright?" He stepped a little closer. Smolder needed help, he felt. She was trembling and hugging her knees to her chest. That talk did some damage to her ego, and it would probably do even less help if he were to salt the wound. Smolder, of everyone, suffered the most in this situation. Her wings were torn, her ego destroyed, her strength turned to weakness. Maybe if he could find a way to make her strong where she was weak. He lay a claw on her shoulder. The muscles in her arm tensed up, as if the slightest hint of movement could trigger her. "Smolder?"

“Heh.” She chuckled in reply. Gallus nearly jumped back, but he found something. Something resonating within Smolder. Like she found peace within herself. “I’ve been whining this entire time, haven’t I?”

“Whining’s an understatement.” He deadpanned. Smolder stood up.

“Shut the fuck up.” She joked, turning around and smirking at the both of them. “Fine. We’ll go hide out now, but once the teachers get here, I’m kicking each of their asses.” She turned to point to Chysalis, Cozy, and Tirek, who were currently wreaking havoc on the land around them.

“So, what’s the plan?” Ocellus asked, taking out a weirdly handy note pad and pencil. Sandbar and Yona looked at each other, and then back at Ocellus. Regardless, Yona decided to fill in her answer for her.

“Yona think we should stay here and wait for professors to come save us.”

“Diddo,” replied Sandbar, who placed his hoof on Yona’s out of nowhere. The yak’s face turned conspicuously red, and Sandbar’s as well. Ocellus smiled, returning to her note pad and clearing her throat.

“Right. So we have an agreement.”

“One question,” asked Sandbar, getting Ocellus’ attention almost immediately.

“Hm...?“

“What about birds and dragon?” Yona continued. Ocellus put a hoof to her chin.

“Oh, geez.”