How the Other Half Lives

by Adda le Blue

Three

Alpha's eyes focused on the ce—

He wasn't in a bedroom.

Alpha found himself seated on an overstuffed teal loveseat situated against a wall of creamy white wood, staring into the friendly green eyes of a pink-coated mare who had chosen to sit awfully close. The mare was leaning forward eagerly, her hooves on the couch between her swiss-cheese cutie marks and her nose just inches from Alpha's. “Don't be afraid,” she insisted. “You know you can tell me anything!”

Alpha forced the sudden panic from his muzzle. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. What could come out? What could he say to fool Fae's roommate and best friend?

“Aww, Fae!” the mare whined, her smile bending at the corners. “Come on. Don't leave a girl hanging! What were you gonna say?”

“I don't...” His new voice startled him. It was so familiar, yet something was off. The accent? The pitch? He looked down at his hooves, his new creamy-white hooves, and tried to focus. “I, um...” No, too inflected, too high...

He shifted backward into the couch and peered from one side of his unfamiliar surroundings to the other. The room was much larger than his own dormitory, the floor a sea of plush ivory carpet and glass-and-iron tables and the walls brightly lit by strategically-placed candles and mirrors. Against the wall to his left was a pair of doors stained so dark a brown that it almost hid the whirls of the wood's natural grain.

“I promise I won't tell!” the unicorn beside him insisted, her eyes wide with interest and concern.

“I...” Brie! Her name was Brie. “I'm sorry, Brie,” he said, his borrowed voice stronger with newfound confidence.

Brie leaned forward with her forehooves on her thighs, her nose crinkling in a smug grin. “You like him,” she said certainly.

Alpha's eyebrows twisted in confusion. “Who were we talking about?” But the pieces of the puzzle snapped together before Brie's mouth finished falling open. “Oh! Oh, no,” he said hurriedly. “He's just a friend.”

Brie leaned back into the sofa; her eyes shifted to the other side of the room. “Oh.”

Alpha's eyes lit up as inspiration struck. “And he's gay,” he added.

Brie turned back to Alpha with an expression of uncertainty. “And you're okay with that?”

The extra weight she'd given the words made the affirmation die on his tongue. “Why wouldn't I be?”

Brie shrugged to herself. “Well, that's no fun.” She chewed her lip and glanced at Alpha from the corner of her eye. “Are you gonna be okay, sweetie?” she asked carefully, “I've never seen you act like this before.”

He hid his relieved smile with a turn of his head. “I feel...” How would she say it? “I feel rather faint; I think I should...”

“Go,” she urged him with an understanding nod. “Get some rest. You don't want to sleep through your test tomorrow, do you?”

He nodded and stood, turning to the pair of doors at the far side of the apartment, and froze. Two doors meant two bedrooms and there was no way of telling which was his. He took a nervous step forward.

“What is it, sweetie?”

His legs trembled violently. He could feel his scheme unraveling around him, leaving loose threads long enough to bind his limbs, or worse.

Could you please tell me which of these bedrooms is mine?

Well, funny story, I may or may not have borrowed your friend's body and...

Oh, ponyfeathers...

Suddenly his front was pushed into the air; Brie's head and neck emerged from between his forelegs and gave him a nervous glance. “I really worry about you sometimes,” she told him as she shifted his weight down her back, her tone that of a concerned mother. “You shouldn't let yourself get so worked up over a little argument.”

Alpha buried his nose in her mane. “Thank you.”

The pair walked slowly toward the door on the left, Brie trembling under his sleight weight and Alpha trembling under pressure. Alpha helped as much as he dared, supporting at least some of his weight and keeping pace with his hindhooves, but he allowed Brie to open the door with a burst of blue-green magic.

Alpha couldn't help but stare as they entered Fae's bedroom. It was nothing like what he'd expected. Instead of light and girlish tones the walls and ceiling were paneled in dark hardwood stained to match the door. Unlit mounds of candlewax were scattered sparsely throughout the room on plates of purple or silver. Two simply- but elegantly-sculpted iron candelabras rose up from burgundy-black shag carpet long enough to tickle his fetlocks. A plain floor-length mirror stood next to a smaller door of the same dark wood; on the opposite wall stood Fae's mahogany vanity desk, which was covered with textbooks and three different brushes for her mane and coat. The brass bedframe held a mattress wide and thin that was barely visible beneath a mass of pillows of all shapes and sizes.

Brie led him to the pile, spun in a half-circle and eased him down gently, allowing him to roll from her side onto the pillows. “How bad is it?” she asked as she moved the two fluffiest pillows from the head of the bed and slid them beneath Alpha's head and shoulders. “Should I fetch a nurse?”

“No!” he said hurriedly. He paused to find the right words, Fae's words. “No, thank you. It's... nothing more than a... bout of momentary weakness.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded and burrowed into the pillows. “All I need is some rest tonight and a good breakfast tomorrow,” he assured her.

Brie shrugged. “If you're sure.” She patted his cannon and turned back to the doorway. “Well, sweet dreams.”

Alpha buried his face in the pillows, his eyes open wide and his mouth dry. “Good night, Brie.”

He heard her clopping toward the door, but after just a few steps her hoofbeats stopped. “Hey, Fae?”

Alpha cleared his face of the sudden guilt before he lifted his head toward her. “Yes, Brie?”

“It's gonna be okay, sweetie,” Brie said soothingly. “He'll forgive you. You know how stallions are.”

“Yes, I do,” he said with a forced smile. “Thanks, Brie.”

She closed the door behind her, leaving Alpha alone in the darkness with his thoughts and his stolen form. He stared at the door for some time, blinking slowly and working moisture into his mouth. Finally he rolled onto his other side, buried his muzzle deep into the mound of her pillows—his pillows for the night—and screamed a muted scream of horror.

Comments

[blank check]

WOW

This chapter is my favorite so far. Congrats, I am now crazy about these characters. You put in the perfect amount of question-worthy details. And the characterization!

Oh my god.

[EverfreeSparkle]

That stallion... is a moron. Just saying.

[Atom Smash]

5373391
Agreed!