//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Marking 
// by SugarHoneyIceTea123 
//------------------------------//

So today was a lipstick day.

Gallus took note of that as Smolder sat down to eat lunch with him and the rest of the gang, a layer of red on her lips contrasting with the orange scales of the rest of her mouth.

It was no secret to anyone in their group that Smolder had… issues in the past regarding her self-image. The Dragon Lands weren’t exactly the most understanding to individualism. If you weren’t rough and rugged, you weren’t a dragon.

But, since coming to Equestria to enroll in the School of Friendship, Smolder found herself more and more free to express a more... traditionally feminine side of herself.

She was still Smolder. Curt, abrasive, and prideful. But she was becoming more and more open with being ‘girly’ from time to time.

At first, it was an ‘all or nothing’ deal. She would go the whole nine yards to doll herself up before having her usual tea parties with Ocellus and, later, the rest of the gang. Gallus was honestly impressed with her sense of style, even if it was incredibly froufrou.

Still, these forays into frilly were temporary releases. Soon as the tea party was over, the dress would be shed like a skin and the make-up quickly wiped away, leaving only a raw Smolder.

And nobody in the school outside of their immediate friend group knew about these parties or Smolder’s personal dress code for them. That was a secret Smolder expected all of them to keep, and not without a few not-at-all-subtle threats of violent retaliation if they talked.

But recently, Smolder’s been trying a new tactic. Rather than dress herself up to the nines for secret get-togethers, she instead decided to try going out in public with only the barest accouterment. Usually this would be a single accessory or one specific area of make-up applied. Something that let her experience feeling ‘girly’ without drawing too much attention to it.

Both Gallus and the others had gotten used to Smolder randomly deciding to slightly gussy up in different ways to the point where they hardly even noticed it. Some days, it was a layer of eyeshadow. Some days, it was a necklace or bracelet.

And, apparently, today was a lipstick day.

And while, normally, Gallus and his friends didn’t draw any special attention to it, which they knew Smolder preferred since this was her attempt at normalizing it, Gallus couldn’t help but steal a glance or two at Smolder’s painted lips.

Griffons didn’t have lips, obviously. So the very concept of lipstick was something of a novelty for Gallus. He couldn’t help but stare just a bit at how different the contrasting red and orange made her mouth look.

“Something on your mind, Gallus?” The red lips suddenly said, pulling Gallus back to reality.

“Huh?”

Smolder shot an annoyed look at him. “You were staring at me.”

“Uh… No I wasn’t.” Gallus defended, though even he knew how pitiful that sounded. “I was just kinda daydreaming, staring off to space. You just happened to be occupying that space.”

Smolder raised an eyebrow, but shrugged indifferently and went back to her meal. The lunch hour progressed like it usually did until the group had to split up for their respective classes.
—-
With classes done for the day, Gallus had just finished putting his book-bag into his locker before closing it… And was taken aback a bit by Smolder leaning against the lockers behind his locker’s door.

“Gah! Jeez, Smolder! You’re gonna give me a friggin’ heart-attack…” Gallus admonished.

Smolder said nothing at first, merely keeping a steady gaze on Gallus as if sizing him up as she leaned against the lockers, her arms crossed. He noticed that she was still wearing her lipstick.

“You gonna explain what that was all about in the cafeteria?” Smolder finally expressed.

“W-What do you mean?” Gallus said, glancing around to see if any other student might walk in on the two of them.

“Gal, it’s just the two of us. I promise, I’m not mad. I just want to know why you were giving me eyes earlier.” Smolder explained, and Gallus could tell that there wasn’t any of Smolder’s usual temper. She seemed… legitimately worried that something was wrong.

Not wanting to leave his friend worrying over nothing, and realizing it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, Gallus sighed and ran a clawed hand down his neck.

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but… I was staring at your lipstick.” Gallus admitted.

“My lipstick?” Smolder repeated, genuinely confused.

“Yeah, cuz… Y’know, I don’t really see a lot of griffon ladies walk around wearing lipstick, so I was just… curious, is all.”

“You’ve seen me in lipstick before.” Smolder argued.

“Yeah, but you’re usually wearing a bunch of other stuff that makes the lipstick a lot less interesting by comparison. This was the first time I’ve seen you in just lipstick and, well, it kinda caught my attention.” Gallus reasoned.

Smolder kept her gaze on Gallus, not angry or defensive but disconcertingly neutral, leaving Gallus completely unsure of how she felt right now. After a second or two, Smolder smiled and shrugged, getting up from leaning against the lockers, apparently satisfied that this really was just a misunderstanding.

“I can get that. Sorry for grilling ya, y’know how I get…” Smolder said, halfway apologetically.

“It’s cool.” Gallus said, though now the two were left standing there with the situation more or less resolved thanks to proper communication. A rarity for the two of them, all things considered.

Until… Smolder suddenly got a wicked idea in her head. And Gallus knew it was a wicked idea specifically because she only ever got that smirk on her face when she had her most wicked ideas.

Somehow, the lipstick only made that smirk more terrifying than usual.

“Y’knoooow…” Smolder drawled, taking a step closer to Gallus who instinctively took a step back. “If you’re really so curious… I could give you a closer look…” She said, making a very noticeable effort of lidding her eyes as she said this.

Gallus could barely mutter an ‘Uh…’ before Smolder shot her hands forward and Gallus felt her scaly palms against the sides of his head.

With Gallus trapped and paralyzed with shock, Smolder sprung forward, her puckered lips more pronounced with the red against the orange.

Those same lips got closer and closer before planting themselves against Gallus’ feathery blue cheek.

“Mwah!” Smolder audibly sounded out the kiss as her lips popped off of Gallus’ cheek. She took a step back, a self-satisfied grin on her face as she admired her handiwork.

She stifled a giggle with a hand to her mouth, lipstick just barely smudged. “You look ridiculous right now!”

Gallus just stood there in shock, mentally trying to process what in Tartarus just happened?!

Apparently, Gallus’ gobsmacked expression only made the whole situation funnier to Smolder as her giggling gave way to straight up laughter, turning on her heel as she gave Gallus a coy wave goodbye. “Thanks for that, Gallus. I needed a good laugh today!”

With that, Smolder simply walked away laughing, apparently unaware by how much her little stunt actually stunned the poor griff.
—-
By the time Gallus' mental faculties had finally caught up with the rest of his body, the sun was already starting to begin its descent below the horizon.

As Gallus absentmindedly walked back to his dorm-room, the feeling of Smolder’s painted lips still fresh on his cheek, he couldn’t help but notice more eyes than usual were on him this evening.

He was used to the occasional stare from his fellow students, being the only griffon enrolled in the school, but this was getting a bit… excessive. It wasn’t just the stares, but the fact that some of them, mostly the female students, were giggling incessantly to themselves. Not unlike Smolder.

Even a few of the male students smiled and gave him a wink, as though congratulating him for something.

Gallus wasn’t sure what any of this was about, and right now, he didn’t care. His frazzled brain just wanted to get him into his room as quickly as possible so he could digest what exactly happened between him and Smolder. Though the stares only seemed to increase as he quickened his pace.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he slammed the door to his room open and quickly slammed it shut behind him, taking a few quick breaths as he shut the leering eyes of his fellow students out of his mind.

Sandbar, his best bud and roommate, had apparently already settled in for the night as he was curled up on the bottom bunk of their bunk bed, reading a comic. He looked up in alarm at Gallus’ frantic entrance.

“Yo, Gallus? You alright, man?” Sandbar said, concerned. He put away his comic, obviously having more interest in making sure his friend was okay.

“Uh… Smo-Smo… I-uh…” Gallus stammered. He still wasn’t entirely sure what just happened, much less how to articulate it.

Sandbar got up from his bed to face Gallus… then promptly froze as he got a good look at his friend’s face.

“Uh… You have a good night there, buddy?” Sandbar asked, cocking his head to the side as the slightest smile tugged the corners of his mouth.

“Huh?” Gallus expressed, not quite grasping what he meant.

“You should probably go take a look at the mirror, dude.” Sandbar suggested, not even trying to hide his smile now. “Did you walk here with that?”

A jolt of panic shot through Gallus as he thought back to the constant looks his fellow students gave him. A look that was identical to the one Sandbar had right now. Rushing past his roommate and into the bathroom the two shared, Gallus pulled the cord attached to the ceiling light before staring at his own visage in the mirror.

Oh…

That’s what she meant by ‘You look ridiculous.’

Gallus stared dumbfounded at the offending mark. A perfect red imprint of Smolder’s lips on his cheek.