The Revolutionary Six

Yona was curled up against the wall of the treehouse. The fact that she wasn’t able to teach Sandbar all that well had been eating at her the whole evening. She tried, and failed. What else? Was their relationship in jeopardy because she messed up? Again?

The fact that she almost destroyed majority of her friends was harsh enough, but the fact that she couldn’t at least help the other ten percent that was still happy with her? Please.

Her heart sank and the thoughts cut deeper. Sandbar probably didn’t even want to be around her now. Not after what she’d done. It would make a lot of sense if all her friends just left her in the first place. Save themselves so much time.

A brief slamming of the door to the treehouse elicited a jolt from Yona. “Wh-Who is it...?” She asked in nervousness.

Coming in from the dark was an expertly toned Sandbar, who smiled genuinely and waved at her with a gentle hoof. “It’s just me. I wanted to let you know about my progress.” He flexed his forelegs in attempt to cheer and woo the sad yak.

It worked a little, and the corners of Yona’s mouth turned up. “Sandbar looks nice.” She blushed, standing up and walking over to her friend. “How friend Sandbar get strong?”

“Oh, I had a little help from Ocellus. She gave me this magical serum thingy, and... are you okay?”

All this talk about how much of a help she wasn’t started to make her shiver in disappointment. Sandbar, of course, noticed this, and offered a hoof sympathetically.

“Yona’s fine, but...” She stopped to sink before her pony friend. Yona hit the floor with her forelegs covering her head. Sandbar put a hoof to his mouth in surprise and concern. “Who yak kidding...? Yona not fine...” she lamented.

Sandbar knelt down to her and proceeded run his hoof through her hair. “What’s wrong, Yona...?” He offered, still stroking her coat with a gentle hoof.

“Yona feels terrible about fighting friends. Smolder didn’t forgive Yona straight away, and...” she sighed. “Yona thinks she might not want her as friend anymore.”

Sandbar gasped. No wonder why Smolder was being so distant lately. Through Yona’s whole apology today, she was just so... over it. No wonder it had been eating at her the whole time.

Whatever was bugging Smolder so much, she’d better get it off her chest. It wasn’t like her to hold a grudge against one of her friends, not unless it was really serious, so, what was up?

“...But why, Yona?”

With that, Yona gave this explicitly detailed explanation about how she flung Smolder around the room. Even as she took it “easier” on Gallus and Ocellus, she knew Smolder’s wing was broken, and how she obviously took that to her advantage.

She explained how her draconic friend’s wings were patched up, so she couldn’t really see any other reason she could've been angry. She also took time to address how through her whole apology, Smolder kept snorting smoke and rolling her eyes, to which Ocellus had nudged her with a knowing look.

“Woah. So, you’re saying Smolder’s been being a douche to you this whole time because...?”

Yona lowered her head. “Y-Yona thinks it because she hurt her. Just like all friends.”

“—No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, sure, you smashed her around, but you did the exact same to Gallus and Ocellus. What right does she have to be anymore agitated than they were?”

“Yona doesn’t—“

“I’ve gotta talk to her. Cheer up soon, but... I’ve gotta go see her.”

Smolder was swinging from tree branch to tree branch, searching for an opening for her next attack. Gallus was a tricky one once he got ahold of his bow, and you could never throw him off his aim once his target was already locked on.

You would never catch his aim amiss, and even if you did, he’d probably up his game straight after; give you a taste of what was coming before. That’s what Smolder wanted to take advantage of.

Gallus’ hunger for perfect precision was going to be his undoing. Smolder would try to move in perfect sync with his arrows, so that he wouldn’t have the chance to get her in the red.

Ocellus sat up against a tree trunk at a distance and watched the two battle it out. It was more like she was just looking at Gallus, seen as her girlfriend was just swinging amongst the trees and keeping out of sight.

The two were battling in their costumes and used their battle instincts just incase something real came up. Even if nothing ever really happened, there was no way they were going to give up their identities, even as they were fighting in a forest of secure fortitude, so they remained out of sight.

Gallus was wearing his trademark vest with the color patterns being red and black. The wristbands clutched tightly around his feathers and prevented the adrenaline from rushing through his veins. Or, that was just his blood flow being tightened.

Smolder was in her Spider-Spandex, the color scheme being red and blue. The white mesh taking account for her eyes squinted and peered, giving some signal that she was looking around for another place to swing.

Even much to her dismay, Ocellus told her she should get more used to not having wings, seen as they were going to have to get removed eventually. The two creatures that knew about it were Gallus and Ocellus, the only creatures she allowed to even speak about her recent inconvenience without getting so much as a threat.

Ocellus would’ve partook in their wrestling activity, but she insisted she’d rather just watch, talking about how if she used her powers, she’d probably just accidentally vaporize them.

Humming to herself, she took note of Smolder’s currently invisible strategy. Gallus just hovered in the air above the patch of trees in the forest and kept a lookout, keeping tabs on how often the trees moved.

Meanwhile, Smolder latched onto another tree, and the leaves ruffled, much clearly sought to Gallus. Chuckling, he took aim with his bow and shot a clear shot toward the tree.

“Huh...?” Smolder muttered, squinting her eyes. A strange tingling was overwhelming her whole body, and the arrow she was unbeknownst of hadn’t even hit yet.

Upon instinct, she leaped from the cover of the thick patch of leaves and into the daylight. Just a millisecond after she leapt, the arrow pierced the harsh bark material of the tree branch. She let out a yelp of surprise as she dive-rolled into the open, and frankly vulnerable ground of the clearing.

Gallus laughed and shot a barrage of arrows, but Smolder dodged each and every one of them, as if she had some sixth sense. Despite his frustration, almost everything his dragon friend planned went way according to plan.

She moved in perfect sync with the arrows, and it was made even better with her new “instinct”. When Gallus ran out of breath(and arrows), Smolder chuckled in vigor. She leapt onto a branch, and then onto another, then another, until she was finally at a good enough height to tackle her prey.

“Ooof!!” Gallus wheezed. Smolder tackled the bewildered bird-cat into another tree, and the two wrestled for quite a while. Gallus kicked his hindlegs up into Smolder’s abdomen, and she grunted in response. Retaliating with light pain, she lunged fiercely at his throat.

Her claws dug into his clavicle as he cried out in surprise and discomfort. Tackling him out of the tree, she slammed him against the rough ground as she roared in dominance. Gallus had enough of this. He grasped Smolder’s arms with ferocity and growled. Smolder growled back, tightening her grip on his neck and collarbone.

With a mighty lion’s roar, Gallus flipped over, tossing his friend into a hard tree trunk. She grunted in reply, growling softly. Seeing this, Ocellus finally decided to cut in before they got a little too aggressive.

“Play nice, you two.”

“Aw, but predatory hunting is fun!” Gallus whined, turning a blind eye to his currently recovering friend who had the bark of he tree base scratching against her suit. Ocellus giggled, turning to her clipboard to take some notes.

Smolder stood up and rushed to Gallus on all fours, shooting a web at his face to cover his eyes. “Yeah, but not for YOU!” she growled, tackling him once more and pinning him against another tree. Laughing with devilish bliss, she flipped him over and tossed him into the bush.

“Was that really necessary?” Ocellus smiled, gesturing over to the moving bush that held Gallus, who thrashed around violently.

“Of course it was! When two predators fight, it’s imperative that one slays the other.”

Ocellus’ eyes widened. “You’re not going to do that, are you?”

Smolder chuckled nervously. “Of course not. Just give me a second to—“

“Smolder, you have a lot to talk about.” A voice called. It was Sandbar, stomping over to the dragon in spandex. Smolder removed her mask and raised a brow.

“And you... have lots of explaining to do. Since when did you start hitting the gym?”

Sandbar’s cheeks flushed, and his mouth hung open. “W-Well, I-I, Uh... that’s not what I’m here to talk about!” He shouted, snorting in aggression. “You hurt Yona, and I’m here to figure out why!”

Ocellus stepped in. “What? What happened? Smolder? What’s he talking about?” She voiced, looking over to a frustrated Smolder.

“I have no idea...” She lied. Smoke started to fume from her nostrils, and Sandbar upped his confrontational voice.

“You have to! Yona told me that when she apologized to you, you were nothing but distant and cold. What’s wrong with you? After all that time, Yona’s been feeling like complete and utter garbage thanks to you!”

Smolder growled, and Gallus tore the web off his eyes, leaping out of the bush. “What’s going on?” He asked.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Smolder hissed, turning away from Sandbar and crossing her arms.

“Well, something’s got you worked up, and I’m not leaving until you fess up!” Turtle boy was shouting now, and Smolder began to raise her voice as well.

“B-But... didn’t you say everything was fine?” Ocellus voiced. “That you forgave her that day?”

Smolder’s eyes widened. “Of course I did. I’m just... kind of... I don’t know! Look, can we just close this case already? I can’t be here all day.”

“No!” Sandbar barked. “Not until you tell me what the hell is wrong with you!”

“I’m not telling you because it’s none of your business!!!!” She barked back. Ocellus sighed.

“Smolder, it’s about... it, isn’t it?” Smolder turned her head to Ocellus for a second, but then huffed and turned her head away again. “You know it’s not going to get better until you come out and address it!”

“Then I guess I just won’t address it, because it won’t get better. It never will.”

Gallus was now speaking, putting a claw on Smolder’s shoulder. She tensed up quickly. “Not if you don’t tell anyone, come on. You’ve already seriously hurt Yona, and if you don’t fix this, she probably won’t ever cheer up.”

“Can someone just tell me what’s going on?!” Sandbar bellowed, causing a shock to all the creatures around him.

“I-It’s not my place to say, and it isn't Gallus’ either.” Ocellus turned to Smolder. “The only one who can say it is... you.”

She only huffed.

“Please? Yona’s your friend, Smolder. You have to do something about this.”

“Fine!!!” Smolder shrieked, finally losing her cool. She stomped over to Sandbar and poked his chest, ready to give him a piece of her mind. “You wanna know why I’m being such an asshole?! FINE!!! I was gonna say it was none of your fucking business, but here we fuckin’ are!”

Sandbar started backing up, but she pressed forward. “My. Wings. Are. FINISHED! F-I-N-I-S-H-E-D!!! You wanna know why?! Because that fucking burly, green, muscly freak tipped them over the fuckin’ edge!!!” She continued.

“Smolder, you—“ Ocellus started, but Smolder kept on.

“And now, they’re going to have to be removed!! You heard me! I fuckin’ said it! Surgically REMOVED!”

Sandbar stood there, wondering if he had heard the words in all the right places. No wonder Smolder was being so cold. Her wings became so damaged that they’d have to be removed.

removed, removed, removed, removed.

The words repeated over and over. Now Sandbar got it. His gaze softened. So did Smolder’s. The dragoness’ chest heaved heavily.

“Now you understand why. I didn’t want to tell anyone because it was too personal. I never wanted to bring it up. I feel terrible how I treated Yona, but... all she did was salt the wound. Literally.”

“Well, you could’ve talked to her. To all of us, actually.” Sandbar sighed, trotting over and resting a hoof on her shoulder. “...But now I see your side of the story, and... I’m so sorry. I didn’t know something that terrible came from yesterday’s... incident. I’ll bring her here, that way it’ll be easier for you two to talk.”

Smolder nodded briefly. Sandbar disappeared into the bushes in search for the clubhouse.