The Town Square was again alight with activity, the hustle and bustle of dragons and visiting tourists bringing life to the streets. Foot traffic and the sound of music from alleyways, the chatter of conversation and the smell of cooked meat wafting into the streets created a warm atmosphere. All of this was null and void of course to our two friendly neighborhood drake and griffon duo, the two engaged in rapt conversation.
“Spike, you’re biting your nails again man,” Gallus said playing the calm intelligent friend to Spike’s nervous wreck. “Honestly, you’re as bad as your father sometimes. Everything will be okay, you got that?”
“Yeah, you say that, but you’re not the one proposing to your girlfriend are you?” Spike babbled. “I mean, what if she turns me down? Oh Tiamat, what if I trip and stumble during the proposal and she laughs and never wants to see me again?”
“Okay, A, you’re more coordinated than that,” Gallus said calmly as he adjusted his jacket. “And B, I’m fairly certain despite all the times you’ve made a fool of yourself-”
“Not helping!” Spike said and Gallus gave him a ‘look’.
“If I may continue?” the griffon asked raising an eyebrow. Looking skywards, he seemed to be saying ‘why lord do you do this to me? Give me a sane best friend’ in plea. “Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyways, as I was saying I’m fairly certain despite all the times you’ve made a fool of yourself if Smolder hasn’t dumped your ass yet then I think you’re okay. Spike, you’re okay, you know that right?”
“Oh dear Tiamat, what if I trip, fall and then swallow the ring?” Spike said beginning to freak out again. Wordlessly, Gallus handed him a bag to blow into.
“Well, what goes in has to come out eventually right? We’ll get you some prune juice and watch and wait,” Gallus deadpanned. “Though if you’re asking me to dig for it, well then count me out. Pretty sure Smolder won’t accept a ring like that though.”
“Har har, you’re very funny,” Spike drawled. “Your jokes are the hit of the night!”
“Who says I was joking?” Gallus asked. “Like seriously, if that happens by some rare chance, I’ll grab some prune juice and then we’ll watch and wait for what happens next. I mean, it’s either that or we grab my great grandmother’s mystery soup surprise and make the ring come right back up!”
“...why do I have a feeling I don’t want to know?” Spike asked. “And why do I have the feeling you’re going to tell me anyways?”
“Then you’d be right on the money,” Gallus smirked. “See, greatgrandmammy’s special mystery soup surprise is… well, we don’t know what’s in it but nobody who’s eaten it has ever swallowed it for even five minutes before… Oh, well up it comes!”
“You’re disgusting,” Spike grumbled though if one looked closely, they could see a hint of a smile gracing his features. “Yeah, way to spoil my appetite before the big challenge tonight. You must be real proud.”
“Hey, you were asking for suggestions about what we could do if by some stroke of fate you swallow the ring,” Gallus said with a small shrug. “So, I’m giving them to you. By the way, are you sure a ‘mukbang’ is a good way to start off the night?
“Well, Smolder loves competition right?” Spike asked with Gallus nodding. “So, the way I figure it, what better way to generate a romantic atmosphere than an eating challenge and then a bar crawl?”
“Well, sounds like a good way to generate a stomach ache and make you look like a fool,” Gallus muttered before perking right back up. “Oh well, I’m in then! Sounds to me like you’re appealing to the true griffon spirit!”
“Is this another one of those ‘I don’t wanna know’ type things?” Spike had to ask. “Because from the sound of it, I don’t wanna know…”
“Oh, yes well, basically back in the Griffon Kingdoms,” Gallus explained. “There’s this sort of best me to bed me type thing going on. You beat me at a challenge, you get to have sex with me, you know?”
“You know, if you’re trying to flirt with me,” Spike said with a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure I’m already taken at the moment.”
“Damn!” Gallus returned to Spike, his smile equally wily. “And here I was thinking I could forgo the whole slay a dragon thing and just straight up lay a dragon!”
“Pretty sure Smolder would have other ideas…” Spike said.
“Well, she could join in too!” Gallus joked. “I mean, laying both the Prodigal Son and his mate to be? Imagine what wonders that would do for my reputation!”
“You’re an ego-hound,” Spike deadpanned. “Like, you seriously are.”
“It is one of my many charming qualities,” Gallus said in response. “My ego is world-renowned or at least known throughout all of Avalar. I am Gallus the Great and Awesome after all.”
“Please stop, you sound like that one mare I met in that one marketplace in Shady Oasis,” Spike said with a shudder. “The magician, the one who kept referring to herself in the third person. Like, Tiiiiaaaaaamaaaat…”
“Oh, so I assume you have Post Trixie Trauma?” Gallus asked. “If that’s even a thing. Like, is that even a thing? It is a question we should probably ponder, like one of those riddle for the ages types of things…”
“One must wonder…” Spike trailed off before he screeched to a halt. A glowing neon sign was in front of him, bright red. Their destination was at hand, or… claw really. “Ah, here we are. The Withered Claw. See, I told you we’d find it.”
“Yeah, after you got us lost several times,” Gallus drawled. “I still can’t believe you can’t read a map.”
“Well, I was distracted okay? Normally, I can read a map but then I got to thinking of the so and I mean so many ways this could go wrong. Like, what if me and Smolder both get so sick to our stomachs that I’m left unable to propose?”
“That is a possibility, yeah,” Gallus said, again wordlessly handing his best friend a bag to blow into.
“You’re not funny,” Spike grumbled.
“And that wasn’t a joke.” Gallus returned.
So, there Spike and company were, gathered around a single table. A wood fire crackled in the background, casting a comforting orange glow against the brick walls. Wooden beams clambered up to the ceiling, holding up the framework. A band played on a stage in the far corner of the room, fiddle fire lighting up the room as banjo and lutes provided acoustics. Drinks were doled out and handed off to prospectives, Gallus in particular drinking some strange green bubbling liquid.
When asked he said: “What, I like to be surprised. It’s strange, it’s green, it’s bound to put me in a coma if I drink too much of it. It’s like I’m back home!”
Tantalizingly, two tall stacks of fiery chicken wings sat on either side of Smolder and Spike. The two dragons stared the other down with neither willing to give in, in what had been dubbed the ‘first of hopefully many annual wing-offs where we eat till we drop’.
...or something like that. Look, some bouncy pink mare with way too much sugar had been in charge of the name. Some newly hired hoof Alvar had found it fit to bring on as a waitress. She was very… peppy, and quick with the joke and even quicker with the orders and receipts. So really, all was well in his little establishment.
“You’re so going down,” Smolder said. “It’s in my name, Smolder so hello? If anyone’s equipped to handle these piping hot wings it’s me, myself, and moi!”
“Hey, I’m just as much dragon as you are,” Spike said. “So okay boomer, show me what you got.”
“Please tell me you seriously just didn’t make that joke,” Smolder said disgustedly. “I think my respect for you as a drakefriend just dropped a little there. Like, I think I seriously just died a little inside!”
“Boomer, shmoomer,” Spike waved her off dismissively. “You’re going down in every challenge of the night. Wing-offs, bar crawls and anything else I might have devised.”
“Oh puh-leeze, you’re an Artisan,” Smolder said ready to talk smack before the big battle. “You’re weak, you’re puny. Beast Makers on the other hand, well now… that’s a different story!”
“I seem to recall I made the King of All Hogs the first time I went to Beast Makers,” Spike sneered. “So really, I think I can take you down and hold my own against you.”
“Care to put your money where your mouth is?” Smolder asked in turn. “Or in this case, your wings where your mouth is?”
“...My god, it really is like back in Griffonstone,” Gallus muttered. “Only it’s taking longer before one of you jumps the other!”
There was a clapping of paws and the squeak and the squawk of a microphone. Gabby had taken the stage. “Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll right ladies and gentledrakes. And Gallus.”
There came a sharp “Hey!” which was quickly ignored. Gabby went on… well, a-gabbing.
“As you all know, the rules for the Wing-Off are simple. In front of each contestant there are twenty wings, and whoever gets through them faster in good old fashioned mukbang fashion is declared our winner!” Gabby said as the hype began to build. Cheers began to erupt, with signs for both contestants being held up. Gabby quickly shushed the crowd with a claw, holding it up. “BUT! But there is a proviso. See see, it won’t be as simple as just eating through the wings, oh no! Alvar, the sauce if you please?”
A red claw passed Gabby a bottle of sauce, and like a whirlwind, she was to the table and back. And there slathered in this mysterious sauce -which everybody noted had ‘DANGER!’ written on the bottle- were both piles of wings. “Ah, thank you. This right here is the most dangerous of things, the most dangerous sauce ever devised by drake, gnorc or griffon. The Tiamat Hellfire. This, my friends ranks at a whopping 1,569,300 scorvilles. That, my friends is super science talk for… IT’S HOT! If any of you feel the burn and want to back out now… well, feel free to do so. That is, unless you’re chicken…”
A low ‘ooohhhh…’ spread over the crowd at Gabby’s callout. Gallus began laughing like a fool, and turned to both Spike and Smolder. “Oooh, neither of you can back out now can you?”
“So what’s the diff, we’re dragons right?” Spike asked. “I mean, that’s nothing. This is like low heat, it’s like embers compared to what we breathe out. Hell, you might as well dip this stuff in lava if you want a real challenge!”
Smolder let out a low purr. “Oooh, I like it when my Spikey-Wikey gets all brave and confident. Cocky even! I swear if this wasn’t a competition I’d jump you right here and now…”
“Noted…” Spike squeaked out seeing the lascivious look in Smolder’s eyes. He turned to Gallus and whispered: “...is it too late to back out now?”
“Hey, you devised this challenge,” Gallus said. “You gotta see it through to the end. I mean, going all ‘How to tame your dragonnessfriend’ is nothing to wimp out on if you ask me. Me, I’m just going to be standing here with the milk on standby.”
“What, no ambulances?” Smolder asked.
“Who’s chicken now huh?” Spike asked.
“Oh, you are so going down…” Smolder glared. “Like, when I eat you under the table you are going to be waiting on me claw and foot for the next week and a half. Hell, may put you into a cutesy-wutesy maid outfit for good measure! With a collar and bell!”
“Kinky…” Gallus said with a chuckle.
“Okay, okay, you two quit your flirtin’ and start your eatin’! I mean, we all want to see who wimps out first, right?” Gabby asked before ringing the bell. “FIGHT!”
Spike and Smolder drove their claws into the food. The moment their teeth sank into the sauce-drenched meat, that was when the instant regret set in. Despite being brave little dragons, they could feel the overwhelming spice running down their throats. Spike and Smolder were used to fire, that much was true, but with powerful scoville-loaded spice in their system? That was a whole new deal. It was a miracle they even made it through the first piece of food without crying out for mercy.
“Hot hot hot…” Spike whispered taking a sip of some milk. “Tiamat!”
“So… so, I assume you’re calling it quits?” Smolder asked, her mouth and ears smoking from the fire burning inside her mouth.
“Not… not on your life!” Spike said. “You’re going down!”
Gallus blinked as he watched the two go at it. “Remember when these two were about as dense as iridium? I do. It’s like I could walk up to Spyro and say: “I’ve finally found something denser than iridium. Your son.” and just get nods from Cynder and a laugh. ...sigh, sometimes I long for those days.”
Gabby, however, was of a… different persuasion. Already, the little griffon was taking bets from the gathering audience. “Can I have a 1000 on Spike, or is that… OH! A 2000 on Smolder. No, that’s a 3000, oh a 5000 on Spike! Holy mother of Enlil! 10000! 10000 on Smolder!”
Gallus wiped away a tear from his eyes. “...she’s become a true griffon, I’ve never been more proud…”
Once the two of them felt the power of the first spicy wing begin to fade, they went onto the next one. By now, they had over a million scovilles in their system, but now they were adding even more. The two of them were slightly shaken, but not enough to make either of them want to call it quits. They bravely took the second one and shoved it in their mouths. As they mowed the flesh and sauce off of the bone, they felt the initial surge from before come back, only this time, it was starting to blur up their vision. What could they say? They were not used to eating hot spice.
“And… and you call yourself a dragon…” Smolder said taking a sip of her milk. “You… you can’t handle Tiamat Hellfire? Shame on you…”
“Seems… seems neither can you…” Spike panted out taking a sip of his milk.
Gallus looked concerned… somewhat by this point. Leaning over to Gabby, who had taken a peek over at the proceedings, he asked: “...You know, shouldn’t we… uh… stop them? I mean, as fun as this is, well…”
“They’re dragons right?” Gabby asked, briefly gnawing on a gem she’d netted for herself. “‘Sides, you’ve met them. They’re both stubborn as mules, no offense Bill! Like, this is… uh, basically normal for them. Stubbornesswise, I mean.”
“Sure, sure. But they’re dragons who’ve handled fire before. The sauce on their wings? Totally different story,” Gallus pointed out the Tiamat Hellfire. “See, with hot sauces, it’s not called that because of the heat. It’s fairly cool sauce all things considered. It’s called a hot sauce because of the scovilles, which gives it the flavour making it hot. And it’s way over the million mark for scovilles.”
“I’m not a dummy, dear brother of mine,” Gabby drawled poking him in the chest with a claw. “I know how hot sauce works.”
“That sauce is playing hell with Smolder and Spike’s systems. They might look fine, but with two wings down, it’s likely that they’re beginning to hallucinate; see things that aren’t really there or thing the world around them is turning into water,” Gallus continued his explanation. “Sure, a hot sauce can’t really kill you by any means, but it can still leave you feeling like you’ve just come out of a washing machine on a heavy-duty wash.”
Both looked at Spike and Smolder who glared at them, despite eyes beginning to water up and both shouted: “DON’T YOU DARE STOP US!”
“See, what’d I say?” Gabby said as Gallus took a few nervous steps back. “Stubborn as mules!”
“Would you believe me if I said there were sauces hotter than that?” Gallus lifted a brow. “Hottest I remember seeing was something called ‘Deathwing’s Heart.’ Somewhere around 8,570,000 scovilles or something like that.”
“Don’t give them ideas if you’re that concerned about them…” Gabby muttered as she watched both Spike and Smolder tear into the wings. Neither seemed content with just ‘giving in’ and throwing in the towel. “It’s like rule numero uno when faced with two idiots who would love nothing better than to get an adrenaline rush. Do. Not. Give. Them. Ideas.”
Back at the actual action, Spike and Smolder were just sinking their teeth into wing number four when they felt the effects of too much sauce in their system start. Aside from the fact that they were starting to lose their balance slightly, both Smolder and Spike started seeing characters that they thought for sure had never been there before.
Gabby looked onwards, popped open a bottle of Deathwing’s Heart, drank it all down and belched fire, but looked none the worse for wear. “...Hmm, and Gallus is so worried about this?”
“You’re… you’re a real keeper, you know that right?” Smolder asked taking a very long sip of her milk. “Like… like, there’s nobody else I know who’d do this just for me. You’re crazy, but you’re my kind of crazy!”
“Yes… well…” Spike panted out. “I blame you for all of this, like seriously I do. If I hadn’t met you, chances are I’d have never broken out of my shell. Like, I’d have spent my days as a shy little drakling. I doubt even mom could have helped!”
“Oh, you’ll be crying for mommy in a minute!” Smolder shouted as she downed her next wing, before letting out a shout of: “MOMMY!”
“...Huh, and I thought I was the one who’d be crying for mercy,” Spike remarked as he downed his next wing, right before belching green flame.
Gabby meanwhile had done a ‘1, 2, 3!’ style thing on Smolder, declaring her down and out. Spike was the winner.
Of course, the night was far from over. Next came the sorta slightly less stupid second challenge. The bar crawl. Gallus already had the camera, just to record any and every bit of this for posterity. Gabby, wisely, had brought a second camera just in case Gallus decided to ‘invite himself’ into the challenge. After all, nothing said sisterly love more to her than watching your brother humiliate himself on camera and recording it all for posterity! And, of course, future blackmail.
“So, you crazy kids drink a lot?” Gabby asked as the group of griffins and dragons headed off to their first bar of the night. “Or are you both lightweights?”
“W-Well, I was taken out drinking by dad when I came of age, a-and Smolder here… well, she’s mentioned she’s had grenache and pinot noir…” Spike stammered out.
“I’m sure that’ll be nothing compared to this,” Smolder casually replied as she put her claws behind her head. “All we gotta do here is drink. Nothing too hard, right? And after all those wings, I reckon we’ve earned ourselves a few tankards, eh Spike?”
“Amen to that,” Spike said. “You still lost, like via a landslide you do know that right? Like, I was so content to jump up on top of the table, and shout: “Loser!” to you.”
“I’m still so amazed you weren’t seeing clowns to the left of you, and jokers to the right…” Smolder grumbled. “Also, smugness does not suit you one bit, Spikey-Wikey…”
“Yes, well, after finally beating you at something I think I’ve earned the right to be smug, don’t you?” Spike teased booping Smolder on the nose.
“You’re lucky you’re so cute, otherwise I’d dump your sorry ass right here and now,” Smolder grumbled, though the annoyance didn’t quite meet her eyes. “But all the same, you’re still going down on this little bar crawl of ours!”
“We’ll see…” Spike said. “We’ll see…”
“What’s with you anyways?” Smolder asked. “You’re usually never this competitive, I mean sure you’re competitive but this is like a whole ‘nother level for you…”
“Dragons are competitive by nature, ya big dummy. You should know that by now,” Spike said, as he playfully punched Gallus on the shoulder. “Sides, I want to make up for losing to you for so often by beating you at your own game in one night!”
“Oh, so I’m the big dummy?” Smolder asked. “Well, we’ll see who’s calling who’s who a dummy after I drink you under the table!”
Gallus chuckled to himself. There was no possible way this could end well for anyone. Oh well, that was what the camera was for! As Spike’s best friend, he was pretty much obligated to crack jokes at his expense and never let him forget stupid moments like this. And to think, all of this was just a lead-up to the main event, the proposal itself.
So came the first tavern, the Rushing Cheetah and in they went.
The Rushing Cheetah, for being a bar set in the dragonlands, was very well-furbished. The floorboards were properly cut and smoothed out, the walls looked very quaint with their stony aesthetic, and there were a few pictures draped on the walls—presumably drawn by some of the dragons from the Artisan realm. There were quite a few creatures in the bar along with Spike and the crew. Some dragons, griffons, and creatures that they had never seen before until now. But the same thing applied to them all; they were drinking, eating, or having a good chat with the other people in their respective parties.
“Three pinot noirs,” Spike said to the bartender, who as it turned out was actually Gavin apparently branching out from coffee to something a little bit stronger. Said dragon was humming ‘Trouble Man’ under his breath, the song playing from a nearby jukebox.
“Comin’ right up.” Gavin was about to turn away when he realized who exactly was ordering. “S-Spike? Well, look at you!” He threw his arms to the side. “Finally got yourself an appreciation for fine drinks, have you?”
“Didn’t know you were branching out to the stronger stuff, Gavs,” Spike commented.
“Ah well, you know how it is,” Gavin said taking a sip of some strange glowing purple drink. “Oh, I remember the days when you just barely came up to my knee! My my, how time has flown! Here you are, drinkin’ the grown-up stuff!”
“He sure has come a long way, Gav.” Smolder ruffled the quills on Spike’s head. “You should’ve been in the plaza earlier. He and I were knee-deep in this insane eating contest.”
“He even won it, for Enlil’s sake!” Gallus added.
“You two are are all kinds of crazy, I swear Spyro’s competition freak nature must have rubbed off on the both of you…” Gavin said pouring the drinks.
“Spyro’s got good taste in games. And we’ve got good taste in Spyro,” said Smolder, before she widened her eyes. Gallus and Gabby shared a look, desperately trying to smother their laughter. Gabby had to check to make sure if the camera was still rolling, she just had to capture that. “N-n-not like that! Just… we really admire the guy, that’s all. I mean, how bold is that dragon, really? All the risks he takes and the danger he puts himself in, it should be criminal.”
“...and here I thought it was just my mom she had a fangirl-crush on…” Spike muttered to himself.
“Well, Spyro is only one of the greatest dragons who ever lived. Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto, the Sorceress, Red, even the Sorcerer. That’s quite a lot of big, bad names that he’s had to tussle with over the years, isn’t it? And he was only a small dragon back then!” Gavin replied as he pushed the drinks toward Spike, Smolder, Gallus, and Gabby. “Anyways, here’s your drinks, you four!”
“Shall we?” Spike said in a challenge to Smolder.
“We shall,” Smolder said with a grin. “CUE THE MUSIC!”
And just like that, a song began to play from the jukebox… “Hail (hail)
What's the matter with your head, yeah
Hail (hail)
What's the matter with your mind…”
And so began the tomfoolery. Drinks flowed, and drinks flowed as the two hopped from bar to bar, with Gabby and Gallus capturing every moment. Well, when I say Gabby and Gallus, I just mean Gabby. As she feared, her brother had decided to ‘join in’. Oh well, she’d have plenty of blackmail material by the end of the night. So all was well. (#SavageGabs, new hashtag by the way. Pass it on!)
By the time that Spike, Smolder, and Gallus had made it out of their fourth bar, the Crooked Barrel, they were already long gone. The drinks had already hit their bellies, leaving behind their dirty work on their minds. The two couldn’t even talk properly without them cackling/slurring like a bunch of drunken hyenas. It made it to the point where any words that did come out of their mouths were entirely cluttered gibberish.
Right now, the threesome were engaged in a -highly off-key by the way- chorus of “Toss a Coin” and of course, this had only just been the least of the madness they’d gotten themselves into.
Privately, Gabby was lucky there were no Sapphire Shores impersonators for them to get wedded in a Las Pegasus style elope. That surely would have ruined the romance of a good old fashioned proposal. ...though knowing how the night had gone so far, it’d wind up with Spike proposing and wedding his mate to be in the drunk tank.
...And yep, there went the collapse.
Spike awoke with a hellish headache, and feeling woozy beyond belief. He found himself in a gray room, with cell bars on the other end of it. Where was… oh hell. Of course, he’d wind up in the drunk tank.
Yep, there was Smolder and Gallus, and what was that sound? Laughter? Yep, that was definitely laughter.
“Oh Tiamat…” came the familiar tones of his mother, and to make matters worse there was Gabby laughing right along with her. Laughing like a pair of hyenas, the two were as if to drive the nail in further. “Neither of you could even make it to closing hour! What a couple of lightweights!”
“H-Hey, so sue us. It was our first bar crawl!” Smolder said blushing red having her idol laughing her ass off at her. Next, she turned to Gabby. “Who won by the way?”
“Well, me really if you want to think of all the blackmail material I’ll be able to hold over you three for years to come,” Gabby said holding up the camera. “You three suck, like really… Honestly, not even making it to closing time!”
“Yes, we’re aware…” Smolder drawled her head still spinning. “Now who won?”
“Who won?” Gabby replied, only for her to chuckle some more. It sounded as if she was barely holding back the ability to fall into outright laughter again. “The three of you ended up flat on your bellies before you even got halfway!”
Spike groaned and let his head hit the wall. “So it was a draw?” he mumbled not really wanting to face Gabby. The smug look on her face didn’t help matters much either.
“Basically, yeah,” Gabby said with a shrug as a guardsman came to unlock the cell door. “Shame really, I was rooting for… well, actually I wasn’t rooting for anyone. I just wanted to sit back and watch the fireworks.”
“...so we gathered,” Gallus grumbled. “You’re a real bitch, you know that right?”
“Love you too bro!” Gabby said. “But really, are you surprised? I’m always the one playing the Chaotic Neutral type in Ogres and Oubliettes.”
“Yeah yeah, I remember the time you blew up an entire town just to stop the main villain,” Gallus said. “Pretty sure me and the rest of the Party were thinking of banning you from game night after that…”
“Awww, you all just aren’t ready for my awesomeness just yet,” Gabby said patting her brother atop the head. “You’ll see in time.”
“...and I thought I was the one with the ego…” Gallus muttered before he stumbled and quickly regained his balance, his head still all woozy.
“...I wonder if we should tell him about the stripper pole/weathervane thing?” Gabby asked of Cynder. Gallus swore he must have misheard.
“What’s this about a stripper pole and a weathervane…?” he asked not really sure if he wanted to know.
“Noooooooootttttthiinnnggggg…” Both Cynder and Gabby said with innocent smiles. Gallus wasn’t sure if he should believe them, especially with the way they were holding back sniggers. Here, he leaned over to Spike.
“...You know, you could have chosen a decidedly less embarrassing way for you to propose to Smolder, just sayin’,” Gallus said unknowingly saying this a little louder than he’d meant to. Blame the hangover. “Like, you could have taken Smolder to an aquarium and had two workers swim up to the glass and hold up a sign that said: “Smolder, will you marry me?” Just a thought.”
“...Wait, that’s what this was about?” Smolder asked of Spike and Gallus facepawed upon realization. He was such an idiot. “Y-You were taking me on this grand competition all so you could get me in the mood for a proper proposal?”
“Y-Yeah,” Spike stammered out. “S-So would yo…”
Smolder closed the distance between them, before eventually pulling away. “That means yes, by the way, you big dummy.”
Spike and Smolder kissed again and eventually the silence was broken by a cry from Cynder.
“I’M GOING TO BE A GRANDMOTHER!”