Coming Out

by Melody Song

Prologue 2: Planning

"So... who's up first?" Smolder asked

The dragoness was lying on her stomach on the floor of her shared dorm room with Ocellus. The changeling in question was curled up beside her. Gallus and Sandbar were lying opposite them, cuddled up together. Gallus had a wing over Sandbar, and Smolder had a claw resting on Ocellus' hoof. Ocellus had a quill levitated in her magic and was poised over the paper lying between them all.

"Silverstream and Yona, obviously." Sandbar said

"Well... I don't know... Silver's not great at secrets... and neither is Yona, for that matter." Smolder objected

"No, but they're our friends. And Spitfire said keeping secrets like this from your friends never ends well..." Sandbar replied

"Kind of sounds like she's had the experience..." Smolder said in a low voice. Ocellus nuzzled her, then spoke up.

"Okay, I'll put them down first..." Ocellus said, scribbling on the paper with the quill. "Next up is definitely our families... so that would be my parents, Smolder's parents..."

"And my brother." Smolder put in. "He's been honest with me about his... unusual interests... so I should be honest with him."

"'Unusual interests'?" Gallus asked

"Unusual for a dragon, anyway." Smolder explained with a shrug.

"Alright, so definitely Garble as well... then would be Sandbar's mom and dad... and Gallus..." Ocellus looked up. Gallus shrugged it off, pulling Sandbar closer and nuzzling him.

"No big deal. I can just go with Sandy when he tells his parents. I know Gruff probably won't care, either that or he'll threaten me or something."

"Maybe we should go with each other." Ocellus said, looking around at them. "You know, all of us. To support each other."

"Maybe, but I doubt Headmare Twilight will give us time off." Gallus replied

"Even then, I don't think we all need to go with each other." Smolder said, stretching.

"Yeah, maybe we should just go in couples." Sandbar agreed

"Either way, we won't need Headmare Twilight to give us time off. The holidays are coming up, we'll just see everycreature we need to tell that isn't in Ponyville during that time." Ocellus reminded him.

"Yeah..." Gallus shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Sandbar. "Uh, do you mind if I crash your holiday Sandy?"

"Of course not babe, you're always welcome." Sandbar kissed his cheek gently. Gallus smiled and wrapped a wing over him.

"Oh, what about Gilda and Gabby?" Ocellus asked suddenly. Gallus looked up at her.

"What about 'em?"

"They're your friends, aren't they?" Ocellus asked, and he shrugged.

Gallus didn't respond, and Smolder cocked her head in confusion. "I mean, you've mentioned them before, right? Something about them getting together with Grandpa Gruff for your Blue Moon Festival?"

"Well, kind of..." Gallus wrapped a claw over Sandbar, who giggled. "Gilda lives with Gruff, he'll take in griffs sometimes. Gabby has her own place, but during Blue Moon I've seen her visit Gilda."

"What about you?" Sandbar asked, concerned.

"Well... I kind of have my own place... it's just a rundown house nogriff's using. Yeah, I've talked with Gilda and Gabby before, they're pretty nice... once Gabby invited me into her place for dinner."

"Well, I think you should tell them. If you're their friend, they should know." Ocellus said

"I guess..." Gallus didn't seem to excited, so they decided to drop it.

"Who else?" Smolder asked

"Um... I was thinking... do you want to... maybe tell our leaders?" Ocellus suggested softly.

"Gruff?" Gallus looked at her as if she had just suggested snow could catch on fire.

"Not him, I meant Thorax and Ember." Ocellus corrected

"Oh, okay-wait, you don't call him King Thorax?" Gallus asked, and Ocellus blushed.

"Well... he said I really don't have to unless we're being formal. He says that to everyling, really, but only those of us who are really close with him actually do." Ocellus said "So...do you think we should tell him and Ember?"

"Eh, maybe. I'm already telling Garble, and Ember and I used to be close as kids..." Smolder trailed off.

"You were? You never told us that." Sandbar said. Smolder shrugged.

"Well, it wasn't like we... I dunno, slept over at each other's caves or something. We didn't really think of each other as friends, since it wasn't something dragons 'did'. We were just a part of the same gang."

"Uh... gang?" Sandbar asked, raising a brow.

"It's a dragon thing, where you join up with groups that share the same morals as you or that you enjoy similar activities to. Ember and I were both kind of put down for being girls, especially since we were so much... well, smaller than most dragons our ages. Still applies now actually... anyway, we were seen as weak and not really worthy of joining any other gangs. Because of that, we just started hanging out, teaching each other to fight... stuff like that." Smolder explained

"So you think she'd want to know?" Ocellus prompted.

"It might be nice to talk with her non-formally again, so... yeah." Smolder decided.

"Okay, so that's Thorax and Ember... do you think the Professors should know?" Ocellus glanced around at them.

"Probably, but we don't have to tell them right away, right?" Smolder asked, Gallus murmuring agreement.

"Heh, probably not." Ocellus said, smiling. "I mean, I'm sure they won't mind, even though we share dorms... and it's not like we can... you know..."

"Oh, never." Sandbar said decisively.

"Hey!" Gallus squawked

"Sorry Gal, just saying, I don't think you and I would yet." Sandbar explained, pressing his muzzle to Gallus' cheek.

"Oh, right. Yeah, we wouldn't... sorry Sandy." Gallus nipped him behind the ear gently.

"It's fine babe." Sandbar nuzzled him.

"So, the Professors can know about us... maybe later on though... but I think that's everyone we need to tell." Ocellus said, setting the quill down.

"Yeah... so all that's left is..." Sandbar trailed off.

They looked around at each other, waiting for one of them to say it.

"So... who's first?" Smolder finally asked. Ocellus spoke up.

"...I think Yona and Silver."