Smolder lay on her bed with her feet kicking at the pillows, and the blanket wrapped around her head, which also rested on a soft pillow. Her thumb pressed firmly on the glass screen protector on her phone as she scrolled through whatever she happened to be looking at. The dimmed light of her device screen shone against the scales on her face and occasionally flickered every time she touched her screen. A comic book was sitting draped across her back, bent by the spine. It moved each time she flicked her tail and moved her feet. It had the usual colorful cover that comic books in Equestria normally had, except the title was written in some sort of foreign language, supported by a helpful caption to translate. A gentle hum escaped her lips. It was late in the evening, and classes didn't take place tomorrow; it was the weekend.
Since Equestria didn't have anything else to do(mostly because most of the uncharted villains were taken care of), one pony that Smolder had seen volunteering at their school once had created the "Smart Phone." Telephones were first in line, being that all ponies really needed was a clear means of communication. A few months with those, and apparently the idea was a little too hasty. Something that involved stock shares and the Flim Flam brothers. Either way, it was time for improvement. Now, there were smartphones involved in the matter. At this point, Smolder didn't really care about all the controversial shit going on. She was about sixteen now, and a draconic teenager didn't have to care about which phone was better.
Speaking of which, there did happen to be two brands of phones, now that she thought about it. One, that was amazingly expensive; the "iPone", the type that Smolder happened to own. It died fairly quickly, but it made up for it in graphics and storage. Smolder's iPone, in general, had a cracked screen(or screen protector) and it had a striped orange and purple phone case with pink hearts on the back. She used it a lot to read certain types of fiction and view a lot of- other things. While certain websites she visited might've corrupted her phone a little, she didn't really mind, as some of her friends told her they were probably scams anyway. Either way, she sure did visit those websites a lot anyway, something that clearly showed that she couldn't care less. The other type of phone in which most ponies owned, was the DocDroid. They were cheaper than iPones which was mainly why more ponies used them. They were mostly described as the "poor pony's iPone", but the students who went to the school mostly all owned iPones, so, she didn't really know what that expression meant.
Apparently there were accessories that came with the phones too. Smolder had her ear plugs, but Headmare Twilight, even as she was the main one supervising the creation of electronics, always got them confused with actual ear-plugs. Also, there were chargers, seen as for some reason Equestria used all their electrical sources on things like protection and magical advancement, so when your phone ran out of energy, you'd better hope you bought a charger. Smolder owned an "iPone 10," so she was just another creature that had the amazing luxury of one accessory slot. The iPone 8 had a circular ear-plug slot, but this one, for some reason, didn't. Now, she had to have an extra special set of ear-plugs for when she was browsing the more... "private" websites. Just so she didn't make any noise.
Now, speaking of iPone 10's, there was one weird thing Smolder couldn't get over. Why'd they skip the nine? There was an iPone 6, 7, 8, even an 11, but no 9. It was weird when Smolder thought about it. Think about how much money they'd make if they just made a 9. Most of the friends she knew would buy a 9. Ocellus would buy a 9 any day. Again, Speaking of, that's exactly who Smolder happened to be texting.
"And she asked me to review the last chapter of her fanfic. It had the absolute cheesiest moment of Yona and Sandbar, lmao."
"Oh wow." She chuckled, reading the message her changeling friend just now sent.
"So, what's your favorite anime?" Texted Ocellus. Normally when you texted someone, there would be this little blue speech bubble that would appear around the words you texted. When someone was texting you, their's would appear in white. The white speech icon Ocellus had sent with her words was the one Smolder double tapped, pinning a heart icon in the corner of it. Ocellus texted again straight after. "What? Lol, how many animes do you like?" Smolder replied by sending a thinking emoticon, who was a yellow unicorn who had his hoof touching his chin in thought. Soon, an icon with the tiny words "Ha Ha!" depicted in it were pinned to the top right corner of it.
"I can't pick just one. XD"
"Well, pick one." Ocellus replied. Smolder thought for a second. There happened to be a 700 paged manga resting on her hind quarters. If she was so dedicated to reading it, it had to have been her favorite.
"One Punch Pony."
"Really? My Friendship Academia is so much better."
"Seriously? Bakugo is a way better character than Deku."
"Totally, but, at least my favorite manga has a better storyline."
Smolder growled under her breath.
"Your face has a better storyline."
There was a five second pause. Ocellus replied. Three dots and a question mark is what she sent.
"...?"
How was she supposed to reply to that? She wasn't really wrong. It wasn't so much as a compliment as it was meant to be an insult, so.... what? Smolder let out a sigh of relief when Ocellus sent a "follow-up" text.
"...Is that supposed to be an insult?"
Was it really? When Smolder thought about it, that last text didn't exactly sound like a steady insult. She had just told Ocellus her face had a better storyline, but, like- What? What the hell was that? Smolder took a deep breath. Her fingers were numb. She couldn't type anything if she didn't have any ideas. If there was one thing to say, it was "Sorry," but, somehow, an apology wouldn't make the best sense right now. Being the fact that what she just said was half insult, half compliment, apologizing for calling someone good looking wouldn't warrant an apology. What about something else? What could Smolder send that didn't involve anything awkward or make the situation escalate?..
"What? Don't @ me just because I think you're aesthetically pleasing."
There was no reply.
"Send memes?" She texted. Smolder turned over in her bed, and she was now resting on her back. The room was almost silent, and nothing but the gentle buzzing of the air conditioner in her room could be heard. She felt a lump of pain in her back. Ocellus wasn't replying for a while, and Smolder was starting to hope her friend was just searching on the internet for a funny format to send her. A few more seconds passed by, and Smolder was getting antsy.
"Found one."
Smolder jumped. The minute her phone rang, she sprang into action, fumbling the small device into her claws in panic.
"Read, 11:05 pm" Smolder's phone rang again.
"Are you ignoring me?"
"Shit." Smolder mumbled to herself. Ocellus didn't give you a lot of time to reply to her messages. Then again, neither did Silverstream. If you were going to be messaging her, you'd better do it quick, or else she'd think you were ignoring her. In this case, Smolder sort of was ignoring her, after all, she had left her on read just now. Quickly, she tapped on the keyboard of her phone screen in a panic.
"Why'd you think I was ignoring you?"
A white speech bubble with three dots came up. The three dots were blinking and coming up one after the other, signaling Ocellus was still typing. The tension was real. Smolder was still there, waiting patiently for her friend to reply. Ocellus always took a while type, hooves or no. It was always a giant hassle telling her something because she typed so slow. Although it could've just been one of those texting tactics Smolder taught her. Never text back too quickly, they'll think you're desperate.
Smolder's phone rang.
"..."
"Send memes?" It read. Smolder chuckled and began typing.
"Okay." She clicked off the messenger app immediately in search for a good internet meme. Smolder was more familiar with "dank" memes, the ones with popular text formats. Stopping in the middle of her frantic scrolling, she let out a chuckle and puff of smoke.
"That's fuckin' hilarious."
She sent the image to Ocellus before putting the phone down and sitting with her head in her palms, waiting patiently. Smolder thought for a second. Ocellus sent her a meme, and, she barely had the chance to react to it. She was too busy leaving her friend on "Read" that she didn't even recognize the dank meme she had sent her, and, Oh boy, was she so fucking lucky she did.
The meme Ocellus sent her was the usual text format. The picture depicted a cartoon-y dog that had the pupils in his eyes all tiny and drifting in different directions. He was wearing a slightly bloody hat, and his neck was stretched out for extra emphasis. "I'll fuckin do it again." The caption read. The text above was simply outlined; except Smolder found her name in the text. It read: "Smolder: I'm not cute! Don't call me cute!! Me:" And then the image showed. Smolder blushed and chuckled under her breath.
"Ding!"
A sound caused Smolder to almost jump out of her own scales. She sighed in relief, as it was only a notification that her favorite friend had texted her.
"That's cute." She said. The dragon sighed. Somehow, she just now ended up avoiding disaster.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the meme Smolder sent her was another simple meme format. See, Smolder and her friends were always around after technology was invented, so, they were practically most of the memes on the internet. Due to some... "friendly" encounters, some of the ponies were more used to the six, which meant they also started shipping them. Friendly memes, Smolder was used to, but when she figured out what image she clicked on...
"Oh, shit.
She scrolled up toward the picture she sent Ocellus. In the image revealed an intense Smolder with black shades biting her lip harshly. "THAT 'LING." Was written in a big, black format in the background. Oh no.
"Dammit. Sent that one on accident."
"Lol, Smolder, how dumb do you think I am? That you accidentally clicked on this picture?"
"I mean... yeah."
"So, it was an "accident" because ponies caught you staring at my butt?"
Smolder could practically hear her giggling through the phone. Or outside her dorm. "Fuck."
The door creaked open. Smolder looked at the young changeling behind it in perturbation. "Soooo....?" Ocellus turned around, closing and locking the door behind her. Smolder huffed.
"It was just a meme, don't think anything of it." She jumped down into her mattress and under the covers the second the two locked eyes. Ocellus licked her lips, and then made her way over to the bed. It only took a few hoofsteps on the carpeted floor, but as soon as she made it, Ocellus pressed her hooves on the mattress. Smolder gripped her blanket in fear, and... anticipation. Her claws nearly ripped through the fabric as she grabbed the quilt so harshly. Ocellus was undeterred. She lifted herself up, hooped on top of her dragon victim, and began smooching.
"Oh, really?" She purred, continuing to do her thing.
She continued to plant light kisses on her neck, following all the way up to her chin, and finally, on her lips. The dragon was terrified, yet unbothered. Ocellus' tongue curved and twisted around her own, spinning and twirling around in her mouth and leaving a sweet, yet addictive sensation on her taste buds. She craved more, raising her claws and grabbing her soon-to-be lover's head and pulling her closer. Before things could escalate even further, Ocellus pulled back.
"I love you," murmured Smolder, who was gazing longingly into her partner's eyes.
"I love you more." She repeated, adding her body weight to Smolder's own. The dragon purred in response.
"We should 'send memes' more often," She pressed, running a stray claw over Ocellus' backside. The bug shivered upon Smolder's warm touch, but soon got used to it. Ocellus opened her mouth seductively and teasingly licked her very short fangs, tasting the sweet, sweet love in the air. It was cravingly good, light and creamy, like the frosting of cupcakes. She let out a quiet and very abrupt squeak when Smolder gently flicked her plump behind, as if to say something. "That 'ling."
Ocellus smiled. "Quiet, you."
Smolder lay lazily curled up in her bed. A stray pillow was sitting, impaled on one of her horns, and the stuffing was practically precipitating from it. It was a blizzard for Smolder, but without the cold. Just warm, annoying fuzz. She rubbed her eyes and prepared to fall back asleep, but, something caught her eye just a few inches away from her.
"You're awake." A blushing Ocellus smiled. An orange and scaly dragon wing was enveloping her into it's warm folds, and it's heat sheltered her like no other. Smolder quirked a brow, and then flicked her tail a little in realization.
"I'm guessing we had a relatively fun night. Compared to how much fun we had texting each other." She smirked. Ocellus giggled tiredly, and then snuggled into her dragon lover's wing. Smolder wrapped a dazed tail around her bug's rear end, just for extra protection, of course. Ocellus chuckled once more.
"My butt hurts. The only thing I can remember is... this..." She raised a hind leg, revealing the red claw marks on her flank. Smolder blanched. "I don't know if anyone might have anything to do with it though....! I-I might be sick with the flu or something!" She gasped. "Smolder! What if I'm sick!"
"N-No, I don't think that's sickness."
"H-How can you be sure? I-I mean, this could be that one illness I found on that page on PoniPidea, I--" Her ear twitched.
A quiet hum and thumping sound had emitted from the bedside table behind her. Turning to look, Ocellus found her phone, screen lit, with a message on the lock screen. It read: "Smolder: Send memes?"
