“You win this round, Striker Mare!” the pony with the ridiculously long mustache shouted. “But I shall return! And this city will fall by my power!”
The villainous stallion flew away on an airship while the pony in a purple jumpsuit with yellow stripes stood proudly at her victory against her archnemesis. “I’ll be ready anytime you strike again!” she calls out triumphantly. “For I, am the Striking Mare!”
Gallu’s eyes felt like they were bleeding out of his skull. The movie turned out much cheesier than he had anticipated. With the fact that he goes to the School of Friendship, that’s saying something. He looked to his friends to analyze what sort of reaction they had. Most of them seemed to have enjoyed it, although Smolder looked like she was in the middle about the whole thing. Her expression was blank, a middle response between ‘that was cringey’ and ‘that was alright’. It was mostly Valiant’s thought on the movie that was more interesting. He had a dozen questions during several of the fight scenes and pointed out the flaws in some of the battles until he was asked to be quiet and courteous request from the fellow audience around him. He seemed to have been annoyed and even pointed out that the villain could have won several times if he had just used the powerful gem he had obtained halfway in the movie.
That was probably the highlight of his day. He’s never seen Valiant blow a fuse over something so trivial, even after reading books and listening to stories, it was this movie that got him on the edge of frustration. After the students left the building, Valiant was exhausted, holding it together.
Not wanting this movie to spoil the rest of the night for Valiant, he asked for his opinion. Mostly to help relieve stress. “So Valiant, what’d you think of the movie?”
“Huh? Oh...” Valiant muttered, not wanting to offend Gallus since it was his pick of the movie they went to. “It was… alright.”
“Don’t worry Valiant, you can tell me the truth,” he assured him. “To be honest, I didn’t like it that much.”
“What are you talking about, Gallus!?” Sandbar exclaimed. “That had to be, like, the most action packed film I’ve ever seen!”
“Yona liked the explosions! BOOM!” she cheered and raised her hooves to go along with the explosion she was making up.
“And did you see how colorful her clothes were!?” Silverstream pointed out.
“It was really flashy, wasn’t it?” Ocellus mentioned to Smolder.
“Huh? Uh, yeah,” Smolder shrugged. “I don’t know, it didn’t really look that good. It was okay I guess.”
“What I really liked was all of that fighting!” Spike stated. “They choreographed and planned out all of the battles really well!”
Gallus saw Valiant’s soul escape his body as he had to endure his petty frustrations from breaking out. The blue griffon had a chuckle in him as Valiant was still doing his best to be a well-mannered human boy.
Spike rubbed his eyes, looking pretty tired. His drowsiness began to spread to the others as the moon rose over them. The city lights were shining and guiding those who stayed on the main path to their destination. The kids traveled back to their hotel room, prepared to slumber for the night.
On their way, Gallus paused for just a moment. He looked down the alleyway near the hotel, peering into the darkness. Something down that path piqued his interest, but he remained vigilant and stuck with the others.
Upon reaching the hotel, the students and Spike flopped on the ground and the couch. It’s been a long first day and they still have a lot of time to explore the town and such. They were about to go to their beds and rest for the night until someone had a thought. One particular though that may turn the evening on its head.
“Hey!” Silverstream spoke, getting everyone's attention. “Isn’t this perfect for a slumber party!?”
“What?” Gallus spoke in a drowsy voice. “It’s already pretty late, shouldn’t we call it a night?”
“Yona wants a slumber party too!” she expressed with new energy when she heard the two words.
“What’s so different about sleeping in the same hotel room than sleeping in the same dorm?” Smolder questioned.
“Well, Valiant’s here!” Silverstream pointed out. “We’ve never slept in the same place before!”
“What’s a slumber party?” Valiant questioned.
“Oh, well, it’s when friends spend the night at the same place and do stuff like play games,” Ocellus explained.
“Like what?” Smolder questioned.
“Spike, do you know of any...” Sandbar looked over to see Spike totally clonked out. Apparently slumber parties weren't enough to excite the little dragon. The others gave a lighthearted giggle before Valiant brought the little drake to his bed and tucked him in for the night. Valiant returned to his eager companions and thus began their exchange of ideas.
“Why don’t we make friendship bracelets?” Silverstream suggested, showing off the kit she bought earlier that day.
“We can also try building this model of the Mare of Friendship right now!” Ocellus showed off her purchase as well, wanting to see what it would look like.
“I’m a bit too tired to do something so… crafty,” Smolder stated, dismissing their suggestions. “How about we try something more simple?”
“Like Truth or Dare?” Gallus thought.
“Or Spin the bottle?” Sandbar added, receiving a shocked look from Gallus and Smolder who knew what that game was about. The others were oblivious to the concept, but could see that Sandbar was already regretting putting that idea out. “Oh, I was just… kidding...”
“I have a bottle right here,” Valiant told them, taking out an empty glass container, trash he had yet recycled from the Movie theater. “What are we supposed to do with this?”
“Oh, uh…” Sandbar tapped his hooves together, wishing he could simply retract his dumb idea. It wasn’t just Valiant,, but three other friends who were about to be pulled into a silly filly game. “We, um… gather around the bottle and one creature would spin it. Whoever the bottle points to has to kiss the creature who spun it, vice versa.”
Silverstream and Ocellus were surprised that such a game existed! Pony culture really encourages others to get acquainted really fast. Yona didn’t see the appeal of the game. What was so fun about two creature’s kissing? Sandbar saw this as a chance to back out his idea until Silverstream realized what this was: A chance to try something with Valiant.
“Hey! Maybe we should play!” her outburst surprised the others as she waved to Valiant to put the bottle down. “Come on! It’ll be fun!”
Valiant shrugged and did as told. The others awkwardly circle around the bottle and loom over their decider of fate. Valiant looked around to see the others either being too embarrassed to spin it first or still bewildered by the concept, specifically Yona. Not wanting the night to just fizzle out when everyone was having their gusto return, he places his hand on the bottle.
“I guess I’ll go first since I had it to begin with.”
He spins it quickly and the bottle whirls around in the center. The others watched it’s movement carefully, Silverstream was biting her cheek while Smolder and Ocellus just realized Valiant was the one who spun it. The Changeling and the dragon stared carefully at the bottle as it began to slow down. Soon, it stopped completely. They look at the end of the bottle to see who it was pointing at.
“Yona is chosen!?” She exclaimed.
“Alright then,” Valiant said as he leaned over to the Yak. “Are we… supposed to kiss now?”
Sandbar was befuddled and was trying to prevent what was about to happen. Gallus rolled his eyes and said, “The cheek is fine, right everyone?”
“Huh? Oh! Yeah, just the cheek Valiant!” Sandbar said in a panic.
Valiant nodded and kissed Yona on the cheek. She jumped a bit in surprise at the human before giggling at him. “Ooh! Yona gets it now! Does Yona kiss Valiant on cheek too?”
Valiant looks to Sandbar for guidance, to which he stammers, “Y-Yeah, just the cheek! Since, you know, you’re only kissing cheeks. Yeah.”
Complying, Yona kisses Valiant on the cheek. The others, except for Gallus, were getting flustered. Yona and Valiant just seemed to be playing around with the game as instructed, not knowing that they’re getting some of their friends a bit too passionate for this activity.
“Alright, I’ll go next!” Sandbar yelled, almost in a war cry. He reached for the bottle and spun it. He began pleading to Princess Celestia that the bottle lands on a certain someone. By the time the bottle stops spinning, he opens his eyes and looks to where the bottle is pointing towards.
“Again?” Valiant commented on the bottle pointing at him.
Sandbar internally screamed as the girls held their mouths and Gallus was on the verge of breaking out in laughter, extremely glad it wasn’t him. Seeing as this was a game, Yona began cheering them on.
“Kiss! Kiss!” she chanted.
Sandbar began to stutter and stammer as he tried to get himself out of this mess. Gallus, who was still taking guilty fun out of his friend’s suffering, then asked, “Would it help if he wore a dress?”
“You’re not helping!” Sandbar stated. Out of all the things he could have prayed for, he should have prayed that the bottle not go to the two guys. Valiant sees the clearly struggling Sandbar and sighs. He does a quick peck on his cheek and says, “There, I’ve done my part.”
Valiant remains unaffected based on his expression. It seems that he doesn’t understand the concept of the game or isn’t in tune with love. Sandbar eases off a bit, seeing that Valiant wasn’t making such a big deal about. He closes his eyes and brings his head close to Valiant’s cheek. It was then he just pressed his snout on him and quickly pulled himself away.
“There, NEXT!” He shouted, making Gallus laugh and Yona cheer. Ocellus takes up the bottle as she begins to spin it next. The bottle turns and turns, choosing the next victim of this silly filly game. When the bottle stops, they look up to see it pointing to the female drake.
“What!?” Smolder shouted. “No! No way! I’m not playing this game anymore!”
“You didn’t even do anything yet,” Gallus pointed out, earning a hiss from the orange dragon.
“Come on! Valiant and Sandbar could do it, so can Smolder!” Yona stated.
“I’m not comfortable, okay?” Smolder retorted.
“Would it help if Ocellus transformed into a boy?” Silverstream suggested, turning to the changeling. “Hey, give it a try!”
Ocellus jittered in place, being told to transform into a boy on the spot before kissing someone. She was thinking two thoughts at once, ‘turn into a boy’ and ‘get ready to kiss’. Not wanting to slow down the pace of the game since the others did it so bravely, she quickly transformed. She wasn’t thinking about whom she should transform as, however, only the two thoughts in her mind when she did it. She unknowingly turned herself into Valiant, matching him in his dusty brown hair, red eyes, even his height. Smolder was taken back at Ocellus turning into Valiant and just looked at the copy for a good moment.
“Wait, this seems like cheating,” Valiant stated, noticing that even if the bottle had nothing to do with him, he’s somehow involved in each round somehow.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Smolder grumbled. Valiant wasn’t sure how he felt about watching himself kiss another and it felt even weirder when Smolder kissed Ocellus on the lips. It was a quick peck, but the fact that it was done and over with so easily made it even weirder for the human boy. Ocellus reverted back and had a red face throughout the game. Smolder was blushing but secretly satisfied over her ordeal.
“Okay! My turn!” Silverstream exclaimed, placing her talon on the bottle. She gives it a good spin as it quickly and randomly chooses the next target. The motion stops and it selects… Silverstream herself.
“Okay, so… How does this work?” Valiant questioned, hoping it doesn’t simply involve him again just because.
“I, um… have a mirror you could use?” Ocellus suggested, handing over a small portable mirror. Silverstream sighed and did a quick kiss on her reflection. The others laughed and were pretty good sports about the game in the end. They decided to end the game there as it was obviously only going to get too strange. Luckily for Gallus, he managed to easily get away without getting smooched by anyone or throwing himself out there.
They continued to spend the night talking and playing around some more until they wore themselves out. By then, everyone was sound asleep on the couch. Everyone except for Gallus who began creeping out of the room. He snuck out of the hotel room and made his way to the lobby. The pony at the reception table is snoozing away, giving him a perfect chance to get out undetected. He creeps out of the entrance and finally, the bounty of the night is now his to enjoy for himself.
“What are you doing out here, Gallus?”
The griffon shrieks as Valiant stands beside him, raising a single brow at the blue griffon as he tries to think of something to say. Something to explain his suspicious movements. It soon becomes clear that he can’t just talk it off, as he’s seen how Valiant takes on secrets a bit too head on. He’ll just have to let him in on the secret.