//------------------------------// // What to do? // Story: Coral Comes to Play // by Hammerhead //------------------------------// The bell rang, and all the students in Professor Applejack’s classroom had just left for their next lesson. Gallus was flying just above his friends as they made their way through the hallway, as they all talked about Pinkie Pie’s laughter class. “Oh, I hope it’ll be fun” proclaimed Silverstream, “I love that about Professor Pinkie’s classes!” “I’m just hoping that Professor Pinkie doesn’t fire her party cannon in my face like last time,” remarked Gallus. Sandbar chuckled, “Yeah, I was finding bits of confetti in our dorm room for days.” “Yona thought last Pink Pony Lesson was a blast!” Yona absently chimed in and was confused when everyone turned to look at her. As they reached the main hall, it occurred to Gallus that he was missing something, noticing his empty claws while the rest of the groups had either a hoof or a hand holding onto something. Then it hit him… “Ugh, darn Grover. I left my notebook in Professor Applejack’s classroom, you all go on ahead, I’ll catch up!” Gallus quickly flew in the opposite direction, all the way back to the classroom where, fortunately, the notebook was resting on the workshop bench with the Professor herself resting her hoof on it. Applejack seemed to appreciate the honesty when Gallus admitted that he forgot about it at the end of class. By the time he got back into the main hall, it was virtually empty, no pony in sight aside any painting or busts of famous pony figures. He figured lessons were just starting, and everyone was already inside, so he needed to get a move on. In his mind, the sooner he got to class, the less he would have to deal with being late, and the less he would need to catch up during lunch. “Birdie?” Suddenly he was reminded that lunchtime also meant more time with Sandbar’s “cute” little sister. He initially felt peeved at the thought, but after a moment he sighed, pressed on his beak, and turned to be peeved at himself. Perhaps he was being a little too harsh when he refused to play along with the little filly and the others, especially over something as minor as a nickname from a two-year-old or whatever. He could only admit to himself that he probably should make it up to Sandbar at least and try to be nicer, it’s not like he should be mad at anyone who’s family was willing to travel all the way to the school to see him, even if he didn’t… “Birdie!” Gallus’ mind hit back on the name again, groaning quietly to himself. He tried to remind himself to let it go, arguing internally that Silverstream and Ocellus were happy to be called “Fishy” and “Love Bug”, and even Smolder didn’t seem to take “Draggo” personally, but the other part of him was arguing back that Griffons still hold what little pride they had left. In his mind, he’s not just a bird, and not a cute little one either, he was part-eagle and part-lion. At the very least, he felt like even some little filly shouldn’t call him something he doesn’t like. “Gree…fo?” That was when he stopped, he could hear a voice in the main hall, but no creature was around. “Is someone calling me?” he asked as his vision panned across the room, that was when he heard someone or something sniffling from near one of the pillars. The sound compelled him against his main priority to see what it was, so he investigated around the pillars themselves. Sure enough, he found the source, Sandbar’s little sister was hiding behind the bust of Rockhoof, huddled in between it and the stone pillar with visible tears coming out of her face. “Coral, right? What are you doing out here?” he calmly asked, “Shouldn’t you be in the Student Guidance Counsellor’s Office?” Coral sniffled some more. “I was following fishies. Then found strange ponies all-round…” she answered with a tremble in her voice. “Thought I saw big bro, but big bro no see me…” From what Gallus could gather, Coral wondered out of the Student Guidance office while somehow following fishes, getting lost and scared in the crowd of students. He knew he should do the responsible thing and take her to a staff member, but his mind was reminding him that he should be getting back to class. “Well, Sandbar is in Professor Pinkie’s classroom by now, and I need to head to class too so…” Gallus looked into the little filly’s soaking and glistening eyes and could feel his heart starting to fight back against his mind. “…I’ll find someone who can take you back to the Guidance Counsellor, so stay put.” He started making his way towards one of the corridors but was suddenly stopped by the feeling of his tail being tugged on, confirmed when he turned around to see Coral hugging onto the end of it. To which she asked, “Can Cowal go with you?” Part of him could imagine that if any other griffon were in this scenario, they would be quick to push Coral off and say no, but he could feel something in his chest preventing him from trying. He tried his best to shake it off, “Look, I’m already late for class, can you just let…” Another look at Coral’s sniffling face, the sadness, and fear of being left alone was taking him back to early days on Griffonstone, wandering the streets alone and not having any griffon to go to for help. He didn’t realise what was building up inside him was empathy until that very moment, and in the battle between his heart and his mind, his heart had won. He sighed, picked up Coral, and placed her on his back. “You owe me one, Sandbar” he murmured to himself. He had made a new plan, enter Pinkie Pie’s class, apologise for being late, get Sandbar to help with Coral. Simple plan, but the first thing is to get to the classroom as soon as possible, and it was going to take him too long to go through the school building. Luckily, he knew of a shortcut that Smolder and he would take in scenarios that caused them to fall behind. He just needed to open a window from the corridor and fly down to the window just outside the classroom. He jumped up and perched from the windowsill and opened his wings, Coral looked out at the open window and hooked her hooves around Gallus’ neck as tight as she could. Gallus then jumped off the windowsill and started flapping. Coral was already amazed at being in the air, but after Gallus closed the window from the outside, she would really begin to experience flight as he started to dive towards the lower floor. The little filly yelled “Wheee!” as Gallus swooped down, enough indication that her mood swung up. The griffon slowed down to a stop as the two were close enough to look through the window of Professor Pinkie Pie’s Laughter classroom, able to make out his friends at their seats. All Gallus needed to do was to find the nearest window outside the classroom and make his way through the door, unfortunately, Coral seemed to have other plans. “More! Griffo Fly More!” she demanded as she pulled on Gallus’ neck away from the classroom and towards an open lake, the same one that Gallus remembered hanging out with when he skipped class with his friends during their first week of school. Not sure why the sudden change in mood, he resisted by moving towards the school. “You know, we’re really close to the classroom and you want to see Sandb-ACK!?” Coral didn’t seem to listen, pulling on Gallus’ head with enough force that it was causing him to lean back and move backwards. As a result, Gallus quickly reoriented himself and started flying towards the lake. “Sandbar, you REALLY owe me one now” he murmured to himself. The flight around the lake started slow and easy enough, with Coral sat upright calling out directions, unable to see Gallus’ jaded expression as he followed along. That was until Coral started calling to go faster, seeming to enjoy the speed, that was when Gallus was starting to enjoy the moment too. With a determined smile on his face, he wanted to see how thrilling he can go with a creature on his back. “Hey Coral, you might want to hang on!” Coral wasn’t sure what was going on at first, but once Gallus started gaining altitude, she quickly hooked her hooved around Gallus’ neck again. By the time Gallus stopped ascending, both could see the entire lake without moving their heads, it was not too long before Gallus turned around, and leant forwards. With his claws held around Coral’s hooves and wings bunched together, there was anticipation for Gallus to dive headfirst into the water, but when his wings extended out as far as they could go, the two were whooshed back up, creating a small wave in the lake as they passed. From that point on, it went from a flight to a rollercoaster ride. Gallus leant back for the first loop as Coral cheered onwards, and followed with winding turn after winding turn, and corkscrew after corkscrew. “Having fun back there?” he asked, not that he needed an answer, Coral’s cheering provided that. As Gallus started to rise up and swoop back down again to prepare for another loop, he noticed in his vision and orange blur. As he got closer and closer, it started appearing clearer and clearer, the orange blur could now be seen with a purple mane, wings… His heart momentarily stopped, and he quickly moved upright and flapped his wings against his velocity to try and slow down. He managed to grind himself to a halt just metres in front of a familiar orange dragon. “Having fun, are we?” Smolder asked with a pierced glare, arms resting firmly on her hips. Beads of sweat started dripping down Gallus’ head, “Smolder! Uh… what are you doing here?” “I should be asking you that question!” she snapped back, “I WAS in Professor Pinkie’s class wondering what was taking you so long, only to find YOU flying past the window! I managed to convince the Professor that I needed to go to the bathroom so I could figure out what you were up to, so care to explain?” Before Gallus could give an answer, the small filly hiding behind Gallus gave the answer for him. “Griffo, why you stop?” She climbed up Gallus’s back and peeked over his shoulder, Smolder mouth went agape and eyes grew wide at the site of the tiny head of a filly poking into view. “Draggo!” Coral exclaimed, waving her front hooves in her direction as she balanced herself on Gallus’ shoulders. “Is… is that… Sandbar’s sister?” asked Smolder, trying to compose herself. Gallus nodded, he explained the situation leading up to that point, including how he found her hiding and upset, tried to get help but was led to taking her along to class and used the shortcut but was pulled along to the lake. Smolder seemed to understand the story but didn’t seem to buy the decision he made to spend time with Coral, knowing how he acted at breaktime. “Well, I’m sure there are ponies in the school looking for us, so SHE needs to be taken back to the Guidance Counsellor and YOU need to head back to class.” Gallus raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Since when did you care about us missing classes?” he remarked. “Oh, I don’t know? NOW?” she snapped back. Gallus rolled his eyes and groaned as he lifted Coral off her shoulders and held her towards Smolder as they all remained flying above the lake, “Fine, how about you take Coral then?” That was when Smolder started to appear agitated again, inching backwards. “Uh… why?” Confused by the sudden change in behaviour, Gallus decided to inch closer. “Because I need to head back to class as soon as possible, and as far as the class is concerned, you’re still in the bathroom, so you take the little pony.” Smolder inched back a bit further, “Um… no, I’m good, you seem to have a handle on her…” “Come on! She’s not gonna hurt you.” Gallus noticed Coral eagerly reaching out to Smolder, wanting to be held by the dragon who remained unusually uncomfortable at the idea. “See, Coral here thinks it’s a good idea too.” He inched further, to the point where Coral was arm’s length from Smolder. Smolder, on the other hand, remained resistant as she folded her arms and shifted her body away from Gallus and Coral, “…I don’t want to.” That was when Gallus decided to take a risk, “Then catch her.” Gallus then hoisted Coral towards Smolder, who upon witnessing the filly in mid-air rushed her into a panic, catching Coral and holding her close to the dragon's chest. “GALLUS!” she yelled, while Coral giggled at what she assumed was a fun game. “I knew you could hold her” he confidently remarked. “That’s not funny, you idiot! She’s not even ours, what if I didn’t catch her?” her anger in full display with smoke pouring out of her jaw and nose. “Then I would have made a mistake” replied Gallus, trying to hide the relief that his risk somewhat paid off. “What’s your deal anyway?” he asked, much to her frustration. “I had my issues, but you, getting all nervous over playtime and hugs? Not like you to be scared of little kids.” That’s when Smolder had enough, “I’m NOT scared of little kids! I’m just… not good with them…” she paused and sighed. “In the Dragon Lands, I only hung out with my mom, my brother, and his friends, all of them older than me” she explained, having calmed enough that the smoke had cleared away. “The last time I tried hanging around anyone younger than me was the last hatching season, I had volunteered to help with the newly hatched dragons, and all the ones I carried would start crying the moment I got near.” She started feeling down the more she had to explain herself. “It… kinda put me off being around dragons younger than me, so could you blame me for trying to avoid being near a younger pony?” As the two remained flying above the lake, Gallus couldn’t help but noticed that Coral was rather quiet, turning to look at him as if to ask why Smolder was feeling down all of a sudden. “Not really, I’m... an only griffon, so no brothers or sisters or…” he paused as he noticed both Smolder and Coral looking at him now with concerned looks, wondering if they were expecting him to reveal his own upbringing. Growing nervous at the thought of bringing up his own past, he quickly tried to change it back to the current topic, “Anyways, you are aware that Coral hasn’t cried at all since you started holding her, right?” Smolder looked down at Coral, almost forgetting she was right there. She couldn't fathom why Coral was so calm as she was being held in her arms, looking at upwards unafraid of her presence. “Perhaps that one time you were unlucky, and maybe you shouldn’t avoid giving it another shot?” he suggested. “I guess… I could…” she nervously answered as Coral looked up at her, hoping the dragon could join in the fun. That was when Smolder turned to Gallus “but how did you know what to do?” Gallus in returned just shrugged, “I just started doing what she wanted me to do.” Confused by the answer, Smolder looked down at the little filly, hoping for some sort of hint. Coral returned a smile, saying “Draggo fire!” in a raspy voice before blowing hard, spraying spit over Smolder in the process before giggling. After a moment though, Smolder smiled as she figured out what to do. She proceeded to lift Coral over her head and carry her on her back. “Hey Gallus, you might want to move…” The griffon raised an eyebrow at first, but his confident look transitioned into concern as Smolder’s eyes fixed on him with a sharp grin. He then transitioned to worried when she started breathing in heavily, before blowing hard. Fire spewed out blazing-fast towards him, causing him to shoot upwards in a panic. Gallus had just barely dodged a fireball, only singeing his tail, while Coral cheered on. “SMOLDER!” he yelled at her this time. “I knew you’d get out the way,” she remarked, smirking as she rubbed the nails on her claws with her chest. “Oh and what if I didn’t get out the way and got burned alive?!” he asked, with his beak right up in Smolder’s face. “Then I would have made a mistake” she answered in imitation of the griffon’s own voice. As much as it annoyed him, he could tell it was some good payback, so his anger was short-lived. “Oh, you’re gonna pay…” he called out as he started chasing Smolder, and in quick response, she started to flee. The pair raced each other around the lake, and Coral enjoying the sight as she held onto Smolder, cheering on Griffo to catch up. That was until they heard a bell ringing. Smolder and Gallus both stopped and looked towards the school. “Were we outside for the entire class?” The thought of the worst for them dawned on them the moment the bell ringing ceased. “We should probably go…”