Nuts and Bolts

by Nines

Personal Time

The loft was divided into three spaces with a T-boundary. The northern area was the kitchen/dining space, populated by old appliances and furniture that Silver and Mjolna had both put effort into repairing and collecting. This was the allied zone. The Southwestern corner had the bathroom, and a clear avenue to it and the front door, marked with white painted lines, was declared to be neutral ground. This neutral territory differentiated itself from the allied zone in that it was to be largely clear of any single influence. Also part of the neutral zone was a small parlor area with a love seat, floor cushion, and coffee table against the south wall. Aside from that, both mares tended to avoid violating the others space past a certain hour.

This mystical hour had largely been guessed at... until recently. Silver Spanner, for the last day, had been obsessed with determining the "No Contact" limit at its exact time. According to her calculations, that exact time was eleven-thirteen at night on the nose, but Mjolna argued that if they were going to bother declaring times, it ought to be a lucky one.

"Eleven-eleven," the northern pony said firmly. "A time of fortune and good dreams!"

"Mjolna, eleven-thirteen is when we both require complete and utter privacy." Silver stated with weariness. "Do I need to explain the algorithm again?"

"I'll bite your ear off if you do," Mjolna threatened.

"Pushing that up two more minutes would just impede on our bonding!" Silver whined, her brown ears pinned back.

"Bonding?" the other mare scoffed. "Silv, by nine o' clock you are sleeping like a foal in hay!"

The unicorn shuffled her hooves and mumbled. "So? My brain is very active and requires a lot of energy. Sometimes I don't make it too far into the evening before I get tired!"

"My point is, two minutes will make no difference to our relations. Windigo's teeth, I live with you! Share the same dining space! TOILET space! We need no more closeness in our lives!" Mjolna nickered and gave her head a hard shake as if the idea of any further bonding made her want to get saddled and cinched by a gremlin instead.

Silver Spanner visibly wilted, her entire being—from mane to tail—seeming to lose body and volume. "Oh."

Mjolna groaned. "Silv..."

The other mare had started to trudge back to her side of the loft. "No, it's ok Mjolna."

"Silv."

"I'm fine." A sniffle.

Mjolna stomped a hoof, "Rrgh, fine! Eleven-thirteen shall be the time, and not a second more!"

Silver's ears peaked, her body jolting up as if an electric current had gone through her. (Mjolna suspected she'd learn this behavior because this had happened to her roommate... multiple times.) "Of course not a second more!" the tinker pony chirped with a smile. "The algorithm—"

Mjolna gnashed her teeth, her ears pinning. "That's it! I warned you!"

Silver paled under her coat as she fled the other way, her roommate hot on her hooves. "No, no, no! I ran out of super glue after the last time! Bad touch! BAD TOUCH!"

Comments

[Cordial Nova]

Delighted to see this continue!

[Nines]

9364718
So am I! I figured I needed to focus more on the "drabble" aspect of the story and be a little more loose on my scene setting.

Glad you're still reading!