//------------------------------//
// Bonus Chapter: The Fall-Out 
// Story: Wait, What Kind of 'It'? 
// by Trinary 
//------------------------------//

“Just what kind of a school are you running here?!” Pharynx barked at an increasingly frazzled-looking Twilight Sparkle. After the incident, she’d planned to quietly retire to her office so she could talk with Ocellus and Smolder in private. However, certain creatures had different ideas. “What are you teaching these kids?”

Starlight Glimmer teleported herself from Twilight’s side, interposing herself between them. Because walking around a desk wouldn’t have been nearly dramatic enough, Twilight supposed. “Pharynx, we understand that you’re upset, but it isn’t Twilight’s fault that this happened!”

“Are you blaming Ocellus?” Pharynx narrowed his eyes and loomed over her. “Because I still have my bag handy and it’s a size-you.”

“This isn’t about assigning blame.” Twilight stood up, casting a glance towards Smolder and Ocellus, who sat slouched down in chairs against the far wall, both looking absolutely miserable. She couldn’t blame them. Twilight turned to Pharynx while raising her voice enough to make sure the pair knew who she was actually addressing. “Or making them feel worse.”

The young couple looked a little buoyed by that, but unfortunately Pharynx’s frown only deepened. “Are you serious? Thorax can you believe this?”

“I certainly can’t.” Thorax nodded to his brother solemnly. “Our little Ocellus—has a steady girlfriend!” His eyes lit up with unabashed glee and he let out a loud squeal, his hooves dancing on the floor as he trotted in place. “I’m so excited!”

Pharynx face-hooved with a groan. “Thorax…”

But the changeling leader was already swooping down on Ocellus and hugging her tightly. “You’ve already made the Hive so proud by being the first changeling to go out and make friends with ponies and other creatures plus getting top marks in school and now—now you’re in a happy, healthy relationship with somecreature you love! I’m so happy for you and so will the rest of the Hive once I get back to tell them—”

“T-Thorax!” Ocellus whined in sheer mortification. “You can’t just—tell everychangeling that!”

Pharynx hmphed, crossing his front legs. “You mean like you just did in front of this entire ridiculous school with its ridiculous staff?”

“Hey!” Starlight protested. “Who are you calling ridiculous?”

“The barely reformed former villain without any training now dispensing ‘guidance’ to impressionable youth,” Pharynx replied archly.

“Pharynx, I appreciate that you’re upset,” Twilight interjected. “But perhaps it’d be best if you took a moment to pause and take a deep breath like Dragon Lord Ember has done, even though I’m sure she’s just as upset as you.”

Ember blinked. “I’m not upset. Should I be?”

“Wait, you’re not?” Relief and confusion warred for dominance on Twilight’s face. “I mean, that’s good, but why?”

The Dragon Lord shrugged. “Is this some big deal where we’re supposed to be mad? I guess that’s just some pony-thing. Or pony and changeling-thing, I guess.” She looked the two teens over. “I like Ocellus’ boldness. Reach out and take what you want is what I say, and she clearly knows what she wants.”

Ocellus let out an embarrassed meep from the depths of Thorax’s embrace and Smolder’s own cheeks flushed. “Ugh, seriously?”

“Don’t give me that, Smolder.” Ember crossed her arms. “You know she’s probably better than anything you’d get on your own.” Pharynx didn’t bother disguising his snort of amusement.

“Hey!” Smolder’s blush turned her cheeks purple enough to pass for Spike. “Come on!”

“That’s not what I--urgh, I’m no good at this.” Ember grimaced. “I wish I brought your brother with me so he could deal with this...”

Smolder’s eyes widened. “Uh-uh, no way, you can’t tell Gar-Gar!”

Ember wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Who?” 

“Uh, nevermind…” Smolder slunk down, not even wanting to think about Garble finding out about this. Visions of a barbecue-roasted Ocellus floated through her mind.

Pharynx must’ve scented at least part of what she was feeling. He rolled his eyes and snorted. “Dragons...”

“What was that?” Ember narrowed her eyes and stomped towards him.

Thorax hastily set Ocellus down to interpose himself between the two of them. “Now now, t-there isn’t any cause to fight! We should be happy that a dragon and changeling have found out how happy the other makes them, right?” He squealed softly. “Just imagine it, the first dragon-changeling wedding ever!”

“Wedding?!” The young couple exclaimed, both turning cherry red. 

“Oh, not right now of course.” Thorax waved a hoof. “But still, it’s never too early to start planning, is it? Especially since you two are already so close and so in love?” He squealed. “This could be the dawn of a new chapter of inter-creature relations--today could go down in history!”

“Sweet fire-diamonds, I hope not...” Smolder buried her bright red face in her claws while Ocellus sank further down in her seat.

Pharynx snorted. “You’re getting ahead of yourself … not unlike Ocellus.” At that the young changeling let out a squeak and sank down so low might have been trying to merge with her chair.

Ember boredly looked at her claws. “You’re both getting worked up over nothing.”

“That’s because we’re capable of more than two emotions,” Pharynx glowered at her, earning a snarl in reply. “There’s half of them now.”

Thorax jumped in between them again. “H-hey, maybe we should adjourn to the Feelings Forum—”

There were dual groans from Pharynx and Ember, who settled for crossing their arms and turning away in unison. “Ugh, fine.” Pharynx grumbled. “I swear everytime I try to stand up for the Hive...”

Ember was grumbling as well. “Still don’t see what you’re so grouchy about. Would you rather Smolder and Ocellus tip-toe around their feelings forever like Twilight and Trixie?”

“WHAT?!” Twilight and Starlight blurted out in unison.

“Or am I getting the two of you confused again?” Ember scratched her head as she regarded the pair.

“I don’t have feelings for Trixie!” Twilight exclaimed.

“You better not!” Starlight stomped her hoof. “I-I mean, you know, since Trixie is my best friend and all, and I want anypony who’d really care about her to be totally committed to her because we’re such good friends!”

Pharynx looked at her and then turned back to Ember. “Okay, yeah, point taken.”

Twilight lifted her coffee mug only to find it empty. She let out a martyred groan. “Let’s get back to the matter at hoof.” She looked to Ocellus and Smolder, who were sharing a grimace and clearly not happy that the focus was about to be on them again. “Now, I think we should have a serious discussion about your inappropriate behavior—” Twilight was cut off at the knees at the sound of somepony clearing her throat. She groaned when she saw who it was. “Cadance, maybe this could wait?”

The Princess of Love shook her head. “With all due respect Twilight, I think I have a little more experience dealing with young love than you. That isn’t a criticism!” she hastily added. “When you find somepony—or somecreature—right for you, it’ll be on your own time. Hopefully it’s before Flurry Heart starts dating though...”

Twilight rested her head on one hoof. “Really? We’re talking about my love life now?”

“You do like talking about theoretical issues,” Starlight chimed in, only to quail under the scorching glare she received.

“Sorry.” Cadance looked around the room, smiling gently at Ocellus and Smolder. “I just want to say that when you find the one creature you’re truly happy with, in love with, it’s the most wonderful experience there is.” She beamed as the young couple glanced at each other and then started blushing. “It’s only natural that you’d want to fully explore those feelings.” She chuckled. “I mean, it isn’t like Shining Armor and I waited for our wedding to—”

“CADANCE!” Twilight covered her ears. “Are you seriously talking about your love life with my brother?!”

Cadance scoffed. “Really, Twilight, this is why I wanted to help you handle this.”

“How, by driving me into therapy for the next five years?”

“It’s not like it couldn’t help, boss,” Starlight offered.

Pharynx snorted. “Look who’s talking.”

Ember leaned forward, squinting. “That’s Starlight, right? Or was that Twilight?”

“Hey, who wants refreshments?!” Thorax gave everycreature a too-wide grin that failed to reach his eyes. 

“We’re married! You have a niece, for Auntie Celestia’s sake!” Cadance rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re still this prudish about the simple reality that your brother and I have sex.”

“There’s a big difference between knowing about it and having it get casually dropped into a conversation, Cadance!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “Especially when you’re telling me you didn’t even wait to get actually married?!”

Cadance gave her an incredulous look. “Even Applejack would call you old-fashioned.”

Twilight threw up her hooves. “That’s not the point! You’re telling my students its fine to go around having sex at the drop of a hat!”

“Is this some new pony custom?” Ember looked more lost than ever. “They have sex whenever someone drops a hat on the floor?”

“Wouldn’t be the silliest thing I’ve seen ponies do.” Pharynx rubbed his snout.

Thorax poked him in the chest. “You say that, but we both know you love singing carols as much as any other changeling.”

“That isn’t what I said at all.” Cadance huffed in annoyance at Twilight. “Honestly, you’re like this whenever the subject comes up; you just dig in your hooves and refuse to budge. It’s no wonder Auntie Celestia once said that the only way you’d ever end up with somepony would be through an arranged marriage alliance with one of our neighbors.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. “She said what?”

“Wait, marriages can be used to strengthen an alliance?” Pharynx pondered for a moment. “I have been wanting to bolster the Hive’s defenses with Equestrian magic. If it’ll make the Hive safer, I’ll agree to marry the Princess.”

“WHAT?!” Twilight exclaimed.

Smolder and Ocellus looked at the unfolding chaos, then back at each other in stunned confusion. “Let’s get out of here before things get even more chaotic,” Smolder whispered, hopping off her seat. Ocellus nodded and followed suit. They had just made it to the door, Smolder’s claw reaching for the doorknob, when it slammed open, drawing everycreature’s attention.

“What?” Discord asked as they all regarded him with confusion. “Can’t I use the door once in a while just to change things up?” Without a word being said, Twilight, Cadance and Starlight’s horns all began to glow in synch and they shut the door firmly in Discord’s face. “Well, that’s just rude.”

Twilight gave Ocellus and Smolder a look that sent them both scurrying back to their seats. Ocellus found the attention of every adult in the room on her was just too much and buried her face in Smolder’s side. The young dragon patted her head and sighed, wishing she could do the same. Cadance leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Just so you know? About ninety percent of true love is acute, ear-burning embarrassment.” She patted her shoulder comfortingly. “I’d say you’re in a good place.”

“If it’s so good, how about we trade places?” Smolder asked, only for Cadance to just smile and shake her head. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Okay, I hope we can all reach an agreement on a few key points. First being that, while we might hold our own opinions on Smolder and Ocellus being intimate,” her eyes flicked towards Pharynx and then Cadance, “it is ultimately their decision. That being said, as School Headmare the safety and well-being of my students is my responsibility while they’re here. That means making sure they’re aware of all the risks and consequences that come from their decisions. What they do after that is their own personal, private affair.”

“So, uh,” Smolder winced. “What’s that mean for us?”

“It means that I’m going to add a mandatory class about sexual education.” Twilight pursed her lips. “You and your friends are going to be the first ones to receive it.”

Ocellus and Smolder blushed brilliantly. Pharynx rolled his eyes. “Really? You bring them in here to read them the riot act for having sex and your punishment is to have them take a class about sex? What’s the required reading list, PlayBug?”

“Pharynx!” Ocellus whined.

Starlight shook her head. “Twilight’s right. This isn’t about punishing them for being in love. It’s about making sure they’re aware of everything that comes with that and preparing them for life. Even if you think they made a mistake, well creatures make mistakes all the time, that’s just life.”

Pharynx snorted. “You do realize that isn’t the same as being given a license to make mistakes left and right, do you?”

Starlight frowned. “Recognizing a mistake and going forward from there is how we learn.”

“By that logic, you should be the smartest pony ever.”

“Maybe I am!” Starlight snapped back. “I mean, well, of course I’m obviously not the smartest pony in the world…”

“Or even in this room!” Ember added. Nocreature was sure if she was trying to be helpful or not.

Starlight exhaled, counting to ten and putting on her best ‘I will try not blast you through the wall’ face.

Twilight cleared her throat. “To be clear, they’re not being punished because they decided to be … intimate.” Her eyes flickered to Cadance. “When two creatures gets into a consenting, romantic relationship, it’s up to them to decide how far it should go and when. It’s not up to anycreature else to make those decisions for them, no matter how much they mean to help.” She gave her sister-in-law a knowing look before turning her attention to the others. “I know you’re all concerned about their well-being but outside of this, um, incident there’s been no sign of any problems. In fact, there’s been every indication that Smolder and Ocellus make each other happy and are good for each other.”

Smolder nodded vigorously, draping a wing over Ocellus’ back and casting a defiant look around the room. Pharynx scowled but Twilight was pretty sure that was just his default expression. Ocellus frowned back at him and made a point of resting her hoof on top of Smolder’s claw. Thorax let out a low squee and was tightly hugging his brother—or potentially preparing to hold him in place. Or both. Twilight tapped her hoof on her desk. “If you want to speak with your student privately to express your concerns, that is absolutely your right, but that isn’t a matter for me as Headmare and it isn’t the place of the school to punish them for their private lives. However, the fact that Ocellus caused a disruption is another matter. She’ll receive a weeks’ detention with me after school.” The studious changeling couldn’t quite repress a whimper, burying her face in her hooves as Smolder rubbed her back.

“So Ocellus gets in trouble but not the dragon?” Pharynx stomped a hoof. “Give me a break!”

“She has a name!” Ocellus objected.

Thorax’s grin started fraying at the edges. “Pharynx, remember we talked about this: take deep breaths and focus on the positive...”

“No, he’s right!” Smolder stood up on her chair. “It isn’t fair! I should get detention too! Ocellus only got upset because I messed up explaining things.” Ocellus looked up at her with wide eyes.

“I appreciate your loyalty Smolder, but…” Twilight fell short as Cadance rested a hoof on her shoulder. Seeing her eager nod, Twilight sighed. “Okay, what do you mean?”

Smolder rubbed the back of her neck. “See, it’s like this. We wanted to be honest with our friends about, y’know, us, only we were having trouble getting them to understand.” She briefly sketched out the conversation. “...so by the end Ocellus was just feeling really uncomfortable at having this all dragged out and frustrated that the others weren’t getting it and…”

“Hold up.” Pharynx held up a hoof. “Are you telling me that after all that they didn’t get the message?” After waiting for her nod, he looked back at Twilight. “To repeat my earlier question: what are you teaching these kids? Maybe sex-ed isn’t such a bad idea after all!”

“So glad you approve,” Twilight grumbled. She took a deep breath and started again. “Smolder, thank you for telling me. I’ll be sure to mention to Rainbow Dash how much her lessons have been sinking in.”

The young dragon stepped back and prodded Ocellus forward. “Thanks Headmare Twilight, but you should also be thanking Ocellus here. If it wasn’t for my friends, but especially her, I’d be drowning at school.”

“She’s not giving herself enough credit,” Ocellus disagreed. “But I am really sorry about making such a fuss. Really, really sorry.” She rubbed her reddened cheeks, the blush might well have been permanently burned in by this point. “I didn’t want to cause any trouble but—I really love Smolder and I’ll—I’ll take whatever punishment you want.”

For the first time since this mess began, Twilight smiled. “Thank you Ocellus. Both of you. When I started the School of Friendship, I didn’t imagine all the difficulties that would come with it—” both students looked sheepish, but she pressed forward “—or just how wonderful the results would be either. Instead of a weeks’ detention for Ocellus I’d like to see you both after classes for the next three days. That’s all.”

Starlight nodded. “My door is always open if you ever want to talk. Well, except not always since that did lead to a bit of a mess with Trixie and Silverstream and the Everfree, but you can always schedule an appointment and I’ll be all ears!” She let out a nervous laugh. “I mean, it’s not as if getting into an actual relationship is all that easy, so I’m sure it’d be helpful for some ponies to know how it happened for the two of you so I—er, will have that information available. In case any other pony or creature needs advice over how to confess her feelings for somepony who might or might not be her best friend.” 

“She sounds way too invested in hearing them talk about their relationship,” Pharynx noted to Ember. “I can almost taste it.”

Even Thorax groaned. “She and Trixie really need to get it out into the open already.”

“I thought a couple getting it out into the open is why they’ve crammed us in here for the last half-hour,” Ember grumbled. “Is it over? I really need this to be over. You creatures make far too big a deal about all this. Seriously, survival and mating are the two most natural things creatures do. Watch.” She strode over and regarded her subject. “Smolder.”

“Uh, yeah?”

Ember looked down at her. “So, you and Ocellus are happy?”

“Ah huh.”

“Good.” Ember scratched her snout. “I can’t say I blame you. Changelings are pretty interesting. Well, some of them.” She let her gaze drift onto an increasingly flustered Thorax. “Let me know how it goes, ‘kay?”

Smolder’s face grew hot, even for a dragon. “Sure?”

“Cool.” Ember walked back to the others, her tail idly brushing Thorax’ side as she moved. The changeling leader jolted as if struck by lightning and turned bright red.

Pharynx covered his face with his hooves. “I did not just see that. I can’t take anymore of this...” He looked over at Smolder and groaned when he saw Ocellus shooting him her most shy, hopeful smile and pressing her hooves together imploringly. She must’ve been taking more lessons from Fluttershy than what was listed in the curriculum. “Ugh, fine,” Pharynx grumbled at Smolder. “I guess, if you make Ocellus happy it’s alright. But,” his voice deepened as he shifted into a bigger, more monstrous version of himself that loomed over a stunned-looking Smolder. “If you ever hurt her, I will pop off all of your scales one at a time, encase you in resin and turn you in an all-hive piñata.”

“Pharynx!” An appalled Thorax started tugging meaningfully on his brother’s antlers. “We talked about this!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Did you just threaten one of my students? Right in front of me and the Dragon Lord?” Her eye twitched. The only thing keeping her from using her magic to bury him halfway through the wall was the gripping terror that it’d unleash a potential war if she did—possibly a second one, if Ember lost her cool.

Which looked a virtual certainty as Ember’s scales began to glow with a fiery heat. “Hey! Nocreature threatens one of my subjects but me!” She lashed her tail and flexed her claws. Pharynx snorted and stomped his hoof, Thorax still dangling from his antlers.

“W-wait!” Thorax cried out. “It-it isn’t what you think! It’s, um, traditional for the, ah, parental figure to threaten their offspring’s significant other? P-perfectly normal, aheh…” Thorax shot her his most pleading smile.

“I don’t think this is something we should be encouraging...” Starlight said worriedly, looking from Twilight to Cadance, hoping one of them would step in.

But Cadance merely tossed her head. “He isn’t exactly wrong. True, it’s a little passe and not the most healthy expression of feelings, but it isn’t something unique to Pharynx. You should’ve seen what Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna did when Shining Armor started dating me.”

“Wait, what?!” Twilight yelped. “Are you telling me that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna threatened my own brother?”

Cadance waved her off. “You shouldn’t make such a fuss out of it, they actually went pretty easy on him, seeing as they actually liked him. He was fine and didn’t have to do anything other than change his armor since it wasn’t so shiny after Celestia was finished.” Twilight groaned and folded her wings over her face. Cadance did feel compelled to add, “Though maybe Luna went a little too far when she sent him those ‘warning’ dreams.”

“So that’s why Shining asked for his old night-light back,” Twilight mumbled.

Ember watched them, then turned back to Pharynx, nodding in understanding. “Oooh, this is what you’re supposed to do? Got it!” She stomped over to Ocellus, easily towering over the meek changeling. “Listen up, bug! You better be good to Smolder or else I’ll set you on fire! Then I’ll … jump up and down on you and set you on fire again!”

Ocellus turned completely white in a way that had nothing to do with her changeling abilities. Pharynx snarled at Ember, “Don’t you talk that way to Ocellus!”

“You talked like that to Smolder!” Ember snarled back.

“Because Ocellus is the soft one!” Pharynx groaned in exasperation. “You only threaten the tough one of the couple since they’re the one likely to hurt the other! Ocellus is the weaker one!”

“HEY!” Smolder drew their attention back to her as she flew up, poking Pharynx in the snout with an outstretched claw. “I might be tough, but Ocellus isn’t weak! You can threaten me all you want, but if you talk about her like that again I’m gonna turn you into a bug-kebob!”

Pharynx blinked in stunned surprise while Twilight started tugging at her own mane. Ocellus joined Smolder in confronting him as well. “And Smolder would never hurt me! If you threaten her like that again, I’ll—I’ll—” she changed into her beige dragon form, snorting smoke and flames. “—I’ll turn your carapace into our new study desk!” Then she looked over at Ember. “And I want you to know that I would never, ever hurt Smolder. But not because I’m scared of you or because of what you said, but because I love her and would rather anything happen to me than to her. S-So um, yeah. That’s … that’s what I wanted to say.”

Dead silence reigned as everycreature present regarded Ocellus with shock. It was finally broken by Ember applauding. “I knew I liked this one for a reason. Good pick, Smolder!”

Ocellus clasped her claws over her snout before turning back to her normal form and back away until she was pressed up against Smolder again. “Sorrysorrysorry!”

“Don’t be.” Everycreature’s focus was suddenly riveted on Pharynx. He rubbed at his eyes and let out an audible sniff. When he pulled his hoof away, there was moisture in his eyes that had nothing to do with the smoke. “Way to go, Ocellus! I’m so proud of you!” Then he hugged her.

Thorax’s jaw hung open. “A-are you hugging somebug?!”

Twilight threw up her hooves, still face down on her desk. “I am so lost.”

“Have you tried Mare Krishna?” Starlight feebly offered.

Pharynx snorted and released the very confused Ocellus. “I know how tough and possessive dragons are. I wanted to make sure Ocellus wouldn’t be too nervous to speak up for herself, especially when it meant standing up to somecreature she cared about.” He pointed at Smolder. “But if Ocellus can stand up to the Dragon Lord and me, then there’s no way she’d ever let herself get intimidated by small, pudgy and orange here.”

“Hey! Who’re you calling pudgy?!” Smolder exclaimed, smoke trickling from her nostrils. 

Pharynx continued on as if she hadn’t said anything. “—and Smolder here,” he dipped his head, finally acknowledging her by name, “is clearly tough enough to take care of anything Ocellus can’t. So as long as they’re safe and happy, I’m fine with them being together. I just don’t particularly want to hear about the details.”

“Oh.” Smolder blinked, so confused by this turn that she forgot to be mad. “Uh, so cool? I think we’re just gonna go back to our room now. So … yeah. Bye.” She grabbed and Ocellus and the two made a swift beeline for the door and were out before anycreature had a chance to say anything else.

“Well,” Cadance clapped her hooves once they had gone. “On that note: I think we should all adjourn for the day. We can start the summit tomorrow.”

Twilight moaned. “Fiiine. Thank you all for coming. Please close the door behind you and turn off the lights. If anycreature needs me, I’ll be in here. Alone.”

“Suit yourself.” Ember began tugging on Thorax’s antler and leading him out the door. “Come on. We can go talk about dragon-changeling relations some more.”

Thorax let out a nervous sounding “Gurp!” that could’ve been agreement.

“I’m going to stop by Trixie.” Starlight shook her head. “I need to, well, we need to, uh … bye!” She teleported herself away quickly.

Cadance stopped by the door as Pharynx walked past her. “I would like to talk to you about this marriage-alliance idea.”

“Certainly, I just need one last moment with Twilight, please.” Cadance beamed, ignoring Twilight’s groan. Once Pharynx was gone, Cadance cleared her throat. “I thought it best that we start the summit tomorrow afternoon.”

“Why?” Twilight asked. “I still have a perfectly good day schedule that I don’t want to go to waste.”

“Well, it’s just that I thought you might need the morning to sleep in a little.”

Twilight sighed. “It is tempting to sleep in tomorrow … today has been a long day for me.”

Cadance fidgeted uncomfortably. “I’m afraid it’s not quite over yet. I have to go but I just thought somepony should remind you—” she took a deep breath, letting it all out in a rush “—thatsinceSpikeoverheardeverythingyoushouldreallygivehimTheTalknowsorrygottarun!” She quickly shut the door and made good her escape while Twilight look a moment to process what she just said. Cadance had just made it down the hall when she heard the rattling of windows and spotted smoke billowing out from underneath the door of Twilight’s office.

“WHAT?!”







Smolder and Ocellus strode in silence back to their room. Luckily the hallway was empty, everycreature else either in class or otherwise occupied. The quiet soon became too much and Ocellus spoke up. “Smolder?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I double-check something with you?”

“Go for it.”

“...the entire school heard me shout that the two of us have had sex.”

“Yep.”

“So did the leaders of Equestria and our own homes…”

“Bingo.”

“Then we just got pulled in for a talk with our leaders who almost started a major diplomatic incident over it...”

“I was there.”

“And now we’re going to have to take a sex-ed class with our friends and they’ll know it’s our fault.”

“You got it.”

“...today has been terrible, hasn’t it?”

“Oh yeah. Big time.” She stopped short when she heard Ocellus let out a whimper. “Hey, come on.” She offered Ocellus a hug, which she eagerly accepted. “Look, so today really sucked and was totally embarrassing. I wouldn’t change what happened last night for anything. The way I see it, we got plenty of other days to make really awesome.”

Ocellus sighed, nuzzling her. “You’re right. It’s just … won’t our friends be upset? I did yell at them and then everything else happened…”

“Our friends will be there for us no matter what.” Smolder asserted confidently. “Remember your book? Chapter … heck, that’s the lesson of almost every chapter and section, which just goes to show that I’m right, okay?”

“I-I guess.” Ocellus scuffed her hoof against the carpet. “But they’re still gonna make fun of us, forever won’t they? Chapter six, lesson seven.”

Smolder rolled her eyes and snorted. “Whatever. Look, unlike somecreatures, our friends aren’t buttheads. They know better than to pick at something that’s still raw. And if they don’t…” She gave Ocellus a hip-bump and a knowing grin.

“You can always set them on fire?”

“Exactly.”

As they passed one particular door Smolder stopped short with a sigh. “Hold on a second. I should probably tell Sandbar and Gallus what happened—especially since it means more classes.” Wanting to just get the conversation over with—and dragons not being the most observant followers of manners, Rarity’s classes notwithstanding—she just pushed open the door. 

Less than five seconds later, she wished she hadn’t. So did Ocellus. But not nearly as much as Gallus … and Silverstream. 

“Uh, whoops?”

“GET OUT!!!”


THE END