+*+ SMOLDER +*+

No matter how much she could be hating Yona at that very moment, she wished that the Yak had also not have said it. She looked at the Yak one more time, and it seemed that she may have gotten a little too harsh on her.

The Yak's eyes were wide and her mouth was agape and trembling with fear, but the trait that outshone most of that was hurt. The Yak seemed truly hurt by all those words.

    It wasn't really her fault that she couldn't control her Dragon temper and Smolder had lashed out at Yona. It was practically second nature for her. Besides, the Yak really should have thought things through before deciding to ignore the existence of them all.

    "Yak sorry," the brown Yak whispered in a low voice, and the Dragon didn't bother to turn to look at her. She was still crossing her arms, her back facing her Yak friend.

    "I... forgive you," Ocellus said with great trouble, a long pause before she had continued to say the other two words, and the Dragon's ears couldn't help but perk up at that.

Smolder's eyes widened the moment she heard the words leaving the Changeling's mouth, turning to face Ocellus with one eyebrow raised, quite unsure what had just pushed her blue friend to say that.

"Smolder, Yona clearly had a hard time. Let it go, stay calm for me," the Changeling said with a smile that was telling the Dragon to trust her, but despite it she couldn't help but have a nagging feeling that Yona wasn't really sorry, nor should she be forgiven.

The orange Dragon had made a mistake of turning to her left, making her meet the poor Yak's eyes and she could see it all. The hurt, the sadness, but most especially, the guilt.

    Smolder didn't really want to forgive Yona just yet. She knew that the Yak didn't just her Ocellus' feelings. She had hurt all of theirs. She knew that as she looked at her friends.

Silverstream had always been the more optimistic of the bunch but she wasn't bothering in meeting's the Yak's eyes at all, and there was clearly sadness in her purple ones.

Gallus had stayed silent throughout the whole ordeal, but it was clear with how he always frowned and snapped at whoever trying to talk to him that he was affected, too.

     Smolder's gaze travelled to the Yak once again and she truly did seem sorry, but still. She had hurt them, and she didn't really respond well to that. It would take a long time before she would get to forgiving anycreature.

    She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms once again, turning away from the Yak and staring at some random round bottles hanging from the ceiling of Zecora's hut.

She then turned to looked at Ocellus who seemed to be very content. If the Changeling had forgiven the Yak so easily already, maybe she should as well?

Smolder took a deep breath. Was she actually going to cut her whole 'I'm not forgiving you' routine short and just skip to the end? She sighed. She probably was.

She looked up and slowly twisted herself to face Yona, and the Yak perked up, noticing the Dragon was now facing her. She bit her lip. She didn't really know what to do. She supposed she should just come out and say it. "I forgive you"

The Yak's eyes immediately light up, but there was still a hint of hesitation in there, as if she couldn't believe what the Dragon had just said. "Really?"

    "Yeah," Smolder replied despite many voices in her head telling her not to forgive her that easily because Yona did something wrong, but she just chose to ignore all of them, and she was a little proud of herself for doing that.

    Yona immediately stood up and ran towards the Dragon and her eyes widened in alarm as the Yak tackled her into a tight hug and she tried her best to push her off, grunting.

"Yeah, okay, you can get off now," Smolder said as she continued to attempt to push the heavg Yak off her because she was honestly feeling very squished at the moment, and luckily the Yak releases her grip.

"If Smolder can forgive you, I do, too!" Silverstream exclaimed, piping up for the first time in a while, and they were all glad their pink Hippogriff friend has started talking a little more. They all turned towards Gallus expectantly, who sighed, but had a smile on his face.

"Hey; if you three forgave Yona, then who am I not to?" the blue Griffin asked with a reassuring smile and the Yak released a sigh of relief, clearly glad that her friends had all forgiven her.

    "Tell us what's bothering you," Ocellus said, offering a smile, in attempt to be able to fix all previous problems due to there not appearing much communication.

     Smolder rolled her eyes, luckily without any of them noticing. She knew how obssessed Changelings could sometimes be with sharing their feelings.

    The Dragon then felt a stab of guilt. She was accussing Yona of not confiding in them about her problems, when she herself was too shy to reach out to her own friends, especially because it was very simple and something she shouldn't be too worried about.

Smolder wondered why she had been bottling up her feminity for so long. She wasn't even transgender like Silverstream's brother. She had just soent too much time around Dragons, especially older male ones.

It had been second nature for her to ignore her femininity at this point, and she had gotten to the point where she started to hate it, but taking into account her friends would never judge her for who she was, she wondered why she was getting so nervus about all this.

     Smolder knew her friends would accept her, but she had a lingering thought that they wouldn't like her for her feminity. After all, it was the fierce and strong Dragon that compelled them to befriend her, not the girly one.

     She sighed as she half-listened to her friends exchange thoughts to and fro, hoping that she could some day find somecreature who would genuinely befriend her for her girly side.

     She began looking around Zecora's hut seeing as there wasn't much to talk to her friends about, since she just decided to bottle everything inside. Luckily, her friends didn't notice her leaving. Or maybe she though too soon.

"Smolder?" She heard a voice ask from behind her and she bit her lip, closing her eyes as she let out a pissed off sigh and turned to face them, struggling to put on a happy facade.

"Yes?" Smolder asked, trying to keep that fake smile on her face from disappearing. It was also really hard to try preventing an angry tremble in her voice.

"Anything bothering you?" Silverstream asked with a huge smile on her face, and she just wanted to glare at the pink Hippogriff, but judging from her wide and hopeful eyes, her pink friend didn't really sense anything wrong, and she was grateful for that.

     "Nope!" Smolder exclaimed, finding it easier to flash a false smile when she was blatantly lying, and the rest of her friends smiled back at her, buying into her lie.

    She released a sigh of relief, grateful they didn't ask for anything else. Her friends were really amazing, and she was really grateful for them, but she was always reminded that they befriended her for her fierceness.

      She had to remember that. None of them would ever like her when she would be girly. She didn't really like that, but she had to live with that. Unless she was really planning to unfriend them...

Smolder shook her head, deciding against that. Her current friends at least accepted her for who she was, but they didn't really like her. She bit her lip, wondering whether she should try to get in touch with her cute and girly self.

She rolled her eyes. Of course she had to. This was one of the many things her professors would reccommend to her. They would be thrilled to know that she was practicing the subtle art of being herself.

     Smolder sat in her hammock as she stared at her friends, happily exchanging words back and forth. She smiled with a little sadness. At least they were able to be who they were.

     "Smolder, you're going to be yourself," she muttered under her breath, making a promise that she didn't know whether or not she would be able to keep it, but she was going to try.

     She frowned. It was hard to be girly when all that was in the hut were potions. She really wished she had a mane or fur. With them, she would definitely be able to flaint her girliness to the world.

Smolder recalled being obssessed with trying to ask Yona or Silverstream for her to do their mane or fur. She hadn't got the courage to ask before, and she still didn't now.

She grunted as she began swinging on her hammock. It would be nice to do their do, if only she could summon up the courage to ask them. She had spent too long thinking about it, and she needed to act now if she really wanted to so something about it.

Despite knowing this, she was still skeptical and had spent the next hour moping around near her hammock, watching the birds fly, her friends chatting, and basically day go by until it was time for lunch.

     Smolder really liked lunch. She wasn't a big fan of soup before, especially not of the Gem Soups. She felt like those destroyed the flavor, but the soup Zecora always cooked up was amazing.

   She was starting to wonder whether the Zebra was placing potions into their daily meal as the said Zebra placed a bowl of steaming hot soup in front of the Dragon.

     She smiled and took a deep breath, letting the aroma of the soup fill her body. She didn't care that they were eating it every single day. She would gladly choose to do it. It was that good.

"Smolder?" The Dragon looked up to see who had called her name, and she found herself looking at Yona, out of all the creatures there. She didn't know what the Yak wanted, but she was probably not going to receive it from her.

"Yes?" Smolder asked after a sip from her soup, raising her eyebrows and cocking her head to the side. It came off more as mean if anything, but she couldn't really help it.

    "Why Dragon not talking much?" Yona asked in the most innocent tone ever and the Dragon hated how she always used that tone but it's not like she could change that.

    "It's nothing," Smolder murmured under her breath and it came off as a slur of words and when the Yak gave her a questioning look, she simply shrugged it off.

     "What bothering Dragon?" the Yak pressed on, using a gentler and more sympathetic tone, moving to sit next to her and the orange Dragon winced a little bit at the gesture.

"I'm fine," Smolder said, grabbing her soup bowl and taking a sip, trying to let that calm herself down, but there was something nagging her to tell Yona about what she really wanted to do.

    "Dragon has sad face again. Dragon not fine," the Yak said. She couldn't help but graon internally. She really didn't want to talk to her Yak friend right now.

    "Yona, like I said, I'm fine," the orange Dragon said, turning to face the Yak and desperation was in her voice. She firmly enunciated each word, hoping the brown Yak could finally get the message.

      She didn't.

"What wrong?" Yona asked, still pressing forward, but she wasn't being as pushy this time. Her eyes showed dee and sincere sympathy and she had a reassuring smile on her face.

She sighed. Maybe she could really tell the Yak what was bothering her. She traced the rim of her empty bowl as she spoke, "It's not really a big deal. I'm just making a big deal out of things. But... I really want to be able to go to the spa again"

     "Yona wish too..." Smolder looked blankly at her Yak best friend sitting beside her, blinking twice. She could faintly recall her talking about missing Professor Rarity so they could go to the spa together and all that whatnot.

      The orange Dragon bit her lip. Oh, boy. She had better pay attention to what her friends were saying more often. She looked at Yona again, wondering if there was anything else the Yak would tell her, but she was already back to sipping her soup.

      The Dragon groaned internally. She should've remembered that the Yak really enjoyed going to the spa, especially with their professor. That would have made all the burdens much lighter for her.

"Well, maybe we can go to the spa sometime together, when all this is over," Smolder told the Yak with a smile on her face, despite her being extremely queasy at asking the question.

"Yona like that," the Yak replied with an equally bright smile on her face, and they were both glad to get a burden off their chest. It was nice, the Dragon thought, to have someone who cared.

"Is that why you've been writing? Letters to Professor Rarity?" the orange Dragon couldn't help asking. If going to the spa was as important to the Yak as it was to her, then her Yak friend would've definitely done something about it.

    "Yes," the Yak replied in a small voice, not bothering to meet her Dragon friend in the eye, the guilt of the incident clearly still weighing heavy on her.

"Look, it's okay. We all forgive you now," Smolder said, offering a smile to her Yak friend. She wrapped an arm around her, which was hard, considering how much bigger Yak were compared to Dragons.

"Yona want to thank friend," the Yak said, smiling into the hug. She took the reins this time and began to hug the Dragon even tighter, causing her to grunt.

    "You're... Welcome... Yona..." Smolder said as she tried to push the Yak away from her. She could already feel the oxygen being squeezed out of her lungs and luckily the Yak did pull away.

    "What Dragon really want at spa?" Yona asked, her eyes lighting up and an eager smile on her face. This Yak really loved spending her time with Rarity. The Dragon hoped she wouldn't end up like that.

"A normal massage? Shine my scales, maybe?" the Dragon replied. It wasn't that she hated spas, but she and her brother would meet monthly and she needed a way to still appear as the fierce Dragon she was.

     "Professor Rarity always said Yona should get hornicure," Yona said as she finished the last drops of her own soup, leaning back and smiling with satisfaction.

"Ah... hornicure..." Smolder said, feeling quite unfamiliar with the word despite the Yak saying it so many times. She wondered when she was surpressing her girliness, it was actually leaving her.

No matter how much she wanted to be liked, she didn't really want that to happen. Her feminity was a part of her, and she did not like the thought of it being taken away from her.

     "Smolder want to do anything?" Yona asked with a genuine smile and the Dragon had to hide herself. She couldn't handle seeing that big hopeful smile, especially during times that were just the opposite.

     "No, not really," Smolder replied, looking away as she rested her forehead on her claw, tired of everything. She really wished it could all go back to normal.

      She wished Aura Light was defeated already so they could all go back to the School of Friendship and she could be as cute as she wanted there. That was sadly not the case.

"Okay. Yona go talk with Gallus and Ocellus," Yona said with the usual bright smile and the Dragon honestly wished the Yak didn't smile like an innocent fool because it was making it very hard to hate her.

"Alright," Smolder replied through gritted teeth with a grunt, still not looking at the Yak. When she felt her leave her side, the Dragon's eyes perked up as she turned towards the Yak.

Her Yak friend truly was talking with the Griffin and Changeling and it seemed like they were having such a fun time. She wasn't jealous. She shouldn't be jealous, but she wished somecreature could go spend time with her as well.

    Smolder couldn't help but glare at Yona, Gallus and Ocellus. She wondered how they could all talk to each other despite them being very different. She wondered how they could like Yona and Ocellus for being feminine while she was stuck here trying to be a tough and strong Dragon.

      Then her gaze landed on Silverstream who was sketching in a paper, humming a song. She wondered how the Hippogriff was okay with spending time on her own like that. She wondered how she could like being alone sometimes just to sketch while she was stuck here alone and lonely Dragon.

Smolder turned her gaze back to Ocellus, Yona and Gallus. They were chatting excitedly and the blue Griffin seemed to have made some sort of challenge, given how smugly the light blue Changeling and brown Yak looked at each other.

     The Changeling turned into a Pony, sitting down. Behind her was the Griffin who was messing with her mane, and she could hear the loud rings of laughter from the Yak who was watching.

The Dragon couldn't help but clench her fist at that. Even the Griffin could do other creature's manes. Everycreature was allowed to do that, for some stupid reason, except for her.

    Smolder couldn't bare watch Gallus fiddle with Ocellus' mane any longer and turned away, only to find herself looking at Silverstream who was all content and happy drawing on paper.

    She shook her head. Why did they all have to be happy. She didn't want to be here. She couldn't be here. She stood up and made her way towards the door, closing it softly behind her. For sure no one would notice if she were gone.

Smolder started walking through the Everfree Forest, paying attention to every single detail because there was really nothing to pay attention to at the moment.

She noted that the only sound she could here was the silent rushing of a river and she can detect some pine in the air, surprisingly. She could feel the cool damp ground as she walked on it.

She could see some steps worn into the ground. It could've been Zecora's, Ocellus' or even Yona's. She didn't know. She didn't care. She was walking in the silence of the Everfree Forest and she finally knew how it felt to be happy.

    Just as she was looking at the dark grey sky above her and commented on it, she heard a voice coming from a few meters behind her, and it said a word she had been familiar with since the start of her life.

     "Smolder"

     The Dragon's eyebrows formed a straight line as she turned around to face whichever creature that had decided to bother her in the Everfree Forest and she saw somecreature who she was very familiar with since the start of the school year at the School of Friendship.

Then she saw Yona. Of course she saw Yona. The Yak and her brown furry glory with her fur braided and tied together neatly with bows and her horns shooting out of her head.

"What do you want?" Smolder snapped. She didn't mean to come out to her that coldly but she couldn't help it. She wanted to feel very aloof at the moment.

"What wrong?" the Yak asked with pity in her eyes as she took steps closer to the Dragon who was currently clenching her claws and trying so hard not to throw a punch.

    She really wanted to know what went wrong huh, Smolder thought, well if she really wanted to know, she had better be prepared to listen.

     She walked over to the dam that held all her words, all her emotions back. She placed her claw carefully on the handle. She could do it. Let it out one word at a time.

     She didn't mean for it to happen, but her grip had slip and the words and feelings started spilling out of the dam like crazy. She tried closing it again, but she couldn't.

     "What do you mean what's f***ing wrong?! You have someone writing letters that cares about you! I want someone to care about me! Silverstream's by herself and for some reason happy! I want to be able to find happiness is solitude! Ocellus can turn into a Pony! I want to be able to turn into whatever I want! Gallus is allowed to do your mane and fur! I want to be able to do my mane and fur!"

Smolder opened her eyes, not knowing she had closed them before. Her eyes widened as she stared at the ground. Time seemed to stop. This was it. She had spilled everything. They were going to hate her now.

     Then of course after the words, came the tears. They started spilling from Smolder's eyes, finally free to fall to the ground. The Dragon didn't cry much before. Each time was a huge surprise, but she had only let herself release a few tears before wiping them and getting herself together.

     But not now. She couldn't do it. She didn't have the power to stop herself. So she let the tears keep falling, a steady stream towards the ground. The ground seemed to sway under her feet.

She succumbed, falling down on her knees onto the ground, curling into a little ball as she continued to release those tears. All the Dragon dignity had left her. She was a mess now.

"Smolder?"

She shook harder. She really wanted the Yak to comfort her right now. It felt selfish but she wanted to. She felt like she wasn't in control of anything anymore. "Yes?"

"Does Dragon want to do my fur?"

Smolder smiled through the tears. "Yes"