It was a fine Saturday morning in the country town of Ponyville. Mares and stallions lazily performed errands, while fillies and colts spent the day playing in the streets and surrounding wilderness. One colt in particular cantered happily as he crossed the town’s central park, shaded from the sun by the giant shadow that Princess Twilight’s castle cast as it stood nearby. It dominated the view, but the colt didn’t intend on staying in the park for too long. He had a playdate planned with his friend just across town, and was eager to meet up with him. However, our story isn’t about this colt. Rather, it’s about the two dragons that zoomed towards him from above.

“Are you sure about this, Smolder?” Ocellus asked. She was in her dragon form, tall, lanky, and with spiny frills that hung down on one side of her face like a mane.

Hey, you wanted to learn about dragon culture, didn’t you?” Smolder asked as her target came into view. She smirked; ponies typically didn’t pay attention to what was above them, and the fact that her shadow was concealed by the shadow of the castle meant that he would be easy pickings. Her reptilian eyes narrowed as she focused on the poor, innocent colt below her. With a loud swoosh, she dived on fell wings towards her quarry. Like a falcon, she zoomed towards him until she was right above him. Her arms shot out, firmly gripping the colt’s sides, and with careful angling of her wings she was able to redirect her momentum to carry her back up into the air. The tiny foal’s struggling was no match for Smolder’s superior dragon strength, and she was able to keep a firm hold on him despite his fidgeting.

“Ain’t no dragon pastime more fun than a good game of “Toss the Colt”, if you ask me,” Smolder said, smugly inspecting her catch.

“H-help! I don’t want to be tossed! L-let me go!” Yelled the colt.

“Eeeeh shut up, kid, we’re not gonna hurt ya,” Smolder said, not particularly caring about the colt’s reluctance. “We’re just gonna play a wholesome game of catch.”

“Um, Smolder, we really should let him go,” Ocellus said from where she was hovering. “Remember what Ms. Fluttershy said. We shouldn’t force others to do things that aren’t fun for them.”

Smolder rolled her eyes. She liked Ocellus, but she was such a teacher’s pet sometimes. She snorted puffs of smoke in frustration, before finally resolving herself.

“You want me to let him go?” Smolder began. “Fine, I’ll let him go…towards you! Catch!”

Smolder smirked as she swung the colt around, releasing him and watching him fly through the air towards the shocked Ocellus. She snickered hearing the colt neigh in panic as he experienced the joys of parabolic freefall. Fortunately for him, Ocellus was in a prime position, beating her leathery wings and grabbing the colt easily. Her long dragon arms allowed her to cradle the shivering colt easily. The poor thing looked dazed after what had happened.

“Smolder! How could you!” Ocellus began to chastise. “This poor, innocent foal could have seriously gotten hurt!”

“Eh, we’re not that high above the ground. Besides, you caught him, so no harm, no foul! Now toss him back!” Smolder exclaimed, clapping her claws together and opening her arms ready to catch the colt.

“What!? No!” Ocellus yelled back. “I’m not tossing this colt to you!”

“Aww, come on Ocellus, don’t be a party pooper!” Smolder replied.

“Um, miss? It was kinda fun,” the colt sheepishly said, having recovered from his loopiness.

Ocellus groaned in frustration. “Ugh! Fine, I’ll throw him back to you, then we’re done!”

“Fine, jeez, just do it!” Smolder yelled back as her wings beat to put some more distance in between her and Ocellus. “Just throw hard, I’m going long!”

Ocellus looked at Smolder with face full of uncertainty. Her eyes darted to the colt she was cradling, then back to Smolder, then back to the colt. “You sure about this?” She asked him.

“Yeah! Yeah! I wanna fly some more!” The young colt yelled excitedly.

“…Alright,” Ocellus said. Slowly and carefully, she shifted her arms so that the colt was now firmly gripped in her claws. She played around with him, feinting tosses to get a sense of his weight and balance. Finally, she managed to work up enough courage to do one final, powerful throw, releasing the colt and sending him careening. Her heart sank as she watched him tumble and turn in midair seemingly about to fall short of her mark, but Smolder flew through the air with incredible agility to catch him. As she held him upside down by his cannons, the colt couldn’t help but giggle incessantly.

“Wow! My pegasus friend wasn’t kidding! Flying is awesome!” He shouted, letting his forelegs dangle freely.

“Alright Smolder, can we please let him go now?” Ocellus said, flying over to where the colt dangled with a dazed smile on his face.

“Ugh, FINE! Have it your way,” Smolder said, letting gravity slowly drag her down to the ground. However, she released her grip on the colt’s hind legs nonchalantly and let him drop to the ground with a thud.

“Ow! My butt! How can I get a cutie mark if my butt’s all banged up, huh!?” The colt said, standing up as he rubbed his sore flank.

“Blegh, beat it kid, before I like, breathe fire on you or something,” Smolder said, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Whoa, you can breathe fire?” The colt asked excitedly, seemingly forgetting about his blemished behind.

Rather than humoring him, though, Smolder scowled, lunging at him with bare fangs and claws that looked rather to swipe. The colt screamed loudly before his stumpy little legs ran for dear life.

“Come on Smolder, that wasn’t nice,” Ocellus said, flying down to the ground right besides Smolder. She remained in her dragon form; being bipedal was an interesting experience and one she didn’t have an excuse to experience often.

Smolder simply groaned in response. “Well, our afternoon is shot. I was planning on playing colt toss with you for at least a couple hours.”

“Aww, well I appreciate you wanting to spend so much time with me,” Ocellus said, giving Smolder a warm hug.

The two held a friendly embrace for a few seconds, enjoying each other’s affection. However, a familiar boyish voice broke them out of their trance.

“Heeeey!” said Gallus as he approached the pair, with Sandbar trailing close behind. “Fancy seeing you here, Smolder. Who’s your cute dragon friend?”

“Aww, hear that Ocellus? Gallus thinks you look cute as a dragon,” Smolder teased while Ocellus’s cheeks flushed red.

“Oh snap, sorry Ocellus, I didn’t recognize you,” Gallus said, bowing his head apologetically.

“Oh, it’s fine. I actually worked really hard coming up with this form, so thanks,” Ocellus added with a bit of a girlish giggle.

“So yeah, we were just heading back to the dorms. Gallus spent the morning showing me how to fish,” Sandbar interjected. “…With claws, so I mostly just watched him skim the river’s surface. I tried grabbing a few fish with my teeth, but didn’t have much luck.”

“Hey dude, I offered to give you what I caught, I had plenty extra,” Gallus said.

“Yeah…about that…I was just going to let any fish I caught go. I was kinda taken aback when you offered one to me to eat. Between you and Silverstream, I’m still a little offput about about the whole ‘eating meat’ thing, seeing as it’s not really something we do here in Equestria,” Sandbar continued.

“Eh, I’m gonna make a carnivore out of you yet. I just need to show you real griffon grilling,” Gallus said, patting Sandbar on the back. “But like I was saying, what are you two doing here, especially with Ocellus shapeshifted into a dragon like that?”

“Well, Smolder wanted to show me a bit of authentic dragon culture and I wanted to fit the part,” Ocellus replied.

“I was gonna show her a game called ‘Colt Toss’, if you’re curious,” Smolder interjected.

“Colt Toss, huh?” Gallus said, bringing a claw to his chin in thought. “Sounds fun. You two still playing? Mind if I join?”

“Nah, we did like one toss and then let the colt go,” Smolder continued.

“Aww, why?” Gallus asked.

“Because it was a poor, innocent foal who didn’t even know us! It would have just been wrong to keep bothering him,” Ocellus answered, crossing her arms.

“Hmm…so what you’re saying is, if the colt did know us, it would be fine?” Gallus continued, the corners of his beaked mouth curling upwards mischievously.

“I….guess?” Ocellus replied, a bit uncertain of her own response. “Guess if it’s between friends, it’s okay.”

“Hmm….now who do we know who is a colt? Hmm?” Gallus said humming with glee. Smolder’s own eyes widened, and she smiled with the same devilish delight. Sandbar let out a hushed whinny when he too realized exactly who Gallus was talking about.

“Uuuuh Gallus I just remembered I left the door to my room unlocked, see ya!” Sandbar said, turning around with the intent to expediently retreat. Unfortunately for him, his sides were suddenly gripped by two strong sets of talons, and he was hoisted into the air with lionlike strength. He neighed in panic as his four limbs pawed the air helplessly.

“GO LONG!” Gallus exclaimed.

“YEAH! I GOT HIM I GOT HIM!” Smolder yelled back, unfurling her wings and taking to the air.

“H-hey! Wait for me!” Ocellus said, joining Smolder in the air. The pair nodded to each other, giving each other an encouraging high-five, before engaging in a nice, wholesome game of catch.