Version: 3
Contains: nothing

The unicorn appeared as generic as they come. Tan coat and messy dark mane. A bit on the short side and clearly miserable as he stumbled into the tavern. Not many ponies came to the Screaming Goat at this hour. Too late for breakfast, too early for lunch. Not many ponies came to the Screaming Goat at this hour to order the strongest drink they had. The earth pony who owned the tavern, Steel Tack, blinked at the stallion. Yup, he was definitely a pony at the end of his rope. One large foaming ale coming right up.

Upscale chugged his drink as soon as it was plopped in front of him. He didn't even bother offering a thanks. He just seized the wooden mug and started gulping. It tasted okay, but it burned his throat. Strings of foam ran past his lips and dripped down his neck. He didn't notice. The mug clacked as he practically dropped it back on the counter. Resting on an elbow, the unicorn nearly smacked his muzzle on it next. His wild mane drooped over his face.

Steel Tack left him alone to wash dishes from the morning's breakfast rush. Other than him, there was only one other pony in the tavern. A mare who eyed Upscale curiously and pitifully. She approached him.

"This seat taken?"

Upscale glanced back. The mare was cute. Another unicorn. White coat and blood red mane. Black freckles. "Nah," he honked lazily.

The mare sat next to him while keeping her kind eyes trained on his. "My name is Rose. What's yours?"

Rose? That had to be the fakest name he'd ever heard. Peeking lower he spied her cutie mark. He blinked. It was a rose. Maybe it wasn't a fake name.

"Name's Upscale."

She smiled sadly. "So, why are you drinking this early in the day? That's more of a nighttime beverage you know."

Upscale tilted his mug, measuring the remaining drink by the height of the foam. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked bitterly. "I'm drinking away my failures."

The mare sighed. "You know, that doesn't really work. Your problems will still be there after the alcohol is done with you. Usually even worse than before too."

He growled. "It makes me feel better though."

She chuckled dryly at that. "What's wrong? Maybe I can help."

"What are you, a therapist?" he huffed.

"Kind of," she chirped.

Upscale quirked a brow at this Rose. The tavern master was still washing dishes and seemed utterly uninterested in the pair. "Do you work here?"

"Sort of," was her curt reply.

Upscale eyed her suspiciously for a moment as his brain worked. "Do you really care?"

"I care about everypony. Mostly the stallions though."

His eyes lit up with understanding. "You're a prostitute."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I never liked that term."

This time it was Upscale who chuckled dryly. "I know that feeling."

Rose's head tilted. "So why are you here? What happened?"

Upscale stared into his drink. Then he groaned in frustration. "My dream died."

"Every stallion who tries to drown himself in alcohol says that."

Upscale scoffed. "Yeah, well, that's what happened. I worked hard, saved my bits, tried to make it happen, and now it's dead!"

Rose glared at him. "Be more specific. What were you trying to do? What went wrong?"

Upscale sat up straight and licked his lips. Taking a deep breath he began to explain. "My special talent allows me to cast a growth spell on others. I can make giant ponies."

That was a unique talent. Rose glanced at his cutie mark. It was rather abstract. Just three slightly overlapping circles each a bit bigger than the previous. "Okay," she said, urging him to continue.

"I dreamed of a special kind of photography. Giant photography. Massive mares in sexy lingerie. The camera always pointed up their towering legs." Upscale's eyes turned dreamy, drifting toward the ceiling as he imagined it.

Rose blushed. "That certainly is a... unique fantasy," she admitted.

"I used all my savings to buy a good camera and place some ads. I just needed a model to get started." His expression turned dark and angry. "And not a mare in Canterlot is interested. So the dream is dead and I'm ruined."

Rose could feel the pain running off him. She placed a hoof on his shoulder as she tried to comfort him. "Maybe you're just going about this wrong."

"I know what I screwed up," he bit back. "The whole concept just doesn't have a place in this world."

"Why wouldn't it work? Is it because you're an unknown?" She was trying to avoid calling his dream strange. He'd probably gotten enough of that already.

He laughed. "That too, I guess. But there's more to it. What I'm really looking for doesn't exist. I need a hybrid of a model and a porn star."

"Okay, now I'm confused. Is there a difference between a model and a porn star?"

He laughed again. "Oh yes, a big one." At her continued confusion he went on. "A model is all about the clothing. The brand. She is a symbol of style and fashion. She has fame. But a porn star is all about her body. Her pose and what she isn't wearing. She has fans, but is hated by the world. A whore who sells her body rather than the clothes. Also, models are known beyond their fan base, but porn stars tend to have a shield of anonymity when they're in public. You don't know who they are unless you go looking for them. By then, you're probably a fan of that kind of thing anyway."

"Okay, I'm following so far," Rose encouraged. "How is your photography different though?"

"Let me answer that with a question. Where would you go to take pictures of a macro sized mare?"

Rose simply shook her head.

"Outside," Upscale said simply. "Porn stars always work indoors. On a set. Part of the anonymity of their work. But the only studio big enough to work with a giant pony is outside. Add to that the trouble of getting clothing that big and most of the shots are going to be of them nude and--"

"Wait," Rose cut it. "Why would it be hard to get your models clothes? Can't you grow--"

"Nope."

Rose stared. "You can't grow their clothes?"

"My talent only works on another's living body. Anything they're wearing would simply be shredded as they grew."

Rose slumped. "So you'd have to make clothing at scale."

"Expensive," he retorted. "Occasionally that might work, if we could get some sponsors. But for the first year at least, my model is going to be nude. And big. And outside. Where everypony in the area can look up at their... well, you know."

Upscale took a second big gulp of ale as his problem began to settle in Rose's mind.

Then he added more fuel to the disaster fire. "Any mare who works for me is going to be well known. Anywhere we go to do a shoot she's going to be big and attract an audience right there. Everypony is going to be looking up between her legs. All the notoriety of a super model and all of the shame of a porn star. Who wants that job?" Then he went for a third gulp of ale.

Rose felt like she had just been kicked by a mule. Her eyes lit up with excitement and an idea of her own. "What about a changeling?"

Upscale choked on his ale, coughing up a mouthful and beating on his chest several times. "Are you nuts!?" he barked.

"Changelings feed on love, right? For them, porn and modeling must be really attractive jobs. And they could obscure their identity after a shoot if they really needed to."

Upscale stared at her for a moment. "So?"

"And you'd only need one model. As a changeling, they could look like any other mare you could ever want or need for your shoots. No worrying about getting other models."

"Well... yeah, that would be extra nice. There's just one small detail you seem to be overlooking."

"What's that?" she asked innocently.

He leaned in and hissed. "Changelings are criminals. Did you forget they stormed the capital only three months ago?"

She blushed and looked away. "Yeah, I know. The guard hunt them constantly."

He rolled his eyes. "Why would you even suggest that?"

"Because I know where to find one."

Upscale was about to take another swig of his drink, but froze. His neck creaked as he turned towards her. "You do? That's impossible."

She grinned slyly at him. "I think... I think I have an offer to make you Mr. Upscale."

His eyes were the size of saucers. There was no way. It couldn't be! Was his dream about to be salvaged at the last moment? "Are you a...?"

Rose's horn flashed green, vanishing for a moment. Then there was another green flash and her horn was back. She smirked. "Do we have a deal, Mr. Upscale?"

He continued to stare. Then he gave the surrounding tavern a quick glance. At some point the owner had snuck away and left them alone. He turned back to her and bit his lip. "You'd work with me?"

"Mr. Upscale, will you keep my secret?"

The stallion hesitated for a moment. Then swallowed. "You're a changeling. You're willing to be my model? To be grown to giant sizes and have pictures taken to publish and sell?"

"And save your dream," she added.

Upscale was not a criminal. Definitely a pervert, but he wasn't a criminal. Equestria wanted changelings out of the country. Period. If he worked with Rose he'd have to keep her true identity to himself. Could he betray his country like that?

"A trade. Your fantasy for my secret. What do you say?"

Realization shot through Upscale. She'd worked in this tavern as a prostitute and some kind of therapist to get love. To feed herself. Now she was latching on to his crazy idea because it had potential for her. Love in the form of lust wherever she went. A porn star everypony knew as soon as they saw her. She wasn't just doing this to be nice. It really was an exchange. A classic deal with the devil.

He grit his teeth. This was the last chance for his dream. And what a last chance it was. If he could trust her not to empty his soul like a juice box and disappear into the night, a changeling model was the wet dream of every photographer ever. Their shapeshifting powers could make any fantasy a reality. And here was a changeling, who seemed nice enough, offering him access to her powers. Her one-of-a-kind powers. That any other artist would kill for.

That evil smile she was wearing made him uncomfortable though.

"You're not going to... do anything to me, are you?"

"Other than get you hard during shooting?" she asked with a touch of sass.

For the first time since they started talking, he blushed. "And you're okay with me ogling you?"

She snorted. "I already sell my body here on a regular basis. If you only want to look, that's fine with me."

His ears shot up. "You mean we could... you'd let me with you?"

Rose hummed. "You have to pay for my services, and if I become a bit of a celebrity in the near future, those prices might just be going up soon."

Upscale groaned. "You'd be working for me though."

She giggled. "Really? The only terms of my employment were haggling over is whether you get free sex?"

He stuttered. "Well it's better to negotiate that than whether I should turn you in."

"And lose your dream. Forever." Her confident grin only seemed to deepen.

Upscale tensed. She was right. His voice quivered as he replied. "What do you want?"

Rose giggled again. "Half the profits, and in exchange, I'll be an obedient model who will sleep with you whenever you need it."

Upscale was about to object. Half the profits was insane. But she had him cornered. His dream needed her, working with her made him a criminal, and he couldn't deny it had been a while since he had sex. With a sigh, he relented. "You have a deal, Miss Rose. I'll keep your secret if you'll pose for me."

Her smile dropped its sinister quality, becoming genuine and friendly as she offered a hoof to shake. "Great! I can't wait to get started." Then she suddenly turned nervous. "Though I think you should know one thing: I've never modeled before. I think I'm going to need some guidance on that."

"Sure... partner," Upscale said hesitantly as they shook hooves.

Author's Note

*Behind the Scenes*

This story is HEAVILY inspired by a series of macro pony pictures by NCMares. However, after reviewing his gallery on deviantart... I'm not seeing the pictures I have in my archive from years ago attributed to him. I don't know what to make of that. Anyway, the three are of Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack posing as macros in some pretty sexy lingerie for Photo Finish. Though I have deviated from the story of those images in 3 ways.

1) No Photo Finish. I did not want to deal with her character. Her personality, as seen in the show, was just annoying. Ripping my own eyes out with a spoon would be preferable to working with her for any length of time. So I decided to go with an OC who would also supply the growth spell. Which was convenient because I want to keep the cast of characters in the story as low as possible. I did not need a powerful unicorn mage like Twilight herself to explain how Upscale was making his models giant. He just does it himself. Which sort of makes sense, it is the dream of a pony growing up that shapes their cutie mark and talent.

2) No mane 6. I have plans in that regard, but I didn't want to limit myself to the cast of the show. I want to give myself as much wiggle room as possible.

3) A changeling as the model. How do you keep your cast of characters as tight as possible while also giving yourself the room to place ANY pony you could ever want as the macro? A changeling, duh.

This introduction went through a major change before arriving in its current form. In the first version I tried to have "Rose" (if that is her real name which I honestly haven't decided yet) keep her changeling identity a secret from Upscale. Then I realized I really needed her to reveal it. If she doesn't, how can Upscale make use of her transformation powers to get pictures of other macro mares? Secondly, by revealing it, she makes him a co-conspirator. He needs her to get his business started, but once it does, he can't turn her in without admitting he helped her. He's effectively locked into their partnership.

I hope that made sense in the story itself and that this re-explanation wasn't actually necessary. I also hope that Upscale's emotional tug-of-war comes across in the story. He NEEDS her, but is also afraid of her. Though, this isn't a story about two business partners waiting to stab each other in the back (Rose draining him or Upscale turning her in). This is the story of their cooperation. The mistakes and struggles and whatnot. This is a fetish story first and foremost. And no, my long-term plans for this work are very limited. That's why I'm trying to give myself lots of wiggle room. Don't want to box myself in later.