Umbra groaned as she put on her so-called uniform and made her way out to do her job. She had once been the terribly feared King Sombra, but one poorly worded bet with that Sphinx had effectively turned her into the creature’s indentured servant. She had been locked into a binding magical contract, one only she and her employer could see marked on both her arms and legs, she had even found the mark flashing on her face a few times, this meant severing whichever limbs the mark showed up on from herself would be fruitless on the best of days.

Way back, a few centuries ago, when King Sombra ruled over the crystal city known as the Crystal Empire, King Sombra had the physique of a conqueror, his magic was as toned as his own masculine muscles. He ruled over his domain with an iron fist, he took the whole nation by force because Sombra had believed, and proved (in his mind at least), he could make everything more efficient. Then the day came that day, that wretched day when the alicorns of the sun and moon intervened against him and cast him into the shadows. He tried to curse the land to be lost with him, but that accursed Princess Luna had already thought ahead and littered the city in runes to ward Sombra’s magic away, she had perfectly disguised herself with her own magic and discreetly hidden the wards for what must have been days or weeks before she and her sister, that accursed queen known as Celestia, made their official appearance and cast him into the shadows.

Since cursing all his subjects was turned into a non-option, Sombra used what was left of his magic to shift his shattered remains to the Umbral Crystal Cavern, the place he had obtained his dark magic powers. It would take decades to bring his powers up to fighting form, maybe almost as long as he ruled to get up to full force. He was keeping near the cavern, it helped accelerate the regaining at his power. That’s when he met...HER. The entity known as Sphinx had a Pegasus, which Sombra later learned was named Somnambula, with her and Sphinx made Sombra an offer, one he found far too enticing for his own good.

The two of them would play a game, with Somnambula playing the part of a neutral party due to restrictions and rules that were forced upon her by Sphinx sometime prior to this meeting. The wagers were simple, Sphinx would give Sombra even greater power than he knew before with her ancient racial magics if she were to lose the game and Sombra would be placed into a new life as her subordinate for much longer than he was willing to put his plans on hold if he should lose. The game was simple, a version of the game was often played by foals when he was young, Temple of the Quiz, a game where each player would ask random questions on a subject given by the scorekeeper, who also happened to be the game’s judge. Somnambula was well-suited to the role, she had a vested interest in Sphinx losing because it meant she would be freed of her obligations to the entity. But Somnambula also had no commitment to Sombra’s victory because she knew quite well what he would do with the power he would gain after achieving success. A judge that desires none of the players to be the victor was always the best choice, in Sombra’s opinion. The game ran for almost 3 days, both players catching each other off guard with their knowledge of a variety of subjects quite a few times. But Sombra faltered 5 times first, those who fail to properly answer 5 questions in the game lose.

And what did Sombra get for his loss? His perfect male form transformed into the figure of a mare harlot, in his opinion, and renamed Ms. Umbra! And worst of all, as Umbra, she was forbidden from ever acting on plans of vengeance, revenge, and conquest. She was to be Sphinx’s loyal little mare, with clearly significant assets. When Las Pegasus was going up, it was Umbra that suggested they persuade the town to legalize gambling and start their own little establishment to take advantage of it all. Sphinx liked the idea a little too much, she took things a bit too far for Umbra’s tastes, at least Somnambula agreed with her on that front. They managed to convince the town to put legalized gambling in its own charter, thus significantly increasing the difficulty of legally shutting down institutions like gambling houses and casinos. Then they started the first casino in modern history, the Dry Luck Bar and Casino. Sphinx had coined the phrase for the establishment, at least she was the one credited with instituting it. After a few decades, they shut down the place after making it look like newer businesses were doing a better job of eating into their revenue than they were, what some would call business fraud today, but nobody could prove it. Then they puttered around the country experiencing its delights and sights for a few decades before returning to Las Pegasus, now a den of gambling and games, and raised the Desert Oasis Casino.

The establishment was erected on almost the exact same site as its predecessor that started the whole trend. Of course, Umbra wasn’t happy about being made to do a job she had thought was behind her now. And even less happy with her so-called employer deciding her bosom needed to be a bit more buxom then unilaterally making her a bit more busty by the rising of the sun the next day. What did being buxomer have to do with working in a casino? Other than draw more attention from degenerate stallions, and a few envious mares.

Now Umbra had to get to work, as card dealer no less. Umbra was quite capable of the duty. And much to her own chagrin, she actually liked being a dealer, especially when it was games like Poker or 21. She still waited for the day Sphinx lost one of her wagers, it would mean she would be free to do as she pleased, maybe even be back to being a stallion again. She actually had a few outfits intended for stallions in her wardrobe for the occasion, but most of her attire was for her clearly mare body, Umbra’s HHH-Cup bust made it very clear to her she was stuck as a mare for an extended time.

She went over to her wardrobe and grabbed a light purple dress, strapless and backless with a bit of a furry top in part for her bosom, and pulled it on up. As she was pulling it up Umbra remembered she needed her bra, she floated one her strapless bras (she really wasn’t paying attention to which one, they were all the same to her) over and secured it with her magic before bringing the rest to where it was secured on her body. She huffed as she put on her card suit-themed collar, Umbra was ordered to wear it at all times when she was on card duty (which was almost every day she was working on the floor, or just overseeing things as the official one in charge of card games on the casino floors). After making sure she was presentable, something she barely did as a stallion (a ruler should project their authority regardless of their appearance), Umbra was out the door and making sure her room was secured, that was practice drilled into her by various experiences leading up to this time.

Umbra made sure she had all her attire on, then made her way down to the main floor, she was the one in charge of all card games in the casino, and today she was supposed to be training one of the new hires, Marble Pie. Sure everyone thought they knew the rules, but the house rules for any establishment meant the rules weren’t the same as what you did with your friends around a table in your spare time. Since she knew all the shortcuts, it pays to have been one of the ponies responsible for designing the layout, Umbra was on the floor in half the time it would take someone else to get there. She found Marble Pie, in her black shirt (that allowed ample showing off her bosom without constricting her chest) with a jacket adorned with playing card diamonds and black miniskirt with a slit on the left side with a yellow belt adorned with yellow roses on the sides and fishnet stockings and black high heeled shoes, standing confused at the main poker table, there were 5 total poker tables around the floor, looking more than a bit confused, in addition to looking apprehensive. The table was closed to players, the velvet ropes all about it were littered with signs stating it was being used for staff training. Umbra sauntered up to the mare and introduced herself, she also told the gray mare that she would be training her.

Looking Marble over, Umbra gave a small nod of approval, the gray mare definitely had an attractive figure, the kind Umbra would have liked to keep close if she were still a stallion. Like most earth ponies, Marble Pie had a bountiful bosom, a delightful E-Cup in this case. Chances were Sphinx would decide to ‘enhance’ a few of Marble’s assets, so there was a good chance Marble would have a noticeably larger bosom by this time next week. Umbra didn’t mind others having their assets altered all that much, she just despised it when it happened to her, the process kept reminding her of her own failings from when she took Sphinx’s wager and lost.

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While Umbra was doing her thing, Chrysalis was doing her morning routine. She hated how she had not only been tricked into service for Sphinx, but she had also been tricked into having her entire hive also be under the maroon monster’s employ. Chrysalis thought it would be an easy win, she had always considered herself the master of subtlety. She challenged Sphinx to a game, a game changeling princesses are forced to play in their youth called Capture the Crown, a card game that’s so old that it predates Equestria. Sphinx had said it was no fun without proper stakes for Chrysalis as well and made the agreement that if Chrysalis won then she and her hive would get the casino and everything it brought in but if Sphinx won then Chrysalis and her hive would be in her service for a minimum of six centuries. Chrysalis made the bet a month after the casino went up, that was a little over five years ago.

Capture the Crown had always been an easy win for Chrysalis, she had bested all of her siblings and a few of the long-established queens before she was even twenty years of age. Somehow all of that didn’t matter; Chrysalis lost 3 of 5 games before it was even noon that day. She lost each game in under an hour despite having a long track record of making each game she played have a minimum of three hours. Chrysalis's sound defeat resulted in her being a subordinate of Sphinx and basically delegating most of what was going on in the casino. Now, her hive was barely more than waitstaff and security.

Speaking of waiting on patrons, Chrysalis had to train one of the new hires, Fluttershy, on how to be a proper waitress at the casino. This was going to be a long day, she was probably going to down a lot of honey wine (also known historically as Mead, but the casino and lounge called it Honey Wine because it sounded a bit more refined, she wasn’t going to argue against that) before the day was through. Chrysalis liked her Honey Wine extra sweet (it felt like she was drinking the emotions she liked to feed on most, love and passion, although passion without love had a bit more of a spicy kick to it in her opinion).

She made her way down to the main floor and encountered the yellow pegasus, she was just as buxom as she had been when she had been dragged through that door, for now. Sphinx made it a habit of ‘enhancing’ the bosoms and rears of those under her employ, but that usually didn’t start happening until the third or fourth day, this was technically Fluttershy’s first day. Chrysalis didn’t mind getting bustier, it was quite the opposite for her. While others felt annoyed at getting buxomer, Chrysalis reveled in it. She got a serious buzz out of it. She had even felt herself get wet a few times from the experience of having her bosom modified by magic that is not of changeling origin. Fluttershy was already an oddity among pegasi. Most pegasi didn’t get any bustier than a lower D-Cup but usually had their bosom size between an A-Cup and CC-Cup, Fluttershy had a naturally grown an upper F-Cup bosom.

Chrysalis subconsciously licked her lips for a second, she couldn’t wait to play with the pegasus’s bosom. Something she was allowed to do but only in specific parts of the grounds, and definitely not on the floor, not without being requested to put on that kind of show by patrons beforehand. For whatever reason, Sphinx liked Chrysalis's kinky tendencies, so she let the changeling queen get away with a few things she probably should be able to.

“Alright,” said Chrysalis as she came up next to Fluttershy in her new waitress outfit, which the yellow mare was feeling a little embarrassed in, given it was a legless leotard with an open back and plenty of space for displaying cleavage through it open back strapless design it was somewhat understandable some would be uncomfortable in it. “You are currently set to be waitstaff, that’s my jurisdiction, you might be trusted with other duties as your employment continues, but for now, it will be your job to wait on patrons to the best of your abilities, if they like you then they might give you a tip. When it comes to tips you want chips more than straight cash, if they tip you with bits, then the boss lady will demand a cut, but if they tip with chips that means the establishment is paying in the tips and the boss is using whatever cuts she’s taking from proceeds around the establishment to pay you, it’s a good deal.”

“Um, okay,” said Fluttershy shyly, “so, how will my training start?”

“Most of the early patrons you see here are actually members of the staff I have jurisdiction over going about to influence the patrons' decisions that come onto the floor. While the establishment is technically open at all hours, the game floor has strict hours on when game officiators can be active. Anyway, your task is to go about to everyone here and do a basic duty run with at least a dozen of them and return to me and report everything you did and was requested of you.”

Fluttershy just nodded demurely and started trotting off, almost falling over a few times because she wasn’t used to trotting about in footwear with elevated heels, and Tartarus, did they make her legs and plot look enticing! Fluttershy did her best to do as instructed and came back almost twenty minutes later and gave her report. Chrysalis just stared at her with a professional serious look.

When Fluttershy finished her report, Chrysalis had her voice take on a serious tone and said, “Slow,” the pegasus looked at her confused, “you did everything right, but you did it too slow. Anyone of the waitstaff should be able to do everything you did in 5 minutes, you took 4 times as is expected of the staff. Also, your report took too long; if you can’t sum it up in 5 words or less, then you need to work on being concise.”

“You kind of sounded like Rainbow Dash for a moment,” said Fluttershy in her reserved voice, “she’s very obsessed with speed, of course, she’s also trying to get into the…”

“Stop right there,” said Chrysalis as she held her hand up in a stopping motion, “that sort of talk isn’t suitable for the floor, save those sort of conversational pieces for the lounge and your private quarters. That sort of idle chitchat doesn’t have any right to be on the floor if you are not a patron or customer,” she fixed the pegasus with a stern look and firm voice, “Is that clear?”

“Yes,” said Fluttershy hurriedly as she snapped to attention.

“Good,” said Chrysalis, “now go out and practice your duties again, and try to keep everything under seven minutes, if it’s something that will run longer than that you are to report to me and state what it is that’s needed, same holds true with anything you are confused on.”

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Celano chuckled to herself as she wiped down the bar portion, she always seemed to be behind it these days. The parrot was in a sleeveless, sparkly sequestered dress with a rather large cleavage window, Sphinx’s orders, she was also wearing her usual green elbow-length arm sleeves that stopped just shy of the wrist. Celano didn’t mind, her white feathers usually got well-complimented by the sparkly outfits, and now she had company, Queen Novo, the seapony that was the casino’s new live entertainment was sitting on the small stage with part of her tail in the pool that was now part of the lounge going through some voice exercises. The seapony was already pretty busty, and chances were she would be getting buxomer by the week’s end. Celano was rather busty herself; she was currently sporting a GG-Cup bosom. Celano had been part of the Buccaneer Bar, a pirate-themed bar and grill that had gone under five or six years ago. Celano just told Sphinx as long as she was able to handle the alcohol and mix drinks, she was happy with whatever duties she had. Celano was made the head of alcohol sales. She had a unique eye for spotting the best quality drinks, regardless of their nature, alcoholic, non-alcoholic, pseudo-alcoholic, Celano was able to spot the quality of the drink at barely more than a glance.

Celano was from a family that had a long legacy of working with beverages, some cases being less than legal. As a bit of an in-joke for the family, Celano was given the exact same name as a confirmed pirate in the family. The joke was that while her namesake did clearly illegal acts, Celano herself was the most strict in following the law, mostly the law’s wording. Celano herself was a bit a rebel; she had numerous cases of skirting the lines of code on the legal side of things that she could conclusively claim. All her actions were legal, even if many of them were advised against by actual law enforcement.

Celano just looked over and enjoyed the view, Queen Novo was wearing a seawater-themed bikini top. Chances were Novo had many more similar outfit pieces in her wardrobe. Celano was the kind of lady that liked observe other ladies; she also liked ‘inspecting’ guys that passed through. It was an open secret among the established staff, and quickly learned by newer employees, that Celano was a semi-open bisexual. Queen Novo was one of the latest new hires, and the current point of fixation for Celano herself.

Another point about Celano, one that only Sphinx seemed knew currently, was that Celano had a degree in Psychoanalysis and was a licensed sexual therapist, basically she was licensed to help others with their sexual problems, be they confused about their orientation or nature of their fetishes. Anyone coming to her about “fixing” what they thought was sexually wrong with another individual was never the kind of job she would accept. Celano was all about helping others open up and come to acceptances about themselves, she was of the mind that telling others what they should be like was a waste of energy and resources. Her employer, Sphinx, was in agreement on that front, she even had few bylines in Celano’s contract that Celano would take over as the company mental consultant when the need arose.

Celano thought back to Chrysalis, that bug was a raving pansexual, it seemed her sexual orientation changed at least a dozen times a day most days, probably to be expected when your race can literally alter its form. Umbra was dealing with her own issues, mostly what seemed to be conflicting ideas about what is to be expected of mares and stallions, Umbra's mindset was incredibly outdated at times, and she seemed to have lapses every now and then to that outdated mode of thinking. Sphinx herself was a mystery, mostly due to her age and tendency to effectively reinvent herself every few decades or centuries. Nailing down Sphinx from a psychoanalytic standpoint was a host of issues in and of itself, a proper analysis of her could probably make the careers of folks in a few dozen different fields. Then there was the head of security, Somnambula, she was the closest dead ringer for the historical figure Celano had ever seen, if it weren’t for the vastly different periods of time between when Somnambula lived and the modern era, Celano would swear the two were the same pony. Somnambula was strict, stern, very career-minded, but warm and friendly when off the clock or taking a break in the lounge. Umbra, Somnambula, Chrysalis, and Sphinx were challenging to get proper reads on most of the time, they spent a lot of time keeping more secrets than they shared.

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Somnambula looked around the security room. It never ceased to impress her how this one room and everything connected to it allowed just a small handful of ponies to do what it took an entire battalion of officers to do just a few centuries ago. The dozen or so monitors flickered between 6 or 7 different viewpoints every few minutes, but they had manual overrides so you could lock any monitor on to a specific camera if needed. The cream orange pegasus thought of how much easier everything technological advancement had made things.

Somnambula was quite the looker, a cream orange pegasus with an EEE-Cup bosom was not something you saw every day, at least outside the casino. Her mane and tail were a lustrous teal. And while she was usually in a red dress with matching high heels, something of a joke by Sphinx for some reason, today she was in what she considered her proper security outfit. Said outfit was a sandy yellow business suit that had the older versions of card suits adorning it (Coins, Wands, Chalices, and Swords). That didn’t stop Sphinx from having fun with Somnambula, since Sphinx was usually the one personally taking care of orders, she had made sure Somnambula’s security outfit had two giant coins right over the pegasus mare’s breasts, complete with the image of Sphinx’s head on said coins.

Ages ago, Somnambula had been a hero, she had faced many different threats and did what she could for the populace. Her first encounter with Sphinx set the tone for how she would see the maroon monster, she managed to best the creature’s challenge. The second encounter had a similar outcome, but things started taking a turn with the third and fourth encounters, and things went an unanticipated way, even if it was somewhat expected, with their fifth encounter.

Somnambula, wanting to end the encounters, and apparent oppression, brought on by Sphinx relented to a singular challenge, one she was sure the monster couldn’t cheat her way out of, especially with all the rules placed on the both of them. Sphinx might have been a terrible monster that brought tremendous problems with her, but she at least had the decency to respect and follow the rules of challenges and games imposed on her and others. The gamble almost paid off, the two were closely tied in the trial when Somnambula failed due to a problem she had accidentally made for herself and disregarded, the decision came back and bit her hard in the plot. As a result of her own foolishness, Somnambula was now a loyal subordinate of Sphinx for what turned out to be an unending loop. Somnambula had inaccurately reasoned that Sphinx would lose interest in her, and as such, made the blunder of stating that her terms of service would end when Sphinx had a complete loss of interest in her or lost another one of the Challenges that Sphinx herself agreed to with another creature. Turned out, Sphinx maintained varying levels of interest in Somnambula long after the bargain was struck, and all challenges Sphinx had with others always seemed to turn out in her favor due to the failings of her opponents.

Now, Somnambula was stuck being the good little mare for the monster. And to make matters worse, Sphinx used her magic to keep Somnambula youthful and vibrant. Sphinxes, as a race, had ancient and powerful magics that allowed them to maintain the youthful structure of a mature adult for ages in addition to giving them lifespans so long that only dragons could rival them in terms of longevity. And to make matters worse, they could apparently share those effects with other creatures if they met certain requirements, all of which Somnambula inadvertently did.

So here she was, playing the role of head of security for a casino established by Sphinx to further entertain her. Whatever Sphinx was after with the whole casino venture was a mystery to Somnambula, aside from the potential entertainment value. Every time Somnambula asked Sphinx about it, the maroon monster just made a comment about not wanting to ruin the fun or mystery.

Author's Note

Somnambula's business outfit hasn't appeared in the series by Blue64, it's something that I came up with to display her sense of seriousness and business.