The Hunt
By Alaborn
A Jinglemas gift for Wanderer D
Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.
They struck an unlikely friendship from the very opening of the School of Friendship.
They spent their first Hearth’s Warming together, so that one of their number wouldn’t feel alone.
They forged a special bond when the Tree of Harmony demonstrated that friendship was truly in their nature.
Their special connection allowed them to rescue their headmaster and terminate a spell that threatened to drain all the magic from Equestria.
Their friendship and selfless acts built a new symbol of Harmony from the roots of the Tree of Harmony.
Their actions taught even the champions of Harmony a few lessons about friendship.
And their words motivated all the creatures of Equestria to come together, defeat Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow, and save the entire world from eternal winter at the hooves of the Windigoes.
Yes, this group of six unlikely friends accomplished many great deeds, but even after all that, they were still students, with another year of education awaiting them.
And as students, some of these six creatures were, one might say, less diligent in their studies than the others.
“Did you get what you need for our extra credit assignment with Professor Fluttershy?” Smolder asked Gallus.
“Yeah, it’s in the closet,” Gallus said. From his vantage point stretched out on his bed, he lazily waved a talon in the general direction. The closet door was open, and a large canvas bag lay slumped against the door frame.
“Then grab it and let’s go,” Smolder said.
“What’s the hurry? Professor Fluttershy said to come by whenever we’re ready.”
Smolder glared at Gallus. “Have you seriously not figured out how to translate Fluttershy-speak into common Equestrian? She means she’s going to be at her animal sanctuary all day, waiting for us. You know she’ll say she understands, but unless we have a good reason to be late, we shouldn’t be late. This is our extra credit assignment you’re talking about.”
Gallus grunted.
“So, what important thing are you doing right now?”
“Uhhhh...” Gallus muttered.
“I thought so. Look, Gallus, I like procrastinating as much as you do, but let me remind you that that’s why we have to do this extra credit project. And the last thing I want to do is make our Kindness professor mad!”
“Okay, okay,” Gallus said. “I’ll get up and....”
The door to Gallus’ room opened, and his roommate Sandbar poked his head in. “Great, you’re both here! Our gift for Silverstream is ready!” Behind him, Ocellus hovered, holding a wrapped box in her forelegs.
Gallus looked at Smolder and smirked. “Is this a good reason?”
“Yes, but grab the bag, so we can leave from there,” Smolder said.
“We’ll meet you at Silverstream’s and Yona’s room,” Sandbar said to them. He and Ocellus took off, leaving the door open behind them.
With a sigh, Gallus pulled himself off his uncomfortable-by-pony-standards-but-much-better-than-anything-in-Griffonstone dormitory bed and went to the closet. Why Professor Fluttershy had asked them to bring hoofball gear for an assignment at her animal sanctuary was beyond them. An assignment with Professor Rainbow Dash? That would make perfect sense. But Fluttershy?
In any case, he hefted the canvas sack onto his back, trying not to breathe in the funk of old, stale sweat that clung to it. He wished he had some way to plug his nostrils.
Gallus and Smolder were the last to reach the room Silverstream and Yona shared. Being together, all six of them, was a common occurrence during their time at the school. All six of them being in one room was crowded, but it was a comfortable crowding. Four of them could sit on one bed, if one of them wasn’t Yona. Smolder reached the bed first. Gallus dropped the sack on the floor and squeezed onto the bed, finding just enough space for his rump in the space left by Sandbar, Ocellus, and Smolder.
Silverstream’s eyes sparkled as she focused on the wrapped present. “Is that for me?” she said.
Sandbar nodded. “Since this is our last Hearth’s Warming together before we graduate...”
“Assuming Headmare Starlight doesn’t come up with an excuse for why we need more schooling,” Gallus interjected.
“...this is our last chance to exchange gifts,” Sandbar continued.
“And since we know you’re returning home to Seaquestria, we had a great idea for a gift to remember us by,” Ocellus said.
“Remember when we were sharing Hearth’s Warming memories our first year, and I talked about that one past Hearth’s Warming?” Sandbar asked.
“The year when your Hearth’s Warming doll almost fell in the fire?” Silverstream said. “Such an almost tragic tale!”
“Yeah, tragic,” Gallus muttered.
“So we were talking, and I got to thinking, what if we all had Hearth’s Warming dolls?” Sandbar said.
“Yona try to make, but Professor Rarity say Yona need many more lessons,” Yona said. “Then Yona made new friend with special talent to make the gift!”
“Sew Fine is one of the new students this year,” Ocellus said. “So we all chipped in, and she just finished, and we can’t wait for you open the present!”
Ocellus offered the gift, and Silverstream grabbed it out of her hooves. Silverstream’s talons made quick work of the wrapping, and she opened the box. A huge smile crossed her beak as she saw the six plush dolls, one for each of the student friends, resting therein.
Silverstream grabbed all six dolls and hugged them to her chest. “I love them so much!” she squealed.
“And we got Headmare Starlight to enchant them and make them impervious to water, so you can take them home with you,” Smolder explained.
“That way, you’ll always have something to remember us by,” Sandbar added.
Silverstream just continued to snuggle the dolls while the others stared at her.
Ocellus was the first to speak. “I’m going to go study, so I’ll leave you to, you know, that,” she said, before quietly rising.
“Professor Rarity asked us to come over to her boutique, so we’ll let you go as well,” Sandbar said.
“And we have a project with Professor Fluttershy,” Smolder said.
The sound of everycreature getting up finally caught Silverstream’s attention. “You’re leaving? But I don’t have anything for you! I wasn’t planning on going shopping until next week!”
“No worries, Silverstream. We wanted to give this to you because we didn’t want to try to keep it a secret until the holiday party,” Sandbar said.
“Oh! The holiday party! I can’t wait to have a party without all that purple goop,” Silverstream said.
Gallus cleared his throat. “Yeah, okay, see you guys later,” he said, and quickly slipped out the door.
Gallus took to the air and flew down the corridor. Smolder fell into his slipstream. “Flying pretty light there,” Smolder said.
“Flying what?” Gallus pondered what Smolder said, and then facepalmed. “I forgot the bag,” he said.
“You forgot the bag,” Smolder confirmed. “Come on, let’s get it.”
Fortunately, they hadn’t gone far, so it was a quick journey back to Silverstream’s room. Her door was open a crack, so Gallus pushed it open. “Hey, Silverstream, I....”
“Oh, Sandbar, I love your smile and the way your mane looks just so...” Silverstream was saying with a deep voice. She had the Sandbar and Gallus dolls in her talons, and she was rubbing their muzzles together. Silverstream looked up, saw Gallus, and hid the dolls behind her back.
“Oh, for Grover’s sake, she’s shipping me!” Gallus muttered.
“Oh, hi, Gallus,” Silverstream said. “Funny seeing you again so soon.”
“Yeah, I’m going to grab this bag I forgot and pretend I didn’t see anything....”
Gallus grabbed the bag and left before his face could turn any redder. Hopefully, no one else had seen that. That plan went out the window when he saw Smolder laughing so hard, she had doubled over.
“It’s not that funny,” Gallus said.
After a minute, Smolder’s laughter calmed down enough that she could again talk. “You’re right, you’re right. It’s not funny. It’s hilarious. Oh, Sandbar!” And Smolder was again on the ground, laughing her scaly head off.
Gallus slumped onto his haunches and waited for Smolder to calm down. When her guffawing had decreased to chortling (if he remembered Professor Pinkie Pie’s hierarchy of laughter correctly), he said, “Are you done yet?”
“Yeah, I think I can fly without collapsing now,” she replied.
“Stupid shipping,” Gallus muttered.
“Come on. You never thought about it?” Smolder asked.
“No. Even if I was interested, dude would split me in half,” Gallus said. “No wonder Yona likes him.”
“So you have thought about it.”
“You share a room with a guy, you’re going to see things you didn’t need to see,” Gallus retorted. “And I don’t get why Silverstream was pairing me with Sandbar when he and Yona are so obviously an item.”
“It’s because of her family,” Smolder said. “Her aunt’s, like, the queen, so she’s going to end up married to some heir of a prominent hippogriff family, you know? So because she doesn’t have any control over her own dating life, she lives vicariously through us.”
“Wow. I never thought about that,” Gallus said. “How did you figure that out?”
Smolder laughed. “I sure didn’t figure it out. Ocellus told me.”
“Oh,” Gallus said. “Just be glad it wasn’t you.”
“Eh. I know Silverstream ships me with Ocellus.”
“Makes sense. You’re the only dragon here, and at least Ocellus can turn into a dragon.”
“Yeah, right,” Smolder said dismissively. “She can look like a dragon, but she’ll never be a dragon.”
“Enough mushy stuff. So what do you think Professor Fluttershy wants us to do?” Gallus asked.
“Don’t know, but I’m sure it will be sweet and fluffy.”
“You want us to WHAT?”
“I said, I want you to help my animal friends by hunting them,” Fluttershy said. The mare was surrounded by small, furry critters, even more than normal, all wearing yellow ribbons. And strangely, none of them seemed even the slightest bit disturbed by what she just said.
“Is this some kind of Old Ponish definition of help? Because I don’t think the normal definition applies here,” Smolder said.
“Oh, I don’t want you to hurt them. That’s why I asked you to bring all that safety gear,” Fluttershy said. “You see, I’ve cared for a lot of animal friends over the last few years, and many of them have their own families. And now, it’s time for them to leave the sanctuary and find their own home in the wilderness.
“But some of these animals have never seen a predator, except for those that were under my care. So they don’t know what to expect outside the sanctuary. I’m hoping you can teach them by hunting and catching them in a safe manner,” she explained. “Oh. I shouldn’t have made assumptions. You have both hunted before, right?”
“Well, yeah,” Gallus said.
“Of course,” Smolder said.
“So you’ll help me?” Fluttershy said hopefully.
It was hard, so hard to say no when Fluttershy looked like that. Yet what she was asking went against the commands both students had received from their respective guardians. Don’t do things that would upset the ponies, they had said in so many words, and hunting is something they never even talked about, let alone did, while in pony lands.
“I’ll, um, give two extra credit scores to whoever catches the most animals,” Fluttershy said.
“You’re on,” Gallus and Smolder said. The students glared at each other.
“Oh, wonderful!” Fluttershy squealed. “Now, let’s get you protected.”
Fluttershy opened the bag of athletic gear and searched through it. “No, no, yes, no, yes, yes, no, perfect!” she said to herself. Soon Gallus and Smolder were wearing mouth guards to protect the animals from their beaks and teeth and gloves to cover their claws.
“I look ridiculous,” Gallus said.
“Could be worse,” Smolder said.
Fluttershy then placed hoofball pads on their torsos and helmets on their heads.
“You had to say that,” Gallus deadpanned.
“What are the pads and helmets for?” Smolder asked. “I mean, I get covering our pointy bits, but this?”
“That’s to protect you. You see, to make things fair, while you’re hunting, Harry and Angel are going to be leading some of my animal friends to hunt for you.”
The aforementioned animals stepped into view, and Gallus gulped. No matter how many times Professor Fluttershy said that Harry the bear was a kind and gentle creature, it didn’t change the fact that he was bigger than anycreature here. And there was just something wrong about that rabbit. The animals in Equestria just seemed more aware than the ones around Griffonstone, but Angel was both unusually smart and incredibly evil. The white-furred critter was wearing a helmet and a uniform with a general’s insignia.
“Remember, extra credit,” Gallus muttered to himself.
“So you see the yellow ribbons the animals are wearing? You try to collect them. If you get the animal’s ribbon, you’ve caught them, and they’re out of the game. Meanwhile, you will need to protect these red ribbons,” Fluttershy explained.
Angel hopped off Harry and picked up the red ribbons. Soon, Smolder and Gallus each had five ribbons tied loosely around them, one on each limb and one on their tails.
“Now that you’re all safe and protected, we’re almost ready to begin.” Fluttershy talked quietly to her animal friends, who scurried away. “Give them ten minutes to hide, and then we’ll continue until sunset. Remember to stay within the boundaries of Sweet Feather Sanctuary. Now, did you want to hunt together?”
“Nah. Smolder would just slow me down,” Gallus said confidently.
“Like griffons know anything about real hunting,” Smolder countered.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Then you fly left, and you fly right. Remember, ten minutes.” She then spoke to Angel, who responded with a salute.
“All right, start flying.”
Gallus was feeling confident. Like most griffon cubs, he was largely left to fend for himself, and that meant hunting. And being noticeably brighter than most griffons, he had to be really good at stalking and flying quietly.
Most of the animals around the griffon lands had color schemes that helped them blend in with the rocky terrain. The same was true of the animals here. But the yellow ribbons would make them stand out. Sure, there were some yellow flowers and stuff, but these ribbons were an unusually bright shade. He assumed they were from Professor Rarity’s boutique. It should be really easy to spot the ribbons.
Gallus was sure ten minutes had passed by now, so he took to the air. He oriented himself using the waterfall as his focus. There were plenty of caves by the waterfall, which he’d avoid for now. There were animals lounging on the platforms and other pony-built structures, but none of them were wearing ribbons. “A hunt it is,” he said to himself.
A flash of movement on his flank caught his eye. He turned, but not fast enough. A falcon flew past him, raking his pads as it went. He noticed he was down one ribbon, and before he had even spotted one animal!
Sunlight reflected off glass, and Gallus spotted Angel below, with field glasses in his paws. He flew into the trees, seeking cover. “Stupid Angel,” he muttered.
Smolder was feeling confident. Being in a place where the land wasn’t actively trying to attack her would make hunting very easy. There would be no rock falls, no geysers, no bubbles of volcanic gas, and the sound of the babbling stream would do nothing to conceal the sound of her prey, unlike the sound of flowing lava back home.
The one thing the animal sanctuary, and all of the pony lands, had in abundance was green. Trees, bushes, ferns, and grasses all gave places for animals to hide. But dragon eyes were sharp, capable of spotting the slightest movement.
She flew through a break in the foliage, scanning the ground, then looking to the branches. And there was something in the branches, all right.
If Professor Fluttershy had ever mentioned in class that bears were excellent tree climbers, she had forgotten. But there he was. One meaty paw reached out, and Smolder was lucky to escape losing only the ribbon around her tail.
The skies were out, Gallus decided. There were too many raptors, and he didn’t know which ones of them were working with Angel. He skirted around the edge of the sanctuary, catching a few animals in the process. Now, he was in the pursuit of another, a groundhog, or prairie dog, or one of that kind of fat furry critter.
His feline instinct in full force, Gallus stalked his prey through the brush, tail wagging excitedly. Then he felt something big and heavy step on his tail. He squawked, jumping into the air and causing the groundhog to stumble away.
Behind Gallus, Harry stood, laughing at him and holding the ribbon that was once wrapped around his tail.
Smolder was beginning to notice a trend. Each time an animal spotted her approach, it ran in one direction. What direction it was varied by where she was in the animal sanctuary, but the animals all ran towards its center. Were they drawn in some way towards Fluttershy? It seemed in character with the mare’s legendary kindness, but it kind of defeated the point of this exercise, of teaching the animals to live on their own.
The skinny chipmunk she was chasing darted between two trees, its yellow ribbon tantalizingly out of reach. Focused on her chase, Smolder didn’t see where she was stepping, and placed her foot on something cold and squirmy. The pair of snakes hissed angrily, and Smolder jumped into the air.
Then she saw the third snake. The scaly critter had one of her ribbons in its mouth!
And in the distance, Angel watched smugly, the stub of a carrot hanging from his lips.
Gallus ran. He had a dozen yellow ribbons stuffed into his gloves, but he was down to his last red ribbon, and he wasn’t going to lose before Smolder did. There were three falcons flying overhead, acting more like vultures than the raptors they were, so he couldn’t fly. And there was one huge bear behind him. And so, Gallus ran.
He was near the waterfall now, and saw the numerous caves within the rocky outcropping. Out of options, he ran for one such cave, one just big enough to fit him and that he hoped was deep enough to get him out of the reach of the bear’s arms. Fortunately, it was.
Darkness surrounded Gallus as he moved deeper into the cave, going slower as he did. There was a combination of musty and animal smells in the cave, and he was afraid he was about to stumble over some animal best left sleeping.
And then he did stumble. The animal he landed on had a strange lack of fur. And then it spoke. “Hey, what gives?”
“Smolder?”
“Who else would it be? Princess Celestia?”
Gallus heard the crackle of fire. Then Smolder opened her mouth. The small gout of flame captured in her throat shed dim illumination on the cave, and revealed the situation he found himself in, sprawled over Smolder’s compact form, close enough to feel the intense heat of her body.
Smolder’s eyes widened and she pushed Gallus away, snapping her mouth shut and returning the cave to darkness. “What do you think you’re doing? Get off me!”
“If you must know, there’s an angry bear outside, and I’m trying not to get grabbed. Why don’t you move further back in the cave?”
“There is no further back. We’re stuck here,” Smolder said.
Gallus pushed back slightly and sat up, but he was still near to Smolder. “Did you get chased here too?” he asked.
“Yeah. The bunny kept harassing me with his army, and finally the bear chased me here. The whole time, I felt like I was being herded towards this part of the sanctuary.”
“Now that you mention it, I felt that too. But I’m surprised you got trapped.”
“I didn’t want to lose,” Smolder said. “I really need that extra credit. I don’t want to disappoint Dragon Lord Ember with the lowest score in Kindness class.”
“Let me guess. Down to your last ribbon?”
“Down to my last ribbon.”
“Let me let you in on a secret. So am I,” Gallus admitted. “And I really wanted that extra credit, too.”
“Why? I thought Grampa Gruff didn’t care about anycreature.”
“Sure, he doesn’t care, but I want to show Princess Twilight Sparkle that I’ve learned the lessons of friendship. Because I... don’t want to go back to Griffonstone.”
“I don’t blame you, if our lessons are any indication,” Smolder said. “To be honest, I’m in no hurry to move back to the Dragon Lands.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate being small and having no hoard. The bigger adolescent dragons always make fun of you. And dragon adolescence lasts a really long time,” she explained.
“Stay in Equestria, then. Less competition for building your hoard.”
“But what would I do?” Smolder asked.
“I’ve tried answering the same question,” Gallus said. “Wish I had a special talent of my own.”
“You’re a good friend and you look out for us. That’s something,” Smolder said.
“And as a friend, let me help you win. I’ll distract the bear so you can escape.”
“What? No way,” Smolder said. “We’ll get out of this together.”
“But how?”
“We need to think.”
“That’s more Ocellus’ thing,” Gallus said.
“Yeah, it would be easier if all six of us were here. Then things just magically come together.”
“But we would still need a way out,” Gallus said. “Wait a minute....”
“What?”
“I can feel air along my feathers from inside the cave. That means there’s a hole somewhere!” Gallus said excitedly. “Can you make a fire big enough so that we can see?”
“Am I a dragon or am I a dragon?” Smolder tipped her head back and formed a gout of flame, the size of a large torch. It was plenty big enough to light their small cave.
Gallus watched the flame as it stabilized. It then started to flicker slightly in the air flow. He looked in the direction from where the wind was coming. “I see it!”
“Where?” Smolder said, her flame extinguishing as she spoke.
“Up there, near the ceiling. But it’s way too small for us to fit through.”
“That’s not a problem.” Smolder collected fire in her maw again and flew around the cave until she spotted the hole. Having found it, she took off her gloves. Gallus noticed she had stuffed her captured ribbons into them, just as he had.
“What are you doing?” Gallus asked.
“Digging our way out of here.”
“With what?”
Smolder flashed her talons. “How do you think dragons dig up gems?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s a thing,” Gallus said. “But we can’t just dig ourselves out. We need a plan.”
“A plan?”
“Yes. The rabbit is the key. He seems to be able to communicate with the animals almost as well as Professor Fluttershy. When we get out, we need to sneak up on him, capture him, and tie him up.”
“Tie him up? With what?”
“One of the things I did to earn bits in Griffonstone was making and repairing rope. While you’re digging us out, I can do something with our ribbons,” Gallus said. “Could you give me yours?”
“But how will we know who won?”
“Angel Bunny embarrassed me too many times. I don’t care about ribbons. It’s time for payback. Are you in?”
Smolder smiled. “Let’s get that rabbit.”
Some time later, Gallus and Smolder were ready. Gallus had braided their collected ribbons into a cord long enough to tie down the annoying rabbit, and Smolder had enlarged the small hole into something that they could squeeze out of.
“You should go first. You’re fatter,” Smolder said.
“I’m not fat, I’m fluffy,” Gallus countered.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“Before we go, are Harry and Angel still outside the cave?”
Smolder peeked out of the cave. “Yeah. Looks like Harry’s meditating, and Angel is lounging on the hammock. So what do you think, stealth approach or make a distraction?”
“Let me think. How fast could you get out of the hole? You know, since you’re so short.”
Smolder growled. “Faster than you, that’s for sure.”
“So here’s the plan. Once I get out of the hole, you make a distraction. Get them looking to the cave mouth. Then, once I swoop in and grab Angel, you fly out back and distract Harry. Think you can lose him?”
“I know I can,” Smolder said. “How about we meet by the big oak tree near the entrance?”
“Sounds good.” Gallus extended his fist, and Smolder met it with a bump from her own. “Let the hunt begin!”
Gallus pushed himself out of the hole, grunting as he struggled to maneuver through the small passage. Smolder, meanwhile, listened until the grunts stopped. She kicked some rocks out of the cave, which only resulted in Harry opening one eye.
She kicked another rock. “Hey, you! Big and hairy! You think I’ve forgotten how you tagged me twice? Well, I haven’t!”
That caught Harry’s attention fully, and the bear rose onto his hind legs. He cracked the knuckles of his front paws. More importantly, Angel was watching them, too. The bunny was perched at the end of the hammock.
Meanwhile, Gallus flew as quietly as possible. The place where Angel was sitting didn’t offer much in the way of cover, but it was at a higher elevation. So Gallus flew low, hoping the rabbit wouldn’t think to look down, and prepared to execute a swift climb.
The burn in his wings as he started to climb reminded Gallus of why he preferred diving to climbing. The hammock came into view, and he saw Angel standing at one edge, watching the cave mouth, and more importantly not watching his flank. Observing the situation, Gallus had an idea. Instead of grabbing for the rabbit, he grabbed the edge of the hammock and spun it at full force. When it finally stopped spinning, Angel was trapped inside, wrapped tightly in wound fabric.
Gallus unhooked the hammock and flew off with one irate bunny rabbit.
Smolder flew out over the top of the cave and shouted to Harry, waving her leg, which still had a red ribbon attached. Harry at first looked confused, but the red ribbon caught his attention for sure. Smolder flew down the hill, bear in pursuit, and headed for the trees.
So what if she was small? She had her molt, but was still waiting for a growth spurt. She was small, and she was going to make use of that. She weaved between trees and through branches. With each tight squeeze, the angry bear behind her slowed. Soon, she could no longer see him, and a minute later, she could no longer hear him either.
Smolder found Gallus at the old oak tree. He was stretched out like a cat. Next to him was Angel Bunny, wrapped in cloth, with the yellow ribbon being used as a bow to wrap the package.
“Turns out I didn’t need that rope after all,” Gallus said.
“Don’t worry, little guy. We’ll tell Fluttershy where you are when we’re done,” Smolder said.
Angel just pouted.
“So now what?” Gallus said.
“Looks like we have about an hour to sundown. How about we go help those animals like Fluttershy wanted? You and me?”
“Sounds great. We hunters should stick together.”
And Gallus and Smolder flew off.
The hunt was rather more successful this time. The resistance wasn’t quite as coordinated, but more importantly, by hunting together, Gallus and Smolder could watch each other’s backs. They quickly collected a pile of ribbons, but the little animals were improving, and the griffon and dragon had to work for their last trophies.
Come sundown, many animals came out of hiding and headed toward the center of Sweet Feather Sanctuary. Sundown was apparently feeding time for the animals requiring care, but Fluttershy was generous with any animal that came by.
And the animals came by Smolder and Gallus, rubbing against them affectionately.
“Hey, hey, watch it with the fur,” Smolder said.
“Oh, they’re just thanking you for helping them and their little ones,” Fluttershy said. “Every animal is grateful for your help.”
Angel stomped the ground angrily and pointed at the two students.
“Now, Angel, you wanted to play with the big animals, and I told you something might happen,” Fluttershy said. “Now you go thank them, too.”
Angel responded with a scowl and crossed arms.
“So who ended up most successful in the hunt?” Fluttershy asked.
Gallus pointed to a pile of ribbons, next to the pile of used safety equipment. “After we got trapped together, we decided to team up, so I guess we don’t know.”
Fluttershy squeed, and then grabbed her two students in a big hug. “I knew you’d be perfect together!”
“Wait, what?” Smolder said.
“I mean, perfect working together,” Fluttershy hastily corrected. “I think you both deserve double extra credit. No, triple extra credit!”
Gallus and Smolder smiled and shared a fist bump.
“Now, I’m sure you want to get home. Thank you again,” Fluttershy said.
Smolder and Gallus flew home, towards the lights of Ponyville and the School of Friendship. Like Fluttershy said, they did want to get home, but more to hit the showers, since they had just experienced an all-afternoon physical education class. But something was on Gallus’ mind.
“’I knew you’d be perfect together.’ Sheesh. Is everycreature a secret shipper?” Gallus complained.
“Yeah, right? I mean, she’s been to the Dragon Lands. She should know that dragons don’t do relationships.”
“Wait, what?” Gallus said.
“We covered dragon culture in class!”
“I, uh, may not have been giving it my full attention,” Gallus admitted.
“Dragons don’t share their hoards, so you’ll never see two dragons living together like ponies. That’s why we lay our eggs in a communal nest.”
“Wait. Then how do you know you have a brother?”
“Smell,” Smolder said.
“Smell?”
“Yeah, father, mother, brothers, you know who they are by their smell.”
“Weird,” Gallus said.
“It was weird coming to this school and learning that other creatures didn’t recognize their family by scent,” Smolder said. “At least you get to have normal relationships.”
“Not really. I’m from Griffonstone,” Gallus said.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Every griffon in Griffonstone is annoyed with every other griffon, only caring if they have bits. Eventually, you meet somegriff who annoys you less than the others, and you realize you could save money by living together, and that’s how families come about in Griffonstone.”
“Wow. I bet those romance novel writers are beating down your doors,” Smolder deadpanned.
“A dragon that doesn’t do relationships and a griffon with a deeply cynical view of relationships. Maybe we are perfect for each other,” Gallus mused.
The two students continued flying, the only sound the quiet flapping of their wings. They landed on the path leading to the School of Friendship. The school was decorated in lights in preparation for Hearth’s Warming, and at night, it was a beautiful sight. It would be even prettier next week, when the traditional first winter snow was brought in, but even now it was pretty good.
Even now....
“Do you want to...” both students said to the other.
“You go....”
“No, you go....”
They both stayed quiet this time, with Smolder the first to break the silence. “I had fun today. We worked well together. We understood each other, and isn’t understanding an important part of all of those Elements of Harmony we’re studying? Anyway, if you’re going to stay here after school, and I’m going to stay too, it would be nice to stay with someone who understands me. You know, because it’s sensible.”
“Right. It’s sensible. Good griffon sensibility. And understanding, and all that.”
Gallus and Smolder walked down the path, side by side, wings touching, solely because it was the sensible thing to do to fight off the evening’s chill. They turned down the path leading towards their dormitory and paused at the door. They both knew what special someponies liked to do outside the door. They looked at each other, both standing still, until....
“You know, we can decide how much like ponies we want to be sometime later,” Gallus said.
“Oh, thank you for saying that!” Smolder said.
“We’ll deal this all later.”
“And we’re not telling Silverstream about this,” Smolder said.
“Oh yeah. We are definitely not telling Silverstream.”
