That night, Brightshine figured that Colette had had a pretty hard week at work. Her supervisor had loaded her down with about three times the usual amount of paperwork, the ponies she ran errands for kept forgetting her name, Chase had been hitting on her like the dickhead he was, and to top it all off, she overheard that they might be axing the intern program due to budget cuts, which meant that there was a chance Colette could lose her job.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot that Brightshine could do for her best friend’s situation, but she could do two things she was good at: lending a shoulder to cry on and taking her friend to relax at one of Manehattan’s many bars.
She and Colette didn’t go drinking together often, but Brightshine knew what to expect. As usual, they got a small booth to themselves and talked about the day, or work, or life. Colette preferred wine, Brightshine preferred something heavier; she would limit herself, however, because she knew Colette couldn’t hold her alcohol very well and would have to be carefully guided home. And of course, that is what Brightshine found herself doing at about 1 a.m. on a Saturday morning, flying carefully overhead with her forehooves lowered as guides to keep a wobbly, bespectacled earth pony safely on the sidewalk.
“Poor filly.” Brightshine said, smiling. “You only had two glasses of the red stuff.”
“And a half!” Colette mumbled out alongside a laugh. “That’s more than last time!”
It was, thought Brightshine. The last time they drank, after another stressful week, Colette only put away one and a half glasses before sitting in her friend’s wings and crying for a good 20 minutes. Fortunately, this time, she was a happy drunk, and it seemed as though the night’s festivities had done her some good.
“We’re almost back to your place, Colette.” Brightshine continued. “Do you have your keys ready?”
Colette groggily tried to process the inquiry. She knew she had her keys somewhere, because how would she have locked her door this morning otherwise? But were they in her mane or her blouse? She bit her lip and shook her head, trying to listen for jingling in her long black locks.
“Probably…” she replied. “But I don’t wanna hunt for ‘em. Just use the spare key under the mat.”
A few minutes later, Brightshine carefully guided Colette through the lobby of her apartment building and up the stairs to her third-floor dwelling. It was an old, dingy, run-down building, one of the only places the young mare could afford on her pay grade, but inside her meager abode, the whole place seemed warmer and more comforting, and it was a point of pride to Colette that she kept her apartment looking nice. The Pegasus accompanying her carefully slipped the spare key out from under the doormat and unlocked the entrance. Colette stumbled inside and immediately made her way towards the bedroom.
“I’m exhausted from that walk…” she said, slightly slurring her words. “Come help me get ready for bed.”
Brightshine firmly shut the door behind her. Perhaps it was just the alcohol hitting her stomach, but her face suddenly felt warmer.
“Okay, Colette, I can do that.”
They’d been friends ever since Colette moved to the city and started working at the company. Brightshine sympathized a lot with her, herself once having been an overworked, underpaid intern. That was close to a year ago now that they’d met; since then, they’d been to the movies, gone shopping together, gone to a Wonderbolt show, and went and done almost everything else Manehattan had to offer besides. Not only that, they were with each other through thick and thin, offering good advice and warm embraces whenever the other needed it. The two were as close as sisters, so this shouldn’t be a problem, thought Brightshine.
At least, that’s what her mind told her. Her heart, meanwhile, took to beating just a little faster.
Colette stood at the foot of her bed, fumbling with the buttons on her cardigan. She always dressed conservatively and in at least two layers, though why that was, Brightshine didn’t know; maybe it was just a fashion thing. She, after all, wore no clothes except the occasional neckerchief. She imagined trying to finesse buttons with hooves was a difficult task, but somehow, Colette managed it, removing the lavender sweater and tossing it in a corner. She stumbled a little as she reached for the hem of her skirt, but Brightshine caught her.
“You alright there, filly?”
“Ha, yeah.” Colette replied, tossing her mane out of her face. “Help me with my skirt, please.”
Brightshine gave an awkward smile that Colette was too drunk to notice, and reached for the hem of the long, heavy skirt. It rumpled up cumbersomely as Brightshine searched for the zipper, eliciting a drunken giggle from Colette.
“I have no clue how she puts this on.” She thought to herself. “Nopony’s hooves are that dexterous. Maybe she just… pulls it on and off?”
Colette awkwardly steadied herself as she tried to help, moving her hindlegs and wriggling her rear to try and get the skirt off. Brightshine took this as an indication to just pull the thing off, careful of her friend’s long tail as she did so.
“Just gotta get her tail through the hole… there, it’s starting to move…” Brightshine couldn’t help but feel embarrassed as she literally undressed her best friend. “I never really thought about what Colette wears before. I wonder if—oh my, that’s a cute butt.”
As it turns out, it would be extremely difficult for an earth pony to deal with both a long, heavy skirt and underwear when she needed to use the little filly’s room, so Brightshine was greeted by Colette’s bare rump as she slid her skirt down onto the floor. Her Cutie Mark was a purplish bottle of ink and a quill pen, which, come to think of it, was rather ironic, given that Colette didn’t like paperwork that much.
Brightshine blushed brightly, pulling her eyes away as she turned to the closet nearby.
“Do you have PJs or somethin’ you sleep in, Colette?”
Colette was busy climbing onto her bed, yanking off her white blouse and hurling it aside.
“Yeah, but…” she paused to give a small burp “…I’m not gonna bother with it tonight. I’m just gonna… lay here…” The cream-colored mare was splayed out face-down, with her chest to the mattress and her rump slightly in the air. Her mane was messy, her head had hit the pillow, and already she seemed to be dozing off.
Brightshine smiled. There was something so innocent and genuine about the mare as she slept. Carefully, she pulled a blanket over Colette’s form, which was already beginning to emit tiny, quiet snores. She gingerly removed her glasses and set them on her nightstand before flicking off the lamp. A small trace of a smile could be detected on Colette’s face, and Brightshine felt her heart melting at the sight of it. How she would have loved to crawl in bed beside her, snuggle up close and last out the night; to wake up with the mare’s scent on her fur and feathers, laying together under the covers long after the sun had risen, breakfast being a distant concern as their hearts beat in concordance within their bare chests, smiles on their lips.
But Brightshine knew that was something she couldn’t have. Swallowing her waking dreams, she smiled and leaned down, planting a gentle kiss on Colette’s forehead before slowly walking out of the bedroom and closing the door. She would lock the front door with the spare key, sliding it back under the mat, and on her flight back home, she would smile, happy from the warmth in her body and the friendship held dear in her soul.
