So when they say stall, they mean furnished luxury apartment. The two room apartment had two master bedrooms, though one was kinda hidden. Apparently, most studs have a personal bedroom that clients never go in, then a working bedroom. It also had a monster of a living room that opened up to a patio and private garden. I couldn't even guess what this place would cost back home. We hadn’t been the place five minutes, and Key Peg was already planning a housewarming party.

From there I was shown the bathhouses, both the working one, and the one just for the studs. I would have called them spas, but they called them bathhouses.

Then we were back at the gymnasium. And Ruby and Key Peg were just silently staring at me.

I’d like to mention that ponies have a strange concept of personal space. I’ve had ponies I barely knew lay their head in my lap. But they do have a knack for giving you space when you need it.

“So, naked in public,” I said aloud to no one.

“If it helps, everypony at the palace thinks it’s strange you always wear so much clothing,” Key Peg said, trying to be helpful. Which I guess it was.

Shirt first, then shoes and socks. I took time to fold my hoof-made clothing up, and place it somewhere safe. I’m still amazed at how well they can make clothing for something so alien to them. The only thing they could never master was my underwear. Thankfully, back when I went through my “survivalist” phase, I had learned how to wrap fabric to make a fundoshi loincloth. I liked them over the european style because they fit more like briefs, though the thong aspect took a bit of getting used to.

Taking off my pants, and adding them to the folded pile, I now found myself in nothing but said fundoshi. “Umm...” I drawled, looking at my riveted audience. “I’m leaving this on while I... exercise, or whatever. Things flap a bit too much to be comfortable. I can take it off, but it’ll have to go back on.”

Ruby’s eyes traced my body for a moment before she spoke. “No, that’s fine, makes you look more exotic anyway; stirs curiosity, that’s what we’re looking for. Later we’ll get you a red one.”

Walking out into the courtyard, several of the stallions gave me a curious look, but they all seemed to follow what was going on. At the edge of the field I did a few warm ups. The last thing I needed was to hurt myself here. It also gave me time to calm my nerves. I was being told to go play with the neighbor kids and put up on display at a meat market at the same time.

‘Now or never,’ I thought. Pull-ups struck me as the most uniquely human exercise I could do, so I made my way to something that resembled a pull-up bar and used it as such. Despite being considered a gym bunny by my friends back home, I’ve never been too good at those, so I just did a few for show.

Spotting a medicine ball on the ground, I walked over and picked it up. A pegasus hovering not far from me had been one of the more curious stallions, so I gave him a smile, and yelled, “Catch,” lobbing the ball at his chest.

He caught the ball in his forelegs, and grinned. It wasn’t a malicious grin, but a genuine one - he seemed rather interested in the idea of having an alien workout partner. We passed the weight back and forth, ‘till I had a hard time getting it up to him. When one throw barely got to him, he landed beside me.

“Let me show you around,” he said, gesturing for me to follow him deeper into the workout area.

Once I got into it, it was nice to work out again. I hadn’t had the chance since the crash. Spinner turned out to be a pretty cool guy, too. As we took turns spotting for each other, or doing team workouts, I forgot about my watchers. For the next hour, it was just a gym day for me, my near nakedness losing meaning in the summer weather and ionic architecture. It helped that Spinner’s talent was something akin to being a personal trainer. Which made sense, he had the energy of a toddler, and a can-do attitude that could wilt any self-help guru.

As I was regaining my breath from some wind sprints, Spinner tapped me on the shoulder. “Ruby wants you,” he said, pointing to one corner of the plaza. “I need to go, too. Got a gig in an hour, need to wash up. See ya ‘round.”

As Spinner flew off, I took a survey of my surroundings again. Key Peg and Ruby Heart waited for me in one corner. On the other side of the plaza several mares stood where I had seen them earlier, a few hoofs pointed at Spinner as he flew off, but I caught more than one glance myself.

With my stage shyness back in full, I walked quickly back to my clothing.

“I’m going to run an errand, but I’ll be back in an hour. Okay?” Key Peg told me as soon as I had picked up my stack of clothing.

“Uh, okay,” I said

“See ya in a bit,” he said, giving me a wink and leaving.

Now alone with Ruby, I found the silence awkward. “How’d I... look?”

“Good,” she answered absently, though she was smiling. “But I was mostly watching the mares’ reactions to you.”

“Oh, and how’d that go?”

“Two mares have already tried to bid on you.”

“Really? So am I hired?” I asked

“We’re about to find out. Come on back to the office.”

I shrugged, not even bothering to dress before following her. I couldn’t believe I was really signing up for this. But then again, why not. Three months ago I couldn’t believe my luck when I survived getting sucked up into a thunderhead’s updraft. Then I crashed into a airship full of sapient ponies. I guess it’s only normal that things get more interesting from there.

Speaking of getting things, I had a question that needed to be asked. “Umm... Ruby Heart, culture thing here. But, do ponies have sexually transmitted diseases?”

“Yea, it happens. Why?”

I really didn’t know how to respond to such a casual statement. I just kind of froze in place for a second. “In my world, sexually transmitted diseases can kill you...”

“Oh stars!” Ruby said, stopping in place. She seemed truly shocked by the idea. “No. Other than the flue, the worse you can get is the sleeping sickness, or... paralice.” Ruby shuddered a little, shaking her head like she was trying the jar a memory out of it. “But we keep zapp-apple butter on site to cure that as soon as we see them, and sleeping sickness cures itself in a week or two, as long as you have somepony to take care of you.”

So mono and crabs were the worst I had to fear, that seemed pretty tame. If I can trust anypony to know about STIs, it would the manager of the national brothel. “And the House handles my medical treatment for anything I might get?”

“Of course!” Ruby said with a smile, resuming the walk back to her office.

As I entered Ruby’s office again, she sniffed me. “You smell like onions,” she said.

“Sorry, they had fried onions at the bar last night, I love those things, but the smell comes out of my pores the next day. I’ll go shower,” I said, already turning to go to the spa.

“No, that’s okay. Didn’t mean it was a bad thing. Wild onion is a nice smell.”

“Really? Well, win for me, then.” No really, that was great news. I reek of onions if I eat more than a bite of them. “So now what?” I asked.

“If you need to go to the bathroom, it’s through there,” she said, pointing towards a hallway.

“Actually, I do,” I said, leaving my cloths on the coffee table and venturing down the hall.

Normalcy faded again when I returned to her office. The blinds had all been shut, closing the room off from the outside world, only lamps lit the room now. All the sitting cushions had been pulled into one place too, and Ruby was sitting in the center of the makeshift bed.

“So... how so do we start this?” I asked. I’m pretty sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights. I knew the answer; it was the only thing that made sense. After all, that was what I was being hired for.

“First, lets see what you look like down there,” she said, pointing to my waist.

Yesterday, I probably would have choked at this point. But then I went and had a one night stand with a pegasus. So taking a deep breath, I fully embraced the idea of “why the hell not”. Untying the knot on the side of my underwear, I flung it to the side and walked towards her, stopping at just the edge of the bedding.

“Hmm, no sheath?” she said.

“No, and we don’t have a baculum, either,” I answered. I figured I’d get the anatomy lesson out of the way as fast as possible. “It gets hard by blood pressure alone, and we have little conscious control over the process.”

“Oh, so it’s strictly an arousal reflex?” she asked, motioning for me to lay next to her on the cushions. “No faking it?”

“Not really,” I said, sitting down. “How do you want to start?”

“Your call. I want to see what your instincts are.”

“Alright, can’t go wrong with a back rub, so tuck your legs under,” I said.

As she did so, I straddled her back, but kept my weight on my knees, instead of her. Putting a hand on side of her withers, I began kneading the thick flesh. I was rewarded with a near purr as she laid her chin on the bedding. From their, I worked down to her shoulder blades, then back up her neck. I was leaning pretty far forward by the time I reached her jawline, so I took the chance to nibble at her ear. Fortunately that seems to be a universal erogenous zone, as her back arched a bit when my lips found them.

Little cooes and twitches told me I was doing pretty well, and I was finally starting to get in the mood too. So I decided to start getting a little more intimate. She whined a bit when I got off her back, to sit next to her, but the protest died as my fingers ran through the fur of her cutie mark.

Now, the only reason I thought to do this was a number of crass jokes I’d overheard in the guard’s locker room. But dirty jokes have to have some truth, or they wouldn’t be funny. I’m still not sure why this is an erogenous zone for them; I think it’s more social than physical, but I can only guess. Either way it had the effect I wanted. I didn’t need jokes to tell me what a flagging tail meant.

While one hand continued massaging the flank, the other traced its way around to her back side. Curiosity compelled me to move a little faster than I probably should have. With a little teasing, though none was needed since she was wet already, I eased my thumb into her and felt for the little hard spot on the ridge of the pubic bone. And there it was; the g-spot. A nicker hinted that it was similarly sensitive. Stretching out my index finger, I began rubbing her clit and g-spot at the same time. All the while still massaging her flanks.

Nickers turned to moans, and twitching turned to thrashing as the stimulation began to build. I had to give up grooming with my off hand, just to hang on. When her vaginal walls clenched almost hard enough to push my thumb out, I knew she was close. She had flopped on her side by now and I no longer needed the other hand to keep a grip, so I reached back and tugged on a handful of main at the back of her neck; another wild guess from another dirty joke.

Some women, you can barely tell when they orgasm; others shake like they’re being electrocuted. I didn’t know what was normal for mares, but Ruby fell deeply into the latter category.

As the aftershocks of the orgasm faded, I spooned up against her, and ran my fingers through her coat. I was wound up tight by this point, but I needed to see what she was expecting before I started anything else.

“What was that?” she finally asked.

“Foreplay?” I answered.

“That’s your idea of foreplay?” She asked, raising her head to look at me.

I wasn’t sure how to take that. “Uhm, sorry?”

“No no no. That was amazing. I normally have to use toys to hit those spots.” Rolling over to face me, she looked down and examined my erect member with a hoof. “But we still haven’t seen how this lines up.”

“You game for more?” I asked.

Ruby chuckled, and rose to her feet. “Just rut me this time. I’m good, believe me,” she said, turning to present her back to me.

There’s a lot of thing I find attractive in a woman, and a few in mares, but my universal turn on is eagerness.

Moving behind her, I got on my knees to make our heights lineup. I was a near perfect height like this, so shuffling forward I grabbed her stifles. She gave a rewarding little gasp when I took hold of her thighs like that. Leaning my hips in, I watched myself near her swollen wetness. Taking a moment to tease her, I traced the edges of her sex. Then I tightened my grip on her stifles, and slid myself in.

She moaned a little when I made my first thrust. She was far more comfortable to take from behind than I was used to. I’d never been a fan of doggy style, always seemed awkward. But with Ruby, it seemed the natural way. Which I suppose it was.

The second act was less interesting than the first. What reactions I got from her, I think were more for my benefit than hers. But she did seem to enjoy it; I certainly did. After I came, I really just wanted to spoon up to Ruby, and take a nap. But she had other plans, so the post courtial snuggling only lasted a few minutes.

“You still want the stall?” she asked, getting back up.

“Yes, I think I do.”

“It’s yours, then,” she said, offering me a hoof to help me up.

“The paperwork will be ready for you by tomorrow afternoon. Come by that evening, or the next day, and we’ll get you moved in.”

“Okay,” I said, a little turned off by the sudden change to business. Walking across the room, I began to gather my clothing. “I’ll have to give some kind of notice with the palace.”

“Of course. A month is normal notice, but it can be shorter if you both agree to it.”

I appreciated Ruby explaining that without me asking. Turning around, I found her staring at me with that smile again. It occurred to me, I had no idea what her talent was. He namesake cutie mark didn’t give many hints.

“Welcome to the House of the Rising Sun,” Ruby said warmly, with a little bow. “Go clean up in the bathhouse. Enjoy it, and if Key Peg wants to join you in there, he’s welcome to; I’ll point him your way. Guests are not allowed in working areas, and must be escorted in restricted areas, but otherwise our only rule about bringing friends to the House is do not disrupt the client’s experience. Also, you can only have eight ponies in your stall, but that’s the fire marshal's rule, not ours.”

Pretty relaxed rules, the old college dorm was stricter than this. “Thank you,” I said, returning her bow. I had to laugh at the silliness of the moment. Ruby seemed pleased I was in good spirits, and laugh along with me, though I’m not so sure what she found funny. Then again, laughter is just contagious sometimes.

I started to dress before leaving her office, but it suddenly seemed a lot less important. So butt-naked I traipsed over to the stud’s spa.

Author's Notes:

STI conversation moved and expanded at, AnonponyDASHIE's suggestion.