Dragon Kisses

by Betty_Starlight

Chapter 2: Best Friends

I shake the other kirin’s hoof with my own as I gaze into her azure eyes underneath her neatly brushed reddish mane as she grins at me, “Well, about that clock tower!”

I start and blurt out while staring at her face, “Well, we should probably have lunch first?” before suddenly wondering why I said that?

She frowns, “Well, it’s still kinda early, but I guess I could eat now?” before smiling again. “Yeah, I don’t actually live in town! I have my own cottage near the edge of the forest!”

I blink, “So I guess that’s why you don’t know where things are?”

She giggles slightly under her breath, “Well, right!”

“And your name is Silva?”

“Yes! Silva Dawn! But you never told me your name?”

“I didn’t did I?”

“Uh, no…” She continues to stare at me expectantly…

I blink with a start, “Oh! My name is Skyfire and I live in town!”

“Oh!” Her eyes widen with this new knowledge…

Both of us are silent for a moment…

“Weren’t we going to go to lunch?” She suddenly asks.

I widen my gaze at her, “Yes! Yes we were! Uh, where did you want to go?” before frowning as I wonder just how more awkward this whole thing can get…

She stares at me, “Well, what would you recommend?”

I smile blankly back at her, “Uh, what would I uh, oh! You want a restaurant! Uh, how about Scaley’s Pizza? I mean, their tropical pizza is actually pretty good! Believe it or not, there’s actually mangoes and pineapples on the other side of the peninsula!”

She smiles again, “Is that so?”

<*****>

So um… I sat there on the chair on my side of the table, staring at this other fire pony with a grin on my face… I hope it doesn’t look too weird? Uh, I probably look weird right now… “What do you usually write about?”

She smiles at me in the dimly lit wooden room, “Oh, usually slice-of-life drama and stuff like that. I recently wrote a piece about the fire department rescuing a kitten!”

My smile lowers, “That doesn’t seem paper-worthy?”

Her eyes widen, “Well, it was from a bugbear! Should probably mention that?”

My smile widens a bit as I giggle, “Important detail that!”

“Probably, right?” She responds with a wry grin as I stare at that same purple necklace around her neck… It’s just a violet gem, maybe the size of my hoof, but there’s something about it… She breaks my focus, “So, you’re probably wondering about my necklace, right?”

I blink as I look up at her and realize that can’t think of a lie quickly enough, “Uh, well it does catch my eye a bit, yes!”

She stares at me intently, “Yes, I know! This is no ordinary necklace. This is a gem that grants me charisma. Ponies like me when I wear this… “

I stare back at her, “Really? And you wear it to…”

She cuts me off, “To enhance my ability as a reporter, yes! And now, let me guess! You’re enamored with me and wish to be with me, am I right?”

My eyes widen, “Well uh, I don’t think I’d go so far as to say…”

She cuts me off again, “Right! Well, I can assure you that you DO NOT want to be with me!”

My gaze and mouth narrow as I suddenly feel as if I’ve been issued a challenge, “Well, why is that?”

She stares at me blankly, “I just don’t do love, okay? It’s uh, not for me…”

I glare back at her, “Well, why is that?”

She blinks back at me and smiles lightly, “I don’t want to be tied down…”

At that point, I frowned at this other fire pony… I saw a look in her eyes just there… Something I couldn’t readily identify before saying to her, “Well, how about friendship for now, then?”

She continues to smile lightly and says, “Well, I guess we could give it a try?” she glances up at me as her smile widens. “Now, tropical pizza, you were saying?”

I nod, “Well, right!”

Suddenly, a dark red waitress at my left asks, “Are you ready to order?”

I turn my gaze to her and say, “One medium tropical pizza with hoof-tossed crust please! Uh, and a Diet Sparkle Cola!”

Silva turns her neck right towards the waitress, “I’ll have a Dr. Lightning, please!”

The waitress smiles at us and says, “I’ll go put in for your pizza and get your drinks!” before turning and trotting away…

Okay, so she didn’t actually eat me… No, she did something far more insidious… She smiled… “Are you okay, Skyfire?”

I snap back to reality and stare at her blankly, “Oh, I’m fine!”

She sighs, “I hate my necklace…”

I frown at her, “W-what?”

She stares at me seriously with her sparkling blue eyes and says quite plainly, “I can’t take it off…”

“What?” I repeat myself…

She blinks at me, “The necklace has a curse…”

“What do you mean?” I finally complete the sentence.

She sighs, “The necklace grants me charisma, yes! But once I put it on, I can’t take it off. And now I must forever wonder if I truly am that charming or if it was just the necklace this whole time…”

I gaze directly at her, “So you don’t know if I actually like you?”

She looks back at me, “Correct!”

I smile a demented grin at her, “Today is your lucky day, Silva Dawn!”

She frowns, “W-what are you talking about Skyfire?”

I widen my eyes, “Because it doesn’t matter if you have a funky necklace or not! You’re automatically my best friend as of today, no matter what!”

“What?” She asks with a startled look on her face.

I nod, “You see, you’re my only friend! So I’m gonna like you by default!”

She glares at me blankly, “So what then? I know I’m number one, no matter what?”

I nod more vigorously, “Pretty much!”

She frowns, “Great! Now we’re together by default!”

“What?”

She giggles slightly under her breath, “Well, think about it! My curse makes me not really crave friendship, since I won’t believe it’s real, but at the same time, my heart yearns for it! And you’re the only kirin who I can honestly say genuinely likes my company, since well, I have no competition!”

I widen my eyes with a start, “I uh, never actually thought about it like that…”

She blinks, “Yeah, so we’re automatically besties, now!”

I smile again, “Yup! Isn’t it great?”

She glares at me, “Skyfire, you’re a loon!”

And I frown again, “I get that a lot!”

And so, that’s how we ended up having sex… Okay, I probably left out some important details here?

The waitress comes by with our pizza balanced on her snout and she sets it down on the table before us… “Is there anything else I can get for you two?” She asks while standing there attentively…

I look at her, “Well, what would you recommend for dessert?”

“Dessert?” Silva asks with her right eyebrow raised. “We haven’t even eaten the pizza yet!”

I stare back at her, “I know, but how else can I delay the inevitable awkward conversation about friendship that’s about to come?”

At that point, the room just stopped and she closed her eyes and tried her best in vain to suppress giggles from the pit of her stomach as the waitress stared at me with the wierdestexpression in he peninsula’s history…

I turn my head back left to the waitress, “You know what? Never mind! We’re good!” and then back to Silva to smile as I hope I don’t look too strange and she chuckles at me…

<*****>

I stared up at the ceiling with my tongue out the right side of my mouth as I feel the deep bloated sensation in the pit of my gut as Silva says from the other side of the table, “S-so! Chocolate Death Cake!”

I widen my eyes as I put my tongue back in my mouth, “Y-yeah! Chocolate Death Cake!”

She stares at me blankly, “W-why did we just order and eat the entire Chocolate Death Cake together?”

I gaze back at her, “I-I like chocolate!”

“I do too, but there’s like, a million calories in there!”

I widen my eyes, “Totally worth it!”

“You’re insane Skyfire!”

I frown back at her with a blank stare, “You keep telling me that?”

She gazes back at me, “So, what do you want to do now, bestie?”

I look back into her blue eyes and ask, “Bestie?” as my mind just now comes to terms with the conversations we’ve been having…

She smiles, “Yeah, remember? We became best friends earlier and then ate a humongous chocolate cake together? You were there too!”

I widen my eyes, “Oh, yeah! I was, wasn’t I?” I look at her seriously. “Uh, didn’t you have to go to the clock tower after this?”

She nods, “Well, right! But I can do that tomorrow and still be fine! Uh, I want to spend some more time with my new bestie!”

I frown, “Loon! Crazy! Bestie! You’re calling me a lot of things today!”

She smiles, “Yeah, but I can call you Skyfire, too!”

I grin back, “That works!” as I hope I don’t look too awkward…

And so, that was the beginning of our day of fun…

(To be continued…)