Richard was in metaphorical hell, he'd barely gotten out of the shower and put on a fresh set of clothes and he was already sweating right through them.

"Fuck this heat," he muttered to himself.

Richard couldn't believe just how hard the heat had started hitting him. Even just half an hour ago, when Twilight and Pinkie had been standing at his door it had taken all his willpower to just keep his eyes on their faces, the siren's call of their many curves proving difficult to resist.

It didn't help that he'd had another night of dreams, more like fantasies, of him and Twilight involved in a wide array
of rather compromising situations. Part of him wished he could blame it all on the potion coursing through him, but he couldn't deny the truth. He loved Twilight. Though, he knew nothing could ever happen. Despite Cadance's encouragement, and the words of Twilight in that vision, he doubted Twilight would have any interest in him. She was an Element of Harmony, and a Princess. She could have the pick of any stallion in Equestria and he was just a human.

'But, she was flirting with you,' a small voice inside his head whispered. Richard shivered as he remembered Twilight touching his bare chest only days before.

"Twilight doesn't seem like the flirting type," he countered. "She was probably just trying to win the bet."

'Perhaps, but what if she was actually interested? You'll never know if you don't even try to find out.'

"I guess," Richard clutched his head in hands. "I just wish I knew what to do."

As if in punctuation to his statement, he heard the sound of his letter box opening and closing.

"Why is everyone up so early this morning?"

"Did we really have to do this at work?" Octavia looked back over her shoulder at Vinyl who was setting Octavia's tail up into a tight bun.

"Unless you want every stallion you pass in the street to see under your tail, then yes, we did." replied Vinyl, finishing her task and taking a step back to inspect her hoofwork. "Unless you're exhibitionist as well as a xenophile?"

"Of course not," huffed Octavia. "But what if someone walks in on us? There's already enough rumours about us being a couple going around."

"And why do you care what those gossiping nags think?" said Vinyl, as she shoved Octavia into her office chair. "Now sit still, this makeup is very expensive."

"You're not the kind of mare I ever expected to own expensive makeup," scoffed Octavia. "Since when do you wear any sort of makeup?"

"Since I play theme nights," replied Vinyl. "I need to make sure I look the part to get the booking. And as much as you may think of me as a cheapskate, the cheap stuff doesn't last when I begin to sweat in some of those stuffy locations."

"And you're sure eye shadow is the way to go? I thought red lipstick was the more traditional seduction methodology?"

"Yes, I am sure." stated Vinyl, blankly. "Besides which, since when did you know anything about seduction methodology? Now sit still, this stuff needs to be applied very carefully. It'll be a bitch to get out of your coat if my hoof slips."

Vinyl used her magic to levitate a small vial of a viscous black liquid into her eye level and give it a few shakes. Once satisfied that it had been prepared properly, she unscrewed it and removed the top, smiling as she saw the even coating of makeup on the applicator. Using her hooves to hold Octavia's head in place, she carefully and expertly applied the makeup to the underneath of her friends eyes.

Once done, she released her friends head, resealed the vial and then stepped back to once again inspect her handiwork. With a wry smile, she handed a mirror over to Octavia.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked.

Octavia's mouth hung open as she inspected her reflection.

"I hate to say this, Vinyl, but you definitely seem to know what you're doing. I look, dare I say it, sexy."

"Of course you do," said Vinyl. "The eye shadow only helps bring attention to your already sexy eyes."

"And you're sure I shouldn't use any lipstick?"

"No!" growled Vinyl. "Red lipstick is for whorses. It screams 'I'm a cheap slut who will suck your cock at the drop of a hat'. Black eye shadow on the other hoof says 'I want you to notice me, but I have standards.' I'm not having my friend mistaken for a harlot!"

"Wow, sorry, I didn't mean to touch a nerve, Vinyl." Octavia put a supporting hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"It's nothing," Vinyl shook her head and fixed her with a smile. "I overreacted. Anyway, now that we have the tail and makeup sorted, now we need to dress you up properly."

"Wait, we're not finished?"

"Of course not," Vinyl started rooting around in her saddle bag sitting on the office desk. "If we want you steal his affection away from that mystery mare, we need to go all out. Now, I'm thinking a simple blouse and a short black skirt will be perfect."

Vinyl threw a couple of garments towards Octavia.

"Here, try those on, they should fit you."

Octavia sighed and bit back a retort. Vinyl had been correct about the makeup after all.

"Ok, and once I'm ready, how are we going to get Richard here?" she asked, a little to sweetly.

"Pfft, that's easy." Vinyl waved a hoof dismissively. "I've already put a note through his letter box saying you're overloaded with work and asking him to come in if he was free. I'm sure any guy you have an eye on will be helpful enough to come to a damsels aid in her time of need."

Vinyl quickly glanced at the clock and took note of the time.

"And I'd put that on quickly if I was you, he'll be here soon and there's something else I want to teach you before that happens."

"Spike!" Twilight shouted out for the drake before she'd even finished closing the castle door behind her. "Where are you?!"

"I'm in the kitchen!" Spike yelled back. "Just finished making a fresh batch of coffee if you want one." Twilight smiled, Spike was always one step ahead of what she needed.

Heading into the kitchen, Twilight gratefully accepted a steaming mug from Spike in her telekinetic grip and quickly took gulped down a mouthful of bitter nectar.

"Thanks, Spike, just what I needed," said Twilight before slowly raising the mug to her lips again and savoring the drink more slowly.

"You're welcome, Twilight. After all, I am your number one assistant. So why did you call for me? Want me to make you breakfast?"

Twilight shook her head as she swallowed another mouthful of coffee before replying.

"Not today, Spike, I have other matters to attend to. I just wanted to know whether you remembered where Richard's bag was? You know, the one he arrived in Equestria with?"

"Oh that?" Spike tapped his claws together in thought. "Wasn't that sent to the Princesses' back before Hearths Warming?"

"That's right," Twilight nodded as the memory came back to her. "They wanted to see if any of his possessions could help the mages track the link to his world."

"Why did you want to know?" asked Spike. "Richard wants his stuff back?"

"Not yet, but apparently it's his birthday in a few days and I wanted to see if there was any hints of the kind of present to get him. After all he's been through recently, I want to make sure I get him something good."

"Well, if what Rarity says is anything to go by, he'd appreciate anything you get him." Spike laughed.

"Oh?" Twilight raised her eyebrows at him. "What has she been telling you?"

"Only that Richard wishes he could be your 'Paramour', whatever that means?" Spike shrugged, causing Twilight to snort and choke on her current mouthful of coffee. "Whenever Rarity speaks Prench I assume it's some frilly, girly romance nonsense."

"That's close enough," coughed Twilight. "At least if I'm remembering my Prench correctly."

Twilight fished her mug of coffee before passing the cup back to Spike who accepted eagerly before heading over to the sink to start cleaning it.

"Thanks again, Spike, I guess I'll be off to Canterlot today then. After freshening up of course. Will you be fine holding the fort today?"

"Of course, Twilight," Spike held up a single thumb. "Anything you need me to do while you're gone?"

"Nope," Twilight tussled his head with a hoof. "Have a day off, you've definitely earned it. Just make sure you lock the doors if you leave."

"Don't worry," Spike flexed his muscles. "No one will get past me."

Twilight chucked as she began to leave the kitchen.

"I'm sure they wont, Spike, I'm sure they wont."

Richard strolled casually through the streets of Ponyville, his hand clutching the letter he'd received a short while earlier. He was surprised, but strangely happy to receive the request from Octavia to come into work a few days earlier than expected. While he enjoyed the more laid back lifestyle in Equestria, he also enjoyed having a purpose.

Besides which, if it helped keep him preoccupied and his mind off of sex, he thought that would be a tremendous benefit. Though, as he walked towards Octavia's academy, he noticed something rather strange. Ponies were acting weirdly as he passed them in the street. He saw several ponies whisper and snicker before quickly avoiding his gaze as he looked at them.

There were stallions who nudged their mates before nodding their heads at him and mares who fluttered their eyelashes and blew kisses at him. And he was certain that at least one mare waited to see if he was looking her way before flicking her tail up, giving him an unobstructed view at her nether region; making his face go bright red and bringing a fresh coating of sweat to his body.

The most bizarre event though was when Roseluck came scampering up to him and thrust a bunch of flowers into his hands. "For you know who," she had said with a wink before returning back to her stall and ignoring questioning expression. Richard stood there baffled for a moment before just shrugging and continuing on his way.

Richard had no idea what was going on, but he decided to just ignore it. It's not like he's never had ponies stop and stare at him before. Even now, after months in the town, he'd notice young foals gawking at him like he was some sort of monster before parents would gently scald them and apologize for their rude behavior.

Before long, Richard arrived at his destination, just in time to pass Octavia's friend from the other night; Vinyl; as she left the building.

"Hey, Richard!" she called to him as she held the door open. "What are you doing here today?!"

"Oh, well, I don't know if you knew this or not, but Octavia offered me a job here as a manager and I accepted. I wasn't really expecting to start till next week but I got a letter this morning asking me to come in today if I was free." Richard shrugged. "I had nothing else planned and no harm in starting a few days early I guess."

"Ahh," Vinyl nodded. "And are flowers a usual thing to bring on a first day back where you're from?"

"These?" Richard looked at the hand holding the bunch of flowers. "Not really. Roseluck, one of the flower vendors gave them to me on my way over here. I have no idea why, really, but it felt rude to refuse them. You can have them, if you want?"

Richard offered them towards Vinyl but she just chuckled and shook her head.

"Do I look like a pony who enjoys flowers to you?" she replied, causing Richard to let out a laugh. "Though, I'm sure Octavia wouldn't say no. She needs to replace the flowers in her office anyway. Unless there's a special somepony you'd rather save them for?" she asked with a quick nudge of her hoof and a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"No," he denied, a little too quickly. "Anyway, do you know where I'd find Octavia at the moment?"

"Last I saw, she was up in her office, dealing with a stack of paperwork. Probably why she asked you to come in today, now that I think about it." Vinyl let go of the door as she spoke, nimbly passing Richard as he lunged to catch it with the hand that was still clutching the letter. "Well, it was nice to bump into you again, but I've got work to do. Gigs to plan and set lists to work out. Hope you have a good first day at work, but be careful you don't have too much fun."

"Ehh, I'll try not to," Richard looked at her questioningly as she walked off, but dismissed it as Vinyl just being Vinyl and carried on inside, letting the door shut behind him.

Waiting until she heard the click of the door, she looked back over her shoulder; and upon seeing the coast was clear she gave a quick hoofpump.

"Oh, Roseluck, you little minx. I see you've bet against Richard as well."

Richard paused for a moment to compose himself before gently knocking on the door to Octavia's office.

"Who is it?" asked Octavia.

"Richard," he replied. "I got your note asking me to come in today."

"Oh, Richard?" her voice sounded calm and cheery. "Come in."

Richard opened the door and the sight before him brought him immediately to a halt and sent his blood rushing south. Octavia was bent over riffling through a filing cabinet, her tail was tied up into a tight bun and despite the fact she was apparently wearing a skirt of some sorts, her wide legged stance had hiked it up her hips, leaving her nether regions of full display.

"Please, take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment." she said calmly, seemingly unaware of the show she was giving him.

"Um," Richard struggled to respond. He was started to sweat profusely and very aware that he was pitching a tent that would be noticed the moment she turned to face him. "Thanks."

He eventually managed to choke out a word as his brain started working again and he rushed to sit down before she noticed the effect she was having on him and mistook him for a pervert. Unbeknownst to him, however, she could see everything perfectly in the mirror she and Vinyl had spent several minutes positioning just right, so she could stealthily assess his response to the little act Vinyl had taught her.

A wry smile formed on her lips as she noticed, that even as he sat down, his eyes remained firmly glued to her backside.

'Perfect,' she thought to herself. If she played it just right, she'd having him eating out of her hoof in no time. 'Or somewhere lower down.'

That naughty thought thrilled her so much, that in the spur of the moment she decided to do something she'd never thought she would ever do in a million years. Slowly, she closed her eyes and let herself 'wink' at Richard, a shiver of pleasure running down her spine as she felt a drop of arousal drip out of her pussy and onto the carpet beneath her.

Behind her she heard Richard gulp, and she smiled as sensually licked her lips. However, the scrape of a chair caused her to stand up straight and face towards him as she feared she had pushed him into leaving. Instead, she noticed that he'd pushed his chair as far as it would go under the desk, clearly into an attempt to hide his own arousal, though his bright red and sweating face gave his reaction away.

"Sorry about that," she said as she closed the cabinet draw with a kick of one of her rear hooves before straightening out her skirt. "I was just trying to find a couple of files."

'Holy fuck,' Richard thought to himself at how calm she was behaving. 'Did she mean for me to see all that?'

Richard couldn't help but stare at her as she made her way over and calmly sat down behind the desk. While he half noticed that she was also wearing some sort of blouse to go with her skirt, it was her eyes he was drawn to. Each of those piercing pink pools was framed underneath was the blackest eye shadow he'd ever seen. And he'd be lying if she didn't look sexy as fuck.

"Oh, sorry, do I have something at my top?" she asked, dusting away at the garment with both her forehooves.

'Crap!' he though to himself, 'She's noticed me staring.'

"N-no!" he stammered as quickly as he could. "It's just, I'm not used to ponies wearing clothes really."

"Ahh," she nodded. "I don't normally dress up, but unfortunately I've had a rather important meeting with one of the academy's biggest donor's come up rather suddenly and I have to look the part."

'Wow,' Richard mused, 'That must be one hell of a donor to get her to dress up like that.'

"I see," Richard nodded stiffly, forcing himself to look at the desk. "And I guess that's why I'm here?"

Internally, Octavia breathed a sigh of relief. 'It seems like he's bought it, I must remember to thank Vinyl later for that cover story.'

"Yes," she replied while leaning over to pick up a file, making sure to 'accidently' touch Richard's arm as she reached for it. "Unfortunately I still have a lot of paperwork I need to get through, and as manager a lot of that will fall under your purview. So, if you're free and willing, I would appreciate a hoof - ah - hand today. You will be well compensated for your time of course."

"Of course," he forced a smile onto his face. "What exactly do I need to do?"

Octavia opened up the folder she had retrieved revealing a number of pages covered in writing, and turned it to face Richard.

"These are the operational receipts from the last calendar month. What I need you to do is create a copy of each of these documents using the special paper from over there," she pointed towards the back of the room, and he risked looking up to see her pointing at a shelf with stacks of pink paper. "When you've finished, I need you to put the copies you've made into a new, empty folder and then do the same for the next month in the stack, and so on."

"That seems easy enough," said Richard. "What do I do with the folders when I'm finished?"

"Just stack them up for now," Octavia said sweetly. "I'll show you where they go when I'm back from my meeting."

"You're the boss," Richard got to work, making sure to avoid eye contact as he got up to get some pink paper.

The moment the door to the staff room shut behind her, Octavia's knees buckled and she slid to the floor, all the confidence she'd been displaying moments ago leaving her in an instance.

"So, how did it go?" asked Vinyl, who was sat lounging on one of the staff sofa's. "Did you do everything exactly like I told you to?" Octavia nodded shackingly, before burying her face in her hooves.

"I can't believe I just did that, it's so embarrassing."

Vinyl tutted.

"There's nothing embarrassing about a little flashing in order to seduce somepony," stated Vinyl.

"Speaks the pony with no sense of shame," muttered Octavia, slowly dragging herself to her hooves and making her way over to sit next to Vinyl. "But I didn't just flash him."

"Wait, what?" Vinyl raised her glasses and looked at her questioningly, forcing Octavia to explain everything that had happened.

"You winked at him?" she stared at Octavia in shock. "You actually winked at Richard?"

Octavia nodded slowly, her face turning bright red.

"Damn, girl, I didn't know you had it in you."

"Not just that, but..." Octavia swallowed slowly, "But I also felt a drop of arousal fall out of me."

"Holy shit!" Vinyl cursed before falling back in open laughter. "That room must reek of musk, Poor Richard. I only hope you don't come back to find several pages of your documents stuck together, from... you know..."

Vinyl mimed jacking off.

"Vinyl!" Octavia reeled back in disgust. "How dare you suggest something so uncouth. Richard is a gentlecolt, not one of your nightclub frat jerks."

"Pfft," Vinyl waved a dismissive hoof. "All men are the same. So, how hung was he?"

"I don't know," Octavia replied, "I could tell he was hard, but the clothes he was wearing made it hard to judge the size."

"Damn," Vinyl said disappointedly, "Why does he wear them all the time? I mean what can he possibly be hiding?"

Octavia shrugged, "Maybe that's just what it's like where he's from? Maybe it's a lot colder back there?"

"Or... maybe he's hiding some hideous deformity?" suggested Vinyl. "Like some big scar. Or maybe he's considered small back on his world son he has to hide his shame?"

"As tactful as always, Vinyl," sighed Octavia. "I'm sure it's plenty big enough. If only I could get to see it."

"Not for long though, right?" Vinyl wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Or, are you planning on a lot of foreplay before you get him to bury it deep in your cunt?"

"Vinyl! I will not share my sexual desires with you," Octavia glared at her friend. "At least, no more than I have already."

"And here I was planning on helping you get his pants off," said Vinyl. "Figuratively speaking of course. I have no interest in watching your two sweaty bodies as you rut yourselves unconscious."

"Fine," Octavia relented through gritted teeth, "I'll tell you what I'd love to do with Richard, but only after you tell me your plan."

"Oh, it's quite simple really." Vinyl leaned in and whispered with a twinkle in her eye. "Do exactly as I tell you, and Richard will be balls deep in you before you know it."

POP

In a flash of light, Twilight appeared in the middle of the gardens of the Royal Palace in Canterlot. She felt a wave of nausea pass over for her and collapsed to the ground as she took several deep breaths to try and keep the vomit down. Drained, Twilight looked around with a smile as she realized she'd successfully reached her destination. Never before had she teleported such a great distance, but with only days until Richard's birthday, she believed time was of the essence.

"Twilight?" a familiar voice called out as a shadowy figure descended upon her from one of the nearby towers. "What are you doing here?"

"Princess Luna?" Twilight struggled to focus on the Princess before her, there appeared to be four ponies in swimming in and out of her vision. "Is that you?"

"Good, gracious Twilight. Please tell me you didn't teleport all the way here from Ponyville? I'd have thought my sister taught you better than that." Luna conjured a small bottle of a sparkling, pale blue liquid and placed it carefully before Twilight. "Here, drink that, it should restore you quickly enough."

"Thanks," Twilight unstoppered the bottle and quickly wolfed it down, feeling energy instantly rush back into her. "Wow, what is that stuff?"

"Just some crystalline aether mixed with sparkling spring water, it's just a tonic my sister and I developed way back as quick pick me up," Luna smiled warmly at Twilight. "So back to my previous question, to what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"I need Richard's bag," Twilight replied as she stood up and brushed herself down. "Richard's birthday is coming up in a couple of days and I was hoping it could give me an idea on what to get him."

"Hmm," Luna hummed in thought. "I could retrieve it for you, but if it's a thoughtful present you seek, I might have a suggestion for you. If you'd permit?"

"Really? You have a suggestion?" Twilight looked at Luna with interest.

"Verily," Luna started walking off away from the palace, towards the city. "If you'd follow me, I have somepony you might find some interest in meeting."

Author's Note

Hey all, so I've got my writing mojo back it seems, and I'm eager to put out these chapters and get the story finished (I have ideas for sequels). I am curious though if people would prefer these 3-4k word chapters or wait a few more days for a big 10k chapter?