[Ozzy’s POV, 10:00 a.m.]

It’s been two weeks since my meeting with Claire. When the three of us got back into our daily work routine, it felt like things were going back to normal, yet slightly different than what I was used to.

Shining and I started our workout routines the second day back into work, and I gotta say, she does not fool around when it comes to exercises. She wakes me up around five in the morning to start off and warm up with a jog around the neighborhood, and it was tough keeping up with her pace. After that, we go to the gym two to three times a week where she doesn’t hold back on the training like she did the first time we did it together.

Afterwards, we take quick shower to clean off all the sweat and make breakfast (and I mean an actual one since Shining and I only got through our routines with two slices of toast and juice in our system). Meanwhile, Fleur does her yoga routines while we are gone, and some mornings she joins us on the morning jog as well.

Once we eat and clean ourselves, we finally start off the work day. I’d like to say those went back to their usual busy days, but something was off about them from what I was used to seeing. For starters, at every place we visited, some of the ponies who saw me on the news broadcast came up and gave their condolences, which was mostly mares, plus one or two stallions. I thanked them, said I was fine, and it died down after a while, but I noticed when I start getting into more of a conversation with the mares specifically, Shining or Fleur at one point would come into the conversation as well before they would remind me it was time to move on to our next appointment or something else.

Speaking of the girls, they’ve acted kind of strangely since we got back into our work routines. For example, though it was still embarrassing to see Fleur pose in the nude in some photo shoots (that I try not to pay too much mind to), I couldn’t help but think that the way she did some of them was more arousing than usual. It was like even though she knows she’s being watched by who knows how many ponies in the room, she took it no mind and did her all like she wanted to be ogled at. I knew it was part of her job as a supermodel, but I still respected her too much that I would try to turn away and work on my usual secretary stuff.

Shining, on the other hand, was practically glued to my side almost all the time. She minds the space, sure, but except for going to the bathroom and grabbing a snack or two, she would be next to me almost anywhere I went. On the bright side, she’s doing better being with stallions than when we started. We also came up with a new system that wasn’t as awkward as the tail tugs for when she does get snippy with them. Every time she lashed out at a stallion, she’d have to do three push-ups when we were done with work for the day, plus two for every time she talked back at me. Over the past two weeks, she had only done eleven in total, which was pretty good progress.

Finally, there was the frequent sleeping together in bed. I didn’t mind it, but at one point it went from asking me to sleep with them for some reason, to just let them come to bed without asking questions. All three of us weren’t always in the same bed of course. Some nights it was just one of the two that shared a bed with me, while on rare occasions I’d have the bed to myself for once, which, quite strangely, I didn’t really like all that much.

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention my appointments with Dr. Mindset and a checkup from Princess Luna in my dreams from time to time. Some nights I had a nightmare that was either about Mascara being even more aggressive towards me than what I experienced before, or my brother Robert, which dwindled down from physical attacks towards me to just verbal abuse. From what Luna told me after she broke through my nightmare the first time, it made her trips in my dreams much easier. We talked through my experiences with Robert and Mascara before she gave me advice and left. When I woke up the morning after, I sometimes found myself in a cold sweat. The girls, unfortunately, were also awakened by not only the dampness, but also my mumbling and moving around in my sleep. I explained to them later that I was fine after Luna came around to help me, but they were still concerned.

When I told Dr. Mindset about this along with my emotional state, he prescribed me antidepressants to see if it would help me find some path to my recovery. I’ll admit, it wasn’t the first time I took this type of medication, as I did the same thing back on Earth before the nightmares died down; it was only then did I decided to stop using them.

It’s been a couple days since I’ve started taking the meds again, and they’ve helped me while not making me feel as sluggish as the meds from earth did. After the breakfast the three of us had together, I downed a pill with water, whose effects would last throughout the day.

“How are those meds treating you so far, Ozzy?” Shining asked.

“Pretty good so far,” I answered. “I haven’t gotten any nightmares since then, but we’ll have to see how often they’ll come up now.”

“At least we have a few days off for some rest,” Fleur said as she stretched. “Honestly, I feel like I’m working myself to the bone here. I wonder what—“

Suddenly a ringtone interrupted Fleur before she picked up her phone. “Oh! It’s Toffee! Hold on a moment. Hello? Good morning to you too! How’s your vacation going? Uh huh? You’ve got special news for us?”

I think I know what that is.

“Alright, when?” Fleur continued. “Okay! We’ll meet you at the station by then. Have a safe trip back, bye!” She then ended the call before she turned to us with a big grin on her face. “Bubbles and Toffee are coming back from their vacation with big news today!”

“Didn’t they say they were going to be gone for a week?” Shining asked. “I mean it’s been well over past that by now.”

“She said they had to extend their stay for something important,” Fleur said. “Maybe that will be explained once they come around?”

“When will they get here?” I asked.

“They’ll be back at 4:15 today,” she answered. “We’ll have to make time to meet them later today. Other than that, what should we—”

Another ringtone interrupted Fleur before I realized it was my phone making the noise. I picked up the phone, and saw from the caller I.D. that it was Claire. “Excuse me for a sec. Hello?”

“Morning, Ozzy,” Claire said. “Sorry I hadn’t called in a while. I’ve been packed with work to get ready for the Wonderbolts next show in Fillydelphia.”

“It’s fine. Things have been pretty busy on my end too, and it’s probably why we take so long to answer texts,” I said.

“Definitely. Anyway, I was wondering if you have any plans for today?” she asked. “I’d like to have lunch with you and the girls to see how things are going. Spitfire and Soarin want to come along too, if you accept.”

“Give me a sec.” I covered the mic end of the phone before turning to the girls. “It’s Claire. She wants to know if we could join her, Spitfire, and Soarin for lunch today. How about it?”

The girls raised an eyebrow before they looked at each other for a moment. They nodded and turned back to me. “Yes, I think that sounds just fine,” Shining answered.

“Alright, looks like we’re in,” I answered to Claire.

“Great! How about we meet up at Figaro’s Pizza around 1:00?” Claire asked.

“Sounds good. We’ll see you later then. Bye.”

“Bye Ozzy.”

I hung up the phone and turned to the girls. “We’re meeting them in Figaro’s Pizza at 1:00.”

“That should leave us plenty of time to meet up with Bubbles and Toffee after that. That means we have the morning to ourselves today, so…” Fleur held up one finger and glanced around the room for a moment before sighing a breath. “So what do you think we should—”

Once again, Fleur was interrupted by a ringtone, which was Shining’s this time. “OH COME ON!”

“Huh, it’s from Fancy this time,” Shining said before putting it up to her ear. “Hello? I’m doing well, how about you? Yes, Fleur and Ozzy are with me at her house right now. Okay, I’ll put you on speaker.” She pushed a button on her phone and held it out. “You’re on.”

“Good morning, Fleury and Oz,” Fancy greeted.

“Morning Fancy,” Fleur and I said in synch.

“I apologize for interrupting your morning, but I am calling to report some good news and bad news.”

Oh boy, that’s never a good sign.

“What’s the good news?” Fleur asked.

“The good news is that the surveillance I assigned to protect you from you-know-who have reported that there have been no signs of him doing suspicious activity around the area since they have started watching,” Fancy explained.

“Huh, I forgot that we were actually being watched,” I said. “They must be really good if I didn’t notice them in the past few weeks.”

“They are our finest thanks to Bubbles’ leadership,” Fancy said. “The bad news, however, is that I need to attend a charity event in Baltimare that will be in a few days, and I will need some of my best security to escort me there. I will still leave one of them to look after you until I am done, but this means the area of surveillance will be much smaller for a few days. I figured I should let you know so you are aware of the situation.”

“Hmm… Well, I guess it can’t be helped,” Fleur said. “I think we should be fine though if there haven’t been any sightings of him so far, and the decreased surveillance will be temporary, correct?”

“Indeed. I will be out of town for about a week before I return, if my trip goes accordingly and without interruption,” he said. “I appreciate your understanding, Fleury, but I must ask, how long do you think you will need the protection? If he is not spotted later on, then I would like to think he has finally moved on and we can get through our lives with greater ease.”

“What do you think, you two?” Fleur asked as she looked up at us.

“Extra security is fine, but if he comes up unexpected with something bad, he’s gonna get more of a beating than I gave him the last time we met,” Shining said as she popped her knuckles.

“I think I’ve gotten better in holding myself up in a fight with Shining’s help,” I said. “If she isn’t around when something bad happens, I’ll be sure to protect you the best I can.”

“And though I think I’ve learned enough magic to fend for myself, I could always look up some new spells to learn to gain an advantage,” Fleur said before she looked back down to Shining’s phone. “Let’s keep the security up until after the trial with Mascara, and I think we should do fine on our own. Would that work for you, Fancy?”

“That will do just fine,” Fancy answered. “You be sure to let me know if there are any emergencies at hand, and I will respond as fast as possible.”

“Of course. Thanks for letting us know, Fancy,” Shining said.

“My pleasure. I should prepare myself for the trip, but I will let you know when I return. Oh! And I heard Bubbles and Toffee are coming back from Manehattan today, correct?”

“Yes, we’re going to meet them at the station later today,” Fleur answered.

“Marvelous! Let them know I said hello, and I again pass along my sincerest congratulations, will you? That goes for you too, Shining. Ta-ta for now,” Fancy said before a beep from Shining’s phone came after.

Shining and Fleur looked at each other with a raised eyebrow. “Congratulations? What did he mean by that?” the former asked.

I know what he meant by the first one, but I’m drawing a blank for the second one. Guess we’ll have to see what that is later on.

“Well if there’s nothing else that comes to mind,” Fleur said in a louder volume, paused, and glanced around the room once more. “What should we do for the rest of the morning? YES!” She fist pumped in the air after finally getting her question around without interruption.

I checked my time and found that it was 10:30. “We’ve only got a few hours before we meet up with Claire and the others for lunch.” I looked up for a moment to think about what we could do. I suddenly realized how hot and stuffy the room was even though we were still in the first week of June. I looked outside to the back yard and saw the swimming pool that seemed clean enough to go for a dip.

The girls noticed where I was looking before they followed my gaze to the pool’s direction. They then looked at each other where Fleur had half-lidded eyes with a wide grin while I saw a few beads of sweat forming on Shining’s brow.

“Nope. Nu uh. None of that. Zip. Nada. I don’t even have a swimsuit back home!” Shining said.

“I do~,” Fleur sang. “I’ve been saving it for a special occasion such as this, and it’s in your size as well.”

“Please tell me it’s just a one-piece,” Shining said.

“Nope, it’s two.”

“Then I’m not going. You know how I am with… well,” she pointed at her stomach with folded ears.

I gotta admit, that has to be hard for Shining with that in mind. Getting uncomfortable from being stared at for that would be normal for anyone.

“Oh relax, it would only be the three of us,” Fleur said. “Ozzy and I have already seen it at least once, and it doesn’t affect your appearance in the slightest. Right, Ozzy?”

The first image that came to mind after hearing that was the time Shining walked in on me naked back in Manehattan while I was shaving. Seeing her body revealed like that for the first time was something I didn’t think would happen at all, and I was definitely telling the truth about her appearance while we cleared the air afterwards. My face couldn’t help but warm up from the thought before I looked to the side while scratching my head. “R-right. You still looked pretty amazing.”

“And if that doesn’t convince you, think about it like this,” Fleur said before she came up to Shining’s ear to whisper something. From how flushed Shining’s cheeks were, I could only guess she was hearing something vulgar before she shuffled in place before looking down.

“W-well… when you put it that way, I guess it couldn’t hurt to see what you got for me,” Shining said.

“Splendid! Then let’s rinse down and change before we head on in, shall we? We’ll see you in a bit, Ozzy,” Fleur said. She then pulled Shining upstairs to her room while I followed to get to mine.

I went to the bathroom after I grabbed my swim trunks and took a quick shower. I then went to the swimming pool with my phone and a clean towel in hand once I was ready to go. I set my towel and phone to the side before I sat on one of the available chairs to wait for the girls. I was curious to see what the girls had to wear, so I was still wearing my glasses to get a clear view before I jumped in the water.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!” Fleur’s voice called. When she strode out of her house with her own towel, her fur, mane, and tail were slightly damp from the shower she took earlier, but what was eye-catching was the pale, light-pink bikini set. That was what I thought before upon closer inspection there were two shades of pink that matched her mane and tail in a stripe design. If that wasn’t surprising enough, the wow scale just exploded as she turned around like she usually did in her photo shoots. Instead of a triangle shaped cloth of fabric, I was met with strings that disappeared as they went down between her cheeks. They were also in a shade of white that matched Fleur’s fur, making it blend so well it looked like she wasn’t wearing anything at all. I could only guess whoever she modeled for in the past probably made that swimsuit custom for her as a thanks for her service. The only two words I could come up with to describe her look were the following:

Good. Lord.

“Come on, Shiny! It’s a nice day out!” Fleur said.

“Do I have to?” Shining whined. “I’m not so sure about this.”

“Oh hush, dearie, you look wonderful, and I’m sure Ozzy will say the same thing.”

Shining slowly stepped outside with a flushed face while glancing around her. Her expression at that moment, plus the colors from her damp mane, tail, and fur, contrasted with her black two-piece bikini set. Her top covered her chest well; however, with how big her breasts were, plus how she was holding onto her folded towel under them made them press together, there was a lot of cleavage to behold, making them appear slightly bigger. The little droplets from the shower she took also glimmered on her bosom, as if they were shown proudly in the sun’s rays even if Shining didn’t intend them to do it. When I looked down at her bottoms, I saw they were being held up by the strings tied to her sides. From the bottom of her belly button to her pelvis, a scar that was in a lighter shade of purple than her fur was also seen, but that didn’t change how stunning Shining looked in the slightest. In fact, I don’t think she, as well as any other ponies who turned her down to model for them in the past, has any idea how beautiful she truly is.

“I feel so… exposed,” Shining said as she looked to the side with ears folded while squeezing her arms and breasts tighter together. “I can’t believe there was a time I didn’t mind showing this much of myself to other ponies, and having it published to the media. Heh, my body must have been much better back then than it is now, huh?”

“No… You look much better now than you did back then.” Shining and Fleur flicked their heads towards me with widened eyes and perked ears. Realizing what I just said out of the blue and what was forming in my trunks from the sight, I did the most logical thing that came to mind to drastically change the subject…

SPLASH!

“Sweet mother of god this water’s cold!” I yelled after I poked my head out of the water’s surface. It wasn’t extremely cold really, but it was the drastic change from the hot summer air to the cool pool water that made me think so. That aside, my erection was quickly dying down while my nipples unfortunately hardened, making me try to cover them with my arm because of how perky and sensitive they looked. At least I took off my glasses before I jumped in though.

Shining looked down in the pool’s waters before she dipped one of her hooves in, causing her to shiver. “Sheesh, it is kind of cold. Has this pool been cleaned recently?”

“I have the maids check its pH levels while cleaning it once a week,” Fleur answered. “I remember they came by recently while we were gone, so it should be clean enough. In the meantime though…” Fleur made a wide smile before her horn glowed, an aura of the same color covered Shining before her glasses were lifted off of her muzzle.

“H-hey! What are you—AAAAH!”

SPLASH!

“Cannonball~!”

SPLASH!

The consecutive splashes hit me when the girls got in the water. Shining was the first to come up to spit out the water that got in her mouth while Fleur came after.

“Dammit, Fleur!” Shining said.

“Oh relax, you needed the dip to cool your pretty hot head down anyway,” Fleur said. She glanced towards me with half-lidded eyes and a smirk. “I’m sure Ozzy here needed to cool down from how sizzling we looked too.”

“Sh-shut up. You can’t prove that,” I defended.

“Oh don’t be embarrassed, Ozzy. It’s normal for stallions to be enamored so by a mare’s appearance, especially when it comes to me and my job. It’s also normal to get a rise from such a spectacle too, if you catch my drift.” Fleur winked before she submerged into the waters and just swam around on her own while Shining and I watched.

The two of us glanced at each other. “We’re gonna get back at her, right?” I asked.

“Oh we will, Ozzy. We most certainly will.” We snickered with wide grins on our faces as we watched Fleur swam without a care in the world, numerous plots of revenge swirled in our thoughts.

[12:00 p.m.]

We spent most of the time either swimming, bouncing a beach ball around, or sun bathing. Shining and I plotted our scheme against Fleur while she wasn’t around, and we came up with something truly delicious that will go into action later in the night.

“So we’re all good on the plan then?” Shining asked.

“Definitely. If what you said about her is true, then I’m definitely going to enjoy it,” I said. We lied back on some lounge chairs that were sitting around the pool as we soaked in the sun’s warm, energizing rays, hitting our damp bodies.

“Hey, Ozzy?”

“Hm?”

“When you said I looked much better now than I did back then, what did you mean by that?” I opened my eyes and glanced to where Shining sat. Her head was turned towards my direction while her expression looked patient, except in her pale-green eyes that were almost glowing.

“Um…” I looked up in the sky while I tried to visualize what Shining looked like when she first stepped out, keeping the blood from going anywhere near my pelvis at the same time. “Well, thinking back to how you looked in the magazines, it wasn’t just your appearance that was different compared to now.”

“How so?”

“How do I describe it? Though you looked attractive back then, I felt like I didn’t see you at the same time. It was like you were only worrying about showing the public what they want to see, and not care about who you really are. Seeing you now though? How we know each other aside, I feel like I’m seeing and talking to the actual Shining Star in person; the real one, and not the one the public and media sees. When I finally saw the real you, I realized how lucky I am to be friends with somepony so cool, smart, and beautiful as you are. Does that make sense?”

I moved my head back to Shining and saw how red she was before she quickly turned her back towards me. “Um… Yes, it does very much. It’s not that big of a deal, but thanks anyways.” Shining’s tail seemed to say otherwise from how frantically it wagged back and forth. In between her wagging, I saw how her black bikini bottoms were wedged up in her big, firm rear before she tentatively fixed them.

I smiled at Shining’s moment of shy cuteness before I looked back up to the sky.

Man, I must have it bad for her, huh? How crazy would a guy have to be to have a thing for his own manager? Fleur might as well be in the same boat too since she recommended me the job in the first place, and owns the house I’m staying in right now. Despite how things are right now with me and the Mascara thing, I still wonder how things would be if I was more than a friend with one of them; then again, I can’t choose which of them I want to go out with while hurting the other at the same time. Forming a herd’s out of the question since they’d rather have a stallion to themselves, and I don’t blame them based on all that they’ve been through. I’m not even sure how that would work out between the three of us either.

Do they really feel the way Claire described towards me? Telling her most of what we’ve done together through text was the only convenient way for us to communicate without the girls getting suspicious. How she explained it towards me somehow made sense, but I can’t really use that to prove the girls actually liked me that way, right? Ugh, if they just tell me straight up what’s going on with them, this wouldn’t be so frustrating to think over.

“Hey guys?” Fleur asked as she peeked out from the house. “We’ll need to get ready to go for lunch soon. It’s 12:15 already.”

“Alright, we’re coming,” I said as I got off the lounge chair before helping Shining up. The three of us then went inside to wash off the chlorine and prepare for lunch with Claire, Spitfire, and Soarin.

If Claire felt she was pressured by the girls the first time they met, I certainly hope things will turn out better this time than they did before.

Author's Notes:

Hope you guys liked the chapter. For those who have followed my blog posts, I did at first thought of putting the three in a beach chapter in during the bonus series, but then it came to me, "wait, but then we'd only see Shining in a one-piece." So I managed to squeeze this inside for the occasion. Now if I can just find the time to draw the girls in such bikinis. Maybe after finals are over perhaps. And maybe I'll still make a beach special in the bonus series sometime in the future anyway.

So how will lunch go for our protagonists? Where the heck is Solar Flare? What news does Toffee and Bubbles-oh wait, you already knew that, eh, whatever.

Timer update:

Trial with Mascara: 2 weeks

Fleur and Shining's next heat: Approximately 3-7 weeks

Until next time,

This is Dudeler, signing off.