Gallus peered up at the clock for a moment. It was twelve in the morning, now a technically a new day, and he had approximately fewer hours than he’d want left. He’d been sitting at this desk in the back of the library all day, and now for most of the night, with nothing but a quill, some ink, a few rolls of parchment, and an unfinished essay that was due the next morning. He had literally been writing by candlelight for the better part of the night, but was still hardly making any progress. Even while working on the assignment he was procrastinating.
He glared at the essay with barely a page finished. At this point it’d be practically impossible for him to get so much as a subpar grade, and a little voice in the back of his mind told him just drop it and get some sleep. If he wasn’t going to pass then what was the point of staying up to finish it? As Gallus slowly got lost in hazy thought, his eyelids grew heavy, and he began to settle his head on the desk. Perhaps getting some rest would be a good idea right about now. He began to close his eyes, settling for rest instead of work.
WHAM!!!
Gallus shot up, out of his chair, and into the air, only to immediately bop his head against the ceiling and crash back to the floor on his back. He scrambled back to his feet, heart pounding, scanning the room for the source of the sound. His blurry vision eventually focused on a big blur of orange and purple, which quickly burst out into laughter.
“You awake yet, sleepyhead?” Smolder wheezed. There was a giant textbook laying on the floor next to her, and Gallus quickly put two and two together to figure out what caused his makeshift alarm.
“You’re a real pain, you know that?” Gallus whined.
“I think you’ve mentioned the idea once or twice,” Smolder chuckled.
“Why are you even here so late?” Gallus asked.
“I could ask you the same question,” Smolder retorted. She looked past Gallus and at the messy desk he’d been working at. “Looks like you never even left this place.”
“Don’t even get me started. I’ve been at this thing for hours now and I’m still nowhere close to being finished,” The blue griffon groaned.
“Tsk, tsk, Gallus, procrastinating is a bad habit!” The dragoness sarcastically wagged a claw as she spoke.
“Please, spare me. I’m already struggling to finish this without falling asleep and now you’re just annoying me,” Gallus hissed.
“At least it’ll keep you awake,” Smolder mused.
“If you’re going to keep me up you could at least help me finish this stupid essay.”
“Ha! In your dreams. The only reason I didn’t procrastinate as long as you did is because of Ocellus constantly pestering me to do it,” Smolder laughed. Gallus only sighed in disappointment.
“It’s alright, don’t even worry about it. I’m just going to cut my losses here and get some sleep,” Gallus said, now resolute in his decision. Smolder was visibly taken aback by how quickly her friend had decided to give up, it wasn’t that typical of him. He wasn’t the biggest fan of schoolwork or anything, but he never gave up. Put in the bare minimum amount of effort? He’d do that a lot. Give up completely? Not too common.
“Wait a minute, you can’t just quit!” Smolder protested.
“And why is that? I’m sleep deprived, stressing over an essay I procrastinated on for a month, and even if I do finish it, I’m still not gonna pass the assignment!” Gallus complained.
“Look, even if you can’t pass, at least put in some effort just to say you did it. You’ve faced much, much worse, but a single essay is what gets you to quit? At least finish it for your pride!” Smolder tried to encourage her friend to keep pressing on, but her words had missed the mark.
“Ah, yes! My pride! I’m so incredibly proud of being an absolute nobody, so I just need to defend it!” Gallus was cut short by a punch to the shoulder.
“I am not going to let you talk about yourself like that, alright? You aren’t a nobody, you’re a savior of Equestria, and more than that, you’re our friend, you’re part of our little family here!” Smolder explained. Gallus still sat in his chair sulking. “Look me in the eyes, Gallus, and tell me you’re not a nobody.”
The blue griffon defiantly blew out the candle and rested his head on the desk, now facing away from Smolder, but she wasn’t having any of it. The candles were quickly relit by small dragon flames, and Gallus felt himself grabbed by the shoulders being yanked up to face Smolder directly. She widened her eyes to an almost comical degree and leaned in close, just to ensure Gallus couldn’t see anything but her eyes. Both couldn’t help but smile at the goofy interaction.
“Now say it,” Smolder ordered.
“I guess I’m not a nobody,” Gallus mumbled.
“What was that? I don’t think I heard you?”
“I’m not a nobody!”
“That’s better.” Smolder pulled in her friend for a hug, which Gallus haphazardly accepted, still in a bit of a daze from a mix of lacking sleep and hitting his head on the ceiling a minute ago. “Now you should probably finish that essay.”
“Still probably just going to fall asleep before I can even finish a paragraph,” Gallus remarked.
“Okay, okay, how about this, I’ll pull up a chair and make sure you stay awake until you finish your essay,” Smolder said.
“Even if it takes all night?” Gallus asked.
“Even if it takes all night,” Smolder reassured. Gallus looked back at the clock. It had only been about thirty minutes. Smolder waved a hand in front of the griffon’s face.
“Hey, hey! Eyes on the paper. I’ll worry about the clock, got it?” Gallus gave a small nod and turned his full attention to the unfinished essay in front of him. The hours quickly flew by from there, with Smolder providing “encouragement” for Gallus to stay awake, primarily through a few small flaming balls of paper here and there, and the occasional book slam to keep him up.
At around five in the morning, the essay was finished, just as the sun was beginning to rise. Gallus stretched his back, reaching up to the sky in victory. He had triumphed over this horrid assignment that admittedly wouldn’t have been so bad if he had just done it on time like everyone else.
“Yo, Smolder, think we got time for a little nap?” The griffon yawned.
“I’ll be honest, I lost track of time five minutes after you started, but whatever, couldn’t hurt to get a little sleep, right? Ocellus will probably be in here before class and she’ll wake us up,” Smolder replied.
“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” Gallus chuckled. Before Gallus fully closed his eyes, one last thought crossed his mind. “Wait, you still never answered why you were up so late.”
“I knew something was up when you were the last in the library today, normally you’re the first to leave. Sandbar said he still hadn’t seen you come outta here, so I went to come make sure you were alright,” Smolder explained.
Gallus accepted the answer, his brain too drained to question her any further. At this point, he didn’t even care, he was thankful for the help, and ready to sleep his problems away.
At least until class started.
Author's Note
I got the idea for this fic when one of my friends admitted to having procrastinated on a school project, and I thought it'd make for fun writing practice. I decided to throw in my favorite duo too just because it seemed to be in character for them.
-Epilogue- Should we wake them?
"Do we even want to wake them up? They seem really comfortable," Sandbar questioned. Ocellus had gathered everyone around their two slumbering friends. Both were in a deep sleep. Gallus was using some blank paper and his arms as a pillow, while Smolder seemed to be using Gallus as her pillow. There were writing materials scattered on the floor, and a multiple page essay sitting to the side of the sleeping pair, presumably belonging to the griffon. Silverstream and Yona had been trying to poke and prod at the duo in an attempt to wake them, but to no avail.
"Well we can't just leave them here like this! They're out in the open for all to see, and you know how Professor Twilight is when it comes to absent students!" Ocellus argued.
"Okay but a few more minutes couldn't hurt!" Sandbar countered.
"If we give them a few more minutes we might not be able to wake them up. You know as well as I that these two are the deepest sleepers in this whole school. The world could be ending and they'd hardly crack an eye open!" Ocellus proclaimed.
"You two be quiet for a second!" Silverstream demanded. The discussion abruptly stopped, and a peculiar sound was heard by the group. It was the sound of, purring? Everyone shared a look with one another. Sandbar bit his lip, Silverstream tried to suppress her laughter, Yona just stood with a dumbfounded look on her face, and Ocellus silently analyzed the situation.
"Gallus may be my roommate, but I haven't even heard him purr before," Sandbar said. All eyes drifted to Ocellus for her final decision.
"We'll save them the embarrassment. None of us will say a word about what we saw here, and they'll be none the wiser," Ocellus stated. Her sudden switch to a logical, almost cold demeanor honestly freaked them out a little. "Yona, go ahead." The young yak girl jumped up excitedly.
"Yona say it time to wake up friends yak style!"
Two thuds were heard against the ceiling that morning.
Author's Note
Not a ton here, but I still wanted to include the rest of the Young Six in some sort of epilogue, and I thought this seemed fun.