I turn another page in my book, Preen Me Up, Scotsdale, starting chapter thirty-two. So far, it's been an interesting read. A bit short, what with each chapter being only a few pages long, but still, interesting all around. Not to mention that it's a good learning experience for me. I may have to confirm this with other books, or maybe Silver Star, but according to this the winged ponies, pegasi, can stand on clouds, manipulate weather, and have a lighter bone structure. I also read that preening, the process of cleaning the feathers of their wings, was a very casual thing. However, it was seen as rude to preen in public, and when letting someone else preen for you... well, let's just say that it is a very intimate thing. Undoubtedly the quickest chapter in the book, seeing as how I skipped most of it.

The walk back from the research lab was uneventful. Any form of conversation I tried to start with Silver Star ended in a sexual innuendo that involved me and the unusually hyper research pony Wild Berry, so I stopped all-together. The guards that had left us had returned to their posts outside my door, and they welcomed our return with little more than a nod or two to acknowledge us. When we were led inside, I immediately noticed that a maid or cleaning pony has made her rounds through the room. The curtains were open, letting the evening sun shine its orange rays through the windows. The bed was made; the sheets and blanket neatly tucked and smoothed. Needless to say when I discovered this, I unceremoniously dived onto the mattress, wrinkling the fine work back into my regular messy means of slumber. What caught me by surprise was the large round aquamarine mattress near the bathroom door, replacing the pillow I had given Silver Star to sleep on. Seriously, it was just like a dog bed. By my first canine joke, she was out the door, grumbling something I would rather not repeat.

I scratch at my collar as the door opens. Looking up, I see Silver Star with another white bag. Even though we haven't truly made up yet, she's being allowed to leave my room. Not that I'm complaining.

She tosses the bag onto my bed and sits down on her 'bed' near the bathroom door. "There, I got you your dental tools."

"Dental tools?" I chuckle. "All I needed was a toothbrush."

"And toothpaste," Silver Star reminds me.

I nod. "And toothpaste." Almost as if on cue, the door opens again and a metal tray is pushed in. On it are two bowls full of fruit and vegetables. "And would you look at that," I say as the door closes again. "Perfect timing." I get up and walk over to the tray, hiking my boxers up as I do. Bending over, I loudly say a thank you through the door, and then pick up the tray. "So Silver Star," I ask as I walk over to her, "what flavor of toothpaste did you get me?"

"Citrus," is all she says.

"Thanks," I say as I bend over and place her bowl. "There you go."

Silver Star shifts on her bed. Nods at me. Rubs her chin.

"You okay?"

"Fine, fine," she says, dismissing me.

I return to my bed and pick out a banana. Using my teeth to cut a small notch near the stem, I begin peeling it. "...So Silver Star... When was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"Not since I was assigned to you," she says curtly.

"You should start back up on that," I reply.

She bites into an apple. "Wha doh you cahre?" she asks through her mouthful of fruit.

"I don't know..." I break off a piece of my banana. "Just making idle conversation, I guess."

"Her-rumph." I swear to God, she actually said that. She didn't make a noise, she said that. "Since when is dental hygiene a topic of idle conversation?" she asks.

I shrug and pop the banana chunk into my mouth. "You okay?" I ask around the food. "You seem a bit more irritable than usual."

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now drop it."

I shrug and break off another bite of my banana. "Whatever."

We eat in silence, for the most part. Every few seconds Silver Star makes a noise; a small one, the same one, over and over. Something between a sigh and a whimper. Looking over, I see her with her left hoof in her mouth, her eyes closed. A second later, my guard pony removes her appendage and spits into her now-empty bowl. A single tooth. I hear her mumble something along the lines of "stupid something" before she lays down. I'm not even finished with my banana and she's already done. Silver Star's basically a bottomless pit, I figure. Something is bugging her, but then again, I just saw her pull one of her teeth out, so I'm not too willing to try to get her to talk about it if she doesn't want to, and there were way too many 'to's in that sentence...

I pick up an orange and lift it to my face, inhaling deeply. But I don't smell orange. I put down the fruit and sniff again, and again. This scent... its smooth, creamy... Almost like sandalwood, but with a salty offensive odor riding it, kinda like sunflower seeds. It's weird, but at the same time... I'm not sure which word to use for it. Pleasant, I suppose?

I begin peeling my orange. "Pretty unusual, you using perfume," I say loud enough to get Silver Star's attention.

"Whaah?" is the response I get.

"I didn't know a pers—pony like you would wear perfume."

I look over at Silver. Her eyes are alert, but aimed towards the ground. "Sorry, I don't."

"Candle maybe?" I don't get an answer; Silver Star just shifts on her bed. "Well, whatever it is, I like it."

I take my time eating, savoring every bite of the delicious fruit before gently tearing into the crisp and fresh celery stalks. Could use a smear of peanut butter, but hell, I ain't complaining. That plain, yet distinctive taste that only celery has... Mmm. All the while, that pleasant scent is wafting around the room. Soothing. I still can't find the candle it's coming from; the maid must have hidden it somewhere in the back corner of the room. And speaking of smells...

Instinctively, I lower my head and smell myself. Not too bad, but a noticeable oily musk has clouded around me. I finish my meal and grab my book, as well as the white bag containing my toothbrush and toothpaste. Silver Star brings her head up as I walk in her direction.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Gonna brush, then take a nice long bath," I say as I open the bathroom door. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"A long bath?" Silver Star drears. A small and casual grin paints her face as she waves at me. "Nah, go right ahead."

"You're weird." I close the door behind me before she can speak up again. I lock the door behind me, as I don't want a repeat of last time I tried to bathe. Or drown the fire in my chest, if I remember correctly.

First thing's first. I walk over to the sink and empty the bag onto the counter, along with my book. The toothbrush Silver Star got me is already out of its plastic wrapping Surprisingly, it looks a lot like the ones from home, with the only difference being that this one is a bit bigger. Its white with orange and red bristles, and a red cap at the end of the handle. The toothpaste is just an orange tube. I uncap it and squirt a decent glob of the toothpaste onto my brush, and stare at it. White paste with orange gel, really sophisticated looking. I roll my eyes as I jam it into my mouth and begin brushing. As I do, I can't help but look at myself in the mirror. Stubble has begun to grow on my chin and cheek again, and my hair is, well... greasy. I don't like it. I always tried to be clean cut at home, shaving every other day and bathing daily, but I haven't had the chance to do so in a few days.

I few minutes later, I lean down to the faucet, suck up a mouthful of water, and rinse. I didn't ask for a cup to rinse with, so I suppose this is my own fault. With my teeth out of the way, I turn to the bathtub. I begin walking over to it, but stop as a thought crosses my mind. I immediately go back to the door, unlock it, and poke my head into the other room. Silver Star has her back to me, but at the sound of the door opening, she goes ridged.

"Hey," I call out to her, "this 'magic-inhibiting' collar Princess Twilight gave me won't shock me or something if I get it wet, is it?"

Without turning to face me, Silver Star shakes her head. "No, it shouldn't."

"Okay, thanks." I close the door and lock it again. Now then, where was I.

Ah yes. I hop over to the bathtub and sit on the edge. Plugging the drain and turning the hot water handle, I wait a moment before turning the cold handle. I test the water with a finger, setting the water temperature a bit warmer than I would like. Always do this, because you're going to lose heat when you wait for the water to fill the tub. And this would be a perfect time to read. Which is what I do. Read some more. Words. Typewriter. Cheeseburger. Oh, now I want a cheeseburger. Mmm...

I laugh at myself, thinking these ridiculous things while trying to read. Whatever, the bath is almost ready. I stop the flow of bathwater and strip out of my boxers. I'll wash, then read some more. Yeah. Good plan. More words... I'm Batman.

More of my laughter echoes throughout the room as I slide into the water.

~ ~ ~ ~ ———— ~ ~ ~ ~

"Whatever you're facing, you don't have to do it alone. I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Does it make me a terrible pony that when she said that, I felt nothing but pain? Or confusion? My cousin, my bucking cousin, makes a better mother figure than my own? That makes no sense, but in a way, it makes nothing but sense. She's caring, she's strong, she's willing to do anything to help me. Perhaps I can fight these demons, and maybe, just maybe, with her help, I'll be able to understand how I was able to think straight enough to use real words when talking.

What? My eyebrows arch when I read this. I have no clue what's going on anymore in this book. Closing the cover, after marking my place of course, I decide that I've soaked long enough; I'm starting to prune, not to mention the water is turning lukewarm. I let the water out of the tub and begin drying off with one of the white towels hanging on the rack near the sink. They're a bit small for me, but then again, I'm two feet taller than their intended users. In the end, I've soaked two towels, but I'm clean and refreshed. With one towel back on its rack hanging to dry, only one because the other caught on the gem on my forearm while I was drying off and promptly ripped in two, and my boxers back on, I unlock the bathroom door and walk back into the main room.

My eyes react first, seeing Silver Star in the process of manually flipping her bed over. Then my nose begins to work again. I'm bombarded with the scent of Sandlewood. For a split second. Sunflower seeds and sea salt instantly overpower the soapy smell. Its strong, and there's a heated force behind it as well, something that makes my nose wrinkle. Something foul, something primal, something familiar...

Silver Star catches my gaze. She's not in her armor; her white coat matted on its left side, and her coppery mane is slicked back behind her head. She looks up and sees me staring at her. We hold this contest for a few seconds, all the while I'm trying to breathe through my mouth.

"...What?" she asks.

"What is that stench?" I say, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Hm?"

"Don't act like you can't smell that?" I walk past her. "Damn, what is that?" I walk towards the door, the smell fading. It's more powerful in certain spots of the room, and subconsciously I'm starting to gauge it. I go back to my bed and sit down with my hand clamped over my nose.

Silver Star is still seated next to her bed, reluctant to move.

I motion towards her with my other hand. "Where's your armor?"

She points to the far corner of the room. I follow her hoof and see her helmet, chestplate, and hoof guards sitting in the corner.

"Why aren't you wearing them?" I ask.

"Can't a mare be comfortable?" She retorts.

I squint at her. "...Normally, in my opinion, a guard who's been assigned to a potentially dangerous person would like to be armored, wouldn't they?" I stand up and walk closer to her, and the smell gets stronger. "...Why would a guard take off their only means of protection?"

"It's not my only means," Silver Star says quickly. Her horn glows a familiar and fear-inducing blue, but I reach out with a hand and flick the appendage. My finger collides with her horn, creating a loud thwack and her magic fizzles out. She lowers her head, grasping her horn in her hooves. "Oooww..."

"You're not thinking straight," I state.

"You're acting like a detective," Silver Star shoots back.

I inhale again, look at her. I then look at her bed. Then at her. Silver is still staring at the floor. My hands grip the underside of her bed, and I flip it over. I notice the stain in the middle of it almost as soon as I do. "Did you spill something and not want to get in trouble?"

"What?"

I lean closer to the bed, my nose being assaulted with every inch I take. Then, a faint memory from the back of my head comes to see the light. The smell of sunflower seeds and sea salt. No, the smell of sweat, passion, and shame. A scent I should have recognized immediately, seeing as how I used to clean my keyboard at home on a regular basis to get rid of this particular scent.

I bolt upright. "What the fuck!?"

Silver Star is on her feet. "What? What!?"

"Don't 'what' me! You know!" I rub my hands together. "Ugh, really? You couldn't have done this somewhere else? For Christ's sake, I was in the other room!" I rush over to the windows and try to push them open. I'm rewarded with a small shock that sends me on my ass. "Gah, I can't even open the windows!" I turn back to Silver Star. "You!" Her horn begins to glow again, but I flick it once more and get behind her. As she's stunned, I slide my hands around her barrel, under her forelegs, and lift her up. Silver weighs, I'm guessing, about eighty pounds or so, but I heave and get her in the air. "You should be ashamed of yourself, you know that?" I swing her over to the door.

"How else was I supposed to deal with my heat?" she yells at me.

"You are in heat?" I set her on the floor and spin her around to face me. I wag a single finger in her face. "Then you should have left! Gone home like all the others!"

"I have too many responsibilities to do that!"

"So the solution was to stay here and suffer?" I ask.

"No!" she shouts. "I've been slacking off lately, then you appeared as my next job. I can't just up and leave for a week! My commander would hoof me my flanks on a silver platter!"

I put my hands on my hips, then grimace as the gems on my forearms dig into my sides, but I keep them there. "So, instead of going home like a smart person would do, you decided to stay here..." I pause to swallow my pride and disgust, "and masturbate? In my bedroom?"

"Everypony does it!" she yells at me, stomping her hoof.

"Not with strangers in the next room, they don't!"

"You're not a stranger! You're my responsibility!"

"Doesn't matter. I think your commander would have completely understood that you needed to take time off for something like this." I turn her around, open the door, and lift her back into the air. "You should have left with the... rest... of them..." My voice dies in my throat. I'm left there, a prisoner, with his guard, out of her armor, in my hands, thrust out like one would do with a bad puppy, and staring into the eyes of Princess Celestia herself. Her mane and tail flow in a non-existing breeze as always, but her expressionless face is what scares me. The malice in her magenta eyes sends a chill down my spine.

My mouth opens, then shuts, then opens again. "Eheheh... This looks bad, doesn't it?"

Celestia blinks. "Very."

Author's Note

It's about time I start enphasizing the reason this story is rated M.

Big shoutout to this amazing artist, Portal82! His ideas and musical suggestions brought me out of my stupor, bringing this chapter along a lot quicker than I thought it would be! Thanks again, big guy! I'll keep trying to update faster.

Another Note: I have edited chapters 1-8 to have these breaks between lines. Much less messy and better looking in my opinion.