Chapter 5
To say that Summer was high strung was an understatement. She had forty eight hours... well, no, now it was about forty. She had forty hours before she had to be back, and then, deployment. She had since parted ways with Joker and Pender, who had gone home to visit with their families.
Summer would be doing that too, when she was ready. Until then, she needed to just sit back, and relax, and get her mind off of her impending doom. She was trying, but it wasn't working that well. Despite the fact that she had picked a place to go to that was almost guaranteed to take your mind off whatever was troubling it.
Summer sat back in her lounge chair, sipping on an Apple Martini and listening to the thumping beat of club music as she looked up at the stage, watching intensely as a pegasus mare dressed in stockings and a short skirt danced before her. Pegasi were naturally endowed with grace and agility, and as once could expect, that transferred over to the art of exotic dancing.
Summer wasn't picky when it came to what attracted her, it was more about personality then gender, still, there were things that Summer could appreciate about another mare's body, and this mare had it. The mare before her had a turquoise coat, her mane alternated between neon green and dark purple, and had been cropped short, styled in a way that almost made it look wet, even though it was dry. Summer didn't know what it was, but mares with wet manes were deemed the pinnacle of sexiness by modern Equestrian society. The mare's eyes were a soft, warm, amber and they had taken notice to the fact that Summer was watching her closely.
The mare slid down the pole that she was dancing with, and laid down on her back, rolling her head and training her eyes on Summer. 'Hey there!' the mare said with a smile.
Summer turned bright red. Here was this beautiful mare lying before her, Summer had to struggle to keep from turning into a blabbering idiot. 'H... Hi...' Summer said with a stammer, offering the mare a small smile.
‘You look... stressed’, the mare said as she rolled over onto her stomach, placing her fore knees on the stage and resting her head on her hooves. ‘I think I know what you need...’
Summer swallowed loudly, was this really happening to her?
‘See those rooms over there?’ The mare said, tilting her head to the left. Summer looked over, and discovered that on the far end of the room were three doors leading to rooms for private dances. Summer nodded her head to indicate that she saw them, causing the mare to smile. ‘Take the one on the far left, and I’ll be over once I finish this dance’.
Summer nodded and finished her martini. She rose from her seat and trotted over to the private room. She took a seat in the large lounge chair on the far wall and after a few moments the pegasus mare came into the room, shutting and locking the door behind her.
‘Hello’, she said, offering a warm smile. ‘I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed to have the weight of the world on your shoulders... and I thought that maybe you’d like someone to talk to?’
This was certainly not what Summer had been expecting; still... the offer was tempting to say the least. She thought about it for a moment before slowly nodding her head. The mare smiled brightly at her, and squeezed herself into the longue chair with Summer, causing the unicorn mare to grow hot with nervousness.
‘What’s your name?’ the mare asked.
‘S... Summer Lightfall’ Summer said nervously.
‘Shortfuse Skydancer. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Summer Lightfall’, the mare said warmly.
‘Doesn’t sound like a stripper name’, Summer said with a small chuckle.
‘Heh, no it’s not, I have a feeling that you wouldn’t take me seriously if I used one’, Shortfuse said, smiling with her eyes. ‘I was serious you know, you look like the world’s come crashing down around you, what’s going on?’
‘I’m...’ Summer began, not sure how much she wanted to tell her. She looked into the mare before her eyes’ the look that she was giving her seem to indicate genuine concern. ‘I’m a soldier, I just recently graduated from training... and I’m on my last leave before deployment...’
‘Ah! Soldier girl huh? Can’t say I blame you for looking the way you do, I’d be terrified if I was going out to fight the war’, Shortfuse said.
‘The Emergency’, Summer corrected, causing Shortfuse to raise an eyebrow. ‘Oh... sorry, they don’t want us to call it a war, no declaration or anything, and the brass are afraid that using the word war will damage morale... so they’re having us call it the Emergency instead’, Summer explained.
‘I see...’ Shortfuse said, nodding her head in understanding.
‘Worst thing is? I’m not sure I’m even cut out for this, I joined the army to pay for university, I never thought there would be a war to fight’, Summer said with a frown.
‘An Emergency to fight, you mean’, Shortfuse said with a cheeky grin.
Summer couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Heh, I guess I deserved that one, eh?’ she asked.
‘I couldn’t resist’, Shortfuse said with a grin. ‘I know where you’re coming from on that one, I’m in a similar situation with this job, I never quite wanted to be an exotic dancer... but hey, the pay’s not bad, and there’s a lot worse jobs I could be doing, and occasionally... I get to spend time with cute mares like yourself’, Shortfuse added with a wink.
‘What did you want to do?’ Summer asked, changing the subject and trying to hide the fact that she was turning bright red.
‘What I WANT to do is be a computer programmer, and for that, I’ll need a four year degree at university. National Government subsidies and no profit universities can only go so far’, Shortfuse said with a shrug.
Summer must have been giving her a strange look.
‘I know, I know, I don’t quite look the brainy type, do I? Believe me, I’ve heard it before’, Shortfuse said with a sigh.
‘I don’t mean to offend... but stripper doesn’t exactly go hoof and hoof for someone who wants to program computers’, Summer said with a shrug.
‘No, no it doesn’t’, Shortfuse said, nodding her head in agreement. ‘That doesn’t mean I don’t find it fun.’
Summer must have been giving her that look again.
‘Come on, what filly doesn’t ever want to dress up and have a little fun?’ Shortfuse asked with a grin.
Summer supposed that she had a point, and nodded her head. ‘I’ll admit... there are times when I like to feel... sexy’, she said softly.
‘Ha! I win!’ Shortfuse said with a mad mare’s grin.
‘You are... not quite what I expected’, Summer said with a smile. ‘And this is most definitely not what I expected when you asked me to come here to this private room...’
‘I get that a lot’, Shortfuse said with a shrug and then glanced at a small clock on the back wall, offering it a frown. ‘I need to get back to work...’ she added with disappointment.
Summer frowned, but nodded her head in agreement. ‘It was... nice talking to you’, she said, offering the pegasus mare a smile.
‘Likewise... let me ask you something though. Do you have any family?’ Shortfuse asked.
‘Yeah, mum and dad and a little sister’, Summer said with a nod.
‘Then this is not the place that you should be at right now... you should be with them, you don’t have a lot of time to waste before you go off to fight. Spend it with your loved ones’, Shortfuse said, placing her hoof on Summer’s shoulder and rubbing it gently.
Summer nodded her head in agreement. ‘Yeah, yeah you’re right, I’ll go see them’, she said, promisingly.
‘Good!’ Shortfuse said with a smile before rising from her seat and headed over to the door.
Summer stopped her, reaching out with her telekinesis and tugging at one of her stockings. Shortfuse looked back to see Summer pull a one hundred pound bank note out of her wallet, folding it carefully and gently stuffing it into the stocking. ‘You’ve got an education to pay for, right?’ Summer asked with a smile.
‘That’s not...’ Shortfuse began to say, but was quickly interrupted.
‘No, no it’s not; still, I want you to have it. Not like I’m going to need any money while I’m off fighting right? Don’t you dare try to give it back either! I’m a unicorn and I can just stuff more in if I wanted’, Summer said with a grin.
‘You’re very kind... tell you what though, when you get back, look me up, and you’ve got a dance on the house... and for you maybe a little more’, Shortfuse said with a seductive purr and a suggestive wiggle of her flank. ‘Make sure you come back though, or I’ll be disappointed’.
‘Oh believe me’, Summer said with a grin. ‘If I don’t come back, I’ll be just as disappointed’.