A pony on hard times

(This is set before series 1, although hopefully the story makes that clear)

Every big city, even in the magical land of Equestria, has a seedy underbelly.

Manehattan was no different.

And the economic backbone of this underbelly were the strip clubs where bits are exchanged for titillation, and deals were done in the darkness.

Some were nice, some less so.

The Prancing Mare in Manehattan was the nicest, the best of the best. Where reasonably well off Stallions came for their stag dos and businessponies would unwind after a long week.

The mares who worked at these places did so for various reasons – the better pay than other jobs provided, or they enjoyed what they did. Some had no other way to make a living except using their body.

Our story focuses on a pony that fell into the third category…

There were not many horns on the exotic dancers or waitresses in any strip club. Desperate unicorns could always get a job with the greater skills their inherent magic afforded them, so most of the ponies in the industry were Earth and Pegasi.

Around a third of the ponies who danced were Pegasi and the custom was to decorate their wings with gems and glitter, as well as their bodies like the Earth ponies. After all, in a society where nudity was the most common form of dress it was the dressing up along with the showmareship that still made stripping popular.

However applying gems to wings is very difficult to do to yourself, so the waitresses and dancers would help each other get ready. As they spent so much time together it paid to help each other out as no doubt your generosity would be returned in other ways.

At the Prancing Mare, this spirit of helping went further as they share the bits they earned. A quarter of all the tips each mare received was placed in a pot, to be shared out equally at the end of the night. They all depended on each other – the barcolts created the drinks that the waitresses served which loosened the wallets of the customers towards the dancing mares.

However there was one mare the others refused to help, even thought she helped others when they needed it. She was left alone to apply her makeup and wing decorations. The boss of the Prancing Mare would normally order the other employees to help any pony should such a situation arise, for the benefit of the whole club. But luckily for the owner of these wings it wasn't really a problem.

Because she was one of only two known ponies in Equestria to have both wings and a horn.