Simplified

The sun is relatively warm today, it feels like a fair seventy-five with a slight breeze. The trees are at bloom over here at the Ponyville School of Friendship. The waters just as clear as ever, the students just as lively, and the staff as friendly as I've always remembered. I pop in to pay some friends a visit since I don't have much on my schedule for today. While tomorrow is a different beast, due to the travel I'll have to endure going towards the region of Hippogriffia, I'm taking today to at least take it easy before the trip.

But my mind is at unease from yesterday. I remember the look on Ocellus' face as Smolder advertised the idea of bringing Gabby into the fold. Now that I think about it, I remember her being a bit distant after I voiced my concerns about me possibly knocking up Smolder.

She seems to wear a fairly bright face as she walks down the hall. I happen to run into her. "Hey, Ocellus."

She turns around, and the smile quickly fades. "Oh. Spike... You're here."

I start with a cheerful attitude, hoping that my approach is engaging enough. "Yeah. I just wanted to check in on you and see if things were going okay─"

"They're fine. Just, busy is all." She interrupts, looking elsewhere.

She seems to be looking for anything to distract herself. I tone it back a bit, but I still show concern. "You look a little troubled, is something─"

She pulls out her phone and smiles at me sheepishly. "Well, would you look at the time, I gotta run and do some planning for my next class. Later."

"But your class don't start─" She speeds right through me going at a trotters pace. Meanwhile I still find myself wanting to continue my response. "─in the next two hours. Okay. Good talk."

I hope she's not mad at me.

The school day comes to an end, many of the teachers directing the students to go about their day, others also patrol the grounds for the purpose of stopping any of them from getting into any illicit affairs while on campus. As I watch the groups of young teens pass by with smiles on their faces, joking about their days, I see Smolder hard at work trying to make sure that there aren't also any troublemakers looking to settle a score on the grounds.

She has a teenage colt and a changeling by their ears while guiding them to the headmaster's office. In doing so, she runs into me while I'm speaking to Sunburst about possibly getting together for a game of Ogres and Oubliettes one day, especially since Big Mac, Shining Armor, and Discord all have ongoing familial obligations.

I greet the dragon as she enters with the pair of boys. "Hey, Smolder. Rounded up a few troublemakers today, huh?"

"Yeah, these two were going at it over a kirin classmate. Seems to me she's playing them both for suckers." She announces as she seats the boys in chairs separated from one another.

Starlight comes out of her office and address the pair. "Okay, what in Celestia is going on now?"

"These two were caught scrapping, typical teenage romance dispute." Sunburst explains briefly.

Starlight fastens the two boys to their chairs with her magic as she and Sunburst look to mediate the situation. "I think we can handle this from here. You two just keep your eyes peeled for whatever else is going on throughout the campus."

"Sure thing." Smolder says as she walks out of the room, I follow close behind her.

As we leave from the office, I start to spark up a conversation, hopefully leading to the state of Ocellus. "Man, didn't think the School of Friendship would be a place where fights even occurred."

"Boys will be boys." She shrugs off. "Doesn't matter where you go, or the culture for that matter. There's always an instinct to compete when it comes to the opposite sex. Don't ever get that twisted."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me about it." I mumble, thinking back to how I felt about Rarity all those years ago.

Smolder opens the door to a classroom, checking if the place is empty. "No matter what, there's always one party looking to show dominance over the other. It's just nature."

"Yeah, that's true." I mutter in agreement.

Once confirming that the room is empty, she closes the door behind us and we go right back into our usual classroom chat. "So I know that you ran into Olla this morning. We talked over lunch about it. I know why you're still here, so tell me what's up."

At least she beat me to the punch. "I think Ocellus has an issue with me trying to reconnect with Gabby. I know you thought that we could probably bring her around, but I'm not even certain of that much. But I still can't shake the feeling that she's ignoring me because of it."

"I mean she shouldn't." The dragoness says with a raised brow.

"Well, she's obviously not talking to me." I point out.

"Yeah, she's like that whenever something new pops up. You remember how she did us when we were back in Canterlot after our club visit?"

How could I forget. "Yeah. I just thought it was weird how she darted out the room like the way she did. We had breakfast together, talked and everything, but then she just kinda shoved me off to you, and that was that."

Smolder takes a seat at the teacher's desk, reclining her feet onto the table as she spoke. "Well I think she was trying her best to give us some space to talk things through."

"Yeah, I remember that part." I say, parking next to the reclined dragoness.

"I especially remember how you were pretty worried that I was gonna pop a few eggs after we hit it off the night before."

I grow a little flustered but not enough to throw me off of my train of thought. "Yeah. I don't mind protecting the young, but I don't think I'm fully ready mentally for the idea of being a dad just yet. That's just me."

"Most dragons don't like the whole parenting thing either." She reminds me.

"And I still feel that's an issue that should be addressed." I reply, thinking back to my time in the Dragon Lands.

Smolder chuckles as she gives me a casual warning on the attitude of dragons. "Don't preach to a stone to give you milk, you'll be at it for a while."

Those thoughts aside, I wander back to the prospective meeting I have set up with the griffon that apparently troubles the aforementioned changeling. "Well I'm glad to know that you're at least willing to mediate between us. Now I'm just worried that I might have to cancel my Thursday if she's not cool with it."

"And let me guess, you wanted to ask her about it?" Smolder points out.

"Hell, you saw how she was yesterday. She ate the last of her ice cream and bolted."

"She did state how tired she was after the travel. That much was pretty apparent when we nibbled on her ears."

I proceed to play with my thumbs, uncertain of what to do. "I just don't want this to end badly. You've been with her for years, I know you can talk to her for a bit and gauge her feelings on it. Can you at least clue me in so I can know what to do? Please?"

The dragon sighs as she pulls out her phone. "Okay, get comfy."

Over the years, what I've learned about Smolder is that if she has a story, or maybe some bad news, she's going to tell you to get comfortable. So in this instance... "Something tells me you've got a story to tell?"

"Of course." Figures. "So let's start off with what happened some years ago. You remember the Fetlock Fete of Ponyville, the first one the school hosted?"

I rack my brain for a second to recall what all happened, it was a fairly eventful week. "Yeah. I think she said she was crushing pretty hard on Sandbar at the time."

"Well... let's just say that she didn't just crush on him a little bit."

"What do you mean?"

Smolder elaborates further. "I mean she once played intermediary between the two. Like how do you think they got around to being able to get cozy with each other in bed? It wasn't because they fucked around and found out the hard way."

"Oh yeah, you mean how she used to turn into me for you?" I point out with a sly smirk.

The dragoness rolls her eyes as her cheeks run red. "Ugh, she told you that?"

"Take it that was a fake story to get me riled up?"

"No, just that I didn't expect her to outright say it." She grumbles before continuing from where she left off. "Oh well, that's for another time. Let's get back to this one. She helped Yona when she felt insecure about dealing with Sandbar physically. That yak was always insecure about her ability to be intimate, considering their size difference and her strength."

"Yeah, I get it. She didn't want to crush him, or his goods."

Smolder snaps her claws and points at me with confirmation. "Right. So she used her for practice."

"And I take it that she pulled a 'her' and did the same for Sandbar." I safely conclude.

"Religiously."

I commend the changeling on her ability of playing matchmaker, albeit in dubious circumstances. "Well she did manage to get them to be comfortable with one another, so there's that."

"Yeah, but try sleeping with your first crush and his girlfriend. You'd think with the way she is, she would be fair about it."

I can easily roll my eyes at that notion. "She wasn't."

Predictably, Smolder continues the story. "She broke character one time while they were doing it, got into it pretty deep too. Then Sandbar realized who he was getting straddled by and he broke things off from her for a while. They didn't speak for weeks."

I notice she has a habit of injecting herself on occasion, that I still remember from my time in the Dragon Lands. "Yeah, that would break the immersion a bit. And I can imagine how guilty he felt about it."

"Yeah, he told Yona what happened, and she stopped dealing with her soon after. The good news is that it pushed them together in the end. But it seriously put our friendship in jeopardy, not to mention our bonds as element bearers."

At least that part isn't new to the struggle. I've watched as Twilight and Rarity quietly be at odds with one another over a human who didn't even end up with either of them. "I take it she apologized to both of them."

She goes on to continue. "It's not like they were offended, it's just that Sandbar wanted the space to separate from Ocellus. And Yona stood in solidarity of that. All's well that ends well, but some of that still lingers in her mind."

I'll admit this does give a bit of perspective to why she acts the way she does, but it also doesn't explain why she's like this with me when we've been seeing each other in the intimate sense for a short period of time. "So what does that have to do with us specifically?"

"She's been doing the same thing for the both of us. My personal guess is that she's concerned that the whole situation will end up happening all over again."

Oh yeah, I even pointed that little bit out earlier. It just slipped my mind that quick. But if that's a concern for her, why is she still doing it? "It wasn't like she minded toying with me while I was in my lust period."

"I think if anything, she was trying to prep you for me."

That still doesn't make any sense. "Yeah, she did show herself as you at one point. Still doesn't explain why she was so frequent."

Smolder taps her foot against the desk as she admits the catalyst of the changeling's frequent visitations. "Only because I was concerned about you. But when she started dealing with you that often, and with such an intimate period ongoing, that pretty much set her off a bit. And she's not shy about it, she's gonna have at it if she sees an opportunity."

So she did it halfway out of obligation, and the other half was because she got horny. The more I find out, the more I have questions about her personality. "So, just like the first weekend when I got my phone back."

The dragoness confirms my thoughts. "Scratching an itch she wanted to have scratched since having to deal with you. She wanted to have her fun."

I grow curious of the changeling's actions, and also her personality. "So you say that she wanted to scratch that itch, so I have a bit of an inquiry. So when you were using her to placebo your way out of dragon lust, did she ever really get into it, sometime putting her real self in the mix?"

"Definitely." She answers. "She's not shy of expressing herself sexually, nor is she timid about taking on a form of someone that may get her partner off at their highest peak. Like I can't say I haven't had something clutched inside of me before you and I got locked up together. She's how I found that out in the first place." Smolder takes a moment to laugh softly with an outward thought. "Funny, she and I never stayed locked up for long." Her face reddens in thought as her claws start to tap against her arm, it seems even she gets a little worked up thinking about the changeling's routine. "So yeah, she's a sensitive little thing. Her gist was always when relationships change around her, especially when she's involved. She's afraid that because of her changeling nature, she feels she's doomed to be a placebo for everyone around her, at least until they find what they're looking for in someone else. And I guess there's also the feeding aspect."

That's the one I do remember her bringing up as a concern. But I haven't really seen her fight it off that much. I can only wonder if she's playing into it more often than not. "So I have another thought. I remember yesterday that I specified that I wanted to reconnect as friends with Gabby. Is that so much of an issue still?"

"She can still read emotions on a wavelength level, you know." Smolder points out. "Something inside of you is wanting this to work, and it's not just for the sake of being friends either. She can sense that much."

Okay, now that makes sense. Changelings feed on love, and they have a strong sensitivity to emotions. I remember Thorax saying how he sometimes had to detach from his emotions while feeding like they used to in the old hive. I'm beginning to wonder if she's struggling to manage all the influx of emotions while enduring this relationship.

Needless to say it's an answer only she can provide. Other than that, I can only go by the personal opinion of the one closest to her on that level. "So, how do you feel about it then?"

"I mean I was rooting for the two of you to work it out in the past. Kinda felt betrayed when she broke things off, but I understood when she told me what happened."

While I understand that the emotional complexities changelings undergo can be complex, I fully turn the conversation to her. I even go as far to point out her own emotional baggage. "Okay, but now I'm curious on why you didn't make a move on your own, especially since you've been going off of the image of me for years."

She rises from her chair, walks along until she places her claws on my shoulders. With a powerful yank, she lays me flat against the desk as she looks at me with a fair smile. "You were literally the only male dragon I could trust that didn't actively hunt me down for mating rights, which I almost took offense to. Like we did so much together and everything, we were friends, but you didn't even think to offer a single wrestling match to see how things would peel out." She lets me go and walks towards the window, seeing the small amount of remaining students loitering about before heading home. "I knew you wouldn't understand dragon mating habits, especially being around ponies for so long. You found a different way, so I wanted to see how I could find that for myself." She tilts her head back at me, the falling sun glistening against her copper-toned scales. "After all these years, it's weird having you around and trying to hold back."

Just for a second, I think I felt everything come to a complete stand-still. My eyes shifted away from her, not really knowing what to say to the often headstrong and brutish dragon. "I... didn't know."

"I didn't tell you." She says as she walks towards the door. "Besides, I knew you were pretty busy, far too busy to have a conversation that wasn't over the phone, much less a relationship. And I wanted the time with you to see if it was right. Doesn't feel wrong thus far."

I walk closer to the dragon, halfway expecting her to give me a jab to my chest. But she steps into me with a smirk, coiling her tail around mine. I hold her chin up to me. "I don't think it feels wrong either. However, I don't want it to feel wrong for Ocellus."

She finally gives me that jab I was expecting. "Big softy."

My Tuesday was spent on maintaining some diplomatic ties with Queen Novo of Seaquestria, it seems that there's also a change in power soon to come with Princess Skystar soon to take the reigns. Apparently the current queen is looking to take her example from another former royal figure in Celestia. Starswirl was also in attendance, he's also eager to go out and venture into some of the other parts of the world beyond Equestria's borders, especially since he hasn't done so already.

I spent the night as a puffer fish over in that part of the world, but got turned back to my normal dragon self and shipped out on the next train smoking. It was a long day of travel each way, and personally I'm looking forward to the soon-to-be expanded modes of transportation that Twilight will be looking to implement from the human world. Her next goal seems to be high-speed rail, the likes that apparently doesn't exist in the country that our portals connect to. But at least Alex has some connections to see if he can get some plans drafted up. Either way, the massive business might look to hurt him in the eyes of his fellow humans, but he's been quietly leaning into contracting a whole firm to assist in the building of these projects.

Guess that means we'll start to see a few new human faces in a controlled arena.

It took over eighteen hours each way, but getting back home made me feel like I was a slug running through a salt mine. If this damn castle wasn't all the way on the north side of town, I'd be dreading the flight back to my room a lot less. Unfortunately, that's not how life goes for my occupation. At least I'll have some time for self this go around. Just thinking about the fact that I have a recovery period is insane by my existing standards.

I spent most of today sleeping in, I needed the energy. But with a certain time slot creeping up on me with every passing second, I grow more and more restless thinking about it. Gone is the dragon of yesterday's dirge, it's a new me now... well more of an old me with new privileges. And I am going to seize those privileges with every moment they're offered to me. I ain't going back now, and I'm moving forward with an anticipation that I will make the best of it. This will be a good day today. I will make a friend smile today. I will make amends with the mistakes of my past, and move to a better present, so that I can maintain the image of an ideal future.

Now let's go fucking get it. "Alright, here we go."

I finally stop staring at the mirror. I'm more than hyped on my own self right now. I'm already check for check on my preparations. Everything is going as planned.

I go check the battery status of my phone, seeing it's at full. I go to the calendar, seeing no colored highlights on this day. "Schedule cleared, certified check." I go to my dresser, seeing my receipt from Monday afternoon's purchase for today. "Reservation made, check." I look past that, seeing a small sack with a substantial amount of gems in the bag. There are so many that I just chuck a few into the air and catch them with my mouth, feasting on the candy-like currency. "Funds secured, check." I pick up a bottle of fairly pricy cologne and take and spray the air, walking through the mist to allow the aroma to properly grace me. "Bath taken, check. Teeth brushed, check. Mouthwash fresh, double check." I stop for a second and bend down to raise a foot up, taking a quick sniff to see if I needed to pay anymore attention to that one flaw that's been an issue for me for some years. I'm pleased with the result. "Feet fairly inoffensive, triple check." I give myself a wink at my reflection in the mirror. "Overall status: I'm looking and smelling real good."

I strike a few poses in the mirror, seeing the shape I'm in. While I am still relatively on the thin end, I see that the charm of my infamous selfie to Twilight hasn't lost any presence. If anything, the month I spent in the dragon lands developed a bit more of a definition for my body. It's a far-cry different from how scrawny I was in the past. When I first grew my wings, I was a little pudgy fellow, shortly after my work started to increase, my height overshot the little weight I had. Puberty came and went, and now I'm growing into the Spike I once fantasized myself to be. Pretty crazy to think about.

Can't think about it for too long, I got a griffon to appease. I open the door to my room, blinding walking into the hallway, though not even paying full attention to who's sitting outside my door. "Alrighty then. Now the only thing I gotta do is walk out this door, go past Ember, and make my way through town─" My eyes shot open as I thought I had said or notice something in error. I turn around to see just that issue popping up unannounced. "WAIT, WHAT?!"

"Spike, bout time you popped up! I've been looking all over Equestria for your scaly ass!" The blue dragoness chuckles in greeting.

Oh no, oh no this cannot be happening right now. This is about as good for me as an international incident. I panic with a nervous twitch, trying to think my way out of this situation. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"Duh, hanging out." She seems so casual with her response.

"Uh, with who?"

"Duh, you." And she speaks as though I'm supposed to be happy about it, and with the gusto that I shouldn't be surprised to see her pop in unannounced.

"Me? Today? As in right now?"

"Yeaaaaah?" The royal entitlement is real with her.

Okay, you've got this Spike. Just take a deep breath, and try not to panic too much about it. Now, make it seem like this is a matter of extreme diplomatic importance so you can go and do diplomatically unimportant things. "Sorry, I got a meeting in a few. I can't be late for this one."

"Meeting huh, can I come with?" Oh great, she's insisting to join. Maybe I can tone down the urgency and make it seem like it's not worth her while. She's always a stickler for wanting to be entertained. Maybe I can make this seem as uninteresting as possible to turn her off of it.

"Uh, it's not really a meeting worth someone as important as you."

"Nonsense, I just want to hang out today." She's REALLY insisting that we'd spend time together. Now I feel a bit concerned, especially since Smolder had made a mention that she came around sometime last week looking for me. Either way, I need to let her down on this one, hopefully I can schedule something at some other time. Let's see if she's willing to be reasonable and postpone.

"Uh, can we possibly do this like sometime tomorrow?" Fuck, I forgot that's a bad day too. I'm moving into my new place tomorrow. She can't know I'm moving out of here.

"So what, friendship advisor too busy to entertain the Dragon Lord herself?" Now she turns my title against me like I'm some sort of pet.

I facepalm and politely give her my critique of her approach. "Ember, you can't just pop up unannounced, you have to write me or something."

She quirks a brow and purses her lips before folding her arms in a pout. "Spike, what are the things that we dragons don't have much of these days?"

I roll my eyes while reiterating an answer I so often hear from her. "Pillows and tunnel-boring equipment."

"No!" She corrects me in a subtlety that could be perceived as a bomb threat. "Pens and parchment! Fucking Garble uses a month's supply for his stupid poetry! All he does is write some shit, ball it up when he doesn't like it, and toss the shit into lava! How can I send letters when he keeps pestering me for my supply!?"

You mean like having a supply more than a pack of two-hundred sheets of wide-ruled paper a month? It's not like I haven't brought that up to you before. "I could petition to send more."

"Sure, do that." Well, that's another thing to add on the growing list of wants for the Dragon Lands and their present-but-absent dragon lord.

"I could also have some cellular towers installed in the area if you're willing to have a phone." I suggest.

"I don't need those stupid, junky, glass-and-plastic toys. Those damn things aren't even lava-proof, what good would they be if we wanted to make a call in a lava bath."

While she does bring up a good point, I bring up an even better one. "How about we don't use our phones in lava?"

"Whatever. Bottom line is that I'm here now, so we're going to hang out today."

For all the years I've known her, Ember's been a major pain in the ass. I get that we have our cultural differences, but I figured that at least by year three of being around ponies more often that she'd at least start to be a little more reasonable. Instead, she's grown more and more determined to force someone's attention to her, namely me. I get that she has an interest, but she's going about it the wrong way. And too often, I have to be the friend who reels her back and let her know what's good and what's not. "That's not how this works, Ember, and you already know that."

"Really, so what do you want me to do since I'm here!? Be bored and eat the fucking walls?" There's a period of silence while she looks around the hall, humming as the imaginary light bulb pops over her head. "Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. The walls here are pretty tasty."

Yeah, I cannot let her find out I'm moving to a new place tomorrow. The last thing I need for her to do is bite into some drywall and burn the place down because it doesn't taste like amethyst. Tell you what, Ember, I'll entertain you AFTER I get done with today's meeting at the local green. If it's of any importance, or even if it isn't, I'll see if I can try to appease you and your inherent streaks of violent outbursts. "If you can just camp here until I get back, I'll promise to spend some time to chat then."

She accepts the offer, scratching off a huge chunk of the amethyst walls and biting into it like an apple. "You better not keep me waiting for long! The longer you're gone, the less of a bedroom you're going to have."

"Fine." It's not like I actually live here anyways. "Just stay here."

Happy that I'm no longer having to deal with a crazy dragon probably looking to enact some form of physical violence against me for reasons I've already explained as unnecessary, I focus on the one thing I've patiently waited for all this week. I finally get the chance to reconnect with Gabby.

I won't even lie about it, I thought about crossing the line a number of times with her when we were dating. There were even nights where I was quietly fantasizing about her much like how any horny sheltered teenage boy would. And the fact that I was on the road so often made matters worse. I figured that the next time we met in person, I would try to press the idea of getting physical. Well in short, she got physical by throwing a glass of water on me, I got wet, and went home to follow through on the crank of shame.

Sometimes my frustration had to be alleviated by means of friction that only a claw could provide.

Now that I think about it, she is a little bigger than what she was back then. But now she's smaller than me, even when she's standing on her hind legs for height. I'm pretty sure I could probably toss her around a bit, maybe body slam her into a bed, make her feel something she probably haven't felt in years, what I would do to yank her by her tail and watch as I sink hilt-deep into her body.

...Okay, maybe I'm a little too excited. Let's reign it in, Spike. Okay, check the time, breathe.

The clock on the dial reads sometime after six. I'm already making a bad impression, I'm just now getting to this place and I'm the one who's late. She did say that she was going to be coming from work. Maybe six was a bit too early, seven's more of her speed. Or maybe she's not even on her way here, she said she gets off at five anyhow. So if she gets off at five, flies home, shower, do whatever else, and fly over this way, she should've still beaten me here.

Maybe I'm being impatient, or I'm just anxious. Either way, not seeing her isn't doing a service for my confidence here. Then again, Apple Bloom did say that she didn't really go out with anyone these days. I suppose this is about as far as my excitement goes then. I tried my best to make it work, turns out that it might not be enough for someone who'd rather move elsewhere than be someplace where there's the remote possibility of running into someone who you don't like.

I look back to my phone, checking the time. It's now well-past 6:30. "Wow, guess I should've saw this one coming."

I walk up to the counter in defeat. While I wish now that I'd taken up Ember's offer, even with the threat of violence looming with every interaction, I'd at least be putting the second set of clubs to some use instead of paying for them to be neglected for eighteen holes.

The clerk behind the desk is a older mare, she seems pretty cheerful. Maybe I should take after her demeanor for a second. "How may I help you, sir?"

"Hello to you, ma'am. I'm sorry for being late, I called in for a reservation at six, is that still open?"

The mare chuckles. "You know, you don't need to call in for a reservation."

I understand that asking for a reservation for something like this is overkill, but I've learned the hard way that not setting aside time to make a reservation is just as bad as showing up to a formal masquerade ball with sports jersey on. False equivalence for sure, but it's better to be prepared in case there's anything that could jeopardize a fair sporting chance, like having to share the same set of clubs or balls.

Now that I think on it, this is just Twilight's habits wearing on me. "I know, but I wanted to make sure the slot was available."

The mare smiles warmly. "You're such a gentlecolt. What's your name?"

"Spike the Dragon." As I give my name, she goes through a fairly empty log book and pulls up the last name that's written down.

"Oh yes, you! You're the princess second hoof in command. Why I remember when you and the princess teamed up to help steer away that beastly ursa minor, also that scary Cerberus that came though town. It's so strange to see you so grown up these days." She seems awfully bright-eyed, I don't know if I can really match her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I understand."

She skims what appears to be the first page of the reservation book. Turns out that it's only my name down. Guess she's a glutton for chatter and interaction. "Now here you are. Reservation for two, admission paid in advance, full-course play for all eighteen holes, all good. What color ball would you like?"

No brainer. "Green."

"And for your partner?"

If I remember correctly, her favorite color was... "Blue."

"All of our blues are out in rotation, how about a nice pink?"

Yeah, if I remember anything about Gabby, she never liked the color pink on the grounds that it 'systematically binds someone of a specific gender to a preconfigured set of habits and ideals. And I don't want to get off on a bad impression. Guess I'll swallow the bit on this one. "I guess I'll do the pink one instead. My friend will be using the green one."

"I see. Well, here are your scorecards. Have fun!" She says, issuing me a set of cards to keep tally of how we perform.

Though let's be real, at this rate, she might not even show. I'll probably play a round to myself and head home. "Sure thing... I guess."

It's been so long since I've been here. The last time I remember hitting up this place was years ago shortly after we started the power transfer. Celestia was still in charge, but she had finally laid down her plan to install Twilight as high princess. If I remember, there was another clerk here at the time. She was even more of a chatterbox, and she was so nice to everyone who visited. She also had a story of losing her son in the changeling invasion of Ponyville, but she managed to overcome the grief, treating everyone as family. She'd even give me and Twilight a few rounds of golf for free. I wonder where she went off to.

I get to the first hole, it's a simple put made with a ninety-degree corner. The hole is basic and small, but it rewards the real angle magicians with a free albatross. I'm no such thing, but I can at least work my way through it since I've actually played real golf. I know, different animal of a sport, it would be like comparing a lion to a tabby. But instead of full-sending the ball several yards down the greenway, I'm just giving it a nudge in the right direction.

Before I put my ball down, I write our names on the score cards. "S-p-i-k-e... G-a-b-b-y... Okay, guess I'm up."

I place the pink ball on the dot indicating the starting spot. I take another look at the course and guess at my best angle. I lean down and give it a swift whack, watching as the ball roll towards the corner. But my angle appears off, getting an unlucky bounce off the sharp corner. While I gained a better sightline for my next shot, I also threw away any chance of getting that albatross. It sucks, but at least I'm not too far behind.

"If that's what you pass for a good stroke, then you should probably get another practice strike in."

My head jumps up, seeing the griffon walking slowly towards me. She seems mostly unenthused about showing up, while the inner-me is leaping for the sky. I do my best to not visually display my excitement, but it still manages to reflect in my tone of voice. "Ah, Gabby! I was starting to think you'd never show!"

She grumbles and shakes her head at me. "Honestly, I've been watching you mope around for the better part of an hour. It's pretty pathetic, honestly."

Ouch... she's just been watching me for an hour? Wow, I'm more surprised that she even elected to show her face on that note. "Yeah, ain't it?"

"You know, I was planning on just watching to see how you'd do from a distance, and then go home after a few strokes. But I didn't expect you to just start playing a whole round by yourself."

I give her the green ball and her club to use. "Well I spent the money, this wasn't gonna be like how it was back at that one restaurant. I'm gonna get my money's worth."

"Okay then." She notices the ball that I used and pops a joke at me over it. "So, breaking perceived gender norms today? Or were you planning to let me use that one before changing your mind at the nth second before midnight?"

"Well I thought you didn't like pink, and blue was all out of stock." I inform her.

She looks off, giving a slight nod before placing the ball down. "Its funny. I only told you that to see if you'd actually remember it, just so I could be like 'aw, how cute, you remembered' back in the past. But seeing that you actually remembered up till today is pretty... well... creepy." Double ouch. "So what are you waiting on, for me to hit my stroke?"

"Well, you just 'complimented' me on my shot, so I think it might be time for me to compliment yours." I reply.

"Spike, you know I'm a jack of all trades. Why are you even trying to compete?" She points her claws out at the wall of the course, measuring out her angle before taking her first swing. Her ball not only goes further than mine, it also gets pretty close to the hole. If she put a little more into it, she would've gotten the hole-in-one.

I walk past her, looking to make an adjustment on my shot. I don't want to fall too far behind starting off. I also issue a little quip of my own. "Doer of many, a master of none." I dial in, hitting the next swing with a bit of power. My ball bounces a few times before landing in the hole for an eagle. I scratch in a minus two on the scorecard. "I can relate."

"Lucky shot." She says walking past me, her ball only require a slight tap before landing in the hole.

"Save some of that luck for the rest of us." I sarcastically joke back at her.

She plucks out both of our balls and tosses me one of them, noticeably the green one. As I raise a brow at her decision, she snatches the scorecard away and mark down her score, a minus two for the eagle. "You think you're so good, huh?"

"Well I've been known to host a number of guests, gotta stay sharp."

"As sharp as a butter knife?" She jokes.

"Even they have an edge that works for them." I warn.

"So a spoon then?" She further teases.

"They have their uses," I reply with a shrug.

"Meanwhile, you're about as useful as a spoon with a massive hole in the middle."

I see she's just going to be like this for a few holes. "To separate egg white from yolk?"

"That's not how physics work." She answers, walking towards our next course.

"Oh, so you're a physicist now?" I follow behind her.

"Unlike you, I went to school."

"Ooh, spicy. I see you're feeling competitive."

She scoffs with extreme confidence. "I might even be willing to put down a wager."

"Cool, cool." I nod. "Got a phone?"

She side-eyes me with a stern glance. "It has a number you can't call or message."

Already, the ideas are starting to run through my mind on what I want my prize to be. But in the spirit of friendship, at least to keep things relatively low-key, I'll start with something simple. "By the end of this, I'll be shooting you a text."

"That's your wager?" She seems largely unimpressed.

"You ain't got one?"

She looks to the sky as if an answer falls from above. Eventually one does come to mind for her. "Okay, Mr. Renaissance dragon. If you lose, you run my Saturday route for me."

So I want something as immaterial as a phone number for my starter, and she wants me to do hard labor. Looks like I'm actually gonna have to play it serious for now. Golf club, thy name is Lucille. "Okay then."

"That means you do as I do, no gimmicks." She stresses.

"Yeah, sure."

We reach the second hole of the course. It's one of those infamous windmill courses that you have to time carefully. As I lean down to put my ball in the starting position, I feel a cold rod placed at the bottom of my arms. I look down to see Gabby placing her ball where mine was going to go. "Why don't I start this time?"

I happily bow out of her way. "Ladies first, then."

She looks back at the windmill, timing her stroke for an opening. She hits the ball, but it strikes one of the fans of the windmill. She's set back by a score. "Fiddlesticks." She says in disgust.

Since she wagers me to do some hard labor, and I'm taking this bet serious, I might as well play the role of antagonist by taunting her at every turn to throw off her mental balance. I mean hey, trash talk is part of the game. "It's okay to say 'fuck' every now and then, especially with you fucking up your score."

As I take my shot, I time my swing for the moment the blade comes to the ground. I put enough power behind it to where it goes through the tunnel just fine, but I miss out on the finish due to it rimming out. I mouth a swear while she goes for her next shot. "I don't have to live with profanity in my life, thank you. I know how to vent my frustrations without resorting to vulgarities."

She takes her next shot, once more hitting the blade with her ball. It's knocked away and back towards the side, certifying that she'll have to take another shot to align herself with the tunnel. She tries not to show her frustration, but I know that rubbing it in will only drive her to force a shot out of desperation. "The only thing I see that's vulgar is the massive lead I'm about to have with this eagle."

I give the green ball a slight nudge and it falls into the hole. She rolls her eyes at me. "Always the overconfident." She takes the stroke from her awkward angle, not even daring to correct her angle. Once more, the fan blade knocks it off to the side, a complete perpendicular angle from where she wants her shot to go next. "Dangit!" She screams. She's forced to take another shot to correct her approach.

"Ooh, that was for the birdie." I tease as she hits herself back to a better position, costing yet another stroke to do so. I mark down my minus two as I proactively put a plus down in the box for her score. "So much for par."

"You like being irritating, don't you?"

"Only when I need to be." Like right now. I wait for her to make her next shot, hitting the blade yet again. She's losing her focus, and it's becoming a huge benefit. "Damn. Can't even buy a bogey, huh?"

"Shut up." She growls as she takes another shot. Making it through the tunnel finally, but missing out on the power to land in the hole.

I get one last taunt in while she joins me on the other side of the windmill. "Guess you took my advice, you really are saving some of that luck up for everyone else in the universe. You were always so selfless."

She knocks it in finally, shouting in frustration. "Eat me!"

I tilt my head as I deviously make a joke of her exclamation. "Thought that was your boyfriend's job."

"You're so disgusting." She grumbles, snatching the scorecard, already seeing a plus by the number she had to put in. Plus three for her, minus two for me, the score between us shows a difference of five after our first two holes.

I politely take back the score card, guiding her to our next hole. "You're not new to me, you know."

"I thought we were starting over." She points out hypocritically, especially while she's not even giving me a fair chance to start fresh like we did years ago.

I simply tease her over it. "Some things don't change with the patch notes."

"Great, so it's not a bug, it's a feature." She says with disappointment all over her face.

"And your game is a feature presentation on how to suck at mini-golf." I quip back.

Her cheeks get red from embarrassment as she offers her excuse. "I'm just getting warmed up is all."

"Well you got another sixteen holes to warm up. Maybe you can make up for that disaster of a plus-three on your scorecard."

And then she has the nerve to say this. "Gotta give you a running start."

...I'm definitely gonna run up the score for that one. "Sure, head start."

Sixteen holes later, my score is barely under par. If anything, I think I did pretty poorly by professional standards, but at least my overall score ended as a minus-three. Under most circumstances, that would cause one to believe that the game was close by all definition of the word.

Gabby, oh Gabby, what happened?

Her final score ended as a plus nine. I thought that getting in her head might give me a competitive advantage, but I didn't anticipate that much of an advantage. Usually Gabby would wipe the floor with me when it comes to games like this, she's highly competitive and she tries to do her best at whatever. This time I'm surprised that she fell behind so quick, but as she got warmed up, the strokes started to get really dicey. In fact, if it wasn't for those first five holes, I would probably be sweating a lot more than I am now.

"Ugh... You practiced before I got here, didn't you?" Needless to say that reactivation of her competitive drive makes her a lot more lively to talk to. Just earlier I ran the risk of playing eighteen holes by myself, but now I have a winning scorecard, and she has her mojo back. "Ugh, maybe I should've did a little warming up before dropping in."

I chuckle through my response. "I do actual golf too, if you want to expand the playing field a bit."

"No thank you." Guess mini-golf is about as good as I can get it for now.

Oh yeah, that's right, I have a wager to follow up on. "So... can I borrow your phone real quick?"

She gives me a wary look, uncertain if she should trust me with allowing me her phone. "Why?"

"Just need to find mine." I lie.

She operates on instinct, willing to help, but not without questioning me as she does so. "You lost it?"

"On my person." I reply.

"You lost a phone on your person?" She says with confusion growing more apparent in her tone. I dial in my number, calling my own phone for a moment. As soon as I hear the ringtone, I start to smile.

♪I know way too many people here right now that I didn't know last year, who the fuck are y'all♫─"

I pull out my phone and reject the call, all while giving her back hers. "Not anymore."

She rolls her eyes and pouts. "So glad you found your phone."

I go back to my call log and add her name to my contacts. "So glad you let me lock you in."

"Wait, that's what you did!?" She asks with a bit of an alerted tone.

I hold up the scorecard and take a quick picture of what was written down. "I know what my first text to you is going to be." I promptly send her a polite reminder of what our scores were.

Her phone vibrates, she grimaces as the evidence of our wager manifests in the form of a message. She calls me out for my tedious teasing. "You are so obnoxious."

"When I want to be." I remind her, putting my phone away. "See, a promise made. I sent you a message on the phone you said I couldn't call. So I'll at least respect you and not call you if that's going to be an issue."

While I know we both had fun, especially her, she still tries to play it off. "Well... guess I've gotten beat this time. Maybe I'll spend a whole hour going through a practice round before calling up whoever I spend time with on the next time."

"I mean loss aside, you look like you had fun."

She sighs in defeat. "Maybe, if I was happy with consolation prizes. But I play for the win. And sadly, I didn't get the win."

"You always played like that. I miss seeing that drive in you."

She tries not to smile, passing it off for a scoff. "Well, my boyfriend sees that drive in me a lot more often than anyone else." She lies blatantly.

Honestly, I'm getting pretty tired of this boyfriend thing she keeps bringing up. I know it sounds pretty douchey to say out loud, but I just want her to come clean with me about it. Maybe I can continue to hang out with her, keep things on the safe side, see how long it lasts before I have to seriously lay down some ground rules, whether they be for her or myself. "So let's ask a question, what are looking like this Sunday?"

She hesitates before answering. "I got my rounds."

"Groceries and stuff?"

She looks up at me like she's already thinking of a way to shoot the idea down. "Why do you want to know?"

"Maybe I need a shopping partner. I move into my new place tomorrow, it's where the old library used to be. So I'll be looking to stock up, get a few things for the home, some furniture, groceries, appliances, I already have a TV on the way from Canterlot."

"Pretty cool." She doesn't sound too impressed.

"Well we can still do something you'd maybe want to do if you're down." I offer.

She squirms as she wrestles with her thoughts before shrugging her shoulders. "I might have to clear that one with my boyfriend."

There she goes with her ghostly spouse. I know Apple Bloom told me to keep playing along with that aspect if she brings it up, but it's starting to get a little annoying. Either way, I have to honor it. "Okay. Well, I have your number, you have mine, we'll keep in touch. I'll try not to text you at inappropriate times to keep it respectful, don't wanna start drama. So just shoot at me if something's wrong or you can't make it."

"It'll probably be the latter." She warns as she turns away from me.

"Either is fine, I'm just happy to see you having fun."

She once more tries to hide her smile. "Sure."

I know I could be pushing my luck here, but I really don't want to go back to the castle just yet. Maybe I could deal a little more time with her to see if I can crack more of this frigid ice wall between us. "You know, there's a pretty nice burger joint in Canterlot that has this great menu─"

She whips around, her tail lashing at my leg as she interrupts me. "Look... I had fun." Guess she's still not ready to have a one-on-one with no distractions. I might've pushed a little too hard there.

Okay, Spike, reel it back in. "I'm glad you did."

I turn to leave, at least satisfied with the idea of having spent time with Gabby again. It's been some years since we could really do something like this. It's always a pleasure when we share time like this. I do miss it. But now I've left the ball in her court, it's up to her to make that decision on if we can play some other time.

"Um..." Her pause stops me in my tracks. I don't look at her, I don't want to make her nervous or uncomfortable enough to forget or disregard what she wants to say. "So... Sunday, Ogres and Oubliettes, 4 p.m., I'll be the dungeon master."

If I could jump out of my scales and ascend to a higher plane, I think I would. But I have to play it cool, she has a 'boyfriend' and I actually do have two others who speak on my behalf. So yeah, I shouldn't get too excited over this. "Sure, name the place."

"Yours." Okay, maybe I can have a little irrational exuberance once I leave here.

"Mine?" Remember, don't turn around too much. Just give her a glance and keep it cool.

"Think of it as a house warming. We used to play it a lot back in the day. My boyfriend doesn't really get into it like I do, nor does he like it. So maybe I need to dust off the old cards a bit, just like I had to dust off my mini-golf chops on tonight."

Okay, maybe I can nerd out just a teensy bit. "I have a pretty swanky collection of dice, we could play with some of mine."

"Sure. I'm down." She's been holding back too. I guess as soon as Og's and Oub's get a mention, we're both reverting to those moments of nostalgia. It's more so about us looking to express a vein of existence we couldn't possibly live for ourselves. That's what got us in the game to begin with. Now it's bringing us back together.

I think the real us finally broke past that icy wall that stood between us for the lesser part of a week. We're full-on smiling at one another like we used to. However, I make a bit of a sheepish confession, hoping to stir up a bit of controversy. "I probably might change my class this time from wizard."

She gasps in shock, placing her talons over her beak. "No way! That's what you always picked! What happened?"

I deal with a magic unicorn who lords over all of the land. And she used that magic to always keep tabs on me, keep me in check, keep me on schedule, just a myriad of parentally oppressive tactics that disillusion me with the idea of being a magic-casting wizard. Yeah, I'm going for a change. "I might go with a rogue this time. Spice things up." She often went as a rogue herself, so now I'm going to swap the roles and see how well we do.

She giggles as she points out a thought. "You'd be better for a brute than a rogue."

"Ah, massive intelligence nerf right off the bat." I say while lightly knocking my knuckles against my head. I'm not exactly a stealthy individual either, so that's fair.

She starts to play with her tail, she's extremely excited. "Well since we're changing it up, I guess I'll be a red mage this time."

"Yeah, I can see you doing that. Jack of all trades, master of none." I joke lightly.

She smirks at me, giving me a slight shove. "Very funny."

I want to run back to my bed so I can sleep in it, just to make time pass by faster. I know moving to another home is going to make my day go by real quick tomorrow, and so will the furniture shopping on Saturday. Sunday won't even take any time to show up on my schedule. Oh yeah, I can hardly wait. "So. Sunday it is. I'll have snacks."

"Sure. See you then." She says before darting off to the darkening sky.

As she disappears in the distance, I take to the sky myself to fly back to the castle. I'm doing literal loop-de-loops just to press off some of that enthusiasm. I don't want to go back in there and get to bed, only to find myself being unable to sleep with all of the energy. I can't believe it, we're back in business. Once pen pals over great landforms and seas, now text buddies in the same town.

Hmm... You know, I never thought of being a red mage myself. Strong enough in physical stats that I can prove to be a competent fighter, and skilled enough with magic that I can cast a number of spells to keep myself boosted up in the fight. I never thought of that, how come I didn't think of being something like that before?

Oh yeah, I guess I would happen to know one in real life. He just happens to be a human.

As soon as I get back, I'm already thinking of how I'm going to pass the time between now and Sunday. I'm practically dancing through the halls of the castle getting back to the room. I even notice that she sent me a text telling me that she got back home safe. She goes even further to say that she can't wait to hang out on Sunday. It seems that she's forgotten about her 'boyfriend' for a moment, much like how I've left Smolder and Ocellus to a secondary position.

...Yeah, maybe I should dial back my excitement a bit. As much as I think it's great for me and Gabby to reconnect, I still have to remember that Ocellus feels a certain type of way about it. I should try to be cautious, and I should also bring up the fact that I am in an open relationship. Maybe she won't like that news too much, but she deserves to know.

As soon as I turn to my room, I notice that the door is sitting on the other side of the hall, completely removed from it's hinges. I run over to see that the entire doorway has been eviscerated. I look in the room, seeing that the window frame had been put aside as well. And of course, there's one notable figure reclining on the bed, chomping down on a fist-size chunk of amethyst. "Ember!?"

Of course she doesn't seem to care about the damage she caused. "Hey, I warned you what was gonna happen if you took too long."

I can see the entirety of the city of Canterlot from the massive hole left in my wall. I facepalm over that bit of news. "The whole outside can see me while I sleep!"

"Eh, your problem, not mine." Again, she has absolutely no fucks to give.

Luckily, the castle itself is ran on an enchanted lifeforce, meaning that it regenerates on it's own. But it does so overtime, and that can take as short as an hour, or as long as a day. Judging from the damage, it looks like it'll be teetering on that daily time frame. Alright, let's just take a deep breath and address this issue now. "Okay, I'm here now, so what do you wanna do?"

"Let's spar." OF FUCKING COURSE THAT'S WHY YOU CAME HERE!

"Spar? You left the Dragon Lands to ask me to spar with you!?"

"You mad about it?" Her antagonizing words are intended to get me stirred up. If I was a dragon of a more traditional upbringing, I would be trying to drive her through one of these walls she ate from. But I know better than that.

"I'm not someone you can beat up on, you know." She hops out of my bed, giving me a harsh shove at the shoulder.

"Then stop me from doing it. Otherwise I'm going to kick your ass."

Of course she's still trying to antagonize me. But I quickly think of an alternative to disperse some of her energy, as well as work off a little bit of mine since I'm essentially without privacy for a good while. "Can't we just settle on throwing rocks or something?"

She seems mildly disappointed that I pivoted our discussion away from a sparing session, but she accepts the offer. "I guess. You know a good place to throw rocks?"

Well there is that one place that held the Tree of Harmony. Maybe the extra bit of travel can help me take my mind off of the bullshit of not having a place to sleep. Even better, there's a tree house I can sleep in until the morning. You know what, that's our plan for tonight. "Yes. Literally a whole ravine southeast of here."

"Cool. Then let's get moving already before I kick your ass." She threatens.

Ugh... Everything about you has to be violent. I swear.