Winners Finish Last

Ocellus knocked on her friends’ dorm room door and waited patiently as she heard hoofsteps on the other side. The door slid open, and the changeling smiled up at the green earth pony. “Hey, Sandbar,” she said in greeting. “We were just getting ready to head to the cafeteria for dinner and wanted to know if…” her compound eyes shifted to the room behind the pony. “By the Hive Father!” She felt an acrid tang of embarrassment flow from the pony. “What the Tartarus happened to your room?”

Takeout containers covered nearly every surface. Textbooks and scrolls were pushed into a corner of the room, and crumpled towels lay scattered about. There was a thick layer of dust across what little Ocellus could see of their desks.

“Oh, uh, yeah…” Sandbar mumbled.

Gallus leaned up on one arm from where he lay on the shared bed. “Our maids are terrible,” he explained with a smirk. “Too busy showing off instead of cleaning.”

“Shh,” the pony chided. The emotional bouquet shifted from embarrassment to arousal. Ocellus felt her stomach rumble at the smell of the most sugary forms of love. Bad of her to have dessert before dinner.

“Wait,” she said, “you guys have maids?” Her eyes suddenly locked onto two rumpled and stained black-and-white outfits hanging in the small closet. Sandbar watched her attention shift, and sour notes of anxiety and fear spiked the sugary love on her tongue. The earth pony kicked the door with a back hoof, sliding it shut with a bang.

“H-he’s just joking,” Sandbar stuttered.

Realization dawned on the little changeling, as she put two and two together: Sandbar’s awkward feelings, Gallus’ comments, the outfits. “Oh my gosh!” she squealed, “you guys have been playing Ogres & Oubliettes without us?! You even had fancy noble-pony costumes made up?” The cool breeze of relief washing off of Sandbar confirmed her suspicion—ponies always felt better not having to hide secrets. “You have!”

Gallus hopped off the bed and winged over to them. “Uh huh. Yes. Totally caught us,” he agreed, as he ushered Ocellus out the door. “We’ve been roleplaying non-stop. Give us ten minutes and we’ll join you girls for dinner.”

Ocellus let herself be coaxed out of the room. As the door shut, she was thankful that changelings had good hearing, because she was able to hear Gallus further confirm her theory: “Your turn, Sandy. Ten minutes enough?”

Ocellus sighed, a slimy feeling of envy washing over her. Those two must have been playing a really intricate scenario if each turn took that long. She was going to have to ask if she and the other girls could join them next game.