Diversity Club

by RayneTheSkunk

Meeting New Creatures

Gallus was curled up in his nest shuffling in his sleep. There was a boom, and he twitched. A Crash, and he turned. Then the thunder of dozens of slams at once and he couldn’t take anymore.

“What in the world!” Gallus leapt from his bed and rushed for the door. He threw it open, slamming it against the wall. Behind him, he heard the thud of Sandbar falling from the top bunk. He’d be fine.

The hallways were lit only by candlelight. Every door was wide open with students either mumbling their groggy confusion or wide-eyed and shouting. Starlight and Sunburst pushed a stretcher through the hall, demanding the right of way. Smolder lay atop it, her mouth covered in black bile.

“Smolder!” Gallus rushed to her side. “What happened!” She didn’t respond.

Ocellus and Yona clinged to the other side. “I don’t know!” Ocellus cried, “Cleave just woke me in the middle of the night and she was like this!”

“Yona got headmare!”

Sunburst and Starlight pushed the stretcher through the hall of onlookers. Sunburst tried his best to get any sort of coherent response out of Smolder, but all he got for his efforts were groans and gurgles. Smolders eyes were glazed over like she was in some other world entirely, her movements lethargic and limp but her arms would keep reaching out for any creature nearby. Gallus’s hand reached to meet hers.

The swift slap of Starlight’s hoof swatted him away. “Do you see the gunk her claws are covered in! Gah! who knows how sick you could get! I understand you’re all concerned but you can’t all come with her. Her condition’s—Well I don’t even know, and you all still have classes.”

“But I have to go with her! What if something happens! You can’t make me stay.”

Starlight resisted the urge to wipe her gloved hoof over her face. “One of you can come with us to the hospital. One!”

The three students looked between each other for a moment before Gallus and Yona nodded. Ocellus wrapped her hooves around them before following Starlight down the hallway.

“I wonder what happened to her.”

“Yona also wonders what happened to her.”

“She was perfectly fine last night.” Gallus scratched his head as he tried to steer clear of vomit left on the floor. “You think it's some kind of dragon illness?”

“What? Yona talk about Ocellus.”

“What about Ocellus?”

“Yona just wonder what they do in summer. Smolder awful defensive for Ocellus last night. Now Ocellus cling to Smolder like puppy.”

“Eh,” Gallus shrugged, “I guess they just got close. Man, I didn’t need this sort of heart attack.”

Yona hummed in thought as Silverstream walked over. Silver slipped in between the two of them. “We’re gonna check on her tomorrow, right?”

“Friend must.” Yona nodded.

“Oh Idea! Those crystals you gave us! I could turn them all into necklaces. Then we’d all have one to wear, and it could be like a get well present. She’d love it!” Before Yona and Gallus could even give permission, she started collecting the crystals from Yona and Ocellus’ room. They were going to agree anyways, so it was a minor nuisance at best.

Gallus shuffled back into his bed. He didn’t bother to check how much of his stuff Silverstream had gotten into, preferring to stare at the wall as the sounds of her scrounging played out behind him. Knowing her, he could wager she got into everything. The rattling feeling in his gut was more pressing than any invasion of privacy. How was he supposed to get to sleep with the image of Smolder delirious and sick was stuck in his head. The hours ticked away on his clock as he tossed and turned in bed. Sleep will happen any moment now, he lied to himself, even when he could see the sunrise clear outside the window.

A knock rapped on his door. Gallus groaned and rolled onto the floor. With bits of tattered comforter still stuck in his feathers he opened his door. “What!” he spat.

Two dragons stood on the other side of his door. The shorter green one stood into space and the silver one simply glared at him with his purple eyes. “You’re chaperoning us today.”

“I’m what?”

“The Dragon Lord’s instructions were clear. We are supposed to follow Smolder for the first week of school.”

“Mhmm”

“And Smolder’s sick.”

“Mhmmm.”

“Which means you’re in charge of us now.”

“How does that add up?” Gallus asked leaning against his door.

“Smolder said if anything was to happen to her, we go to you. Those are Smolder’s orders, and Smolder is under the Dragon Lord’s orders. Which means—as per the Dragon Lord’s orders—we’re under your charge.”

“Well I don’t see Ember here to make sure I’m babysitting you. So—nah!” Gallus closed the door, but the silver dragon slammed it with his tail.

“And get us in trouble with the dragon lord? Not risking it! We’re sticking to you no matter what!” The silver dragon stood his ground and Gallus, as much as he half-tried, couldn’t remember the little punk’s name.

“Ugh fine.” He snatched the two dragons’ class schedules which to his blessing bore their names. There wasn’t as much overlap as he would have liked. Getting to his own classes on time was already enough of a pain with all the new buildings and halls. Now he had to ferry them to and from their classes before his as well. Whatever I did to get considered the reliable one, I regret it. Now that he looked at his own schedule again he realised his schedule was full of professors he had never heard of before.

With no classes for another two hours, Gallus went to the cafeteria to get some coffee. As much as he hoped it was just a prank, the two dragons followed. He grumbled about sleep, the sun, children, and everything else bothering him as he filled a coffee machine.

What's with you grumpy? You’re back at the school of friendship. You’re supposed to like school right? Come on. Be happy. At least act like it. You don’t wanna end up like the griff with the newspaper. Be a little friendly. That's what you’re here for after all.

He took a deep breath, put on his best smile, and tried to put his mind back where he was last year. “So uh? You two like being here?”

Cleave, the shorter green one shook her head with fervent enthusiasm. Though her mouth was full of raw coffee beans, so she could have just been hyper.

Pierce refused to look up to Gallus, and used the frills on his tail to cover his face like a fan. “It's okay. I don’t particularly like ponies, but Ember says I have to tolerate them.”

“I don’t think tolerating is exactly friendship.”

Pierce positioned his tail between Gallus and himself. “I never asked to go here. I already had friends.” A statement that was immediately met with a firm head shake of disagreement from Cleave. “What do you know? You don’t talk!”

“Hm,” Gallus smirked as he swiped up his now hot cup of joe. “Sounds convincing.” He tried to recollect other lessons on making new friends. “So you’re tolerating us. Fine. What about Hobbies? You had plenty of friends, there must be something you two do for fun?”

The beans in Cleave’s mouth started to burn. Gallus wasn’t sure whether that was an answer but the smell of roasting coffee was pleasant.

Pierce snorted a bout of purple flame. “I don’t see why I should tell you.”

Gallus sipped his coffee. The fueling energy of caffeine would brighten up his stressed-out world. “Cause it would be the first step to making friends, and we’re going to be spending the day together.”

Pierce turned away, refusing to answer.

Gallus checked the room, empty of pretty much anycreature except a stray yellow changeling at the other end of the room. “Well nopony’s around. What bothers you about them so much?” It seemed like something Pierce was willing to talk about even if Gallus didn’t really want to listen to anyone else's species complaints besides his own.

“They’re just weaker. How are we supposed to have fun razing villages and stealing their stuff if we’re supposed to be friends? How's a dragon supposed to make a hoard!”

“Ha! The little guy sounds like Captain pharynx!” The changeling had appeared right behind Gallus.

Gallus sprang up with a squawk. His coffee flew into the air. It juggled between his grasping claws, until the handle landed around his beak.

“He was so on edge!” The changeling shifted into a gruff voice “Your bright colours are too ponylike. It's not intimidating. We should be preparing our warriors for attacks. All this pony infection is making us weak. Yadda yadda. I think I’m gonna call this guy Lil Rynx”

“You will not!” Pierce screeched.

Gallus, having recollected his composure—and his mug—said, “The shouty one’s Pierce. The green one’s Cleave I’m Gallus, and you?”

“Dipterra, previously a member of the hive defence force. Currently: full time cool student.”

“‘Cool’,” Pierce air quoted the word, “he says, looking like a piece of candy.”

Dipterra cackled. “Trust me—if you knew who Pharynx was, you’d think this was hilarious. By the way, you know Ocellus, right?”

“Yeah. She mention me?”

“Of course. She talks about her friends all the time. Soon as I heard they were sending more students, I had to hop in line for that. See what all the hubbub is like, you know.”

“Oh than—”

“You don’t seem that cool,” Dipterra added.

With that, Gallus took a deep breath and a large gulp of his coffee.

“But Ocellus isn’t that cool either, so I guess you two are a good match.” He went into a hearty laugh standing between his two equally-unimpressed peers. “I kid, I kid. You seem aight. The look on your faces though! You two definitely take things mad seriously. Me and some other lings are trying to set up a feelings forum on campus. Maybe you wanna drop by.” He patted Cleave on the head before taking his leave. “Seeya at the forum!”

“What a tool,” Pierce grumbled.

“Agreed.”

______________________________________________________________________

The new classroom was a dark, moss-like green. Light poured in from the windows like heavenly rays. Gallus had sat in front with dragons flanking his sides. He gave his schedule another glance. Maxilla, professor of Species Unity. They’ve never taught that before, but he supposed it gelled with Twilight’s speech yesterday. Just then, a hoof tip-tapped on his shoulder.

“Excuse me, but are you a real griffon?”

“Nah, I’m a fake one. These feathers, artificial.” Gallus’s smug expression started to crumble. The school’s at least ten percent changeling now. As far as any new student knew, he could be a fake griffon. “I mean, All real. Name’s Gallus hundred percent genuine griffon material,” He said, reaching out to shake the pony’s hoof.

“Whoa, it's so nice to meet one! I’m new, name’s Bristle Brush.” The red earth pony was possibly the most bright eyed pony Gallus had ever met. The excitement in Bristle’s voice rivaled Silverstream’s squeals when he first met her.

“Let me guess, you’re a painter.”

“How! Did! You! Know!”

Gallus smirked, “I’m a gifted guesser.”

“Your name tells it all, dunce!” Pierce said, without giving Bristle the respect of even a glance “Besides, you’re all labeled!” His eyes were drawn to the painter’s pallette on Bristle’s flank.

“Huh, I guess I am labeled. Never thought of it that way. Are all dragons so clever?” Bristle Brush leaned closer. His eyes twinkled with dream. Then Cleave took a bite into one of the pillows designated as seats and determined it good enough to eat the rest. “Well, I’m sure that’s clever in its own way.”

Gallus looked over his charge. “I don’t think these two are exactly the Dragonland’s brightest.” Before Pierce got a chance to reply, a changeling came through the door. Their purple hue shifted to green around their hooves, and they lacked a horn.

They turned to a whiteboard and in a flash of blue flame shifted to a blue unicorn. Using their newfound horn, they wrote ‘Maxilla’ on the board and shifted right back.

“You’ll have to get used to me doing that. Welcome to Understanding Creatures. Before any of you misunderstand, this won’t be like meeting animals in Miss Fluttershy’s classes. We’re here to learn about each other,” they said as they transformed a massive, curved-horn ungulate, with a broad, terrifying forehead. “Now what am I?”

“A yak, easy!” Pierce called, receiving thumbs up from cleave and nods from the rest of the class.

Gallus rolled his eyes, “They’re definitely not a yak.”

Maxilla smiled. “Hmm, and how do you know?”

“Your fur’s all one colour. Yak faces are a lighter tone than their hair. Besides their hair hangs to their sides, and yours doesn’t hang at all. I think you’re a...” The gears in Gallus’ head turned as the stories his professors told ran through his head. “A bison?”

“Impressive, yesterdays classes all got that wrong. Though I shouldn’t doubt the eagle eyes of a griffon. Oh, Let's start with that!” The class congratulated Gallus as he mumbled under his breath about simply knowing their singular yak student. Maxilla changed into a unicorn—a different one this time—and drew a diagram of a griffon on the board.

“The Griffons aren't known for their magic, but they do possess one a very impressive magical trait.” They pointed to their eyes. “Griffon vision is particularly keen, able to see objects clearly at distances far greater than any other of the civilized creatures. More impressively, they’re able to see magic in the very air. To see magic right as its cast from a creature’s horn.” They chuckled “Doesn’t work on changeling disguises though.”

“It’s not that special,” Gallus grumbled. “We don’t do anything that matters with it.” Seeing magic hasn’t done him any good so far. If it couldn’t help him see a bomb beneath his own feet then it probably wasn’t going to help him with anything else.

His comment went unheard. Maxilla went on to go over assorted griffon trivia like the difference between a griffon’s wings and a pegasus’, and tidbits on griffon culture. Every time they’d bring up a new griffon fact, Gallus could feel the eyes of his classmates scanning over him to see if it's true.

“Griffons are pretty impressive huh?” Gallus felt Bristle Brush’s words slide down his back like a thick, greasy slime. “You must feel pretty lucky.”

“I’m not exactly the most griffon-y griffon,” Gallus said with a smirk.

You are in the top ten of least griffon-y griffons. Who wants to be like them anyway?

“You’re definitely atypical.” The professor's voice rang next to his ear. Gallus yelped.

When did they get that close?

Maxilla had somehow gotten right between Gallus and Cleave “It's a bit of an anomaly really. One single griffon student and we get a griff with such a distinct condition. How lucky am I?”

“Uhm…”

Just then Maxilla took the form of a griffon, and as the skin on his back crawled gallus began to understand why Ocellus held back on transforming. Maxilla’s form was brown and gray, like a typical Griffonstone griffon. “I’m not sure how many of you have seen griffons before, but typically their colours are something more like this. Gallus here is very special.”

“Gee, what a nice way of putting it,” Gallus deadpanned.

Maxilla patted Gallus on the head and returned to their hornless changeling form. “Looks like I got a bit carried away on Griffons. You make one comment on eyesight and you skip to lesson twenty on your hundred-stage lesson plan.” They chuckled. “Our actual first lesson is to simply go over the civilized races that make up modern Equestria. So at least two of them are already out of the way. Please take notes, there're more creatures on our great continent than you may realise.”

They were right to recommend taking notes. Gallus hadn’t even realised more than one donkey lived in ponyville. There were two! He had never even spoken to a cow before, only heard stories about diamond dogs, and didn’t even know kirin existed till yesterday. There was something about deer living in the forest, and Zecora got an honorable mention for being one of the only zebras on the continent.

With every note he took, Gallus could still sense Bristle Brush’s attention. It didn’t exactly take a sixth sense to notice a pony practically breathing down your neck. Bristle would get Gallus’ or the dragons’ attention to ask questions about their species whenever the opportunity arose. The interest was clearly genuine—only honest eyes could sparkle like Bristle’s did—but every time he spoke, Gallus felt the desire to throw himself to the other side of the room. Pierce had scooted his seat far enough he wasn’t even within Gallus reach without leaning, and Cleave, as nonverbal as she was, had stopped making any sort of response whatsoever.

“Oh, looks like we’re already out of time. Remember, everycreature. Your first assignment is to learn about somecreature from a species besides your own. Ideally from a species you never talked to before! Any details you need to know are on the syllabus. Trust me, I’ve covered everything.”

Gallus read over his copy as he walked Pierce and Cleave out of class.

Meet a creature from a species besides your own. Get their name, age, job, and gender. Ask them why they live in Ponyville. If they haven’t always lived in Ponyville, ask what their home or previous residence was like. Ask about how being their species has affected their life and worldview. Write a short one (1) page essay about your new associate, and another page comparing their life experience to your own. Conclude with how you think the difference in your species has impacted the difference in your life.

An easy enough assignment, especially for Gallus. If his other friends had Maxilla’s class, they could simply pass their papers around and write each other's reports. He could probably write about Sandbar right now without even talking to him.

A presence hung over Gallus’ back, one far too close for comfort. He winced before turning his head. “Hey would you guys like to work on our papers together!” The words blasted out of Bristle’s mouth and hit Gallus like a buck to the face.

“Not in your life.” Pierce said, hastening his pace.

“Um, maybe.” Gallus scratched his head, eyes looking for some sort of escape. “I, uh, still got other classes to get to so I’ll think about it later”

“Oh what class do you have next maybe it's the same one!”

Gallus snatched the two dragons in his arms “I dunno, probably not. Can’t let these two be late. Seeya!” he spoke a mile a minute as it blitzed through the halls.

“Seeya friend!”

__________________________________________________________________

His next class found him back in the Emotions and Art building. Understanding Anger: Professor Autumn Blaze. Gallus turned the corner and immediately found himself bumping into somepony's tail.

“Oh sorry. The hallway’s pretty ti—” Sandbar turned around. “Oh hey Gallus, you’ve got this class too?”

“Something, something anger? Yeah. What's going on?”

“The professor decided to have the class meet in the hallway, last minute. She’s giving a tour of the new building.” Sandbar looked towards the two dragons by Gallus' side. Pierce had spread his wings to see above the crowd and cleave was attempting to climb her way onto Gallus’ back. “Oh, cool. You’ve already made friends with Smolder’s friends.”

“Smolder isn’t our friend! She’s just in charge. Our relationship is completely neutral.” Pierce said with a defiant huff, and Cleave agreed with a smile and a shake of the head.

“Oh.” Sandbar’s smile flipped like a loose sign. “Is Gallus your friend?”

“He’s acceptable,” Pierce said, refusing to look at Gallus or Sandbar. Cleave, having climbed onto Gallus’ back, gave him a pat on the head and a nod. Plus one dragon friend.

“I’m stuck with them til Smolder gets better. This one’s chill.” Gallus said getting a high-five from Cleave.

A voice called out from the center of the hall. “Is every student here! It’s time to start the tour!” Thanks to Maxilla’s class, he could recognize the red-maned professor as a kirin. A pegasus and hippogriff held her high above the heads of the other students.

“Heeeey everycreature! I’m Autumn Blaze. Happy to be here, really. Welcome to the Emotions and Arts building. It’s new. My idea, practically my building. I mean it's the queen’s building, and some of the ideas were Tree Hugger’s, but it's mine. But who cares who’s building it is anyway—mine— we have a tour to start! Move out!” The tour started with the classrooms, one of which had been set up as a ring of seats around a firepit, and another classroom had similar lay out but was covered in crystals and incense.

“This one’s Tree Huggers! Say ‘Hi’ to Professor Tree Hugger!” Tree hugger and her students were in the beginnings of setting up a meditation circle. Both herds of students exchanged greetings. Sandbar and Gallus gave especially fervent waves to Yona and Silverstream way in the back.

“How's the tour thing going?” Tree hugger’s voice reminded Gallus of Sandbar’s parents. A voice that didn’t sound like she was quite here. More like she was on another plane of reality entirely, but had to be on this one out of obligation.

Sandbar pulled Gallus aside while Autumn got sucked into conversation. “Hey, there's something I wanted to talk to you about, actually. You remember when Silverstream went through our rooms this morning?”

As much as it hurt him to do so Gallus tossed Cleave and Pierce each a bit to give himself some privacy. “Yeah, she’s making necklaces out of our crystals.”

“Well she certainly didn’t stop going through our stuff at just the crystals. So I took the liberty of going through her room too. While she was distracted with my stuff.”

Gallus’ face contorted in befuddlement. “Why?”

“Well if she’s looking through my things it only seems fair.”

“You could have just stopped her.”

“I just wanted an excuse to go through her room, okay? Anyway, I found a note and copied it.” Sandbar produced a crumpled sticky note. The wrinkles and folds did not at all help with the legibility of Sandbar’s mouthwriting, but with some squinting the message could be made out.

1332 :3

“Suspicious, don’t you think?” Sandbar said

“Oh yeah, a note with a cat face on it. Super sus,” Gallus deadpanned. “You were still thinking about what Ocellus said, weren’t you? About Silverstream lying?”

“I was hoping I’d find nothing. Then I could let her know there's nothing to worry about, but now I don’t really know what to do. I mean this could be anything right? A password to her diary, A secret club, maybe a password for free milkshakes?”

“Exactly. It could be literally anything. It's Silver, she might just think this number is cute. Don’t stress out about it and don’t tell her you looked through her stuff.”

“But should we tell Ocellus?”

“And make things between the two of them worse? If it makes you feel better, I’ll do a little looking into this, but we don’t need you or Ocellus starting anything. Just chill. It's like, your thing.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks for trying to hold things together, dude.” Sandbar wrapped Gallus into a brief hug that Gallus half-heartedly returned with a wing. They returned to the rest of the class to find Autumn Blaze had finished a debate on superior methods to align chakras.

The tour resumed. A collection of new art rooms dedicated to art forms from painting to metal work. The student jam lounge, a sort of student juice bar featuring a stage for students to perform on. The array of anger management rooms on the third floor.

“And this is my favourite room in the whole school” Autumn pushed open a set of double doors and the students flooded in Autumn had her winged helpers put her down and sat in the center of a plain white room. The floor and walls were bare of any colour or decoration of any sort. Not a single object in sight. A wiping of the floor didn’t even produce an iota of dust. A perfectly empty room devoid of all features besides its own banality.

“Uh. It's kinda nothing,?” the pegasus student said.

“Exactly. The room itself is an open canvas. Any student can do whatever their mind invisions with it.”

“Like?”

“Anything you can imagine. A music video, a living art piece, film a movie. You can use any of the other art workshops to make things to use in the Art lab. Bring tools from outside. Literally anything and everything. As long as you aren't trying to break physics, and with a little magic you might do that too. By the way, there's a second art lab, but we rent out that one. This one is free to students all the time. You just have to register before using it.”

Professor Blaze went on to describe all the possibilities, but all Gallus could see was a plain room. With a heavy sigh he supposed his friends carried all the artistic vision. He was more of a producer than an artist. “You got any ideas for this place, Sandbar?”

“Well I’m not a painter myself, but if I could get Silverstream to go with it I can see this place becoming like an underwater experience. Set up some manquins of different aquatic life, get speakers with the sound of the ocean. It would be just like swimming with dolphins or even like being one. You ever think about being a dolphin dude?”

The thought sent Gallus back to the sensation of floating he felt in Sandbar’s bedroom. The shifting and waving hues of blues and greens. Just envisioning it felt like being free in the air before having his wings pressured with all the weight of the sea.

“That's quite the vision you have there, my friend,” added a deep unfamiliar voice.

“Oh thanks—Whoa!” Sandbar and Gallus turned to see a zebra standing behind them. His black and white stripes clashed against the hippogriffs and ponies in the room. He wore brown bands marked with green beads around his neck and foreleg. Sandbar’s surprise caught the attention of a few other students, and all eyes were now on them

“Oh no, it seems I’ve caught everypony’s attention. Do I again have to answer question after question?”

“Oooh, so they do all rhyme,” Sandbar said under his breath.

The zebra’s ear twitched “No! Did I rhyme again?” he mumbled to himself. “Ignore it please. It is a bad habit.” He swiftly turned to onlooking students “We do not all rhyme!” The outburst led the other ponies to step back, if only slightly. His head hung low as he let out a grumble. “Pretend that did not happen, friend.”

“I’ve been through the whole twenty questions deal on my first day here too, so I’ll just keep it to two. What's your name? Where ya from?”

“Is that a promise? No third question?” He lifted a brow, his stare shifting between Gallus and Sandbar.

“Uhuh.”

“Sure, dude.”

He let out a relieved sigh. “I will hold you to it. My name is Wassi, and I’m from what ponies seem to simply call the southern continent. Zecora and I come from sister villages. She chose me to join in some,” he paused, trying to remember the words, “special program, you see.” He caught a look of the gears turning in Sandbar’s head.“No, there is no blood between us. Do not go assuming we are family.”

Sandbar chuckled. “Oh, cool. Cause I wanted to a—” he got a jab in the side from Gallus. “Right, not that I would have asked because like, I promised everything.”

“I could tell. I read faces wel- hnng, did it again.”

“Hey Wassi, just give me one sec while I check in with Gallus on something.”

“I will not be going anywhere.”

Sandbar snatched a hoof around Gallus neck and spun the two of them around. He whispered, “Have you heard of any special programs?”

“Wha— no. Why would I? Wait! Are you asking me cause you can’t ask him!”

“Yes.”

“Me and my promise.” Gallus groaned. “No. I haven’t. But with all the peace and unity stuff Twilight was talking about, it’s probably just that. Some sort exchange program thing.”

Sandbar scratched his head for a moment before looking back towards Gallus. “Like you?”

“… I guess! Nobody called it a ‘program’ when it came to us, but yeah. Probably. I dunno.”

______________________________________________________________________________

With the dragons dropped off at class, Gallus had a short gap in his schedule. At least a half hour before Dash’s class. A half hour wasn’t enough. Gallus meandered the halls snapping his talons as if he’d eventually Do yostop time. He didn’t. He needed a distraction, but distraction would only make time pass faster. He remembered the look Rainbow gave him in the hospital. If he could avoid that look his whole life he’d certainly try.

Twenty five minutes til class.

I can just skip right? It’s not like this is my final schedule anyway. I can just switch to a different class. Silently transfer right out. I’ve already had two years of Loyalty class anyway. Who really needs the third? Yeah, that's it. I’ll just skip. Go to Sugarcube Corner instead. Take a nap in Quills and Sofas. Do some sort of community service and try to get school credit for that. Yeah, that’ll work.

Coward.

Gallus took a turn for the front door and—found himself beak-first in someone's face.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” He cracked his eyes open expecting to see Rainbow Dash’s heart-tearing stare again, but instead he was greeted by a sharp-toothed smile. A grey mare with a sapphire mane.

“Gallus!”

“Swift Foot?!” She threw her hooves around him. As his shock settled, his wings fell around her to return the hug. Just as his wings reached Swift Foot’s back, he saw her: Rainbow dash!

“Gallus!” Swift Foot yanked him in. “it's been so long since the Friendship Games!”

“Yeah, uhh, long time no see.” His eyes met Rainbow’s, and while her stare didn’t hurt quite like before, it was still distant. Like she stared straight through him.

“I’m a student here for real this time! My dad isn’t pulling me out again!”

“Yeah that's uh, fantastic.” He broke his hug, settling Swift Foot at just the right angle to block his view of Rainbow. “Why’d he pull you out again?”

“My dad’s side of the family is just awful! But with a little finagling, I managed to get my Mom’s signature.”

“Starlight said all the papers were in order,” Rainbow said curtly. “But I’ve still never heard of Filika.”

“It’s, you know, remote. Far off. Nopony really cares about it these days,” she said, brushing the question away with her hoof.

Rainbow drew a wing around Swift Foot. “I have to get us to class. You two can catch up later.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot class.” Swift wind kept her head turned to Gallus as she was pulled away. “It was nice to see you. I’ll catch up with the others some other time.”

“We’re in the same class, actually. I’ll come with you,” Gallus flew over to Swift Foot’s side. Putting her between him and dash

Rainbow half-turned to him, looking at the griff through Swift’s mane. “You. Ended up in my class again?"

Gallus coughed,“Yeah, yes. Kinda.” His words became small under his breath.

“Oh this is great! We can sit next to each other and you can help me with anything I don’t get. Its perfect. We get to catch up and catch me up.” Swifts ears flattened to the sound indistinct mumblings to either side. Both parties looked at her, but neither seemed quite in focus. “Is something wrong? I’m not saying we’ll just chat it up in class the whole time of course I’ll still be paying total attention!”

“Oh what?” Gallus traded his expression for a paper thin smile “No, everythings fine.”

“Totally fine.” Rainbow said.

They each shuffled their feathers. Tense rapid, but short wing beats against their sides.Restless beats of feathers and hollow clacks against the marble floor.

Then Rainbow opened her mouth.

“Gallus.” Her energetic voice so dull and slow, it made his feathers crawl. “You know what? Don’t bother showing up to class. Go find a replacement.”

“Uh. Why prof—”

“You don’t need it.” The sound of hooves echoed till they drifted further and further away.

---

With his classes over and his dragons back in tow, Gallus headed to the courtyard. As clouded and heavy as his head felt after seeing Rainbow Dash, the sun of a clear day made things feel a little better. Cleave sat on Gallus' back eating some gems and listening to Pierce’s complaints about class about as much as Gallus was: not at all.

Silver linings, right? That's part of being better I think. Good weather, and old friends come back. This should all be good. Try to be happy.

Okay, but your friend was practically dying this morning, and your teacher rightfully hates you.

Okay, fine. Let's pretend to be happy.

“What's up with you, bird?” Pierce asked.

“Aww, are you showing concern?” Gallus teased. “It looks good on you.”

Pierce wrapped his tail around his face and drew his eyes towards Cleave instead, who was shifting through assignments at a rapid pace. She could read at least.

“Sorry, I’m actually really glad you tried to say something… kinda nice. I’m just busy thinking is all.” About myself. “About Smolder. I’m just a bit worried. Never seen black puke, ya know.”

“It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Artfully put,” he deadpanned. Gallus caught Sandbar and the gang emerging from one of the corners in the courtyard and, with a burst of his wings, took one bounding leap over to them. The landing knocked Cleave on his head like a hat.

“Gallus! Great. Friends preparing to see Smolder at hospital.”

“Oh, and I got all the necklaces ready, but I couldn't find Smolders, but that's okay cause I just cut mine in halfsies.”

Gallus' mind went back to the magic he saw radiating around the crystals, and worse: the explosion they came from. “Is that a good idea, Silver?”

“Well it made a big white bang, and I couldn’t see for like half an hour, but everything was peachy besides that. Why would it be a bad idea?”

“Cause it's obviously poison,” Pierce blurted. Everyone’s gaze shot towards Pierce. “What, you couldn’t piece it together when someone gave a dragon a crystal and suddenly it was gone? Use your brains. It’s one to one.”

“Why white dragon not say anything!”

“Because I didn’t know, brown yak. Cleave’s Smolder’s room mate. Not me. And incase you hadn’t noticed.” He pointed to Cleave giving a nervous shrug.

“She doesn’t talk.” Gallus finished. It took everything to restrain his talon from digging into his face. “I’m an idiot. Of course that magic wasn’t safe. I should have known she’d eat it.”

Sandbar grasped Gallus’ clenched talon between his hooves. “Dude, hold on. You can’t make yourself responsible for that. You can’t control her.”

“Well duh, but I could at least say ‘hey by the way theres some wierd magic swirling around it so maybe don’t put it in your mouth’.” He let out a heavy breath. “Idiot” he mumbled to himself.

“Yona feel dumb for not thinking it before. Smolder would eat crystal! Yona will not let Gallus take this responsibility alone. Friends all knew where crystal came from.”

“Don’t dweeell on it,” Silver sang. “Lets just hop over to to the hospital. I’m sure she’s fine by now.”

Right, yeah, just get there and apologize in person. Chill. Try to relax.

“Yo, you guys! Hold up!” The group turned their heads to see a dark kirin rushing towards them.”You guys are hard to find.”

“Kirin been looking for us?”

“Uh yeah, you guys are kinda famous or whatever.” The kirin’s tone was dull, like all his words were said just above a mumble. “Every upperclassmen said that I should find you six. The griffon, yak, hippogriff, pony dragon, and changeling.” He eyed cleave. “I guess the last one is having some fun with their powers.”

Silver raised a claw to correct him “Um, they arn’-”

“But yeah, everyone said since I’m the only kirin student I should find the Diversity Club. They said you guys would ‘get it’. And I wasn’t exactly doing anything else so I figured sure why not maybe I do need some to ‘relate too’ or whatever..”

Gallus and his friends' faces all contorted into a medley of confused expressions. “Hold up?” Gallus raised his talons “Dial that back they said to find what?”

“The Diversity Club, it’s what all the upperclassman called you.”

“Wow,” Sandbar said, looking towards the ground.

“Have they been calling us that the whole time?” Silverstream chirped.

Gallus squinted. “I can’t tell if that's a cute nickname or derogatory.”

The three exchanged mild looks of confusion while Yona’s eyes lit with inspiration. “The Diversity Club!” she said with awe. “Yona likes sound of this!”

Comments

[Lofty Withers]

Love how these pictures turned out.

[Scyphi]

The beans in Cleave’s mouth started to burn. Gallus wasn’t sure whether that was an answer but the smell of roasting coffee was pleasant.

Ew, no--personal opinion here, but I frankly hate the smell of roasting coffee. But it works out, seeing I don't like coffee in of itself either, but that's neither here nor there.

“What a tool,” Pierce grumbled.

“Agreed.”

Since Cleave seems to be the non-talking sort, I assume its Gallus who said that last line, but as it was a couple lines since he last spoke, it's not super clear, so I would advise adding something to clarify who's speaking there, just to cover all the bases.

If it couldn’t help him see a bomb beneath his own feet then it probably wasn’t going to help him with anything else.

To be fair, it just might be that he's not trained to recognize differing forms of magic. Like, how I could see two different types of trees, but still not recognize that they're different types, just that they're "trees."

However, possibly with some training, one might be able to change that...

“Gallus.” Her energetic voice so dull and slow, it made his feathers crawl. “You know what? Don’t bother showing up to class. Go find a replacement.”

“Uh. Why prof—”

“You don’t need it.” The sound of hooves echoed till they drifted further and further away.

Ow-ow-ouch, that was below the belt, Rainbow. And, I would argue, uncalled for. If anything, the opposite's true--for the both of you.

“The Diversity Club, it’s what all the upperclassman called you.”

I suppose that is a little more original than "Young Six."

Hope Smolder's doing okay. I hate that I'm going to have to wait until next chapter to find out.

Otherwise, a fairly routine day at the School of Friendship it seems. I kinda wish the show did more of that kind of thing, honestly.