Talons and Lace

The first thing Black Lace realised when she awoke the next morning was that, for the first time in a long time, she was not alone in her bed. The second thing that occurred to her was that she wasn’t ‘alone’, with a male.

Yes, she had woke up in the past to find either Sandstorm or Broadside in her bed – or she in theirs – but those times had been due to them having a sleepover in each other’s houses.

The third thing that struck her, quite literally, in this case, was the ten inches of griffon cock that was nudging into her back. Carefully rolling over so as not to disturb the sleeping griffon too much, the unicorn caught sight of her first ever morning wood.

While she did miss the comfort provided by his wing being draped over her and the warmth of his body pressed in behind her, she didn’t regret her choice now she was staring at his rock hard ten inch shaft. Mesmerised by it, she decided to take the initiative and she reached out with a sock clad hoof.

Devoid of the pony who had been warming his front, Artur rolled to his back and lay with his leonine legs splayed open and his erection on even greater display. After a few more moments of the sock clad hoof stroking him, he cracked open a green eye and whispered, “Enjoying yourself? I am.”

“Good morning, Master,” Black Lace smiled and blushed a beautiful deep red at being ‘caught’. “I felt you, poking at my back and wondered what it was,” she was still stroking up and down with her forehoof as she spoke, “Is um...is this okay?”

“Didn't have a clue, did you, Filigree?” he asked with a casual smirk.

“Um…” the unicorn’s hoof paused in her task at mid mast on the griffon’s throbbing shaft, “no, I didn’t. This is my first time waking up not alone. I thought I’d, I mean, I wanted to do something nice for you.”

Artur couldn’t resist a tease. “And I thought you were close to the two pegasi you called last night?”

Kneeling at her Master’s side on the bed, Black Lace gave him a little eye roll, as well as a snort of breath through her nose. “I meant ‘not alone’ with a male. Uh, am I doing this right?” she asked, indicating what her hoof was doing.

“I’m not complaining,” grinned Artur, but he had a rather better idea for their morning fun. “Last night you rode me. I think this morning, I'll ride you.”

“I'd like that, Master!” the words were out of Black Lace’s mouth before she realised what she’d said. Momentarily, she flicked her dark blue eyes to from the griffon’s face to his cock and back again. “Should I um...lick it, first?” she asked, recalling what usually happened in her best friends’ dirty movies.

“Another time,” Artur said as he rolled up to his paws and claws. Reaching out for his pony, he gripped, lifted and flipped the unicorn over onto her belly like she weighed nothing. His action earned him a ‘yeep’ of surprise from the mare. Leaning in, he nudged apart her labia with bridge of his beak and deftly used his tongue to check her for wetness.

Effortlessly flipped over like she was nothing, Black Lace instantly hiked her black tail up and out the way, resting it over her back like she was in heat. Head down, her rear was lifted slightly when one of the hotel room’s pillows was slid under her belly. Artur was pleased to see his pony was very wet from just one lick.

Artur positioned himself behind her and in one smooth motion, he mounted and penetrated Black Lace and didn’t stop until his fur touched hers. The low moan of pleasure she made was music to his ears. His clawed hands gripped her cutie marks with just enough force that he didn’t add more scars to her body, and he calmly sawed himself in and out of her sopping wet tunnel.

At around ten minutes of being slowly but relentlessly made love to, Black Lace began to pant hard, her breathing quickly becoming haggard as she neared her orgasm. “Oh…ooh I-I'm g-gonna cum!” she gasped, however instead of continuing and pushing her over her edge, Artur lowered his left claw to her large jiggling teat and pinched at her nipple. “Oow! Wh-Wha...” she whined, the sharp pain serving to pour cold water on her and putting the orgasm out of her mind. “Master!”

The smirk on Artur’s face practically split his face in half. Calmly, he resumed his sedate pace, happy to plow her with no hurry. “Twitchy Claw syndrome,” he offered by way of an explanation.

“Uh uh…” Black Lace wasn’t buying it, but she was hardly in a position to argue, since almost all her focus was on the slow pleasure building again in her dripping core. It only took seven minutes for her to be panting and drooling. “M-Master, I'm gonna!” she didn’t finish, instead she felt her pussy clench around his shaft.

Artur felt it too. The muscular walls tightened and spasmed, a sure tell she was very close. This time, the claw that had pinched her nipple instead reached forwards and flicked her nose. “Aah oow!” she yelped, the unexpected pain dousing her fire even as he was stoking it yet again.

This third time, Artur was ready for his own climax, and so he picked up the pace. What had been sedate thrusts with all the urgency of a glacier became stronger and faster by the second. At five minutes, he was plowing her face first into the footboard of the bed. Beneath him, Black Lace was panting and moaning like she had Ran the Leaves through the orchards of her uncle’s farm. “Master please!” she begged pitifully, “Please can I cum, please?”

Above her, the dominant griffon said nothing. The only sounds coming from him were the repeated slapping and clapping of thighs meeting ass over and over again, combined with the slick squelching of cock thrusting hard into its pussy. It was a lewd soundtrack to start the morning with.

Artur didn’t stop her the third time he felt her clench and tighten around him. He liked to play with his prey, but he wasn’t a cruel Master. When she threw her head back, he gripped her black mane and pulled hard as he thrust into her like a jackhammer. When she screamed at the top of her lungs he swore he could hear her mind snap. Filigree felt like she had lost her mind when she finally got to orgasm after the rounds of denial. “Th-Thank you Master!”

Artur kept up his grip and only released her mane when he felt himself begin to soften inside her. Only then did he pull out, after making sure his hot seed wasn’t going to leak out of his pony. “Now, you can clean me up.”

“Yes Master,” Filigree turned on the bed and she snuffled her snout into Artur’s messy shaft and balls, licking up from the base all the way to the tip. While she was obviously inexperienced, she was nothing if not very enthusiastic. In the process of cleaning him, she ended up with a generous amount of his seed smeared on her muzzle. Before she could finish her task, he lifted up her muzzle for a lick. “You do taste nice, my pet.”

Filigree giggled at that, because she could smell his musk and his seed seeping into the fur on her face and around her muzzle. It marked her just as assuredly as his claws and talons had done the previous night. Once she was done and he was clean, she sat up on her haunches. “You were doing a training thing then, weren't you?”

Artur chuckled. Everything he did to her and for her was a training thing. Instead of pointing that out, he instead inclined his head to his clever pet. “Training, testing, finding your tolerances.”

“I think I felt my brain moving on that last one,” Filigree giggled and as she stretched her legs on the bed, she realised something had changed. She didn’t think of herself as Black Lace. She hadn’t thought of herself as Black Lace. She was Filigree. Was it during the orgasm denial, or had it been when she was cleaning her Master? She wasn’t sure. But there was no doubt in her mind who she was. Then, her eyes wide. “Oh, I need to call ma and pa, let them know I'm alright!”

“Sit at the table,” Artur pointed to the table in the corner of the hotel room by the large window that, once he had pulled apart the curtains, flooded the room with summer sunshine. “I'll order breakfast from the room service.”

Doing as she was told, Filigree went and sat on the closest of the two seating pads to the window. She felt energised by the warm sun. While she dialled, Artur was pleased to see, as he called the room service, that she hadn’t tried to clean herself up. She definitely wore a ‘just fucked’ look. It suited her.

On the third ring, the face of a middle aged sky blue pegasus mare filled the screen, her round pleasant face all dimples and dark blue freckles. “Heya sweetie!” Rainblossom waved a hoof at her daughter, “How's the big city?”

“It's great ma,” Filigree replied, only then realising what she looked like. By then it was too late. She was just glad her mother couldn’t smell her. “Where's pa?”

“Oh, he's had to go take a junior squad on a training run to water the south farmers’ fields. So,” Rainblossom had picked up immediately on the slight change in her daughter’s voice. The different way she held herself. To her it was like talking to a different pony. Not bad, just different. “Do you have something to tell your ma?”

“Um, maybe?” Filigree wasn’t expecting to be put on blast like that so quickly. Not that she was going to lie.

“Sandstorm and Broadside both told me you had some big news when I saw them earlier.” Rainblossom had tried to get more from the giggling sisters, but they had insisted she get it from the source.

“Oh, did they?”

“Tell your old ma.”

Filigree opened her mouth and then what felt like her life history fell out all at once. “I met a griffon dominant called Ironclaw at a coffee shop,” once she started speaking, she couldn’t stop. “I call him Master now, and we went to a fetish club last night and he named me Filigree and then we did it in my hotel room and now I don't know what to do because I'm confused at it's all hurting my head!”

Processing all of that, Rainblossom blinked several times to give her brain time to work. Her filly had said it all very fast, like she was tearing a band aid off. “Is he there with you now, sweetie?” she asked, the mother in her kicking into high gear.

As luck would have it, the griffon had just finished with the order to the room service. He set the phone down and went to sit on the vacant pad next to his pony. “I'm here ma'am. Artur, of house Ironclaw, at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh my…” Rainblossom had to fan herself with a wing when she saw the tall powerfully built griffon move into the camera’s range and sit before her. She smiled and batted her eyes at him while her daughter rode out her freak out. “You are the one my daughter calls Master?”

“I am,” he answered simply as he began to stroke Filigree’s black mane with his right claw. He appreciated the middle aged mare on the camera. It was instantly clear to him exactly where his pony had inherited her much larger than average crotch boob size.

“Then could you please calm your pony?” asked Rainblossom, taking the unusual situation wholly in her stride, “Then we can talk properly.” While spoke, she watched him stroke the unicorn’s mane and her coat, all the time talking softly straight in her ear. When she saw her daughter visibly calm, she continued, “honey, what's wrong?”

“Master named me Filigree, and I like it, I really like it! I want to be her, it feels so good when I am, like I have no worries, no confusion, I can just be! But I can't, I have to be Black Lace and...”

“Honey,” mother gently interrupted her daughter’s growing tirade before it could get out of control, “do you remember your grandpa? Tell me about him.”

“Grandpa?” Filigree blinked at the sudden topic change. On her phone’s camera, her mother nodded. “Um, grandpa, when he got old, he thought he was Admiral Fairyflight.”

“And what did we do?”

“We called him that,” Filigree replied, her dark blue eyes misting ever so slightly when she remembered her grandpa Soaring Wings. “We accepted it, and we made sure Admiral Fairyflight was safe and happy until he passed.”

“So why is this any different, honey?”

“But I'm not...” Filigree found it was hard to concentrate on whatever she was – or wasn’t – thanks to Artur’s dextrous claw slowly stroking her fur all the way down her back in one smooth motion.

“Old, mentally impaired?” said Rainblossom kindly, “No you aren't. But you are upset, and you are having a crisis. Listen to me, Filigree, whatever your name, I am your mother, and you are still my precious filly. Okay, honey?”

“But ma...I really like being Filigree...what if I... what if...” the unicorn broke down into quiet sobbing tears even as Artur continued to gentle her with the long, slow motions of his clawed hand.

“What if you want to embrace her?” Rainblossom watched Black Lace – no, she mentally chastised herself for her error – she watched Filigree nod her head. “Then you embrace her, sweetie.”

“But she's not Black Lace, and...my business...”

“Oh, honey, becoming Filigree doesn't stop you making clothes!” Rainblossom desperately wanted to hold and hug her filly, and she was pleased her Master was there to do it for her. “Remember your nanna? Tell me about your nanna, sweetie.”

“When grandpa Soaring Wings became Admiral Fairyflight, nanna Sweet Cloud went and changed her name to Summer Breeze.” Filigree remembered. The simple act of kindness from her nanna helped keep her frail grandpa happy even as his condition got worse.

“And after grandpa died?”

“She kept her name as Summer Breeze, but...”

“And was she any less your nanna?” asked Rainblossom rhetorically, already knowing the answer. “Of course she wasn't. Filigree, you are simply a pony starting something big and new in her life. What you are feeling is perfectly normal. Mr Artur,” she decided to finally address the hunk of a griffon when her daughter was at last calmed and gentled to the point her eyes were closed and she was leaning heavily on his right side, “you are an honourable griffon?”

“My honour is my life.”

“Then, I can trust that my filly is in good claws?” Rainblossom smiled widely at the image of Filigree leaning into the claw that was stroking her from her withers all the way to her croup.

“Claws, yes.” Artur couldn’t keep the twinkle of mischief from his piercing green eyes. “Good is dependent on how naughty this filly is.”

Rainblossom giggled at that, and at the utterly contented mare at his side making the happy little cooing noises with her eyes closed. “She can be quite wilful. Just a warning. May I ask, why Filigree?”

Artur took a long moment to consider that himself. “Filigree is fine ornamental open work which can be made of lace. She is fine, and I hope a bit more than just ornamental. Time will tell.”

If it was possible, Rainblossom’s smile got even wider. “I'd ask her what she thinks, but I think it's obvious she's into you, Mr Artur. And I do understand. We have a griffon on our bridge team. We watched her do the same thing with her stallion lover last year.”

Storing that snippet away, Artur was satisfied that was the reason Filigree’s mother wasn’t freaking out about the huge change in her daughter’s life, or that he was the cause of it. That she had a knowledge of the process made things easier, for all parties. “I will help her in rebranding her image as Filigree Fashions. We are going to one of the main designers downtown today. I have some experience with her.”

“You have my support and my blessing, Mr Artur, and I know Merry will say the same when I see him.”

“I thank you for that, ma’am.” Artur grinned. It was easy to like this mare. She was down to earth, considering she was a pegasus. It was clear to him that she didn’t let things phase her, that she took things in her stride. Most of all she was calm and showed him and his pony their due. “It is difficult to make it out your way, but there is a fishing conference in Vanhoover. I shall take time to visit.”

“That would be real nice, and you would be an honoured guest in our home, Mr Artur. But, if you've tamed her and named her already, then wouldn't it be easier for Filigree to stay there with you?”

Artur couldn’t help his sharp green eyes narrowing. The feathers at the back of his neck bristled. A warning, one he didn’t ignore. “Did you learn of griffon culture from Filigree, or from your bridge player?” he wasn’t sure if he was being played or not.

“Silverhawk, Mr Artur. She's a ruthless bridge player and a wonderful dom to her submissive stallion. Filigree made him the loveliest dress to wear. It was strange to see at first, yes, but that was a year ago now.”

“I'm not in Griffonstone, ma’am.” Artur searched the older mare’s face. That he couldn’t see any guile or deception didn’t mean it wasn’t there. But this mare didn’t seem like the cheap players he had encountered at Trixie’s Place. The feathers at his neck lowered slightly. “I have tamed her, but she is wilful, as you say. I have named her, so that she might learn her place. While I will claim her, I will not own her. She shall be trained, and she can tell you about it when she returns to you.”

Rainblossom’s smile faded ever so slightly. For the first time during the call, the mare looked all of her forty two years. The change emphasised the lines on her pleasant face and made her look older. “Truth, Mr Artur.” She said simply, “we were hoping she would find the patron she's looking for and remain in Manehatten. Whinnyapolis is for farmers. Filigree is no farmer. Fashion is as foreign a language here as Prench or Neighponese.”

“Quite blunt, ma'am.” He cast a glance to Filigree, wanting her reaction to what her mother had just said. However, there wasn’t any. He returned his attention to the mare on the screen. He recognised open honesty when he saw it, and his respect for her increased by several degrees.

“We're water suppliers to the farmers. We live simply and talk straight.” Rainblossom paused long enough for Filigree to let out a pleasured moan before she continued, “If she stays in Whinnyapolis, she will stagnate. She won't fulfil her dream, and to see her talent wasted making farm workwear would just break my heart.”

Artur believed her. “Time will tell, ma’am.” He gave the older mare a polite nod of his head. “For now, we need to move on. It was a pleasure to talk with you.”

“And to you, Mr Artur. Clear horizons to you both.”

Once the video call had been disconnected, Artur pulled back and slipped off the seating pad, creating some distance between himself and his pony. His green eyes narrowed dangerously. “I will not be manipulated, Filigree.”

At last, the white unicorn opened her eyes, mostly because the calming stroking motions had stopped and partly due to the sharp edge in his deep rumbling voice. “Wh-What?” she blinked like she was waking up, “I'm not...I wasn't, I haven’t…I've never manipulated anything!”

Artur was inclined to believe her. After all, she had already showed him her true self. That was why he had tamed her in the first place. But, he’d had his feathers burned before. “What of the mantra you, and now your mother, said? Tame, Name, Claim.”

“What of it?” Filigree wasn’t scared by his narrow eyed stare. She stood up on the seating pad, hopped off and marched up to his much taller front and stared him down. “My griffon knowledge comes from Ms Silverhawk. Twice weekly she meets my ma and pa on my uncle Cornflower’s farm, and they drink and play bridge all night long. She uses her stallion as a seat, and as a maid, if she chooses to. I got curious about the whole thing, and she loves to talk about Griffonstone and griffons. Like, seriously she won’t shut up once she starts. I suppose she filled my head all up with griffon. Made it all sound romantic. I won't lie, I wanted what they have.”

For a few moments longer, Artur held the narrowed stare, until it was clear she wasn’t going to shy away from him or babble out senseless pleas of forgiveness. His pony had courage and nerve, as well as an honesty he couldn’t help but believe. His stare softened, a smile appeared on his beak and affectionately he stroked her back. “Use caution before you hit me with any more of what you think is griffon law,” he advised her gently, “I am the Master here.” A fact he reminded her of with a flex of his talons on her cutie marks. “Now, what do you have to show Coco? We will see her before she opens the store.”

“Oh, yes! My work!” Filigree lit her horn and levitated over a large wheeled suitcase, which was easily as big as she was. Her magic peeled open the top, revealing the inside was split into three vertical compartments with a hanger rail running the length. From the first, she floated out a set of workwear that consisted of dungarees and a shirt. From the second compartment, she took a simple but elegant black dress with silver highlights. Holding the two different outfits, she turned to the bed.

Since she had left open the case, Artur leant in, his curiosity getting the better of him. Looking past the clothes, his attention was drawn to the third compartment. There, was stored a whole host of kinky sex toys. He was pleased, if perhaps surprised, to see the collection included an eight inch remote dildo, a six inch remote butt plug, a wide O and bright red ball gags, a black blindfold, a tail raiser, a complete set of hoof cuffs with variable chain, different lengths of ropes and several quick release locks. “I don't think I've seen that line in her store.”

“What?” setting down the chosen outfits, Filigree turned and looked where her Master was pointing. “Oh. Oh those. Well, a mare's got needs, ya know? I thought I'd be taking care of myself while I was here.”

“Free time is over,” Artur announced simply, before he started to walk to the hotel room door without looking back. “Let's go.”

“Got it, Master!” cheerfully, Filigree used her magic to fold up the workwear and the dress and place them into her saddlebags, which she then set on her back after dressing herself in a simple green dress and socks.

Once she was ready, Artur led his charge out of the hotel and to the subway, which he took all the way to Times Square. There, he made sure to get a monthly pass for Filigree. After that, the destination was the stop near Rarity’s Recreations.

“Wow!” Filigree breathed as she set hoof on the sidewalk, “Coco Pommel!” she was finding it hard to believe she was going to meet one of her fashion heroes. “Okay,” she told herself, “I can do this!”

Artur laughed, while the unicorn giggled nervously at his side. “Plaid Stripes is a good fashion mare. She serves the common pony as she says. Affordable. Coco is where most of the herd shop, then again, they are not a poor bunch. You saw what Mapper and Serenity were wearing.”

“Yeah. I did see,” Filigree blushed noticeably as she cast her mind back to the frankly amazing outfits the two unicorns had been wearing the night before. Doubt assailed her mind. “But, my stuff's good too!”

The griffon chose not to say anything to that, instead he led her on a two block walk until he passed the front of the shop and around to the side, where he knocked on a closed door. “Okay. I can do this, I can do this!” she spoke more to herself than to her partner, though she did lean heavily into his side, amazed that she wasn’t trembling with nerves.

A moment later, the door opened to reveal a brown earth pony stallion. “Can I help you?”

“Is Coco in?” asked Artur, marshalling his pony at his side.

“You have an appointment?” the earth pony asked, looking the two over impassively.

“I was with Mapper last night, and I'm a friend of the herd.” Artur stated, as if he was showing his credentials, “She introduced me to this unicorn, Filigree, though she may know her as Black Lace, of Whinnyapolis.”

The earth pony stallion looked solemnly from mare to griffon and then, he obviously made up his mind everything was on the up and up. “You may wait inside, and I'll see if she will see you.”

As they walked in, side by side, Filigree took several long, deep breathes to try and keep her nerves in check. She barely succeeded. They ended up in a small delivery room with two doors out and no seating pads. The pony who greeted them went out the door opposite the one they had entered by. “You have nothing to say?”

“Lots!” filigree squeaked in response to the griffon’s slightly amused question. “But...nerves! Many nerves. I'm focusing on not making an ass of myself. This is like going to that club last night, but times a hundred!”

The earth pony returned a few moments later. “You may wait in the reception area. She will see you in fifteen minutes.” With that, the two followed the stallion’s bright red tail into another room. “My name is Silk Rose. I'll bring refreshment for you.” He then left out another door, leaving them alone in a room with a few scattered seating pads, two low tables, and several ponykins with nothing on them.

“I'm in Coco Pommel's shop!” Filigree couldn’t help but let out a loud squee. “I'm going to meet Coco Pommel! Oh...” she performed a happy four hoof dance, “Oh my!” Artur said nothing, he simply pointed to the empty ponykins, and to his wrist. “Oh right. My work! I should get them ready!” she levitated out the workwear first and dressed one of the ponykins, making sure it was set just right, before doing the same with the black dress.

Fussing with the finer details of the dress, Filigree just managed to get her arrangements done with barely a minute to spare. In fact, she just finished pulling up the last of the socks on the one with the dress when the door opened and in walked Silk Rose followed by Coco Pommel! “Hello Artur,” she greeted him with a pleasant smile, “You’re not a fashion griffon, if I remember. As for you,” she cast a look at the unicorn, “I can only see that you entered. Are you a friend of the herd too?”

“He-Heya ma'am, I...” Filigree struggled to keep her rampant nerves under control, but it wasn’t easy. She was talking to one of the top fashion ponies in the country! Her! “I know Airmail, a-and last night I met Mapper and... ooh boy, Serenity too!”

“She is good at name dropping,” Artur stepped forward and, with a roll of his eyes, he stroked his fretting pony’s back, “but she is not a friend of the herd. I will be taking her to the fun night later tonight.”

That caught Coco’s attention. “Oh, so she is into that?” It wasn’t surprising, really. That whole game was the herd’s schtick. Curious as to the garments on her ponykins, she stepped up to inspect them. She looked over the workwear clothing. “Not high fashion, but it looks durable. Whinnyapolis farmers?”

“Yes ma'am,” Filigree puffed out her chest, proud of her work. “I made the linen with flax, spun through with orchard orb weaver spider thread. For the durability.”

“Hm, I believe flax in that area is readily available,” commented Coco as she ran a hoof over the shirt and dungarees. She could feel the texture of the fabric in her hooves, as well as something else. She assumed it was the spider thread. “Pretty exact in processing. How did you get spiders to assist you?”

“Flax is the waste product of the farming process,” began Filigree was justifiably proud of the way she used what was a waste product in her clothing, something that would have just been tossed away. “And, I get the spiders to assist, because my shop is in a barn on my uncle's farm. Which is crawling with them. They keep down the other pests, and I get their thread.”

Nodding, Coco moved over to the other ponykin, her sharp eye for detail lighting up when she saw the dress. “And this?”

“I make this for fun. Same process with making the linen, along with the spider thread. I just added a few extra steps in processing the flax. Makes finery that's as durable and tough as work wear.”

“Wait,” Coco paused, her hoof stroking the fine black dress with its silver threaded highlights. It was hard to believe this was made of the same fabric as the workwear. “You used flax in this too?”

“Yes ma'am. I use it in everything I make. It's che...” Filigree paused and blushed, catching herself in mid flow, “I mean, affordable.”

Coco’s laugh was bright, and it lit up the room. “Inexpensive, is the word you’re looking for, dear. Now, Silk here told me your name is Filigree?”

“Yes ma'am. Formerly Black Lace. I'm attending the expo.”

Coco nodded, her mind casting back over the forms she’d witnessed. “I looked at the entry list, which is how I found Black Lace.” As one of the ‘leading the way’ designers, she was playing co-host along with Rarity.

“She wishes to rebrand from her home town boutique of Lace for Grace to Filigree's Fashions. May I ask a personal question?” asked Artur, who hadn’t stopped stroking his pony’s back.

“You may,” Coco said, her attention solely on the fine work that had gone into the dress, “but I reserve the right to not answer.”

Filigree looked from her Master to Coco, who felt her heart beating like a cannon now that she wasn’t speaking. “This mare is thinking of moving to Manehatten. How much did this location cost you?” he rather hated having to pour cold reality on his pony, but she had to hear this.

“Personal indeed,” Coco considered the question, and didn’t see any reason to not answer. “I did buy it fifteen years ago, for eighty million bits. It’ll be paid off soon. I could turn it around right now, for two hundred million bits today.”

Hearing that, Filigree’s dark blue eyes went impossibly wide, her pupils reduced to tiny pinpricks. Her jaw hung so low that it scraped the floor. “H-Ho-How m-much...” she couldn’t process it. It was way too much. It had cost her a whole year's money just to attend the two week expo and the one week vacation.

“When Rarity bought the shop up on Saddle Row for Plaid,” continued Coco, “she paid six million bits. Quite the steal. Now it would sell for thirty million bits.”

“I-I…I-I work in a barn…” Filigree stammered and dropped her rear heavily onto the floor.

“Rarity For You is just the ground floor of a three story building?” asked Artur, and when Coco nodded, he resumed the stroking of his pony’s back. “Any suggestions for this farmgirl to make it in the big city?”

“Stay away from Manehatten,” said Coco quickly turning away from the ponykin and the dress. “She's a unicorn and you're a griffon, so I'd avoid the Broncs. As a unicorn, she'd fit in to Celestia, but a shop like Plaid’s would be about fifteen million. Brooks would work, but it’s far out from downtown. Still maybe four to six million. Cheaper closer to the wharf. Stallion Island is good, but farthest out. I think they only have big box stores like Marecy’s. Still around four to six million depending on location.”

“Wharf? Why would it be cheaper there?” Filigree had almost recovered from the sustained heavy fire of the impossibly big numbers to make her brain work.

At that, Coco and Artur both laughed, “I'm sure you've made the trip to Vanhoover?” asked the earth pony.

Filigree shook her head, looking down at her hooves as she spoke. “This is my first time outside Whinnyapolis.” The clawed hand stroking her back didn’t seem to be having much of an effect anymore.

“On your way back, jump off at Vanhoover just to experience Cannery Row.” Coco smirked, knowing full well why the area was so much cheaper than the others. It was something one had to experience it for themselves.

“I'm taking her to Brooks, so she can experience it there,” grinned Artur, and Coco nodded in response. “Why Stallion Island is nice. North side is the cheapest. I'd say nothing further south and Scoops place. Good ice cream that.”

“Yeah,” Filigree simply sat where she was and stroked one hoof along the other foreleg. She couldn’t help wondering what in the wide world she was even doing there.

Coco recognised the tell-tale look of a pony shrinking into herself when she looked at Filigree. She’d seen it in herself way back when she’d been with Suri. “I'm guessing backers in Winny would be a problem? Are you willing to work for a named designer?”

“Backers?” Filigree almost laughed as she looked up from the floor, “I didn't know numbers went that high.” That said, she knew what she had to do, if she wanted to stand any kind of chance out here. “I can work for somepony else, ma'am.”

“Then do well at the show,” said Coco simply, like it was obvious. “You’ll need a good write up for your line. Eco friendly, Self-sustaining, things like that. When it’s your turn you can have up to twelve models. You have enough items? Both of these that you brought will do well.”

“Yes ma'am, I have more like these in my hotel room. Bridles and corsets as well as socks, dresses and dungarees.”

“Working for somepony else will mean an internship. Mine was a mess with Suri Polomare,” Coco’s eyes went hard for a brief moment. Her own disaster had been decades ago, and it still stung her. “Not all are like that. You will put together their designs for four to eight months. Then they will give you display space for your own work. After Suri, I interned for Rarity and here I am today.”

“I know your story ma'am,” replied Filigree, “it's been printed in Vogue and Cosmarepolitan at least three times.” She let out a sigh, “I'll do whatever I need to, work under whoever. I know I'm not gonna have my own place out here.”

“Yet,” amended Coco gently. “I was five years before I got this place. Of course, I did have backers.”

“Well pet,” Artur hadn’t stopped stroking his pony’s back, offering reassurance and comfort along with the harsh dose of reality. “Do you know what your challenges are?”

“My challenges?” Filigree snorted, “No backers, no bits, and I don't exist outside of a nowhere town in nowhere, Equestria.”

“Going to give up on your dream?”

‘Why shouldn't I give up?’ Filigree thought to herself, ‘I can't do this! I don't belong here! I don't even belong in this store!’ Just as she was going to say that out loud, she thought of her mother, and of her grandmother. She thought of what she had told Mapper the day before. She didn’t like to lose. “No,” she answered, “Not give up. Just...change it. I won't have my own store yet, but I will.”

“Self-doubt will be your end,” Coco smiled warmly, then she checked the time and sighed. She could have talked to this mare all day, but work called to her. “I have a store to open. Silk will assist you out the back. I wish you well.”

After Filigree thanked Coco for her time, Silk Rose cleaned up the refreshments while the unicorn put away her samples back in her saddlebags. When they were ready, the earth pony escorted them both out of the back door. Outside, surrounded by all the towering buildings and skyscrapers, the small town mare felt like everything was three times bigger while she was absolutely microscopic.

Without a word, Artur led Filigree around to the front of the store that had just opened and in through the doors. The unicorn only realised she was in the same store when the door closed behind her. “Well hello Artur,” Silk Rose beamed a knowing smile, “that was quick.”

“I'm in need of earrings,” Artur grinned and shared the joke with the salespony. “I’d rather shop here than over at Barnyard Bargains.” At the griffon’s side, Filigree was only vaguely aware what was going on. Her mind was still elsewhere.

Silk Rose showed off a variety of earrings from a case he lifted down. Artur spent a good few moments choosing. This was after all important to him. Finally, he saw what he wanted. They were shaped like little corsets, and they came in a variety of colours. “The blue ones,” he smiled, recalling she wore blue the night before. “She just needs one, but I'll buy the pair so she can change them out.”

‘Come on, Fili, get your bucking head up!’ Filigree chastised herself and she shook her head hard, forcing herself to stand up straighter, hold her head up higher and get her mind back where it should be. “Thank you, Master.”

Artur held out the corset earring in the palm of his claw. “Put it on.” He watched her take the offering in her dark blue magical aura and float it up to the piercing made at the top of her left ear.

“That takes care of ‘tamed’,” Artur smirked, then he reached out with his other clawed hand and gently he lifted up her chin until she was looking him in the eyes. The other claw grasped her ear and held it firm. Then, his beak opened, he leant in, and the sharp tip created the second piercing.

With the second piercing taken care of, Artur licked the blood from his beak and turned back to the selection of earrings. This time he chose ones in the shape of a lace heart. “Thank you, Mr Rose.” The griffon then led his pony along to the counter where the earth pony rang up the bill. As far as he was concerned, it was one hundred and sixty bits well spent. With a cheerful ‘thank you for shopping at Rarity’s Recreations’, he led the way back outside into the now midday sun.

“Thank you, Master, for the earrings,” Filigree had lowered her head, she couldn’t help getting the ‘everything's very big and she's tiny’ feeling again.

“I live in this city,” Artur said over his shoulder to her as he crossed the street and headed to the subway stop. “Let the facts sink in, and then overcome them.”

“I get it, I really do,” she let out a sigh that came from the depths of her hooves, “I just...I didn't realise how out of my depth I really am.”

Casting a glance over his shoulder at her, he felt a degree of sympathy for her plight. “You jumped in what you thought was another pond. Turned out to be the ocean.” Once upon a time, it had been him who was new in a big, strange and sometimes hostile city. “Now, we go to Brooks.”

“Yeah,” Filigree forced her head up and a smile onto her face. It was a 'not to be defeated' kind of look, but it was there, nonetheless. Even so, she walked very close to Artur's side. His body heat went a long way to calming her. “Brooks.” She forced her brain to work, “The wharf's out that way?”

“Very good, pet.” Artur took the few seconds to give his pony a caress of her cheek and a warm smile. “Now put your earring in while we wait for the subway car. Brooks is a nice mixed pony neighbourhood. There is a small griffon enclave. Mostly fishing boats. Cargo port is outside the city.”

“You work out of the wharf, right?” Filigree waited until they were at the station to magically insert the lace earring into the piercing her Master’s beak had created. “I remember you saying when we walked to that club.” When they were on the train, seated side by side, she said, “I really should thank you. I needed that reality check.”

“You also needed to know it can be overcome, my pet.” Artur didn’t mind that the unicorn took the window seat. “Plaid did, as did Coco. Filigree can do it too. Location is the challenge for you. Tonight, you will see Stallion Island.”

Relaxing into the seat, Filigree lightly rested her head on her impossibly strong griffon’s shoulder. It felt good there, like it was where it belonged. “You didn't have to be so brutal with it though,” she chuckled softly, adding a little nuzzle.

“It seemed an inhibitor was the simplest way,” Artur commented with a tiny shrug of his shoulders. He was careful the shrug wasn’t so forceful that it dislodged his pony’s head from its current perch.

Filigree couldn’t help but giggle, all the while making sure her head stayed where it was. “It’s okay. I needed it to be brutal. I've always been a ‘rip off the band-aid’ type of pony.”

“I'll be sure to remember that, my lovely pet.” For an instant, Artur had an image of his unicorn restrained and helpless, her body covered in band-aids. The image was completed when he saw himself ripping off each and every one, taking white fur with it and making her scream so loud and so often it was like he was playing her like she was an instrument. “Of course, you validated the last thing I remembered.”

“Oh?”

“A box display against a window.”

For a very quick moment, Filigree moved her head and looked up at Artur, though from her angle she only got a side look at his face. She tried to be serious, but her expression devolved into a grin. “I very nearly said ‘Stitch’ when you had me in that coffin pressed up against the glass.”

Artur laughed, his deep rumbling laugh matching his voice. The closeness his pet was achieving with him was a little disconcerting, but he didn’t have the heart to push her away. “With that magical burst you made, I didn't think you were thinking at all. You chose fight over flight, and it was delicious!”

“Lucky me, I remembered I was a unicorn!” the white mare joined in the laughter, only too happy to snuggle herself into the fur of his legs. She missed the tension in his body. “The look on your face when I turned and faced you. Totally worth these scars and a sore, aching back.”

“It was a worthy kick,” Artur stroked his pony’s withers and shoulder with his powerful brown / grey wing. “Others taught me that grabbing the horn will paralyze a unicorn for a few seconds. Long enough for a wing sweep.”

“Well, they weren't wrong.” Filigree couldn’t really argue the opposite, when that exact thing had happened. “And it's nice to know my Equido lessons weren't totally wasted.” She giggled, “The best bit was when you gentled me in the showers. The way you washed and brushed my mane and coat...the way you spoke to me while you were doing it. You made me feel like the only mare there.”

“It's called 'aftercare', my dear.” Artur rolled his piercing green eyes, though it was a playful expression. “Still, I made you walk to the doc pony and to the showers.”

“I know what it's called,” Filigree giggle-sighed. “You tested my spirit and then you brushed my mane and my coat until your arm ached.” She didn’t say the rest of what she wanted to. It wasn’t necessary. They both knew what the griffon had done was way above just ‘aftercare’. Instead of saying it, she angled her head up and kissed Artur's feathered cheek.

That simple act left Artur uncharacteristically flustered. He was accustomed to dominating mares, but this…he was starting to actually care for her, beyond his duties as a dominant. This was territory he hadn’t tread in two years. Not since ‘her’. “We change trains here to go south,” he said curtly, “North is the Broncs. Been a while since a unicorn was accepted in there.”

Next to him, Filigree noted the abrupt change of subject, and the change in the griffon’s tone, but she just filed it away for later. She got the idea this wasn’t the best time to pry. Not that it was any of her business. “Doesn't sound like a friendly place.”

“Zebras are a clannish lot,” explained Artur, who was happy to replace his wing around the mare’s shoulder. It felt good there. Like it belonged. Maybe this wasn’t so bad to take a gamble on, after all. “Celestia is full of unicorns, but mostly the spoiled rich youth that like to mess with zebras. Caffy from the coffee shop will tell you the same. We will pass through Celestia on the way to Brooks. As long as I'm a tourist, they tolerate me there.”

“This is all very new and strange,” Filigree looked out of the window at the passing scenery, “Sounds like creatures stick to their lanes.”

“Stallion Island, Manehatten, and Brooks are a montage of ponies. For non-ponies, we sort of stay in our little neighbourhoods.” Artur smiled at the warmth her body gave him in the huddle. “It makes services a lot easier, like food and such.”

As he held her close to him, and as she snuggled against his fur and feathers, Artur was reminded yet again that his little Filigree was not ‘her’. She was worthy of him.