Zecora looked around the office with a bit of worry on her face, this was not what she expected when she got a note from Fluttershy saying there was someone in Las Pegasus who wanted to meet her. The zebra mare wasn’t particularly busty, with only a basic C-Cup bosom, but somehow she didn’t feel like that really mattered. She was in her formalwear, an outfit that Rarity had stitched up for her just a few days prior, the forest green dress was strapless with an open back and displayed her own mark on a few different points, one right across her chest and the other two considerably lower but spaced well enough apart from each other. Zecora was sitting in a seat across from the figure known as Sphinx, the herds of her homeland had mixed stories about the creatures, but all the stories mentioned how sphinxes were more willing to toy with others than other creatures.

“So, may I inquire,” said Zecora, “just what brought me seeing you to be a desire?”

Sphinx grinned knowingly at the zebra mare, “We both know that rhyming is a willing quirk of those that follow your path in zebra societies. As for why you were out in the Everfree, far from any of your own kind, I have a few thoughts but won’t voice them here. No, the reason I requested your presence is that I very much would like a mare with your talents in mixing mystic concoctions to work for me. In fact, I very much think you are hired now, no sense in leaving the grounds just yet.”

Zecora had heard of this, a Sphinx deciding unilaterally they wanted someone to do something or be somewhere and stating things clearly to that individual. “May I inquire what makes me such a desirable hire?”

“Well, for one, no other establishment has a zebra. For another reason, I find your figure one I very much would like to mold, much the same way I did with all the mares under my employ.”

“I noticed that each mare you have on staff has rather large assets, anywhere else such proportions would incite many to laughs.”

“Let’s just say I have my ways and leave it at that. Now, you’ll be mixing up drinks when on the floor, go see Celano when you leave this room, but after you’ve gotten acquainted with the room that’s been prepared for you, she’s in charge of all the spirits. As for another reason I want you here, the answer is simple, I want you to make some potions exclusively for me and my establishment. That said, you’re already hired, preparations have been made for you. You can leave anytime you wish, but at least try things out here a few days.”

“I have been needing practice in interacting with ponies in a few ways, I suppose it won’t hurt to help you out for a few days.”

“Excellent, you are in room 239,” Sphinx handed the zebra mare a key with the number burned into the decoration, “feel free to arrange and style the room any way you want, it is a personal space just for you. While your friend, Fluttershy, has her room here on the main floor, yours is on the second floor. I’m still working just what your duties here will be, besides the obvious, so you have a few days to settle in and make your personal space homier. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the establishment, the lounge is open to you and where you will be able to socialize with other employees.”

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Zecora looked around the room she was placed in, the room was the first place she went after leaving Sphinx’s office, it was as barren as she thought but more spacious than she anticipated. The entire room, excluding the private washroom, was almost twice the size of her little hut, a hut that had taken her days to build properly. There was a large bed (easily enough space for 3 or 4 ponies to share with a bit of room to spare), some sort of purple crystal for entertainment or communication purposes on the wall, a white bedside table with a lamp on both sides of the bed, and the whole scheme for the floor and walls and ceiling was a very bland and basic white. There was a note on the closer bedside table stating she could arrange things however she wanted but changing the walls and ceiling and floor would require written approval from Sphinx herself.

The washroom was surprisingly spacious, the room was maybe a quarter the size of her hut, with a toilet, sink, tub/shower, and fresh towels on a very bland-looking counter the sink was part of. The sink and toilet were clean and shiny porcelain and the spigot of the sink and tub were shiny chrome, as was the showerhead. Honestly speaking, this was a pretty daring display of modern innovation, but it all felt so lifeless to Zecora, she wanted her living space to feel, if not look, very much alive. The real problem would be getting her personal effects to the place, even if it was for a few days.

After taking a look around the room, and making a few notes on what she needed to get to bring to decorate her space at the establishment, Zecora made her way down to the employee lounge. It took her a few minutes, mostly because she was unfamiliar with the establishment and had to check her door a half dozen times to make sure it was properly locked, but Zecora made it down to the employee lounge.

When Zecora arrived at the lounge Celano, the bustiest parrot the zebra mare had ever encountered, greeted her. The white parrot was definitely an oddity to see, mostly because parrots were uncommon to pretty rare outside of tropical regions.

“What will it be for you, sugar,” said Celano with a wink.

“Something to relax the mind and calm the hand, this place is a bit more than I thought anyone could have planned.”

“Yeah, I had similar thoughts when I came to work here,” said Celano as she began mixing something up, “the little pirate-themed bar I was working at went under a few years ago, something about the mayor at the time making a decree about dismantling any establishment that glorified known criminals. And unfortunately, pirates are known criminals. But then Sphinx, the owner of this place, gave me a generous job offer just as I was afraid my personal finances were about to go under, I took up her offer intending to only be at it a few months and now I’m a loyal employee that really can’t think of working anywhere else.”

“I see, but why would she wish to hire me?”

“My guess, the exotic factor, hardly any place in the country has a place you can actually interact with a zebra. Your breed is hard to come by in this country. Although, you aren’t quite eye candy yet, not that I mind.”

“I did notice that all those in this establishment’s employ have features that could make almost anypony wish to cry out ahoy.”

“Nice little nautical joke there, you would have probably fit in with a few of the groups I spent my time with before being employed here.” The white parrot passed her something pink that smelled of citrus and palms.

Zecora accepted her drink and sipped at it slowly, looking about as she did so. She noticed little things, like some of the staff looked eerily similar to one another, only with slight differences to keep the casual, or likely drunk, observer from noticing as they looked about. “I must say, I did not think I would see duplicates so early this day,” said Zecora as she set her beverage down for a moment.

“That would be Chrysalis’s hive,” said Celano, “I don’t know how, but the boss managed to get a changeling queen in her employ, which includes all of that queen’s subordinates. As you can imagine, Chrysalis isn’t very happy about having to be subordinate to anyone. On the upside, some of her subordinates are a bit happier about the situation, a few are even acting a bit more independent than the others.”

Zecora looked to the busty bird bartender in surprise, she had heard rumors about changelings and their hives but every tale she heard had dismissed something like that as old tales from ponies that likely got a little too drunk. To hear someone just casually say that there was a changeling hive working in plain view was quite the surprise. Zecora had to know how this came to be, and Celano was a good place to start, at least for now. While carefully sipping her drink she thought of how to approach the subject, then just decided to go with a general curious question. Chances are she would get what Celano knew the subject, which would probably be mostly rumors circulated among the staff.

“So tell me,” said Zecora, “how did this come to be?”

“Sphinx, our illustrious employer,” said Celano, “didn’t give too many details when I asked about the subject. All she said was Chrysalis lost the game. Chrysalis and Umbra both complain about losing their bets with Sphinx. It seems Sphinx likes playing games with stakes to them, which is probably why she seems at home in places like casinos, and if you lose the bet to her she makes sure the full letter of the agreement is held to until the terms of the agreement have been met. I had a minor wager with her a few months ago, nothing serious, just bet I could make a better tasting cocktail from random ingredients than her by the end of the day, if I won she would give me every drink recipe she knows, if she won she got to,” the parrot gestured at her figure, “I lost, of course, but she at least admitted it was a close game, the final drink she made felt like I was floating in a pool of crystal clear water on the best day of the year. I think she was just being nice.”

Zecora blinked a bit at the busty bird, she knew sphinxes were notorious for their puzzles, it was something that practically everypony knew, but to think the one sphinx she actually had the experience to meet actually reveled in her puzzle-like games was more than enough of a warning to her to keep from hopefully get further caught in her new employer’s trap. She decided to head back to her room and change out. “Our employer decided you will train me on what is needed,” she gestured to the drink mixing equipment, “and then I will be doing so alone after the appropriate knowledge within my mind has been seeded.”

“Something tells me they’re going to like your manner of speech,” said Celano with amusement.

With that Zecora put her glass on the counter and made her way back to her room. Once back in her room, the zebra mare found a package on the bed with not that just said it was her new outfit. She had a feeling something like this would happen. Zecora opened the pack to reveal a torso leotard with fishnet stockings that went all the way up her legs when she put them on, and a pair of short black high heels. The zebra mare put on the outfit after triple-checking that all her room’s locks were properly set. After she put on the outfit she marveled at how well it fit her, but the chest area felt a little loose, for a short time anyway. About a minute after she had the outfit on she felt her bosom grow to somewhere around thirty-five percent bigger than when she had gotten back to her room. She suddenly recalled a comment by Sphinx during their initial conversation. On her way back down she felt her plot, of all things, also increase but it also was toning as it grew and she moved. She would have to check a mirror when she got the time to see just what happened to her rear.

Author's Note

So yeah, Zecora has joined the cast.