With the final bell of the School of Friendship having rung at last, the students of the place began to make their way out at various paces, from those eager to get home, to those who took a more relaxed stance on the whole thing. But, as befitting of a place intended to forge friendships, several groups stayed behind for a time, spending their afternoons with one another and trying to have a fun time while doing so. Of this latter category were two of the school's more noted students, Gallus and Smolder. Not long ago, it would have been inconceivable for a Griffon and Dragon to be seen close to one another, let alone consider each other as friends, and yet, there they were, passing the time by hanging out together. Sitting upon one of the benches that littered the school's grounds, the two youths watched as their fellow students made their way home, with Smolder chomping down on a large and tasty-looking gem, much to Gallus' slight amusement.

"I'll never get over how weird it is for you Dragons to eat those things."

Looking to him, Smolder put on a slight smirk.

"Oh, I'm weird, says the creature who's half one animal and half another?"

Chuckling, Gallus shrugged his shoulders to that.

"Yeah, sure, fair enough."

The two shared a laugh, and at the time it died down, they looked on as a group of three young mares, more fellow students of theirs, began to walk on by, and were eagerly chatting with each other over the lessons they'd learned today. However, a moment came when they turned, seeing Smolder and Gallus watching them go, and they gave a friendly wave to them as a result. Smolder waved right back, but Gallus reacted somewhat differently, and instead gave a wink to the three females. Naturally, this led to a shared giggle on the part of the mares as they headed off, with one or two of them blushing as they did so. Chuckling to himself, Gallus leaned back into his side of the bench a bit.

"Oh yeah, they want me."

Smolder, as befitting of one like her, rolled her eyes to this macho display, before taking another hearty chomp of her gem, almost finishing it off in the process. However, as she chewed on her favoured snack, she glanced over to her Griffon companion, and raised an eyebrow. She appeared to be deep in thought over something, though it wasn't until she'd finally swallowed her mouthful of gem that she finally started to speak.

"Hey, Gallus...can I ask you something?"

The Griffon looked over to her.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead."

Frowning slightly, Smolder finally asked her question.

"...How come you never try to flirt with any of us?"

Taken slightly aback by that, Gallus frowned right back.

"What are you talking about?"

Turning, Smolder gestured to some of the ponies that were still trickling out of the school and, more specifically, to the mares.

"Seriously, buddy, you throw on the charm for every mare around this place, but when it comes to the girls you actually spend time with, there's...nothing."

Folding his arms, Gallus let out a slight sigh.

"Well, one of them already has a boyfriend, so..."

Smolder once more rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, Ocellus goes without saying, but what about Silverstream? Or Yona? Or me even?"

Gallus let out a hearty chortle.

"Never took you for the kind who wanted folks to flirt with them."

Smolder's frown deepened.

"I'm not, but the point's the same. Why don't you go that way around us? What, you prefer pony girls over Dragons and Yaks or something?"

Gallus looked away slightly.

"No, it's just...um..."

Here, he appeared to be far less confident than normal, which seemed to prompt even further curiosity on the part of Smolder.

"...What? What is it?"

Gallus' expression started to become more and more nervous, and he started looking around them, making sure that nobody else was close enough to hear them.

"Okay...you have to promise not to tell anycreature!"

Sighing, Smolder put her claw upon her chest and then raised the other one.

"On my honour as a Dragon, I..."

But, she was then cut off by Gallus.

"Oh no you don't! I know that ploy! I used it myself on Sandbar, remember?"

Smolder grunted to that.

"Ugh! Fine! I Pinkie-promise then! Better?"

Gallus nodded.

"Better," he confirmed.

Letting out another long exhale, the young Dragon looked to her friend.

"Okay then...so what's the problem?"

There was a silence between the two, and during that time, Gallus folded his arms and looked away from her. Smolder, for the most part, seemed to give him all the space he needed, watching as he took a few deep breaths. Then, at the end of it all, he finally looked to her.

"I'll be honest...I thought about maybe trying to go after you or the other girls, but...I kinda...um...got worried about it?"

Smolder looked to him with confusion.

"What, you? Mr I'm-suave-and-cool-with-the-ladies got all nervous around us?"

Burying his face in his claws, Gallus let out his own grunt before looking to her again.

"Look! You're a Dragon and Yona's a Yak! I like you girls, but if I actually started dating one of you and things got serious, I'd be worried about getting my bones crushed or something if we ever, you know, made out and stuff!"

Smolder blinked to that, and then again, and finally, after slowly taking in those words and understanding them, she started to break out into a smirk.

"Wait...let me get this straight. You're...intimidated at the thought of dating us?"

A blush came to Gallus at that, prompting Smolder to chuckle slightly.

"Oh...oh this is rich! Gallus, the Ladies' Griffon, scared of getting tangled up with big and strong Dragon and Yak girls!"

Watching her laugh, Gallus gave another deep frown.

"Oh, sure, laugh it up, scaly! But need I remind you how hard it was to breathe when Yona hugged you that one time? Imagine if she did that if you were dating her?"

Here, Smolder stopped, thinking on that very memory, and as Gallus' words became more prominent in her mind, a shudder passed through her.

"Okay...yeah...good point."

Smiling again, Gallus felt at least somewhat vindicated.

"Told ya."

Then, curiosity returned to Smolder.

"Wait...what about Silverstream? You haven't said why you haven't gone after her yet."

Gallus shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, that one's much easier. She's the niece of a Queen, and if I date her and things don't go well, it could start some diplomatic incident. Let's face it, we've already come close to starting a war between our people once, so do we really want to risk it again?"

Smolder nodded.

"You know...I appreciate that you have these reasons for not wanting to go after us, and trust me, I'm actually kinda glad that I'm off the list. But you probably don't need to get so worked up about it."

Gallus looked to her, but said nothing as she continued.

"You having a few bad dates with Silver won't cause a war, and I'm sure that...well..."

An amused look came to her.

"...if it was me or Yona you went with, I'm sure we could be gentle...for your sake."

Gallus frowned to that, much to Smolder's delight.

"But seriously, buddy, if you have these worries, you shouldn't try putting on some big "I'm cool and I love the ladies" act all the time."

Slowly, Gallus sighed.

"Yeah...maybe. And yeah, maybe I was getting worked up over nothing with you and the girls. It was just...some stupid thing I got focused on, you know?"

Smolder nodded, reaching forward and giving him a pat on the head.

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, I'm actually kinda glad that was your reason for not going after us. Dragons tend to view strength and danger as attractive qualities. So you thinking of me like that, well...I can definitely take it as a compliment."

Gallus' blush returned.

"Er...I didn't actually mean for it to come over that way, Smolder."

But his female companion was unconcerned with this.

"Yeah, I know. Still, I was sort of worried you just felt we weren't good enough for you or something."

To that, Gallus snorted.

"What? No! You girls are great!"

Folding her own arms, Smolder leaned back into her side of the bench.

"You're darn right we are!"

The two shared another laugh at all of that, and for a time, they once more settled into their prior state of quiet relaxation, watching the other students of the school walk on by. But, after a while of this, Smolder again looked to her Griffon friend with a degree of curiosity.

"You know...I just thought of something. If you did go after us, and we turned you down and stuff...what would you have done then?"

Gallus considered that for a moment before looking to her.

"Meh, if I was still in the mood for a date, I'd just look for somecreature else. There's plenty of fish in the sea, remember?"

A pause, and then, he stared to look nervous.

"Huh...wonder if that expression would be offensive to Silverstream?"

Smolder too pondered that.

"Hmmm...good point."

Then, Gallus shrugged his shoulders.

"Still, push comes to shove, I'd just wait for Sandbar and Ocellus to break up and then ask him out."

Slowly, Smolder looked to him, raising an eyebrow, which led to Gallus looking to her with a measure of indignity.

"Don't look at me like that. You think he's got a nice butt too, remember?"

Blinking, Smolder then shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, touché."

Next Chapter: Earth Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 42 Minutes