This was a typical day in Bedlam and Burgeon Flare’s friendship. In her usual fashion, the draconequus had shown up unannounced, greeted her best friend with a peck on the cheek, and taken her out for a day of adventure before they spent the rest of the afternoon cuddling and holding hands. It was nothing out of the ordinary for them.
 
But today, Burge couldn’t help but feel a bit odd about their relationship. She and Bedlam weren’t normal to begin with, but even then something about their interactions lately struck her as particularly strange. She couldn’t quite put her claw on it but she had some kind of idea.
 
“Betty?”
 
“Yeah?”
 
“Does something seem…weird to you about us?”
 
“Everything’s weird about us,” Bedlam chuckled. “What do you mean, babe?”
 
“Well…exactly that. Is…is it normal for friends to call each other ‘babe’?”
 
“I mean, we’re not normal.”
 
“Yeah, but—I don’t know,” Burge sighed. “You kiss me on the cheek every time you see me. You have pet names for me. We cuddle…a lot. And from what I hear about ponies, only dating couples do those things. Do you…consider us a couple?”
 
“I dunno, I never really thought that far. I just thought this was what we always did,” Bedlam shrugged. “Do you?”
 
“No—I don’t know!” The dragon blushed. “It’s just, we’ve always been close, but it’s been a little different recently. Especially after you tried to fight off Inferno for me. I got this feeling that…it’s not just something a friend does for another friend, you know? With us dragons, that’s actually how we compete for mates…”
 
“Oh…” Bedlam’s eyes grew wide. “Oh sweet Celestia.”
 
“But you’re not a dragon, and I know ponies don’t work that way,” Burge tried to hide the blush growing on her face. “It’s probably nothing to you and I’m just taking it out of context…”
 
“Well, do you want me to be your girlfriend?” A sly smirk spread across Bedlam’s face. “I can fight off lots of big, bad dragons if that’s what you like~”
 
“Stop!” Burge’s face turned beet red.
 
“Chill, I didn’t mean it seriously. We’re not like that,” Bedlam tried to calm her down. “I mean, unless you want to…”
 
“It…wouldn’t be so bad to try,” Burge admitted. “Dating, I mean. It’s not like anything between us will be different than it was, right? We’ll just have a different name to it.”
 
“Pretty much,” Bedlam laughed, pulling Burge in closer. “It’ll be no different than usual.”