A Summer Night in Zanzebra

Thursday Afternoon

Well, I now knew why the bar was given the name Flaming Sea. Already stepping inside the building my first sight was fire. An entire sea of it, actually.

Tiki torches lit up the interior instead of electrical lights. On the walls, the tables, and even surrounding the stage, their combined light gave the joint a smoky and mysterious vibe. It was probably a big fire hazard as well, but boy did it ever look stylish. All this was topped off with an open ceiling and a view of the sunset drenched ocean.

At first, walking in, I felt a little self conscious, mostly due to my outfit. After Zecora and I… finished… she forced this unique wear on me. Now I was clad in buckskin pants, a cloth wrap and leopard fur drape (Why do I get the feeling Zecora killed the leopard herself?), with no shoes or shirt to speak of, though the tribal armlet and tiki necklace were both pretty awesome. So I strode on him alongside Zecora, who was wearing a shimmering black robe, and walked among the patrons.

I was informed by Twilight that the Zanzebran natives would be totally shameless about their bodies, and I took her word for it, but just one glance at the folks of this bar… Boy, she wasn’t kidding. I felt a little less self conscious seeing that most of the zebra dudes were shirtless, and I was also very thankful, because nine out of ten of them were absolutely ripped. I could see a few athletic ones talking amongst themselves by a rack of surfboards. They all had wet hair. “I think I found the surfer dudes,” I said to Zecora.

“This is where I set you free,” she replied, swaggering away. “I’m off to find a young twink for me.”

“Get me one too while you’re at it!” I called out to her before she departed, disappearing into the crowd. “Now, what to do, what to do?” A bountiful garden of many beautiful flowers, and me, an eager young drake with just the moves to get pick a few petunias. Drinks. Always a good place to start. That was the first thing that popped in my head.

Glancing at the bar, the thought of booze immediately left my mind when I saw who was behind the counter. It was a zebra… or at least I thought she was one at first glance. She had much less stripes, with a blue hue to her body rather than black and white. Anyway, whoever she was, she had two very appealing sights in store for my eyes, with the only thing holding them up being a skimpy strapless wrap.

With an eager smile I made my way to the counter, hoping in a seat directly in front of the alluring bartender. “Hey there,” I said with a pointed finger at her. “What’s your special?”

The bartender raised a brow at me in surprise. At first I was nervous because I thought it was from my clothes, then I remembered it was probably because, well, insert joke about a dragon walking into a zebra bar here. Race usually catches ponies and zebras off guard more times than naught.

"Honey, I know one-hundred and fifty local drinks,” she said with an unusual, subtle accent. “But for a newcomer like yourself, I'd recommend a Piña Colada, Shimmering Sunset, Grapevine Divine, Screaming Starberry Orgasm, or Striped Rainbow Delight.” She listed those off quickly, almost in a bored ‘I’ve had to repeat this over twenty times today’ type of demeanor. “Which one do you want?”

“Uh, what was that starberry one?”

She smiled at me with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll just make you the Piña Colada.”

“Yeah… sounds good,” I agreed, turning my body away from the counter as she set to work making the drink.

It was like watching an extravagantly choreographed musical number. She juggled the bottles of rum and coconut juice. She twirled them in her palms like sticks, then tossed them both up in the air. She then slammed a swirly glass on the counter, drained a shot of coconut juice into it, then caught the bottles and threw them into the mix as well.“Spent half my life mixing alcoholic beverages, even before I was allowed to drink them," she said.

“What’s the legal drinking age here?”

“There isn’t one. It’s more of a guideline to not let a child drink until they’re sixteen. I had to wait until I turned twenty. That was a year ago.” She garnished the glass with both a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry. Ah, we had a risk taker here.

I would’ve continued watching her as she mixed it up, but drums banging from the stage in the center of the room caught my attention, along with everypony else’s. More tiki torches were added to surround the stage as tonight’s entertainment seemed about ready to appear.

“Who’s the talent tonight?” I took a sip of the drink, expecting something decent, based on this colorful zebra’s story, but... “Woah!” I think I had a sweetgasm just rock through my body. I swear, the tip of my pride tingled a bit. “Aha, if they’re half as talented as you are with alcohol then I’m getting a show.”

“I never miss a night when Siva Afi performs,” said the bartender. “And neither do any of the surfer dudes.”

I glanced over to the group of wet-maned twinks. It seemed this bartender’s assumption was wrong; those pretty boys were occupied, being wooed by a certain zebra friend of mine. I wondered how many of them would be going home with her. I put my bets on three.

“Siva Afi, huh…” Even her name sounded exotic.

I hopped back in my seat as a sudden burst of flame rose from the central stage. When the blinding light faded, an absolutely incredible sight of a mare made herself known. A yellow coated, red maned and red striped mare, clad in golden bangles and a gem encrusted bikini with tassels. She was holding inflamed staves in each hand.

She swaggered the edge of the stage, each strut forward putting clear emphasis on her curvaceous hips. The gold she wore clinked and clattered together, shining in the light of the flames. The fire also put emphasis on the glittering gems of her bikini, which I noticed left enough of her fur visible for even more eye-candy enjoyment.

Then the shirtless dudes at the bottom of the stage struck up an epic drumbeat.

Starting out with a twirl of each stave in either hand, the inferno of the flames quickly formed a ring of light swirling in a hypnotizing pattern in the air. Then she began to bend and flex her arms around her body, the dual rings of fiery light following in a swirling trail. One spot it’d encase her jugs in a bright light that left the eyes nearly blind from the intensity of the cleavage and shining gems. Then with a flick of her wrists one staff flew up in the air, spinning in an arc before she caught it in midair without even a glance, already turning her back to give a generous view of her ample tush that glared in the firelight.

For what felt like hours I watched this fire enhanced performance. The sashay of the dancer’s hips were coupled with the breathtaking moves she performed with the fire staves. Spinning wildly in midair and juggled in such a nonchalant attitude, I couldn’t help but be awestruck. I mean, even with the tantalizing tease of a big chested and bootyliscious mare before me, that almost supernatural show of talent and energy alone peaked my interests.

Along with… other things.

My applause was the loudest of anypony’s when the drumbeat faded and this Siva Afi took a bow. She seemed to be basking in the attention, with her eyes as wide as glowing as the setting sun outside. She kinda reminded me of Pinkie Pie in that sense.

“Hey, shut it!” she yelled, still wearing a wide smile. That made the crowd laugh. “Who told you I was done?”

“Well, you bowed,” I snarked.

She twirled her staves once again, but something looked a little off about the flames. “Okay, it’s time for something a little slow. My sexy drummer boys, make it so.” She held the staves out in front of her, making it apparent to everyone what was wrong. “Ah, badamāśa! What is this?” Just as I thought, one of the fires had gone out. It must have been a cross breeze, or a stroke of bad luck.

“Oh, dear!” shrieked the bartender as she leaned over the counter. That was the first time she wore any expression other than a snide one. “Siva! You forgot to double-coat it again!”

Siva seemed to have heard the bartender. She turned around and but her hands on her hips, leaning down. “Well, excuuuuuse me, princess! You get up here and toss around balls of flaming death for a while.”

Seeing that the performance was going downhill in a hurry, I decided to be what I was best at being; an assistant. I spread out my wings for the first time that night and sprung into action, leaping across the semi-chaotic crowd and flapping my wings to reach the edge of the stage.

“Siva Afi! Spike, at your service,” I said with a bow, offering my hand to her. “I’ll handle this issue. I know my pyrotechnics.”

She took notice of me, looking grateful for any sort of help she could get, but she did a double take and stepped back, nearly dropping her staves when she saw me. She held a hand to her gaping maw of a mouth. She wasn’t horrified, though, because there was a smile in there too. “Mērē ōha...” she uttered as the crowd went silent. She ran to the edge of the stage with all grace and kneeled down. She stared at me with sunset eyes. “Does your sight betray you, Siva? No, it does not… I am in the presence of ēke ajagara…”

Her staring, along with everypony elses, really started to tweak at my nerves. And then there was what she said. “A what?”

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me to see the bartender smiling at me. “Ajagara means dragon,” she said. “Now, are you going to help my friend or not?”

“Well, of course.” I looked at Siva and winked at her, making her drop her shock long enough to hand me her partially unlit staff. I held it up high, mustered all the heat I could muster in my chest, and gave a breath, spitting out a blast of green flame. That did the trick. “It’s not the right color, but it’ll—”

Then the unthinkable happened. Well, okay, I was thinking it, but the idea that it would actually happen never occurred to me. Siva, likely in a state of hype, dropped her other staff, yanked me by my head and kissed me full on the mouth. I let out my interrupted breath when she pulled away. “I thank you so much, Ajagara! I will repay this kindness!” She took back her newly lit instrument of performance, along with the one she dropped.

Stunningly, she did a freakin’ backflip, landing with her hands and flame in the air. The drums started up again with a slower, much more dramatic beat. Siva’s performance reflected that beat perfectly as she stretched out her legs, slowly spinning her staves and encircling herself in multicolored flame. Red and green looked good on her.

However, while all of my attention was on her, I could feel a lot of attention on me. While still keeping watch on Siva as she stood on one leg, doing rotations with insane balance, I spoke to the bartender. “You weren’t kidding when you said you don’t get many dragons around here.”

“The last time a dragon set hoof in Zanzebra was decades ago,” she said. She put on a naughty grin. “So, you’d best watch yourself. Your kind is considered incredibly exotic.”

I liked where this was going. “Like, how?”

“Well, let’s just say that in these lands, a night in bed with a dragon is said to bring a century of good fortune.”

I hoped my blush wouldn’t be noticeable against the ambience of the bar. “How about that?” It looked like I had just scored the jackpot. I was liking this tropical island more and more by the second.

“I’m not quite sure how customs are in your land, Ajagara,but in our land of Zanzebra, we are not quite as prudish about our, how you say, sexuality.”

I’m surprised I didn’t recognize the signs earlier. The names of the drinks, the unusually revealing attires of the denizens, the sheer eroticism of Siva’s performance… “Intriguing. In that case, I wonder who wishes for a century of luck tonight?” Sure, I was laying it a bit thick, but hey, apparently I was lucky.

The bartender’s hand graced my shoulder, and I turned around to see her looking at me, eyes piercing through her heavy bangs. It’s amazing how well she put on a sultry gaze, despite doing nothing but snarking at me the entire evening. But I rather liked her for that. And I liked it even more when she answered my question. “I can fill the part.”

This was even easier than I thought it would be. This bartender zebra pony was a genuine article. She wasn’t coming on too strong, nor was she slutty or desperate sounding. I had something special between my claws. And boy was I ever feeling a bit greedy.

“Siva is what you would call my spiritual sister,” she said, “and these fire dances are everything to her. You figuratively saved her life with that impressive feat.” My cheeks burned even brighter as she reached out a dainty finger to draw across my chest. Her nail scratched my scales, slowly and tantalizingly, as they went from one end of my shoulder, across my pecs, and ended at the other, never breaking eye contact. “I have to be grateful for that.”

I had to force myself to speak again without saying gibberish. “Y-You're welcome. To both you and her, then.” All that remained was one untouched detail. “What can I call you, hon?”

“Moonlight.” She chuckled. “I know, not quite the sexy zebracean name you were expecting, but there it is. And what’s your real name again, Ajagara?”

“Spike,” I replied, pointing two fingers at her with a wink of my eye, “and I can only imagine the name of Moonlight belonging to the finest bartender I’ve ever met.”

“Well, I do think of myself as a fine bartender, so thank you, Spike the Ajagara.” In an incredibly bold act, she drew the same hands fondling my pecs up to my cheeks and leaned in to kiss me, giving me a little brush of tongue. I let out a little moan as she pulled away, with my heart still thundering hard in my chest.

This was going much smoother than I could have possibly imagined. It was like something out of a wet dream. “So, two more questions; when does your shift end, and which of our places do you think is a shorter walk?”

I probably would have gotten my answer had the final drumbeat of Siva’s performance not sounded out at that exact moment, drawing Moonlight’s attention away from me. She focused on the red and yellow beauty as she blew out her staves and leaped off the stage, doing an impressive flip before landing in our midst. “Moony!~” she squealed.

Siva pounced on Moonlight like a jungle cat, though with much less ripping apart and biting and more squeezing and giggling. Her arms were wrapped all around Moonlight’s waist, causing their breasts to squish against one another in a very nice cleavage induced view. Nuzzling her cheek against Moonlight’s, Siva asked, “How is my favorite alcohol artist doing?”

“Better, now that you’re here,” Moonlight replied, returning the nuzzle. She kept one arm around the chipper and manically grinning Siva as she turned to me. “I’d like you to properly meet your savior. His name is Spike.”

Siva immediately took my hands and shook them faster than I could reciprocate. “Thankyouthankyou! I do not know what divine being sent you to save my performance but they couldn’t have picked somepony better.” What seemed like a cute gesture turned into something a bit more when she ran her thumbs over my claws. “And I truly did mean I’d repay your kindness.” Her eyes widened. “Moonlight! How about we show him our special place?”

“I was thinking just the same thing.”

This could’ve gone one of two ways. “By ‘special place’, I assume you two mean…”

Their shared smiles and suggestive gazes answered my question well enough.

Ring-a-ding-ding, I just hit the double whammy of a jackpot. Maybe these gals were right about the lucky part. Siva took my left hand and Moonlight got my right, and they lead me away from prying eyes, up the stairs and to the wide open exit of the bar.

“Have a look, Spike,” said Moonlight, gesturing to the sunset drenched hillside.

I was drawing a blank. “Not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be looking at…”

“There, silly lizard!” chirped Siva. She was pointing to two tall cherry blossom trees at the highest point in the hillside. How did I miss that? “That is our secret, super special place, and we are inviting you to join us there.”

By ‘super special place,’ my mind instantly went to the usual makeout point teens go to perform acts that’d be looked down upon in public. Ponyville has a fair few, most of them around Sweet Apple Acres and the less dangerous areas of the Everfree Forest. It looked like this was the tropical version. “Sweet,” I said, smiling wryly at the two. “I’d be honored to keep you two ladies company there.” I gave them both affectionate clasps on their shoulders. “I assume Moonlight will be supplying the—”

I felt a tingle on my beak, then another on my forehead. I looked up to the sky to see what in Equestria that could’ve been. And…

Dark gray storms clouds rolled in out of nowhere. I could already see lighting in the fringes of the heavy cloud cover, indicating outside ventures were a no-go in the coming storm.

Mother Nature can be a real cockblock sometimes. She saw fit to rub that in my face by letting the rain come down in an damn near instant torrent. I could hear the patrons of the bar groan in disappointment. They took the words right out of my mouth.

“Well, seems that plan is sunk,” Moonlight concluded, sighing at the recent turn for the worse weather wise.

Siva was doing an adorable pout. “What a cruel joke!”

I turned towards the pair and said, “Ladies, please, it’ll be alright. We can always reschedule for another day. I’m on vacation, after all, so I have all the time in the world.”

“You mean it?” Siva asked, instantly getting touchy feely with my chest. Got to admit, I was already digging these new dregs more and more. Especially since they’d be able to remove more quickly when pressing matters called. I made a note to wear island clothing more often.

“You better believe it,” I replied. Argh, did I ever want those hands of hers to travel to lower parts of my body. After seeing what she could do with a flaming staff, I’d just love to see what she could do with a flaming—

“So we’ll be meeting with you later then?” Moonlight asked, laying a hand on Siva’s shoulder while shooting me a sly smirk.

I nodded. “Yeah, we can meet up wherever you two want to be.”

“I’ll hold you up to that then,” Moonlight said, peeling Siva off of me. Pulling Siva by the shoulder, she said, “Come now, Siva, we’ll be leaving our Ajagara friend… for now.” She winked over her shoulder at me. “But I intend to leave our offer open tomorrow, provided the weather clears up. Isn’t that right, Spike?”

“You betcha!” I replied, flashing them a confident grin while pointing both digits at the pair. Bang-bang, two chicks in one shot. I was certainly in for a treat tomorrow.

Moonlight dragged Siva behind her, while Siva in turn waved goodbye to me. “Bye-bye, Spike! Can’t wait for our next visit!”

“You and me both, honey,” I muttered under my breath, waving goodbye to the pair. It looked like my rising libido from before wouldn’t be satisfied for the night. But luckily, I packed plenty of magazines to remedy this.

I’m always prepared.