The door to the Sugarcube Corner opened, ringing the tiny brass bell on the corner, announcing the arrival of a new customer.
Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake smiled at Smolder and waved in greeting from behind the counter, where they were assisting their parents with the holiday orders. The two young ponies had grown up in the last few years and were now quite capable of assisting with the daily work of the bakery.
How quickly time flew by. The bakery itself was its usual festive confectionery-overload to the senses, but it also had a decorative tree, complete with possibly fake presents. Knowing Pinkie, though, it probably had real ones.
"Over here!" a voice called out before she could even scan around to see if she could spot her date. Well. Date in the sense that she was meeting with him. Not, date-date like Prof. Rarity would say. She slid into her seat.
"Sheesh, if you were going to arrive early, you could've at least ordered me some food too," she said, glancing at the big plate of pancakes he was just about finished with.
He blinked, motioning to her side of the table where a selection of muffins and slices of cakes (the type only she and a few others could eat) awaited her. How considerate of him. "That's just a snack, I meant real food."
"I never thought you'd be that picky."
"Would it matter if I was?"
Gallus studied her for a moment. "I guess it depends on who you ask." He shrugged. "I thought about getting you an omelet, since Prof. Glimmer loves those but I figured I'd let you choose," he replied with a snort, tossing her the menu. His smirk faded into a softer smile. That was his true winning smile. The one that had made everyone else in their little group drool. Not her though.
"You're drooling. Just grab one already."
"I am not drooling!"
Yep. Gallus had not changed one bit since they last saw each other.
Smolder hid her blush by biting into the first muffin that was within reach. Even if everycreature was into Gallus, she wasn't going to be obvious about it. Instead, she concentrated on her muffin. Ruby-dusted vanilla-chocolate. One of her Top Ten flavors from the secret menu.
Gallus did remember.
The thought made her warm inside, but she still wasn't going to acknowledge that. Everycreature in their little former herd knew perfectly well what everycreature else loved to eat. Still… It was nice that he had thought about that.
"I'm surprised you came this time. I was betting on another excuse to not come over."
He shrugged. "It's not that I haven't wanted to… this time things worked out."
"Have you seen the others?" she asked, swallowing the last bite before she zeroed-in on the blueberry sapphires. Now those were her favorite.
Gallus shook his head. "Nah. You know how it is. We're not in the same place we were before. Everycreature has projects of their own, dreams that don't necessarily keep them available. Only ones I've seen lately was Sandbar and Yona but…"
"Huh." Smolder tilted her head. "I don't think either would have minded at all." She smirked, giving him a half-lidded glance. "Three's not enough?"
Someone behind them spit their drink.
"Look, it's not that I really care that much if I'm the third wheel in there, but they did want some time just for themselves, and I figured, when all six of us are together? That's when friendship is optimal, so one or two ain't the same." Gallus snorted. "'sides, he's… they're content to be where they are right now."
Smolder leaned back, throwing her arm over the back of the chair as she contemplated Gallus. "And you don't approve."
"I mean, I do, on the one claw, but on the other… we're a herd. It's just… hard seeing everycreature doing stuff all over the place and not together like we did before."
"Like that one time you caught Silverstream reading 'Fifty Shades of Neigh'?"
A clatter of dishes, followed by apologies and shushing sounds.
Gallus cleared his throat, keeping his beak surprisingly devoid of a smile.
Relentless, Smolder continued, "I think your words to her were: 'It's time you experience a true foreign education, and I've got just the perfect drink for that.'" She grinned when she heard the nervous giggle coming from two tables down. "Wasn't it some of Ember and Applejack's Reserve Stock? I'm not too clear on the details after we all cozied up."
"Perish those foreign thoughts you put into my head," Gallus said haughtily, his grin never fading. "But Twilight always did say it was better to give, so I did."
"Oh, I remember. You did give plenty." Smolder shook her head, watching out of the corner of her eye the perked ears and uncomfortable shuffling from the ponies around them, and trying not to laugh before looking back at him. "Some of our group are hard to please, but, as Prof. Rarity would say: 'we do what we must.' And we did. Many times."
"Can't argue with the results."
Smolder finished the last of her muffins, blinking in surprise at how she had devoured all of them without even noticing. "Maybe we should walk? I love this place, but I feel like a change of scenery, and the evesdroppers are starting to get too into our…" She turned and glared at the other patrons, smoke snaking out of her nostrils. "...private conversation."
Gallus studiously pretended to ignore the outburst, although she knew him well enough to know he was cracking up inside at causing so much discomfort to Ponyville's comparatively conservative outlook on relationships. "What, you want to go to the center of the hedge maze again?" he asked instead of following up the setup.
Well. It seemed like he really did want a change of scenery. "Too far. If I was visiting you, that would make more sense, but we're in Ponyville, so let's stay local." Smolder licked her teeth as she considered the options. "Quills and sofas? I hear that they offer tea now."
"Nah, it smells like used books and vinyl in there," Gallus countered, waving his claw dismissively.
"Don't let the Princess hear you say that."
Gallus barked a laugh as he jumped down from his seat to land lithely on his paws. "Oh, hay no. Although it would be funny to watch Twilight and Spike hide the body." He stretched and took the plates over to the bin the Cakes had set out for guests to drop them into. "Let's just grab something to drink here for now, and we'll figure out where to go as we roll," he added when he returned.
Smolder shrugged, following Gallus over to the counter, where he leaned over and smiled at Pumpkin Cake, who giggled. Smolder didn't let that bother her, that young pony would eventually outgrow that filly crush she had on him, just like Spike had outgrown his own infatuation with Prof. Rarity.
"We'll have two of your triple-chocolate-coffee drinks to go please."
"Still obsessed with those, I see."
"Hey, it's my siren song. Every time I walk past this place, it just calls to me," Gallus said, in all seriousness.
"Yeah, yeah," Smolder rolled her eyes and picked her mug, following him out into the snow-covered Ponyville. The pair walked down the streets, taking in the festive air as the ponies and other creatures that made their home in Ponyville greeted each other, hugged and went off together.
"You know," Smolder said, "this place was such a big part of our lives for so long… we were here, together, every day, every night, for every adventure, class, and prank."
"And now, we only hang out for special occasions," Gallus said. "We don't even write to each other as much as we did before, when we were separated for very short periods of time."
"It's funny, y'know? How quickly things changed once we graduated."
"Ocellus did try to get us together for her book club…" Gallus glanced at her. "Silverstream, Sandbar and Yona went. And you know Yona still thinks a book's primary purpose is to stop piercing weapons."
Smolder snorted. "Well, I know why I didn't go, why didn't you?"
Gallus sighed. "Royal Guard training."
"Right, except that didn't stop you, so… spit it."
Gallus frowned and walked a few more steps before answering. "I think… it's just that I hate that it requires a special event to get us together." He motioned with his head and she followed him up into the air to sit on the scaffolding around City Hall, which was being repaired after the last monster attack.
"All of this was our place," Gallus continued speaking, sitting down on the planks and waving with his claw at the town, the school, the castle and the distant forest. "This is where we were our best, where we were for each other every day, and sure, there were some backstabbings from creatures that we thought were our friends, but that didn't take away the magic and the… sheer fun of being all of us together here."
Smolder also sat down, her legs dangling from the edge of the structure as she took a sip of her hot chocolate. "Still is for me. I live at the school. I'm probably going to be a teacher."
Gallus grumbled when she grinned toothily, but then she sighed. "Yona and Sandbar live right there. Ocellus is also staying at the school." She glanced at him and pressed her lips together as she debated whether to say what she wanted to say or not, but, really there was no point in holding it back. "Don't you think you're upset about all of this because you're moving away?"
Gallus paused midway from putting the cup to his beak. Then he slowly turned to stare at her.
Smolder grimaced and rolled her eyes. "You're moving to Canterlot to be a Royal Guard. I'm not sure why since if what you want is to be kicked around by someone, I'd be more happy to smack you."
Gallus lowered his hot chocolate and glanced at the town below them. "Is it really so bad?"
"Yeah, they're all pushovers, tell me one time—"
"Not the guard," Gallus interrupted. "I mean me, wanting to do other stuff but still be… you know, part of this."
"The hay would I know. I'm not an adult yet." Smolder crossed her arms and harrumphed. "And dragons don't do mushy stuff, so I wouldn't even know how to comfort you."
Gallus shook his head and shuffled closer to Smolder, just close enough to feel her close. "I don't want to be away from you guys, but… there are things I want to do, and I can't do them here."
Smolder leaned over to bump his shoulder with her own. "Hey. You said that last year, and we all supported it."
Gallus nodded and looked down at the steaming mug of chocolate in his claws. "I know. But I feel like—" he took a deep breath "—even if I'm doing that, I'm neglecting all of you guys. I could try to make it to the book club, and I could try to hang out more… it just somehow feels like the magic of being together is somehow gone, even if all of you are still here, and I feel… I feel like I'm losing all of you, even if you're still around."
Smolder didn't say anything immediately. She thought about his words as they both sat on the construction site, the cold air rustling the snow on the roof of the Town Hall, and blowing a thin mist of it into the sky. "There is something magical about this place, I guess. Over here we're known by every creature, they know what we have done, and who we are, and they respect that. We've met the most wonderful creatures here, made friends with them… both our own age, and even heroes and princesses."
Gallus nodded. "There's so much here that I want to take with me, but if I don't step away, I can't do what I know I have to do."
"And you think that just because we're staying here we're pulling away from you?" Smolder asked. "That's kind of dumb."
"Heh. Thanks." He nodded sagely. "I needed the positivity."
"No, you dumb feather brain," Smolder growled, smacking him on the back of the head. "Get it together. We're here now. We'll probably also move somewhere at some point, but this…" She opened her arms to encompass Ponyville with her motion "...this will always be here. It will be part of us, it will be what brought us together, helps us stay together even if we're apart, and it will bring us together again if we ever need each other. Because thanks to these crazy ponies, we became something better than we were before."
Gallus blinked at that, then stared at her. "Ocellus?"
Smolder narrowed her eyes. "Why would I be Ocellus?"
"It just sounded smart and emotionally mature, there's no way Smol—" Gallus squawked a laugh as he dodged Smolder's follow-up punch. "All I'm saying is that the next thing out of your mouth is going to be that this whole thing was a zeitgeist born of—" he ducked just in time for Smolder's claw to tear a chunk of the edge of the roof.
"Keep going chicken wings," Smolder growled, "let's see how you like being fried."
"Okay, okay! Stop! We're still in the scaffold!" He pointed out, holding on to one of the metal bars, and using it as a flimsy shield from his friend. "You're going to bring the whole thing down! Sorry! It was just getting too mushy and you know I can't handle emotional situations!"
Smolder ignored that and tackled him, bringing them both down onto the snow covered balcony overlooking the town. She glared at the griffon breathing hard under her claws as she sat on top of him. She wasn't too worried about having hurt him. The snow would have cushioned the fall, and she had actually spread her wings to minimize the impact. Gallus had survived worse.
"We're still here for you, if you need us, you know," she said gruffly.
He looked up at her. "Yeah. I know."
"It's dumb that you think we're going to let you drift away. We're going to drag your feathered butt back here when you're not on missions or unable to come."
"Yeah." Gallus reached out a claw to hold the side of her head gently. "I know."
"Gallus…"
It was then that he head-butted her. "Now get off of me, I'm getting cold!"
Smolder blinked. "Are you okay?"
"No. That was a bad idea. I forgot how hard your forehead is."
"Aww, you know I'm actually a softie," Smolder teased, grinning at him as she stood up and offered him her claw.
"In some places. Not the forehead," Gallus croaked weakly, grasping the offered claw and pulling himself up.
The pair chuckled.
"It's been a while since we did this kind of stuff," Gallus said.
"Yeah. So…" Smolder stretched. "You coming to Yona's Hearthsmashing Party?"
"Is she still doing the Wendigo Stomping dance?"
"Yeah."
Gallus glanced at Canterlot, glistening gold in the distance before turning to grin back at his best friend. "You know, I think I will."
The End
Author's Note
Jaxie, my dude. I've been blessed to have met you here buddy. Distance and circumstance are a pain in the butt, but I appreciate you man. You've been a true friend and I hope we can be so for many years more.
