Heart Burns
Smolder and Ocellus had both known each other for a little over two years. One was a dragoness who had a secret love for dresses while the other was a shy bookworm. Both of them had come out of their shells in their own ways, such as Smolder showing her affinity to dressing up and Ocellus had grown a backbone a couple of times. Both were happy to have come to the School of Friendship, not just because of meeting others like Gallus, Silverstream, Sandbar, and Yona, but for also meeting each other. The dragon and changeling both loved each other very much especially since with what they had been through. However, no relationship is perfect and the dragoness and changeling were about to have some conflict with each other.
One day, Smolder groaned as she woke up the sound of the school bell. The dragoness pulled her covers over her head as she didn’t want to return to class. Silverstream, her roommate, was already awake and about to grab some breakfast until she saw the dragoness pull the covers over her head.
“Smolder, come on,” the hippogriff said. “We’ve gotta head to our classes soon.”
“Can’t they give us one more day?” Smolder groaned.
“It’s been weeks since you know what happened. We’ve all gotten better now, so let’s go and be normal again.” Smolder just groaned as she wanted to stay in bed. “Hmm, alright. Suit yourself.” The hippogriff left the room as Smolder slowly crawled out of bed. She got up and walked down the hall to try not to miss breakfast.
She dragged her feet into the cafeteria and waited in line. Smolder wasn’t the only one who was trying to wake up as other students were still wanting the recovery vacation. Still, after getting something to eat got their blood sugar up and would help keep them awake through the day. Smolder picked up her tray and went to sit with her friends. Though, it appeared that a yak and a changeling seemed to be missing.
“Where are Yona and Ocellus?” Silverstream asked.
“Ocellus still has to be careful with her stitches,” Sandbar informed. "I think she’s going to have them removed soon.”
“Gotta be better than my condition,” Gallus muttered. He only had one reliable arm at the moment and had to move around in a wheelchair, which would require someone to push him from behind.
“Say, your physical therapy has been working, isn’t it?” Silverstream noted.
“Yeah, I know that,” Gallus chuckled. “I just wished it could go faster.” Soon, they saw Yona and Ocellus walking into the cafeteria, while Ocellus took a bit more time. She sat down at the table while Yona got their lunch. This gave her friends some time to talk to her roommate.
“Hi, Ocellus,” Sandbar greeted. “How are you feeling?” Sandbar greeted.
“A little uncomfortable when I put pressure on them,” Ocellus informed. "I haven’t been feeling too hot like the doctors warned, so that’s a good thing.”
“When are you getting them removed?” Silverstream asked.
"In a few days. I can’t get a good look at them. Can you guys tell me how they look?”
“Let me see.” Sandbar took a look at the changeling’s back and could see her stab wound was almost healed. “Yep, they all looked good enough,” he noted. “I’m sure once the stitches are gone we’ll barely notice it.”
The changeling smiled at this as Yona returned with their food. The changeling started eating the cereal she was brought when she noticed Smolder hadn’t said anything to her yet. “Um, Smolder, how are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine,” the dragoness grumbled. “Thanks.” She just shoveled food in her mouth given the feeling that she didn’t want to talk to anyone. It was a bit of an awkward breakfast, though most assumed it was just them getting back into their routine.
Classes were rather uneventful and a bore for most students who were enjoying their freedom yesterday. Smolder was awake by this point and did her best to focus, but she had something on her mind. As she got finished with her history class, Rarity called her to her desk for a minute. “Is there something wrong, Professor?” the dragoness asked.
“On the contrary,” Rarity said, "I was wondering if I could have a special dress made for you."
“Really?!” Smolder sounded excited about getting a new dress.
“After class is finished, meet me at the Boutique and we can get started. I’ve already gotten a head start with the base, and I just need your input for what you’d like to add.”
“Right, I’ll see you there!” Smolder walked out of the hall now excited for her new dress. She almost found herself skipping as she headed to her locker. After getting the books she needed she then saw Ocellus slowly getting her books. “Oh, hi, Celly.”
“Hey, Smolder,” the changeling said. “Feeling better now?”
"Um… Yeah. Sorry I didn’t say anything to you earlier. I’m just… wishing our vacation lasted a little longer. Then again we might as well turn this school into a hotel if that were to happen.” The changeling chuckled at this.
“Right… Plus, I kind of missed learning more about pony culture.”
“Didn’t you sign up for that train field trip yesterday?”
“I wanted to, but I was worried about putting stress on my stitches. I didn’t want to take a risk making my injury worse.”
“I understand that. Better safe than taking risks.” The dragoness and changeling walked with each other down the hallway together. “I hope you get those stitches out of your back soon.”
“Me too. At worst it feels kind of sore, especially when I’m lying on my back. I’ve just been sleeping on my chest for a while.”
“If they’ve been hurting you, shouldn’t you tell the school nurse?”
“I have. She says it shouldn’t be anything serious as long as the pain is bad.”
“Alright, then. And… You said you’ve not been feeling feverish?”
“Thankfully, no. You’ve been feeling better since we left the hospital, have you?”
“Of course. I mean, I only just needed some food in my stomach, that’s all.”
“Yeah. I wish I can fly or shapeshift again. You never know how much something is important when it’s gone.” Smolder couldn’t help agree to this. They stopped for a minute so they could share a hug.
“I’m just happy you’re okay.” Ocellus hugged her girlfriend back and could feel the love she was sharing.
“Me too.” Once they stopped hugging, the changeling had a question. “Want to hang out after class?”
“Um… Maybe later. Professor Rarity asked me if I wanted to meet with her after school to have a personal dress made. And I said yes.”
Ocellus was fairly disappointed about this but understood why Smolder would want a new dress. “If that’s the case, I hope you enjoy it.”
“I’m sure I will. …Thanks for understanding.” The dragoness rubbed the back of her head as she did feel a little guilty.
“It’s fine Smolder. Just have fun.” Ocellus walked away to get to her next class as Smolder did the same.
As the changeling headed to her class, she saw Tarsi writing on some paper, not looking where she was going. The orange changeling ended up bumping into the wall and dropping the papers and a pencil. “Ow,” Tarsi groaned, rubbing her nose.
She came forward towards her and quickly helped her pick up her materials. “Are you okay, Tarsi?”
“I’m alright,” Tarsi said, also picking up her supplies as well. “Thanks for your help.”
“You’re welcome,” Ocellus smiled. They finally got the stuff, and Tarsi grabbed them to make sure to be more careful again when walking. She then noticed the stitches on Ocellus’s back.
“Ocellus, how was your back doing?” she asked.
“Doing alright. In only a few days, these stitches will be removed, and I’ll be able to fly and shapeshift again.”
“Good to know,” Tarsi chuckled, happy to know that she’s recovering from the events before. She was about to walk away until Ocellus called her to stop for a moment.
“Just to ask, what are you doing with those papers in the first place?” Ocellus asked.
“Oh, I was just double-checking my test before I turn my project in.”
“Project? What project…”. Ocellus then paused as she remember what her fellow changeling was talking about. “Wait! What day is it?”
“Today is Tuesday. Why y…” Before Tarsi could ask why Ocellus made her way back to her dorm as fast as she could. Her stitches slowed her down a little bit but she made it to her dorm and found an unfinished paper on her desk. Before certain events happened, there was a test project for the students to turn in filled with everything they had learned over the semester. Ocellus had gotten started but because of being part of an adventure and the time she had to recover from her injury, she had completely forgotten about this.
“Oh man!!!” she muttered. “I completely forgot about this!” Ocellus then jumped when she heard the bell ring, signaling it was time for her next class. The changeling sighed and made her way to her next class, knowing she would have to work.
At lunch, Ocellus made it to lunch and got her tray. When she sat down with her friends, they could see she was upset and they found out about the report she had forgotten about.
“Is it that project you forgot?” Silverstream said, and Ocellus nodded. “Ooh, that bites.”
“I hope I have an excuse because of my arms,” Gallus muttered.
“I think I’ll be able to finish it in time,” Ocellus said. “I’m going to be busy for the whole day or so.”
“Ocellus can’t do physical activities,” Yona noted. “This may be best option for changeling?”
“Yeah, I guess.” The students then heard some chattering from outside the doors and saw Smolder walk into the cafeteria with Pyther and Coral.
“Can’t believe you’re getting your own dress,” Pyther commented. “So envious.”
“Well... The reasons were for... You know,” Smolder spoke.
“We get it,” Coral commented. “You don’t have to tell us that.” She didn’t want to remember those events. The girls got their lunches and sat at their respective tables.
Smolder sat with her friends and could tell something was off. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?” the dragoness asked.
“Nothing… It’s fine,” Ocellus groaned. She didn’t feel like talking now.
“…Okay. So, what plans do you all have?”
“Once Gally recovers, I’m thinking we’d have a pool party for the weekend,” Silverstream proclaimed.
“It would be refreshing to do something other than sitting here on my wheelchair and physical therapy,” Gallus admitted.
“Not to mention I heard that Griffonstone is being rebuilt as we speak,” Sandbar noted. “That’s a plus.” The friends had to agree to this, even Gallus. Lunch was pretty uneventful, though Ocellus knew that she had a lot of work to do.
When classes were over, students went off to do their own things. Some of them, like Ocellus, planned on finishing their homework as soon as possible. Smolder managed to spot her before she went into her dorm.
“Hey, Celly,” the dragoness said. “I’m about to head to the boutique. You want me to… pick you up anything while I’m out?”
“No thanks, Smolder,” Ocellus responded. “I’m good right now.”
“…Okay.” Smolder left after noticing an awkward silence. She then walked away leaving her girlfriend to do her project. Ocellus sat at her desk and started writing where she had left off.
While she did that, Smolder made it to the boutique, where Rarity would be waiting for her. The mare was just setting some papers aside when the student from the Dragon Lands walked in.
“Ah, Smolder, you’re here,” Rarity said. “I didn’t expect you to be here so early.”
“Well, I didn’t have anything better to do. Plus, I was also excited about that dress.”
“Then follow me. I’ll show it to you.” The pony and dragoness walked upstairs to where Rarity prepared her dresses. To Smolder’s surprise, there looked to be a mannequin wearing the base for a dress, the mannequin itself looked more like a bipedal creature such as a dragon rather than the usual pony.
“Woah! Where did you get this?”
Rarity looked at the new mannequin and gave an explanation. “This? I’ve been wanting to expand my fashion design since we’ve found out about the Minotaur Village. I’ve ordered some new mannequins for bipedal creatures like you since I doubt we can make the pony one work.” The generous mare then removed the base from the new model and had Smolder slip it on.
“Okay, now what?”
“Now you get to pick your color.” Rarity held up some rolls of silk that showed various colors. Smolder looked at them until she picked the red one.
“I choose this one,” Smolder said, pointing at the color red.
“Good choice. That’ll bring your eyes out.”
Rarity soon fired up her sewing machine and got to work. She double-checked Smolder’s measurements before cutting the silk to the right lengths then attaching them to the base. As she worked, Smolder looked to have something on her mind. When Rarity noticed her looking down, the student just said that it was nothing important, though it was a bit far from the truth.
When the sun started going down, Smolder’s dress was just being finished up. Rarity stood back and looked at her handiwork. “Ah, a lovely piece of work,” the mare commented.
The dress hugged Smolder’s body as it had a nice shade of red and pink with sleeves and just went past her shoulders. The dragoness gave her dress a twirl as she looked in a nearby mirror.
“This looks perfect!” Smolder beamed.
“I’m happy you like it. I just need to finish some things up. I’ll make sure to bring it over to school tomorrow.”
Smolder thanked her professor, handed her the unfinished dress, then hurried back to school. When she got there, the dragoness looked around for her friends. She started with Ocellus who she found was still writing on her report. The changeling looked tired as she didn’t look up from her paper until she heard the knock at the door. Ocellus looked back to see Smolder standing by the door.
“Oh, hi Smolder,” the changeling said, sounding tired. “Where’s your dress?”
“Still at Rarity’s boutique,” the dragoness explained. “She needs to add the finishing touches. Anyways, how long have you been working on that?”
Ocellus looked down at her paper, which was close to being finished. “Since classes were out.”
“You’ve been working on that for 3 hours?”
“It’s not that bad. I think I can finish by…” The changeling paused as she let out a yawn. “…by tomorrow.”
“How about we get something to eat? You looked hungry already.” Ocellus nodded and Smolder grabbed her hoof and the two of them walked to the cafeteria.
When they got there, they saw that the rest of the young six hadn’t shown up yet. It would just be the two of them at their table. Since she was away for a short while, Ocellus decided to start a conversation. “So… if you’re getting a new dress, does that mean we’ll be having another tea party soon?”
Smolder liked this idea. “Once you’re free from that homework, we’ll have one at the treehouse,” she suggested. The dragoness started eating her food as Ocellus shared a thought.
“You know, Smolder, I’m very happy for you since you shared your love of dressing up. You don’t have to hide anything like that now.” Smolder chuckled though Ocellus didn’t know everything she knew about. Nothing else was said until Gallus showed up being pushed by Silverstream. She left him with their two friends while she got some dinner for the both of them.
“Anything I miss?” the griffon asked.
“Nothing too important,” Smolder answered. “How was physical therapy going?”
“Getting better. The doctor says in the best-case scenario, I should be able to walk again in about… three days. He didn’t say anything about my wings yet.”
“You’ll get there,” Silverstream reassured. She had returned with their meals and sat beside her boyfriend. Sandbar and Yona showed up shortly after and sat down once they got something to eat.
“It’s nice to know you’re getting better, Gallus,” Sandbar said. “How about you, Ocellus?”
“My injury still has a few more days to go,” the changeling answered. “My parents said they would show up when the day comes.”
“If parents come one day, then friends will know,” Yona spoke. This comment made Ocellus giggle a little bit.
“Thankfully, there haven’t been any effects that the doctor warned me about. No major pain, nor fevers, and swelling, everything seems alright.”
“Just keep it that way until your parents visit,” Gallus said. He looked a little down after saying this, even with Sandbar and Silverstream comforting him.
Smolder wasn’t in the mood to chat, she just focused on her tray and hardly looked up. Yona was the only one who noticed this as Ocellus was rather tired and Gallus was being comforted by Sandbar and Silverstream. The yak tried getting her attention, but Smolder didn’t even glance up. Yona was tempted to try other methods, but those would likely upset Gallus and Ocellus to their injuries. Because of this, Yona said nothing for the moment.
Smolder was actually pretty quiet for most of the night. She usually only speak with one creature, usually Ocellus. She often kept up a happy face whenever she was around other creatures, but when she was alone, she looked quite upset. When it was time to sleep, Smolder headed straight to bed. Silverstream figured that she wanted to get some sleep so she wouldn’t be so tired the next day.
It didn’t look like it worked, given how the dragoness groaned when she heard the bell. Silverstream flew up to her roommate to try and wake her up. Smolder responded by tossing a pillow at the hippogriff, who didn’t have time to dodge it. “Hey!” Silverstream cried.
“Just let me sleep a little more,” Smolder grumbled. Silverstream didn’t want to waste her time trying to get her roommate up now. She just left Smolder to sleep a little longer, perhaps… too long. A little while later, the young dragon was woken up to the sound of Applejack banging on her door. The student was startled awake and looked to see the farm pony standing in the doorway.
“Pardon me for interrupting your slumber,” Applejack spoke, “But it’s time for class.” The dragoness crawled out of bed, still tired, cranky, and hungry.
She was like this for most of the day, not wanting to talk with anyone else. Most times when she did respond to anyone they were just grunts. Her empty stomach also caused bits of annoyance to her to the point where she could even feel pain.
By the time it was lunch, Smolder made a beeline to the cafeteria, nearly bumping into a few creatures. The dragoness waited impatiently in line as some creatures had managed to beat her to the punch. When it was finally her turn to get something, Smolder stacked up everything she could onto one tray. Then she carried the unstable stack of food over to the table with her friends. Smolder soon started stuffing her face before anyone could ask her how she was doing.
Once she started slowing down, Gallus spoke up. “So, you think you could’ve avoided this if you got up for breakfast?” he asked smugly.
Smolder only glared at him, letting some smoke shoot out of her nose in annoyance before swallowing her now burnt food. “He has a point,” Silverstream noted. “I did try to get you up before you threw a pillow at me.”
“…What?” Ocellus questioned.
“When I was trying to wake her up,” Silverstream started explaining, “she threw a pillow at me, and just lay herself down, not wanting to get up… and that’s about it.”
“Smolder,” Sandbar spoke, “I get that you wanted to sleep longer, but was that necessary?”
“Hey, you’d be at your boiling if you had trouble sleeping,” Smolder retorted.
“Friend have trouble sleeping?” Yona questioned. Like the rest of her friends, she was very confused.
“Just…. Just let me!” Smolder grabbed her bowl of soup and started drinking it down.
“Uhh… you know you’re going to give yourself a stomach ache,” Ocellus warned.
“Dragons are tough, I’ll be fine. No worries!” And the dragoness carried on sucking down her food like a tornado.
Halfway through lunch, Smolder slowed down as she was feeling full. Too full perhaps. Even though she stopped, Smolder could feel her stomach stretching. She held her belly as she groaned as her friend simply watch.
Gallus gave a smug grin. “I think is where Celly says, ‘I told you so’,” he chuckled.
“Shut up, Gallus!” Smolder groaned while in pain.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ocellus asked. “You’ve been acting differently lately.”
“I’m fine! I just missed breakfast, got hungry, and now I overcompensated!”
“…How about we give you some space until you feel relaxed?” Sandbar suggested. Smolder completely agreed with this. She got up from the table walked off to the hallway, leaving her confused and concerned friends behind.
“Friend act like after leaving hospital, right?” Yona asked.
“That could’ve been when this started,” Gallus guessed.
“But she didn’t have any treatment like you or Ocellus,” Sandbar reminded. “She just needed some food.”
“Maybe magic gems have side effects,” Yona guessed.
“I mean, I haven’t had any trouble sleeping,” Gallus noted.
“Maybe it’s something else,” Ocellus guessed.
Ocellus would try and investigate Smolder’s behavior. Whenever she tried to talk with her girlfriend, the dragoness would usually give some sort of excuse, like wanting to focus on their lessons or she was looking for a book. Talking to her girlfriend right now would be wasting as much time as arguing with a brick wall. Near the end of school, Ocellus decided to focus on something she could actually make progress on, like her project.
The last bell of the day rang, and Ocellus was putting the final touches on her project. While she did this, Rarity met up with Smolder. “Ah, Smolder, glad we have a chance to talk,” the mare spoke. She showed her student a small box she brought with her and opened it up to reveal Smolder’s new dress.
The dragoness gazed at the new outfit as she took it out of the box. She flew back to her dorm to try it on again. Once she did, Smolder got a mirror and looked at herself. “WOW, this looks so good!” Smolder commented to herself. “I’ve gotta show this off.” And so Smolder left her dorm and went to find her friends.
As this happened, Ocellus was just finishing her report and took a minute to proofread it. After fixing a few mistakes, her report was finally finished. “Finally, that’s one less thing I have to worry about,” Ocellus said to herself.
She took her paper and went to turn it in. Ocellus would be taking her time, being cautious of her stitches. What she didn’t know was that she and Smolder were on a collision course with each other. To make matters worse, Grace the griffon was flying beside Frida the yak, who was pulling a wagon that had a wobbly wheel that was carrying something that was covered up.
“Frida, are you sure we had to use this wagon?” Grace asked.
“This only wagon yak find,” Frida responded.
“I know that, but…”. Grace looked at the wobbly wheel, which made the wagon’s cargo rattle. “This doesn’t seem stable.” Grace had a right to worry as they were heading towards Smolder and Ocellus.
The dragon and changeling stopped when they met each other. Ocellus was amazed at the new dress. “Wow!” she gasped, “Professor Rarity made that for you?”
“She sure did,” Smolder confirmed. She gave a twirl so her friend could get a look at it. “Think it’ll be good for a tea party?”
“Oh, definitely. Maybe we can have one later, I just need to turn in this paper and I can relax.” The two turned their heads when they heard the squeak of the wagon’s wheel. Just as Frida and Grace walked past the two girls, the wagon wheels snapped off, making the unknown cargo rattle a bit and some orange powder escaped underneath the tarp.
“Ah man,” Grace groaned. Smolder bent down to lift up the wagon as Ocellus found the wheel, and quickly helped to reattach it.
“Girls, I think you should find a new wagon,” the changeling recommended. “This wheel is getting wobbly.” Grace and Frida agreed to this and carefully took the wagon away. After they left, Ocellus was about to pick up her papers when Smolder’s nose started twitching. She rubbed her eyes as they started watering up just before she let out a sneeze without warning. The sneeze made her let out a breath of fire, hitting Ocellus’s papers.
Out of fear, the changeling dropped her project, which ended up making contact with the dress. Since dragons were fireproof, Smolder didn’t have to worry about third-degree burns. Still, she freaked out with her dress going up in flames. Timber Sparks, a kirin, was passing by when she saw the out-of-control flames. She ran to get the nearest liquid, which was a pitcher of lemonade from the lounge, ran back to the scene of the disaster, extinguishing the dress and papers.
“That was close,” Timber Sparks said to herself.
The fire was out, but the papers and dresses were burned and soaked. “My homework!” Ocellus cried.
“My dress!” Smolder shrieked.
Both creatures heard what each other said and each let out a confused and annoyed, “What?”
“Smolder, I worked hard on this paper and it’s due soon!” Ocellus exclaimed, releasing out her frustrations.
“Well, this dress was a gift from Rarity,” Smolder retorted. “I can’t believe it’s all soaked and burned!”
“You can live without another dress. I’ve got to start my paper all over again!”
“I only have one dress to wear. Besides, after everything we’ve been through, I think I deserve one last thing especially after my sleeping troubles.”
Timber Spark could detect that something was wrong, but the argument had already gotten heated up and her species weren’t the best with dealing with arguments. She just walked away from the two creatures and tried to find something to keep her busy, like make more lemonade. This didn’t stop Smolder and Ocellus from arguing with each other. Creatures could hear the argument from outside of the school. Students inside poked their heads around the corner to see what was going on.
After five minutes of fighting, Sunburst saw and approached them, and was determined to put a stop to it. “Okay, that’s enough!” the stallion proclaimed. He used his levitation to push the two creatures apart. “Tell me, what’s going on here."
“Smolder burnt my report to a crisp!” Ocellus proclaimed.
“You decided to drop on my dress,” Smolder reminded. “Couldn’t have you just levitated the paper?”
“You could’ve sneezed in any direction, but you chose to sneeze on my papers!”
“Break it up!” Sunburst shouted, and the two stopped arguing. “Smolder, take care of your dress. Ocellus, we’ll talk about the issue of your paper.” The dragoness snorted off as the vice head-pony took Ocellus to the office with what remained of her report.
Both dragon and changeling were still upset about what happened when evening rolled around. When it came time for them to sit together at lunch, Ocellus instead went to sit at a different table. The four friends were confused by this. “Why Ocellus sit there?” Yona asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Smolder asked.
She started eating when Sandbar asked the question, “What happened earlier today?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Oh, so you screaming at each other doesn’t count as something?” Gallus asked smugly. Smolder let some fire escape her nose to try and warn Gallus to back off.
“Gallus, stop it. Smolder’s in a bad mood as it is,” Sandbar stated. “I’m going to try and talk with Ocellus.” The colt got up and took his tray over to where Ocellus was sitting.
The changeling looked at her friend, slightly surprised to see him. "Oh, hey Sandbar," she said.
“Hey, Celly. Why are you sitting over here.”
The changeling’s expression turned into one of frustration as she looked down at her meal. “Smolder and I got in a fight because she sneezed out fire on my last-minute paper and I dropped it on her new dress.”
“Yikes!”
“Yeah. Now, I have to start all over again. It’s a good thing I’ve been given an extra week to finish.”
“Uh-huh. Listen, I’m sure that Smolder couldn’t help it. Stuff like that happens.”
“The sneeze, I could understand… Blaming me for ruining her dress… is something that’s uncalled for. I’m not immune to fire like her, how am I supposed to react when the thing I’m holding combusts?”
“We all make mistakes, so has Smolder. Besides, I think her anger has been building for a while.” Across the table from them, Pate the changeling and his girlfriend, Shimmy Shake, one of the cheerleaders, were just sitting and listening to their conversation.
“Should we get involved?” Pate asked.
“Until they ask us for advice, I say we should stay out of it,” Shimmy Shake recommended. So the two just remained quiet and stayed out of the conversation.
“Smolder was probably in the wrong mind at the moment,” Sandbar noted. “Give her some time to cool off and we’ll try having this conversation again.” Ocellus sighed as she took her friend’s advice. She focused on her meal for the time being as she wondered what she would say to Smolder.
The dragoness, on the other hand, was still annoyed. Since nobody was wanting to speak with her, she was still thinking she was in the right. Her friends felt like they would be talking a brick wall right now so they just enjoyed their food. Smolder was still grumpy when she went to her dorm room. Silverstream didn’t say anything to her and tried to do some painting. After a while, the dragoness had gone to sleep, giving her roommate some bit of piece.
It was the crack of dawn when Silverstream could hear some groaning. She woke up from the noise and looked to see Smolder tossing and turning in her sleep. The hippogriff tried shaking her roommate awake and was met with a claw to the face. Smolder looked around the room and saw Silverstream standing by her side. The dragoness pulled the covers over her head and tried going back to sleep.
“…Are you okay, Smolder?” Silverstream asked.
“What do you think?!” Smolder groaned. “Just let me sleep!”
“But… it looked like you were having a nightmare or something.”
“Maybe I did. Mind your own business!” Smolder grabbed a pillow, threatening to throw it again. Silverstream just backed off and waited until it was time for breakfast.
Silverstream stayed away from her roommate, who looked to be a little more on edge today. She looked like she would snap at anyone who would bug her. She reported what she had seen happen earlier to her friends. “Okay, we need to have her talk,” Gallus affirmed.
“Agreed, but we have to play it smart,” Sandbar noted. “We don’t want her to be mad.”
“She threatened to throw a pillow at her. I’m sure she’s crossed the line miles ago.” The friends then looked over to Smolder, who wanted to sit alone. Since every table had at least one student sitting at them, Smolder took her tray out of the cafeteria and went to eat in her dorm room. Ocellus sat down with her friends after seeing her girlfriend.
“I know what you’re thinking,” the changeling said. “I’ve been thinking about what I’d say to her.”
“Friends have to get Smolder to calm down,” Yona noted.
“During recess, after class.”
“You think you’d figure out what else is bothering her?” Silverstream asked. “Something had to be causing her dreams to be bad.” Ocellus took note of this and hoped that she could get her girlfriend to see some sense.
They then heard the sound of someone blowing their nose. They looked over to see Peridot, one of the dragons, wiping her nose with a tissue. “Perri okay?” Yona asked.
“I’m okay,” Peridot responded. “Just a runny nose.” The dragoness walked off as Ocellus started thinking. Peridot hadn’t shown any signs of sickness yesterday, did she miss something?
Smolder, meanwhile, just groaned and moaned throughout the day. She was still angry about what happened and she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She’d only listen to her teachers and ignore everyone else. It kind of felt like it was more about the dress.
After their first two classes, Ocellus met up with her girlfriend to try and talk with her. “Smolder, listen… we might’ve overreacted last night,” the changeling spoke. The dragoness stood there with her arms crossed as it didn’t look like she was fully listening. “Please, we’re going to get nothing done if we keep acting like this. Just talk to me… just once.”
Smolder looked away for a moment and kind of looked like she had something on her mind. She placed her claw on her head and quickly ran off. Ocellus cried out to her, but the dragoness didn’t stop. The changeling would’ve chased her, but she was concerned about her stitches enough already. Ocellus would just have to catch Smolder in a way where she couldn’t escape. Then, she had an idea.
Smolder was just checking her locker, wondering when cheerleading practice would start again when she heard the PA system activate. “Would Smolder please report to Trixie’s office?” it announced, “I repeat… Smolder, please report to Trixie’s office. Thank you.” Confused, the dragoness followed orders and headed to the counselor’s office.
When she got to the office, Smolder could see Trixie sitting at her desk and Ocellus sitting on the sofa. “Welcome,” the unicorn spoke, “Please, have a seat.” Smolder walked over to the sofa and sat beside Ocellus. “Now, I’ve been told about your anger lately. Ocellus has asked me to help put a stop to it.”
The dragoness just groaned, signaling she didn’t want to be here. “Smolder, please! If you keep acting like this, you’re going to get in trouble,” Ocellus warned. “Just listen to Counselor Trixie, will you?” The grumpy dragon groaned and sat back.
“Now, I heard this started from something to do with a dress. Rarity has told me about the damages to it and Ocellus’s test. I have a feeling that sneezing like that at your home is fine since you don’t have anything that can catch on fire. But here, you must take more caution.”
“I couldn’t help it,” Smolder grumbled. “My nose was twitching and my eyes were itchy simultaneously.”
“Understandable. However, you shouldn’t blame Ocellus for what happened to your dress.” Smoke escaped from the student’s nose from her frustration. Ocellus tried to keep her cool. “Ocellus, would you mind telling us how you feel about it?”
The changeling explained her feelings. “I was furious at first,” she said, “but I should’ve known something like this would happen. I should not have dropped my assignment on your dress, and I’ll happily make it up to you.” Smolder didn’t say anything.
“I believe this is where you respond,” Trixie noted. Again, Smolder remained silent.
“Come on, Smolder, don’t be like this.”
“Be like what?” Smolder asked, “Upset over something that was a gift to me?”
“I worked hard on that assignment. How do you think I feel?” While she was trying to stay calm, Ocellus was getting more furious.
“It’s just a paper that shows how smart you are. Anyone could’ve written that.”
“That’s not how these tests work,” Trixie commented, but her words fell on deaf ears.
"Smolder, that test is worth a good amount of my grade," Ocellus stated, “Have you ever been working on yours?”
“I finished it a while ago,” the dragoness shrugged.
“It’s like you don’t even care. Is that what it’s like?”
“Hey, it’s more complicated than that.”
“Then tell me why!”
Smolder clearly had something to hide but she was made sure that they wouldn’t be found out. “Well... What about you? You weren’t fully clear on why you’d be destroyed about becoming Chrysalis.”
Trixie was confused by those words that seemed to strike a nerve to the young changeling. “…Say that again?”
“You heard me! I came out with my love of dresses, something embarrassing and would make me a laughing stock of my own kind, but you were never clear with why you were scared of being a queen like her.”
Ocellus’s eyes watered up as she began stumbling over her words. “That’s… A dress is… Chrysalis… She… You don’t…” Tears began streaming down her face before she let out a furious screech and smashed her hooves on the table, which made Trixie and Smolder jump in fright. Thank goodness it didn’t break. “Screw you Smolder! I was only here to help you, but then you just blurted out those words at me! What kind of stupid greedy dragon that only slacks off during projects like this!? You’re very rude… and… and… AHH!!! THAT’S IT!!! OUR BOND ENDS NOW! I’LL NEVER SEE YOUR SCALY FACE AGAAAAIN!!!”
With that, Ocellus stormed out of the office weeping all the way. Smolder, after hearing her insults, immediately regretted her actions, but it was too late to apologize. She turned to an unimpressed Trixie.
“I think you should just return to your dorm,” the mare spoke. “Not an order, but the best decision to make.”
Smolder didn’t say anything and just slowly walked back to her room. She passed a couple of students, none of which said anything to her. They muttered some words, most of them about what they thought Smolder said to Ocellus. They weren’t exactly accurate, it still hit Smolder harder than anything that could hurt a dragon.
She lied on her bed with tears flowing from her eyes and stared up thinking about what she could’ve said differently. If only she had controlled her temper and accepted Ocellus’s apology. Smolder nearly jumped when the door burst open. Yona had broken in and the rest of the young six followed her, minus Ocellus. Sandbar and Silverstream had concerned looks while Yona and Gallus were fuming. “We’re talking, now!” Gallus stated.
Smolder knew she wouldn’t slip out of this one. She simply stood up and spoke, “You heard what happened to Ocellus?” she asked.
“Heard about what?” Yona asked. “Ocellus run past friends crying!”
“What did you do?” Silverstream asked.
“If you did something to…” Gallus was cut off by Sandbar.
“Guys, getting angry isn’t going to help,” the colt stated. “We might as well add more wood to a forest fire if we do that.” Gallus and Yona calmed down and Sandbar walked up to her. “You’re not going to feel better if you don’t tell us what’s wrong.”
Smolder knew her friend was right, so she spoke up. “It started after we got back from the mission we’ve completed,” she spoke. The gang was a group that the students didn’t want to remember at all.
“Oh… That could explain it,” Gallus muttered.
“So they’re responsible for your nightmare?” Silverstream asked.
“Yeah,” Smolder sighed. She took a deep breath before she explained her dream. “It starts out with me… waking up in chains… and a muzzle. I struggle to break free and often fail. I can only see creatures pass by the bars from the outside. Sometimes…, Ocellus would show up… and stay by my side to help keep me calm. But... Last night, it was different.”
“Go ahead, tell us more,” Sandbar said.
“…Celly… stayed by my side, until... the bars opened and were taken away.” Smolder began breathing heavily as she looked tense, and more teardrops flowed from her eyes as she was about to cry. “We were… taken to a room… with two tables… were strapped down to… Gideon was there. He was in a surgeon’s outfit… He had a scalpel and… Ocellus was scared. A mask was put on her face and… She passed out. Gideon and… He… He just…”
“Smolder,” Gallus interrupted. "I think we get it. We can figure out the rest.” Whoever was first in that situation, it would be enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine.
“So that’s why you’ve been so cranky lately,” Sandbar commented. “You haven’t slept properly.”
“I know,” Smolder wept. “I wished I could explain that to Celly, but now she doesn’t want to talk to me ever again. This is all my fault!”
Her friends were silent for a minute before Gallus spoke up. “You can fix this Smolder,” he noted. “We just need to find Ocellus and tell her about why you were so angry.”
Smolder managed to crack a smile. “Thanks, guys. I’m sorry you had to put up with my attitude.”
"It’s okay, Smolder," Silverstream said giving her friend a comforting hug. The friends split up to find her, Gallus would stay at the school as he said he’d just slow them down.
Silverstream was about to leave the school when she saw Peridot with her twin sister, Emerald. Perri’s eyes were puffy and mucus was escaping her nose. Emerald was doing much better since she was wearing a facemask. “What happened to you?” the hippogriff asked, concerned.
Perri didn’t respond, she just blew her nose into a tissue, leaving a scorch mark on it. “I have no idea why she’s sick,” Emerald explained. "I’m taking her to the nurse’s office, and then we’ll figure out why Perri’s like this.”
"Okay. Get well soon." Peridot managed to smile from this as she slowly followed her sister to the nurse. Silverstream was perplexed until she carried on until she met up with Frida and Grace. Silverstream stopped beside them and told them how Peridot was doing.
“Still sick?” Grace asked. Silverstream nodded. “Maybe she caught a bad bug,” Grace guessed.
“Or caught flu from other creature,” Frida guessed.
“Who knows,” Silverstream responded. “Right now, I’m just looking for Ocellus, have you seen…” She passed as she looked to the window sill. There was a flower tray sitting there with three orange trees, with flowers that looked familiar to the hippogriff. “Hold on… where did you get those trees?”
Frida and Grace looked to the window and the yak was happy to explain. “Grace and yak find trees in Everfree Forest,” she said. “Yak like look of trees and brought them back to school to try and grow them for friends.”
Grace picked up one of the extra trees that they had in a spare flower pot. “Do you like them?” the griffon asked. “I can give you one if you want.”
Silverstream looked nervous. “You girls never heard of Dragon Sneeze Trees, right?” she asked. Frida and Grace shook their heads, but the name sounded pretty obvious. “You’re holding it right now. Peridot sneezed a lot because of that. Their pollen is what makes those dragons made more allergic. If a dragon contacts to that pollen, then… chaos happens. Just like Peridot… or Smolder.” Both Grace and Frida started feeling guilty after hearing her explanation.
“Frida didn’t know what trees did,” the yak stated, "What friends do?"
“We should tell Headmare Starlight about this.” The girls decided to leave the trees in the dorm and close the door then went to report this to their Headmare.
Meanwhile, Smolder went to look for Ocellus by starting with the Treehouse of Harmony. She had to travel through the Everfree Forest before, so she can handle it. “Celly?” she called out. “Celly! I’m sorry! I should’ve told you why I was upset, but... I just didn’t know how to tell you.” Smolder could almost feel herself crying, but she wasn’t that upset, not yet at least. Her eyes started stinging and her throat started to itch.
Smolder began to cough, letting out some breaths of fire. Her nose twitched as she felt like she was going to sneeze. She didn’t feel like this unless she was around... “Dragon Sneeze Trees?” There were the said trees growing in a scattered patch. They were all only the size of her horns, but the number of them was enough to produce the pollen to mess with a dragon of her size.
The young dragoness tried to stay from the trees, but there looked to be more trees than she expect. In her haste to get away, she didn’t look where she went and collided headfirst into one of the young trees. Now with a face full of pollen, Smolder coughed and wheezed until she let out a massive sneeze, letting out a huge blaze of fire at one of the fully grown trees.
She can barely see and her nose was stuffed up now. Smolder could still hear and what she heard was a fire crackling. She knew what happened, a forest fire was about to break out. Smolder would do something to stop it, but she couldn’t see properly so walking or even flying for help was out of the question. All Smolder could do was stand there and cough out the pollen, which in turn made her spew more fire, making the problem worse.
Just when she thought the forest was going to go up in smoke, a spray of water soaks at her, and the burning trees. With her eyes no longer stinging, Smolder could make out a blue elephant spraying the fire by spraying water out of its trunk. A figure the size of a pony approached the blinded Smolder to help her get up. “You seem to be in a mess,” the figure spoke, “But I have a feeling you’ve been under some stress.”
Smolder recognized the voice. “Z… Zecora?” she wheezed.
“These plants have some harm to you, and the pollen needs to be out of your system, and some tea will do.” She hold her claw and helped her away from the Dragon Sneeze Trees. The unknown elephant followed behind a bright flash surrounded it.
After getting to Zecora’s hut, the dragoness was given some tea to drink. It helped flush the pollen out of her system and her vision started clearing up. She could finally see the zebra and her other guest, Ocellus. Smolder was surprised to see her. She thought that her girlfriend didn’t even want to be around her, and while Ocellus looked rather annoyed, she was still concerned.
Neither one of them spoke first so Zecora did that for them. “You two seem to have trouble, but there who has an issue that makes them double,” she spoke.
Ocellus gave a low brow to the dragoness who held up her claw in response. “Ocellus, I… I… I should’ve explained myself to you,” Smolder spoke. She began explaining the dream she had and the changeling was more sympathetic.
“Why didn't you tell me about your nightmares?” the changeling asked.
“You were already under enough stress with your stitches. I thought if I told you, it would’ve made things worse. Yet, I did make things worse… because I was as opaque as mud.” Smolder put down her mug of tea and placed her claws on her lap. Ocellus placed her hoof on her shoulder.
“You can always tell me what’s bothering you. If there is any trouble we can make it through together.” The changeling hugged her girlfriend who still felt guilty.
Smolder sighed sadly. “At least you got to do something.”
Ocellus let go as she was confused. “What are you talking about?”
“When we’re in the gang’s base, everyone was doing something. You… pretended to be Guy, Gallus and Silverstream tried to get on the good side of their members, Sandbar helped raise hope for the miners, Yona played a part in the prison break… but all I could is sit in my cage and starve till death.” Smolder held her legs as she felt more guilty than before. “I could’ve done something more if I could’ve gotten out, but I was stuck there, feeling weak and hopeless.” The dragoness almost sounded like crying.
Ocellus felt sorry for her and understood how she felt. “Smolder, if there was something you could’ve done, you would do it. Those creatures had weapons that were made to kill dragons. It would’ve been safer if you stayed out of their way. I wouldn’t know what we do if you… got seriously hurt.”
“Like you did?” Smolder pointed to the stitches, which Ocellus understood.
“That wasn’t something we expected to happen. Smolder, don’t be worried about what happened. Something could’ve been worse, we might not have made it out of there.” The dragoness shuttered at that thought.
“You were… you were pretty brave during that time."
“It was... terrifying. I couldn’t trust anyone other. I was lucky to meet creatures like Quartz and… unexpectedly… Gallus’s parents.”
“Yeah. A shame they were forced into that place.” Both creatures stayed quiet for a minute before Smolder continued.
“I’m sorry for comparing you to Chrysalis,” the dragoness apologized, "It was completely uncalled for. I just… I didn’t want to tell you about the nightmares… Why’d I think that’d be better?!”
“You were under a lot of stress. And I don’t think I’d want to share a nightmare like that." Ocellus went for another hug which Smolder did the same action. “I’m sorry for throwing my insults to you. I was just so mad… and I can’t handle things like this. I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did.”
“It’s okay, Celly…”
“Let’s go back. It can’t be good for you to be close to so many trees that make you sneeze.”
Both students said goodbye to Zecora and took the long way back to school to avoid the Dragon Sneeze Trees. When they got back, to school, they could see Starlight helping Silverstream, Grace, and Frida take care of some trash bags, which Smolder could smell something that she had been trying to avoid. "What’s going on?" Ocellus asked.
“We found some Dragon Sneeze Trees and dug them up,” Grace explained. “We didn’t know what they were and just plant them and put them somewhere when they were fully grown, and that’s where Silverstream came in and explained everything about them.”
“You saw those trees too?” Smolder asked, holding her nose.
“Frida didn’t know,” Frida protested, trying to defend herself. “Yak just found tree interesting.”
“It’s alright, Frida. It’s not your fault for not knowing it.” Starlight noted and then turned to Grace. “Especially you, Grace. Just let me know next time you find a strange unknown plant.” Starlight tossed the bag into the trash. “Now, you said there were more of these in the Everfree Forest?”
“We saw a couple of them,” Ocellus noted. “Smolder almost started a forest fire because of them.” The dragoness confirmed this and the problem seemed worse than before.
“Oh, dear. No dragon should ever get near to them. I’ll let Princess Twilight know about this. It could be serious. Smolder, stay indoors until further notice.” The dragoness listened to this order and walked along with her girlfriend towards Ocellus’s dorm.
When they got there, Ocellus sat on her bed. “So, I guess you won’t be able to come with me when I got my stitches removed,” the changeling sighed.
“It seems like it,” Smolder commented. “It’s for the best.”
“I know. My parents will be here soon.”
“Yeah, that’s good.” Smolder then had an idea. “Maybe… I could plan something for you when you get back.”
“Like what?”
Smolder had a cheeky look on her face. “How about I make it a surprise?” The dragoness giggled a little bit as the changeling smiled.
“As long as it’s a nice surprise, Smolder.”
“Don’t worry, it will be good.” The two shared another hug before Smolder left the dorm room to make some plans and tell her friends that she and Ocellus made up with each other.
A few days later, it was Saturday. Ocellus was with Smolder in the library when they heard the PA make an announcement. “Would Ocellus please report to the entrance? Your parents are here to take you to your stitch removal."
Ocellus put down her book and sighed. “I’ll be back,” she said. “See you later.”
“I’ll get your surprise set up,” Smolder informed giving a wink. Ocellus smiled before she walked away to meet up with her parents. Once she was gone, Smolder went to round up their friends to help her set up the surprise.
After about an hour, Ocellus returned to the school. Sandbar was waiting for her at the front. “Celly, welcome back!” Sandbar exclaimed. “How’s the operation?”
“Feeling well,” the changeling responded. She opened up her wings and hovered in the air for a minute. “It feels good to fly and shapeshift again.” She then shifted into an exact copy of Sandbar. She and the original laughed before she changed back into her base form.
“That’s good to hear. Come on, Smolder’s got your surprise ready.” The colt and changeling walked down the hall towards the hall. Students who passed would give congratulates to Ocellus for having her stitches removed. Ocellus would respond and wave at them when they passed by until they got to the lounge. There they could see a whole tea party had been set up.
A table was in the middle of the room with covers and dishes set upon them, cakes and cookies were out for students to munch on, and of course, there was a pot of tea waiting to our its contents into the teacups around it. Ocellus could see their friends were in the room with Gallus wearing a bowtie and top hat and the girls wearing fancy dresses. Smolder was dressed like a princess, complete with her tiara and make-up.
"Welcome Ocellus," Smolder said in a fancy accent, while doing a curtsy. “Did everything go well?”
“G… Great,” Ocellus answered. “I didn’t expect this to be your surprise.”
“I figure it would help make up for my poor attitude.” The fancy-dressed dragon then showed off a dress that was just in the changeling’s size. After Ocellus slipped it on and Sandbar put on a nice suit, the friends sat down at the table. Smolder poured everyone some tea and those who had opposable digits remembered to have their pinkies out.
"It’s so great you don’t have to hide this anymore," Silverstream commented. “This is fun.”
Smolder was happy too. She picked up a plate of biscuits and held them out to the hippogriff. “Crumpet?” she asked. Silverstream happily accepted it as Ocellus gave her opinion.
“It’s a good example that you don’t need to hide your feelings around us,” Ocellus noted. She then planted a kiss on the dragon’s cheek, nearly making Smolder drop the crumpets in shock.
Their friends reacted about the same with Silverstream squeeing in delight. Smolder gave a sip of tea as she blushed as red as a tomato. They continued with the tea party with the dragon and changeling’s relationship was much stronger than before.