Princess Pile Drinking Games

by GaPJaxie

Double Take, Changeling for Hire pt 3

Ding-a-ling-a-ling goes the bell above the door as it swings open, and a mint green unicorn bounds in. I’m sitting at my desk, working on what looks like a crossword puzzle if you don’t look too closely. It’s actually an encoding system for turning short messages into reasonable sounding Letters to the Editor. I have to make my reports somehow after all, and I’m sure Twilight and Co. are reading all my mail. It’s a tricky cipher, but so far I’ve managed to turn, “Mission proceeding, delivering logs to second drop point Tuesday evening,” into a concerned letter about why the town hasn’t gotten rid of the hydra in Froggy Bottom Bog.

“Hello, Lyra,” I buzz, sliding the crossword back into the loose bundle of papers on my desk I keep for just such an occasion. I don’t know Lyra particularly well, but I’ve seen her around town and I make a point of knowing everypony’s business. I’m in my natural form, but that bothers ponies less than it used to. I’ve even had a few say my frill is cute. “What brings you this way?”

“Hey, Double,” she says a bit too forcefully, stepping in quickly and shutting the door behind her. Her face is drawn back in a line, ears up and alert. “How much for a private session?”

That makes my thorax itch. I do private sessions, of course—fulfilling ponies’ secret desires is a great way to build loyal contacts—but it’s something that ponies build up to. They walk in, talk about the weather, ask if I could explain just what “private session” means, ask if requests are completely confidential, all that. They don’t just burst in and ask about the hourly rate. Somepony who does that is also going to blab about what happens next, and that’s not a reputation I need.

But saying any of that will offend her, so I just buzz my wings a bit. “One hundred bits an hour,” I say, curious if the sky-high rate will drive her off.

“Great!” she replies, still too forceful. Rats. She reaches down into her saddlebags and pulls out a bag of bits, tossing it down onto my desk without bothering to count it. A moment later, a picture frame follows it, showing a tan earth pony with a blue and pink mane. “You know Bon Bon, right? Turn into her.”

I do know Bon Bon. I also know that these two are—or perhaps were—in a relationship, making this a complicated request. I pretend to study the picture to buy some time. I could say no, but that’s its own bag of tricks. If I get judgemental about requests, suddenly ponies see me as a source of judgement, and next thing I know they’re embarrassed to admit that they’ve always really wanted to see Princess Luna clog dance or whatever. And in the short term, snubbing Lyra might result in her going around and badmouthing me behind my back.

So I look at her, and open the little vents on my thorax, and in a rush of green energy, I transform into Bon Bon, curly mane and bashful smile and all. Now, the initiative is mine. Lyra is so tense—body stiff, face drawn out. If I stand there and wait for her to give me directions, it will come across as a slap in the face. It’s immersion breaking—worse than if I’d just told her to leave. So, unbidden, I step forwards.

“Hey there, Sweetie,” I smile at her like I remember Bon Bon smiling at her before. It was awhile ago that I saw them, so I’m not sure I got it totally right, but ponies are surprisingly forgiving of little mistakes. One more step forward and we’re nose to nose, and then gently nuzzling. “I missed you today.”

Or, well. I’m nuzzling her. She’s not nuzzling back. She’s not really doing anything, except standing there in shock. She suddenly snaps out of it, first nuzzling too hard, and then trying to steal a kiss, but I giggle and stumble back before she can. “Lyyyra,” I whine playfully, like I was scandalized by how forward she was. I’m still blushing when I lean forward and give her a brief, gentle kiss on the lips, twitching my ears once and smiling as I pull away. “Come on,” I say. “Why don’t you take off those saddlebags and we’ll go lie down?”

Now, to be clear on this point, there’s not a changeling in the world that has a problem sleeping with ponies. We experience lust about the same way ponies experience potato chips. Not every changeling likes the taste of lust, don’t get me wrong—it’s not that sustaining anyway, compared to real love—but we’d never be traumatized or upset by it. We don’t have all these weird social mores built up around it. So if it comes to that, I am totally prepared to sleep with this mare and siphon a little energy off for my troubles.

But, experience tells me that might not be a good idea. First because she’s so emotional there’s no telling how she’ll react if I do. Second because I don’t know if she and Bon Bon have broken up, and if they haven’t, this could be a one way trip to payback town. But third... well. She hasn’t actually asked me to yet.

When I was new here, I made that mistake a lot. I assumed everypony understood that Private Session was a euphemism, wink-wink nudge-nudge and all that, but it’s amazing how many ponies showed up, put money on the table, and then just asked for a hug. Or told me to turn into somepony they’re crushing on, and then paid a hundred bits to spend an hour lightly flirting and talking about the weather.

So, no matter how much it seems like Lyra is looking for something specific, for now, all I do is guide her over to the couch, strip off her saddlebags, and snuggle up against her on the cushions. I add a little smile to round it off, and she gradually smiles back, which is good, but she still doesn’t say anything. Which leaves me at a bit of a loss—I mean, I’m a heck of a mimic, but she has to give me something to work with.

“Did you want to talk?” I ask playfully, giving a little wag of my ears the way Bon Bon does. I’ve got her voice down pretty well—she has a huge vocal range, so I doubt I could pass as her for an extended period, but in the short run this is fine. “I mean, if you want to just sit here and snuggle up, I’m not objecting...”

“Yes, I mean, no! I mean...” Lyra stammers. “I thought I just gave you the money and... you know.” The smile has faded from her face, and the tightness has returned, forcing her to swallow before she can go on. “That.”

That. Wonderful. No hesitance there that could come back to bite me. “If that’s what you want,” I coo gently, flicking my tail against hers. “But that means different things to different ponies. Was there something specific you were hoping for?”

“I just wanted something uncomplicated, you know?” she answers. “You’re a shapeshifter. That’s really hot. You know?” I hate it when ponies try to tell me what they think I know. It usually means they won’t take it well if they’re wrong. “So something physical I guess.. And maybe a mare can be physically attracted to another mare without all this meaning getting attached to it? Maybe I just have the feelings I have and I don’t want it getting overblown!”

So that relationship is probably in the past-tense then. At first I don’t show any reaction while she rants, just letting her get it all out, but past a certain point, a poker face is a snub. It gives away that I don’t really care. So, I start to frown, letting the worry build until I even look a little upset.

“Lyra, I’d never judge you for how you feel,” I say, running a hoof along her back. “But I do want you to feel... well. Happy. I want you to enjoy our time together.” I pull my head and neck up against her, nuzzling into her side. “So if uncomplicated is what makes you happy, I can be the simplest mare in the world.”

That soothes her a bit, and I follow it up with a hiss of breath. Something she’ll feel more than hear. “But you are really stiff. How about we get you started with a back rub? Work some of that tension out.” And stall for time while I think of how to play this.

This is as far as I got. By this point, I was feeling really unhappy with Double Take's voice. It sounds way too much like my other characters.

Comments

[lazyreader19]

Again, liking this story more and more. Shame it's just snippets of what could have been. Thanks for posting it though! I'd much rather have these nice little fragments than them not existing at all.

Though I totally wouldn't object to you picking this up again later. nudge nudge, wink wink

[Siegwynn]

...i want more

[Reese]

Hm. I'm not really seeing Double Take as too much like any of your other protagonists. I suppose I could be missing something, but... yeah, while I wouldn't want you to feel like you had to write something you didn't want to, I'd like to see this developed into a full story. It's quite interesting, I think.

[Themaskedferret]

I'm not sure if he sounds too much like other characters, I'd need to reread them and be looking for it I think, but this definitely sounds like it'd go down some dark pathways.

[LordBucket]

I'll second what the others are saying. I like this story and I'd like to see more of it.