Author's Notes:

This chapter was suggested by NFreak, and is a prompt involving some cutesy M/M content between Sandbar and Gallus. However, even though nothing explicit is featured in this chapter, it's still fairly suggestive in tone, so Reader Discretion is Advised.

Usually in the early mornings of Ponyville, it’s not uncommon to see ponies up and about as soon as the sun rises over the Equestrian horizon. Whether it was the Apple Family tending to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight Sparkle re-starting her experiments with Sunburst and Starlight, or various vendors at the Ponyville marketplace erecting their stands, it was obvious that the township wasn’t one to leave a morning unwasted. And even at the School of Friendship, a good number of their students made sure to wake up early to take advantage of the academy’s fully-stocked cafeteria; however, unlike a lot of other mornings at the school, there was no sight of the six particular students who saved Equestria anywhere among the tables.

Yona and Smolder were still up at the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, and would likely remain there for most of the day to recuperate from Stygian’s efforts. Ocellus was too distraught from the sight of her sorta-girlfriend’s post-coital state to really think of eating, and instead went back to her dorm room to continue her studies alone. Silverstream wandered around the cafeteria for a few minutes or so before leaving, clearly wanting to enjoy breakfast with her friends instead of eating by herself. And as for the Student Six’s two males, Gallus and Sandbar decided to take advantage of the lax morning by enjoying a nice meal in town together.

Unlike the couple’s first date, which was at a fancy bistro a few blocks over, the stallion and gryphon were fine with eating at a small cafe near Carousel Boutique for some cheap breakfast. Even though Ponyville’s growing population of non-equine species was prompting many businesses to expand to fit their needs, Gallus wasn’t too upset about Sandbar’s restaurant choice consisting of vegetarian cuisine. Of course, that may have been because while his coltfriend was enjoying a large plate of hay-fries drizzled in ketchup, the gryphon got himself an impressive platter of fried potatoes with a side-order of fried mushrooms to sate his cravings. It may have not been a heaping helping of bacon or ham, but Gallus wasn’t one to complain when his starches and fried veggies were covered in melted cheese.

“Mnnnnghhh!~” Gallus’ eyes were rolling to the back of his head while he chewed a beakfull of his vegetarian hash, not seeming to care as a couple drops of grease trickled down his chin. By the time Sandbar handed him a couple of napkins, Gallus was already taking a sip from his cola after swallowing a protein pill meant for his species. “Oh man… I know that the School of Friendship’s food is great and all, but I really needed something greasy today.”

Sandbar shrugged with an understanding chuckle, and smiled as he watched his boyfriend wiping the grease from his face. “Yeah, I get what you mean there,” he noted between bites of his own unhealthy breakfast meal, “like… honestly, I wish you were around Ponyville when that one burrito place was still in business. They had like, the best chimichangas I ever ate in my life! And they used fried potatoes instead of rice for a lot of their burritos, which made their bean burritos really filling for a couple bits~”

Gallus smiled with an approving nod, happy to see the stallion so optimistic while outdoors again. Ever since their little hair-remover incident, Sandbar had been understandably upset due to his sudden hairlessness. But now that enough time had passed for his greenish coat to cover his bare skin, even his short-cropped mane wasn’t distracting enough to falter his cheerful smile. Not to mention, Sandbar’s positive demeanor was surprisingly infectious as Gallus said with a shrug, “Honestly, I can believe that. I mean, I definitely miss having easy access to beef or chicken around here, but you ponies kill it with spices alone!”

Sandbar may have appreciated that honest claim by his boyfriend, but he still scoffed with a slight smile of disbelief. “I dunno, dude,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders, “if anything, the biggest reason Equestria has so much good food is because of other cultures adding to it. Like, it wasn’t until a few months ago that Sugar Cube Corner started selling bacon maple doughnuts, and that was just because you and other gryphons were raving about it so much! Heck, I’m willing to bet that most of Equestria’s most popular foods originated from other places.”

Gallus blinked a couple times with an impressed pout of his beak, and eventually nodded in agreement after processing that fact. While the example of bacon maple doughnuts was fairly weak, the gryphon couldn’t deny that Sandbar brought up a fair point. Even before the recent influx of multiculturalism that came with Twilight’s School of Friendship, a lot of the nation’s culinary varieties have carried origins that went as far off as Zebrica and Saddle Arabia. Nevertheless, Gallus still shrugged his head before he shoveled down another helping of potatoes, and then said, “Well, you ponies still brought everything together really well, so I’m gonna place that compliment on Equestria first.”

“Hey, fine by me,” replied Sandbar with a smile, before he sipped some of his orange juice and watched Gallus continue eating. Even though his boyfriend had a beak instead of lips or cheeks, he was somehow able to chew his food and keep it inside of his mouth without much spillage. The stallion couldn’t help but stare at the interesting anatomical feature Gallus had, but he tried his hardest to keep his gaze from becoming too noticeable while he ate his own meal. Unfortunately, it still didn’t take long before Sandbar’s eyes peered back up at Gallus’, and he nearly choked on his fries upon noticing the gryphon’s bemused stare back at him.

“Seriously, dude?” asked Gallus as he grew a small smirk back at the pony’s blushing face. “Are my eating habits really that amusing?~”

“N-No!” he blurted while looking away from Gallus with an embarrassed expression. “I-I just, ummm… I was mostly just wondering how you could chew so well without a muzzle, that’s all…”

Despite knowing it was likely for the best to remain honest, Sandbar still cringed after hearing his response out-loud. Fortunately, Gallus only paused for a couple seconds before he snorted in amusement, and then leaned his head back to laugh at such a response. The gryphon’s cackling may have made Sandbar wince in remorse, but he was aware that a reaction like that was probably better than Gallus taking offense to it. However, any alleviation the stallion may have felt went right out the window the moment Gallus stopped laughing, and he replied with an especially cheeky tone of voice:

“Really, Sandbar? After seeing what else I’ve been able to do with my beak, you’re surprised I can eat well too?~”

A heavy blush practically exploded across Sandbar’s face, and he froze in stunned silence while staring back at Gallus wide-eyed. Meanwhile, the devilish gryphon just snickered to himself while narrowing his eyes on his coltfriend, obviously waiting for him to speak up first. By the time the stallion was able to actually respond, he ended up turning his head away from Gallus before muttering under his breath, “Dude, that… that’s kinda different…”

Gallus could’ve just shrugged in agreement to that statement, since his implied example did involve more tongue-work than anything regarding his actual beak. But alas, the gryphon still reached down to grab something from his bookbag that was laying on the floor. “Well, it still required a lot of techniques I didn’t learn about before reading this~” With that, Gallus smirked as he brought up an old-looking blue book; even though there weren’t any distinct logos, or even a title printed on the hardcover, Sandbar still gasped with his hooves over his mouth from seeing it pulled out in the open.

“G-Gallus!!” hissed Sandbar in a panic, with his head darting around the cafe to make sure no ponies were glancing over at them. Despite the fact that they were left alone at the corner of the quaint restaurant, Sandbar still seemed nervous about what his boyfriend was holding in his claw. “Y-You seriously took that outside!? What if somepony finds that and reads through it?!”

“Then they’re a dick for invading our personal property,” said Gallus with a matter-of-fact tone that matched his cocky smirk. “Besides, it’s not like the book is recognizable from the outside.”

The gryphon then placed the book on the table between their plates, and opened it up to reveal the title that was listed on the very first page: The Equestrian Almanac of Kinks and Fetishes. Before Sandbar could cringe in paranoia, Gallus began to rifle through the pages like he was looking through an old comic book. Due to the book’s well-worn state, many of the pages had creases from where it had been folded over as impromptu bookmarks. There were also various pages that had certain listings highlighted with different colored markings, likely to indicate which parts struck a chord with whomever was reading through it before the couple acquired it. It may have been an odd thing to find at the Ponyville Flea Market, but they couldn’t deny that it was five bits very well-spent.

While Gallus smirked and started to read through the appendix of entries and definitions, Sandbar was wincing while across the table from him. “Dude, we’re in public,” he whispered through gritted teeth, which didn’t seem to faze the gryphon in the slightest.

“So?” asked Gallus with a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s not like this book has pictures or anything.” True to his point, that taboo encyclopedia looked more like an old dictionary than anything that would warrant any weird stares from other tables. Because of that, Sandbar’s worrisome expression didn’t warrant much of a response from Gallus as he added, “Besides, this book really is educational. Like, who would’ve thought that insect stings was something ponies could get off to?”

“Gallus, you don’t have to say that out lou--Wait, what?” Sandbar’s statement was thrown off after hearing that unusual detail, and he blinked a couple times while staring back at his boyfriend confusedly. Gallus turned the book around so that the stallion could see the entry, which was easy to spot due to the yellow highlighter that went across definition for Melissophilia. Sandbar leaned in to read the definition, and blinked a couple times with his brows raised. “Ummm… Wow. I didn’t know that was a thing either.”

“Yeah, I know!” Gallus turned the book back towards him as he scoffed in disbelief, and he went back to reading through various pages with an intrigued smirk. “Honestly, I was considering going over this book in more detail, you know? Like, there has to be some good stuff worth looking into~”

Despite still feeling hesitant about discussing such a topic in public, one of Sandbar’s brows rose up while eyeing his boyfriend curiously. “Ummm… Like what?” he asked in a reluctant, but still notably tempted tone. The gryphon grew a pleased smirk on his beak, which caused his coltfriend to gulp in trepidation of what that question may have prompted from Gallus’ end.

“Welllllll…” As his eyes narrowed on Sandbar devilishly, Gallus shrugged before flicking through some of the pages with his talons. “Let’s just say, I noticed that there was a rather lengthy section talking about the appeal of ‘Shaving’ as a kink. Seems like something both of us could learn from due to recent circumstances~”

Sandbar’s blush instantly became a rosy hue across his cheeks, and his legs crossed together beneath the table. Even though nopony was glancing back at the two, the stallion covered his face sheepishly with a hoof while eyeing Gallus with his muzzle winkled. Meanwhile, the gryphon just maintained his cocky smirk as he kept thumbing through the book between them. “Actually, there are a lot of interesting kinks that involve humiliation and power-exchange stuff. Although, some of them are a bit too… extra for my tastes.”

Upon reaching one specific page, Gallus’ beak skewed awkwardly as he looked away from the book with an uncomfortable shudder. “Ughhh… I really wish I didn’t look up what the anagram ‘ABDL’ stood for.”

Sandbar winced while sucking some air through his teeth, clearly knowing that that particular kink was before Gallus did. However, the pony looked equally as uncomfortable with the term as his boyfriend, and he said with a nod of his head, “Yeah, I… I don’t blame you, dude. That one’s a little too humiliating for me to handle.”

“Okay, that’s good to hear,” said Gallus with a strong hint of relief as he huffed with a weak smile. “I mean, I’ve had a lot of ideas myself, but that one seems like overkill for either one of us.”

The two chuckled like good friends after that remark, which proved to be the perfect moment for their waitress to show up with their check in her magical aura. As soon as she laid the paper at the corner of their table, Gallus took it without question to cover for both of their meals. Meanwhile, Sandbar blinked a couple times after processing what Gallus actually said, and waited until the waitress left to stare at the gryphon curiously. “Wait, so uhhhhh… When you said ‘Either of us,’ did… did you mean doing sub stuff yourself?”

Gallus froze with his eyes wide-open, and he looked between Sandbar and the book while a blush started to show on his cheeks. Meanwhile, Sandbar’s brows rose up in surprise upon seeing how strongly his boyfriend responded to such a statement. Even though it was only a small hunch that he had given such a finite detail, the pony wouldn’t have expected to get Gallus to act like that right out of the blue. But due to how cute the gryphon looked as his blue feathers came out with the slightest bit of ruffle along his neck, Sandbar grew intrigued enough to smirk faintly and ask, “I mean… if that’s not what you meant, it might be good to say it now. Otherwise, I’m just gonna start assuming things~”

As Gallus’ blush grew heavier, his eyes narrowed on Sandbar while pouting a little in his flustered state. But despite how easily he could have answered the pony and claimed otherwise to that accusation, his beak only skewed a little before he averted his eyes from his coltfriend. That action really got Sandbar’s interest, as both of his brows rose up to better stare at the gryphon. Even though a fascinated smile began to grow across the stallion’s muzzle, his expression didn’t appear to be that unusual by the time the waitress came back to their table. Fortunately for Gallus, his embarrassed state wasn’t too overwhelming for him to hand the mare a clawful of bits to cover their bill.

By the time the couple finally left the cafe, Gallus still hadn’t said a word following Sandbar’s cheeky little statement. And due to the gryphon’s enlightening silence, Sandbar couldn’t stop grinning to himself as the two walked side-by-side down one of Ponyville’s side-roads. Since the street itself was fairly bare of any ponies or other creatures, the teal stallion didn’t feel too embarrassed as he walked with three hooves, and used his other foreleg to hold open the book and read through some sections. Gallus didn’t say anything about Sandbar’s sudden change in demeanor, but his worrisome blush was evident while staring back at his coltfriend with a clenched beak.

“Hmmmm…” Sandbar grew a mischievous-looking smirk upon finding one particular section near the end of the book, and snickered to himself like a bully who just got a brilliant prank idea. And for Gallus, whose fretful stare on the stallion only grew more uneasy, he couldn’t help feeling like a soon-to-be victim for whatever Sandbar was reading through for inspiration. With one of his brows raised in contemplation, Sandbar looked back at Gallus to ask, “Quick question… If I were to give you a dare to do in public, would you be open to accepting it?~”

Gallus’ eyes widened back at the stallion, before he quickly looked away from him and tried to respond casually. “I-I, errrr… I kinda feel like I would need some context with a question like that…”

“Wellllllll…” Sandbar seemed rather chipper about giving such a clarification, and only gave a quick glance around them before leaning his muzzle in close to Gallus’ ear. “... Considering all the naughty things you wanted me to do for you, how would you react if I asked you to start... peeing in public?~”

Gallus’ head reeled back a little in befuddlement, but his close proximity to Sandbar made it easy for him to spot what section of the book he was reading through. While some of the kinks listed threw him off-guard, the entry for Watersports wasn’t one that instantly squicked the young gryphon. In fact, the small blush across his cheeks remained rather noticeable as he looked away from Sandbar, and eventually said in a meek tone of voice, “I-I mean… I may have considered having you do that too…”

Sandbar chuckled with an accepting nod as he smirked to that answer, partially because he couldn’t deny how feasible Gallus’ suggestion would’ve sounded if it was the other way around. Not to mention, the fact that Gallus added the word ‘too’ to the end of that statement was leaving the stallion even more intrigued than before. So as the two continued to walk without any nearby ponies eavesdropping on them, Sandbar decided to ask rather cheekily, “Oh, is that so? How would you suggest such an idea to me, hmm?~”

Gallus let out a flustered huff while his feathers remain slightly unruffled, and he gave a brief shrug before deciding to answer accordingly. “W-Well, I ummmm… I honestly considered it alongside something like, uhhhh…” Even though he already had the rest of his words planned out in his head, a brief pause was needed so the gryphon could take a breath and keep himself from growing too nervous about Sandbar’s reaction. “... M-Maybe, ummm… Maybe if I suggested it to you, I would maybe… have you leashed during?~”

Even though Gallus’ head lowered sheepishly following that detail, Sandbar’s eyes lit up while giving an impressed “Ooooohhh~” in response. “Seriously, dude?~” he asked as his smile grew curiouser. “So, like… your idea was to walk me around like a pet?~”

“Ummmm… Y-Yeah, kinda,” Gallus admitted as his blush deepened quite a bit. However, the gryphon was also able to shrug before looking back at him to add, “Although, I mean… would that really be as nuts as any of the stuff we’ve done already?~”

Sandbar couldn’t argue against that point, and gave a shrug of his own while smiling casually. “Yeah, that’s a fair point,” he said honestly, before he looked back at Gallus and said, “in fact… I wouldn’t consider it to be that wild if you were to try that yourself~”

Gallus’ blush practically exploded across his face, and he belted out a particularly nervous laugh while avoiding eye contact with his coltfriend. “Heh!~ Uhhhh… Heh heh heh… That’s uhhhh… That’s a pretty bold thing to suggest for me isn’t it? I mean… I-I kinda have a reputation around the School of Friendship…”

“Oh, and I don’t?~” replied Sandbar as his smirk on Gallus grew more confident with each passing word. “Dude, I was just turned hairless a while back in front of who knows how many other students. Plus, I’ve done quite a lot for you outdoors already, remember? I think turnaround is pretty fair play right now~”

Gallus huffed sharply following that retort, mostly since he knew that Sandbar wasn’t giving him much to argue with. While he certainly wasn’t against pushing boundaries like they have before, the fact that Sandbar was taking the reins so well was leaving the gryphon feeling more than a little flustered. But alas, with the way the stallion was staring at him with his eyes narrowed in undeniable interest to such a plan, it didn’t take long for Gallus to sigh and relent. “Ummm… Have you, like… ever done anything like that before?”

“Have you?~” asked Sandbar rather pertly, which caused Gallus’ beak to clench tightly in apprehension. Meanwhile, the pony paused his steps to flip through several pages of his book, and stopped on the ‘Pet Play’ section with a determined grin on his face. “Besides, it’s not like we’d be completely unprepared when we have this thing. The details seem simple enough, and I bet even you can play along without much issue…”

Sandbar then smirked up at his blushing gryphon, and finished his response with a sultrily-said, “For example… maybe you should let me pick a Pet-Name for you~”

“D-Dude!” Gallus’ blush remained as heavy as could be, and he tried not to grimace upon seeing his coltfriend’s devilish grin. “Could… Could we at least wait until getting back to our dorm to talk about this?”

Sandbar was quick to point out, “Oh, like how you were openly talking about fetishes back at the restaurant?~” While Gallus groaned to himself in embarrassed remorse, the stallion leaned in close again so he could add, “Yeah, it’s not so fun on the receiving end, is it?~ I bet you feel like a… Little Birdie right now~”

With the way Gallus’ stunned gaze shot right back towards the stallion, and the way Sandbar started smiling from ear-to-ear, there was no doubt that the term ‘Little Birdie’ wasn’t going to be a one-time mention by him. In fact, Sandbar’s brows rose up while giving a shit-eating grin, and his head tilted curiously as he asked, “Hmmm… You have an alternate name you wanna suggest?~”

“OOH! Can I help?!” The moment Silverstream shouted out from above the couple’s heads, Gallus and Sandbar yelped in surprise and nearly stumbled over each other. The two froze as they gawked up at the hippogriff, who was fluttering a couple feet over them and giggling with a giddy blush. “Ohmigosh, you guys have NO idea how cute the two of you look right now! And the fact that you’re both open enough to discuss those things in public is just super hot!~ I’m not gonna lie, I wanted to join in on your guys’ ideas sooner, but I didn’t want to intrude. But after hearing that, I just HAD to suggest some Pet-Names for Gallus!”

“W-WHAT?!” Gallus stared up at Silverstream with his eyes as wide as dinner plates, but his mortified expression didn’t do much to stop the hippogriff from beaming excitedly. If anything, the gryphon’s sheepish response made her even more determined to join in, and she landed on the ground to be at an even level with them. Sandbar couldn’t stop blinking as he stared back at his friend with a strong blush, but his expression seemed to be more curious than embarrassed.

“Ooh! I already got a few good ones thought out while you two were talking!” Silverstream smiled pridefully as she brought up both of her claws, and began to list some names while counting them out with her talons. “Let’s see… Little Birdie is pretty cute, but you could also call him your Little Chickie~ There’s also Feather-Butt, Gally-Wally, Beak-Boy, Naughty Boy, Songbird, Tweetie Bird. OH! If you guys are actually gonna do that peeing stuff, you could use names related to THAT too!~ Leaky Birdie, Pissy Bitch, Pee Pee Princess, or maybe something that would involve--”

“S-S-SILVER!!!” Gallus’ face was a full-blown red by that point, and his petrified stare on Silverstream was panicked enough to even make Sandbar wince in sympathy. As the hippogriff paused her ranting words to stare back at him with an unoffended smile, her friend’s face contorted badly enough to make his teeth grind against the edges of his beak. “... Do… Do you really think this is an appropriate thing to discuss right now?!”

Silverstream took a moment to look between Gallus and Sandbar, and finally took notice of how uncomfortably the two were looking back towards her. Unfortunately, even after a couple seconds of thoughtful silence passed, she merely shrugged in dismissal and asked, “So what? If you’re gonna leash Gallus up and make him piddle on a tree outside, you might as well talk about it outside too~”

While Gallus groaned and face-clawed himself in frustration, Silverstream kept going as she looked back at Sandbar and asked, “Actually! Since we’re here, do you need any other ideas for fun stuff? If you really wanna do naughty stuff that would be embarrassing, I could probably get some outfits from Rarity to--”

“SILVER!!!”