It had been a few days since Gallus said goodbye to Sandbar and Yona, as the pair went with their families to enjoy Hearth’s Warming Day together. In fact, it had been a few days since Ponyville finished celebrating the holidays and enjoyed their free time out in the snow.
Gallus saw decorations still hanging on buildings when he made his flight around the town, part of his morning workout routine, but he spent most of his time at the house. He’d stretch, make food in the kitchen, and although he avoided going into his friend’s bedrooms, they did have bookshelves to browse.
The two had a small selection of books to read, and it was easy to tell which was which. Ocellus’ books usually had a theme around magic and past pony figures, mostly in line with what she was teaching at the school of friendship, including a Collected Works of Starswirl the Bearded.
Silverstream on the other claw, her collection was more random. He saw a plumbing book next to a book on sheep, painting next to cooking, puppetry next to flags. Ever since the first day of school, Silverstream had a tendency to get excited at new things on the surface, having spent most of her childhood under the ocean as a seapony, so it made sense why she would buy random books, although none of it really grabbed Gallus’ attention.
Almost on curious instinct, he picked up the Starswirl book and skimmed through to the chapter on Flash Magnus to find the story that General Patton talked about. Sure enough, there was little mention of Blackbeak apart from him being an arrogant griffon who didn’t want anypony’s help. He also noticed how it ended, “For their actions brought the two kingdoms closer together and began a trend of young griffons and pegasi attending flight school together.” A satisfying end, yet Gallus felt off about how what Patton described as an alliance had been downgraded to just kids in flight school.
Suddenly, his ears perked up, as the sound of rattling travels through the house. Upon hearing the door open, he quickly placed the book back on the shelf and slowly made his way to the living room to investigate. With no bang or breaking to suggest a forced entry, whoever made their way in had a key, narrowing down the potential suspects, but Gallus held his breath.
As he carefully reached the living room, he saw the entrant. Pale blue chitin with a transparent pink fin-line mane that flowed, a hard-shelled amaranth elytron that hid her wings, it was no pony, it was a familiar-looking changeling. As the changeling caught sight of the griffon with her cyan bug eyes, she felt no surprise and yet still beamed.
“Hi Gallus!”
“Ocellus!” Gallus responded in surprise, before being caught in a quick hug that bound his arms to his sides. He remained stunned, despite the joyful reunion, which Ocellus was quick to notice.
“It’s good to see you too?” she remarked as she furrowed her brow. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
Gallus twitched and shook his head, snapping out of his stunned trance. “Oh, sorry. I’m just surprised to see you so soon after the holidays.” His response was shaky and apologetic but carried with a plastered smile.
Ocellus returned with a warm and understanding smile. “Well, I was having a great time with my family, but I told them that I should take time to catch up with my friend from the Royal Guard Academy.” As she explained, she prodded Gallus’ chest to give a clear indication of who she was talking about. As grateful as he was that Ocellus made the effort to return to see him, there was one more thing about the reunion that was a surprise to him.
“That’s great, but I thought Smolder would be with you,” he remarked, noting the lack of an orange dragon that had left with her and usually remained by her side. “Didn’t you two go to the Changeling Hive together?” he questioned.
Upon finally loosening her grip, Ocellus’ smile had faded. “Yeah, well, Smolder’s currently in the Dragon Lands, spending time with her family” she answered, one of her hooves rubbing her arm in discomfort as she stared down at the floor. “We thought it’d be best if she went on her own.” Her hesitating movements were quickly recognised by Gallus, she quickly realized, snapping to a straightened smile and changing the subject.
“Well, you’ve kept the place tidy,” she remarked as she surveyed the living room, the neatness and lack of clutter on the tables and chairs were a relief, as well as the cleanliness of the ornaments, carpet, paintings, and windows. Although the relief turned to confusion when she looked at the sofa that had been unfolded into a bed. “Where have you been sleeping?”
“On the sofa bed,” Gallus causally responded, as he pointed towards the exact furniture he had been resting on for the last few days.
“Are you sure?” Ocellus asked, switching glances repeatedly between Gallus and the sofa bed. The covers and pillows of the bed looked freshly ironed, with no creases or ruffles at all, as well as tightly folded into the mattress. Its immaculate condition appeared as if Gallus never slept in it once. “It looks like the sheets haven’t moved since we left the house.”
Gallus snickered, “Guess I’ve built up a habit from the Academy,” he rationalised non-clamantly with a smirk. “Can’t let the Sarge know my bed making skills are rusty, y’know.”
“I wonder how Sandbar would react to this…” Ocellus pondered under her breath in continued bug-eyed disbelief. “Well then, what else do you learn apart from bed-making?” she asked, changing the subject again to get her mind off his sudden change in tidiness.
“In the Academy? Combat, camping, history, war studies…” he listed through, “I thought you’d already know from the letters I’ve been writing.”
“Oh yeah, Silverstream has been showing off the letters you’ve written to her, but I wanna know some specifics.” She started to rub her hooves together in an eager fashion, “They have a library, right? How big is it?”
Gallus drew a grin, unsurprised by his bookbug friend’s question about the library. “Oh yeah, it’s huge,” he answered, stretching out his arms as wide as they could go and elongating his words to emphasise, “as big as the one in the School of Friendship. Guess I’ll be using the library more often in the second and last terms…” Ocellus’ grin grew wide as her elytra opened and her transparent pink wings began to buzz.
“Oooh I’m jealous, so many books to read~” she almost salivated at the thought of being surrounded by leatherbound and paperback books, her daydreaming quickly cut short when she realised Gallus was still in the room with his sardonic smirk. “But of course, in the guard, you get involved in a lot of action too” she nervously added, trying to avoid showing her rosy cheeks. “Have you made many new friends there?”
“Yeah, I’ve made a few” he calmly acknowledged. “One of them is the reason why I didn’t turn up earlier to see you.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Ocellus beamed. “I bet a lot of ponies must like you.”
“Yeah…” Gallus’ ears drooped, “a few.”
“What do you mean?” the concerned Ocellus pressed further.
“Well, I get along with the cadets in my platoon well enough, and maybe a few others, but…” Gallus started to wrap his arms around himself and look down to the carpet. “Most of the time I get ponies looking at me weird, some see me as being snarky, and others making bird jokes because I’m a griffon.” He glanced up to see a melancholic Ocellus looking back at him, the sight made him hesitant at the thought that he’d said too much. “It’s not that bad,” he shakily reassured her, although Ocellus’ fixed expression indicated how unconvincing it was. “I guess it’s hard to understand…”
“Gallus, I’m a changeling.” Ocellus reminded Gallus, pressing a hoof to her own chest.
“Yeah, I know that” he quickly replied, rubbing the back of his head. “I just don’t get why- “
Ocellus cut him off. “No, I’m not sure you do.” Gallus noticed her brows draw together as if she was suddenly annoyed with him. “Ponies have known about griffons for centuries, but I was still a youngling when ponies first encountered changelings, as evil creatures ruled by an evil Queen wanting to take over Equestria. Queen Chrysalis might be long gone, and King Thorax has made all the changelings good, but that doesn’t mean all ponies like us now.
I can’t even read an Etymology book without worrying about how it describes us, and I love reading and learning, that was why King Thorax chose me to go to the School of Friendship. The first time I saw ponies were in Appleloosa on my way to the school, all those ponies staring at me as if asking ‘Why are you here? What evil plan do you have?’
She took a few steps back, the distance made it easier to see that there was a mixture of sadness and rage in her eyes. “It felt easier just to change into a pony myself,” and suddenly a bright blue flare engulfed her, leaving in place a bright yellow pony with a green mane, “so that none of them would look at me like that, but… King Thorax told me I shouldn’t.” The bright blue flare engulfed her again, restoring Ocellus back to her changeling form.
“It was one of his rules, he made a list of rules for changelings to live by when outside the hive. Rule Number 1: Stay in your own form, it’s the polite thing to do, it’s bad to pretend to be something else even to make others happy. So yeah, looking at you weird, thinking about what’s negative of your kind, certain jokes… I can easily understand that.”
Gallus stood motionless in silence, Ocellus’ experiences made it dawn on him that through all the issues he had felt, he wouldn’t have been the only one. It made sense that Ocellus, his friend from a species that was once charred and vicious, would continue to feel antagonised despite being reformed with their former Queen encased in a stone statue, yet it baffled Gallus as to why it didn’t occur to him before.
He should have known, although neither Chancellor Neighsay nor Cozy Glow at the School of Friendship directed their bigotry towards him specifically, it was towards him and his friends, how they saw their kind as disadvantaged and bad for the school. As he finally opened his beak, Gallus could only give the only reason he could think of for why he blundered.
“I’m sorry… you know, the School of Friendship was the only time I’d been around ponies. I thought those like Chancellor Neighsay and Cosy Glow were outliers, most of them were like the ones here in Ponyville.”
“You’re not the only one that wishes they were” she quietly acknowledged with a small smile, “but that’s why I want to teach here, so more ponies can become friendlier by showing how good changelings really are.”
“I’m sure you’re doing great…” Gallus tried to compliment, truly understanding why Ocellus was working at the school. As enlightening as it was to be a little open about their problems, Gallus couldn’t help but feel bad. “Well would you look at that, you’ve come all the way back here to see me and here I am being a down-”
Once again, Gallus was cut off mid-sentence, but this time not because of anger or upset. This time, Gallus was wrapped around by the pale-blue changeling in a warm embrace. “Rule Number 2:” Ocellus said in a calm and friendly voice, “Never be afraid to share your feelings.”
There was something special about receiving a hug from a changeling that Gallus knew, changelings share love. While love is a need for subsistence for them, it was comforting for others to receive it. Gallus felt content from being hugged by another one of his true caring friends.
As much as he wanted to stay longer, Gallus made his way to the train station. He was off back to Canterlot to meet with the ponies of the Rockwall and Mountaineering Club, off for an expedition in the mountains somewhere. He had his bag and a ticket in his claw, all he needed to wait for was the train to arrive at the platform.
He was satisfied, all things considered, as he got to spend time with three of his friends. He just had to accept that he’d have to wait a few more days to see the other two. At least that’s what he thought…
“Sup, pigeon.”
He recognised the tomboyish tone instantly, he turned to see an orange dragon standing firm with her arms crossed, glowering towards him with a head lowered making her orchid spines highly present, and her cyan eyes fixed and ready to burn a hole into the griffon. This dragon wasn’t happy to see Gallus, and he took notice. “Smolder! G-good to see you!” he exclaimed nervously.
“Thought you could avoid seeing me again?” she asked judgmentally without skipping a beat.
“Hey, look, I’m sorry I didn’t see you before you left, I was roped into a friend’s Hearth’s Warming get together” he tried to explain in a hasty defence, “but you can’t blame me for leaving for an expedition that was planned if you only returned today.”
The dragon quickly placed her claws on his shoulder, “Gallus. Dude, relax, I’m over it,” Smolder responded calmly and understandingly, yet still took an opportunity to dig a fist into the shoulder as a small payback. Her punch was hard enough to feel sore, although Gallus was more relieved didn’t receive a burn or scar.
After smirking at the dig, she returned her claws to her hips, curious about Gallus’ story. “So, you spent your holidays with a friend?” she asked.
“Yeah, one of my friends from the academy in Cloudsdale, it was nice for the most part, big family, lots of food, couple of stories. Day after that, I saw Sandbar and Yona and had lunch with them before they left to spend the holidays.” Smolder’s response was the hum of approval and intrigue. However, unlike his other friends, she thought the story was too good to be true.
“What about you?” Gallus followed, it felt only fair to find out what Smolder was doing. “Ocellus said you spent time with your family in the dragon lands.”
“Oh yeah, it was great” she answered with a smile. “Garble’s still a loveable goof busy with his beat poetry, he said he was looking into joining an art school in Equestria, and mom…” her eyes started to wander away from Gallus, as she suddenly struggled to find the right words. “Well, we enjoyed the stories together at the Feast of Fire, at least then we wouldn’t have to talk…”
Noticing her voice trailing off, Gallus raised an eyebrow. “Talk? About what?” he queried.
“Ocellus and I…” she uttered, before taking a deep breath. “When both of our parents found out we were dating, they took it well… in different ways,” she began to explain. “Ocellus’ family were overjoyed, ‘happy that our sweet daughter has another creature to share her love with’.” She proceeded to hold her claws intertwined pressed against her cheek as she gave a prim impression of one of Ocellus’ changeling doting parents.
“Apparently, they also love to gossip about Dragon Lord Ember and King Thorax as if they are secretly a couple," she added, and then took notice of Gallus as he raised a curious eyebrow, causing her to agitate. "I’m fairly certain that they’re just friends and Ember’d turn you into ash if suggested otherwise, but it explains a lot about changelings and how comfortable they are around a female dragon like me.”
As Smolder went into her gossip, Gallus had his arms folded and kept his focus. “Uh-huh…” he responded as he slowly nodded his head.
“My mom though, she… wasn’t excited by the news.” Her reluctant tone didn’t give much hope to indicate her mother’s reaction was as happy as with the changelings.
“Was it because you were dating a changeling or a girl?”
Smolder shrugged her shoulders. “Wasn’t sure until this winter. Thought it’d be a great idea for both of us to visit the Hive for the Changeling Hearth’s Warming, then the Dragon Lands for the Feast of Fire,” she answered, a reasonable plan given that Gallus’ note stated they went off together. As Smolder continued, she began to grasp her arms and tighten, “Mom though had some demands. First, she said Ocellus could only stay in the Dragon Lands if she stayed in a dragon form.”
“So, make Ocellus pretend to be a dragon to make her happy.” Gallus guessed.
“Exactly, and second, we couldn’t sit ‘too close’ to each other at the Feast of Fire, to avoid ‘embarrassing’ her in front of the other elder dragons,” she added, her frustration grew as she began curling her claws into air quotes, smoke even started to emerge from her nostrils.
“And that’s why you went on your own…”
Smolder’s frustration slowly eased, “I told Ocellus about it before we went to the hive,” she said with a gravelly voice. “I wasn’t gonna make her go where she couldn’t be herself, so we agreed that she stay behind.”
Gallus felt his heart sink, he could imagine how bad it would have felt for Smolder, having to leave her girlfriend behind during the holidays. Not to mention for Ocellus being sad when he asked her the day before, the sadness of not being made welcome.
“Well, that sucks…”
“Yup…”
The two were left in silence, Gallus unsure of how to comfort Smolder in this situation. Like himself, Smolder wasn’t the openly sensitive and sentimental type in contrast with his friends. “So, what are you gonna do?” he cautiously asked. He tried to elaborate when Smolder looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, you don’t wanna do that again next winter, right?”
Smolder went silent and thought hard about her options, her eyes shifted from side to side as she imagined two choices on the ground. “I don’t know. It’s rough between me and my mom right now, but the Dragon Lands is my home where I can see my brother, our friends, Ember, and Spike, and I can be myself. Ocellus’ family and the changelings are nice but, I kinda feel like an outsider, you know?”
Given the last few months at the academy, Gallus gave a subtle nod in agreement. “I can imagine… at least they like you being around, right?” he tried to reason, reminding Smolder with gestures of how accepting the changelings were to her. “Same with the ponies here.”
As reassuring as he was, Smolder breathed a sigh heavy enough for smoke to emerge from her mouth. “Yeah, but dragons like Spike and myself are cute and harmless only at this size,” she gestured her claws up and down her body. Smolder had grown a bit since they first became friends, but Gallus could still look at her face to face without tilting his head back. Smolder’s next statement was bleak. “We’re not gonna be like this forever. I’d be lucky if I have to wait a few centuries, but more likely within a few decades they’ll all find me scary and intimidating, or at least too big, to stay around.”
Although he couldn’t help but agree as he imagined a twenty-foot Smolder standing in the hive as changelings fled from her, he could also imagine Ocellus at least staying by her, he asserted internally that he would, their other friends would. He could also imagine some other creature who’d stand by her. “You never know… Spike is Princess Twilight’s Royal Advisor, right? They can back you up, same with our friends.”
“Sure, over a millennium of dragons being the most feared creatures of Equestria will just magically be forgotten…” she remarked as she sarcastically rolled her eyes. “I mean, how do ponies at the Royal Guard Academy see you?”
Her question stumbled Gallus, he had already admitted to Ocellus an inkling of what he deals with at the academy, he was reluctant to go into any more admissions. Yet she had a good point, Gallus being a griffon in the academy hasn’t changed every pony’s mind. “A mixed bag,” he muttered as he folded his arms tight around his body.
He couldn’t hide it, and Smolder knew it. “That’s what I thought,” she remarked with a smirk.
“Hey! There you two are!” a cheery voice caught their attention. Ocellus gleefully buzzed towards them, and finally stopped to wrap her arms and pressed her nose into Smolder’s cheek. “Glad to see I didn’t miss the reunion” she cheekily remarked.
“I can tell you did miss something though, right ‘Cell?” Smolder flirtatiously remarked, before sneaking in a kiss on the lips.
The third wheel rolled his eyes, “No wonder why Sandbar and Yona are your rivals in being couples…” Gallus sardonically remarked.
“You’d do the same if Silverstream gets on with asking you…”
“What?”
“Gallus!” Ocellus suddenly exclaimed. “It was great seeing you these last few days!” She then jumped into hugging Gallus, leaving the griffon confused as Smolder was left to groan and pout.
“Uh… yeah, great seeing you too.”
“Hope you have a good time at that mountain climbing expedition.”
“Wait, you’re climbing mountains?” Smolder asked as she tilted her head, the first time she heard the specifics of this expedition. “You know you have wings, right?”
“Yeah, but my sarge says the enemy won’t care if your wing is broken, so I have to work on my body strength somehow.”
Smolder took a moment to extend her wings to make sense of it, dragon wings are generally stronger than features and impervious to fire, so the likelihood of wings being broken wasn’t something for her to consider. “Guess ponies need to think of everything…” she uttered to herself.
The trio then heard a loud puff of steam and the screeching from the railway tracks, the sound muffled by the walls of the station. Gallus’s train had arrived. “Well, have fun climbing mountains wherever, just don’t forget about us. Us creatures should stick together.”
Gallus smirked before he clenched his claws to give Smolder a light bump on the arm. “Yeah, we will.” He then made his way into the train station, ready to hand over his ticket to get on board. Leaving Ponyville once more, the next stop was Canterlot.