"I've got a bunch of actual bridles being delivered later, but first I need to call our supplier—who I'll pay extra to do an express shipment. Then I have to—" Spicy cut short as the doorbell rang. He turned and his smile got wider.
Braeburn hadn't known what to expect when he came to Spicy's shop. Well, he did know roughly what to expect—his profession and personal life meant he'd visited such stores several times—but what surprised him was having an actual pony—a unicorn—that looked to be made of glass in the middle of the sales floor.
Spicy skipped over to Braeburn and opened his arms wide in a hug, only to be rebuffed a little. "Something up?"
"I just came from the gym, you'll get—" Braeburn didn't get any further. Spicy Hot jumped in and hugged himself against clothes that still had a hint of Braeburn's sweat in them even after the shower that had cooled him off. When Spicy began nuzzling at his chest, Braeburn just rolled his eyes and kissed the top of the batty guy's head. "So you missed me?"
"Mmhmm. I missed all of you. Oh, you haven't met everyone yet. Braeburn, this is Sonata." Spicy stepped back—keeping one arm and wing hooked around Braeburn—and gestured at Sonata. "She's my number one assistant."
"Hey there." Sonata had trouble not drooling. Girls seemed to be her main diet of late, but the amount of beefcake standing in the store made her want to put a collar on and purr.
"And this is Twilight," Spicy said and gestured at Twilight.
Unsure what to do, Twilight fell back on being friendly to someone who was apparently her boss' boyfriend. That Rainbow was his girlfriend was a little confusing, but she'd been learning a lot about sexuality lately, and didn't want to question something that was obviously working. "Hi!"
Jumping in surprise, Braeburn stared at Twilight for a few moments. "Uh… Hi?"
"She's the tech wiz who is taking care of the online side of Canterlot Crops. Turns out all the other toy stores in town suck enough that when people found out about us…" Spicy gestured to the shelves that were missing stock. "I need more dildos!"
"Sooo…" Twilight scuffed a hoof on the floor. "Did you make sure the PoS system was talking with the server, like I showed you?"
Spicy twirled in a circle and let out an excited screech. "Yes!"
"Have you looked to see how much you've sold on there?" Twilight asked.
Freezing in place, Spicy looked down at Twilight, then up at the rear of the store where the computer she'd been using was. "Noooooooo…"
Both Twilight and Spicy looked at each other as their excitement built. With a laugh, both took off at a run for the back of the store.
"So you're the guy Spicy won't stop talking about?" Sonata smiled at Braeburn and offered her hand. "Making me all kinds of jealous."
"Aww shucks, ma'am." Braeburn sensed predator in the diminutive (to him) Sonata. "But with him and dancin' takin' up all my time, I ain't got a spare moment for a pretty little thing like yerself."
"Sonata?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah?"
"You know he's gay, right?"
"A girl can dream, Rainbow. A girl can dream."
Braeburn relaxed with the news that Sonata's ogling was just that, but his thoughts were interrupted by a shocked gasp and an excited shout from where Spicy and Twilight had run to. "Anyway, I was just dropping by to see if you and Spicy wanted to go to a movie?"
Rainbow was surprised at her inclusion. She raised an eyebrow at Braeburn, and got a slightly wider smile in reply. "Well, I'd have to—"
"We sold as much again online!" Spicy Hot was giddy with excitement. "Twilight's printing out all the orders to pack, but she's going to be doing it all afternoon at this rate!"
With Spicy looking at her, Rainbow could see Twilight behind him using her magic to pluck items from shelves and filling boxes quickly. She smirked, and held back an outright laugh as more and more items began flying through the air.
Magic was something Braeburn usually avoided, mostly because it was easy to get accused of when you're performing on stage, but this wasn't the cheap one-night-only effects he'd seen. Real magic was at work, and it held him captivated. That it was rubber dongs, vibrators, and in one case a pile of rope didn't seem to dissuade him that this was real magic.
When a vibrator lifted from the shelf right beside him, Braeburn reached out a hand to touch it. Tingly and electric, the purple glow sizzled a little up his arm. The distinct feeling of his ears rising up the sides of his head had Braeburn quickly reach up and touch them—feel them.
Twilight rushed over to Braeburn. "Oh my gosh! Sorry! I didn't mean to get too close to—" She was completely unprepared for the big man to reach down, pick her up, and kiss her. Unprepared, shocked, and yet undeniably turned on.
"Sorry? This is the best thing ever? Will they stay there? Am I going to keep them forever this time? When Rainbow and Spicy did it last time, they faded by morning." Braeburn put Twilight down without thinking twice about the kiss. He spotted a mirror by the fitting rooms and rushed over to admire the pony ears.
"Well now I'm jealous." Spicy turned around to look back at what Twilight had been doing and froze. "You packed them all?!"
Still worried about Braeburn, Twilight barely acknowledged Spicy with a nod. "They normally go away after—"
"But can you make them stay?" Braeburn turned his full attention on Twilight as she trotted up behind him. "Like Spicy and Rainbow?"
"I don't know if just a little magic would do that, but if you were around when we were practicing, that might do the trick." Twilight used her magic to adjust her glasses and look up at Braeburn. A little thrill ran through her at how masculine he looked.
"Whoah! Down girl!" Sonata rushed over to Twilight. "Let me help you get these boxes ready."
Blocked from asking more questions, Braeburn turned his attention (with excitement) back on Rainbow and Spicy, only to find the pair kissing. "So, uh…" A bout of bashfulness hit him. It was like nothing he'd felt in years. "Did you two want to go see a movie?"
"I'm up for it." Rainbow didn't hesitate in the slightest. She looked at Spicy. "What about you?"
"On one condition." As he spoke, Spicy Hot stretched his wings out to grab Rainbow Dash and pull them both to Braeburn's side. "I get to be the meat in the sandwich!"
Rainbow leaned in and kissed Spicy's neck. "Don't forget your evening with Thunderbolt tonight."
"Thunderbolt?" Braeburn asked. "Are there others in your life?"
Spicy tilted his head and nuzzled Rainbow's ear. "This is a once-off with a hint toward maybe more. Rainbow's friend has only ever been with a girl and wants to try being with a guy."
"No way? You'll be his first guy? What's he like?" Braeburn was more curious than contentious. Being with a couple in an open relationship—he knew from experience—meant their focus was more on each other.
"You want measurements?" Rainbow asked.
"Braeburn, I hate to tell you, but he outweighs you by about double. Taller, too, and he has something you definitely don't have." Spicy leaned over and rested his head against Braeburn's shoulder. "Two cocks."
"WHAT?!"
"Oh sure, just tell him about dicks right away. Never mind that Thunderbolt's a dragon, or that he's only been sapient for a few weeks. Nope, straight to how many dongs the guy's packing." With a kiss to Spicy's cheek, Rainbow slipped from his grip. "I gotta head home now. My car ain't going to put itself together."
"Okay Rainbow-buns. Oh, how did things go with Sonata?" Spicy asked.
A shiver ran down Rainbow's spine as the memory of her morning replayed in her head. "She does things different. It was a lot more fun than I would have expected, but I'm with you on vaginas."
"Hold on. Can we back this up a little? You're going to have sex with a dragon?" Braeburn stared at Spicy. "An actual dragon?"
"He's not a huge dragon," Spicy said.
"Speak for yourself. He nearly splits me open when he gets both inside me." Rainbow opened the door to the shop and winked back at Spicy before closing it.
Adagio didn't care that her sisters had both strayed from the path she'd chosen. She didn't care now, they would both come crawling back to her when she had her power. She'd observed Aria and the pathetic mind-rotted human trying to make friends with the humans, but while Aria seemed obsessed with learning about their tricks directly, Adagio did so from the shadows.
Following several of the humans back to their home, Adagio Dazzle discovered something very curious. Music. Hiding in the bushes of the back yard, Adagio heard two of the Rainbooms playing together—drums and a lead guitar—and shivered.
Music had power, Adagio well knew, but this was practically soaking her in it. Adagio slipped closer to the garage of the huge house. When she was ten feet from it, she felt her ears shift and migrate up the sides of her head and a shiver down her back revealed that wings had sprouted.
"A little more. Come on." Nothing else mattered to Adagio. She moved with purpose and ignored everything apart from the music that poured into her. "Yes." Another step and she felt a tremble as scales sprouted on her back. "Yes." A few more feet closer and she felt her teeth sharpen. When Adagio Dazzle lifted her hand and touched the back wall of the garage, she felt something pull tight around her throat. "Yes."
A whole day of waiting had paid off for Adagio. Her hand left the back wall of the garage and slid up her body, over her bust, and to the gem resting at the peak of her cleavage. She wanted nothing more than to walk into the house and take them—bring the ones who broke her old gem under her sway, but Adagio knew the feeling of a gem without magic in it.
Leaving the house, Adagio felt a slight draining sensation. She crept through bushes until she found what she was after.
"What do you mean I don't need to come in? This is bullshit!" a male voice shouted.
The taste of anger whetted Adagio's tongue and she crept closer to the house she'd smelled. Someone inside was shouting into their telephone, and the raw power of it called to her.
Finding the front door open, Adagio let herself in quietly. Her gem began to throb at her throat and draw in the emotion in the air. "Mmmm…"
"I don't care if you don't—How dare you?!"
Adagio let out a little sigh as she walked into the room where the man was still shouting into his phone. "You don't have to fight, just let it out, show them you're right." There wasn't much of a tune to her words, but they rhymed, and from one heartbeat to the next Adagio saw the green mist start to pool in the room. "Shout. Prove yourself strong. Make them understand, show them you belong."
Staring at the young woman who had just walked into his house, Aviary's hand almost crushed the telephone in his grip. "Now you listen here. I don't give a fuck what you say—" the woman's eyes seemed hypnotic, her voice telling him what he wanted to hear, "—when I come in tomorrow I'm going to get my old job back, and I don't care what you have to say about it!"
Stepping closer, Adagio let out a soft sigh in the man's ear as she leaned over his slowly collapsing form. "Yes."
"Hello? Hello? Look, don't bother coming in, you're fired, and we're getting our lawyer to file—"
Adagio picked up the handset and wished she were present at the other end, the woman sounded furious. "He's terribly sorry. Look, he's been having some anger issues." With electronics her only link to the woman on the other end, Adagio couldn't affect her with a song, but there was more than one way to get something you want. "He just took his meds and—"
"Who's this?"
"I'm his psychiatrist. I think it would be best if he came to apologize for his actions." It was everything the woman would want to hear. Adagio spun the lie of mental problems and medication easily. "He's a little out of it right now, could I perhaps come and apologize myself in advance?"
"Oh, err. That would actually be appreciated. Ever since he lost his girlfriend, Safe Deal has been… a problem here. I could talk to the boss, if you like. Maybe we could get him his old job back if he's taking steps to get over it properly."
Adagio's eyes slipped to Safe Deal, laying motionless on the floor. "Oh, I think it's probably best if he has some time off from work—you know how it can be when facing something that aggravates you. Whereabouts did you say you were?"
Memorizing the address, Adagio spoke as many pleasantries as she could to end the phone call. Turning back to the late Safe Deal, she crouched down and memorized his features. "I won't soon forget the taste of your anger. Rest well, and know you died free." Nonetheless, she searched his pockets for his wallet and keys—she already had his mobile phone. Standing up, Adagio shook her head at the corpse. "Unlike the rest of this miserable world."
Operating a car had been more Sonata's thing, though Adagio had decided to learn how in the 1950s. The moment she unlocked the door and got behind the wheel, however, Adagio realized things had changed a little since the old Chevy she'd driven nearly half a century earlier.
She found the ignition and slipped the key in. Turning it brought the car's engine to life just as she remembered. "I saw in Aria's pet's car, there was a—Ah!" Tapping away at the center console, Adagio found the navigation system and entered the address she'd been given.
"In two hundred yards, turn right."
"Industrious little ants. Clever to a fault and wonderfully weak-willed. Well, time to feed." Working out the automatic transmission was easy, given she'd learned on a column-shift. When Adagio pulled away from the curb, she cut someone off. A shiver of delight filled her as she sipped at the anger her maneuver caused.
Driving was a unique pleasure for Adagio. Swerving just enough to make people panic, tapping her brakes, even just waving happily to someone after she'd cut them off fueled her in a way she hadn't felt in almost a year. Sharing meals with her sisters, she realized, sucked, and spending magic to drain emotions was similarly for chumps.
The voice of the car was constantly chirpy and happy, buoying Adagio's mood even further. Once it announced she'd reached her destination, she was looking at a huge quantity of cars and two free meals already in progress. The business sold cars, it seemed, and standing in the middle of the lot—arguing with, or simply yelling at the employee—a man and his wife seemed the next logical targets for Adagio's hunger.
Turning the car off and slipping the keys into a convenient pocket on the pants she'd stolen, Adagio walked into the yard slowly humming a tune. When the employee being harangued by the couple gave her a warning glance, Adagio just smiled at them. "When I see you suffering, I want to ease your pain; when I see you suffering, I want to calm the strain."
Quick Deal had been at the point in every bad situation where you just throw up your emotional walls and ignore what was being said. Words like "I understand", "I'm sorry to hear that", and "There's nothing we can do" slipped from his lips every time both people yelling at him stopped to take a breath at the same time—which wasn't often. But then she came.
The two people seemed completely unneeded in his life anymore. Quick looked at Adagio and let out a sigh that undid all the tension the last twenty five minutes of yelling had caused. "What can I do to help you?"
Turning her attention from the delightfully compliant human to the two that stood beside her—still screaming—Adagio inhaled and drank away their anger and fury, but left them with their lives this time. Not that the effect didn't appear the same at first glance.
Quick didn't even blink as the woman did something and saved him from what was going to be probably another hour of torment. The sound of traffic was audible again, but there was only one thing Quick Deal wanted to hear—her voice.
"Now, where is the owner of this establishment?" Adagio looked into the eyes of the young man, and could see she owned him completely. The urge to tell him to run into traffic made her giggle, but she had a use for this tool before she broke it.
"Mr. Rich isn't here. He runs his businesses from an office downtown." The sadness of not being able to take this wonderful woman to meet his boss was completely wiped away by her smile at his news. "Do you need me to help with anything else?"
The hope in the man's question drew a happy sigh from Adagio. "Invite your friends and family—everyone you know—to a party we're holding right here tonight." She recognized the look of panic of a fully mind-controlled person who can't carry out a command immediately. "What's wrong?"
"I-I don't have any family, and I moved here not long ago…" Quick was shocked when the woman pulled him into a hug. Pain, anguish, and loneliness sloughed away at her touch.
"You have the only friend you ever need. Me. You're special. You're perfect. You are mine, and soon everyone will be." Adagio let the man go while reaching up to trace his throat. One aspect of her sister's hedonism did suit Adagio just fine. "You'd look good in a collar."