//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Yona Found Butter // by TheVClaw //------------------------------// For about fifteen minutes, all three students were frantically running around the campus in hopes of finding their undoubtedly baked friends and their baked goods. All of them made sure to visit the gymnasium more than once, but were fortunate not to see any new tins of brownies on the last display table. However, even after scouring most of the School of Friendship from top to bottom, it turned out to be way harder than expected to find the only hippogriff, changeling, or yak in a mostly-pony space.  Since Gallus and Smolder could fly, the two spent a good time soaring around in hopes of finding one of their friends on the ground somewhere, or through the windows of one of the buildings’ upper floors. Eventually, Smolder tried to focus more on the interiors around campus, while Gallus stayed outdoors and kept an eye on the gymnasium. Luckily, he didn’t see anything to cause alarm, and ended up landing on the ground with a fretful sigh. “Ughhhh… Dammit, where could they be…” Gallus took a couple calming breaths, and closed his eyes while thinking everything over. He may have known Silverstream fairly well as a friend (at least, as far as platonic friendships could form in an international boarding school during school months); but unlike Sandbar or Smolder, Gallus had no idea how the hippogriff would react to ingesting any edibles. He didn’t have any confirmation just yet, but he honestly would’ve been shocked if any of them refrained from taste-testing the brownie batter during the entire process. And with someone as inexperienced with modern culture as Silverstream at risk of being accidentally laced, Gallus had to really think hard about what she would do in her state of mind. “Come on, come on… Ugh,  where would she most likely go?” His beak tightened in a tight grimace as he struggled to think in her mindset. She may have been straight-laced, but Silverstream acted just as weird sober as Sandbar did after a few hits of that batch called ‘Birthday Cake’. He recalled when the group surprised her with a trip to a nearby shopping mall, she ended up riding up and down the escalator for four hours straight. She didn’t even visit any stores, although Sandbar did buy her a slush to keep her hydrated between her bouts of overzealous giggling. Gallus shuddered in dread, as he could only imagine how she might act while inebriated. Or even worse, where all those “specialized” brownies could be lurking on campus.  “Think, think! Nnnghhh…” Gallus closed his eyes and groaned to himself in frustration. He tried his best to clear his mind, and then took a deep breath before thinking of the first word that came to his head when he thought of her. As soon as he imagined Silverstream’s smiling face, Gallus’ eyes shot wide-open with a gasp. “STAIRS!” He was fortunate to be within walking distance, so he bolted off fast enough for his paws to kick up a couple pieces of the campus’ manicured lawn. He ran at full-speed towards the outdoor theater, which had massive stadium seats which were basically a giant set of U-Shaped stairs. He knew there were also several towers around the school with spiraling staircases, but he couldn’t imagine someone in her state venturing somewhere with that many heights or sharp drops. Plus, it was a really nice day outside, so it was a safe bet she could’ve been enjoying the weather. Gallus stopped with a sudden skid at the top of the stadium steps, with the rows of seats and the stone stage laid out before him. He was able to quickly scan across the entire space from his higher vantage, and his eyes widened in an instant. He caught a split-second flash of pink that disappeared from behind the edge of one of the stage columns. He flew down to the stage in a flash, and landed right at the column to find it empty. His head darted back and forth in a panic, his chest convulsing from his heavy breathing. “Hehehehehehe~” Her cheeky giggle made Gallus whip his head around, only to see another flash of pink from backstage. A single pink feather lingered in the air, and floated down to the floor in front of the gryphon.  “You can’t catch meeeeeeeee~” “Oh, good Grover…” Gallus face-clawed with a pained wince. While he may have been grateful to finally find her, now he was stuck playing Hide-and-Seek. He let out a sharp exhale and put down his claw. “Silverstream!” he shouted into the darkness of the backstage shrouded in shadows. “I need to know where those brownies are!” “You gotta find me first!” “Nngh! NO!!” Gallus tried not to get too upset, and closed his eyes to take a calming breath. “Nnnfff… Silverstream, please… We really need to know where you left those brownies for the bake sale!” Several seconds of long, uncomfortable silence lingered between the two after Gallus’ question. The gryphon grew much more concerned, and widened his eyes with his beak clenched in worry. After an awkwardly long pause, Silverstream’s voice chirped out from the darkness: “I dunno, but I found a great hiding spot! Come on, try to find me~” Gallus had to do a double-take as his head jerked back. “W-WHAT?!” “I said, try and find me! Hehehehehe~” Silverstream remained completely out of sight, although it was hard to discern where her voice was coming from. Gallus groaned through his clenched beak, but eventually settled down enough to keep his voice from sounding too confrontational.  “If I may ask… do you have any idea where the brownies could possibly be?” A few more seconds of silence followed, like her answer was being written down before being spoken out-loud. It didn’t help that she asked in a carefree voice, “Well, uhhh… If I did, I’d just say that, wouldn’t I?” “Well, can you at least guess where they could be?!” “Uhhhhh… Hmmm.” After that brief hum, Siverstream seemed to actually be thinking it over for a second. “Oh, wait! I was wanting to ask you a question!” Gallus braced himself before asking with a slight cringe, “Ummm… Okay? Wh… What is it?” “Well…” During her pause, Gallus overheard what sounded like several metal cans falling over and dropping with metallic clangs against the stone. That was followed by the faint sounds of her pawpads skidding against the floor with each slow and cautious step. A dark shadow outlining her body soon appeared within the darkness, revealing that she was behind a table the whole time. She stood upright, and asked the gryphon with a tilt of her head, “Now that you asked, do you know where the brownies are?” “UGH!!” Gallus rolled his eyes before storming up to her. “Come on! We need to find Ocellus and Yona! I don’t suppose you know where ei…” As soon as Gallus got up close enough to see his friend clearly, he stopped in his tracks with a bewildered look on his face. He blinked a couple times when he saw the hippogriff’s getup upclose, and could only close his eyes with a disappointed sigh and shake his head. “Silverstream, where the buck did you find that?” Silverstream remained standing rigid, but was seriously trying not to crack up. She was holding back a massive chortle with her beak clenched tightly shut, and her cheeks a deep shade of crimson. Meanwhile, a cheap pair of fake black-rimmed glasses, with a novelty fake nose attached to the end with a bushy mustache, were balanced on her beak to give a fake disguise appearance. “Gnnghhh!! Hehehehe… ‘Whoo eez zees Seelveerstreem? Do you have a crush on her?~’” She couldn’t handle her own joke, and she clenched her eyes shut before laughing in Gallus’ face. The gryphon was definitely annoyed, but he had to avert his eyes and struggle not to snicker a little. Regardless of the situation, that goofy accent was pretty damn funny. Gallus reassessed himself quickly enough to shake his head before returning to the topic at claw. “O-Okay, let’s try to focus here! Please, Silverstream… Where did you last see Yona and Ocellus?!” The gryphon hoped that his firmer tone could help jostle her attention a bit, or even snap her out of her high long enough to respond coherently. But alas, the hippogriff just scrunched her face in like she was trying not to giggle again. Her friend’s serious expression just looked really silly, especially while one of those veins above his brow wriggled and pulsated like a little gummy worm. Silverstream’s beak clenched for a moment with a dopey grin, before she narrowed her eyes and grew a more mischievous tone. “Weeeelllllllll… That depends, Mister Gallus. Do yooooouuuuuu… have any gummy worms?~” She smiled wide and expectantly, as if she expected the gryphon to just reach in his pocket and pull out a clawful of gummy worms for her. Gallus sighed with his eyes closed, but refrained from shaking his head. Instead, he motioned back to the school grounds and said, “How about this! We can get gummy worms on the way to find the others, alright!? Would that work for you?” “Hmmmm…” She rolled her eyes back while humming hard in thought. She also leaned her head back a bit, like she was hoping for a light bulb to be over her head to turn on at any moment. With her disguise glasses still on, she eventually shrugged her head slightly. “Weeeeellllllll… I suppose I could help you find this ‘Silverstream’ lady. Hehehehehe… Oh wait, THERE SHE IS! LOOK!!~” She suddenly pointed a claw out behind Gallus when she made that exclamation. She startled Gallus enough to instinctually turn his head and look to where she was pointing. “W-What?! What do yo--” “AHA!!!” Silverstream suddenly jumped over her friend with an impressive flip-trick, and landed at the front of the open stage with a theatrical pose. Gallus had to do a double-take while frozen in a defensive stance, but then grimaced and shouted out, “What the… Why did I fall for that!?” She leaned back and grinned all wide and cockily, before dramatically taking off the glasses on her face. She stood on her hind-legs and laughed maniacally. “Aaaaahhhh, ha ha ha haaaaa!!! Behold, it was me! You were talking to Silverstream the whole time!!~”  Even in her triumphant stance, her face clenched in as she tried not to laugh again. Of course, that just made it look like she was sucking on a lemon while the corners of her mouth were pulling upward. All the while, Gallus just stared at her flatly without much of a response. He hoped that she could get the hint enough to act more seriously, but he soon realized how fruitless that was when she was back out in the sunlight. With the glasses off her face, he could see clear as day that her eyes were a noticeable shade of red.  “Oh no…” Gallus winced and shook his head meekly. “Please, I have to know… how many brownies did you eat?” “Uhhhhh… Brownies?” Her red eyes darted back and forth, while she stood still for a moment with a newfound look of concern. It seemed that something just came to her head, which was clearly alarming enough to make her smile drop in an instant. Her eyes even widened for a split-second with what appeared to be legitimate panic, which made the gryhon’s own eyes show that same concern with much more intensity. She craned her head away from Gallus’ fretful expression, while her beak skewed uncomfortably. “Hmmmm… Well, ummm… Well, you see, I uhhhh… HUUUHHH!!!” Silverstream suddenly pointed to something behind Gallus with a panicked look. “OHMIGOSH, LOOK!!” “W-What, WHAT?!” Once again, Gallus jerked his head around to turn away from his friend in a panic. “What is--” “YOU CAN’T CATCH ME! HAHAHAHahahahahahahaaaaa…” “GAHH!! WHY DID I FALL FOR THAT AGAIN?!?” By the time Gallus turned back around to face her, Silverstream took that moment to fly off with her “disguise” back on. She took a moment to turn around and face him while flying in midair. While her wings fluttered erratically enough to make her body bob back and forth, she cleared her throat before speaking in that ridiculous accent. “Ahem! ‘Iv you vant your precious Silverstream, you must apprehend ze notorious Mustache! Othervise, uhhh… I’ll, umm… Zen I shall be the Phantom of the Bake-Sale!’ MUAAAAAA- HA HA HA HA!!~” She couldn’t even think of a childish ‘Nose-Picking’ pun in her state, and just flew off after that overdramatic guffaw. She was quickly followed by Gallus, who frantically flew after her with a look of impending horror. As the gryphon chased his friend down above the school grounds, Silverstream’s maniacal laughter was loud and rampant enough to echo all across the campus for students to hear. Many ponies stopped in their tracks to glance upward, only to see streaks of pink and blue moving like pieces in a pinball machine in the sky.  Meanwhile, back at the main building of the school in the main lobby, Smolder hoped that she didn’t seem too suspicious while walking around one of the top floors with a forced smile. She was standing upright with her claws behind her back, and whistling innocently as she looked around like a hawk. After spending months with the changeling as her roommate, Smolder had a fairly good knack for where their head could be most of the time. And after checking their dorm room, the library, and the pond behind campus to no avail, the dragon could only assume that they were lurking somewhere around here. “Alright, Smolder. Let’s think…” The dragoness made sure she was alone while muttering to herself. She slowly walked down a spacious hallway, and stared intently at every individual object that caught her eye. “Hmmm… Okay, where would a NonBinary Changeling go as a first-timer with several tins of fresh brownies if it’s not the gymnasium?” She winced fretfully, since she was starting to run out of options that could feasibly answer her rhetorical question. Unless she wanted to start checking every individual classroom, Smolder knew that she had to find a solution fast. She poked her head down multiple hallways, but every space she walked past felt vacant. She was just about to head back to the stairs to go down to the lobby’s main entrance, but she froze in place and slowly turned her head. An oddly large, powder-blue vase with ornate decoration was placed in the middle of the hallway.  If it was up against a wall or beside a table somewhere, it likely wouldn’t have stood out in Smolder’s eyes. But now with the dragon staring at the vase directly, it didn’t take long before the seemingly inanimate porcelain twitched a little. Barely the slightest movement, but just enough for Smolder to recognize her roommate.  “Whoo… Okay then…” Smolder let out a soft, silent sigh in relief while keeping an unoffended look on her face. Knowing Ocellus, she could only assume that the changeling was really paranoid right now. She slowly walked up to the vase with her claws extended out, showing that she had nothing to harm them with. “Hey, Ocellus? Is that you? It’s okay, you can tell me…” Slowly, the vase started to rock back and forth the tiniest bit, just enough to allow it to move in a gradual spinning motion away from Smolder’s face. That caused her to huff with a flatter look than before. “... Seriously?” The vase kept wobbling without pause, almost as if the changeling was trying to maintain a steady pace for consistency as part of their “role.” “... Ocellus, do you really think I’m going to believe a vase can just do that?” The inanimate object finally went inanimate again, and stopped moving for a moment in reflection. After an awkward bout of silence, a meek voice could faintly be heard: “... m… maybe it’s a magic vase?” “Ugh!” Smolder rolled her eyes with a groan. “Celly, quit it!” She reached down and flicked the lid of the vase with the tip of one of her claws. It instantly went up in a gust of green flames while Ocellus let out a pained “Ouch!” Smolder reeled back from the plume, which went up for only a second before dissipating back to the changeling’s regular form. Ocellus was left standing with their head hung low, and with a hoof clasped over their left eye. “Smolder, you hit my eye!” “Ooh, sorry!” Smolder winced apologetically. “Although, in my defense, sometimes it’s hard to tell where your features can be.” “Yeah, that’s literally the point of camouflage!” Ocellus groaned before putting their hoof back down, their eyelid twitching a little and remaining half-open. Their compound eyes made it hard for Smolder to tell whether or not they were inebriated. However, the fact that the changeling was standing with an antsy twitch gave a strong hint that they were overly worried about something. After a brief chitter to themselves, Ocellus scratched the back of their neck and tried to ask nervously, “H-Hey! Ummm… Wh… What’s up, roomie?~”  They accompanied that first-time nickname with a very forced smile, which was more than enough to make Smolder stifle a giggle. “Mmph! Uhhh… I’m fine, Ocellus. Although, ummm…” Smolder breathed out quickly enough to drop her smile, and she leaned in to ask the Changeling nicely. “I was really wanting to ask where you and the girls left those brownies you made…” “Oooohhhhh… Ummmm…” Ocellus gave a strong nod of their head to emphasize their understanding, but their raised brows and unblinking eyes warranted some slight concern. Their insectoid wings gave a couple of frantic buzzes, while their body gave a paranoid twitch that made them briefly skitter off the ground. Smolder didn’t say anything, but her face tightened up with worry about spooking her shape-shifting friend. Regardless, the dragon’s silence allowed for Ocellus to tilt their head and speak with a guilty wince. “Well, uuuuhhhhhhhh… I’m not, umm… I-I’m not sure. Or maybe I’m just thinking about something else. It’s like, I was turning a corner, and the pan was still in my hoov--Wait, it was hands! CLAWS! I had claws! I remember, they were like… not soft or anything… they were crackly, like noodles in the box…” During their babbling rant, Ocellus was looking down at their hooves while their words turned to confused mutters. Their horn lit up to engulf both their forelegs in green flames, before rapidly changing their appendages to that of several different species’ arm or foreleg types. A couple different dragon claws, some yak hooves, a pair of hairless-monkey arms riddled with tattoos, and even some tentacles before settling back to their chitinous form.  Smolder didn’t say anything, but she gulped and took a mental note to ask Ocellus about that last one when they’re sober. “Ummmm… noodles?” Smolder blinked a couple times in puzzlement. “You mean, like… pasta noodles? Or… wait, what?” “I dunnooooooo…” Ocellus hung their head with that prolonged response, which ended up sounding like a whiny groan. Smolder could only assume that they didn’t know what they were talking about either; or at least, they probably forgot already. They took another breath before looking up at the ceiling, and they spoke while tapping their forelegs together. “Okay, it’s umm… it’s like this. We were getting everything set up, and we just got all the batter set up in the tins. Now, uhhh… at this point, we were starting to run out of time, so Silverstream asked about baking spells, and I wasn’t sure because we were using the cans of cah-nibbus. Or uhh, a can of Cah-Nabis, Cah-Nah-Bis, or--” Ocellus’ head instantly jerked up, and their eyes stared straight back at Smolder in pure mortified silence.  The dragoness didn’t say anything, and just bit her lips shut to hide her grimace. She could tell that during her friend’s attempt to pronounce that specific word, they may have realized their own mistake too late. Their head tilted to the side, as their expression became more grave and panicked by the second. But alas, Smolder merely sighed through her teeth before nodding her head. “Ummm… Yeaaahhhh…” Ocellus gasped with both hooves clasped over their mouth. Smolder hoped that their reaction would remain at that. Unfortunately, the changeling quickly threw their forelegs down and blurted out with a freaked-out voice: “CANNABIS OIL?!?” “SSSSHHHHHHH!!!” Smolder quickly lunged in and covered Ocellus’ mouth. She winced and looked around, hoping for both their sakes that nopony downstairs heard them say that. After a couple seconds, she let go of the changeling’s mouth so they could breathe normally. Unfortunately, that also allowed them to freely hyperventilate with a hoof clutched over their chest. Smolder kept herself hunched in close, and tried her best to keep Ocellus settled down. “Yes, yes I know, Ocellus. It’s okay, we just need to--” “Oh my gosh, no! NO!!” Ocellus’ panicked voice made a frantic shriek before covering their mouth once more. They sat upright on their hind-legs while using their hooves to fan their face. Their magic ignited to turn their hooves to big aquatic-looking flippers so the fanning actually worked. But even with that precaution, Ocellus was still panting rapidly and staring down at the floor. “Ohmigosh, this is so bad! They’re all going to know. They all know already. I walked past so many ponies. I saw the stares. They knew! I heard a giggle! I’m going to get caught! I’ll get expelled! I’ll get arrested! They’ll shave my head and make me squat and cough! I’ll have to us--” “Hey, hey, HEY!” Smolder got right up in Ocellus’ face with a threatening hiss. “Stop that right now! Nopony knows, Ocellus. No. Pony. Knows. You’re not that high. I promise you we’ll get through this. Do you understand?” She hoped that her intense stare was enough to get through to the changeling, but Ocellus was too preoccupied staring down at their fidgeting hoof. When Smolder took notice, they were waving it back and forth with precise, rapid motions like they were working an invisible abacus. Their eyes soon widened in horror, and their head slowly panned back to their friend. The dragoness looked legitimately scared when Ocellus slowly shook their head, and gave a fearful pout with their bottom lip quivering.  “Smolder, I… I did the math…” That statement was enough to make Smolder’s already cold blood nearly solidify in her veins. Her brows raised with much more concern, while Ocellus’ face winced in growing realization. They had to close their compact eyes completely shut for a moment, before letting out a trembling exhale.  “... I ate three brownies…”  Smolder looked like she was about to have a heart-attack. Regardless of how “safe” it may have been overall, she knew that three special brownies were WAY too much. Especially for the first-timer, who just cringed and hung their head in shame. “... Theothersatemore.” Smolder sunk her head into her claws, which helped to muffle her frustrated groan. “Mmmfffffff!!” “WAIT! I know how to fix this!” Ocellus lit up their horn, just in time for Smolder to gasp in a panic and try to stop them. But alas, a sudden flash of magic engulfed their body in green flames, and they were shifted into the body of Fluttershy; interestingly enough, the mare looked to have very red eyes, most-likely something Ocellus wasn’t aware of. They suddenly flew up in the air, and caused Smolder to yelp and reel back from them. Ocellus still spoke in their own voice and pointed to a nearby window. “I think I know where Yona went! Come on, you can follow!” “Ocellus, why the heck are you wearing that?!” The changeling paused while hovering in midair, and blankly glanced down at the outfit they accidentally included in their shape-shifting. Their copy of Fluttershy was not only wearing a tight black corset with matching fishnet stockings, but also a pair of kitty-ears over their head. They gasped and immediately re-ignited themself in changeling flames, removing that costume just as quickly as it was seen. They were still in Fluttershy’s body, but now fully nude while smiling with a nervous blush. Smolder had to close her eyes for a second and mutter under her breath, “How the buck did wearing less clothing make that less revealing…” Instead of waiting for an answer, the dragon shook her head and let out a huff. She flew up into the air, and tried to speak to Ocellus with a carefully articulated tone. “Okay… Ocellus, you need to listen to me here. You don’t say anything while flying. Just go exactly to where you need to go, and keep a low profile. Can you do that for me?” Ocellus gave a firm nod, while carrying a wide-eyed and determined, albeit pink-tinted stare. They then took a deep breath, and flew head-first towards the window. -WHAM!- “Gahh!!”  Smolder winced and sucked some air through her teeth. Ocellus thankfully didn’t break the closed window with their head, but they certainly knocked it hard judging by that sound. They groaned and rubbed their head for a second, but quickly sighed in frustration before unlatching the window. They opened it and flew out in silence, allowing Smolder to roll her eyes and smile with a slightly blushed smirk. She hated to admit it, but that bookworm was pretty cute while all flustered and clumsy. “AAAHHHH!!!” The sound of “Fluttershy’s” sudden shriek pulled Smolder out of her thoughts, and she rushed out the window while hearing her friend shout out, “H-Hi guys! I’m totally Fluttershy!” “Yes, that’s right, now come on!” Smolder grabbed hold of her friend by the shoulders, and forcefully guided them away from a group of confused students standing nearby the building and conversing to themselves. As the dragoness and “pegasus” flew off above the campus grounds, neither of them seemed to notice the sounds of a hipogriff’s cackling laughter echoing in the distance. Of course, even though Ocellus was trying their hardest to lead the way, Smolder had to stay close behind them so they didn’t veer off for whatever reason. “Huuhhh!! Ohmigosh, I hear the ice cream cart!” “No, Ocellus! We need to find Yona!” “But maybe she wants ice cream?” “Ugh! Maybe after we find her!” “But the cart will go away by then.” “I can fly! YOU can fly! You can just look for it!” “Ohhhhhhhh… Yeah, that’s a good idea.” “Ughhhhh… Thanks.” “OOH! Those ponies over there are having a picnic!” “NO!”