“Oh, great...” I sigh, seeing the sign hanging from the doorknob. It reads Do Not Disturb in large, messy hoofwriting.
I hear a feminine giggle from beyond the door and take that as my que to leave. My partner wasn’t a bad pony, by any means. he’s just... a little too focused on ‘physical interactions’, if you catch my drift.
Knowing that my dorm in the castle was now off-limits for the night, I decided to head down to Starry’s instead; he was a good friend, and his partner was usually a part of the night guard, from what he recalled.
The fatigue of the day starts to weigh on me as I approach his dorm; standing for a collective twelve hours will do that to a pony.
I knock quietly on Starry’s door and, after no response, let myself in. “Oh, he’s already asleep. Well, that won’t be a...“
I taper off as I notice a vaguely pony-shaped lump under the covers of azure’s bed. Well, that was a problem.
I mumble a curse under my breath as I sat down to try and think. Bunking with Starry’s partner was a bad idea, for several reasons; We hardly knew each other, for one. A mare and a stallion in the same bed was just asking for gossip, as well.
I suppose bunking with Starry won’t be that bad. It’ll probably be awkward in the morning, but that’s future-Cobalt’s problem.
Having made my mind up, I carefully go over to Starry’s bed. I’m not so bold as to try getting under his blanket, so I just gingerly lay myself next to the black pegasus on the cot and try to empty my mind.
* * * *
As I drift into a semi-conscious state, I notice I’m pressed up against something soft and warm. Whatever it is, it’s very comfortable. It smells nice too, kind of like lilacs.
....
Wait a minute, something doesn't add up. I don’t have anything like that in my dorm, do I?
....
Oh, right! I’m not in my dorm, I’m in... Starry’s... oh buck...
Realization floods through me, and with it enough blood to brighten my ears and muzzle considerably. My eyes open almost reluctantly and i’m greeted by a forest of purple and blue. Wow, his mane is stupidly soft, does he condition it? Not right now you dolt, get your muzzle out of his mane!
I jerk my head back from the sea of indigo and violet, and I’m suddenly very glad I decided not to get under the covers last night; I’m properly huddled up against Starry’s blanketed form, with a hoof over him and everything.
Now, while it was true that stallions can cuddle and all that jazz without rumors going flying, (unlike mares, don’t ask me why) it’s certainly still embarrassing when you wake up snuggling your best friend.
That being said, I didn’t quite want to pull away. I think I rationalized it by not wanting to wake up Starry by moving. I don’t quite know how it happened, but before I knew it my muzzle was resting up against his neck and I was drifting back to sleep.
As I began to wake, I noticed a large warm mass huddled against my back.
Even with my sleep-addled brain, I could still surmise that It wasn’t Azure; She was both smaller than I was and would have no reason to leave her bed to join mine, atleast that I knew of.
Of course, the blue-green muzzle nestled into my neck was also a bit of a giveaway.
I took a moment to consider my situation; Thankfully, today was my day off, and I didn’t have anywhere to be currently. Somehow, it never occurred to me to ask why Cobalt was snuggled up against me, it was simply a fact of life at the moment. Instead, the first question that came to mind was why he currently had my barrel in a one-hoofed death grip, Cobalt never struck me as a clingy pony.
Waking up like this was, admittedly, a nice change of pace from waking up alone. It was a lot warmer, for starters. Another pony just delivered where a nice comforter couldn’t.
I briefly considered going back to sleep for a while, but it was then that the pressure in my bladder decided to make itself known. “Hey, uh, Cobalt...?” I ask, not much louder than a whisper. I received a snore and a nuzzle in response, which felt mighty weird and sent a tingle up my spine. I tried to wiggle out of his grip, to no avail. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, he was and earth pony after all. “Cobalt, let me go, I gotta take a piss!” My voice went a little louder, but he just mumbled something about flowers and buried his muzzle deeper into my mane. Now, if I was a more vindictive pony, I might have decided to hold this over Cobalt in the future. Thankfully for him, I was just mildly irritated. My position as the little spoon left me woefully unable to get him off with my hooves, aside from either trying to buck his ‘special bits’ or headbutting him, neither of which I particularly wanted to do. “Cobalt!” I was an octave or two below my speaking voice now, “with Celestia as my witness, get off of me unless you want a wet belly!” Cobalt groaned, mumbled something, and seemed to loosen his grip just a little, but it was enough for me to wiggle out of and rush to the bathroom.
After relieving my poor bladder, I set about seeing if there was any food left in the dorm; I always kept some fruit or greens on hoof Incase I didn’t want to go out that day, or Cobalt got hungover, or at least a dozen other reasons.
After a search of the cabinets and magitech freeze box came up fruitless, I gave a small sigh and resigned myself to shopping for the essentials. I mean, sure, the castle kitchens catered to the guards of course, but I was going to need to restock regardless.
Speaking of restocking, I wouldn’t have to pick up any more mane or tail products any time soon, thanks to Azure. I’m not sure where she gets all her soaps from, but I was going to have to ask and get some of my own.... What? My coat looked and felt buckin amazing after using her conditioner, do you know how hard it is to make a black coat like mine actually look nice? Sure, it’s a little embarrassing that I smelled like a florist afterwards, but at least I could say it fit with my purple mane.