Adrian

“Will Primrose and Ivory Shine please step forward,” Prim Hemline announced.

The two mares in question walked up to Prim, holding each other’s hand in shared nervousness.

“Two beautiful young mares stand before me,” she continued, “but I only have one photo in my hands, and this photo represents the mare that is still in the running towards becoming Equestria’s Next Top Model. I will only call one name, and the mare that I do not call must immediately return to the Top Model house, pack her bags, and go home.”

Rusty and I sat at the edge of our seats, hoping that Primrose would survive this week’s elimination. She was one our remaining favorites of the season, but seeing as how Hoity Toity favored Ivory Shine, we were unsure of her fate.

“It’s interesting that you two stand before me,” Prim said, eyeing the two mares with a neutral expression, “because each of you has what the other one needs.” She looked at the mare on the left, an uncharacteristically curvy pegasus with a coat that was white with a hint of brown, and a dark brown mane and tail that was cut short. “Let’s start with you, Ivory. From week one, you’ve delivered stunning photos and have won best photo several times, but at the go-see challenge this week, you booked only one out of five clients, and the judges have talked to you before about how there’s a lack of personality and presence when you walk into the room.” The pegasus looked down in shame as Prim continued. “Is your portfolio good? Absolutely. Undeniably so, but what good is that for a model when she doesn’t have the charm she needs to book a job?”

“Just send the bitch home already,” Chrysalis whispered desperately, only for Rusty to shush her.

Prim then looked at the mare on the right, a thin, magenta-coated earth mare with a long, flowing, yellow mane and tail with pink streaks. “And then we have you, Primrose. You won the challenge this week and booked all five clients. They thought that you brightened up the room when you walked in, and you have a near flawless runway walk, but your photos aren’t as strong as Ivory’s. They’re good, yes, but not as good or as consistent as the mare standing next to you. So, who stays in this competition? The mare that lacks consistency, or the mare that lacks charm?”

My leg started to shake as Rusty and I leaned forward, our hearts pounding in our chests as we waited for Prim to reveal the last photo. The mare took hold of it slowly pulling it up from behind a folder and turning it over to reveal who would remain in the competition.

“Primrose.”

All three of us jumped out of our seats, cheering in excitement. “YES!!!” I yelled while Rusty was jumping on the couch cushion. Chrysalis and I hugged each other as we jumped up and down as well, sharing in our excitement.

Wait… what?

The changeling and I looked at each other once our enthusiasm simmered down, and we quickly let go of each other, turning our backs on one another.

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see that,” Rusty chuckled.

Chrysalis grunted and walked back to her room. “Same time next week, I guess…” she said before shutting her bedroom door behind her.

“So, Adrian, you ready to get back to work tomorrow?” my pet asked.

I took a deep breath and gave him a determined smile. “Definitely! Cel and Roxy better be ready, ‘cause I’m ready to make this series happen!”

There was a fire in my eyes as the elevator reached the studio and opened its doors. I tightly gripped the folder in my hands, walking over to the meeting room that Mr. Render had set aside for Roxy, Cel Shade, and me.

“What’s up, bitches?” I announced as I walked in.

“Uh, excuse me, but I find the term ‘bitch’ to be very offensive,” Roxy said sternly, only to crack a smile a second later. “Man, I cannot say that with a straight face!”

I smirked. “I know you well enough to know when you’re messing with me, Rox.”

“Plus there’s the fact that you call me a bitch literally every other day,” Cel commented.

“Oh, right.”

“Well, enough of that. I’ve got something to show you guys,” I said, dropping the folder on the table. “I’ve been working my ass off last night and I’ve finalized most of the character designs with colors and everything. I’ve also been writing some notes on how the story could go.”

Cel Shade picked up some of the notes I took, looking through them in astonishment. “Dude, did you get any sleep last night?”

“Barely. I’m running purely on coffee and adrenaline right now!”

“Really?” Roxy asked, her ears perking up and her mouth contorting into a smile. “You think you can tell me how you make your coffee? I gotta take Grandma to bingo tonight and I need something to help me stay awake.”

“Maybe later. Right now, let’s look over all that we have so far and get crackin’!”

Trixie

The hot water trickled down my coat as it fell from the showerhead, soaking my mane and causing it to fall over my eyes. I simply stood still, taking in the comfortable heat of the water before grabbing my soap.

“I really needed that break yesterday,” I thought. “Who would’ve thought that Rusty would be the one to suggest it… I should be thankful, though. I think I’m going to make some progress in planning my next routine now that I’ve blown off some steam and cleared my mind.” As I continued my shower something felt… off, for lack of a better word. “Chrysalis should be banging on the door and rushing me out by now. Did she oversleep or something?”

Deciding that I was clean enough, I shut the shower off and wrung my tail out with my magic. With my curiosity getting the better of me, I headed to the living room instead of my bedroom. To my surprise, I found Chrysalis sitting on the couch in her sleeping clothes, watching TV.

“Shouldn’t you be busy getting ready for work?” I asked.

She looked up at me with a disgusted expression. “Shouldn’t you be busy running up our water bill?”

“Hmph. Touché, Queenie.”

“You mind not calling me that?” she asked. Suddenly, I heard a loud whistling sound coming from the stove, and Chrysalis got up to turn it off. “I’m past that point in my life.”

I tilted my head. “Really? You had an entire kingdom bowing to your hooves and you don’t miss it at all? Regardless of… past events, I’d assume the life of a changeling queen would be luxurious.”

She scoffed at my question, pouring freshly prepared tea into her mug. “You call being the monarch of a bunch of ungrateful little shits ‘luxurious’? Trust me, sister, that job is a lot more trouble than it’s worth. They don’t appreciate you when you do something good and get on your ass whenever you make the tiniest slip-up, whether it’s a failed invasion or an ‘i’ that wasn’t dotted.” She sighed and blew on her tea. “I’m much happier here than I ever was in my own kingdom.” Her eyes suddenly widened when she took her first sip.

“Bad tea?” I asked.

“No, I just… never thought I’d hear myself say that.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, especially considering the fact that you’re living with roommates that you claim to hate with a passion.”

“Oh, trust me, I can’t stand you or Adrian, but I’ll take dealing with two assholes over dealing with thousands. It’s the lesser of the two evils. If you were a queen, you’d understand.”

I paused for a moment, thinking about what she said. “Actually, I do… sort of.”

“Prom queen doesn’t count, sweetheart.”

“No, I mean, I’ve been an actual queen before.”

“Sure you have.”

“I’m serious, Chrysalis!”

She merely chuckled. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why don’t you tell me all about it?”

“Ugh, where do I start?” I said, walking to the dining table and taking a seat. “It was an entire kingdom of Diamond Dogs.”

“Oh, Diamondia. No wonder I haven’t heard of you being a queen there. A lot of the other kingdoms and nations just ignore them and let them do their own thing. Not a very smart bunch.”

“That co-worker of Adrian’s doesn’t seem like that, though.”

“Hm… I suppose that there are exceptions to every group.”

I shrugged. “Well, long story short, while my experience with them wasn’t a lot like yours, I can see how that life can be… less than desirable.”

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Chrysalis said, taking another sip of tea. “I’ve found that being the best worker is a lot better than being the manager, at least for me.”

“Wow… that’s heavy.”

“Yeah, well, so are you.”

I furrowed my brow, unamused at her little joke. “Ha ha. Very funny. If this whole modeling thing doesn’t work out, you’ve got a good chance at becoming a comedienne.”

“Why, thank you, Trixie. I do try to keep my audience roaring with laughter,” she said facetiously, letting out exaggerated chuckles.

“Speaking of roaring, what was with all that noise last night?”

“Noise?”

“I heard a bunch of cheering while I was in my room last night. What was that all about?”

“Ooooh. I was just watching one of my shows last night, and I took a particular liking to the ending, is all.”

“Yeah, but I heard Adrian and Rusty, too. I thought all they watched was cartoons.”

The changeling shrugged. “Well, it turned out that they had at least some taste.”

“Still, what show were you watching?” I asked.

“Equestria’s Next Top Model,” she answered shamelessly.

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that. Is it that unusual for a model to watch a show about modeling? Besides, it’s a good show. I mean, it was better when Fleur de Lis was a judge, but still, good show.”

“I’ll take your word for it…” I said uneasily.

There was an awkward moment of silence in the room, and it was strange because as Chrysalis and I were talking, I somewhat felt it coming before it happened. In fact, I was surprised that it took this long for the elephant to get in the room. I’ve never held an actual conversation with Chrysalis before. Well… not one that hadn't devolved into name calling and nasty insults. It was rather unusual for us to be talking like this, and I wondered why it took this long for us to run out of things to talk about. I always thought that we never had much in common.

“Can I ask you something, Trixie?” Chrysalis suddenly asked.

“Um… okay,” I answered.

“Didn’t you think it was strange, what Larry said to us yesterday?”

I pulled a confused face. “Everything that boy says is either strange or creepy. You’ve got to be more specific.”

“When he said that Adrian was living with two pretty mares.”

“Well, he thinks we’re both pretty,” I answered bluntly. “What more is there to it?”

“That’s just it. He said that both of us were pretty. I thought he’d say just you.”

Instead of understanding what she meant, I only grew even more confused. “So… why was it strange that he said both of us were pretty?”

Chrysalis shook her head. “You know what? Forget I said anything.”

“Okaaaaay…” I said, getting up from my chair. “I have to work on this next routine, anyway. I’m almost done and I want to get it finalized in time to do a few rehearsals before this weekend.”

Chrysalis didn’t say anything as I left the living room, and as I made my way back to my bedroom, I kept thinking about that last question she asked me. It was such an odd thing to ask, like she’d never been called pretty before. I mean, if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to get love from anyone.

“Ugh, what am I worried about her for, anyway?” I thought. “I’ve got a routine to plan.”

Chrysalis

I almost regret wasting the entire day watching TV.

Almost.

Do I wish that I had done something more productive with my day? Absolutely, but really, what was there for me to do? I didn’t really have anyone to go out with like Adrian and Trixie did, and I’d usually spend my weekends running errands or going out to clubs to try and find someone to bed, but with the luck I’ve had lately, I’ve been feeling less and less inclined to even try. I never realized how many guys and girls preferred going to their partner’s place for a one-night stand.

Although it does make sense in retrospect. It’s less trouble to get out of someone’s house than it is to get someone out of yours.

Still, I was beginning to worry. I hadn’t gotten a love session in a week, and it was starting to show. I glanced down at my legs, taking notice of the numerous holes that were starting to grow, and I noticed that my mane and tail were a paler shade of green than usual. In my days as a queen, a week-long dry spell was nothing, but I had gotten so used to frequent love sessions over the past year that a week without one was a lot more detrimental than it used to be.

“I’m going through withdrawal,” I thought grimly.

The fact that I had to use my changeling magic every day at work didn’t help matters much, either. Doing several transformations in one day required a lot of energy, and it was gonna take more than blowing a teenager for three minutes to give me enough to meet that demand. How long was that little bit of lust that I had gotten from Larry going to last? Certainly not enough to get me through the next work week if I don’t get any sessions in by then.

Long story short, I was fucked because I couldn’t get fucked.

“Ugh… Why did I have to grow a distaste for admiration?” I lamented. “That’s, like, the easiest form of love to get, and it had to be the least delicious one to me.”

I continued to brood over my shitty situation until I heard the front door unlocking. My ears perked and I tilted my head over, looking out the corner of my eye.

“Oh. Hey, Adrian,” I said lazily.

“What? No sarcastic comment?” he asked.

“You aren’t worth it…” I grumbled.

“Okay, what’s got Little Miss Chryssie all in a tizzy?”

“Hmph.” I sat up and looked at the human. “Well, if you must know, aside from Larry, I haven’t had a single love session in a week, and I’m running dry thanks to someone’s stupid rule!”

“Ah, yes. Rule number nine. Well, it’s good to know that you’re abiding by the rules.”

I gritted my teeth, getting more and more annoyed with his ignorance. “Yeah, and I’m getting sick and missing work because of it, jackass!”

He gave me an unfazed look. “Am I really hearing this from Ex-Queen Chrysalis? The mare that kept me awake night after night with her loud-ass ‘love sessions’? The same mare that could turn a straight mare into a lesbian? Don’t pin this on me, Chryssie. If the ponies and people at the nightclubs aren’t horny enough for you to take you back to their place, then you aren’t trying hard enough, so stop blaming your problems on me and get your shit together!”

Why that little bastard. How dare he speak to me like that!? He doesn’t know anything about me! He was in no position to tell me what to do! He… he…

He was right.

I’m the former queen of the changelings, dammit! I could bed anyone of any species if I want to! I can easily get over this stupid dry spell. As much as I hated to admit it, Adrian helped to remind me of something that I had forgotten.

I’m the best fucking seductress Equestria has ever seen!

Without a word, I walked past Adrian and headed down the hallway. “Where are you going?” he asked.

I looked back at him with a determined grin. “I need to pick out an outfit, ‘cause I’m going out tonight!”

Author's Note

I just realized that this is the first chapter in a while that didn't start with Chrysalis's perspective.

So... it looks like everyone's warming up to each other a little. Adrian even gave Chrysalis an unintended pep-talk.

I wonder if it'll be enough, though...

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter in the comments, and I'll catch you guys later. Keep it sketchy, folks!