Adrian

Before I headed into the kitchen, I took a quick look at myself in the mirror to make sure that I didn’t look busted.

I usually wore a beanie when I went out, but it was the beginning of June, and in a condensed city like Manehattan, it tended to get really hot during the summer months. With that in mind, I decided to leave my black hair uncovered. Thankfully, it wasn’t too disheveled. My beard didn’t look to scraggly, either, but I ran a comb through it just so I could tame it a little.

“Looks good enough,” I said to myself before heading out of my room towards the kitchen. When I got there, Rusty had already woken up, and was in the living room on my computer.

“Dude! Twitter is on fire right now!” Rusty called out as I made breakfast.

“Really?” I asked, pouring some pancake mix onto a heated pan. “Read me some of the tweets!”

“Okay… this one says: ‘This show have become a fuckin joke Hoity toity shouldnt be a judge. #BringBackFleur’,” he read. “Ugh, do folks even read their shit before they post?”

“Usually, no. How many pancakes do you want, Rus?”

“…Three? Yeah, make it three,” he answered as he hopped off the desk chair.

“Three it is. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m glad I don’t have to buy overpriced pet food for you. It’s a lot cheaper to just get regular food.”

“Meh, pet food tastes like shit, anyway. I want real food, not a bunch of plants and shrubs that the pet store owner was giving me. Sometimes I think she did it to spite me.”

“No offense, Rusty, but I wouldn’t put it past her. She did say that you were a bit of trouble.”

My pet scoffed at me. “I am not. She was just overreacting.”

“You broke into her locked cabinet and drank one of her potions thinking it was soda,” I reminded him.

“Hey, it was her fault for not giving me enough to drink that day,” he retorted.

“Yeah, but here’s what I don’t get, because I still can’t understand this after a year of having you. How could you think that potion was a soda when you knew the cabinet was locked, and the store owner was a zebra that specialized in potion-making?”

“Look, I don’t really think straight when I’m thirsty, okay? Besides, it worked out for the better, anyway. I can talk, and the potion did taste good, like orange and grape soda mixed together.”

I winced at his description. “That doesn’t sound very appetizing.”

“To you.”

“To anyone.”

“Different strokes for different folks, Adrian.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. The pancakes are ready. You want butter, or not?”

“I’ll go without butter today, thanks.”

“Well, there ya go,” I said as I placed Rusty’s plate on the countertop. “I’m taking my breakfast to go. I want to get to work early and finish that fight scene ASAP.”

“’Kay,” the jackalope yawned, hopping across the furniture to get to the kitchen counter.

“I should be back by three, so there’s some lunch in the fridge for you to heat up, and keep the—”

“Keep the door locked, I know.”

“Glad you do. Catch ya later!” I grabbed my backpack, heading out the door and down the stairs towards the lobby.

It usually took me about ten minutes to walk to work, and today was no different since the city wasn’t that crowded.

Well, not that crowded for someone that’s gotten used to the city life.

“Mornin’, Mr. Lewit!” the doorpony greeted, holding the door open as I walked up the steps towards the door.

“Morning, Coppertone,” I replied, walking into the building. I always felt like smiling whenever I walked past those doors, especially when I see the big “Phantom Foal Studios” sign hanging from the ceiling. As I rounded the corner towards the elevators, my casual pace suddenly quickened when I saw one of them closing. “Hold it open!” I called out in haste.

Thankfully, someone stuck their arm out in front of the closing doors to stop them from closing all the way. A sigh escaped me as I slowed down a little.

“Thanks!” I said as I got into the elevator and rested my forehead on the back wall, my breaths short and tired.

Yeah… I was never the most athletic guy in the world.

“Hey, what are friends for, Adrian?” a male voice asked me.

I looked behind me and smiled when I saw who was talking to me. He was a tall pegasus stallion with a medium brown coat and a short, swept, reddish-brown mane and tail.

“Oh… hey, Cel Shade,” I said, my breath still ragged. “What’s up?”

“I’m just ready to get this fight scene over with.”

“I know that feel, bro,” I chuckled. “We’re almost done, though, and I think we’ll be able to finish it if we get it in gear and haul ass.”

“It doesn’t help that you wasted energy running to the elevator.”

“Ha, ha, ha.”

The elevator finally reached our floor, and Cel Shade and I headed to our neighboring stations.

As we sat down, I fixed a picture frame that was on my desk. Inside was a photo of my parents. A smile grew on my face as I remembered Cel’s reaction when he first saw the picture.

“Hey, remember when I first showed you this?” I asked, holding the framed photo in front of him.

“It’s hard not to when you keep bringing it up,” he retorted.

“Sorry, I just found it really funny when you were so surprised to see that my dad was black and my mom was white. It was like you never saw a mixed-race couple before.”

“Well, when you’ve lived in Cloudsdale your whole life, you don’t get much exposure to the outside world.”

“Well, well. Look who’s here!” we heard from behind us, and we looked to see one of our coworkers approaching. She was a short female diamond dog with platinum blonde fur and blue eyes. The mass of fur on her head was styled into a short ponytail with a side bang. She wore a sleeveless denim jacket over a white longsleeve shirt, and blue jeans; there were two earrings in her left ear that were shaped like bones, and she was carrying a freshly brewed cup of coffee. “Took you guys long enough to get here.”

“Not everyone can wake up as early as you Roxy,” I told her. “It’s almost crazy how you could be so upbeat every day; not even Mondays can faze you.”

She shrugged. “I guess I’m a morning dog,” she assumed before taking a sip of her coffee, letting out a contented hum and wagging her tail as she tasted it. “Ahh, this coffee sure does help, though. I’ll admit that much.”

“Is there any left?” Cel asked.

“Yeah, but it’s the last bit in the pot, so you gotta make a new one,” Roxy answered as she sat at her station next to me.

“Ugh, really?”

“If you had gotten here earlier, this wouldn’t be an issue!” she quipped in a singsong voice, as she slowly spun in her chair.

“Alright, Sapphire Shores, calm down,” the pegasus said with a roll of his eyes, leaving Roxy and me behind as he left to get his drink.

I turned to the diamond dog, taking my travel mug out of my backpack’s side pocket and taking a sip of my own coffee. “See? This is why I make my shit at home.”

Chrysalis

As much as I hate using sayings like this, I woke up feeling fresh as a daisy this morning. Despite how disappointingly short last night’s love session was, my partner still had a sufficient amount to offer.

My partner… aw, shit! Did I forget to send him home last night?

I looked down beside me to see a large, stallion-shaped lump under the covers. Yep, I forgot to send him home. I glanced over at a nearby mirror and saw that I was still in my disguise from last night. After taking a moment to fix my mane a little so that it didn’t look completely disheveled, I gently nudged the sleeping stallion.

“Wake up, love,” I whispered sweetly into his ear.

He let out a loud yawn before turning to look at me, and I put on my best smile for him. “Mornin’ babe,” he said to me.

I let out a chuckle, putting my hand on the back of his neck. “Listen, sweetheart… I need you to do something for me.”

My eyes lit up, changing from a pleasant purple to a glowing green, locking the stallion into a hypnotic trance. “Sure…” he drawled obediently, like the good little toy he was.

“I want you to go home, and forget everything that happened last night. You never met me, and you never came back to my place. Understood?” I received a slow nod in response. “Good. Go on, now, and be sure to take your clothes.”

Without another word, the stallion got out of my bed and walked out, as was the normal routine after the usual session. Other than the frequent nighttime visitors, my place was pretty quiet, save for whenever I’m watching TV or streaming something online.

The shower was my first destination after getting out of bed, and it was probably one of the best parts about the day. The feeling of warm water washing over my body was just what I needed to shake off those last bits of tiredness and feel full awake. After drying off, I headed out of the bathroom to pick out my clothes, stopping in front of the mirror for a moment to check myself out.

I smiled as I eyed my body from the bottom up, starting from my hooves, then moving up my slender, deceivingly strong legs. After being so used to seeing holes in them, most of those holes had closed thanks to the amount of love I had absorbed in the past year, leaving only a few small ones behind. My eyes continued upwards towards my tight butt, passing the roots of my tail and working their way up to my flat stomach. I frowned a little when I saw my admittedly less than impressive bust, but it was nothing that a little changeling magic couldn’t fix when it was disguise time. Lastly, there was my face. It was a shame that I had to disguise it in order to seduce a victim, but whatever gets the job done, I suppose.

”That’s enough admiration for now, Chrysalis,” I thought to myself with a smirk. “You don’t want to be late for work.”

I quickly picked out an outfit, settling on a plain lime-green tank top and dark blue jeans. Wearing such casual clothing was definitely an adjustment at first, but I quickly grew to like it. I considered getting a quick bite to eat from the fridge, but decided that last night’s session—as short as it was—was enough to get me through the day.

The looks and stares that the other citizens directed toward me poked at me like the fingers of annoying little children as I walked through the city. I was certainly used to it by now, and the number of stares gradually dwindled down as time went on and others got used to seeing me around the city, but that didn’t mean that I was at least a little perturbed by their rude, disdainful gazes. You’d think that, in a city as densely populated as Manehattan, others wouldn’t give you a second look, but I guess I’m an exception.

Jeez… If I had been in Ponyville instead of here, the place would turn into a ghost town whenever I’d walk outside.

The contempt that I had gotten from everypony was the reason why I was stuck in my apartment building. I had tried to move out before, but all I got from the other landlords was some bullshit about how “my residence would decrease property value” or something. It pretty much meant that if I lived in their buildings, nopony else would want to move in, and the ponies already living there would move out, thus ruining the landlords’ profits.

Regardless of all the discrimination, though, I’d always feel better once I got to work. After reaching the Manehattan Institute of Art’s main building, I headed into an elevator and took it to the top floor, where Cross Hatch would be waiting for me.

“Chryssie! Over here!” someone called as I walked out of the elevator, and sure enough, the voice belonged to none other than-

“Cross Hatch!” I said happily, the two of us walking up to each other and giving each other a hug.

“How are ya, sweetheart?” he asked, letting me go.

“Same old, same old. Nothing new,” I shrugged.

“Oh, don’t give me that, you minx! You and I both know that you’re more than happy about your you-know-what.”

I laughed. “I can’t hide much from you, can I?”

“Well, considering that I’m your boss, I’d hope not.”

I rolled my eyes. “Real funny, Cross. So, what classes am I modeling for today?”

He took out his phone and looked through a schedule. “Well, as you know, the summer quarter has just started, so the first class that you’re gonna be modeling for is filled with mostly freshmen. Professor Talon is giving them a preliminary assessment to see where the students are at. After that, there’s the juniors’ Observational Drawing class and then some afternoon walk-in sessions.”

“Sounds good,” I nodded. “Which room is the freshman class gonna be in?”

“Room 520,” the unicorn answered. “Oh, and Chryssie?”

“Mm-hm?”

“Go easy on those kids and don’t look too sexy, honey. Remember that most of them are fresh out of high school.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his joke. As corny as it was, it was so bad that it was good. “I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises,” I answered, walking off towards Room 520.

Seeing Cross Hatch in the morning always helped my mood. I don’t think there was ever a day where he wasn’t giving off an aura of happiness. Hell, the stallion practically reeked of it. He wasn’t a bad looking guy, either. His tall, slim physique, pale blue coat and jet-black mane and tail were a combination that’d make a mare’s ovaries explode. I know I wouldn’t mind having him as a long-term partner… if only he wasn’t gay.

Oh well… you can’t have ‘em all, I suppose.

About ten minutes later, I was posed in the center of a classroom filled with seventeen to nineteen-year-olds, stark naked, and disguised as a full-figured pegasus. Professor Talon said something about testing the students with an unusual body type, or something.

I always enjoyed posing for freshmen. Their classes were usually occupied by boys that never got any tail in high school or even seen a girl naked. The lust that leaked off from them served as a delicious snack during work.

Although, while lust was tasty, my true affinity was romantic love. It was really bittersweet, though. While romantic love is the type of love that gave me the most power, it was also the hardest to find. The last time I got a good taste was when I infiltrated the royal wedding, and that was almost three years ago. Lust was my secondary affinity, and that was one of the easiest types of love to find.

Speaking of, I was still enjoying my little meal as I posed for the class, skipping over the kids that were giving off infatuation, which was my least favorite… “flavor,” if you want to call it that. I just found it bland and tasteless.

However, I was particularly enjoying the supply I was getting from this one kid sitting the furthest away from me. I grinned inwardly as I watched the flustered earth pony try to put pencil to paper, and I could see him sweating from here. I wonder if I could get a little more out of him…

The colt looked up from his pad and watched me, and I looked right back at him with a sly smirk. Not only was the surge of lust coming from him very satisfying, but his dumbfounded expression on top of his heavy breathing was the icing on the cake.

Today’s gonna be a good day.

Trixie

I let out a loud yawn as I gradually emerged from my slumber. There were a lot of kinks in my body after sleeping for so long, but a good stretch got rid of most of them. I groggily looked over to my alarm clock and read the time: Three-thirty. A frustrated groan escaped me when I found out that pretty much half of my day was wasted.

“I guess that’ll teach me to stay up ‘til a quarter to four in the morning,” I thought. “Oh well, at least I don’t have a rehearsal today.”

After taking a quick shower, I threw on some clothes and grabbed my phone. I wasn’t in the mood for making myself a meal, so I called the local takeout place, which I had on speed dial.

“What is Trixie in the mood for today?” I said to myself, looking at the takeout menu while the phone rang. “I think I’ll just go with the first thing that comes to mind.”

“Manehattan Mega Takeout,” somepony answered.

“Yeah, can I have… some cream-cheese bagels and some hay fries, please?”

“You want any sauce with that?”

“Um… nah. I’ll take it without sauce.”

“Okay, what’s your address?”

“1213 East 29th Street, Apartment 2.”

“Alright, it’ll take about ten minutes, okay?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

With my food ordered, I headed over to my work desk and opened up my notebook where I wrote down all my ideas for tricks. I liked to mix it up every time I had to change my routine.

“What haven’t I worked with lately…” I wondered, tapping my pencil to the notebook paper, leaving nothing but scattered dots on the page. I had to come up with something amazing. I almost have enough money to move out of this building and into an even nicer one that I’ve had my eye on for a while, so if this trick is a hit, I’ll sell a ton of tickets, enough to get me into my dream apartment… if only it were that easy. “Come on Trixie! There has to be a fresh idea that you haven’t used in a while!”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

“Ten minutes already?”

I got out of my chair, heading towards the door. Maybe a good meal in my stomach will help get the ideas flowing. I grabbed my bit purse off of the nearby counter and opened the door, but my excitement at getting my food turned into disgust when I saw who was delivering it to me.

“Uh… Hi, Trixie,” the delivery boy said to me.

I rubbed my temples as I let out a long groan. “Hello, Larry.”

“Sorry I couldn’t make it to your last show. I had a ticket, but the guards wouldn’t let me in. They said I was on some kind of black-list. I tried to tell them it was some kind of mistake, but they weren’t convinced.”

“That’s what I pay them for,” I thought vehemently. “I thought you stopped working for Manehattan Mega Takeout.”

“No, I was just swamped with schoolwork since the year’s almost over, so I took fewer shifts,” the young human answered. “You know what it’s like to be a high school junior.”

“It’s been nearly five years since I set hoof in a high school, Larry,” I scoffed. “So how much is it?”

“Seven bits,” he answered while I quickly took out the money I needed and handed it to him. “Um… tip?”

“Yeah. Set your standards a little lower, kid,” I told him before shutting the door. “Fuck, can’t he take a hint. I mean, I can’t blame him for being smitten with a mare like me, but the kid should find someone his own age.” I walked into the kitchen and looked in the cabinet, which had a shelf of extra sauce packets that I didn’t use. “Then again, his lack of tact is probably the reason why he hasn’t gotten a girlfriend yet.” I shook my head and focused on what was in front of me. “Okay, honey mustard, ketchup, hot sauce… Wait… hot sauce?”

I looked back at my desk and rushed to my notebook to chase the spark that had ignited in my head.

“Hot sauce… hot… fire… that’s it!”

Fire spells! Not only was it something I hadn’t done in a while, it was something I had never done! This would be perfect!

“Ha! I am a genius!!!”

Adrian

It was quarter to five when I left the studio, and I was on my way back home. With that fight scene finally animated, I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, and I couldn’t wait to take a load off when I got home.

Wait… what’s with all the traffic. Was rush hour starting early?

I continued to walk down the street, and that’s when I saw the smoke. “Oh, shit!” I thought as my walking quickly turned into running, hoping that the smoke wasn’t coming from where I thought it was. Sure enough, once I rounded the corner, I saw two fire trucks in front of my building. From the looks of things, they had just put out the fire.

What the fuck happened? Rusty knows not to use the stove or the oven. How could this fire have happened? I rushed over to a nearby firefighter and got his attention.

“What happened here!?” I asked frantically.

“You live here, son?” the burly earth stallion asked.

I nodded furiously, hoping to get an explanation within the next three seconds.

“A fire broke out in one of the third floor apartments and spread across the whole floor. We arrived in time to stop it from getting to the second floor, though.”

At that moment, I felt instant relief, thankful that Rusty wasn’t hurt, but if that was the case, then where-

“ADRIAAAAAAN!!!”

I suddenly felt something push against the back of my shoulder. “Oh, thank Celestia!” I heard from behind me.

“Rusty?” I asked in disbelief.

“I swear on my life it wasn’t me! I was taking a nap when it happened, honest to Luna!”

I put my hand on his head. “I know, I know. This stallion told me everything.” I turned to look up at the guy in uniform. “Do you guys find out how the fire started?”

He nodded. “The mare living in the apartment where it started told us that it was a fire spell gone awry. The first responders are taking care of her.”

I blinked. “Wait. Did this mare have a blue coat? Unicorn? About yea high?”

“Kinda ‘big-boned’ if you get what I’m saying?” Rusty added.

“Yeah,” the firefighter answered. “Wait, is that thing talking?”

“Trixie…” Rusty and I scowled at each other.

We looked back at the building and saw three more uniformed ponies walking out of the entrance.

“The third floor apartments are mostly torched,” the mare in the middle reported to the stallion in front of me, “but thankfully most of the damage was done to furniture, and we’ve salvaged some of the occupants’ valuables.”

The stallion nodded. “Good. Save the unicorn’s belongings for when the first responders are done with her. Is the other apartment’s tenant here?”

“Yeah. I’ll give them to her,” the mare on the left said before breaking off from the group. While her teammates continued to talk, she sneakily slipped into a nearby alleyway, and seconds later, I saw Chrysalis walking out holding a small box in her hands along with a small bag.

“Did you see that?” I whispered to Rusty.

“Dude, with all this going on and with all the smoke, I can barely see shit,” he quipped.

I sighed and looked back at Chrysalis. While I’m sure her bag probably had her wallet and other stuff, the curious thought about what was in the small box crossed my mind for a moment, but I quickly shook it off. There were more important things to worry about.

“Anyway,” the firefighter stallion said, bringing my attention back to him. “Once we get everything sorted out, it’ll be safe to go inside.”

“Okay. Thanks,” I said with a nod.

“So… do you mind explaining how your pet can talk?”

Rusty and I gave him a cross look.

“Right… Not a good time. Sorry.”

It’s been several hours since the fire. Rusty and I were let back into the building after about a half hour, and we’ve been watching TV since we got back in.

“I still can’t believe that just happened,” he said, sinking into the back cushion of the couch.

“Well, it happened,” I sighed. “Let’s just be glad that none of our shit got trashed and try to move on with our lives.”

“You’re right… although if one good thing came out of this, at least Trixie and Chrysalis won’t be living above us anymore.”

I chuckled lightly. “If I wasn’t so exhausted, I’d celebrate, but I guess we could hold off until tomorrow.”

Just then, I heard several knocks on my door. While I wasn’t in the mood for visitors, I should at least see who it was. Without even bothering to look into the peephole, I opened the door to see my visitor, and I almost lost it when I saw who was standing outside my door.

“Trixie and Chrysalis?” I thought.

“Adrian,” said Trixie.

“Trixie,” I said back, then I looked over at the changeling. “Chrysalis.”

“Adrian,” she said back.

A few moments of silence filled the air before I addressed the elephant in the room.

“Okay, what the fuck do you two want?”

Author's Note

Sorry it took me so long to get this done. I recently moved to a new apartment and I've been getting a higher workload at school since the quarter is almost over. This Friday is the start of my winter break, though, so I'm gonna have more free time for a good three weeks.

So, what do Trixie and Chrysalis want? You'll have to wait and see.

Until then, keep it sketchy, folks!