Princess Cadence smiled warmly to all the Ponyville residents she passed by. She was happy to travel, and happy to have the opportunity to be somewhere else. She loved the Crystal Empire, but she needed to see the world. This business trip would work quite well.
"Hello! Hello! Good day! Hi!" She called out to the different ponies, and smiled at her husband, Shining, who walked beside her, more calmly. "Oh, this is so exciting." She said. "Ponyville is such a sweet place! It has such interesting ponies! Don't you think so too, hun?"
"It's a nice town." Shining said. "I'm happy we're visiting Twilight, too."
"Are you excited to meet anypony else here?" His wife patiently smiled, using her levitation to do a drive-by autograph signing.
"Well, it's cool to meet Spike and Twilight's friends." Was all he said.
"Huh." Cadence blinked. "Anypony else?"
"Uh..." Shining blinked. "I guess...No? Not really? I've never been in Ponyville much. All I know is Twily and her friends."
"Weeellll..." Cadence put a hoof to her chin. "Does anypony catch your eye maybe?"
"C-Catch my eye?" Shining blinked. "Dear, you know that the only thing in this world that can catch my eye is you, right?" He asked, which made her giggle in return. Okay, it was endearing...Yet on the inside, Cadence couldn't help but feel a little grumpy by the answer.
Because her Love senses were tingling - and she wasn't sure how.
"You're so adorable, cutie." Cadence smiled. "Anyhow - we're going to have to visit one of Twily's friends now, actually. I promised the Sweet Apple Acres I'd pop by to ask if they can supply some things for our next Crystal Fair. Pluuus maybe trade recipes. I think Flurry loved those apple fritters Granny Smith made."
"Fine by me." Shining smiled. "Lead the way!"
They would walk for some twenty minutes - before all they could see on the horizon were apple trees. In the distance, they would see the buildings that belonged to the Sweet Apple Acres, and Cadence nodded. "Okay! This should be it!"
***
Among the apple trees - a pair of red hind legs smashed into the trunks. It was a buck powerful enough to topple all apples at once. The apples went into a few buckets - thanks to the powerful red hooves. And in turn, a pair of small, delicate, lavender hooves began to sift through the apples.
Big Macintosh sighed in relief...And around the mare he loved so much, he was able to be more talkative.
"Sugar, er-..." He confused himself whether he intended to call her name first or to call her a cute nickname. "Sugar Belle. Cutie. Cutie pie. Just wanted to ask..."
"Yes, love?" Sugar Belle happily said in a song-humming tune.
"Just wanted 'tah ask...When we're done."
"Hmph." Sugar Belle grinned. "I think just about now. I need the sweetest apples - well, second sweetest considering you're here." She giggled. "I'm gonna talk with Princess Cadence about the next Crystal Fair. And I wanna make sure we give her only the best to sample from! Since Granny Smith's in Las Pegasus again and AJ's in the market, I'll be representing the acres!"
"You sure you don't want me to do the talkin'?" Big Mac blinked.
"Cutie..." Sugar looked at him. "Do you feel like holding a long conversation with Princess Cadence?"
"...Enope."
"So in that case..." Sugar Belle squinted her eyes to see the pink alicorn come towards them, and smiled. "Let's go greet out guests!"
Cadence and Shining approached the two. "Hello!" Cadence pleasantly grinned at Sugar Belle.
"Princess Cadence!" The unicorn pony softly bowed. "I'm Sugar Belle! Welcome to the Sweet Apple Acres. It's good to see you, we just finished up collecting some of the better apples for you to try! We can discuss the menu and what we want to include for the Fair."
Cadence was in diplomat-mode, putting on her most radiant smile. "Wonderful - and it's a pleasure to meet you. So, as mentioned, the Fair is going to need a steady supply of apples ever since Starlight Glimmer's girlfriend ended up wilting all of our local apple trees."
"How awful...Those poor trees."
"Our royal crystaller's taking care of it, but yes. So how many apples have you gathered so far?"
"Well we--"
Shining was listening to the conversation. Was.
Big Mac was listening to the conversation. Was.
The two stallions looked at each other for a moment. At first it was just to give each other a nod of greeting, and yet, something took Shining's attention. Something took Big Mac's attention. They blushed, and hadn't registered it. It was a sort of awe - a gaze of...undivided attention.
And Cadence, as she spoke, paused to understand the feeling. Softly, as she felt from where the feeling came from...she smiled.
And Sugar Belle who caught on was more than able to guess what got her husband staring at the other stallion.
"Hey, Sugar Belle." Cadence coughed. "Let's step aside. I wanted to ask something private."
This made the stallions snap to attention, Shining tilted his head as he wasn't sure why she suggested this. But Cadence gave him a cheeky grin.
"Sorry hun, mare things." The princess declared, and neither stallion could question it.
***
In their hotel, Cadence and Shining laid in bed, with the night lamp on. Cadence read the book she had packed with herself, whereas Shining was reading a magazine that, perhaps stereotypical of a Captain, depicted the newest and fanciest armors. As they read, Cadence's eyes shifted to Shining.
"Dear?" She whispered.
"Yes, sweetie?" Shining's eyes stuck to the magazine.
"Don't you feel like asking that red stallion we met today on a date?"
"..." Shining blinked, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry, dear - guess I'm getting sleepy. What'd you--"
"You. Sugar Belle's husband. Date." Cadence flatly said.
"W-What!?" Shining yelped in surprise. "W-Whatever do you--"
"You two are crushing on each other. And Sugar Belle seems to be for it." The alicorn simply said, eyes going back to the book as she continued to read. "So, why not ask him out?"
Shining was about to proclaim, as many stallions do, that he didn't swing that way. Yet, even if he didn't swing as wide as an angry baseball player, he knew that Cadence would've figured it out even before they started dating. He could only sigh. "Well, I'm married, Cadence. And he's married."
"Polyamory isn't cheating as long as the amount of love to your spouse hasn't decreased." Cadence stated as a matter of factly. "I approve. Sugar Belle approves. Go get 'im, tiger."
"But..." Shining sighed. "Look, remember when I got up on that stage to sing that one song?"
"Pretty Pink Mares, I remember." Cadence instantly responded. "I heard you got a filly her cutie mark in music."
"Yyyyeah." He chuckled. "But, yeah. That courage is one thing - but I've never been with a stallion before and I think it's just as surprising for me as it is for everypony else. I'm gonna have a really hard time..."
"I assumed you'd be the bottom."
"W-What?"
"Nothing. What I meant to say is that you shouldn't be ashamed or afraid of anything." Cadence closed the book. "Love is love, dear. And, besides." She blushed, looking aside. "Maybe in exchange you could let me spend the time with one of my old marefriends."
"Of course Cadence!" Shining beamed. "You don't need to ask!"
In return, he got bonked on the head softly with her book.
"That was a test, which you failed." Cadence said. "You're okay with me doing it, but you're too afraid to do it yourself? Tsk. You really need to remember that this is a fair relationship."
"Caddy..." Shining sighed, rubbing his head. "Can we drop this for now? We really should sleep."
"If you say so." Cadence sighed, and used her magic to turn the night light on. She gave her husband a kiss on the cheek, and rolled to her side...before grinning. "No worries. Plan B is ready." She whispered to herself. "Unless Sugar Belle can convince Big Mac..."
***
Sugar Belle sighed. "You are definitely a bottom."
"'Ah have no idea what that means." Big Mac simply said as he did some pushups before bed, with Sugar Belle sitting on top of him.
"You'll find out if you keep being so passive!" She groaned. "Big Mac, come on! You told me yourself how you used to crush on stallions. I want you to go to him and just say 'let's date'."
"Even if Cadence gave permission n' all...I still can't get that whole Feather Bang fiasco outta 'mah head. Considerin' it was already that hard to ask you out, I can't imagine how hard I'll struggle with Shinin'."
Sugar Belle sighed and got off of him, Mac frowning as the much-needed weight was removed, his next pushup making him nearly jump as he put his weight into it. "Dear, I think it's going to be healthy for you. Do you like him?"
"Well..." Big Mac sighed "He's...attractive?"
She rose a brow.
"...Handsome?" He gulped.
Her brow rose higher.
"...Cute." He finally blushed hard, and sighed. "Still, I don't wanna hurt your feelin'--"
"You're not." She corrected him.
"...But 'ah just can't." He sighed, and finally made his way to their bed, before laying in it.
Sugar Belle sighed...And smiled as he turned away from her.
Plan B it is.
***
In a dark alley, secluded from all eyes, a purple mare stood in a trench coat in glasses. She was on a task of utmost secrecy, and underneath the glasses her gaze shifted side to side, making sure that none could eavesdrop on her, nor the conversation that was to take place. She heard approaching footsteps - to see another mare approach her, this one pink and with a long horn, and not to mention wings that were obviously sitting under her own clothes. By coincidence, this mare too wore a trench coat and glasses that hid her identity.
The two mares leaned against the wall, staring forward as if pretending they weren't even talking to each other.
"Glad to see you made it." The purple one said quietly, producing a lollipop which she held in her mouth like a cigarette, with the other mare doing the same via levitation.
"Same to you..." Replied the pink one. They each reached a hoof into their coats, and pulled out photographs. They exchanged them, and studied them. They studied their targets - the subject matter.
"I see." The purple mare nodded. "Good. I think the rest of the plan is in motion. Have you prepared everything on your side?"
"A long time ago." The pink mare commented, exchanging the photographs back once more. "So...Today is the day, huh?"
"Mhm." The purple one nodded. "The wheel's turning, and it's all coming along. Tonight, we're finally doing it."
"Indeed." The purple one pulled the lollipop stick out of her mouth. "Tonight is the night..."
"We..." The purple mare spat the stick out.
"GET OUR HUSBANDS TO DATE!" The two mares then exclaimed like schoolgirls, jumping up with such excitement their sunglasses and trench coat were completely thrown off, revealing that the mares were none other than Sugar Belle and the Princess of love herself; Cadence.
They then blushed realizing they had yelled it out on the whole alleyway, so they coughed.
"Right." Sugar Belle giggled. "Hoofness, I'm so glad we're both in on this!"
Cadence gave her a warm smile. "Me too - dear. I mean, as the Princess of Love, this is quite expected of me, especially since I can sense that his love towards me hasn't decreased a bit since we met. I'm glad we can help him explore his feelings, but...What about you? Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"Of course Big Mac loves me the same, but we actually discussed this topic in the first stages of our dating." Sugar Belle smiled. "He's always been a bit of a loner in the past, and he told me about some of his feelings. I really wanna see him understand who he truly is."
The two mares gave each other excited giggles. They were good at understanding what made their husbands tick and as a result, when the two stallions met on a business trip to the Sweet Apple Acres, the two mares saw their chemistry. So after the mares discussed business for providing the Apple family's services to the next Crystal Fair, they brought the topic up to their husbands.
And much to their glee, they were able to discover that the stallions were totally into each other.
And much to their dismay, the stallions that not only did they feel it'd be wrong to make a move while married, but also they admitted to the fact that they were, to interpret, "total dorks who couldn't ever make the move".
Both Cadence and Sugar Belle were well aware how painstaking it was when the stallions attempted to start dating them, so they could imagine how this time around it would be more difficult.
It was more than fortunate that Cadence's intuition as the Princess of Love nudged her to make contact with Sugar Belle, and the two mares hit off the moment they saw that they were after the same.
So now came the tough part - how to make their husbands go for it?
It was the most fortunate that the two mares were as smart as they were ambitious.
Cadence showed Sugar Belle a little booklet. "Okay, so - remember our cover story. We're having a business dinner in this restaurant, and each bring our husbands. But then, both Twilight and Applejack ask us to come and claim there's an emergency. We leave them alone at the table and make sure they gotta stay together."
Sugar Belle nodded. "Great - then I think we're set! Catch ya later, wingmare~!"
"See you on the other side, wingmare." Cadence saluted with a giggle.
***
Big Mac gulped. "Honey..." He said as his wife adjusted his bowtie. "'Ah gotta say...For a business dinner, you're making me dress kinda, uh...Like this is a date."
"A date!?" Sugar Belle sputtered nervously. "You'd be so wrong, you might as well claim I'm trying to make you seduce the Captain of the Royal Guard!" She went on, and her fast, nervous speech made Big Mac miss half of her words.
"Beg pardon?" He blinked.
"I said we are going to meet the Princess of Love and the Captain of the Royal Guard, so you gotta look dashing!" She beamed with joy as she used Cadence's special perfume that was provided to her. A specially enchanted one, of course - because otherwise, who would Cadence be?
***
"Caddie..." Shining giggled as Cadence adjusted his bowtie. "You don't need the business dinner coverup anymore. I know you just want to have a nice candlelit dinner."
"Oh, but it is a business dinner." The Princess smiled, using her horn to levitate a brush, to, well, brush up Shining's mane. "We could go in there wearing something less dashing, but I think we should always aim to impress. Right, honey?"
"...Y-Yeah?" Shining stammered. "B-But, uh, why are we having a business dinner for this occasion? I thought we were just asking the Acres to open up a booth for the Crystal Fair. And didn't you already make agreements?"
Cadence nervously laughed, making Shining yelp as the nervousness made her tug the brush a bit too far. "Well, you gotta do these things for good will, dear! Now, here, let's make you perfectly magnetic." She said as she levitated a perfume bottle, and sprinkled some against his neck.
Shining took a moment before taking a sniff. Then, he blinked. "...Is that...apple?"
"N-No!" Cadence yelped and threw the perfume bottle aside before Shining could see it was, ironically, apple-shaped. "Pear! The kinda fruit the Apple Family would just, uh, gag at the scent of!"
"...Oh." Shining frowned. Cadence bit her lip as she saw her mistake.
"I-I meaaaan, uh, gag, as in...gag from nostalgia! Applejack's, Big Mac's, and Applebloom's mother was from the Pear family, you see, so, uh, it might be a very nostalgic smell that will remind them of her."
"...Oh?" Shining rose a brow - wondering if it was a good idea.
Cadence sighed. "Okay, it's not that strong that it'll remind them." She said, and decided to just get it on with. "Now come on, we got a date--business dinner to get to!"
***
The four sat at a suspiciously not-so-business-dinner like table, considering the candle, the flowers, and the fact that the stallions were positioned to be sitting rather...suspiciously intimately, opposite of each other on the narrow part of the table.
What was stranger is that while the stallions were made to look as dashing as possible, with each mare taking great effort with the mane styling, dressing, and perfuming; Shining even receiving a light smudge of makeup - the mares seemed to have intentionally reduced their presence by not changing their style at all and wearing rather unremarkable dresses.
"Gee, Princess Cadence!" Sugar nervously smiled. "I am sure happy that we could meet to discuss...business!"
"Yes!" Cadence coughed. "As a saying goes in the Crystal Empire, never, uh...leave an apple unturned!"
"We...have that saying?" Shining blinked at her.
"Uh, if 'ah may ask..." Big Mac looked at Sugar Belle. "What sorta business do y'all have left, anyhow?"
"Oooooh, that!" Sugar Belle began to sweat. "Well, we gotta discuss the... uh...discuss the...Uh...Apple, uh..."
"Flavored..." Cadence continued.
"...Hoof polish." Sugar Belle stated. Cadence, while none saw, facehooved for how much her partner in crime failed at adlibbing.
"Yes. The apple flavored hoof polish." The Princess continued. "Big trend in Manehattan these days. Rarity will testify."
All seemed lost - until...the sound of running hooves entered the restaurant. The two mares looked at each other and smirked. The second phase of the plan was beginning.
Twilight sprinted in, and Applejack lazily jogged after her. While the purple alicorn had a face of total glee and excitement, Applejack entered with a most bemused look, brows furrowed while she looked at Sugar Belle, as if to signal the phrase 'seriously?'.
"Cadence! Cadence!" Twilight exclaimed, attempting to sound panicked and desperate, when in reality the giddiness of her tone betrayed that something was a little amiss. "We need you now! There's, been, a, um, emergency! A-And Sugar Belle, we need you to come to, there's a monster who can only be defeated by high-quality hoof-made muffins!"
"Yeah." Applejack said lacking enthusiasm, blankly staring into nothingness. She spoke with a most monotone, dragging voice. "As-the-Element-of-Honesty-who-is-supposed-to-be-the-most-honestest-of-the-honester-ponies..." She inhaled. "'Ah need you two to help us, for we are facin' an emergency the likes of which Equestria's never seen before, and this is not in-fact a cover-up for a very badly thought scheme that is attemptin' to substitute what the adults call..." She turned her head to look Sugar Belle right in the eyes. "A con-ver-sa-tion."
Sugar Belle shot her a glare, but then Cadence stood up. "Oh! Then let us go forth, Sugar Belle!"
"Wait! We'll come too!" Shining stood up.
"Yeah - we're gonna help y'all!" Big Mac smiled, also standing up. In response, Cadence and Sugar Belle both yelped and put their hooves on their husbands' shoulders, and pulled them back onto their seats.
"NO!" Cadence cried out. "We, uhm...It's dangerous!"
"But you can't expect us to just sit here while you're in trouble!" Shining blinked at Cadence.
"I-It's a very basic and easy monster to deal with, by the sound of it!" Sugar Belle said. "I think you two should just spend the evening together until we come back! Okay?"
"But--" Big Mac started, but before he could...the four mares dashed away.
And the two stallions were left blinking at each other.
The four mares ran around the restaurant, and now sat in a bush - each with a pair of binoculars to look at the two stallions through a window.
Applejack sighed. "Sugar Belle, if you and Cadence are both okay with, why not just...Talk 'bout it with the colts?" She asked. "Matter of fact it's easy with Mac cause all he'll say is eeyup or nope."
Sugar Belle didn't bat an eye as she kept looking. "Because we need to see the spark!" She said. "We're gonna make them see just how they're into each other, and they'll surely ask each other out!"
"She's got the right idea!" Cadence grinned. "Everything is going to plan, according to my love senses!"
"Love senses?" Twilight snorted. "Look, I know my brother is the team player for two teams, but figuring out a pony's preferences isn't really some kinda power."
"Twilight." Cadence sighed. "I am the Princess of Love. I can feel it in the air 24/7. It's gotten so bad I even detect body temperature fluctuations caused by it. I know everything there is about what and who ponies - and creatures - love."
"Oh come on." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Don't be that dramatic."
"Applejack and Rainbow Dash have fallen for each other." Cadence replied, making the orange pony blush hard.
"What!?" AJ exclaimed.
"Yesterday's news." Twilight coughed.
"WHAT!?" AJ shouted.
Cadence sighed. "You're bisexual as well."
"Okay - I mean, duh." Twilight smirked.
Cadence now looked at Twilight as if she was a cat who just knocked over a cup. "You had a crush on Moondancer, giving you a serious, ahem, "appreciation" for ponies who wear glasses. Furthermore, currently or in the past, you developed crushes on Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Flash Sentry - which is the most obvious, Tempest Shadow, Discord, Star Tracker, I mean, you've even crushed on TRIXIE LULAMOON. Your apparent ex-rival!? Oh, and do I need to mention the blue jay incident?"
"We don't talk about the blue jay." Twilight coughed. "Okay - so maybe I clearly show when I'm interested in somepony. So?"
Cadence sighed. She didn't want things to come to this. "Twilight, the box under your bed contains--"
Twilight instantly prostrated - the Dogeza of apology she delivered straining her spine. "I apologize for my blasphemy, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire."
"Good." Cadence smirked. "Oh! Look, look! Big Mac is leaning in!"
"Oh how exciting!" Sugar Belle squeaked. "What do you think he's saying? That he's lost in his eyes? That he's utterly enamored and hypnotized by his beauty? Maybe he's already confessing his love?"
"I know that look." Applejack smirked. "There's only one thing Big Mac gets this talkative about these days."
Twilight zoomed in to look at her brother's face, and smirked. "...Oh yeah, I see it."
***
"I can't believe we both play Ogres and Oubliettes!" Big Mac happily beamed.
"Yeah!" Shining smiled adorably. "It's cool that you play Knight - I'm more of a Paladin kinda stallion, but I'd love to play with your group sometime! I still sometimes gather with my old group, so maybe somepony from it would be down!"
"Eeyup." Big Mac giggled, and allowed himself to look at the stallion. Shining did the same, looking back at him...Both softly blushing.
And then, Shining's smile changed to a smug smirk. "You're aware that our wives and sisters set this up, right? Seems they're trying to get us together."
"They doomed their chances of being discrete the moment they got Applejack on board." Big Mac chuckled.
"Twily's acting isn't that much better." The unicorn responded...They blushed, because jokes aside they had no idea where to go with this. Or rather, there was a desire to move forward - yet at the same time there was much uncertainty.
"So..."
"Aheh...Eeyup."
"Yeah..."
"Eeyup."
"Yup..."
"So, how does Cadence actually feel about this?" Big Mac leaned in.
Shining's eyes opened slightly in surprise. "As the Princess of Love she's more than supportive. What about Sugar Belle, though?"
Big Mac's smile had distracted Shining for a moment. "'Ah was surprised too but, she said she wants me to understand who 'ah am. As long as 'ah still love her, which 'ah do, she said that she wanted me to explore."
"Funny situation, all this..." Shining giggled. "...So, uhm...Do you actually..."
"'Ah do." Big Mac instantly responded.
"But you didn't even hear my question!"
"You were gonna say if 'ah like you, right?" The red stallion rose a brow.
"...I had no idea I'm that predictable." Shining looked to the side.
"The answer is - eyup." Big Mac said, making Shining blush. "'Ah'm just surprised at all this. It's sudden, but 'ah guess it's a lot easier to tell when you're married to the Princess of Love. Still, you're...well..." Big Mac blushed hard, and hid his face a little. "Cute."
Shining chuckled softly. "A-Alright, now you're gonna make it obvious to them that their plan is working."
Big Mac leaned in closer. Shining would've backed away, but yet - he was enamored...He did not want to back out, allowing their muzzles to touch.
"'Ah say, let 'em have their victory. We're the winners tonight." Big Mac softly said...
"...Yes..." Was all Shining could gasp out.
And the two pairs of lips pressed against each other.
From the bushes, came the screams from two mares.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" Sugar Belle and Cadence cried out, hugging each other with tears of happiness...It was definitely worth having all heads from the restaurant turn to the window to see them sitting in the bushes, and it was definitely worth the stallions detecting them...It was also worth being blacklisted from the restaurant.
Not that Sugar Belle minded, because that meant she didn't have to pay the bill. Therefore, the bits she won from a little bet with Cadence - on which stallion was on top - would stay with her.