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Description
Some notes:

- Top: A row of headshots. Gummy and Blitz are Earth ponies. I also overhauled Nym's design after seeing oh shit she looks like Mael; she also has more draconic wings w/ a similar wing membrance pattern to tortoiseshell butterflies.

- Gummy, Rome, and Blitz all know each other; Rome and Blitz are 1st cousins, raised in the same town, same farm.

-   Rome & Nym are no longer currently 19 and 17; when the gang gets together for the first time Rome was 21, Blitz was 19, Gummy was 20, Nym was 20, Mael was 19.

- As I mentioned beforehand, Nym used to have a poisonous, manipulative friendship w/ Kili. This ended thanks to Gummy's interference; now Kili hates Gummy's guts for stealing her "best friend" and swore revenge. Gummy herself is very protective of Nym for this reason, and she learned to hate toxic "friendships" as a whole.

- They all attended the same college after graduating from the School of Friendship (sans Rome, who went to a military school) as a tight-knit friend group. Blitz took up cooking lessons and every sports program that involved running, while Nym excelled at literature classes and was a frequenter of writing clubs, and Gummy was the funny, if eccentric, darling of the chemistry programs. They tend to avoid Kili, because she's a bitch, and Peppermint Frost, because she and Gummy are on bad terms.

-   However, one day Gummy returned to their shared apartment w/ a strange hippogriff named Mael, a homeschooled mare, who definitely didn't use magic, hair gel, and a brush to conceal her more griffonic traits. She was lucky that the guy overseeing the approval process was one ex-Chancellor Neighsay, who was getting very old, very nearsighted, and very senile, which really helped.

- The college had assigned Gummy to Mael as a guide, who introduced her to Rome, Nym, and Blitz. Mael latched onto them instantly, and was especially close w/ Nym, a fellow non-pony, as a sister. She wasn't good at making friends, but Nym was quite magnetic.

- Nym's family is well-off (Ocellus's book shop was very successful), & they live in the Changeling Hive where no one really batted an eye at the dragon hybrids; consequently Nym was pretty sheltered her whole life. Now that she lives in the bustling city of social climbers & powerful nobles, Nym saw for the first time the side-eyes, the rumors of scaly, fire-breathing gangs stalking the slums, the pulling of others away from them on benches. The sound of leathery wings fluttering, too loud to be a bat, is followed by voices hushing & footsteps quickening. On some days, Nym just lies on her bed and waits until she forgets about the stress. No need to stay upset. At least she'll stick w/ the less controversial changelings

-   Likewise, Mael didn't miss the differences between the hippogriffs & the griffons. The hippogriffs were generally middle-class, quaint, and academically successful, and for the most part, she gravitated to them, seeking to emulate their predestined success. Nym told her to stick to whatever group looks the most benign, and Mael for the most part followed her advice. The griffons were lower-class, rough around the edges, belligerent, and most of them were best known for hallway brawls anyway. But she remained curious, eventually working up the nerve to hang out w/ them against Nym's advice. But she can keep a secret.

- Meanwhile, Rome found herself constantly impressed and vexed by Blitz's belligerence. Here, Blueblood thought he could get away w/ sexual harassment, ha! Unlike Rome, Blitz isn't obligated to stiffen her lip and look away. It was concerning that Rome would have to explain herself to irritated nobles who sneered at the loud scrawny bumpkin butting them away from the reserved unicorn.

- Gummy is an omnivore in many senses of the word. If it glitters, she'll eat it, whatever the taste, and her cooking skills match her tastes. Nym used to use sparkly, multicolored toothpaste meant for fillies half her age, but Gummy's dietary habits have since beaten the compulsion out of her. Rome fears getting kicked out of military school because the drill sergeant couldn't tell the difference between Gummy's... cupcakes(?) and crack cocaine. Even less fortunately for her, Nym and Mael also share Gummy's atrocious tastes.

- When Mael started to break down, Rome assumed that it was just Gummy's "desserts". She shut down every few weeks, barely responding to the outside world. Tiptoeing on eggshells around the others, fretted in front of mirrors, and once locked herself in her room for 4 days. During that time, she frequented the library, making sure to keep herself alone, & just... didn't talk to them anymore. Nym was especially alarmed, having finally realized that oh fuck this is a breakdown, but thought that the gang could handle whatever was bothering Mael. They never knew what books Mael was reading, and Nym one day set out to ask the librarian about Mael when Gummy opened Mael's door & screamed.

- Mael's room was vacant, w/ the only sign of where the hippogriff went being an open window that faced a alley. A few blue feathers fluttered in the breeze. They tried to get the police to start a search, but their attempts went nowhere. There were other, more pressing matters to care about. Only then did Nym realize that Mael had been hiding a lot from her, and now she won't be able to know what was going on. Years would pass before she saw Mael again.

Description
Some notes:

- Top: A row of headshots. Gummy and Blitz are Earth ponies. I also overhauled Nym's design after seeing oh shit she looks like Mael; she also has more draconic wings w/ a similar wing membrance pattern to tortoiseshell butterflies.

- Gummy, Rome, and Blitz all know each other; Rome and Blitz are 1st cousins, raised in the same town, same farm.

-   Rome & Nym are no longer currently 19 and 17; when the gang gets together for the first time Rome was 21, Blitz was 19, Gummy was 20, Nym was 20, Mael was 19.

- As I mentioned beforehand, Nym used to have a poisonous, manipulative friendship w/ Kili. This ended thanks to Gummy's interference; now Kili hates Gummy's guts for stealing her "best friend" and swore revenge. Gummy herself is very protective of Nym for this reason, and she learned to hate toxic "friendships" as a whole.

- They all attended the same college after graduating from the School of Friendship (sans Rome, who went to a military school) as a tight-knit friend group. Blitz took up cooking lessons and every sports program that involved running, while Nym excelled at literature classes and was a frequenter of writing clubs, and Gummy was the funny, if eccentric, darling of the chemistry programs. They tend to avoid Kili, because she's a bitch, and Peppermint Frost, because she and Gummy are on bad terms.

-   However, one day Gummy returned to their shared apartment w/ a strange hippogriff named Mael, a homeschooled mare, who definitely didn't use magic, hair gel, and a brush to conceal her more griffonic traits. She was lucky that the guy overseeing the approval process was one ex-Chancellor Neighsay, who was getting very old, very nearsighted, and very senile, which really helped.

- The college had assigned Gummy to Mael as a guide, who introduced her to Rome, Nym, and Blitz. Mael latched onto them instantly, and was especially close w/ Nym, a fellow non-pony, as a sister. She wasn't good at making friends, but Nym was quite magnetic.

- Nym's family is well-off (Ocellus's book shop was very successful), & they live in the Changeling Hive where no one really batted an eye at the dragon hybrids; consequently Nym was pretty sheltered her whole life. Now that she lives in the bustling city of social climbers & powerful nobles, Nym saw for the first time the side-eyes, the rumors of scaly, fire-breathing gangs stalking the slums, the pulling of others away from them on benches. The sound of leathery wings fluttering, too loud to be a bat, is followed by voices hushing & footsteps quickening. On some days, Nym just lies on her bed and waits until she forgets about the stress. No need to stay upset. At least she'll stick w/ the less controversial changelings

-   Likewise, Mael didn't miss the differences between the hippogriffs & the griffons. The hippogriffs were generally middle-class, quaint, and academically successful, and for the most part, she gravitated to them, seeking to emulate their predestined success. Nym told her to stick to whatever group looks the most benign, and Mael for the most part followed her advice. The griffons were lower-class, rough around the edges, belligerent, and most of them were best known for hallway brawls anyway. But she remained curious, eventually working up the nerve to hang out w/ them against Nym's advice. But she can keep a secret.

- Meanwhile, Rome found herself constantly impressed and vexed by Blitz's belligerence. Here, Blueblood thought he could get away w/ sexual harassment, ha! Unlike Rome, Blitz isn't obligated to stiffen her lip and look away. It was concerning that Rome would have to explain herself to irritated nobles who sneered at the loud scrawny bumpkin butting them away from the reserved unicorn.

- Gummy is an omnivore in many senses of the word. If it glitters, she'll eat it, whatever the taste, and her cooking skills match her tastes. Nym used to use sparkly, multicolored toothpaste meant for fillies half her age, but Gummy's dietary habits have since beaten the compulsion out of her. Rome fears getting kicked out of military school because the drill sergeant couldn't tell the difference between Gummy's... cupcakes(?) and crack cocaine. Even less fortunately for her, Nym and Mael also share Gummy's atrocious tastes.

- When Mael started to break down, Rome assumed that it was just Gummy's "desserts". She shut down every few weeks, barely responding to the outside world. Tiptoeing on eggshells around the others, fretted in front of mirrors, and once locked herself in her room for 4 days. During that time, she frequented the library, making sure to keep herself alone, & just... didn't talk to them anymore. Nym was especially alarmed, having finally realized that oh fuck this is a breakdown, but thought that the gang could handle whatever was bothering Mael. They never knew what books Mael was reading, and Nym one day set out to ask the librarian about Mael when Gummy opened Mael's door & screamed.

- Mael's room was vacant, w/ the only sign of where the hippogriff went being an open window that faced a alley. A few blue feathers fluttered in the breeze. They tried to get the police to start a search, but their attempts went nowhere. There were other, more pressing matters to care about. Only then did Nym realize that Mael had been hiding a lot from her, and now she won't be able to know what was going on. Years would pass before she saw Mael again.