“I swear Spike! You’re going to get fat if you keep doing this!” Rarity complained as she trotted through ponyville, her ‘coltfriend’ for lack of a better term for him, following with a full sized cart hitched up to his rather slim waist, which secretly drove Rarity insane. No stallion, whether pony or dragon, had any right to be so svelte yet athletic as her handsome drake was after his growth spurt.

“I’m sorry Rares. You know I have to eat more now that I’m bigger. And I guess my stomach was bigger than my eyes again….” Spike sheepishly apologized to his marefriend for eating her stores of gems. Again. “It’s either that, or I start hunting in the Everfree, and Twilight’s too worried about me to let me, while Fluttershy would rather I not out of principal.”

“Well tell Twilight to let you off her leash for a bit, that’s my job now. And as for Fluttershy, she knows predation is natural and should be able to accept your primarily carnivorous diet since she’s a friend.” Rarity stressed to her beloved dragon. She loved him, truly, but there came a point where being a doormat was more a nuisance than an endearing trait, she was trying to instill that in him now that her charming drake was reasonably mature enough for their relationship.

“I understand. I’ll tell my mother-figure to stop nagging at me when I’m still living under her, and tell my oversensitive recluse friend to ignore her calling just for me.” Spike sniped with bitter sarcasm, making Rarity flinch at remembering that Spike, while a very kind and caring soul, was very vicious when it came to defending things he cared about. When asked if he’d kill somepony endangering what he cherishes, he instantly said he would.

Rarity found that hot, not that she’d admit it since such a thing should be left to the realms of her trashy romance novels. She’d rather her Spikey Wikey never sully his claws or teeth with the blood of another. Well, any blood but hers if she could get him into some rougher role-play later in their relationship once they’re comfortable with the idea of sex, and then willing to experiment.

“Fine, if I must, then I will be the one to broach the issues with them. Spike, we simply cannot afford your diet. I know I get my gems from local veins so the gems themselves are free, but the time spent getting more eats into the time I could be filling orders.” Rarity insisted, and Spike sighed smoke out of his nose, which made Rarity’s tail flick. For some reason, his smoke tasted and smelled like cherries to her, when to everypony else it was just smoke.

“Okay, I’ll deal with it Rarity. Just please tell me if I get blood or...mess, somewhere on me I don’t notice if I’m going to start hunting.” Spike compromised, and Rarity looked a little ill, but if it meant her future lover was going to be more sustainable, it was a worthwhile tradeoff.

“Just be sure to coordinate with Zecora dear. I’m more than sure she’d appreciate someone helping her out with her own hunts for ingredients and such. Oh, and it may be risky, but please see if she can’t make rugs, leather or whatnot from the pelts of your kills. My more risque and daring customers have started asking for, ahem, ‘articles’ comprised of genuine leather, and fur.” Rarity blushed a bit, and Spike smirked knowingly at his marefriend.

“Oh? Has our...relationship, drawn peculiar eyes?” Spike asked teasingly, and Rarity practically bounced a bit at his tone, he knew his voice drove her mad, so he took every chance to use it to excite her. Also, when excited, Rarity smelled good in a way that just made him happy.

“Yes, actually. I’ve had some customers asking if you...shed.” Rarity hinted, and Spike stuck out his tongue.

“Eugh, really? Ponies want to wear my dead scales? I know I’m good looking, but geez. Lay off the purple ponies.” Spike was hamming it up, he personally found the idea appealing. Perhaps it was his draconic vanity, but he found the idea of ponies wanting to wear his abandoned scales as a point of pride. Sure, he didn’t shed regularly enough for it to matter, but ever since his growth spurt, he’d had to scratch and peel off a layer of dead scales at least once a month. Damn dragon puberty….

“Yes, which is why I’ve been keeping your sheddings. I was just waiting to get the nerve to broach the topic, and since we’re already talking so seriously….” Rarity admitted, and Spike felt an unusual amount of pride that his marefriend kept those husks he’d tossed in her fabric wastebin, not that he planned this mind you….

“Go ahead Rarity. Just be sure not to let anypony demand more when there isn’t any to be had. I will not let anyone but you claim ownership of my body without your leave.” Spike stated, getting Rarity to feel flush, she loved when he was so possessive over her.

“Oh~ I’ll make sure of that.” Rarity preened as the couple realized in their conversing, they’d arrived at their destination; the barren dirt flats east of Ponyville near Rambling Rock Ridge which bordered the north edge of the Everfree. “Well, we’re here. This place grows gems so quickly I’m surprised gem farmers haven’t moved in.”

“Uh, Rarity? Remember the Diamond Dog girls we met awhile back after that Nuada guy first showed up?” Spike asked rhetorically, and his marefriend gagged.

“Ugh, those unwashed ladies were so uncouth. They had wonderful taste in gems though, but amulets, rings and belts can only help so much without bathing.” Rarity complained about their encounter with the ‘varmints’ that Applejack had asked for help convincing that the male ‘stud’ that Winona had told them about wasn’t there anymore. “Not to mention they were so crass. I understand that a lady has urges, but they shouldn’t try to all jump some poor dog just because he’s attractive.”

“We’re digging on their land.” Spike pointed out blandly, getting Rarity to blink, and then groan as she warily looked around the empty landscape.

“Oh dear...I hope they didn’t hear my rather rude words just now….” Rarity meekly whispered. “Oh~ but there’s a commission at risk here! Sapphire Shores put that order in before I knew you’d gone and eaten all my gems again!”

“Geez, I’m sorry. Look, just start scanning and I’ll dig them up milady. Besides killing, crafting and writing, that’s what these were made for.” Spike boasted as he held up his claws, flexing the powerful muscles there and along his forelegs/arms made Rarity shudder, he loved how watching almost any part of him ripple enticed her.

“Yes, certainly.” Rarity replied as she composed herself, stupid sexy Spike…. “Hm, I sense some around this way….” Rarity mused as her horn shimmered the same moderate azure as her eyes with one of her signature spells. As a pony whose Talent was actually the finding, appraisal and use of gems, this gem-finding spell was something she developed herself out of instinct. As she told Bronze so long ago, Fashion was her Passion, her Talent was just worked into it.

“Anything yet precious?” Spike asked her as he followed the intensely focused mare. While she may not like getting dirty, when she was out gem-hunting, she was so in her element she would only notice the dirt after finding her target.

“No...for some reason all the surface gems seem to be gone for the next several hundred yards….” Rarity replied with a sad tone. “Oh dear, I had no clue we were over-harvesting. It could take months before new gems grow here. If we want to get our gems Spike, I’m afraid we’ll have to go deeper.”

“Uh, Rarity, that involves dirt. Everywhere. And since this is the DIamond Dog’s home, then we’d be breaking into their cave system and stealing their gems.” Spike informed, and the mare looked even more distraught, and about to go into one of her dramatic crying fits, when it was prevented by some approaching figures that they turned around to see was three male Diamond Dogs in various sizes from a hulking brute to a foal-sized one, each wore gem-studded collars, but also wore open vests, the mid-sized one’s red vest was a good contrast. “Uh...can we help you?”

“Rover thinks so. Rover also thinks dogs can help pony and dragon.” The mid-sized one, apparently named Rover if their familiarity with Trixie’s third-pony speech was any indicator. “Rover hear pony and dragon need gems? Dogs need gems too. But having trouble finding fresh veins while depleted ones regrow.” Rover informed, and Rarity, ever the businessmare, realized what the dog was indicating.

“You wish for us to help you find new veins, and we’ll split the harvest?” Rarity asked, and the dogs all looked at the fierce and scary dragon who was bigger than even Brutus, the big one of the three, and they gulped.

“Y-yes. Rover is saying such. Come to main entrance, dragon too big for dog-holes.” Rover insisted before the three took off towards the cliffs of Rambling Rock Ridge proper, and the couple looked at each other warily, but both figured that if the dogs tried anything, Spike was more than enough dragon to handle some mutts.

[@]

“Over here!” Rarity gushed in excitement, she was covered in dirt, dust, and mud, and seemed happier than a foal on their birthday. “Oh! Here, here, and here too!” Rarity was on a spree, finding gems left and right that the dogs missed and had also avoided digging into some of those areas since they didn’t want to waste time and resources bracing an area if there were no gems, but with Rarity, the dogs were able to commit their building expertise to bracing the den in those areas so they could dig more gems.

“Rarity, I...think we’ve got all the gems we needed!” Spike insisted, worriedly watching his usually prim and proper marefriend seem to go into a frenzy at finding so many gems, and the dogs so equally gleefully digging them up, heaping half of the take in one pile and half in the other. Spike had stopped digging himself when he noticed how big the piles had gotten, and had been trying to beseech his mare to stop, but his words fell on deaf ears.

“Why stop? Rover swears if too much we keep for pony and dragon’s next trip.” Rover insisted, clearly just half of the take was more than these dogs had gotten in awhile.

“Look, I’m a dragon, and I know what Greed and Hoarding does to my species. I don’t want to know what will happen if a pony falls too into it.” Spike growled, getting Rover to whimper and the drake moved to his mare, grabbing her and hugging her to her confusion.

“Um...Spike? I appreciate the hug, but what’s the occasion?” Rarity asked, before noticing how dirty she was. “Ew! I’m coated in filth! Take us home Spike, I need two showers and a spa date!”

“There’s the mare I love.” Spike sighed in relief that she wasn’t so absorbed in her mining frenzy that she considered it more important than her appearance. “But look at all the gems, I’ll have to make multiple trips to get that to the boutique.” Spike pointed out the two enormous piles, just one clearly too many gems to store in her basement.

“Oh...dear. Um, sorry about the little unladylike behavior boys and girls. I have no clue what use you could have for so many gems.” Rarity apologized to the dogs, who all howled and cheered at her, getting her to blush. “Oh, or you appreciated that?”

“Pony is silly. Not understand that you help dogs?” Rover asked as he held up a ruby set with silver from his pocket. “Dogs passively feed off ambient magics gems give. Makes eating a luxury for dogs than a necessity.” Rover informed, and when Rarity examined the ruby with her magic, she found that it was drawing in magic from the area, and from there, it trickled into Rover like a siphon.

“Oh, I’m so pleased then to have been of aid.” Rarity beamed, she then considered something. “Say, why do you need so many though? Is one not enough to keep a dog nourished?”

“Only special, prepared gems like Rover’s Ruby last many lifetimes. Normal gems only last week at best. Then dogs sell depleted gems to gem market for bits to buy things for den. But depleted gems worth less, so dogs keep life simple.” Rover clarified, and Rarity smiled.

“Then we will come by at least once a month and build up your gem reserves, so long as we can take a share.” Rarity offered, and the dogs all cheered and praised her, making her ego and joy inflate, and Spike snorted before hitching to his cart the dogs had started loading.

“Alright, that’s enough, if we need more we’ll come back for another load whenever, just keep those gems separate from your food stores.” Spike said after the cart was loaded, and the dogs all happily waved them goodbye as Spike strode up the main entrance of the cave and Rarity rested contently on his back. “Can we still not afford my gem diet?”

“No Spike.”

“Awww….”

[@]

The next day, Rarity had finished Sapphire Shores’ dress orders, and was looking forward to her spa date with Fluttershy. Today, since Spike was supposed to cut back on the gems, he had gone into the Everfree to meet with Zecora and go hunting, meaning he wouldn’t be getting his scales polished. As much as Rarity enjoyed when his scales were a lustrous shine, she was secretly glad for him to miss a spa date since she noticed how much Aloe appreciated her dragon’s form, and while not one to admit it, Rarity was very jealous that anypony would even consider approaching her dragon besides her.

“Ah, hello Fluttershy, I’m so glad you made it. I’d been worried your...incident with Bronze would have made you uncomfortable at the spa.” Rarity admitted her concerns to her slightly mutated friend, who lowered her magazine and-. “WHA-HA-HA~?! Fluttershy?!”

Rarity asked fearfully and the now even more buggy mare flinched away, her new fangs poking out of her lips as she cringed, the butter-yellow chitin that was now more uniformly covering her body shined in the light as if she’d just gotten polished, but her eyes were still the same, if having a bit of a glow to them was the same that is, her feathers had also started becoming prismatic starting from the base of her wings.

Thankfully her mane was still the same, else Rarity wouldn’t have recognized her friend at all. “O-oh...is it that bad?” Fluttershy asked nervously, and it was just now that Rarity noticed the trench coat, oversized sun hat, and scarf/sunglasses combo sitting in a cubby bin next to her seat, the poor dear must have hid herself to come to town.

“O-oh no! No! Not at all darling! It was just...a shock!” Rarity downplayed, not outright lying however, as while more akin to Butters now, Fluttershy was still very beautiful, if not more so with her chitin’s shine outlining her form more clearly.

“Oh, thank goodness. When I woke up a few days ago and noticed the chitin spreading, I was worried. But as it spread, I’ve been feeling...better.” Fluttershy admitted, spreading her more powerful-looking wings. “I feel so strong, and energized. It’s very invigorating.”

“Y-yes...well darling, I suppose Aloe and Lotus will be learning yet another new body type for their massages.” Rarity beamed at her very pretty friend, who had somehow made being a bug beautiful too. Rarity didn’t like it, but she was jealous of Fluttershy’s natural beauty, while Rarity had to work so hard for her own.

“I guess so, since any Changelings that might be in town haven’t had the courage to go public yet.” Fluttershy giggled, and soon they were being put through their usual treatments, but Fluttershy decided to try out the polishing the twin massage therapists Aloe and Lotus had put together for Spike, to see if it would benefit her new chitin shell. “Oh~ Faust~...this is heaven~....” Fluttershy moaned as Aloe buffed Fluttershy’s shell to an obscenely reflective sheen after all the other treatments had been done.

“Well, Fluttershy. I actually have something to ask of you, a favor really.” Rarity bit her lip, the raw pleasure Fluttershy drew from certain spots of her shell being rubbed was very flustering, but Aloe kept it professional, even if she was blushing from how her customer was groaning.

“Oh~ Yes!” Fluttershy cried out as Aloe was buffing her inner thigh, and the mare immediately stopped and fidgeted, before wordlessly trotting to her agape sister, and whispering in her ear. Lotus then gulped and moved to continue where Aloe left off, the bothered mare having hurriedly trotted off elsewhere in the building. “I’m sorry, but I’m just so sensitive….”

“I-it’s okay Miss Fluttershy. We’ll just make note of your new...erogenous zones, and work to avoid stimulating them.” Lotus said professionally. “At least this isn’t as bad as discovering Spike’s Cloaca….” Lotus flushed at remembering that awkward day, and Rarity almost had a nosebleed upon learning something very intimate of her coltfriend’s anatomy, which he went into a lecture about. She could hardly wait to try both of his tools when the time came.

“Oh my, that’s...very embarrassing.” Fluttershy, being an animal care specialist, knew just what a cloaca was, and sympathized with the spa mare for having possibly violated Spike’s privates. “So, what is this favor you’re-oh~! A-asking~ about~?” Fluttershy asked as Lotus continued polishing Fluttershy’s inner thigh where her twin left off.

“Well, I have a photo shoot tomorrow with The Photo Finish! The most premiere fashion photographer in Equestria, and I was hoping you would be my model, what with your natural beauty and poise.” Rarity informed, the insecure mare clearly about to fight through her pleasure to decline so Rarity cut her off. “Please help me Fluttershy! Oh please-please-please~!” Rarity pleaded, even bending over backwards over the edge of the tub she was in with her incredible flexibility as her forehooves crossed in a begging position.

“Mmph, a-alright-mm~...since you asked so nicely….” Fluttershy managed to get out as Lotus finished off her hind legs and had been cleaning out and massaging her frog, which while also covered in chitin now, was still soft.

“Yes! Just be at my boutique tomorrow morning, before nine.” Rarity stated with glee.

[@]

“Rarity, I don’t think I need to be this clean….” Spike complained as his marefriend was running floss through his teeth and putting a personal polish on his scales while Twilight, Trixie and Pinkie Pie, sans Pinka Pie, were helping set up her showroom for Photo Finish. The only reason Pinka wasn’t there was because, between her and her twin sister, she was the responsible one who stayed at Sugarcube Corner to help out more often than not, even if she actually hated sweets unlike her energetic sister and the Cakes.

“Nonsense Spike! Photo Finish is a very particular mare. Who's to say she wouldn’t take the chance to get some photos of you too?” Rarity reasoned, getting the teen drake to puff up with some pride at the idea, and Rarity smiled in victory at once again manipulating her dragon in reinforcing ways. She wanted him to love himself, and the more he did, the more handsome he seemed to become.

“Well in that case. Buff away.” Spike purred to her, getting her to shiver as the sponge with the spa’s specially blended exfoliant cream began to drift a bit lower than considered chaste-.

“Nope!” Twilight suddenly snipped, and the sponge was suddenly yanked from Rarity’s magic, the mare growling before Twilight’s indignant demeanor helped hammer her selfish desire to tease her dragon into submission. “You keep your magic away from my ward’s cloaca or I will spay you!”

“Twilight.” Trixie sternly scolded, getting the bookish mare to snort before tossing the sponge back to an annoyed Rarity and an exasperated Spike. “If Spike chooses to get intimate with his marefriend, he’s at an age where he can make those decisions himself.”

“And risk him getting Rarity pregnant? Dragons can breed with anyone. I’d rather they hold off intimacy as long as possible.” Twilight insisted, and Spike rumbled an echoing growl from his chest, Rarity hugging his foreleg comfortingly.

“It’s alright dear, don’t worry, it’s not a concern for me.” Rarity soothed her suddenly infuriated drake, who had smoke billowing from his nostrils and through his clenched teeth. “Twilight, I thought you were smart enough not to try and get between a dragon and their Hoard, or Mate.”

“Oh! Is there going to be a foal-shower?! Can I be their auntie Pinkie?!” Pinkie Pie asked with her ear to Rarity’s side, as if trying to listen for nonexistent foals, getting Rarity and Spike to turn as red as Twilight’s angry eyes.

“Pinkie Pie, as...lovely as having Spike’s foals sounds, we’re nowhere near comfortable with being that intimate right yet.” Rarity excused as Spike sheepishly lowered his head to her ear.

“But what about the oral-?”

“BACK TO BUSINESS~!” Rarity suddenly shouted and hurriedly went about straightening her boutique as Fluttershy and Butters arrived, the two buggy ponies looked a little uncomfortable, and Fluttershy quickly closed the door. “Fluttershy? Why do you look so nervous? I know this is Photo Finish we’re talking about, but you’re-.”

“I-it’s not that….” Fluttershy interjected shyly, Butters nodding from his spot next to her as he gnawed on his invincible wolf plushie nervously. “E-everypony was staring...and not in the bad way….” Fluttershy blushed as she sat and shyly hid behind her mane as she played with her tail.

“Hnf, mmf, ee.” Butters uttered from his stuffed mouth, the simple stallion having started learning how to do pretty much everything a normal pony should know how to do since Fluttershy asked Cheerilee and Twilight to help her teach him how to be a pony. The child-like stallion was a quick study, and was already at the level of a very young colt, but his body being an adult meant he was also subject to feelings and instincts he didn’t understand, everypony was just hoping his innocence would hold on for at least a couple years before his mind caught up to his body.

“Yes Butters, but that’s not a bad thing. You’ll understand when you’re older.” Twilight understood his muffled and simple diction to respond with concern. “So everypony was...looking at you?” Twilight asked curiously with an underlying intent to her words so the adults would understand, but the big buggy stallion wouldn’t.

"*adorable squeaking sounds*" Fluttershy squeaked with a weak nod.

“Well, Fluttershy darling. I’d say that’s a good thing!” Rarity tried to cheer up her introverted friend.

“Hay, if anything, I think it’s about time you considered your options anyhow.” Spike commented, getting Rarity to stomp on his left foreclaw and causing him to yelp.

“Take it from Trixie. When you have such appeal, make the best of it.” Trixie added in, flipping her mane and fluttering her eyes at Twilight, who faintly blushed and looked away.

“But I’m not looking for anypony right now, I’m-.” Fluttershy was tossed into the room by the door slamming open, and in burst several incredibly flamboyantly dressed mares.

“I! Photo Finish. Have arrived.” The mare had a rather heavy accent hinting she must have lived in the regions in or around Germaney at some point, and she had shockingly similar coat and mane colors to Trixie, and Trixie gawked in shock upon realizing something.

“PIXIE?!” Trixie practically squealed, and Photo Finish gawked, before smiling and accepting Trixie’s hug when the ecstatic mare rushed her. “Oh cousin I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“A pleasant surprise to see you as well cousin Trixie.” Photo Finish replied with her accent only slightly coloring her words. “I have not seen you since you graduated early from your classes at CSGU.”

“Wait, you graduated early?!” Twilight asked her marefriend in shock, the prideful stage magician posing next to her cousin in earned pride. “You never mentioned that!”

“Twilight, Trixie is both proud and ashamed to admit she took a fast-tracked course plan, focusing entirely on her talent with illusion magics and only getting passing marks in other categories. It is what allowed Trixie to start her stage career so soon.”

“Indeed, this is so. But enough pleasantries, I am here on business cousin.” Photo Finish reminded, getting Trixie pout. “Oh do not be that way. When we are done here, we shall have coffee, chat about things.” Photo Finish then looked among those assembled. “Oh my, I see such potential. You!” Photo Finish pointed at Fluttershy and Butters. “You are both quite ravishing and unique! Since the changelings are still shy, you would be great models to break the ice in the industry! And you!” Photo then pointed at Spike. “Such a delectable specimen! The mares would eat you up!”

“Oh? Thank you.” Spike preened, his maw stretching in a pleased grin.

“Oh~ I’m so glad I made clothes for you too Spike! Let’s set up some sample-!” Rarity started, only to be interrupted.

“That will not be necessary.” Photo Finish interjected. “To hide his body in clothes? A shame! Ponies know so little of dragons, to hide such a specimen so soon would be folly!”

“O-oh, yes, I can understand that. But what about-.” Rarity asked as she gestured to Fluttershy and Butters, only to again be interrupted.

“No! They too are fresh, new! I must work with them raw first, and then, only then shall I dare hide or enhance their natural beauty with fashion! I am not just a fashion photographer Miss Belle, I am also an important maverick in discovering new things in the world of modeling first and foremost. While I did enjoy your hat, I am pleased to discover something fresh, and new! For this, I shall have you on my short-list of tailors for special shoots. Come now you three! To the park, we go.”

Photo then dashed out the door, her flamboyantly dressed assistants collecting a flustered Fluttershy, bemused Butters, and surprised Spike before rushing after, leaving Rarity on her plot, gaping out the door as her other friends were equally shocked. “Trixie is SO sorry! She forgot how forceful and rude Pixie could be in the pursuit of her craft.”

“Are you okay Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked, while Twilight was both visibly upset, yet worried about something.

“H-huh? Oh, yes, I’m just...fine Pinkie Pie. I was just snubbed in my own shop, and had one of my best friends and my own coltfriend purloined into potential modeling careers without me.” Rarity said with tears prickling her eyes.

“This is...different.” Twilight suddenly commented, looking concerned. “Photo Finish was supposed to just scout Fluttershy as her new model. Not her, Butters, and Spike. This has potential far-reaching consequences in the timeline!” Twilight’s mane started getting frazzled with cowlicks, and at recognizing the danger, Trixie quickly rushed her marefriend and drew her into a searing kiss, causing Twilight’s mane to puff up a moment and then flatten out as she hummed into her mare’s lips.

After breaking the kiss, Trixie smirked knowingly. “Better?”

“Much. Thank you Trixie.” Twilight warmly replied and kissed her nose, getting Trixie to giggle. “But this is serious! Who knows what fame might do with Spike or Butters involved! I have no clue how this might affect potential future events! It was hard enough to calculate things when Spike matured so much sooner than he was supposed to! Now I have to worry about him being on the cover of Playmare magazine?”

“W-wait, what?!” Rarity demanded with her pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

“Rarity, Raw Modeling is usually used to profile new species in the industry, but it’s also used to scout out potential Playcolt and Playmare models. And knowing how prideful Spike can be, both as himself and as a dragon, I have a hard time believing he’d turn down a job as a model in that capacity if it was offered to him.” Twilight informed with deep concern on her face and in her tone.

“So ponies all across Equestria and beyond might be clopping to my coltfriend?!” Rarity hysterically asked, before pausing, and blushing through her whole body. “S-somehow...that’s really enticing a thought, even if such a thing is so unbecoming and naughty.”

“Well either way, at least Fluttershy and Spike will get some sort of income right?” Pinkie asked, getting her friends to all look at her oddly. “What? Just because I like to host parties doesn’t mean I don’t understand the importance of bits, and as it stands Fluttershy gets by on donations from the town since she keeps the animals pacified, and Spike had no income to speak of.”

“Well, if that’s the case, Trixie is all for this turn of events.” Then she looked between Rarity and Twilight. “If Spike does get put in issues of Playmare, would it be alright for Trixie to admire him?”

“NO!” Both of them shot down, and Trixie shrugged as Pinkie giggled.

[@]

Rarity was at the spa with Twilight, Trixie and Pinkie. Again Pinka opted out to watch the shop today since the Cakes were off on business and decided to keep the Corner running while they were away. It had been almost a week since Photo Finish had barged into Rarity’s shop and absconded with their friends, and the three had been so busy none of them had heard from the sudden modelling super stars.

Rarity herself was nose-deep in an issue of Playmare, shamelessly ogling a picture of her coltfriend that was beyond sexy and she would admit to wanting to clop to. “I am so embarrassed, but so enticed by the fact that my coltfriend is a Playmare star.” Rarity said to her friends as she hesitantly closed the porno mag, just glad that Spike had apparently stated he would only do pin-ups since his bio in the magazine said he was taken and was not comfortable with casual sex.

“As unhappy as I am about him taking a Playmare job, at least the few times he’s been home this week he’s been happy, so I guess as his guardian I should at least be glad he’s found some work...even if I’d rather he just stay home….” Twilight grumbled from her side of the hot tub the four were soaking in.

“Cheer up Twilight. At least the weekly stipend you get from Celestia and from the town for upkeep of the library is being spent more on yourself and the library than Spike’s diet.” Trixie tried to point out the positives, but the purple unicorn just sighed sadly and sank into the water.

“Be nice about it Trixie. Twilight’s baby dragon is a grown-up dragon now. She has to learn to let go.” Pinkie said, her wet mane making her look like Pinka with it straightened out by the water.

“You’ve been giving oddly sage advice lately Pinkie.” Rarity commented, and Pinkie shrugged.

“Pinka’s been a good influence I guess, with her out and lecturing me constantly instead of contently relaxing inside me, it’s hard not to listen.” Pinkie gave as an answer, and Twilight resurfaced.

“Speaking of that, we all just decided to accept that when you both suddenly showed up in separate bodies. What was it that freed you from the mirror again Pinkie?” Twilight asked her pink party pony of a friend, who tilted her head.

“Huh? I thought the author already clarified that….” Pinkie’s words confused her friends, but she shrugged. “Oh well. See, Bronzie pulled us to this other world, and he made my new body, then this pretty fox lady pulled me from the mirror and put me in.”

“So more Displaced shenanigans, right. But why isn’t he back already? I had thought that time dilation between our world and practically all others was completely negatable.” Twilight mused worriedly, and indeed, Bronze had been gone from their world as a whole for over two weeks now. His absence wasn’t uncommon, but the utter lack of him not being on the same planet or even universe for so long felt...wrong, unsettling even when considered.

“Maybe he just wants the whole Mad Prince fiasco to fade into obscurity before he returns? It is something Trixie would do.” Trixie suggested, only for Rarity to levitate a fashion magazine over to Trixie and open to a page. “‘It is odd to consider that her beauty is only increased by the Mad Prince’s assault-’ -now that’s just cruel! Using Fluttershy to prolong our friend’s moment of weakness.” Trixie scowled at the magazine, smacking it across the room with a hoof which Rarity completely felt was justified.

“Um, hello? Is this spot taken?” The four looked up to see a heavily covered up Fluttershy peeking down at them with her huge sunglasses lowered from her ‘disguise’ of her trenchcoat and such.

“Fluttershy!” The four mares all joyfully called out and Rarity practically stripped Fluttershy in a flash with her magic, getting the beautiful butterfly mare to squeak as Twilight tugged her into the tub with them a moment later using her own telekinesis, resulting in the introverted mare getting hugged by her friends.

“Fluttershy! You’re even prettier than the last time I saw you!” Pinkie Pie complimented the rainbow-feathered mare, who fluttered her wet wings at the praise, each feather was a different radiant color, as if her feathers were made of gemstones rather than their more humble organic fibrous structures.

“Oh my! Thank you. I’ve been told that by so many strangers it’s hard to accept, but hearing it from one of my friends means so much.” Fluttershy sighed in relief as she pulled out of the hug and leaned back, her longer, more pronounced fangs really started to make her look like a yellow-shelled changeling, and her eyes starting to glow even more really hammered home she wasn’t really a pegasus anymore.

“But where are Butters and Spike? I’d thought they’d have come with you.” Rarity asked, and Fluttershy sighed again, this time in exasperation.

“Photo Finish said she wanted another album of Butters being cute and endearing in more elaborate stallion outfits, and Spike had another...um….” Fluttershy blushed, getting the others to uncomfortably fidget. “He’s been very...enthusiastic. Rarity, I’m worried. If he doesn’t get some release soon, he might….” Fluttershy forewarned, and Twilight cringed, wishing she could have some brain bleach at thinking of her ward in that way, while Rarity became extremely concerned.

“Oh~ this won’t do! But I can’t do anything if he doesn’t come to me.” Rarity sniffled, scared that her coltfriend’s probably constantly stoked libido might drive him to do something with somepony else she would rather he only do with her. Playcolt and Playmare models are known to become rather...active outside their usual work if they don’t take a break from it now and then according to some tabloids she’d read.

*ROAR~*

A loud, rumbling and desperate below came from outside, only for Spike to smash through one of the walls, spot Rarity, and then promptly pick her up by the scruff of her neck with his teeth, causing her to yelp and wail as he spun around and ran out of the now slightly demolished spa, Twilight, Fluttershy and Trixie all looking on in shock with gaping expressions, just moments before Butters trotted through the hole, spat out three scrolls, nodded assertively at Fluttershy, and then trotted back out.

“...Trixie must ask, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” Trixie shouted, while Pinkie Pie giggled madly.

“He just barged in and ponynapped his princess to his dungeon!” Pinkie began laughing uproariously as the other mares all blushed in understanding.

“W-what did Butters just leave?” Fluttershy asked, and Twilight, trying not to think of her ward having...intimate encounters with her friend, levitated the scrolls up to the group, and opened them all to gape at them.

“They’re resignation forms for your jobs! All co-signed by Butters and approved by Photo Finish! But a co-sign resignation can only be done by a family member under concern for an employee’s health in certain circumstances without the employee’s signature.” Twilight looked to Fluttershy in confusion, and the buggy mare simply sighed in true relief.

“I was going to wait to announce it, but I’ve officially adopted Butters as my son….” Fluttershy smiled gently, and the other mares all looked at her with pride. “Now, that seems to be the end of our modeling careers...but….” Fluttershy looked at the gaping hole in the wall, and the mares all wilted, knowing that would have to come out of their pockets, or at least Spike’s.

“Sup girls! What’d I-?” Bronze suddenly appeared from a Doorway that opened in the middle of the floor, but upon seeing them all bathing, and the hole in the wall, he silently, slowly withdrew into the Doorway, and quietly clicked it shut awkwardly until the Doorway vanished.

“...Ten bits he doesn’t show up again for a week.” Trixie put up, and the others all immediately got on the bet.

Author's Notes:

*is sitting alone in card shop, building UFS decks, waiting for players to arrive for tourny*
"Y'know? I haven't written anything in a month...ever since the latest series for UFS came out, I've been just playing card games...." *Looks at Gyro Man deck* "Am I spending too much time on my hobby?"
Write a UFS Displaced~! *demands the character card, getting me to scream like a girl and run away*