Smolder swatted Comforting on the back. "Look at you!" The group was agog at what she had just done, Smolder positively. "Avoid the hay burgers. 100% not meat."
Gallus tossed his finished skewer onto a small pile of garbage. "Didn't think you had it in you. You aren't getting sick or anything, I hope?"
Comforting shrank a little at the attention. "About those stories?"
Yona clapped her hooves loudly. "Yes, stories. Yona prepare scary stories. Hope you are ready." She sat up and finished the rest of her skewer in an unstoppable bite. "Time for tale of yak that not perfect. Very not perfect. Yak that lose himself, but maybe find himself?" She began her tale eagerly of the troubled yak and their trials.
Comforting listened with a wagging tail and a smile. She wondered if Yona had pushed ahead so eagerly to draw attention away from Comforting's snack. If so, that was pretty nice. She made a note to thank her large senior later. "My turn." Gallus pointed at himself with both thumbs, ruining Smolder's inner thoughts for a moment. "My story comes from Griffonstone and a griffon that wandered out too late at night and the horrors that befell her. Listen, if you dare."
Gallus' story had a lot more blood in it than Yona's tale of growth and maturity. Comforting decided she'd rather hear about the Yak that could than the... not mare. Hen? The she-griffon that had all the bad luck and kept getting into more trouble that resulted in things getting hurt herself half the time.
Sandbar waved a hoof at Comforting. "I see you listening, but I'm really curious now. Do you have any stories to share?"
Silverstream inclined her head left and right in a sharp turn. "She's just a little filly. She'll find some scary stories, eventually."
Comforting felt a little called out. "My stories are all a bit odd."
Yona perked. "But you have them."
Ocellus burst into giggles. "Old in eyes." She was clearly imitating Yona's words. "Young in body. Of course she has stories."
Smolder crossed her arms. "And I want to hear them. Lay out your old eye stories." Her smirk implied she thought little of Comforting's theoretical stories.
Gallus shrugged. "Hey, you all need a break from griffon stories, so go ahead. Wow us." He raised his brows at Comforting. "Hit us with your worst."
Comforting took a long breath and began her tale. It was a human story, sure, but she didn't have to mention species. Human stories often didn't, unless it was important, which was usually not the case unless it was the antagonist.
Sandbar waved a hoof. "I would have tried saying hi." Yona, Ocellus, and Silverstream nodded in agreement with the idea. "Maybe it just needed a friend?"
Comforting smiled at her friends. Friendship school had taught them well. "Maybe." She would not argue against the idea of trying to be friends first. "But there are ponies that don't think of that first."
Smolder shrugged with palms up. "If I saw something like that, acting like that? Not sure 'hey how ya doing' would be the first thing coming out of my lips. Her mistake was running." She punched her fist against the other palm. "She should have fought!"
"And lost," laughed Gallus. "I know how those stories go, though hearing how she bought it instead of that mystery ending would have been nice. Ocellus, you're up!"
Ocellus pricked up, surprised at being called. "Oh! Um. I will play the parts." She hopped to her hooves and casually became a young mare. "I was walking through the woods..." Ocellus played each and every part. She became ominous trees and scary monsters. She was the frightened mare running away, but she was also the parents of that mare, offering succor after a rough time out. The changeling story had a happy ending.
Silverstream clapped merrily. "That was a great story! My turn!" Her tale was a little disjointed. She kept getting distracted by herself and her ideas. Silverstream had so many it was hard to keep her hands on one thread despite her best efforts. She clearly was trying, but she kept dashing right off her path with fresh stories, intruding with no warning. "And that's how he learned not to cross busy streets." The story had not started with any streets, but it had ended with one and that was good enough for Silverstream.
Sandbar let out a mighty eh. "That sure... was a story."
"A good one." Silverstream nodded with confidence. "Smolder, you want to go next?"
Comforting wagged a hoof wildly. "Wait, but what happened with the green duck?"
Smolder clapped her hands firmly, ignoring the plea for continued story time from the hippogriff. "Alright. Warning: dragon stories are direct." And she was not lying. Her tale covered the ascension of a new dragon lord in a few paragraphs. "But that's where the traditional story ends." She snapped her fingers, pointing at the group of them. "I wouldn't stop there. If I was the dragon lord, I'd have so much to fix up." She clapped her hands together firmly. "First, I'd hire the old lord to take care of the day to day so I could focus on the big stuff." And she merrily went on about how she would reshape dragon culture into a new thing.
Yona inclined her head slowly. "Wow. You think lots about this."
"Sure have." Smolder hiked a thumb. "Not that I think our current dragon lord is bad or anything. She's alright. But we could do more!" She threw a hand up. "We're dragons! Being epically cool is basically our thing."
They laughed, the conversation carrying onwards around Comforting. They talked about their future wants, which left Comforting in the dust. What was her future desire? She wanted to be a good little pony, certainly, but there had to be more than that. At least she figured there had to be.
An arm came down next to her. It belonged to a large yak. "Hey." With permission given with acknowledgment, Yona scooped Comforting closer. "You know, your eyes are pretty old."
Yona snickered at that. "Your eyes look young right now." She leaned in, large nose snuffling at Comforting. "Not know what want? Know so much, how not know that?" She saw Comforting shrinking and patted her gently. "Not ask to be rude, curious. Is alright if not have an answer."
Comforting sat up with tapping hooves. "I want to be the best little pony I can. I want to help others be their best." She smiled with uncertainty. "I'd help you, but you seem to have all of you handled."
Yona nodded at that. "Yona is proud and able." She thumped herself on the chest. "Which means Yona has time to listen. Young body, old eyes. Young body needs direction, but not sure? You will do what feels right. Yona is sure."
Ocellus crashed down on the other side of Comforting. "I don't know what I want to be either." She spread her hooves suddenly. “I'm a changeling! I have so many options!” Her hooves hit the ground. "Which feels like no options at all."
Comforting leaned towards her changeling friend. "I didn't know you felt as lost as me." She offered a hoof and a smile. "How about we explore together?"
Ocellus peered at the offered hoof a moment before she offered her hoof in return. "Alright, together. Curious club!"
"Curious club!" shouted out the other members of the curious club with other hooves and hands touching in contact with the point that they came together.
Smolder, who was not a member of that club, snorted a small puff of smoke upwards. "It seems to me that Comforting is pretty comfortable where they are." She shrugged in a brief gesture. "So why mess with that?"
Gallus patted the dragon on the shoulder. "You have a point there. She's pretty happy Comforting it up, whatever that is."
Comforting beamed with pride. "I'm trying! I just got worried a moment. What is good for a foal may not be good for an adult."
Sandbar snorted softly at that. "You say that." He kicked a little of dirt into the fire with no effect. "Nice adults that just care about you sound pretty nice to me."
Comforting scrambled to her hooves. "You take that back." All eyes turned on her and she tensed at all the attention, but stepped forward anyway. "I-I mean it." Why did all the other kids have to be so much larger than her? "You're full of good things, Sandbar. That's why you're here. That's why I'm here, because you brought me. Because you brought all my stuff... Because you cared, and I appreciate that."
Sandbar reached for Comforting. Despite her wince, he ruffled the top of her mane. "I would not leave you hanging. The others would have killed me."
Smolder shrugged at that. "Your time, your call. I wouldn't have."
Yona stuck out her tongue. "Yona very disappointed if Comforting not come if she wants to."
Ocellus bobbed her head. "I would have helped, but Sandbar actually did it." She clapped in front of herself. "Hurrah for Sandbar." That was enough to prompt to get most of them applauding with her for Sandbar's work to help the evening go well.
Silverstream grinned at their smallest. "You heard us talk about our wants. What are you working towards? I wanna hear!" Eyes turned on Comforting curiously. "Share!" She clapped as if she couldn't hide that excitement. "What you say next to the fire stays next to the fire, so we won't tell."
Was that a rule?! Comforting decided that it was silver the hippogriff made up quickly, but it was a nice thought. It helped that none of the others were arguing with the idea. "I'm helping Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They want to go to our school."
Smolder hiked a brow. "Who and who? Do I know them?"
Ocellus waved frantically. "I met them! They're the fillies a little older than you, right?"
Comforting laughed nervously. It was odd to think that the two were older than her if one looked the right way. "Them! They're a little bossy, but nice. They learned friendship lessons, and they want to learn more! I want to help them." She danced her hooves against one another. "So I'm gonna talk to Twilight and... hopefully..."
Yona rubbed behind her head. "They young filly from sound. Be careful. Twilight might make little filly class and put you there." She pointed at Comforting with the same hoof. "Then we not be in the same class."
Comforting paled at the idea of being separated from her friends. "She wouldn't! Um..." She danced in place. "But I want to help..."
Sandbar snorted softly. "Just means we have to make sure they're ready."
Gallus snapped his fingers. "Good idea. We'll hit them with a big test and see how well they do." He wagged a finger at Comforting. "You're already an exception. I mean, really, a foal still learning foal stuff while learning adult stuff? We don't need two of that."
Yona rose to her full height and started for her tent. "We do that. Now, sleep." She had clearly decided as she headed inside for a nap. Her motion was enough to get others considering the same idea. With goodnights and waves, Ocellus, Sandbar, and Silverstream were quick to enter the tents with the sound of zippers.
That left Gallus and Smolder with Comforting. Smolder was picking up what they left behind and making a bag of trash out of it. "Somecreature has to clean up."
Comforting bobbed her head as her horn snatched things to add to the bag. "Good idea. Let me help!"
Gallus watched the two work. "You got this." Maybe they did. Two creatures were enough to get it done, but he was not rushing to help. "Tomorrow we head back, alright? You stick with Sandbar since he's your foalsitter."