Kyo and I had spent about an hour working on improving his people skills so he could get on Gilda’s good side. Unfortunately, Kyo, being the enthusiastic romantic he is, couldn’t help but bring in romance a little too fast, with recurring comments involving her beauty, making out, and getting married and having hippogriff children slipping out frequently. Eventually, my horn grew tired and I shut off my magic, causing the image of Gilda I had been generating to dissipate.
“Hey, don’t go! I meant what I said about your flank in a good way!” Kyo burst out. “Why’d you shut off Gilda, A.T.?”
“Sorry, Kyo,” I replied wearily. “I’m just tired from using my magic for so long. Why don’t we take a break for a little bit?”
“Alright,” he said dejectedly, eyes cast downward. “I know I keep coming on too strong, but I just can’t help myself when it comes to Gilda! I just get swept up in how awesomely amazing she is and I want to pour my heart out to her and scream her name to the heavens!” He then turned his gaze to the ceiling, took a deep breath, and screamed, “GILLLLLLDAAAAAAAA!”
“Will you be quiet over there?!” a voice from the next car called out.
“Sorry!” Kyo called back. His head fell onto the table and he sighed, “See what I mean? I’m doomed to make a fool of myself no matter what.”
“Come on, don’t say that,” I told him, a reassuring smile on my face. “Your enthusiasm may not be such a turn-off with her. Heck, it’s one of the reasons I like you so much!”
“Yeah, but Gilda’s a lot cooler than you,” he responded. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I assured him. “Though, are you sure Gilda’s so much cooler than me? I don’t recall her having glasses as stylish as mine,” I joked, lowering my specs and peering over them.
Kyo giggled and said, “Gilda with glasses like yours? That’d be a sight to see.”
“No kidding,” I chuckled, generating at image of Gilda wearing my glasses, her eyes beadier than normal.
Kyo burst into laughter at that, and I followed suit. It’s true when they say that laughter is contagious. Pinkie Pie, being the Element of Laughter, probably knew that better than anyone, hence her constant attempts to spread it around, even to grumps like Gilda. Too bad Gilda was unwilling to join in when she had the chance, or Kyo might have an easier time with her.
When our laughter cooled down, Kyo sighed happily and said, “Thanks, Abstract. I needed that.”
“Anytime, Kyo,” I replied with a smile. “Except right now for a little bit, cause my horn’s feeling kinda sore,” I added, rubbing my horn with my hoof. Contrary to what some people might believe, horns aren’t extra-sensitive or anything like that; in fact, they can barely feel any touch due to being made of keratin and not having many nerve cells. Just to set the record straight.
“Heh, gotcha,” Kyo responded. “You know what? I’m not too worried about my social skills, cause even if I say something stupid to Gilda, I still have some an awesome meal and massage to win her over with. Speaking of which, would you mind if I practiced my massage skills on you?”
“Actually, yes, I would mind,” I replied curtly.
“Huh?” Kyo said in confusion. “What’s wrong with me massaging you?”
“I just don’t feel comfortable with a guy giving me a massage, alright?” I snapped.
“Come on, please?” Kyo begged me. “The massage could very well make or break the date, and I need all the practice I can get!”
“Look, practicing on me wouldn’t help much anyway,” I informed him. “Even if you could perfectly massage a pony, griffons have different bone and muscle structures, plus you’d have to be careful with their wing area.”
Kyo stared. “…Oh, BUCK ME!”
“Kyo, calm down!” I said quickly. “It’s not so bad.”
“Yes it is!” he retorted. “I’ve only practiced on an Earth pony, and that didn’t go over so well! I don’t even want to think how badly I’ll screw up with a griffon! I’m gonna be the laughingstock of the griffon community, I just know it!”
Way to go, Abstract. Yet another comment of yours made things worse. And I thought Kyo’s people skills needed work. “Kyo, listen to me!” I beseeched him. “You can still give a good massage as long as you don’t do it recklessly! Just be slow and careful and you should be able to work out where you should and shouldn’t massage!”
“Or worse, I’ll become a wanted criminal and hordes of griffon mercenaries will be on the hunt for me!” Kyo ranted on, oblivious to my words. “I’d never be able to hide from them! I’ve never even won a game of hide-and-seek! I might as well just turn myself into them now and save them the trouble!”
I could tell that Kyo was too deep in panic to listen to reason; my only hope was to distract him from his predicament somehow. My mind raced for a solution, until one finally came to me.
“Hey, wanna play some Street Brawler 3D?”
Kyo’s tirade ground to an abrupt halt and he said, “Sure, sounds good!”
Oh, Kyo, I thought with an inward chuckle. Never change.
The train ride was pretty uneventful for the rest of the day. We played games, ate, practiced talking to Gilda a little more, and then went to sleep when it got dark out. I hope you can forgive my lack of detail during this period; it’s just that I kinda want to get to the good stuff, and I don’t want to drag this out any more than I have to. With that said, let’s fast forward to the next morning, just before we arrive at Appleloosa.
----------
I opened my eyes and yawned to greet the new day. The sun had already risen a fair amount, which I guessed indicated it was around 9:00. Feeling well rested, I got up to do my morning stretches.
“Morning, Abstract,” a nearby voice mumbled.
“Oh, good morning, Kyo,” I replied as I arched my back. “Sleep well?”
“Not really,” Kyo admitted with a yawn.
“Oh, sorry to hear that,” I said with concern. “Nervous about meeting Gilda?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he groaned as he rubbed his eyes with his hooves. “I had an awful dream where I met Gilda and it was a total disaster cause I was naked!”
“Kyo, we’re always naked,” I deadpanned.
“Well, naked in my case meaning ‘without my headband’,” he clarified. “You feel naked without your glasses, don’t you?”
“Yeah, cause I need them to see.”
“Exactly! It’s the same deal with me! Uh, minus the part about needing it to see.” There was a short awkward pause, which was then broken by Kyo clearing his throat. “Anyway, then I had another dream where I met Gilda and it turned out she was actually a stallion cosplayer with a griffon fetish.” Kyo shivered at that thought. “That made it hard for me to get back to sleep.”
“I can imagine,” I said, wincing in sympathy.
“Well, that and I was distracted by your dream,” he added offhoovedly.
“My dream?” I asked, nonplussed. “What, did Princess Luna visit you and show you my dream?”
“No, but I could see you making a thought image while you were sleeping,” he explained. “It was pretty entertaining, actually. Never expected you to dream of yourself as a superhero.”
I could feel my face getting hot. Thankfully, since I was already red, my blush would be rather hard to notice. “I…display my dreams while I’m asleep?”
“Apparently so,” Kyo responded with a shrug. “I thought you knew about it.”
“Nope, it’s news to me,” I said, fidgeting in embarrassment. “I never had any sleepovers, and if my parents were aware of it, they never thought to tell me. Though it would explain why my horn always feels a little sore every morning when I wake up. I just assumed that was normal for a unicorn.”
“Well, either way, your dream was real cool,” he told me with a grin. “I wish I was lucky enough to have a dream like that last night.”
“Heh, thanks,” I replied, simply feeling more embarrassed by Kyo’s praise of my dream. “Kyo, do you think you could…not look at any more of my dreams? I’d rather have those remain personal, even though that may be easier said than done in my case.”
“It’s cool, I understand,” he assured me. “Heck, I’d have been horrified if you saw my dreams.”
“Same here,” I said with a grimace.
“So yeah, don’t worry, I’ll respect your privacy.”
“Thanks.” I gave him a grateful smile.
“No prob.” Another awkward pause. “So anyway, once your dream ended, I fell asleep again and had the freakiest dream yet.”
“Freakier than the cosplayer dream?”
“Oh, yeah,” Kyo said with a shiver. “I was a doll, or should I say action figure, and so was Gilda, and someone was playing with us, having us enact various scenes that always ended in us kissing. I might have been able to enjoy the kissing if either of us wasn’t a doll, er, action figure.”
“Yeesh, that does sound freaky,” I replied, grimacing again.
“Yeah, and that wasn’t even the freakiest part,” he recalled. “From what I could tell, the person playing with Gilda and me in that dream…was you.”
“Me?!” I yelped. I certainly didn’t see that coming.
“Yeah, I don’t get it either.” Kyo shook his head rapidly, perhaps trying to shake the bad dreams out of memory. “So yeah, not the most restful night I’ve ever had.”
“Wow, that definitely sucks,” I said in sympathy.
“Tell me about it,” he groaned.
“Want a hug?” I offered, my forelimbs spread open.
“Sure, that’d be nice.”
After a comforting hug, I said, “Come on, we’d better get ready for Appleloosa. It probably won’t be long before we’re there, and we still haven’t eaten breakfast.”
Kyo’s stomach growled at the mention of breakfast. “Ooh, yeah, some food will probably help my nerves.”
“That’s the spirit!” I beamed.
We spent the next half hour or so eating breakfast and preparing for our arrival. It wasn’t long before we could see a settlement come into view. This had to be Appleloosa, the town where we could find Western apple farmers, herds of buffalo, and, if Kyo was lucky, the griffon of his dreams.
End of Part 9