It’s Hearth's Warming Eve and Smolder and her friends just finished cleaning up the goo from Gallus’s trick. “Well that took longer than it should have,” Smolder blurted out as she was putting her broom back. “That was SOOOO much fun! Do you think you can make a mess every year, Gallus?” Silverstream shouted, flying over to Gallus.
“Uh, I don't think our professors would like that very much,” Gallus said, pushing the Hippogriff away.
“Awwwww”
“Why don't we go see if we can find Headmare Twilight. She did say we could eat dinner with her in the castle.” Ocellus said coming back from throwing the trash out. Smolder looked at her and nodded. “Yeah that could be fun. You know, now that I think about it, for a School of Friendship we never really became friends with the professors let alone Twilight”
“Huh I guess that is kinda strange but they probably just have a lot of stuff to do” Sandbar said looking at his dragon friend “I guess tonight will be a good chance to really talk to them and not just them but Discord too!”. Smolder gave Sandbar a sudden look after the mentioned name. “Silverstream gasped “You're telling me we get to become friends with our professors and Discord! This is gonna be the best night EVER!”
Gallus flew into the air above them and towards the door. “Yeah well if we want to have that chance then I suggest we start going. Wouldn’t be a great start if we keep them waiting you know.”. Smolder watched him exit then turned to the others “You guys go, I gotta go get something from my room I’ll be right behind you”. “Alright see you there” Ocellus said walking out with the others behind her.
When Smolder made it inside her dorm she stood there for a while staring at the necklace and earrings her one father had given her. Of course though knowing her parents they weren’t just any regular necklace and earrings, they were magical ones. “In case of an emergency” they told her when she had opened the box. They were a gift from all of her parents, but it was mainly her one fathers idea considering she was going to a school near the one creature that betrayed him. ‘God knows how disappointed he would be in me right now if he knew who I was having dinner with’.
She had only seen this certain creature in the halls a few times but this time she was going to eat with him. She can only hope for the best that she doesn’t get sat by him. And with that hope she’s quietly debating on taking those magical jewels just in case he somehow knows her secret. That day her parents gave her those jewels, it was the day after Ember had taken her to the school, she didn’t think she would ever really need them but now she was questioning it. ‘It wouldn’t hurt to be prepared just in case, right?’
After a little bit of time she turned and walked out. ‘There’s hardly even a slim chance that he knows me and if he did it’s nothing a few mind tricks can’t do to make him question what’s true’. With that she started heading to the castle. When she went through the front doors of the castle she saw Spike walking by. “Hey Spike!”. “Oh hey Smolder I was wondering where you were”. “Oh I just had to go to my room for something. Where are the others?”. “They’re in the dining room. I was heading that way anyways so you can follow me.” The two dragons started heading down the long hallway to the dining room.
“Hey Spike, I have a question. Is Discord really eating with us?” She asked hoping it was maybe just a rumor that wasn’t true. “Yeah he is, which I’m really excited for because after we eat we’re gonna play Ogres and Oubliettes with Big Mac!”. “Oh that’s cool” she responded trying not to express how she felt. Then another fear hit her. Ocellus.
’Ocellus is gonna be able to tell somethings up and knowing her, she ain’t gonna let it go until she gets the truth’. “Why is something wrong?” Spike said interrupting her thoughts “Huh? Oh no! I had just heard he would be eating with us but I didn’t know for sure.”. ‘As long as I put my focus on Gallus I should be fine. After all he’s the actual orphan here. But the thing is, they don’t know that so if anything all of them including Gallus will think I know how it feels and possibly ask me to tell them my experience. I may have gotten better at lying but I haven’t gotten THAT good yet!’
Everytime Smolder gave herself a reason to not panic she somehow turned them into reasons to panic. But it was too late for her to think of anything else because her and Spike had made it to the dining room, and sure enough there was Discord sitting next to Fluttershy. Smolder was strong though and was able to keep her cool at the sight of the Draconequus. She met eyes with Gallus and went over to sit in the empty seat next to him, while failing to realize it was also the seat next to Discord. ‘I’m an idiot’.
“OO! OO! OO! Headmare Twilight!” Silverstream called out. “Yes Silverstream?”. “Smolder had brought up a good point earlier while we were cleaning that it’s a little odd how we go to a friendship school but we haven’t really made friends with you or the other professors!”. Twilight laughs “Oh that’s not odd at all! Us professors are pretty busy as it is with the school and our lives outside the school. And you guys aren’t exactly the only students we have you know.”. “We are the only students who aren’t ponies though… besides Sandbar” Smolder responded, refusing to look to her right. ‘If I ignore him it’ll be as if he isn’t even here’.
“Okay you got me there” Twilight said giggling through her statement. “Well then it’s a good thing you guys are here now” Applejack said bringing in a tray of apple fritters. “YEAH I JUST KNOW WE'RE ALL GONNA BE THE BESTEST OF FRIENDS EVER!!!” Pinkie shouted while bouncing to each and every one of them. Fluttershy joined in while letting Angel jump down to
the floor to eat his carrots “And I just know you guys are gonna get along well with Discord here, especially you Smolder! I can’t really explain it but you two seem like the type to team up in pranking every pony around Ponyville.”. The thought of teaming up with her fathers enemy for anything made her cringe, but at the same time she did become friends with her other father and mother’s enemies such as Spike and Starlight.
“Yeahhh I’m sure we’ll become great friends”. She was trying her hardest to not show her distaste for the creature beside her, but as suspected the Changeling sitting right across from her was giving her that “Why that emotion” look. Because of this Smolder narrowed her vision to only her professors and nobody else. Even then she could still feel the Changelings stare burning into her head, and then another stare was added, Discord’s. ’Shit does he know who I am?’. She tried to remain calm when a comforting voice broke the tension unknowingly. “So what did you guys make?” Gallus asked.
“Well you know me, I made my famous Apple Fritters, Apple pie and Apple Cinnamon Chips for something sweet.” Applejack said proudly ‘As expected’.
“And I made a bunch of cupcakes!”’Not much of a surprise I mean it’s Pinkie’. “They’re my favorite surprise cupcakes because each cupcake is a different flavor!!!”. ‘I just hope none of them are those Strawberry cinnamon cilantro ones’
Spike jumped in next “Steering away from all the sweets I made my latest recipe lemon peppered asparagus and potatoes with Coconut Curry while Twilight made us salad”. ‘Spike really does know how to cook and he has the taste buds of a dragon so it has to be good’.
Rarity came in next “I made my cucumber and lettuce sandwiches” ‘Again, expected’.
“Me and Fluttershy spent all day cooking.” Fluttershy jumps in “By we you mean I cooked all day while you came in last minute to taste test everything” and Rainbow Dash quickly tries to cover that statement “ANYWAYS we made homemade pizza for the not so plant eaters at the table. We made a dish that Fluttershy’s parents likes to make us a lot called Chimichurri Cauliflower Steak, then we made Creamy Roasted Squash Purée, Cucumber Melon Soup, Tofu Pad Thai-“ she whispers to Fluttershy “What was the other one called?” Fluttershy shakes her head and whispers it to her “OH Pesto Pasta and Spiced fresh Tomato Soup with Sweet and Herby Pitas”. “Discord also made a few dishes of his own for the meat eaters here”. Fluttershy said nudging Discord with her hoof.
“Ah yes” he began. He teleported flying above all the creatures “I know that all ‘meat eaters’ don’t exactly have the same acquired taste for food so I made each of you your own dishes. Griffons are known to have an acquired taste for sausage so I made Zuppa Toscana soup with my Creamy Sausage Pasta. Hippogriffs love fish so I made a simple Lemon Crusted Salmon with Zucchini. For the Changeling, I don’t really know any of your names, I made Garlic Butter Steak with eggs. Now dragons seem to be one of the most pickiest eaters when it comes to meat. Since I know Spike I know he likes a simple Pulled Pork Sandwich but for you” he said pointing at Smolder “I had to take a guess on what you liked so I just made one of my favorites, Chicken and Pastry” he teleported all of the dishes in front of the practically starving creatures while heading back to his seat.
“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! Thank you Discord!!!” came from Silverstream. “Yeah thanks man” Gallus said with probably one of the biggest grins Smolder has ever seen. ‘Okay that was kind of nice’. “Uhhh are you guys not bothered by this?” Ocellus asked the professors. Applejack chimed in “Of course we aren’t! I mean we wouldn’t have opened the school to other creatures if we couldn’t handle meat eaters eating what's necessary for their health”.
Smolders thoughts sliced through the conversation like a blade that’s been held up to fire. ‘What if he does know who I am and he’s being nice because he poisoned my food?!?’. While in thought that same burning feeling came back to her and when she looked up, sure enough, Ocellus was staring at her again, but this time her stare was more of a confused and worried kind of stare. ‘Great if I keep feeling like this she's gonna start to think he did something to me and even though my dad isn’t very fond of him that is no excuse to frame him for something he didn’t do’. Looking back up she gave her Changeling friend a ‘Do NOT read into it’ look and hoped she got the message.
“Well what are we waiting for? I don’t think I can wait much longer to dig in” Sandbar said with the impatience showing through his tone. “Well if everyone’s done introducing their dishes I guess we can go ahead and start eating”. Twilight laid out plates in front of everyone and after a few more words everyone began to dig in. “Wow this pesto pasta is really good Professor Fluttershy!” Sandbar said with his mouth half full. “Yona like friend Spikes coconut curry”. While everyone was enjoying the food, Smolder just sat there playing with hers. She was too concentrated on what Discord could possibly be planning for her. ‘This is ridiculous! There’s no way he knows I’m just being paranoid… right?’.
“Hey Fluttershy do you think for class one day you could teach us some recipes?”. Smolder was too zoned out to notice who was talking. ‘I mean if he did know wouldn't he have told the professors by now?’. “Oh I would love to! Maybe Spike and Discord could join me so they could teach their recipes too!”. ‘Wait… what if they all know and they’re just waiting for the right time to call me out-’. “I would so be down for that!”. ‘What if they poisoned my food too?’. “What day do you think would be best?”. ‘Or maybe not the food but the plate, what if they poisoned my plate?!’. “Maybe next Wednesday. Would you guys be free then?”. ‘Or what if they knew this whole time and just wanted to lead me on?’. “Actually I promised Princess Cadence I would go to the Crystal Empire next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday”. ‘No they couldn’t possibly be able to wait THAT long knowing they were living right next door to their enemies daughter!’. “Oh then maybe next Monday?”. ‘Then again no one said they had to have known the first day they met me in order for them to know now-’. “No I promised my dear buddy ol’ pal Smooze that we would go on the hunt for a bunch of shiny things.”. ‘What if that’s it!’. “Friday then?”. “I’m free Friday!”. “As am I”. ‘What if they’ve known since the middle of our friendship! What if they’ve been faking our friendship this whole time to find my weakness or get close to my parents! Or what if Ember knew since the very beginning? That would mean this was all a set up! They’re not my friends they’re using me to get to my parents and who knows what they’ll do to them! Who knows what they’ll do to me?! I should have ran away when I had the chance! If only I hadn’t of cared so much about Ember needing a dragon then I wouldn’t be getting used as bait! They’re probably sitting here right now thinking about what they’re gonna-’ “Smolder!”.
The sudden voice came from the Changeling across the table. Not wanting to call her friend out for her strange emotions she decided to talk to her about the food. “How’s the food? You’ve been quiet so I wanna hear from you.”. “Oh- uh it’s good!” “Oh really? Cause it seems as if you haven’t eaten anything. You’ve just been playing with it.”. ‘She’s been watching me to see if I’ve ate. There’s definitely gotta be something in here!’. “Umm- you know I’m just not all that hungry right now.” “But you just said the food was good.” “I just didn’t want to make anyone feel bad.”. “Smolder darling no one here is gonna feel bad for you not being hungry! If anything you can just save it for later.”. ‘Or maybe there isn’t?’ “Buuuuut” the Draconequus next to her started “You should at least try one pastry to tell me if it’s good or not so I can know for next time”
‘Fuck what do I do? I don’t want to look like a jerk in front of everyone, especially if I’m wrong. Should I risk it?’ “I-” ‘Maybe-’ “Um-” ‘Maybe I could just try it and send a letter to my parents for them to keep an eye out just in case’. “Unless you don’t like chicken. If that’s the case then you don’t have to try it”. “No no I like chicken!” Smolder stuck her fork in the steaming broth until she found a decent sized pastry to stab. After blowing on the pastry for a few seconds she stuck the pastry in her mouth and as she chewed she prayed to the gods she wasn’t going to drop dead right there. To her surprise though, after a few seconds of chewing she realized that the pastry had a good flavor. But the brief moment of fear caught the Changelings attention before it was washed away by the surprisingly good food. ‘There’s no way poison could taste like this’. With that assurance she dipped her fork back in for another piece. “This is really good!” she told them while reaching for the whole bowl to put in front of herself. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind” Discord said going back to his own food”
“I want to try it!!” Silverstream flew over to Smolder while giving her the puppy eyes. “Me too!” Ocellus chimed in while still giving Smolder her stare. Smolder got a pastry on Silverstreams fork and put one on Ocellus’s plate. “You wanna try one?” Smolder said looking at Gallus. “Depends, would I owe you something?”. “With that attitude I would’ve normally said yes, but you’ve had a rough day so no you wouldn’t owe me anything.” While smirking at the Griffon in front of her she turned to put some of the delicious pastry on his plate. ‘He better not get used to me being nice like this’. Just as she thought that he responded to the strangely nice gesture “Okay what’s wrong?”. “What do you mean?” “You’ve never treated any of us nice like this, even if we had just experienced one of the worst things to happen to us” “Technically you don’t know that considering nothing bad has ever really happened to any of you before.”. “Yeah but I know YOU, which is enough to know somethings wrong.” “Nothings wrong now eat.” Gallus decided to drop it when Silverstream yelled about how good the pastry was. “WOW Discord you really have a talent!” “Yeah man, you should be the school's chef,” Gallus said, shifting the conversation. “You know, I would love to, but I have some… um… better things to do”. “Fair enough,” Gallus responded, nodding his head.
A few hours, and stuffed stomachs later, the students started heading back to their dorms. “I’m stuffed '' the pony of their group said while walking up to his door. “Me too! I just know I'm going to sleep good tonight” Silverstream said with a yawn. Ocellus and Gallus were a few feet behind Smolder who was about to open the door to her dorm whispering to each other. “Yeah, let's just hope we made a good first impression on our professors,” Smolder said, turning on the side Gallus and Ocellus weren't on. “Yona can't wait for professor Fluttershy’s class friday''. “Me either! Well I’m gonna go to bed. Goodnight guys” Sandbar said walking into his room shutting the door. “Night!” Silverstream said going into her own room with Yona doing the same. Smolder turned to open her door and when she walked in Ocellus and Gallus darted in.
“What the'' Smolder said startled. Facing her Gallus decided to speak first “I knew something was up! Even Ocellus agrees with me!”. “Nothings wrong now go back to your dor-” Smolder was interrupted by Ocellus slamming the door shut with her magic. ‘I should’ve just made an excuse not to go’. “Why are you being so secretive Smolder? It was mainly when you were around Discord too. Did he do something to you?” “No he didn't and it's none of your business!”. While the two were talking Gallus was looking around. “I’m fine Ocellus now can we please drop this I’m exhausted.” Ocellus stood there scolding her but eventually gave in “Fine but I swear if I found out he did something to you Smolder and you aren't telling me-” “ He didn’t now go to your dorm”.
Ocellus walked out and Smolder locked the door behind her “She’s just worried about you babe”. “Okay I know we’re dating but we don't need to start with the whole ‘babe’ thing. And there is nothing to be worried about. I'm fine.” “If you say so. Hey where did you get these-” “DON’T TOUCH THEM!” Smolder shouted when she saw her boyfriend reaching for the necklace and earrings her parents gave her. “Okay somethings definitely wrong” ‘I wish I could tell him’. “Nothing. Is. Wrong” She said looking away from him. ‘But I know he would hate me if I did’. “Quit lying to me Smolder. Look if it's some kind of secret I’m not going to judge you. I told you guys my secret so you can tell me yours.” “You would hate me” “No I wouldn’t”. Smolder stood there debating for a minute while Gallus decided to bring up another point “Smolder, we’re dating and it's obvious something is messing with you. I just want to be able to help you. You can talk to me and I promise I won't say anything to the others.”
“I’m the daughter of Equestria’s worst enemies.” “........ What?” “See this is why I didn't want to tell you” She said walking to her bedroom. “Wait no I’m just confused Smolder. Which enemies?” “Is that really an important thing to know ?” “Uh a little!” At this point they were both in Smolder's bedroom with Smolder frantically cleaning up. She didn’t respond. “Smolder, who are your parents?” She stopped what she was doing and just looked at him. She was hoping that he would drop it but he was determined to get an answer. Looking away she spilled “Chrysalis, Tirek, Sombra, The Sirens even though they’re still trapped in the other world, and if that wasn’t shocking enough Sunset Shimmer but my parents here don’t know that she’s friends with Twilight now.”