Dragonpool: Friendship is Violence

Smolder still sat idle-minded in class, the words of her professor going through one ear and straight through the other. Her eyes drifted toward the screen, then back at the board, then back, then forth again.

Ocellus tried following her glance one or two times, but couldn't quite figure out what she was looking at in contrast to the lesson she should've been paying attention to. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at the dragon behind her, her look saying something along the lines of "What are you looking at?!" and "Focus!"

Still, the dragon seemed a bit occupied on something else. As if she was spacing out, which, she probably was.

Smolder's head peaked up as the bell rang throughout the school. She saw the evident despair of a well-taught math lesson being put to an end on her Headmare's face. She wanted to smirk and sigh blissfully at the sound, yet she knew there was another class coming up whether or not she celebrated too early.

"That concludes our lesson in numerator/denominator division," Twilight sighed, putting the slightly charred piece of chalk back down at the bottom of the board.

Smolder's eyes widened at the small clicking noise it made. She zoned out. Again.

"Ooh!" Her teacher seemed to perk up in realization. "As you know, some of you will be going on a field trip today."

Smolder groaned, burying her face in her claws. She winced as her and Twilight traded a quick glance before she continued, "I want each of you to prepare."

"Of course," Smolder thought with a grimace, only one space between her claws allowing her eye to be visibly rolling. Ocellus looked over to the dragon with a small frown.

“Additionally, this trip will be based on teamwork and cooperation, so I want all of you thinking about how you can contribute.” When Twilight was satisfied, she left the room, giving the other students time to gather their things and leave the class as well.

"You seem worn out," Ocellus pressed, standing up from her seat and getting her books in order. To Ocellus, that would've been pretty unlikely, seen as Smolder just woke up less than an hour ago. Ocellus could tell her friend wasn't exactly sleepy. Just worn out as if she were doing hard labor in Applejack's barn. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine." Smolder let her pupils drift sarcastically over to the screen, then looked reassuringly back to her friend. She could see one of her other friends coming into the classroom behind Ocellus, and he had a serious expression on his face. She knew he had something he wanted to talk about, and she knew it involved her.

Pretending to get her books ready under her desk, she avoided eye contact with her bug friend as she ruffled some things around. She spotted her blue feathered friend from afar still, and he was still standing in the doorway. "You go ahead and get ready, I'll be with you in a sec."

Ocellus didn't bother questioning despite her nagging subconscious, nodding quickly with a warm smile as she turned to leave the room. As her gaze reached the door, she saw the griffon leaning against the frame. "Oh, hi, Gallus! You're getting ready for the trip, I presume?"

Gallus got rid of the grim look in an instant, putting a small, forced smirk on his face. "Just waiting on slow scales over there," he teased, pointing a talon at the orange dragon in question.

Smolder let out a low, empty-threat growl as she continued. Gallus' eyes widened a little, then squinted and peered as they narrowed. Smolder looked back at him, stuffing another book in its place.

Ocellus giggled, "Yeah. Anyway, I think it'll be a while. Headmare Twilight hasn't quite figured out who she wants to lead yet." Gallus' eyes shifted to Ocellus at her reply, then back to Smolder. The dragon stopped shuffling her things.

The room was quiet. Smolder glared up at Gallus, and he her.

Ocellus furled her brow. The atmosphere in the room was so thick you could cut through it with a blade.

She quickly considered opening her receptors and tasting the air, but she could tell there was no need. The brewing tension between both her friends was getting increasingly thicker, so much that each breath Ocellus took was filled with intense flavors of foul sweetness and spice.

Gallus was the first to give in between the two of them, letting out a heavy sigh. "Okay. Listen, go ahead with the others. We'll catch up," he reassured, the showing of his small smile being a little sense of clarity for the unsure changeling. She nodded(slowly, this time), making her way from the classroom along with the other students.

Once she left, the griffon turned around, stepping backward into the room whilst he closed the door shut. Smolder's eyes flicked up at its clicking as it closed.

Gallus stepped over to the dragon slowly and cautiously before taking a seat on one of the desk stools in front of her. "So, how'd it go?"

Smolder's gaze flickered between the board up front, and the friend in front of her. "I didn't die," she admitted. Gallus rolled his eyes.

"Shocker," he breathed, adding two very sarcastic jazz-claws into the mix.

"Yeah, well- you'd be surprised how hard it is for me to kill four-"

"It's not," Gallus interrupted, "Is it?" Smolder sighed heavily, twiddling her claws.

"No, it's not."

"...And you... liked it?" The dragon bit her lip, knowing that lying in this situation would get her nowhere.

"A lot."

The room was silent. Gallus didn't know what to say, blinking slowly in time with his bated breath. Smolder noticed the frequent pause in between his inhales and exhales, as if he were trying to find something to say each second.

"Look, I get what you're doing. You're going to say I'll get caught eventually, and I know that, I just..." She paused, not quite sure how to finish. Instead, Gallus finished for her.

"I'm... I wouldn't. Not now. I know you're going through some tough times. Just- hang in there, okay?"

Smolder was unresponsive. Gallus sighed.

"Come on. Everyone else's waiting for us."

Smolder nodded solemnly as she finally got her things together, standing up from under her desk and looking as Gallus as he stood as well. The two left the room, finally, walking out into the half-crowded halls of ponies ready to get to their next classes.

As Smolder passed each one, she sighed gratefully that she got to at least get away from any of those lectures. Well, unless they were from Professor Pinkie Pie.

Looking over to his friend, Gallus whispered, "You know you're going to have to tell her eventually, right?"

Smolder batted an irked eye at the griffon, barely breathing. Gallus continued, "She's only gonna start prying further, you know that."

Deep, deep down, the dragon knew what he was talking about, but she'd hate to admit it aloud. Still, she kept silent as they neared the common area.

"Cane damn it," a voice erupted. He slammed his hooves on his desk, the numerous office supplies and keepsakes positioned on it jumping up and crashing down in a shambled clatter. "Another squad dead?! Who the hell are we sending out there, a clusterfuck of amateurs?!"

"I-It appears so, sir, I-" An answer machine, the only object on his desk not turned on its side tried to respond.

"That was rhetorical," he interrupted. "What now?"

"I-It appears they're traveling near the School of Friendship. Most likely making an escape."

"Then we'll swarm them," he mused, bringing a slightly gentler hoof down on the table again. "How many...?"

"Wh... Huh?"

"How many are there with them, you dolt?!"

"S-Seven other creatures, sir," the voice on the phone sputtered. "Three ponies, a griffon, a-a hippogriff, err..."

"We know there's a dragon, that's who we're after, I presume..."

"Affirmative. There's one yak, as well."

His eyes widened. "Ah, so they've surrounded themselves with protection, have they? Lovely," he spat. The voice continued still.

"A-And... a... a changeling."

He nodded slowly, smirking as he rubbed his hooves together. "Send the strong ones. They'll throw the rest off track. They're not who we're after."

Then, he kicked his chair out from under him, walking to the front side of the desk where his phone machine sat.

"B-But sir, wait!"

He quirked a brow, waiting for his assistant to add to his already perfect plan.

"A-Are you taking this seriously," the phone whimpered. He rolled his eyes.

"Of course I am." He reached over the answer machine, his hoof hovering over the "end call" button. The voice sighed in relief.

"I-I'm just making sure you're doing this ri-"

"Click."

Now, he waited a few minutes before he went back to his chair, pulling it up and sitting down whilst he gathered his papers and stacked them up. He wore an evil, devious grin as he looked up, watching the screens on his surveillance system and scanning the scene. There, from the safe section in the leaves where the cameras had been tucked, he could see the dragon and their "protection."

Cane help him if this doesn't go as planned...

Smolder stepped slowly and cautiously through the bushes, not ready for the unexpected branches that smacked her in the face. "Ugh!"

Ocellus giggled as she gently lifted the branch, allowing her friend to go through - mostly - without a hitch. Smolder grumbled, crossing her arms as she continued to walk.

Gallus was walking behind the two, keeping a close eye on his scaly friend from a distance. Sandbar walked beside him, following his glance and looking a little lost. "What's going on, Gal'?"

The griffon barely responded, still looking at Smolder as his expression was damp with concern.

"King knows what could go wrong... if Smolder snaps. She could kill any of us if she truly wanted. B-But she wouldn't... would she...? We don't annoy her that much. W-We can't push her too far, though... A-At least one of us can keep her sane," he mused, making a small smile and focus his gaze on both Smolder and Ocellus. "I-I think."

"Gallus...?"

"Wha?" Gallus looked up at Sandbar, who's brow was quirked.

"Are... are you okay?" The griffon's gaze shifted to Smolder, then back to the colt. He gave him a fake smile, yet it was hard to see through for Sandbar, Gallus figured.

"Yeah. Just... just thinking about how downhill this is gonna go." Sandbar followed Gallus' pointed claw at their two teachers walking up front, who were currently passive-aggressively arguing with each other by agreeing. ...Somehow.

"Heh," Sandbar chuckled. "I guess this is gonna suck, isn't it?"

"Tremendously."

Meanwhile, Ocellus trotted gladly beside her friend as she gushed and gushed about how fun the field trip was going to be. Smolder rolled her eyes, looking sarcastically at the screen with them narrowed.

"Yeah, right."

"Alright, everypony!"

Each of them turned to Applejack, who had a wide, forced grin on her face as she waved her hoof in an overly energetic manner. Smolder huffed with a chuckle as she attempted to get her own words together in front of the other pony, Rainbow Dash.

"We're... We turn out ta' be-" Her eyes darted, both to the other professor, then to the students.

"-changing routes," Rainbow interrupted, "We 'turn out ta' be' changing routes, heh."

"Oh, for moon's sake," groaned Sandbar, rubbing a hoof on his irritated forehead. Gallus chuckled.

Ocellus looked at Sandbar with a stinging glare, and the colt quit rubbing at his forehead and looked apologetically back at her. Then, she just looked back at her professors. "We're lost, aren't we?" She turned to look at Smolder, who just slowly nodded.

"Definitely."

"Now wait just a minute," Dash interjected, smiling fakely. Smolder grunted, crossing her arms and tilting her head forward.

Oh, how she hated fake people.

Smolder's eyes widened as a chitiny hoof poked at her side. "Hey, are you alright?"

She looked down at the changeling, who was looking questioningly up at her. "I'm fine, just a little... worried... we won't get home on time."

Somewhere in the woods, some creature smirked wickedly.

"Now you're mine," he growled.

The group of eight creatures trudged - one begrudgingly - through the forest.

Step after step, Ocellus' hooves began to burn as the sharp blades of tall grass whipped at the chitin on her forelegs. Her body burned; she wouldn't be ready for any more "field trip" after all this blows over.

Yona traveled behind the rest of the group along with Silverstream, who was hovering lazily above her. Each wingbeat took tremendous amounts of energy each time, the blistering, damp heat in the air weighing immensely on the group.

Smolder seemed to be the only one okay with it, seen as she could endure intense amounts of heat. Gallus and Sandbar were no match.

The feathers on Gallus were drenched with sweat, dripping slowly onto the ground only to be lost in the surrounding tall grass.

Sandbar was doing no better, his bangs dripping with the same sweat condensed on his forehead and running down to his muzzle.

The two ponies in front didn't have it the worst, seen as they still had the energy to argue about how lost they were.

And that much got on Smolder's nerves.

"Dash! Ah' told ya that path'd get us lost!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know?! You're the one saying you know where the buck to go, AJ!"

"No! What ah' said was that we should tell our students that we're lost!"

"Yeah, and I bet this stick can get lost up your-"

The leaves in the trees rustled uncannily, the sounds of shifting and crinkling in the overgrowth in bushes surrounding the group.

Smolder shivered. Chills ran quickly down her spine. Something was wrong. They weren't alone.

The rustling grew louder and more frequent each time, growing in sync with the quickening wind.

Smolder tensed as Ocellus' hind hoof brushed her tail, signaling that she was backing up from the rustling leaves. She looked around, seeing her friends all tensing up themselves. Applejack and Rainbow Dash did the same, predictably standing with their backs toward their students.

Gallus and Sandbar shuffled toward each other, forming a small circle with their other friends who did the same.

All except for Smolder.

The dragon was standing in a more up-front position than the rest of her friends, also standing neck and neck with her teachers. "Smolder, get behind us already," Applejack urged, nudging the dragon in question with an irked hoof. Smolder didn't move, but the only time she did was when she nudged her. "Smolder, get-"

"Yoink!"

Applejack collapsed as a heavy weight crashed down upon her, the only thing she was able to feel was the painful numbness in her head. "AJ!" Rainbow Dash moved to save her, but before she knew it, something hit her between her wing muscles.

"CRACK!"

"Agh!"

"Professor Rainbow Dash," Sandbar cried, holding his hoof out to his unconscious professor.

"What the hell Crimson," someone questioned, jumping out from the bushes. The other pony above Rainbow's body looked at him, a brow quirked.

The first pony(Crimson, Smolder presumed)'s coat was that of crimson red, his mane being a mellowed out salmon orange. He was wearing a white tank top that was tight on his muscles that showed through the fabric. He also had short, black cargo shorts. The other one was completely masked in black, and his body was a bit less bulky and more toned. He was in an all black tuxedo as well, straightening his tie in an elegant manner. He looked like he was too busy to be there.

"We're not here for them!"

Crimson rolled his eyes. "Chill out, Cold Cut."

"Hot Take," the stallion in the tuxedo corrected.

Smolder didn't have any time for that. They weren't after her or her friends, but that didn't stop them from trying to hurt them.

Smolder extended her wings, flaring them quickly and disappearing with a quick gust of air. Hot Take looked up quickly, reaching for a holster on his upper flank and grazing it with his hoof. "You guys stay still," Smolder shouted, "I'm going to get some- woah!" She tried to talk while desperately trying to dodge the erratic gunshots being fired at her.

"PLAP! PLAP! PLAP! PLAP!"

"It's fine, just go!" Ocellus almost stepped forward, but when the stallion aimed the gun at her, her instincts disagreed. Still, she could've shifted to any one of the small creatures in her repertoire to disarm them.

"Hey, you!" Ocellus whimpered as Hot Take pointed the gun straight at her. She could feel her friends trembling behind her, something that made her just as frightened. "Don't even think about changing into anything- whatever you weird things do."

Yona spoke up. "F-Friend Ocellus not weird! Friend Ocellus unique, can change into anything to smash puny haters!"

Ocellus smiled internally, at the compliment, but the smile faded as she realized the current situation when she heard a quiet "shhhh!" from one of her friends behind her.

Ocellus was a bit sure the stallion was bluffing, but still, she wasn't willing to take that chance.

Crimson facehooved, rubbing his hoof on his head. "Shit, they've squealed." Hot Take rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Sure, they might've snitched, but it'll take all of Equestria to match up with them, let alone us."

If Ocellus wasn't trembling and riddled with fear just like the rest of her friend, she would've been confused. Skeptical. They were talking about "them" and how "they" were going to get help.

They couldn't be referring to all of them. Sure, they might've been outnumbered, but they were armed. No creature could match up to that, could they?

"Cheers, love! The cavalry's here!" Ocellus gasped, looking up into the trees where the sickeningly terrible British accent was coming from.

A moderately tall figure came swinging down on a strangely convenient vine, their outfit being red and black-schemed with a few weapons attached. Their eyes were represented by a white mesh that squinted sinnocently at the two ponies below them.

Is that who they were talking about?

"Trickshot!" The figure flipped off the vine, doing somersaults in the air while they pulled a gun from one of the holsters at their side.

"Get em," Hot Take shouted, pointing a pulling up his pistol at the red and black wearing creature and firing rapidly. Crimson equipped his assault rifle, and too began shooting at the creature. The blinding yellow light of the burning firearms' bullets ran across the bushes and illuminated them with faded yellow light.

"RATTA! RATTA! RATTA! RATTA! RATTA! RATTA! RATTA! RATTA!!!!!!"

Ocellus covered her ears at the sound.

Gallus let out a barely audible sigh of both relief and doubt as he motioned for his friends to follow him to the bushes.

"Damn it!" Ocellus swore she heard Crimson curse under his breath. "They're getting away, Take!"

"They're not who we're after."

The figure jumped down, crouching in front of the two stallions. Almost immediately, they stopped firing, seeing that their weapon fire was no use.

Hot Take swung his hoof hard at the figure as he stepped forward. They only leaned back, and 'Take's foreleg hovered just five inches above their muzzle.

They looked in some direction, then shouting, "Toasty!" before flinging their legs upward.

Their fabric-covered feet kicked up into Hot Take's chest. The stallion made a sharp wheezing noise, and Ocellus could've sworn his chest nearly caved in. "Ooof!"

Crimson reared up on his hindlegs, jumping up and whipping around with one of his back legs flinging at the figure with intense speed.

"Wow, I get you want an autograph, but this is getting a little clingy," they quipped, gripping their claw tightly on his back hoof and standing up straight. He cringed at the claws digging into his hide as scarlet liquid dripped from his back hoof and onto the front. It faintly stained the figure's hand as well, but you couldn't tell by the fabric of their suit.

"He doesn't want your damn autograph," Hot Take voiced, annoyed. The figure(Well, we know she's Smolder-) turned around, but not without Crimson's back hoof still in her grasp. "Quit moving you-"

"POW! POW! POW!"

The gun was steaming with fresh smoke that plumed from the muzzle. Blood stained the tall blades of grass still slowly swaying in the sun. The blood dried quickly, wrapping around the green blades like cooled wax in room temperature.

Ocellus grimaced at the scene, shielding her eyes with her hoof and letting out a small whimper. She heard the others shudder and whimper along with her. None of them were exactly used to seeing someone get... get...

"Awww, no one told me friendly fire was on!" She looked up at the creature, who simply held a limp, bloody, bullet-filled body. Completely devoid of life.

"I... Take... y-you..."

"Damn it, Crimson! Don't you dare die on me! We've got a mission to-"

"Blah, blah, blah, you know, you guys're some real buzzkills," the creature mocked, reaching a claw down toward one of their gun holsters.

Hot Take took quick action, holding his pistol back up and aiming dead-on at the figure's forehead, pressing it between their eyes. "Not so fast," he chuckled.

"click! click! click!"

"Aw, sh-"

"GURRRRP!"

Smolder barely squinted as harsh liquid sprayed into her face, the blood staining the black sections of the fabric and wearing into the white mesh of her eyes.

The lifeless Hot Take fell backward, the flesh on his neck parted in two and bleeding tremendous amounts of blood that stained the grass below him.

Ocellus whimpered even more at the scene, tears welling up in her eyes. She covered her mouth lest she attract the figure and lure them over to the group. They were ruthless. Killing weaker creatures and joking about it, no less...

They had to have been one of the most black-hearted creatures in Equestria.

Ocellus squinted her eyes, opening her receptors and letting emotions of the thick atmosphere cascade over her tongue.

Blackness. Cruelty. Morbid joy.

The horrid taste of molded bread sprinkled with salted bark and sickening sugar washed over her. Overwhelming her.

"Hurrrghh!" She couldn't help it. Silverstream gasped at the changedling's sudden retching, patting her back supportively as she looked back to the other creatures. Sandbar nodded silently as he helped her pull Ocellus backward, rushing her from the bushes and back to where she figured they could get away from there.

Gallus followed with heavy steps, and so did Yona and Sandbar.

Smolder looked up as she heard a distant ruffling in the bushes, the blood on knife in her hand dripping back onto the bodies it belonged to.

Her heart palpitating, she huffed, dropping the knife and collapsing onto the ground as the world sank away. She was surrounded in darkness.

Quickly, she realized her position, sitting up on her rear and forcing her costume off her body.

The mask was hardest to come off, stretching like rubber sticking to a hot metal. Still, she persisted as it popped off eventually, moving on to the rest.

It wore down on her all that went down, but not because she killed people. She was used to doing that. So used to it that she loved it. Still, that didn't excuse the fact that she brought her work into her school activities.

Down on her friends.

"Ocellus...? Ocellus...?"

Ocellus' eyes flickered open. Her stomach was churning with sickness, still, but she knew she had gotten at least a little better since she threw up.

She saw the silhouette of a certain dragon standing over her, waving a claw over her head with a small smile on her face. "Earth to space cadet?"

The changeling barely recognized the dragon for a second, but her raspy voice sounded all too familiar to forget. "Oh my gosh! Y-You should've seen... th-the creature... they..."

Gallus looked defensively at Smolder from behind the small couch Ocellus was laying. Smolder only peered back at him, arms folded tightly.

"They what?"

"I-I thought they would've hurt you... t-the ones who attacked us... they killed them... both of them, i-it was-"

"Monstrous," Gallus added, his tone grim. "Only a monster would do that. Someone who'd eventually get caught in the crossfire."

Sandbar, Silverstream and Yona looked at Gallus, the same amount of concern in each of their eyes.

Smolder still glared daggers at Gallus, her stare straight and never faltered. Gallus' gaze softened after a while, though.

Deep down, her friends would never understand. Not even the one she knew. What Smolder did was unacceptable in Equestria, regardless if she were doing it for the greater good. Bringing that sort of business to her school was uncalled for, no matter the circumstances.

She just hoped that one day, she would understand.