Hard Lessons
The classes held at Equestria’s School of Friendship had gone through a few changes already in the short time the institution had been open. Luckily, most of these changes had been for the better. Per student feedback, classes had become more personally engaging and ditched the strict teaching methods of old. The ways in which the student were being taught were certainly unconventional, but also guaranteed they became bored far less often. However, this didn’t mean a student wouldn’t doze off or daydream in class every once in a while.
One of the more common offenders of this, Gallus the Griffin, was currently partaking in another mid-class daydream. Laying his head in his claws and diverting his gaze towards outside the classroom window, he began to tune out the lesson being delivered. It’s not like he didn’t care about his studies; he was quite the apt student when he wanted to be. Gallus just didn’t think today’s lesson was one of too much importance. Not many could blame him for this assessment, as the “lesson” was really nothing more than Spike telling a rather inconsequential story.
Although he was technically in one of Professor Applejack’s honesty classes, his southern instructor hadn’t shown up that day. Instead, when he walked in the classroom door an hour ago, he saw a familiar short, purple figure greet him. Spike had explained that he would be providing the students with his own replacement lesson for the day. Applejack, as it turned out, had stayed home after becoming sick. While each of the other students in the class were excited about the change of pace, Gallus took it as a sign that he didn’t have to pay much attention.
His focus was further taken off the lesson when he felts a soft hoof tap him on the shoulder. Somewhat startled at the sudden interruption, Gallus swiftly turned his head to stare menacingly at whoever it was that touched him. However, his look quickly softened as he saw that it was his Changeling friend Ocellus that had been the culprit.
“Sorry if I made you jump,” Ocellus began apologetically, “I was just trying to get your attention. I tried whispering your name, but you were completely out of it.”
“Yeah, uh, sorry about that. What’s up?”
“The group and I wanted to know if you felt like getting something at Sugarcube Corner after school.”
Normally Gallus wouldn’t have hesitated at agreeing to join his friends, but lately he had been somewhat anxious whenever he spent time with them. After a long period of thinking that quite frankly confused Ocellus, he got back to her with an unfortunate answer.
“Sorry, I got homework to do.”
Expecting to see a disappointed Changeling beside him, Gallus was rather surprised to find that Ocellus bore a look more indicative of disbelief.
“Are you sure? We all have the same classes, and thus the same homework. And we all think that what we have is pretty manageable even if we go out.”
Gallus quickly wracked his brain for a way to combat Ocellus’s solid reasoning.
“Well, yeah, but you’re you, Ocellus. I’ve got to study more and take more time to do my homework. I’m not as smart as you.”
Ocellus was prepared to refute her friend’s dismissal again, but feared that if she did, she might accidentally end up saying something disrespectful towards his intelligence.
“O...okay. Well, we’ll still be there after school if you want to join us.”
With that, both Ocellus and Gallus turned around to their former positions. Gallus once again gazed out the window, absent-mindedly tuning out whatever was around him. Ocellus meanwhile looked over to her waiting group of friends. With a sad shake of her head, she let them know that he wasn’t in. Every one the friends then frowned in disappointment and simultaneously thought how this had been a recent trend of Gallus’s to blow them off. Before they could think of this anymore, however, the ring of the school bell soon filled every creature’s ears.
With a quickness that only a class of relived student could produce, the friendship students began gathering their supplies and filling out of the room. Some exited quickly and alone, needing to get to another class. Others hung back and waited for groups of friends to ultimately head over to lunch or another break together. Gallus’s own group of friends fell into this latter category, and he soon started to make his way over to join them.
“Hey, Gallus, could you stay behind for a bit?” Spike suddenly called out from the front of the room.
The students still there who weren’t Gallus or his friends let out the typical ‘ooh’s and ‘you’re in trouble’s that entertained them so greatly. The others not making fun of him were confused, if not slightly concerned, over Spike’s command.
Gallus’s path towards his friends ended rather abruptly as he stopped and turned towards the front of the classroom. Seeing Spike staring back at him with an expecting gaze, Gallus knew that he was serious. One exasperated sigh and eye roll towards his friends later, Gallus turned and slowly trudged towards where Spike was waiting. By the time he had reached the front of the room, the rest of his friends had finished gathering their things and were walking out themselves.
“We’ll save a seat for you in the Cafeteria!” Silverstream assured, as she and the rest of their group headed out. “Hope everything is okay!”
With a creaky closing of the classroom door, Spike and Gallus were finally left alone in the now silent room. Not wanting to stay in such a position longer than he had to, Gallus quickly addressed Spike.
“Well, you heard her. Is everything okay, teach?”
“Everything is fine with me. Thanks for asking!” Spike happily replied, failing to pick up on the griffin’s sarcasm.
“Cool, then why am I still here?”
Not even Spike’s cheerful disposition could combat his acquaintance's clear disdain over being held back. He hoped that the reaction was more of a product of not being able to get lunch with his friends.
“Well, Gallus, I may be okay,” Spike began, “but I know for a fact that everything isn’t alright with you.”
The small dragon’s words caught Gallus off guard. The nonchalant smirk that he loved to wear on his face quickly dissipated into a scowl of contemplation. Gallus’s eyes dropped to the floor and his attitude showed a clear disinterest.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m perfectly fine.”
The griffin spoke with a monotone pattern that let Spike know the exact opposite of what he was saying was the truth.
“Really? You don’t seem fine. In fact, you looked pretty distracted today in class.” A slight blush crept onto Gallus’s face as he realized he had been caught dozing off earlier.
“I’m sorry, okay. I just tuned out a little, no harm. Won’t happen again.”
Even though Spike could feel they were reaching a sensitive subject, Gallus’s nonchalant attitude still brought him a slight smirk.
“Can I go now?”
Spike’s smile then dropped and he let out a long sigh as he realized he needed to be more direct here.
“Look, Gallus, it’s obvious you haven’t been the same since what happened before the break.”
Spike’s revelation caused Gallus to let out a sigh of his own as he responded, “Like I told the Headmare and Professors, it’s okay. I know what I did looked bad and...”
“This isn’t about the actual act, Gallus, it’s...”
“AND I know my reasons painted a kinda bleak picture of how I think.” Gallus heightened his voice to cut off Spike, annoyed that he had been interrupted himself.
“But when my friends decided to stay with me, I...I felt better. I feel better. I’m fine.”
For the first time during their conversation, Spike detected actual sincerity in Gallus’s words. The griffin’s proclamation about his own experiences with the healing powers of friendship would have brought Spike to a tearful smile in any other circumstance. However, this case was not just about friendship.
“It looks like you’re seeing first hand what friendship can really do. I’m sure Twilight and the others would be proud...But it’s okay to admit that friendship isn’t enough sometimes.”
Gallus was quite taken aback by Spike’s statement. This was the first time while at the the school that he heard a member of faculty say something even remotely negative about friendship.
“What do you mean?”
A moment of silence between the two only increased the curiosity with which Gallus had asked his previous question. Looking upon Spike expectedly, Gallus was surprised once again to see that the dragon looked to be more uncomfortable with their conversation than he did.
“I...I know what you’re feeling. I know what you’re going through.”
“I sill don’t get what you’re talking about.” As much as he wanted to hide it, the collected composure Gallus prided himself on was beginning to crack.
“You’re not the only one who doesn’t have a family.”
He had said it. Gallus had been hoping, praying that he hadn’t gone there, but he had. Although he knew not talking about his lack of family forever was improbable, he didn’t think this was the time, place, or creature he was going to do it with.
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
“And you think I do!?”
Spike’s unexpected outburst caused Gallus to fearfully flinch. Spike was supposed to be his “teacher,” and here he was yelling at him while trying to talk about his personal life. Sensing that he may have just slightly crossed a line, Spike soon recoiled himself and immediately apologized.
“Sorry about that, really!? I just...I know it’s hard to talk about this. I hate talking about it myself. But sometime’s hard is good, it means it’s worth tackling, you know?”
“I guess...but I still would rather not...”
“Gallus.”
The sheer determination in Spike’s eyes as he spoke the griffin’s name convinced Gallus to at least try out his path of conversation. After a moment of thick silence, Gallus decided to give a cautionary response.
“You said you didn’t have a family either. Aren’t the Professors your family or whatever?”
“Would you consider your friends here your family?”
“I mean...I don’t...not like technically but...”
“But you want to see them that way. You want nothing more to call them your family. You want to so bad but you’re scared that if you do, they wont feel the same way. You think that no matter how close you are to your friends, you’ll still be alone.”
Gallus had been rendered utterly speechless by Spike’s grim depictions. He had just listened to this small, and quite frankly, still random dragon explain exactly what he was thinking.
“...Yeah.”
An unexpected smile now adorned Spike’s face, “Yeah, I’ve been there.”
“Huh?”
“You and I are a lot alike, you know? We’ve come to Equestria, either by choice or before we were born, and found happiness here among friends. We don’t want to go back, even if were not really home, because there’s nothing really back there for us.”
Again, Spike’s detailing of precisely what Gallus was feeling kept the griffin silent as this speech was being made.
“And for the most part, it’s fine. There’s always a way to busy yourself here, and pretend that you’re 100% happy with having great friends.”
“Then why does it still feel wrong?” Looking up at Gallus, Spike could see faint tears began to well up in his eyes. “Why does it feel like something’s missing?”
“Cause it is, Gallus. Friendship is amazing, we both know that. But family seems like it’s this perfect thing that every creature gets to have.”
“All my friends have family. They all get to have others who have to stick around. But I, uh, we don’t.”
“And that’s,” Spike began, grinning in anticipation of the truth he was about to drop. “where you’re wrong.”
“But you just said...”
“Gallus, man. You may have been at this School of Friendship for a while but there’s still a lot you gotta learn.”
The side of Gallus that innately resented being talked down to caused the griffin to display a tiny glare, yet he quickly retracted it out of respect for Spike.
“Like what?”
“Just cause you don’t have blood relatives or anyone like that doesn’t mean you don’t have those around you who love you unconditionally.”
“Doesn’t it, though? Friends don’t have to stick around. If you say the wrong thing or do something wrong, you can lose them.” Sensing many of the same worries Spike once had himself, he quickly spoke up to reassure the still pessimistic griffin.
“You’re afraid that your friends will leave you cause they’re not family.”
“That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“Why do you think your friends stuck with you for the entire break, even though you almost ruined their Holidays?”
Gallus had figured out that he really had great friends when they stayed with him during his “punishment.” However, it was only now did he consider the true magnitude of their decision to do so.
“That seems pretty unconditional to me,” Spike continued.
“I guess...and I appreciated what they did, but they still don’t know exactly... ”
“And what does it say that they chose you over their own families, just to make sure you weren’t alone.” Rather than becoming aggravated with another of Spike’s interruptions, this once made Gallus become more contemplative.
“They chose me? Over their families?”
“Yeah, Gallus. That’s the thing about family. It is always gonna be there for you, but that means you always know how important it is. Your friends, on the other hand, can only grow more and more important to you. There’s no limit to how much friendship can mean to someone.”
“But isn’t family supposed to be above friendship?”
“Friendship can be less than family, become family, and it can even surpass it. I know it’s tough, but it is possible to fill that hole with friendship and even have it overflow.” Spike’s last line was delivered with a refreshing humor, making it clear to Gallus that their conversation was on the up-track to being less heavy.
With the hard part seemingly out of the way, Gallus really took a moment to comprehend everything he had just been told. It was difficult to believe that his friends could just make up for not having a family of his own. But like Spike said, they could be his family. Or they could just help him. Or they could always be there for him. And that’s when it hit Gallus exactly what Spike was saying. Friendship could and would work here. It could help him with this because it was up to him and only him what family and friendship truly meant.
“I know I just said a lot and that you’re probably a little wary of everything, but...”
Spike’s admission was cut off abruptly as a blue blur suddenly hit his body. Halting his words, the surprised dragon looked up to see that Gallus had moved over to lean down and envelop him in a slightly awkward hug. Immediately, Spike smiled and returned the embrace in a comforting manor. Once he felt Spike get the message, Gallus retracted and bore quite the embarrassed look. Backtracking over to his previous position, he once again looked to Spike to continue speaking.
“I think I got at least a little bit through to you then?”
“Yeah, you did. A lot actually. You were right, this was pretty hard, but...thanks.”
“No problem, dude.” Spike now grinned with a vast warmth of pride and joy. “Now get outta here. You got lunch to get to. Your friends, or family, or whatever they mean to you, are waiting.”
With a smile that almost matched Spike’s in intensity, Gallus thankfully and wordlessly nodded towards Spike and turned away. Walking out the classroom door, Gallus stopped to take one last look back at Spike. What he saw was still an encouraging and helpful presence. Knowing now that he had Spike, and all of his friends, forever in his corner, Gallus headed off to lunch with a more optimistic view of the future.