There was something about fucking Trixie that made it feel like a high-score challenge. Something about her personality made me want to please her better than last time. Maybe it was the way she taunted and teased me between fuck-sessions. Maybe it was the adorable look of pure pleasure on her face, followed by the unreserved satisfaction afterward. The act of fucking Trixie challenged you to be a better fuck.

Fortunately, we were several hundred feet in midair in an incredibly expensive chariot, so I had the field advantage. This time around, the curvy magician pony girl seemed to get off half from living out her perverted Princess-y fantasy.

That is, until the cart came to an abrupt stop. My head bounced against the headrest, Trixie's boobs smothered me shortly after, and Moondancer barely kept herself from tumbling out of the opposite seat. Judging by the window, we were still up in the air – I guess this thing was able to park in midair, magically somehow.

Above my head, a sliding hatch was pulled open, allowing Spitfire to look in from the front of the cart. "Sorry to interrupt!" she said loudly over the wind in a not-that-sorry tone. "We had to get out of there in a hurry, but was there a specific place you wanted to go?"

"Cntlo'hh 'Venshn Cennr." I was too muffled by Trixie's mammoth boobs to get my words out.

"CANTERLOT CONVENTION CENTER!" Trixie and Moondancer both said about a half-second later. Trixie followed up with, "And don't do that again!"

I could just barely hear Spitfire chuckle as the sliding hatch closed, and the cart lurched back into motion. With an irritated huff, Trixie resumed bouncing on my cock – and then stopped again. At the same time, I felt a pair of hands rest near my ankle-binding pants and a pair of lips brush against my ballsack.

"Hey!" Trixie growled. "Watch your horn if you're going to be down there!"

Moondancer apparently made an acceptable effort to lean her head way back as she tongued my balls. She and Trixie managed to find a tentative rhythm double-teaming my poor overworked genitalia.

I know, 'poor' me. But in all seriousness, that changed things from being a high-score event to a serious endurance contest. Mentally tallying backwards, I'd done Spitfire, Trixie's boobs and mouth, three other Wonderbolts, Twilight Velvet's insane breasts, Trixie again… And I'm pretty sure that was just in the last hour and a half. I was beginning to reach the limit of how much a man could fuck in a single day. Even a man with magical porn star modifications, living a porn star fantasy.

As my balls twitched in Moondancer's mouth, as I shot my load deep into Trixie's pussy and felt her experience her Nth orgasm today, I resolved to give my dick a serious break for a while.

The girls thankfully sensed that I'd lost a lot of my energy. Moondancer pulled back and returned to her seat with a massive blush on her face, and Trixie leaned back just enough to release me from her soft blueberry prison. The first thing I saw when I came out of it was Trixie's brightly grinning face. She embraced me again – lower this time, crushing my chest instead of my face in her cleavage – and said, "You're the best, Pascal!"

I was not a hard man to please. And having a busty young mare compliment me for letting her fuck me in a flying chariot… Well, that made me the definition of 'pleased.' "Glad I… could help, again," I replied, nearly losing my train of thought mid-sentence. I was downright loopy.

Trixie dismounted and cast a cleaning spell on both of our crotches. The chariot started to descend again, bringing us closer to our next destination: The tech rehearsal for Canterlot's Fashion Week main runway event. Or something like that. All I knew was that Fleur Dis Lee, Hoity Toity, and Photo Finish would be there, along with who knew how many models.

Dammit, this was going to be like after Twilight drained me all over again. Beautiful girls and no non-sore dick to admire them with.

Moondancer started giggling.

It was about as weird as it had been earlier, when Trixie challenged Spitfire's motives for basically joining the group. Moondancer had been the dour one all afternoon. What did she find so funny now? She had yet to explain this to us.

The chariot finally touched down in the Canterlot streets next to a great big building. Before Trixie and I could react, Moondancer climbed out of the chariot, stood proudly on the sidewalk in front of all the walking ponies and shouted:

"I'M A HUMAN BOY'S SLUT!!!"

And then she resumed giggling as her voice echoed down the street.

Oooooookay.

I climbed out next and looked around. The ponies around us were momentarily confused by Moondancer's outburst, but the word 'human' seemed to trigger the Normal in relation to me and most ponies just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Only a couple of ponies let their gazes linger on Moondancer for a few seconds longer before moving on.

Spitfire was less nonplussed as she climbed out from behind the pull-bar. "You sure do know how to pick 'em, huh?"

As Trixie climbed out onto the sidewalk and closed the chariot door behind us, I had to ask the simple question. "You okay, Dancer?"

Moondancer let out a happy post-laugh sigh and turned to face us. "It doesn't matter…!"

"Grrreat. What doesn't matter?" I followed up, more than a little worried by this sudden personality shift.

"That– I– All of–" The bikini bookworm broke out into laughter again before finally catching her breath. "My… My sexual preferences. What I do behind closed doors. Whose balls I've got in my mouth, and whether I like it! That's not… the THING… that MATTERS about this!"

"What… does?" I asked.

Moondancer just shrugged her arms at me like it was obvious. "You, the… enormous decision on your shoulders! The fate of Equestria hanging in the balance! That! But, you see–" Another fit of giggles overtook her for a second. "I've been conflating my own sexuality with this whole issue, like you said. As though if I liked what you were doing, that was certain doom! Or something like that. But, hahaha, that doesn't matter!" Gesturing at the street she'd just shouted down, she added, "If I said what I said without the Normal, sure, it'd offend some people. I'd get funny looks for the rest of my life. But it wouldn't tear down all of society! I was…! I was an idiot…"

The girl finally lost some steam, trailing off into deep calming breaths, broken up by the occasional tired laugh. She was grinning and her lungs were full of joy, but I had a feeling this was more than a breakthrough for her. Mostly in her eyes, I could tell. Something felt wrong.

"Well." Spitfire cocked her hips and placed one hand on it. "That tells me the stakes, but not what's actually happening. Anyone want to fill me in?"

I awkwardly took it upon myself, after Moondancer's bewildering confession, to try and sum it all up as succinctly as possible. What the power was and how it worked. How it was trying to change me. The three weeks of hell before I got the power. Why I had to survive long enough to reach Celestia. Why I had to spend all this time doing sexual things on a grand scale. The third option I hoped Celestia would provide, and the two extreme and mutually exclusive options I had to choose from if that didn't happen. It was a lot to convey, but at this point I'd said it all before.

After I was done, Spitfire was quiet for a long while. We were, too, waiting patiently for her to consider everything. She was the Wonderbolts Captain, after all – if anyone's opinion on the state of Equestria was worth hearing, it was probably hers.

Finally, she opened her eyes and asked, "This power… doesn't make people like you, does it?"

A strange question to come out of the gate with, but I rolled with it. "Not really. You were a prime example of that at the start."

"True," Spitfire mumbled. She folded her arms and tapped her finger on her bicep. "Despite that, you did something nice for my team and earned their respect… and satisfied these conditions of yours at the same time."

"I don't know if that whole incident is a perfect example," Trixie muttered. "Our plans to fuck you got turned around very quickly."

The Wonderbolt smirked. "Also true. So they still had room to surprise you and make their own decisions." Spitfire inhaled deeply and let it out as one big sigh. "So… that makes me willing to give you the benefit of… To believe that you are what you're presenting yourself as: An average, if perverted, guy caught way in over his head."

I didn't say anything. That's what I thought I was, but me saying it wouldn't convince anyone.

Spitfire thought deeply for a really long time again, cocking her head and alternating between tapping her arms and tapping her hips. Moondancer, Trixie, and I kind of looked among ourselves as almost a whole minute dragged on in tense silence.

Finally, she put up a single finger in front of me. "I'm going to say one thing. Just one bit; my 'take.' No arguments, no extended discussions – sounds like you've had a lot of those today. Just going to say my piece, and then we move on and have some fun. Alright?"

We all nodded.

Spitfire let out another sigh. From the look on her face, it seemed she was thinking about the best way to say what she was going to say. Then she shook her head and went for it. "Your life… over all the lives in Equestria. You realize that math doesn't work out, don't you? There's no way you can– There's no branch of algebra or calculus you can leverage to make yourself more valuable than the rest of us. There just isn't. You can't justify it."

I grimaced at what she was saying, but deep down I felt that she was correct. I let her continue.

"I get that this isn't a decision the average civilian is prepared to make. But you haven't been arguing whether you 'should' do one or the other. Really, you've been arguing with yourself, trying to convince yourself that maybe it won't be that bad, that maybe you can justify it in the long run. That's what this whole conversation is about, and you've probably realized that it's impossible. Not in ethics, or morality, or basic Celestia-damned mathematics. No amount of magic 'normality' can obscure that. I'm here to tell you – the real reason you're considering the greedy option, the option where you upend our whole society, is because there is something DARK inside you that wants it. And you need to face that."

She left it there, and silence reigned, save for the quiet din of the street. I felt like I'd just gotten lectured by a drill sergeant. And in a way, I thought she was absolutely right – or, at least, her being right would simplify things immensely. The decision, should it come to that, was clear. Whether it was in my character to make the right choice was the true question.

Spitfire took one more deep breath and gave me a confident half-smirk. "And that's it. Now, I want you to know I'm rooting for you. You deserve the answers you're looking for. And if you and the Princess can find that magical third option, even better. But, if time runs out, you know what you have to do."

But did I want to do it? Did I want to lay down my life for these ponies? Was I truly capable of that much good?

The fiery pegasus turned to head for the building, then paused. "And if you don't, somepony will stop you, Normal or not. That's just a fact. The name 'Pascal' will go down with the likes of 'Chrysalis' and 'Tirek.' You get me?"

I swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. "I get you."

"Good." Then Spitfire smiled all the way. "Now, if this is gonna be your last day… let's continue making it a fun one." She started making her way towards the front door of the convention center.

The three of us were still stunned, so she laughed, promised to meet us inside, and entered the building on her own.

We stood there in silence for a while, before Moondancer finally deadpanned, "Well, I'm feeling a little vindicated for how I was acting before..."

"But–" Trixie scoffed and shook her head. She was not as convinced as Moondancer and I were. "What if…" She cut herself off again. "No. Not right now. Let's get inside."

I wasn't in a mood to brush off opinions. "Woah, what's the problem?"

Trixie put her hands behind my shoulders and pushed me forward. "Nuh-uh. You're going to have another flare-up at this rate. Move."

Now that she mentioned it, I was starting to feel very tingly at the base of my neck. I wisely fell into line, and the three of us entered through one the nearest entrance into the outer convention hall. It was mostly empty, but various Fashion Week banners and stands were set up in various locations, advertising the upcoming five days of shows starting Monday.

Spitfire was waiting for us a good distance down to the right. She was talking to a stallion security guard. "Hey, Pascal! Glad you could finally join us! Help me with this guy, would you?"

I jogged on over. "What? There's a problem?"

The security guard looked to me gruffly and said, "She with you? She claimed she was with you."

"Uh, yeah."

The guard's face softened. "Right, okay. Just had to be sure."

I glanced over at Spitfire and quirked an eyebrow. "Why did you…? You're a Wonderbolt! Don't you outrank this guy?"

The poor security guard's eyes shot wide open, and he almost saluted but barely held himself back. "S-Spitfire! Big fan; I didn't recognize you!"

"At ease," Spitfire teased him. "And no. One, I'm off duty, and two, the E.U.P. can't just invade private property without a warrant."

"Still, why?" I asked.

"Wanted to see if I could just name-drop you and get away with anything," Spitfire replied with a grin. "Now I know I can't."

Trixie put a finger on her lips. "That's like back at the donut shop. The other customers put up a bit of a fuss to my 'entertaining' the three mares because you hadn't given explicit permission. And then when you did, they all calmed down. Somehow, ponies can just tell at long range whether you've actually given permission or not."

"Huh." I scratched my head. "Didn't think there was anything left to test at this point, but here we are."

"A-Am I missing something?" the guard asked incredulously.

"Nothing," I said quickly. "We're looking for the fashion show setup."

"Oh, sure! It's just down this hallway and through the big double-doors. Can't miss it."

I thanked him for his help and let him get on with his patrol. Once he was out of earshot, I just gave Spitfire a look. I had nothing to say right that second – I didn't even know what kind of look I was giving her – but I gave her a look all the same.

The pegasus just chuckled. "What?"

Finally, I found my words. "You're adapting awfully fast to this."

"Is that a problem?"

"It's just… kind of a whiplash." Story of my life the past few days.

Spitfire just shrugged. "That's why I wanted to keep my moral spiel short. Putting all that aside, you gave me the hypnotic ass-fucking I didn't know I craved. If that doesn't make us buddies… then all of this has fucked up your priorities."

Now there was a sentence. I blinked and mentally rebooted a bit. "Buddies. We're 'buddies' thanks to anal."

"Yep!" The smirk on Spitfire's face told me she knew how absurd it sounded, but she no less believed it and enjoyed watching me wrap my head around it.

To my side, I heard Moondancer say, "Gee, it's almost like sex engenders affection."

I put my hands up. I had to draw the line. "Okay," I said before Trixie could join in. "If all THREE of you start sassing me, I'm not gonna be able to handle it." I laughed a little bit despite myself and added, "Let's just go."

The three girls shared a chuckle at my expense (which I took gracefully) and we made our way to the big double doors. I dramatically pushed them open and led the way in.

A gust of cold air greeted us first. Second was the sight of an almost empty showroom. There was a lot of empty floor between the door we came through and any sort of activity. The runway stage and lights had been set up, but not any seating. Maybe they just were going to bring in a bunch of folding chairs, or maybe put together some big box seats. Either way, for now there was only a few chairs huddled around the stage for the handful of ponies that were around.

Front and center of that smattering of ponies was a white-maned, light blue mare in her trademark black-and-white-striped dress. A small squad of assistants busied themselves around her, and the mare herself was slaving over a camera, bending forward with her eye practically glued to the viewer (and tilting her skirt up very revealingly in the process).

"Too dark!" Photo Finish called out. Off to the side, some stallion at a tech table nodded and pushed a few sliders, causing the lights around the stage to brighten up and reflect off the white-floored stage ever stronger. Almost predictably, Photo Finish then shouted, "Too bright!" One could tell they'd been at this for a few minutes.

I looked around. Fleur Dis Lee could be seen coming out from behind the stage curtains, presumably having left the backstage area. Off to the left of the stage, a gaudily dressed stallion that could only be Hoity Toity lounged in a padded chair, while some subordinate stallion held a water bottle for him. And to the right sat a curvy grayish-gold mare with a cobalt mane that I suspected was…

"Sapphire Shores!" Moondancer exclaimed, announcing our entrance to the room.

"The one and only," the pop star replied in her deep singer's voice.

Photo Finish idly turned around to look at us through her nearly opaque glasses… and when she did take us all in, it was like she'd been struck by lightning. She stepped back in surprise, her head-and-a-half-sized tits bouncing with the motion inside her dress.

"STAY RIGHT ZERE!" The fashion photographer whipped the camera and stand around so it was pointed straight at us. "Line up, side by side! You, boy! Wrap your arms around their waists! Yes, like that!" Snap snap flash flash, went the camera. "But look humble! Like you just von ze lottery on a lark, but all of your neighbors are pestering you! Yes, embarrassed to be so lucky!"

Hoity Toity chuckled as I found myself automatically doing what she said. It was hard not to follow along with her forceful personality, as the mares found out just a moment later.

"You, ze glasses one! Look shy. Shyer. SHYER! You with the hat! Take that thing off! …No! No. Keep it ON. The pegasus, yes, off to the side, look aloof, playful, you enjoy this. Perfect! BACKDROP!"

Two stallions out of nowhere pulled in a tall board with a nighttime cityscape painted on it, and held it upright behind us. My eyes were blinded in a whirlwind of flashing bulbs, and soon the floor was littered with developing polaroids.

Mercifully, the impromptu photo shoot came to an end. When we could finally see again, we saw Photo Finish reaching down into the pile of pictures, picking one out of the pile, and giving it a quick kiss. "Ze magicks," she husked with pride. Then she pocketed the photo and gave us a dismissive wave of her hand. "Thank you. Carry on." In a flash, her assistants removed the backdrop and swept the extra photos away.

I took my hands off Trixie and Moondancer's waists and rubbed the back of my neck, utterly bamboozled by the last thirty seconds. "Well then," was all I could say.

Hoity Toity broke out into laughter again and lowered his shades. "Welcome to the world of fashion, human. Though I have to say, you don't look nearly as demonic as the rumors painted you."

'I might be more of an incubus than a devil,' I thought to myself. Aloud, I said, "Pascal. Pleasure to meet you all."

The pink, top-heavy model that was Fleur came down the runway and stepped down to join us. Her eyes lit up when she saw Spitfire. "Ah, Captain! Wonderful show today. Stunning as always."

Spitfire chuckled. "Yeah, I recognize ya. You and that other guy are in the rich seats almost every show. Thanks for supporting the team."

Moondancer, meanwhile, looked around at the big-name ponies gathered in the convention hall. "Um…" she spoke up, "you know, I get why Photo Finish is here, and Fleur, and Hoity…" To Sapphire Shores, she said, "But what are you doing here?"

"Me?" The Pony of Pop stood up. "Next week I'm promoting my new lifestyle brand." She put a boot up on her chair and struck a showy pose that displayed her gem-saturated, multi-layered, zig-zagging dress. "Sapphire Sensations! 'Get in touch with your sensation!'" She rocked her hips from side to side to punctuate her tagline.

Hoity Toity chuckled again and shook his head. "For the record, young miss, I don't 'have' to be here at all. In fact, I'm sure several designers would rather I didn't, so I don't see their work early – but not all of them have finished and sent in their dresses yet, so I think it balances out. But no, this is just an excuse to spend some quality time with our industry friends. I do have a vested interest in the outcome of this show, but… I don't start actively judging until the show actually begins."

"Oh, yah," Photo Finish cut in, "like zat doesn't stop you from doing that little shake of your head whenever we run cue 2."

"Photo Finish here," Hoity Toity continued like he hadn't heard her, "actually does have a reason to be present. The photography that happens during the show gets reprinted in newspapers and magazines throughout Equestria, so you can imagine how a personality like hers…"

"Everything must be JUST right," Photo Finish admitted.

Fleur laughed. "It's so fun watching you two, like an old couple."

They both immediately scoffed at that. Photo Finish turned her camera back towards the stage and muttered, "Please, do not remind us."

Hoity adjusted in his seat, trying to maneuver the obscene crotch-pouch in his lap to a more comfortable position. He then looked at me and asked, "Have you ever watched two perfectionists go at it?"

I'd done so many ponies over the last three days that I had to think about it for a bit. "Not… yet?"

"No, you haven't," Hoity replied, "because it takes three hours to set up."

"You and your obsession with watching mares strip out of high fashion…" Photo Finish muttered.

"You and your obsession with 'capturing the moment!'" Hoity Toity countered. "That story on our relationship only broke because that photo album SOMEHOW found its way to Bridle magazine!"

"I asked if I could show them to a friend! You said yes!"

"You asked after 150 minutes of edging! And I'd had a lot of champagne!"

Sapphire Shores burst into laughter, quickly followed by the rest of us. The two apparent former lovers blushed but took it gracefully, deflating the old tension and returning to the present.

"I have never seen you two so candid before," Fleur observed neutrally.

Hoity looked at me again. "Perhaps. It's nice to have someone new to share this with, one who isn't a reporter or a designer or a model trying to butter me up. And I doubt someone who's traveling with such a gaggle of beautiful mares minds a few… raunchy details, don't you think?"

He wasn't wrong, but I knew better than that; it was mostly the Normal making everyone a bit more comfortable around me.

"Ya," Photo Finish agreed. "It's old news, anyvay. I like to think we've grown out of those habits."

Awkwardly, I suddenly realized that neither me or the rest of my group had said anything for a while. We'd gotten caught up in the reminiscing of a bunch of old friends who'd probably seen each other plenty of times while working in similar circles. That was a tough thing to just walk into. "Well, uh… Mind if we stick around for a while? This has been very educational, and I'm kinda seeing the sights today anyway."

"I'll bet you are," Sapphire Shores quipped, glancing appreciatively at Trixie and Moondancer.

"Sure thing, pull up some chairs," Hoity Toity.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Pascal," Fleur said. To Photo Finish, she said, "Do you need the stage right now? I'd like to work with the models on…"

I tuned them out and tried to make my way towards the far side of the room where the folding chairs were stacked against the wall. Trixie and Moondancer stayed behind to listen to the various moguls chat, but Spitfire followed me to help out.

As we picked up a couple of chairs each, Spitfire smirked and said, "Can't help but notice you haven't fucked any of them yet."

Rolling my eyes, I said, "That's not the point today. Having sex with people who wouldn't normally give you the time of day is kinda abnormal – and frankly, one of the perks – but it's way more effective to create a big, unorthodox social change."

"Really," Spitfire said dryly. "Even though you walked into the showers and advertised yourself as a stud for hire."

I put down the chairs I was carrying in both arms and pointed at her. "To be fair," I said, "the initial problem was, 'Your team was pent-up.' We heard you arguing from down the hall. But after that, we learned, we asked questions… and came up with something to help you out and get the sexual change I needed. That takes time, and listening."

The pegasus scrunched her face up in thought. "Hmm. So you did. Huh."

"What, is there a problem with that?"

"It's… just kinda weird," Spitfire muttered. "Any other stallion I know, if they'd gotten this power… Right away, they would've gotten a harem, set themselves up with money for life, and then just had nonstop sex every day. So you waiting properly is… kind of unheard of."

That depressed me a little bit, because I knew the real reason I was being so patient wasn't out of the goodness of my heart. It was another reason, one that had been there since before I was in Equestria but got even worse after I'd landed here.

I picked up the chairs and started walking again. "That's because… well, you guys are… sexual demigods. A stallion COULD fuck all day. I, meanwhile, arrived as a shitty overweight pear of a man. I did get some enhancements – I'd basically be a porn star now – but… I'm still 'merely' human. The truth is…"

"You need a break?" Spitfire asked incredulously. "Already?"

I gave her my most deadly serious look. "I've had a LOT of sex today. A LOT."

"Okay, okay, alright… Take it at your own pace. Just seemed like you were in a hurry."

We made it back to the front of the stage where all the other ponies were, and I unfolded the chairs I'd been carrying. "I'll think of something if the… thing flares up. But I'm not ready to make the big move yet."

Spitfire unfolded the other two chairs. "You know, it sounds like you're staying on top of all this, all things considered. What do you need us for?"

I thought about that for a second, took a great big breath, and said, "To help me get over my damn self."

That made Spitfire laugh.

Shortly after, a conversation over at the end of the catwalk caught our attention. A very pretty sea-green mare in plain clothes was looking down at Fleur and rocking her hips back and forth, as though she were testing the weight on her high heels. Trixie and Moondancer were also close by, looking up at the model.

"I'm just saying," the mystery mare said, "there's less weight on my chest, my cheekbones feel weird, and you've pinched in my waist a bit. It's throwing off my walk."

Trixie had a scowl on her face. "It's messed up that you use transformation spells on your models in the first place."

"Yeah!" Moondancer agreed, and I marveled at how for once she and Trixie were on the same side. "How are us regular mares supposed to meet these standards of beauty 'naturally' when you're using magic to set the goal post!?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Ach, this again!" Photo Finish shouted, standing up from behind her camera again. "This is the fashion industry! The market, the ponies out there, they do not vant the 'natural' mare, they vant the 'ideal' mare! So yah, the models get 'touched up' a little. It is standard."

My brain came to a complete and full stop. "Wait, wait, wait. WaitwaitwaitWAIT." I placed my hands on my face and started laughing. "You… You Photoshop your mares… LIVE?! Ahahahahahaaa!"

I had the attention – and utter confusion – of everyone in earshot. I had to grip the edge of the stage to steady myself, I was laughing so hard.

Eventually, I put enough air in my lungs to explain. "See – you see, haha – my world does the same thing! Except we can't fuckin' transform, so we gotta edit the photos afterward, but you guys just…! Aaahahaha!"

Photo Finish's ears perked up. "Vait, vait. You mean to say…" Her muzzle contorted into a restrained smile of her own. "Your people, they do not have ze magicks… So they paint over the photos to make the models more beautiful?!"

"Yeah! Basically, yeah!"

Both Photo Finish and I burst into greater laughter, and Hoity Toity, Sapphire Shores, and Fleur Dis Lee chortled a bit along with us. The model just rolled her eyes and walked back up the catwalk. Trixie, Moondancer, and Spitfire were decidedly unimpressed.

To them, I said, "Hey, hey… That's the silliest thing I've heard all day. And it's been a LONG day." I tried to get my breath under control, but then something occurred to me. "Hold on, heh heh, back up a sec… Hoo. Okay." I pointed at where the model had just stood. "Did I hear that right? The spells that were used on her, they made her smaller and slimmer?"

Fleur looked at me, and her expression was once again curious but otherwise unreadable. "That's correct. Why do you ask?"

My problem was hard to explain. I'm not sure if there was even a real problem yet. I felt like there was cultural distance I needed to bridge first. "I'm sorry, I'm from another world entirely, with different standards and a different range of body types. So when you slimmed that mare down, was that to make her more appealing, or…?"

Hoity Toity suddenly stood up.

"Yes!" he said tersely. "Because everypony lost their appetite for anything 'too sexual' a decade ago! Including their fellow pony's bodies! Since the end of the sexual revolution, it's been this way."

Sapphire Shores slumped in her chair and pressed two fingers against her temple. "Well now you've done it. Incoming lecture, everypony!"

"Sexual revolution?" I echoed aloud, walking closer to Hoity Toity. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Because my world had something to that effect…"

Hoity nodded. "It was about… hmm, forty years ago, and it was called the Free Love movement at the time. Marches and peaceful protests here in Canterlot itself, fighting against the policy of total sexual silence and abstinence outside of a married couple's bedroom."

Sapphire Shores shuddered. "The Clopford Husbands. That was a heck of a time to be alive."

"Okay, so… sort of similar," I said. "Ours wasn't a specific movement like that, it was just more of a… liberating time period. If I'm recalling right, it was more borne out of a combination of, uh… second-wave feminism and the gay rights movement, I think?"

The fashion critic dramatically lowered his stylish sunglasses at me. "Your world had to have a movement for homosexual rights?"

'You didn't?' I thought. 'They didn't. Of course they didn't. Magical candy-coated utopia.' "Let's… stop talking about my world… forever. Tell me more about your world's Free Love movement. Did it work? How did Princess Celestia react?"

"The Princess politely resisted for a few years to keep the establishment satisfied," Hoity continued, pushing his sunglasses back up.

"Careful," Sapphire advised me, "we're straying into the conspiracy theory part of the story."

I didn't comment, because I was technically investigating my own Celestia-centric conspiracy: Humanity in ancient Equestria. So I was more than inclined to believe that the Princess of the sun was capable of manipulating her whole nation.

Hoity cleared his throat. "Then… the Princess finally relented, putting policies into place that would encourage a more open view of sexuality in Equestria. With the caveat that she would double-down on sex education in schools."

"More like quadruple-down," Sapphire quipped. "If there's a way to make an orgasm sound boring, the Equestrian Board of Education has thought of it."

"So everyone knows what's going on with their bodies," I commented, rubbing the back of my neck. All this history talk was giving the Normal an opening; I was starting to feel a buzz. But I was incredibly curious now. "Sounds fine to me."

With a heavy sigh, Hoity said, "It was. But Celestia, I believe intentionally, allowed things to be a bit TOO free at first."

"Free Love has a few consequences," Sapphire Shores added, then blinked. "Ooh, note to self: Write a song called 'Free Love Has Consequences.' No! 'Free Love Has A Price!' ...Ahem, but anyway. If I remember right, a rash of teen pregnancies broke out. A few ponies went insane and became sex freaks, just totally addicted."

"Not even that many," Hoity Toity muttered. "But that handful of cases received nationwide publicity. Within months, the national climate changed back to fearing sex again. And all that doom and gloom got channeled into the ubiquitous education Celestia had already set up. Convenient, don't you think?"

"Which…" Moondancer mumbled, "which leads to all the stuff my generation got told growing up…"

Spitfire let out a long, aggravated sigh. "And hell… The agencies closest to Celestia that have high publicity – like, y'know, the Wonderbolts – they're still stuck in a Clopford situation."

"Well, sheit," I drawled. "So the reason why that model got slimmed down is…"

"Because the market is uncomfortable with its own sexuality," Hoity grumbled. "So when high society looks for the next big trend, they ignore everything that shows off how big they are."

Sapphire Shores rolled her eyes. "That might be fashion, but lemme tell you, it's the opposite for entertainment. Being sexy sells. Being sexy puts butts in seats."

Trixie nodded. "I'll second that. Even on the local level."

"Yes, but that's somepony else being sexy," Hoity argued. "Ponies don't mind somepony else being more titillating than they are. But when they look at fashion, when they see a dress, they imagine it on themselves. And when it comes to customers considering their own sexuality… I'm afraid the current popular trend leans toward the sexless."

Something suddenly occurred to me that didn't quite match up with what I was hearing. "Question. Wasn't… the bustiest pony I know, Fluttershy, a model for a while?"

Photo Finish, who had been silently tinkering with her camera through this whole lecture, suddenly shot up and beamed. "Ahh, yes! My STAR! Ohhh, she was perfection itself! Such a shame she decided to quit. Such a SHAME!"

"So how did that work? You slim her down, too?"

"Nein, that was the beauty of it!" Photo Finish declared. "She had the huge bosoms, yes, but she was so shyyy and adorable… No matter vhat outfit you put her in, her nature vould always downplay it and make it look so genuine and innocent! No one could look at her and have a sexual thought!"

I loudly cleared my throat. I hadn't even meant to; it just came out suddenly and for no particular reason.

"She vas the best of both worlds! She was as big as ponies secretly vanted to be, but also as innocent as they consciously vanted to be! And everything she advertised for, it sold like HOTCAKES!"

Hoity Toity chuckled at that. "Yes, that was a good time. Very lucrative, and fascinating to watch at that." To me, he said, "So there's still been an ebb and flow. But in terms of where fashion and sex collide culturally, that's where we're at."

"You have to admit, Hoity," Sapphire interrupted, "we're in a better place than we were fifty years ago. There wouldn't be a 'modern' attitude towards sex and relationships without the Free Love movement."

"Yes, but it's still not enjoyed freely," Hoity argued back. "It is now publicly OBSERVED, rather than totally ignored… but it is still taboo. 'Free love' was destroyed through instant gratification instead of proper integration, and at the same time Celestia crafted a new status quo to keep sex in check."

I slowly digested everything I'd heard. I had plenty of reasons to dislike Celestia, but… "That's a stark way to look at it, even for me."

"One of several reasons ve broke up," Photo Finish murmured.

Hoity Toity took off his sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. "I apologize. I know I can be a bore on the subject. I was just attempting to educate our alien friend on the cultural subtleties, since he asked."

"I found it very educational," I assured him, smiling a bit. Having a different perspective on the issue of Celestia and this world's sexual repression was nice to have, even if it was yet another info dump to sort along with everything else I'd learned the past few days. I only wished I had more time to really think it all through before charging into Celestia's chambers, but I hadn't been given much of a choice.

And speaking of, the buzzing along my spine was getting worse. I took a step forward and actually felt a bit woozy. Sexual exhaustion or not, I needed to stave off the transformation a bit. I had an idea brewing in terms of the big change to make, but, again, I needed time.

I went with the first whim to cross my mind and walked up to Photo Finish with as much confidence as I could muster. "Hey, Photo Finish…"

"Ya?" The photographer had gone back to her camera and didn't even bother to look at me.

"Wanna fuck?"

That got her attention. She stood up, turned to face me, looked me up and down, lingered on my pants for a moment… then said, "Ya, sure, one moment." Photo Finish snapped her fingers, and a unicorn stallion assistant was by her side in a flash. With a tilt of her hand, she pointed down at my crotch and commanded, "Prep." The assistant's horn lit up.

What? Oh, SHIT. "Wait, no, stop–!"

The unicorn fired his spell before I could speak, but thankfully shut it off the moment my words got through. By that point, however, he'd already channeled a spell into my crotch for a full second, and the damage had already been done.

My groin exploded into searing pain, toppling me onto my back as I clutched my inner thighs.

Trixie and Moondancer panicked into action, dashing to my side and using their horns to unbutton my pants. Spitfire, though, was confused. "Um, what just happened?"

"Seriously, Finish?!" Sapphire Shores exclaimed, standing up from her chair. "A guy asks you for casual sex and you get your assistant in on it? To enhance them without asking?!"

Photo Finish was taken aback by my reaction. "I-It's never been a problem before… ze stallions usually like being overwhelmed like so…"

"Yeah, well this human's not magical like us!" Moondancer shouted back. "You might've permanently hurt him!"

"At least this is definitely not normal…" Trixie muttered.

Hoity Toity tsk'd at his former lover. "No foreplay? You've changed, Photo. I hadn't realized how much."

They hastily got my pants and underwear down. I couldn't bear to look. I could barely hear what they were saying. My heart was beating so hard I could hear my blood pounding in my ears. Everything was pain.

Through that haze, though, I managed to groan out, "Healing… Healing spells…! Healing spells!" That was the one generic magic that seemed to work on me without being a magical creature. Hopefully it would help here. A second later, my entire pelvis was suffused with a cool aura, and the pain stopped rising in intensity and came to a halt.

My heart and head were still pounding. Darkness crept at the edges of my vision.

The healing magic went on for a solid minute before they apparently decided it was no longer necessary, and the cool tingling stopped. I heard Trixie sigh in relief. "Well, that could've gone worse."

Good news, I guess, but I barely registered that in my recovering state. I drifted in and out of consciousness – not blacking out completely, but my brain had definitely decided I'd had enough stimulation for a few minutes. Dodging a metaphorical bullet to the dick did that to a man.

Author's Notes:

he'll be fine