Heart's Warming + 1

The Last Day?

Upon entering the garden-area their group uses as their favorite meeting point, the two immediately notice Silverstream charging at them with her arms open as wide as possible and, before either of them can react, the hippogriff already captures the two in a big hug.

"There you are! I was getting worried, you know. I really thought you wouldn't show up."

"Yeah, sorry about that. We-", Sandbar tries to explain but his female friend, who released the two from her hug and moves behind them, covers his mouth with her claw, shutting him up mid-sentence.

"No time! The others are already waiting. Come on!"

With a surprising amount of strength, Silverstream manages to push the two towards the entrance or a moment until the two, who were never planning on fighting it, just begin to walk on their own. The cafeteria is not completely empty but one can clearly feel that school is no longer in session and that those few students are just here to eat before minding their own businesses again. Smolder, Yona and Ocellus are sitting at a table closets to the serving counter. Upon spotting the two males, the three creatures wave at them and signal them to come over and join them. Yona and Ocellus both have a tray in front of them, filled with delicious treats and there are four cups on the table as well, one for each of them.

"Look who showed up", the energetic hippogriff cheers before taking her spot next to Yona and taking a quick sip from her beverage.

"Glad you made it", Ocellus greets the two, who greet her back with a smile on their faces.

"A bit late but better than not at all", Smolder comments on her friends' tardiness, causing the males to blush a bit before Sandbar tries to explain themselves.

"Sorry, I... erm... You see, I-"

"I just couldn't get him to wake up", Gallus jumps in after noticing how his partner struggles with finding a believable story, "He slept like a baby griffon after three days of non-stop flying. I knocked on his door, kicked it, shouted over and over again. I'm pretty sure I waked every other pony but him."

"Yeah... Same here. Silverstream was so loud that, even after she left, I had to apologize to every other pony on my floor", the dragon admits in a mildly annoyed tone, giving her feathered friend an angry glare which she completely misses.

"Same here", Yona agrees with her before yawning excessively.

An uncomfortable moment of silence sets in until Gallus tells Sandbar to sit down while he gets something to eat. That catches every single one at the table, except for the two males, completely off guard. The four watch Gallus as he puts food on the two trays before switching to Sandbar, who answers their shocked looks with a confused one.

"He's getting you food? And is he paying for it too?", Silverstream asks the pony across from her, who, after a short pause, nods with a weak smile.

"WHAT?! How did you do that?"

"Did what?"

The griffon, who just returned from his little mission and overheard the hippogriff's reaction (which was not very hard), asks his friend what the meaning of it was before placing one of his tray in front of Sandbar, who he sits down next to. Right after that, he begins to eat from his own tray. He chose two of his beloved griffon scones and an apple alongside a cup of water. Sandbar's tray is filled with a salad, a tomato and cucumber sandwich and a chocolate-frosted cupcake. The pony gives the male next to him a big smile of gratitude before taking a big bite from the delicious sandwich, but he immediately chokes on it the moment he hears Smolder's answer to Gallus question.

"How he managed to tame you so well", the dragon asks teasingly with a snicker.

Excuse me? What did she say? Taming me? That's complete nonsense!