Smoulder...
"Silverstream I swear to Ember I will give you the worst noogie of your life—"
"Hey guys!" Silverstream said, sliding into the room. "Guess what I just found out!"
The rest of their little friend group was there (sans Smoulder) in the boys' room, sitting on the floor in a circle between the beds. Ocellus looked at her curiously. "What is it, Silverstream?"
The hippogriff could barely contain her excitement. "Smoulder has a full na—"
"Nothing!" the dragon cried out, finally catching up with Silverstream and wrapping a claw around her beak. "It's not important. Hey, we've got a project to get done for Miss Rarity's class, right? We'd better get on that before—"
Silverstream abruptly changed into a seapony, causing Smoulder to lose her grip and slip to the floor.
"Smoulder has a full name!" Silverstream said at last, immediately changing back.
"Smoulder's full name is not just Smoulder?" Yona asked.
Silverstream shook her head. "Nope! I overheard Dragon Lord Ember talking to Headmare Twilight, and she used it!"
Gallus eyed Smoulder, who appeared to be bracing for impact. He grinned. "Well, let's hear it.”
Smoulder shot a piercing look at Silverstream. "You don't have to do this."
"I don't?" Silverstream asked.
"No!"
"Huh. The more you know," Silverstream replied, nodding. "Anyway, it's 'Smoulder, Vain and Glorious, Precious Metal of the East Crater, Fierce Pony-Eater of the Rock'."
The room went dead silent. Smoulder went back to bracing for impact.
"Snrkt."
It was Gallus who broke through the silence as he broke down laughing, flipping over onto his back with his lion legs kicking into the air.
"It's not funny!" Smoulder hissed. “Dragons collect titles, okay? My mom picked all of that, not me!"
Sandbar tapped a hoof on the carpet. "Um... pony-eater?"
"When we were kids we used to pretend to hunt ponies!" Smoulder hastily explained. "It was a game! I just happened to be really good at it, so my mom... y'know!"
Gallus was still laughing. Ocellus frowned at him, then jabbed him in the side with a hoof.
"Ow!"
"Knock it off," she said, then turned her attention back to Smoulder. "I think it's a nice name."
"You do?" Smoulder asked.
"Well, it's... unique! It has character."
"Yona agrees!" Yona said, stomping a hoof. "Smoulder's mother has good naming sense! Make Smoulder sound strong!"
Smoulder sighed and got up off the floor. She dusted herself off and walked over to the edge of the circle, where she sat down. "Thanks. I still think it's dumb though."
"I have another name, too!" Ocellus said. That got everyone's attention; they all turned to look at her.
"You do?"
"Yeah! In Changeling."
"Wait," Silverstream said. "There's a changeling language!? That's so cool!"
"Yep! It was invented so that ponies and other species couldn't understand confidential communications."
"Say something in Changeling, then," Gallus said.
Ocellus opened her mouth. What followed were a sequence of clicks, hisses, and screeches unlike anything any of them had ever heard or would ever want to hear again. It sounded vaguely like:
"SKRR-HISS CLICK CLICK HISSSSSSSSS SKREEEEEEE CLICK-HISS."
There were a few seconds of silence following this outburst.
"That's hello!" Ocellus chirped.
"Goooot it," Smoulder said. "So what's your name?"
"HISSSSSS-CLICK-SKREEEE-CLICK-HISS-CLICK."
"I... see."
"Does it have any kind of special meaning?" Sandbar asked.
"Yeah! It means, 'she who snaps the necks of intruders to the hive cleanly'!"
This was said with a straight enthusiasm that brought a twinge to the stomach of the resident pony.
"That's... great," Sandbar said, trying to smile. "Hey, did you know I have a nickname?"
"You do?" Gallus asked. "Pony nickname. This oughta be good."
"Mildly racist as usual, Gallus," Sandbar said. If he'd had fingers he would have shot finger guns at Gallus, but he did not, so he did not. "Anyway, it's 'Bartholomew'."
Smoulder raised an eye crest. "Bartholo-what?"
"Bartholomew!"
"But... that's longer than 'Sandbar'!" Ocellus said.
"So?" Sanbar shot back. "You can have a nickname that's longer than your real name. There's no law saying you can't."
"Alrighty, Bartholomew," Gallus said. "Where'd that nickname come from?"
Sandbar shrugged. "No idea! My mom just calls me that sometimes. She says it comes from some place called 'Earth', and that she'll tell me about it when I'm older."
"Weird!" Yona replied. "Sandbar's mom is weird pony."
"Say that after you've met her."
Yona's eyes suddenly got big. "Is that an invitation?"
"Of course!"
"Oh, get a room you two," Gallus said, and Smoulder mimed sticking her claw down her throat.
"Oh, this conversation reminds me!" Silverstream suddenly said, sitting upright. "From now on, when I'm in hippogriff mode, I want you to call me 'Silversoil'!"
Everyone stared at her.
"...Silversoil?" Sandbar eventually asked.
"Yeah!" Silversoil said. "See, some of the hippogriffs back at Mt. Aris have started doing this thing where they have a different name when they're on land, and I think that's really cool! So, 'Silversoil'!"
"Okay, I get that, and I'll call you whatever you want to be called," Gallus said. "But... 'Silversoil'?"
"Well, my sea name is silver 'stream', so my land name should be silver 'soil'," Silversoil explained. "Why, don't you like it?"
"It's kinda lame," Smoulder said. "I mean, soil? That's like naming yourself 'dirt'."
"Or sand!" Yona said, which earned her a glare from Sandbar. She giggled.
Silversoil pouted. "So, no good on 'Silversoil'?"
"Technically speaking, a stream doesn't have to be a water stream," Ocellus said, gesturing to the sky. "It could also be an air stream."
Silversoil gasped. "Oh my gosh, you're right! An air stream! Forget 'Silversoil' then, it's Silverstream all the way, baby!"
And with that, Silverstream reclined against the bedpost. Things lapsed into an easy silence.
"Well," Ocellus said, “we should probably get started on this project—"
"Ah-hem."
They all turned to look at Gallus, who was doing his best to look away.
Ocellus rolled her eyes. "Yes, Gallus, did you have something to say?"
"Did you know that griffons have secret names?"
"Secret...?"
Gallus nodded. "When we're born, we're given two names. One is the name we use normally. The other is our secret name, which we only tell to those we trust." His eyes narrowed on the word 'trust'.
Everyone stared at him for a few moments.
"Why do you need a secret name?" Ocellus asked. "It's not like griffons are a species of espionage like changelings were."
"There's this old myth in griffon folklore that if you know something's true name, you can control it," Gallus explained. "So we have two names."
"So are you gonna tell us, or...?" Smoulder asked.
"Depends," he said, lying on his back with his arms behind his head. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Don't tease us like this!" Yona said. "Yona wants to know!"
Gallus opened one eye and smirked. "Fine. Then I'll tell you. But no one else can know, okay? I mean it."
He rolled onto his belly and walked over to his nearest neighbor, Sandbar. Bending down, he whispered into the colt's ear. Sandbar raised his eyebrows. Gallus nodded.
Sandbar turned and whispered it into Yona's ear. Yona whispered it into Ocellus' ear. Ocellus whispered it into Silverstream's. Silverstream whispered it into Smoulder's.
"There you go," Gallus said, sitting back down. "Now you know my secret name. If you blab, you're dead."
Everyone was smiling. Then, they all turned to look at Yona.
Yona shrugged. "Yona is just Yona."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"That makes sense."
"Anyway!" Ocellus cut in, glancing fearfully at the clock. "We still need to get the project done, remember?"
"Oh, right," Gallus said. "Hey, can you hand us the assignment worksheet, Smoulder, Vain and Glorious, Precious Metal of the—"
Smoulder leapt across the floor. "I'll kill you you bird-brained pile of—"
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- semillon · 1.3k words · 92 1 · 740 views
- D-20 · 1000 words · 89 2 · 1k views
- Closer-To-The-Sun · 10k words · 68 5 · 1.2k views
- semillon · 1.2k words · 138 9 · 1.7k views
- Neotheater · 1.8k words · 23 1 · 534 views
- Wanderer D · 2.6k words · 94 4 · 952 views
- SugarHoneyIceTea123 · 8.7k words · 90 1 · 2k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.166 seconds
Total duration
738 users online
1,073,210 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Who is Smoulder and where's the OC tag for this story?
...
11731565
Brick I swear to god I will choke you with a scone—
11731565
I think RB mentioned in the discord server that they're an OC sibling of Smolder and Garble.
11731569
Oh, that makes sense. The author doesn't do a good job introducing them, but I can forgive that in light of this being a good story otherwise.
11731569
11731570
I hate both of you.
Nerds.
Huh. Don't see this idea used much anywhere on the site. Or I need to look more. Of course, whether that's a load of crap or not is anyone's guess of course.
The good stuff!
so what's Gallus' True Name?
Gallus real name is Boo?
In one ear and right out the other!
Anyway, now I'm picturing Smolder introducing herself like General Yunan.
ARBYS
11731565
Nah, it's just the British edition of Smolder.
Why do you keep misspelling Smolder’s name in the synopsis?
To be honest with you I never understood why they put the u in smolder it was kind of weird spelling
11731681
Technically, it's NOT a misspelling--"Smoulder" is just the UK spelling of "Smolder," like how the Brits will spell "color" as "colour."
In fact, etymologically speaking, the "smoulder" spelling came into existence first, as all of the differing American spellings historically came into existence much later.
11731703
It's a trait gleaned from the original French the word's roots stem from. English actually borrows quite a lot from French (long story how that happened), and it's where it gets some of its admittedly funky rules concerning vowels, especially the more silent ones.
11731571
Not gonna lie, my first assumption upon reading the description was that the British "u" was going to be the story's main gag. Sorry we Americans dropped y'all's letter in the pond.
Bias might be coloring my code of honor, but personally, I favor our spelling behavior. Please, please, please don't kill me for this.
11731650
"Scourge of the Battle of the Bell! Defeater of the Terrible Trio! The youngest dragon to ever—"
"Smolder, we all chipped in on that."
"Oh, douse it, Gallus, you're no fun."
"The poses were kinda cool, though."
11731606
Sadly, we're not his friends; it's not ours to know. :P
11731606 11731731
Well, obviously, Gallus's true name is *whisper whisper*
Well then that was a pretty interesting story I've always wondered why some people in fanfiction stories spelled smolder with a u in her name unless that's how they spell it I've heard from different countries but the way how we spelled it it was without the u but anyway this was an interesting one and hearing the other kids talking about their nicknames or full names and I wonder what's Gallus second name is but I guess only his friends knows so clever anyway this was pretty good keep up the good work
This was delightful. Sandbar having a human nickname for Mysterious Reasons and Yona just being Yona after all the other reveals were both excellent.
How are you gonna misspell SMOLDER that many times. The Tag is right there!
11731830
That is the British spelling of the name
11731850
bri'ish
Smolder is not British, and changing someone else's name to fit your culture is problematic.
And Silver Sand would have been an awesome name, so it's a pity they talked her down so quickly.
Is this an Eragon reference?
Smolder's full name is Smoulder, but creatures kept thinking she was British so she started a nickname.
11731907
It could also be a reference to Earthsea, or a reference to various places' folklore - one story as to why middle names exist is so that, if you accidentally tell someone your first and last name, they don't have your full name and thus can't use it against you.
Gallus is only half cat, so he only gets two instead of the standard 3.
11731892
Smolder isn't American, Canadian, or even real, either, so a minor tweak to the spelling of her name to fit the conventions of the regional variant of English in which this story is written need not be considered a cultural transgression. Some leeway should be permissible when this is done to preserve the literalism of their names and avoiding breaking suspension of disbelief in fiction.
11731907
Unlikely. The concept of true names has existed in folklore and religion long before that book.
11731707
Interestingly for at least some word that differ between English and American and American spelling is actually the 'original' the one that was used at the point of colonisation and the English spelling is the one which has altered over the years.
11731606
Clearly, it's Jugemu Jugemu Go-Kō-no-Surikire Kaijari-suigyo no Suigyō-matsu Unrai-matsu Fūrai-matsu Kū-Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro Yaburakōji no Burakōji Paipo Paipo Paipo no Shūringan Shūringan no Gūrindai Gūrindai no Ponpokopii no Ponpokonaa no Chōkyūmei no Chōsuke...kun.
11731941
...not really? Etymologically, the British versions were almost always the "original" spellings, in that they all came into existence sometimes as much as centuries before. Americans really just decided to change up some of them out of spite sometime around the late 19th century, early 20th century as part of a political statement to try and press this idea that the American spellings were somehow "superior," because America said so. But generally speaking, most of the changes were grammatically unnecessary and did nothing to change the pronunciations. If anything, it added a new layer of complexity to the rules of the language because it generated new exceptions to when and where certain pronunciation and spelling rules did or did not apply that users then had to try and keep track of.
Though American myself with the American spellings being the version of the words I'm most familiar with, I've sometimes had mixed feelings about whether or not even having American spellings is really worth it in the long run, particularly when it got enforced out of, in essence, political saber rattling.
But then again, it's historically not the first time politics meddled in the rules of English for the better or worst. Back in England sometime just after medieval times (if I remember correctly), as there wasn't yet a consistent consensus of the spellings for many English words at the time, the government of the day put together a group of people to sit down and, in effect, "finalize" these spellings. Which was probably a necessary thing as it boosted English's utility overall as a language, but historians have noted that some of the spellings they settled upon seemed a bit...arbitrary, and in some instances clearly were just mixing together all of the popular spellings of a given word into one version, regardless of whether or not it actually made sense that way. So I guess I don't really have room to be complaining about it anyway.
English's history is pretty fascinating, actually.
omg arbys
Thank Celly's Sun they weren't discussing tyres!!
11731817
There is probably a very human reason for Sandbar's name methinks. One of his parents isn't really a pony.
11731707
But Smolder is a name, name spellings supersede basically every rule in language. Like if someone's name was Perseverence, it doesn't matter it's a common misspelling of another word. The name is spelt like it is, changing it isn't problematic, it's just rude.
That said, great fic
I like how Gallus' secret name stays secret
11732393
Somebody had better tell the fandom to hurry up and start getting Cadance's name spelt right then, because despite the show settling on the "Cadance" spelling years ago now, I STILL see people occasionally spelling it as "Cadence" instead. Without anyone complaining, I might add.
Personally, I think people are making a mountain out of a molehill on this.
11731731
i wanna be his friend tho
he's cool
I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS
11732278
Trust me that would explain a surprising amount about him.
Oh, that was delightful! Everyone was perfectly in character and absolutely adorkable!
Also world-building! Always appreciated <3
Smoulder, Vain and Glorious has the same charm as The Great and Powerful Trrrixie!
11732636
I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS
Smoulcellus ^w^
She is formally invited to smash Sandbar's mother
This was so good! Great group banter, but I especially love when Gallus and Smolder tease each other.
11731650
Omg now I’m just reading it in Yunan’s voice 😂
11732051
British English has the u because the people who preferred the French-adjacent spelling were more popular than other spellings. "Color" and "colour" both appear in Shakespeare's first folios, as an example. One of the biggest influences was the Norman conquest, which sort-of standardized -our over -or or -ur.
Both Webster and Johnson's dictionaries were quite arbitrary in many words, mostly keeping to theme (even changing several spellings) to match what each considered 'proper'. As an example for Johnson, his dictionary had an extra u in words like "ambassadour" or "emperour" or "governour" (which has since been dropped) while Webster removed the u for pretty much every word that didn't fully pronounce the vowel (e.g. "contour" has the u, but "rumor" does not)
Strictly speaking, Smolder should be spelled without the u, because that's her name. "Honor" in British English is only used for Honor Oak, which is a district of London. And it's spelled that way because that's its name. Earl Grey tea is spelled with an "e" even in American English because that's its name even if American English prefers the spelling "gray".
But at this point I don't care overmuch so long as you're both consistent with your spelling, and use a spelling representative of the pronunciation instead of a separate word altogether.
11733093
In the end, I'm of similar opinion--so long as the spelling is consistent all throughout and still an accurate spelling in the greater grammatical sense...I don't think it matters so much, at least not for the purposes of a fanfic such as this.
Besides, as I already pointed out in another comment, the "that's her name" argument doesn't have as much weight with me as one would want because I've seen other instances in the fandom where name spellings aren't consistent with what canon has established, yet those often get a pass anyway. So, you know, doing differently for "Smoulder" here strikes me as a little hypocritical.
11731892
As far as we know, in-universe, her name could be spelt either way, or even "Cmmoel'dhar" or "SMLDR," because there was no written English in the show and the toymakers aren't exactly always consistent with the names.
11731565
I think that might be a doppelgaenger of Smolder who enjoys tea party a little bit more than she does in baseline reality.
Wonderful slice of life. Even after all these years
This was a fun read and now I’m compelled to read more stories with Silverstream in them.