*thump

The muffled sound wakes you from your slumber and you open your eyes to see your dimly lit ceiling. The first thing you notice is that the soothing smell that coaxed you to sleep was still there snuggled up on your chest. Her rhythmic breathing told you she was in deep sleep.

*thump

Her rear leg kicks lightly across the mattress traveling through a rut she’d made in the sheets with the previous few kicks. You smile; she must be having a dream. It takes you a moment to realize your covers are down at your feet. The warmth surrounding you was all thanks to your bedmate. At some point in the night she’d shifted and ended up laying across your chest with her wings spread over your body and thighs. One of her hind legs stuck out and hooked over yours. You look down and steal a peak at the blue mass attached to you. Her eyelids fluttered in REM; her tail occasionally twitches and brushes across the matted sheets. Each exhale hot-blasts a small piece of sheet against the mattress, it pops back towards her nose upon inhale then repeats. You never thought it would be this interesting to watch a pony sleep.

You look over at the clock and notice it reads close to 9 AM. You were honestly surprised you slept so well considering how much of an active sleeper Dash was. Luckily she had no responsibilities until the weekend so you don’t have to wake her. Your hand slowly emerges from the sea of multicolored hair splayed out across your side. Careful not to disturb the pegasus, you gently stroke the side of her exposed neck. She was facing away from you so it was a bit easier to go undetected. The pads of your fingers trace across her short fur—contouring along the skin underneath. You make your way from the base of her ear to the top of her shoulder, then repeat, careful to never stroke against the grain of her hair. You follow a slightly different line each time as if you’re plowing a field. The pegasus shuffles a bit and twitches her ear—subconsciously pleased by your touch.

Eyes travel over the sleeping mare’s form, you almost feel indecent for studying your snoozing bedmate, but you’d never really looked at her before…at least, not like you are now. To say she was athletic was an understatement, her body was so finely tuned for her profession that it looked like there wasn’t an ounce of fat on her...except maybe on her rump. To be honest it was fairly narrow, especially when compared to other mares, however her nimble frame made it appear perfectly proportional. But with her pretty face turned away her wings were what stole the show. They were muscular, but not obscenely so—toned is the right word. You’d always been fascinated by flight, and for some reason the cyan feathered appendages accented her form perfectly. The sight of the beautiful creature splayed out over you made your heart stutter. This amazing pony could have anyone she wants but she picked you. You’re momentarily forced to breathe past a lump in your throat. The thought was endearing and sobering at the same time; you can’t help but feel a bit out of your league.

You suddenly notice a disturbance in stroking her fur: a small bump under her hair. You graze over it again to narrow down the spot in her perfectly hued sea of fur. It was really small and if it was anything other than your sensitive fingertips brushing her you would’ve easily missed it. After isolating the spot you carefully spread her fur apart. Naked white skin stares back at you. It was a bit unusual seeing that color on her. Pegasi only shed hair or feathers when molting, and you hadn’t known Dash long enough to experience that. Her blue fuzz so evenly covered her that you almost forgot it was fur at times. But there it was, white skin at your fingertips, plain as day.

Your attention shifts to the slick hair spanned between your index finger and thumb. Her hair was a much deeper blue near the ends, and as it got closer to the follicle it got lighter and lighter until it turned completely white a few millimeters from her skin. You do some math and figure the overlay of the two produced the azure color you’d come to love. Despite these interesting revelations, you didn’t find the one thing you were looking for.

You make a dead reckoning and move up a bit on her neck, parting her fur again, this time revealing a small freckle. It was the diameter of a small pea and was slightly darker than the rest of her skin. A few wayward hairs sparsely populated the perfect blemish, “Didn’t know you ponies had these.” You whisper to your unconscious companion. Your index finger snakes down and pokes it gently; the area turns whiter than its surroundings, then red from resurgent blood flow.

It feels just like one of yours. The way you made connections in this alien world still boggled you. You smooth down her hair again and comb through it a few times to straighten it out. With all trace of your intrusion gone, you make a mental note of its location on her geography before leaning back into your pillow. Have to save some exploring for later. Your hand makes long, slow strokes down her neck and shoulder as you entertain your thoughts.

Her fur wasn’t as fluffy as it normally was. Unhampered by a soapy shower, her skin oils had begun to clump it together. You couldn't notice just by looking at it, but it sure wasn’t the fluffy coat that you’re familiar with. Twilight, Princess Twilight…had told you that all pegasi produced a lot of body oil to keep their hair aerodynamic and feathers waterproof; it apparently made it easier to fly without the drag of a luscious fur coat. Dash had told you the only pegasi who let their coats get like that were the ‘wierdo-nature ponies’ that ‘smell like the backside of a manticore.’ She usually washed twice a day so others wouldn’t be put off, though she emphasized that she did not have a hundred different shampoos like Rarity. But you suspected she did suspend her shower before competitions, if not that only makes her impeccable record that much more impressive.

Your fingers continue to gently glide across her until her heartbeat and breathing begin to lull you back to sleep. They finally come to rest on her frame, and you whisper a parting promise to your snoozing mare before you drift off again, “I’m going to find every one of those freckles…”