2G

by Bysen

Gallus x Ocellus part 2: Electric Boogaloo

“Huh… I felt like sex-ed would be part of social studies, not home-ec. But I suppose this is a bit more advanced than simple reproduction mechanics.” Ocellus said to Gallus, completely oblivious to the look of sheer panic not only on his face but cartoonishly radiating from him in visible stink lines. “If you need any help with it just ask. I learnt all about that in the hive. Back when we were… well, you know. Succubi. Are-are you alright? You look… cartoonishly panicked.”

Shaking his head, which as everyone knows, dispels stink lines, Gallus collected his spaghetti [for the moment] and managed a quickly thought answer. “Uh… yeah, actually, do you know what a buffalo is? Somegryph I know said buffalo and ponies make deers and there are so many things weird about what I just said.” he said calmly while screaming internally.

“Oh, well Yona’s a buffalo. Well she’s a yak, obviously. But they’re pretty much the same species, just different cultures. Don’t tell her I said this, but I think the little deerling from her and Sandbar will be adorable!” she said with a squeal. That’s when something clicked in her. A common misconception about changelings is that they can sense love. While not wrong, it’s not entirely accurate either. It’s not so much that they can sense it so much as the can ‘intake’ it and they know that they’re doing so.

Thing is, since Thorax had yeeted Queen Chrysalis out of the hive and switched over to giving love instead of taking it, they’d sort of lost that ability. At least passively. As the thought crossed her mind, she switched back for a moment, taking love instead of giving it [no bow chicka bow wow]. And oh boy was there love coming from Gallus. And despite the very sexual nature of what had given it away, her thinking of what a gryphon and a changeling make, there was practically no lust in that love.

As good as taking this in felt, Ocellus quickly switched back and said “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” she almost hugged him but thought better of it. She then went to put a hoof… feeler? What the hell do changelings have?, on his shoulder but awkwardly stopped short of doing that either. “I-I didn’t mean to do that to you… I…”

“Uh… do what? Exactly.” Gallus just asked.

“Make you fall in love with me-” Gallus’ face fell at those words. She knew. Gig is up. Confess? Deny? Run? Kiss? Hug? Prolonged awkward silence? Let more than 0.1 of a second pass as the brain throws seventeen unvocalized but concepted thoughts at you within that short amount of time. “-too.” and that last word both confused him and really changed the context of what she was saying for a third time.

The prolonged awkward silence was his go to it seemed out of those options as both of them just looked at one another for a solid few seconds. Gallus finally broke it with “Y-yeah. I just realised I- wait, ‘too’?” he asked.

“Well… the thing is. You see. Changelings have changed… but not entirely.” she said, trying to both explain and not seem like she’d done it intentionally. “Like yaks and buffalos. Our cultures are different, but we’re still the same.” bringing it back to that earlier conversation. That despite writing it almost an hour ago was probably only like 10-20 seconds ago story wise.

“You’re not the same? Then why are you like…” Gallus waved a claw up and down her body. “This then?”

“Well, we are shapeshifters. And you’re not mad?”

“Should I be?”

“Well, the other colts where.”

“Other colts? So, other ponies at this school like… like you?” Gallus asked dejectedly.

“They did… but. I kinda tricked them into loving me. I put off a pheromone that’s slightly addictive to male ponies. So, when they’re around me they feel ‘sated’ and when they’re not they feel ‘empty’. Thorax gave Principle Twilight a heads up about this and had Sandbar drink an… ‘antidote’ for it since we hang out so often.”

“Wait… so you knew you could do this to me and didn’t give me an antidote too?” and that’s where the anger came in. At least it sounded like it to Ocellus who cringed back at the accusation even though none had been intentionally made.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think it could affect gryphons. It must be really weak on you but still having some small effect if it took this long.” Ocellus would be crying at this point if she had tear ducts. “I should’ve guessed it might affect more than just male ponies after those fillies asked me out too.”

“Nice.”

Ocellus blushed. “Well, you should probably speak with Principal Twilight. She’ll have some of the antidote on hoof. You… won’t be the first pon-grypho-” Ocellus stopped for a moment in though. “Actually you will be the first gryphon I’ve sent to her about this…” she smiled to herself at the correction. Something that even though he knew why now, Gallus still found a-dork-able. She recollected herself and finished with “But you get what I mean right?”

“Yeah. I get it. Don’t feel so bad about this. You can’t help it so it’s not your fault. I’m sorry too.” he said putting a claw on her shoulder as she faced away from him. “I’m glad I’m not in love with you. No offense. When I first realised it I didn’t want to be. Because it could ruin our friendship.”

“Aww… that’s weirdly sweet.”

“Right… well, I’ll just be going now. To speak with Principle Twilight. Bye.” he said as he realised where he was and quickly left.

“Ok, goodbye.” Ocelosu called back. “Huh… I didn’t even realise we’d been walking that entire conversation and ended up in my room, sitting on my bed with the door closed.” if only someone had described such actions in text. “Oh bother. He left his book here too.”

Chapter

“You’ve reached the Office of the Principle Twilight Sparkle.” the automated message begin as Gallus knocked on the door. “Unfortunately, I am unavailable at the moment. If it is between Monday and Friday, within the hours of 7am and 5pm then I may be out on royal business and may be some time. If this is an urgent matter, please hold down the button to contact me. Penalties for misusing this function outside of an urgent matter can be up to and including a fine of…”

Gallus held the button down.

*POP*

“What’s the emergency?!” Twilight asked, popping into existence and bowling over Gallus in the process. Her wet mane slipping out of the towel wrapped around it and the rest of her dripping water onto the floor.

Gallus, composing himself, answered her borderline twilighting toned question. “Uh… Ocellus sent me…”

“Uh-huh.” she answered with the expectation of continuation.

It was only met with silence for a few more moments though. “About the… antidote.”

“Oh right, the antidote…” she trailed. “The antidote for Ocellus. The antidote chosen specifically to cure Ocellus. Ocellus’ antidote. That antidote?”

“No. The one for me, to stop her… her love-bug stuff on me.”

“Oh thank Celestia. I thought since you would only press the button in an emergency and you were talking about an antidote I thought she’d been poisoned but you said it like I knew and I didn’t so I panicked and tried to stay calm but pretended I knew what you were talking about so that you wouldn’t panic but you still pressed the button so it is an emergency! What’s the emergency?!” she asked, again.

“Ugh… I’m in love with Ocellus but she told me it was just a changeling thing tricking my brain into it and that you had an antidote for it.”

“Oh right, the antidote. The antidote for-”

“Please stop.” Gallus said face palming. “Do you have it or not? Please don’t tell me she lied to save face.”

“Right. Sorry. Yes. I do.” Twilight assured him. Which actually hurt more than he thought it would. Mostly because he didn't think it would hurt at all. Whether the feeling where real or not they were real to him damn it. And losing them just felt bad. “But I’ve never heard of it affecting anything other than a pony of the opposite gender.” she said, putting a hoof under her chin and turning her head upwards to think.

“And that means…?”

“It means… this could be a great new case study. Would you mind if I made a report out of this? ‘Changeling Pherodiction [pheromone addiction] and the effect it has on gryphons with prolonged exposure’. I could keep your name anonymous.”

“Oh, I wonder which gryphon at this school it could be. Totally not the ONLY gryphon whose friends with the ONLY changeling…” Gallus mocked.

“R-right....” Twilight admitted and magicked away the quill and parchment she'd magicked in just before. “I can give you the antidote. But I’m not sure it’ll have the same effect it’ll have on ponies. And come to think of it, it may not even be safe for a gryphon to take. So no. I can’t give you the antidote.”

“So I’m boned…”

“No, not at all. I’ll just have to consult with either Zecora or Thorax first.” Twilight replied as she rounded her desk and pulled out a pulled out the same quill and parchment she’d zapped away before. But in addition she zapped in Spike.

“Wha- what happened?” the little purple dragon [I’m giving descriptions not detailed enough for people who don’t know who spike are but unnecessary for people who do] said as he popped into existence in front of Twilight. “Wait… you’re here? I’ve been waiting to have a shower for half an hour and you’re not even in there?!”

“Spike, take a letter.” and she passed him the quill and parchment.

"Spike, take a letter…"

Dear King Thorax, it’s me, ya boi, Spike the Brave.
Twilight’s asked me to send you this message. Apparently Ocellus’s drug-stink can affect gryphons. Any idea if the cure will work and if it’s safe for a gryphon to take?
Wait, didn’t you tell me the stuff was just water and that being aware of the drug-stink was enough to stop its effect? Or did you just tell me that.
Oh no… am I in love with you for real? Oh this is heavy man.
We need to talk about this in person [in pony but spike wouldn’t say that and even more so not so with thorax].
Oh, and Twilight is asking you to come here anyway.
Love Spike.

“No wait!” Spike yelled as he tried to grab at the magic smoke from the burnt letter he’d just sent. “Oh… that was bad, uh… typo. Yeah. Typo. Nothing else.”

“I’m sure he won’t mind.” Twilight reassured him. Turning back to Gallus and completely ignoring that side story, Twilight added “Luckily, Thorax is the closest out of all the foreign students’ patrons. He should be here by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Until then, my only recommendation would be to avoid her for the time being. But just remember not to be rude about it. I’m sure she feels bad about this and treating her like a…” the old saying of ‘treating her like a changeling’ seemed inappropriate now. “Friend she still is to you.” she finished slightly incoherently.

Gallus just sighed. He figured that’s what Twilight would say. Still hurt though. All of this did. Even if the writing didn’t reflect it much. He just didn’t really know how to express it all. Both Gallus and the writer. Is this fourth wall breaking too much? Too bad, this whole thing is just a writing exercise more than a serious project anyway.

His room was pretty close to hers and she would probably come visit later thinking he’d taken the antidote. So Gallus would have to go somewhere and come back later before going to sleep. He could go talk with Gilda again… na. Why? Just because she was a gryphon. Maybe Starlight was a better idea. She was the school counsellor after all. “Right… so should I be back here tomorrow at midday?”

Twilight answered with “Perhaps a bit later than that. That’s just when Thorax should arrive by. It’ll probably take a bit longer than that. If it was a simply ‘yes the antidote will work’ we would’ve gotten a response already so it may be some time. Maybe later in the afternoon. Say, 3pm?”

“Sure. See you then Teach’.” and he stepped out of the office. He then checked she hadn’t followed him, and by the sound of annoyed dragon noises coming from the door, he figured she had something else to deal with first. He then immediately knocked on the door next to Twilight’s.

“Come in!” called Starlight through the door. He entered and closed it behind himself. “Oh, Gallus… what a surprise!” she was a surprisingly bad liar at times given her history.

“How do you know already?” he asked. From past experiences both here and in the principal's office, the walls weren't thin or anything.

“Well, I suppose I can tell you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders where just in here before and they told me all about what happened.”

“How do they know already?”

“Some old marefriend of Rainbow Dash told them that you told her.”

“Damn it Gilda…”

Author's Note:

Realised a bit late this was actually 2 chapters...
Screw it, I'll leave it.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If this isn't a romance story, then why did you make it seem so much like it's one?