The carriage stopped in the market district where the human, griffon, and unicorn disembarked and began their noble quest to go shopping.

“So what looks good to you?” Talon asked.

Thomas was still busy taking in the sights. The buildings of the city had a medieval architecture and were about as colorful as the ponies who walked the streets. He’d been here before, but it had always been in the company of the Princess during her occasional shopping sprees. As such, he’d only seen the city at night, lit by Luna’s moon and a series of street lamps. Traffic was moderate and most of the stores had closed for the evening.

Apparently the only reason so many were open at this time was by order of Celestia to accommodate the new night court. Luna’s return had led to numerous changes that went beyond the castle. One of which was that many of Luna’s guards were required to patrol the streets while the local police were still adjusting their schedules. Thankfully, the civilians hadn’t needed much prompting to adjust to livelier nights around the city. The new nightly business had led to an immediate need for more workers for the night shift which increase the income of local businesses as well as slashing unemployment in half.

Thomas felt a surge of warmth as he remembered the look on Luna’s face when she saw the early reports of the positive economic impact of her night court. She kept those reports in her desk where she could pull them out and had Thomas read them to her while she looked out her window and watched the many lights of the city’s active ponies. However, after a few moments of quiet reflection as he and his Princess would stare out at the admittedly romantic scene below, she’d tackle him to the floor and make him earn his wage.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Normally I just follow the Princess around, carry her things, and occasionally follow her into the changing room when she… The point is that I’ve never really bothered to look at the stores as places to get things for myself.”

“Well I think we should start with the basics and get you some duds,” Talon said. “Yo smarty-corn. Got any suggestions?”

“I know this place on the corner of Third and Starswirl Lane,” Moonlight answered. “They carry some nice brands at affordable prices.”

“Then onto the corner of Third and Starswirl!” Talon proclaimed as she held out her arm to signal their proverbial charge about a block down the road.

Along the way, Thomas did his best to avert his gaze from all the naked ponies. Thankfully, most were nobles who wore plenty of clothes to flaunt their wealth. However, that didn’t stop them from looking at him. More than once Thomas caught some fancy looking stallion or mare eyeing him up, but a quick glance at either of his escorts convinced them that they probably didn’t want to trouble him.

Once they arrived, the two females on either side of him grabbed Thomas by the arms and practically carried him inside. There he found himself yanked around like a toy between jealous children as each demanded his opinion on outfits they had picked out for themselves. They practically squealed like fillies each time they found something they liked. Once again it was nice to see the otherwise quiet Moonlight open up a bit more, but Thomas would have liked it more without his arms nearly being pulled out of their sockets. The two females continued foraging through the stores isles for nearly half an hour before they remembered the original purpose of their trip.

“Oh,” Moonlight said while looking down at the dress she’d been holding in front of her. “We were supposed to be shopping for Thomas, weren’t we?”

Talon put the bikini she’d been admiring back on the rack and blushed back at the other two. “Yeah. Sorry about that, chimp.”

Thomas accepted and let the pair lead him over to the half of the store where the stallion’s clothes were set up. “I don’t think this is gonna work,” he admitted as he held a suit out over his chest.

“What’s the issue?” Talon asked with a smirk.

Thomas glared up at her. “You know full well what the issue is.”

Moonlight came around the corner carrying the clothes she’d already picked out for herself. “What seem to be the… oh.”

“The damn thing’s too big,” Thomas said as he held out the immense suit. “Seriously. You could tie up the ends and carry me in it like a sack of groceries.”

“Hmm,” Talon hummed suggestively as she stroked her chin. “There’s an idea.”

“No, there is not,” Thomas argued. “I just need a smaller size, is all.”

“We could always try the colt’s section,” Moonlight offered.

Thomas groaned at the mare’s suggestion as he let her lead the way. To his annoyance, the clothes in the colt’s section did seem much more appropriate and he groaned again.

“What’s the problem now?” Talon asked as she held up a striped t-shirt in front of him. “These actually seem like they’ll fit.”

“I have to wear clothes in a colt’s size,” Thomas grumbled. “It’s embarrassing, alright.”

“Aww,” Talon cooed. “I think it adds to your cute factor. Besides, I’m pretty sure Luna has a thing for younger looking stallions. What do you think smarty-corn?”

Moonlight blushed as she averted her eyes. “It seems… fitting.”

“See?” Talon giggled. “She agrees. Besides, you don’t have to wear a colt’s size. You can always go naked.”

Thomas frowned up at the teasing griffon and pushed the shirt away. “Not a chance, feather brain,” he asserted. “Also, there’s the tail hole,” he indicated a hole in the back of a pair of shorts. “Ya think we could do something about this?”

Moonlight tilted her head inquisitively. “Sorry. I think I missed a step there. What’s wrong with going around naked?”

Talon smirked over at the unicorn mare as she wrapped a claw around Thomas’ shoulder. “Little chimp here’s got an issue with nudity. Apparently they go around fully clothed all the time back where he came from so he’s all ashamed of his body.”

“I’m really starting to regret those talks we had in the dining hall, and I’m not ashamed,” Thomas protested while he craned his neck to avoid Talon’s breast. “It… it’s called modesty, you perv.”

“Call it whatever you like, chimp,” Talon teased. “It’s still a silly thing to get worked up about.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a sense of modesty,” Moonlight defended. “It’s an admirable character trait and if that’s how they did it where he came from, then you need to be tolerant of his culture.”

“I am being tolerant,” Talon retorted. “I’m just saying that as long as he lives here, he should really get used to ponies going around in their natural state.” She then released Thomas from her grasp and let him take a few steps forward. Her claws then glided sensually down her hips as she slipped her thumbs beneath the straps of her loincloth. Before anyone could say otherwise, the griffon undid the knot holding her uniform up and let it fall to the floor.

Thomas quickly turned his head away from the griffon. Moonlight stood unfazed, not quite catching on to what was happening. Smiling confidently, Talon sauntered over to human and pressed her body against his side, adding a bit of extra pressure where her pelvis touched his bare skin.

“For the love of Celestia, please stop that!” Thomas groaned as he did his best to think of literally anything other than the strangely hairless griffon snatch pressing against him that could literally start humping him any second.

“I think that’s enough of that,” Moonlight said assertively as she stepped between the two. “Celestia’s sake, you’re a royal concubine. Show some decency.”

Something about that didn’t sound quite right, Thomas thought.

Talon placed her claws on her hips and posed a moment until Thomas chanced a look up at her and she gave him a friendly wink. The griffon then turned around and walked back over to where her uniform was lying on the floor. Before anyone could blink, she had completely bent over to pick her loincloth up and raised her tail up high. Thankfully, Thomas’ vision of the griffon’s luscious bottom was immediately obstructed when an orange hand shot in front of his face.

“Ms. Talon!” Moonlight scolded, causing some nearby shoppers to turn their heads to see the source of the commotion. “That is extremely inappropriate behavior.”

“Um, Moonlight?” Thomas asked as he stared into the guard mare’s palm, certain that he could feel Talon smiling at him.

“Yes, Thomas,” Moonlight said between gritted teeth.

“Not that I’m complaining or anything, but what exactly makes this different from when she was pressing herself against me earlier?”

“S-she…” Moonlight stuttered in a whisper. “She has her t-tail raised. That is an extremely lewd thing to do in public.”

“But what does that… oh,” Thomas said as he made the connection. Whenever they were alone, Luna would turn her back to him and raise her tail from obscuring her bottom to show that she was in the mood to be… mounted. Learn something new every day, I guess. And I suppose, if you look at them like horses who normally spend their whole lives bent over, it makes sense that moving the tail to expose their backside would be taken as a seductive gesture. Regardless, I should probably take comfort that there are limits for public decency. Although, would it have been acceptable if Talon had bent over in a full moon without raising her tail? Thomas thought a moment. Pony culture can be so inconsistent sometimes.

Eventually Moonlight lowered her hand, allowing Thomas to see Talon’s bare rump just before she slipped her loincloth back on.

“Happy now?” Talon asked as she turned around, hand resting on her hip.

“Relieved seems a more fitting term,” Thomas answered. However, he noticed that Talon was looking past him up at Moonlight. He followed the griffon’s line of sight to see the unicorn mare staring daggers at her charge’s perverted friend. Much to his surprise, Talon actually seemed shaken by the condemning look she was getting.

“Yeah, um…” Talon rubbed the back of her neck guiltily. “That might have been a step too far.”

Naaaaaaw. Ya think!? Thomas screamed inside his head.

“Sorry about that,” Talon apologized as she rubbed her arm. “As for the hole, we can just get some of the castle tailors to deal with it later.”

Thomas glanced up at his guard, but she only looked back at him in silence. It took him a moment to realize that she wasn’t the one being apologized to. “Oh, um, you’re forgiven… I guess.”

Talon immediately perked up and pulled both human and mare into a friendly hug. “Good times all around,” she crowed as she bounced around.

“Excuse me,” a gray stallion in a tuxedo without pants addressed the trio in a scolding tone. “Could the three of you please keep it down? You’re upsetting our other customers.”

Sure enough virtually everyone else in the store was staring at the odd trio with disapproving glares. Talon apologized to the stallion’s satisfaction and he walked away. They resumed the task of finding clothes for Thomas and settled on a few sets of casual shirts and pants. No underwear was to be found outside of the sexy lingerie in the mare’s section, so they agreed that the loincloth would make an adequate substitute since he was so used to wearing it anyway. Thankfully, shoe shopping, by far Thomas’ least favorite form of shopping, was skipped entirely due to a protection spell Luna had cast on his feet the first day he arrived to spare him the discomfort of cold floors and rough roads.

The trio brought their purchases up to the front. They were rung up separately as Moonlight used her own money to buy her things while Talon did the same. When it came time for Thomas’ purchase, Talon asked for a pen and made sure he watched as she circled the eighty three bits used for his clothes and then inserted the receipt into her bit bag, smiling the whole time.

I cannot allow myself to get indebted to her. Thomas concluded. If I don’t pay her back right away, she’ll come up with some absurd interest and there’s only one thing she’ll accept.

Almost didn't get this one ready for my bi-weekly post. I wanted to make some edits to include a few suggestions from the comments you guys have made, but the story was pretty solid for what little time I had. I'll try to include a few more in a future chapter.

All in all, I'm happy with this one. Got a little more world building, Luna appreciation, fun character interaction, and sex based humor. Pretty much everything someone could hope for from a story like this.

Be sure to share your thoughts in the comment section.