//------------------------------// // 32. Famous Last Words // Story: Sunny, Moonie, Twily // by Jetto //------------------------------// Something's not right. Con gulped before the doors to his dorm room. He was about to open it, but something made him stop. A gut feeling, for which he couldn't quite find a reason. Some unknown forces held him back, as if protecting him from unleashing the secrets behind it. He shook his head. There was nothing unusual about his room. Even his roommate was as bland as it gets, there was no way he was up to no good. Unless... he's in danger? What if he needs my help? He swallowed the bad feeling and finally opened it to see... ...his room, mostly as he left it. It was one of the smaller ones, just enough for two beds, two desks, a small bookshelf and barely any space to move, especially now that a bunch of books, notebooks and scrolls were lying on the ground. And among the mess was his trusty friend, fellow, if unofficial, S.A.S.S. comrade Red Hope, looking back from his research at him, terrified to see him. Two hooves away sat the reason why. "Hiya Con!" Con couldn't help but tilt his head at a happy Moondancer, lying around in the mess of books, waving a hoof at him. It's not Tuesday, so why is she...? He turned towards Red, who at that point grew a few shades redder, looking at him with a pleading, ashamed look on his face, rapidly shaking his head and making an X sign with his hooves. Con smiled. Oh, I see. "I-I-I can explain!" Red's face looked like it would catch on fire any second. "Not cool, dude," he shook his head in disaproval "not cool." "W-we're not... the... w-we were j-just... I-I mean, we didn't..." "It's alright, we haven't started yet." Moondancer added with a smile. "YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" "And I thought you were the smart one," Con continued "how could you forget about 'The Sock'?" "We were just doing the pro--... wh-what?" "'The sock', dude! I know you've not started yet, but I know how things go. One thing leads to another, your mind is in another place, sometimes literally, and you forget about the most important detail." "I-I d-don't, I mean we... I don't need no stupid sock! We're just..." "HEY!" They both jumped when they heard the usually calm and happy Moondancer lash out on them with a frown. "Don't insult 'The Sock'! A properly used one is THE difference between breaking and saving a friendship!" The mixture of anger, sadness and urgency on Moondancer's face, all very uncommon for her, made them skip a beat and look at her surprised. She coughed and looked away a short while after. "Y-you know, better safe than... I'll stop talking now." Con opened his mouth, but it took him a moment longer to utter some words. "Yeah, what she said. I'll leave you two love birds alone, but seriously, I bought a pair for a reason. And they're clearly not my size." That said, he slowly, gently closed the door. He was so slow in fact, that Red was able to jump up and follow him. "Con, wait!" As he crossed the door, he turned to Moondancer. "Excuse us for a minute." Getting an approving nod from her, he closed the door and faced his roommate. "Con, it's not what it looks like! We were just..." "Working on a group project for Silver Scroll, yes, I know." Red was, justifiably, taken aback. "I ran into some of your more gossiping classmates," he quickly added "I'm glad I wasn't the one who bumped into Sunset Shimmer on the hallway." "Oh, I see." Pause. "Wait, did she..." "No, she didn't hurt anypony. Their scars were more... metaphysical." Red's eyes narrowed. "So, all of this was just teasing?" "It was so easy!" He ended with laughter, which earned him a smack on the shoulder. "Ow, sorry mister sensitive, geez." He chuckled once more, before his face turned serious. "But really Red, sock or our friendship is over." Red was surprised it took him this long to slap his own face. "Oh, for the love of Celestia's plot!" "Not Celestia's, but soon you'll be loving a certain plot!" Con laughed in a perverted manner, before he slowed down and grinned sheepishly. "Okay, that was terrible and I'm ashamed of it." The facehoof intensified. So did Red's voice, as he yelled his next word. "I'M NOT HAVING SEX WITH MOONDANCER!" The satisfaction from seeing Con's shocked face was undermined by a realization that came a little too late, by about ten seconds. That's how long it took Red to realize that one, screaming at the top of his lungs might not have been necessary to get his point across; and more importantly two, the door to his room lead to a hallway, which doubled as a lounge area for the stallions dormitory, full of tables, chairs, some couches and, on friday evenings, after all classes were over, it was also full of other students, just chilling around, playing cards and socializing. All of those activities grinded to a halt and suddenly dozens of pairs of eyes landed on an even redder Red. "What, she ain't good enough fer ya?" "You don't know what you're missing!" "She's the best!" Said not a member of S.A.S.S., clearly. "I'm meeting her tommorow evening!" "Me too!" Bro-hoof ensued, making Red shudder. "I don't get it, why is everyone so excited about her?" "We'll tell you when you're older." "If you don't want to, can I?" "HEY!" Con finally snapped at the crowd. "Private conversation here!" "We're sorry." Everypony lowered their heads in shame then dispersed and went silent. "So, back to our conversation..." Red took a moment to recover from the latest crowd debate, if it could be called that, then repeated himself, but in a much milder manner. "I said I won't be having sex with Moondancer. I haven't yet, I'm not having now and I never will!" Con nodded. "Ah, famous last words." "I'm not kidding!" "I know that," the expression on Con's face changed to what Red could only interpret as 'caring, but a little patronizing' "and I believe that you believe what you're saying. But take if from somepony who's been in your horseshoes before, Heart and Brain often don't agree on things. And while Brain has rational thinking, Heart uses a bit more underhoofed methods. Like hitting you with a blunt lead pipe made out of hormones." --- Brain gulped. "Y-you wouldn't...?" Heart smiled and laughed quietly. "My dear friend, how long have we known each other?" Brain opened his mouth, but Heart didn't let him speak. "Rhetoric question. You know EXACTLY what I can do for feels." "B-but..." "Lemme put it in your own language- you control the head, I control the rest. I was pumping blood and crying over full diapers before you uttered your first sentence. I let you take charge only when it's beneficial. But our agendas... they don't always overlap." Brain was on the verge of tears. "...I'm scared!" "I'm using logic and you're feeling emotions. See what a simple desire does to a pony?" --- Red paused for a while, before shaking his head to put brain into his position. "T-that's absurd! I don't know, or even want to know, what the two or more of you do when you do what you do, but count me out. I don't even like Moondancer!" Small pause. "I mean, I don't hate her, I never did, but even after all this time we spent together I still don't 'like' like her. Sure, she's not quite as annoying as I initialy thought, she's a lot smarter than ponies give her credit for and she's actually doing her part in our project and she's actually nice and non-invasive if you ask her politely..." "You wanna mention how nice her mane smells while you're at it?" Con asked, making Red more, well, red. "Raspberries. Gets me every time." He sighed happily. "Either way, Red, it's not you that's the problem, but your body. Many ponies used to think like you. That whole 'I'm saving myself for the right one' thing is cute and cool on paper, but reality is a lot more complicated." He moved close enough to wrap his hoof around his friend's shoulder. "I know it's scary, but trust me, we've all been through this, thinking we knew what's the best, shunning other mares for being different than the one of our dreams, but alas!" He extend his hoof into the sky, despite residing indoors. "We didn't fall into her trap. She was never evil to begin with. In fact, she did us all a service. I came out a different pony than I went in. More outgoing, more confident and overall richer in life experience. Moondancer might've been my first and most frequent, but she definitely won't be the last." "But... what about Twilight Sparkle?" Con waved his hoof. "I got over her." Red deadpanned. "You're still in S.A.S.S." "To help other ponies who suffer as I used to." "You wept the loudest when we thought she was with Sunset Shimmer." "I wasn't the one who brought the news, but I'm not pointing hooves around, so zip it!" He coughed, allowing Red to smile sheepishly, before continuing. "Back to the topic. Do what you feel is right for you. If you want to keep your purity for a while longer, who am I to deny you that (poor) choice?" Red was going to deny everything up until now, but that last statement changed his mind completely. He couldn't help but smile at Con. For all his faults (he could make a list if he felt malicious), he was still looking out for him, both as a member of S.A.S.S. (which Red technically still wasn't) and as a friend. "And if your libido gets the better of you," Con continued "help yourself to a raincoat. I'm sure you didn't bring yours." He said, slowly walking away from his room. "I keep them in the box next to spare quills. You're welcome." Red opened his mouth, but couldn't really find anything else to say. He tilted his head. Raincoat? He thought about it for a moment, but decided it wasn't worth making Moondancer wait any longer, so he shrugged and went back to his room.