You know, I wasn’t even supposed to be a magic student. My Cutie Mark is an hourglass! My parents and I accepted that as helping father with his clock-repair shop, but when he let me help him work, I always sprung the coils too tight, making the clock tick way too fast; or I would forget a gear; one time I even jammed a clock up, causing it to burst in my face! My father decided I wasn’t suited for clockwork.
Now look at me, asleep in a soldier’s home, waiting for my pleasant dream about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to finish.
Who’d a thunk it?
“Minnie. Wake up, Minnie.” Flash nudged my side, rousing me from my slumber.
“Wha… what time is it?” I asked, only briefly breaching the waters of sleep.
“It’s almost five in the morning. If we stay much later we’ll be late for roll call.” The stallion stood up, walking over to his closet and pulling out a fresh uniform.
“Five is too early. I’m going back to sleep,” I said, rolling over to where Flash was laying moments ago, reveling in the warmth lingering there.
“C’mon. You’ve gotta get up! Do you want to clean the bathrooms…” he paused for effect, leaning in close to my ear, “with your toothbrush?”
My eyes shot open at this, causing me to panic for a moment. I then rolled out from under the sheets, which merely accomplished me getting tangled in the cloth and falling to the floor in a big heap.
“A little help, please?” I asked, looking to him from the ground.
“Of course.” He began to unwrap me, tossing edges of the blanket away with his wings.
With my sleep-addled mind, I then realized exactly where I’d woken up.
In a bed not my own… with another pony… that was not my gender.
“Oh my Celestia, did we-” he cut me off right there.
“No.” I sighed in relief. “I’m not the kind of stallion to take advantage of a mare because she’s drunk.”
“Wait, I got drunk?” This wouldn’t be the first time; it’s just, in past experiences, I was a fairly… irate drunk.
“Yeah. You were pretty mellow throughout the night, though. When I proposed we sleep it off, you took it the wrong way and…” he hesitated, the blush strangely obvious on his orange fur. “Well, you couldn’t get into bed fast enough. Once I explained to you I didn’t mean it like that, you dove into my chest and was out like a light.”
I blushed a bit; but, overall, I was happy that I didn’t try to force myself on him. That wouldn’t have ended well.
“Anyway, we should really get ready to go. If we’re late for roll call we’ll be put on bathroom duty; and Noquarter will probably give me the mare’s room and you the stallion’s, just to screw with us,” Flash said dejectedly.
“Really? That’s not against regulation, or something?” I asked, standing from my prone position on the ground.
“Well, we’re not supposed to go into the other gender’s bathroom, but, if we’re ordered to do something by a higher ranking officer, we have to do it or receive punishment,” he explained quickly, not making eye contact; though that was mostly from him being on the other side of the bathroom door, probably getting dressed.
Something I’ve found quite curious: we ponies usually walk around naked, unless one is of higher standards, such as being nobility; yet, it’s a taboo to watch another pony of the other gender get dressed or undressed, unless it’s in a romantic setting. It’s simply food for thought.
“Yeah, don’t want that.” I walked out of the bedroom, looking for Flash’s guest bathroom.
I found it a door down from his room. As I entered the small, enclosed space the full brunt of what had happened slammed into me like a freight train.
I’d just slept with a stallion.
Yeah, yeah, it wasn’t like that, but it was still sleeping with him!
‘He wasn’t that bad looking either, and he seemed nice enough. Maybe it wouldn’t be…’ I cut myself off there, not wanting to know where that line of thought was going. Even if he was cute, he was still a fellow soldier, and I’m sure there’s something about infatuation!
‘But, then again, if there was, he probably wouldn’t have come onto me like he did last night.’
“You almost done in there? I know mares take a long time to get ready for anything, but you’ve been in there for a while.”
“What?” I asked, not understanding what he meant, before I looked at the clock.
I’d been in the bathroom for a good half hour.
“Buck!” I then began preparing myself, like I should have been doing for the past hour.
Five minutes into my rush through cleaning myself I remembered something I should have minutes before. I could stop time, I was never in a rush! Taking a moment to face-hoof, I then activated my spell, locking everything besides myself in place.
Getting ready was no longer a problem.
-----
FLASH SENTRY
Last night had been a dream. I met a mare that was drop-dead gorgeous, somehow got her into my apartment, had some alcohol, and slept with her. I’d almost call that my most successful date I’d ever had! Well, other than the fact that it wasn’t recognized as a date by Minuette, it was.
Now she was getting ready to go back to the camp in my bathroom. ‘How did I get so-’
“Ready!” came a shout from right next to me, making me jump a good pony-length in the air.
“DON’T DO THAT!!” I yelled, now hanging from the ceiling fixture.
“Do what?” she asked, the most innocent look on her face.
“Sneak up and yell in my ear.” I rubbed my ear with a hoof to try and stop the slight ringing I still heard.
“Oh, sorry.” The cute blush on her face was totally worth permanent hearing damage.
“It’s fine, let’s just get going.”
-----
BASE
As Flash Sentry walked into the stallion’s locker room that morning, he was greeted by applause.
“What’s this all for?” asked the orange Pegasus.
“Dude, you totally got it last night!” came the sound of one of his best friends—or worst torturers, depending on how tease-able Flash’s actions are.
“W- What are you talking about, Gleaming?” Flash burst out, surprised and embarrassed that others knew what was going on.
“You didn’t exactly sneak away from the base last night,” was another guard’s response.
“We just happened to live in the same direction.” Flash began sweating, his eyes darting around the room to find something to stare at. They found nothing.
“Sure, that’s what they all say.”
“You have no proof!”
“You’re right! We don’t! But we know. When a guard gets it, the rest of us just get this feeling. So,” Gleaming Shield bumped his side, “if it isn’t the mare you left the station with, who was it?”
Flash sighed inwardly. His career in the Guard was safe, for now.
“She’s a mare from out of town. None of you would know her,” Flash waved a hoof, attempting to dismiss the question as he made his way to his locker.
“Oh, c’mon! We’ve got a few guys from out of town, you never know! It’s a small world, as they say.”
“Whoever ‘they’ are, they’re wrong. The world is very large, and for all you know, she’s a gryphon, so lay off.”
“Whoa, dude. You don’t need to be so snappy. Geez.”
Nopony bothered him about the night before for the rest of the day.
-----
MINUETTE
The azure mare entered the mare’s locker room with no trouble at all. There weren’t very many mares on base in the first place, and the ones who were there were fairly professional.
All but one.
“Who’d you buck last night?”
“Leave her be, Surprise. It’s none of our business.”
“Yeah, I know, but I wanna know!”
“I said leave her be.”
“Fine.”
In conclusion, mares are more mature than stallions.