The young princes and princesses of the Everfree Kingdom were searching their castle home library for a bedtime story, but were unsuccessful.
Whirl Wind tossed a book aside onto a pile, "Seen it."
Cotton also tossed a book, "Read it."
Screwy did the same, "Read it in a different language."
Dignity sighed, "Let's face it, guys. We have read every single story in this library."
Starling nodded, "Sad, but true…"
The kids sighed.
Just then, their parents came in.
Flash asked, "So, have you found a story to share?"
Fire Spark replied, "More like we've shared every story there is."
"Already?!" Discord exclaimed as he looked over the large collection of books that were piled on the floor, "By Jove, they have."
Pinkie said, "There's got to be something you haven't read yet!"
"Absolutely!" Twilight proclaimed as she flew up to the top shelves and picked out a book, "Like this one! The 1001 Facts of Star Swirl the Bearded!"
The kids gagged at the suggestion.
"Blech is right!" Rainbow flew up to her sister to take the book away, but she bumped into another book that fell down and landed at Apple Jewel's hooves.
She read the title out loud, "The… Royal Olympics…"
The parents gasped and Discord swooped in to grab the book before the kids had a chance to see it.
"What's the Royal Olympics?" Gemstone asked.
"Nothing!" all the parents said at once, causing the kids to be suspicious.
"All right, what's going on here?" Whirl Wind frowned.
The rest of them frowned as well.
Spike sighed, "They were bound to find out, anyway."
Applejack nodded, "I'm afraid so." She looked up to Twilight as she and Rainbow came back down.
Twilight addressed the children, "Well… the best way to explain the Royal Olympics is to tell you when the last Royal Olympics happened…"
It had been at least one week since the princesses and their new husbands returned from their honeymoons. They had gathered in the girls' old room as Twilight had a set of blueprints of their mother's and aunt's old castle out. It had been decided that now they were married, they wanted a castle to call their own. And the old Everfree Castle would be the perfect place for them.
"Oh! How about a personal spa over there?" Rarity pointed on the blueprint.
"Ooh! And a bakery over there!" Pinkie pointed.
"Why do we need a bakery?" Rainbow questioned.
"To make pie-cakes, of course!"
There were more suggestions thrown around when Scootaloo ran in the room and was panting from the long run.
Dash noticed her, "Scoots, what's up?"
"Mom and Dad… They need you guys right away!"
The girls gave confused looks before they went out with their husbands following right after them. When they had walked in the throne room, Twilight asked, "You wanted to see us, Mother? Father?"
Celestia smiled, "We do. Girls, I'm sure you remember the Royal Olympics?"
Rainbow gasped and flapped up excitedly, "Only that it's the competition of a lifetime! I loved competing in it when I was little!"
Applejack exclaimed, "So did I."
"Me, too!" Pinkie jumped in the air, waving pom-poms.
Rarity, however, was frowning and pointed out, "Yes, as fun as it was, remember the time we lost in every single event to… the Royal Gaiti Family…?"
Rainbow cringed and went down, "Oh, yeah…"
"I was hoping we'd forget about them…" AJ grimaced.
"Those guys hated having fun!" Pinkie motioned.
"All they cared about was winning…" said Twilight.
"It was the worst…" agreed Fluttershy.
Discord waved his hand, "Yoo-hoo, you've lost us here. Just who is this Royal Gaiti Family?" The rest of the husbands were giving puzzled expressions and agreeing with Discord's question.
Applejack explained, "The Royal Gaiti Family is a bunch of competitive royals who constantly try to prove they're the best."
Rainbow took over, "When we were little and went against them in the R.O, we lost every event to them." Soarin's eyes bulged out, and Rainbow told him, "Yup, they were even better than me."
Flash said, "Sounds to me you had some serious competition there."
Spike asked, "Just what are these Royal Olympics?"
Sombra answered, "The Royal Olympics is equivalent to that of the Equestria Games, only it's for the royal families of Equestria."
Celestia explained, "In every Olympics, it has two families competing against each other. When the curse happened with Sombra, I decided to take us out of the running, but once your father returned to us, we set to work to bring back the Royal Olympics to Canterlot!"
"Alright!" RD and AJ cheered and hoof-bumped.
Sombra winced, "You might want to hold your excitement, given what you said about Gaiti's royal family…"
His daughters gave uncertain looks.
Twilight slowly said, "What do you mean?"
Their parents exchanged brief glances before they both said, "They'll be coming by the end of the week."
There was gaping silence before the girls all at once screamed, "NOOO!"
"Are they really that bad?" Spike asked as they all gathered outside near the jousting area.
"No, they're really that good." his wife replied.
"Just who are these guys?" Soarin' inquired.
"I'm rather curious myself." said Fancy.
"Just what is it about this family that's got you in a tizzy?" Discord wanted to know so badly.
Twilight sighed as she started them off, "The Royal Gaiti Family is led by Queen Sassy Saddles. She has five daughters…"
"Wait…" Flash held his hoof up, "If there were five of them and six of you, how could you've gotten beaten?"
Rainbow gritted her teeth, "Don't remind us…"
"It adds to the pain." said Pinkie.
Rarity gestured, "Yes, one would think that because we had them outnumbered, we could have easily won, but that wasn't the case…"
"That's what makes them so impressive and us…" Fluttershy dejectedly sighed, "bland…"
Discord exclaimed, "Darling! That's far from the truth!"
Cheese motioned, "He's right. Would we fall for just any girls?"
Fancy lifted his wife's chin, causing her to melt, "You are all special in your own way."
Spike smiled as he addressed them, "And you're just as special together. I know. I've seen it."
Flash said, "You know, they made you feel so intimidated that you've forgotten just how great you girls really are…"
Their eyes widened, realizing their husbands spoke the truth. Rainbow then yelled, "He's right! They totally made us doubt we can do anything. Not just a few months ago, we defeated a Changeling Queen and a stuck-up cousin!" The princesses gave random agreements and started looking determined. "Look, things have changed. We're older, smarter, faster, cooler, and awesomer! So what if we lost in the past? This time will be different!"
They cheered.
"So are we going to win this time?"
They cheered again.
"You bet!" she got her sisters in a group hug.
The husbands smiled at the scene.
"That's my Dash. Always giving a pep talk."
It was the end of the week as the family waited on the front steps of the castle. Discord was grumbling because he was in disguise as a grey unicorn pony.
"Why do I have to change my appearance?!" he demanded.
Celestia responded, "Because our guests will believe we will have an advantage if we have the Spirit of Chaos on our side."
Discord pointed, "Well, Spike is a dragon!"
Spike smirked, "But I don't have magic."
Discord grumbled again.
Fluttershy reassured him, "It's just until the games are over."
"Even when…?"
She giggled, "No, when we're alone, it's fine."
He sighed in relief.
Rainbow then shouted out, "I think I see them coming!"
Sombra said, "Places everyone!"
A large carriage came closer and then it stopped. A hoofcolt opened the door and out came Queen Sassy Saddles. The queens greeted each other.
"Sassy, how wonderful to see you."
"Likewise, Celestia," she turned to see her daughters, Princesses Sugarcoat (Earth pony), Sunny Flare (Unicorn), Sour Sweet (Pegasus), Indigo Zap (Pegasus), and Lemon Zest (Earth pony). "You remember my daughters?"
"Of course. You remember mine?"
"I do, and I can see things have changed since we last saw each other."
Celestia saw stallions making their way out of the carriage. "And I can see things have changed for you, as well."
"My daughters' husbands." She turned to her daughters, "Girls, would you like to introduce your husbands?"
"If we must." Princess Sugarcoat said, "This is my husband, Prince Trenderhoof."
The blonde unicorn nodded his head, but when he caught a glimpse of Applejack, his eyes glimmered. Spike saw that and frowned.
Princess Sour Sweet went next and started acting sweet, "And this is my husband, Prince Gizmo." She eyed the Canterlot princesses as if to say, 'You're going down!'
Princess Sunny Flare stated, "This is my husband, Prince Pokey Pierce."
Princess Lemon Zest practically shouted, "This is my honey, Prince Bulk Biceps!"
The muscled pegasus yelled out, "Yeah!"
The Canterlot princesses and their husbands exchanged awkward glances.
Princess Indigo Zap was last as she gestured to the unicorn next to her, "Hey, this is my husband, Prince Comet Tail!"
There was a pause before Twilight received a glance from her mother, encouraging her to say something. She cleared her throat, "Well, um, it's nice to meet the princes of Gaiti. Now we would like to introduce our husbands, the princes of Canterlot."
She introduced her husband and then her sisters. When Applejack went last, Lemon Zest pointed out.
"You married a dragon?!"
Sugarcoat added, "That is, like, against nature."
AJ scowled and was about to bellow out, "Why I oughta…" But her mouth was covered by Rarity.
Fluttershy whispered to Discord, "Still think you should show yourself?"
"I most certainly do! Let them see the draconequus you married so I can make that one eat her words!"
She sighed, "Just hang in there…"
"I'll try. But I won't like it."
She gave a small smile.
Once the boys were alone with their wives in a private room, Soarin' exclaimed, "Wow! You guys weren't kidding about them!"
Fancy mentioned, "They do take things rather seriously, don't they? I can see serious as an important thing, but I don't think you should be serious all the time, wouldn't you think so?"
There were mutters of agreements.
"And what about their husbands?" Flash inquired.
"A boring lot, aren't they?" said Discord, "Except maybe that Bulk Biceps…" he sniggered.
Spike mumbled to himself, "Well, I didn't like the way that Trenderhoof was looking at AJ…"
Rarity said, "It's going to be a very long weekend, isn't it?"
Applejack motioned, "You said it."
In their own private guest room, the Gaiti princesses were going over their competition while their husbands stood on the sidelines.
"They're the same as they always have been!" Indigo pointed out.
"I don't know… With those husbands of theirs, they might actually stand a chance." said Lemon.
"Yeah!" Bulk bellowed.
"I would be more concerned about the one who's married to the dragon." said Sugarcoat.
Sour Sweet gestured, "Who cares about the dragon?! At least one of them didn't marry some sort of magical spirit who can help them win in every single event!"
Sunny scoffed, "As if. But if that was the case, what matters is winning like we always do."
"Let's show them we're the best princesses!" Indigo cheered.
The crowds gathered in the stadium as the royal teams prepared for the event at hoof.
Rainbow pointed as she was in a huddle with her sisters and their husbands, "Okay, Fluttershy will go first, then Soarin', and finally me." She gave a smug grin.
Fluttershy whimpered, "Oh, are you sure I should be in this event? Maybe Flash should do it?"
Twilight mentioned, "Mother and Father wanted to keep the race as fair as possible since there are only three pegasi on their team and they have a flyer that wouldn't go as fast as the others, much like you."
"Oh… alright. I want to give them a fair chance."
Rarity muttered, "Let's just hope they'll be just as fair…"
On the other side of the stadium, the Gaiti princesses were going over their game plan without their husbands.
"I should go first, then Indigo, and Bulk will go last." Sour Sweet said.
Indigo cheered, "They won't know what hit them!"
The race was about to start as the pegasi got in to their positions.
Pinkie was in a cheerleading uniform and waving her pom-poms, "Go Fluttershy! Go Soarin'! Go Rainbow Dash!"
Sour Sweet glanced over to her competition and gave a snarl, nearly scaring Fluttershy. When the whistle blew signaling them to go, Sour flew at the speed of light while Fluttershy was going as fast as she could. Sour had managed to tag Indigo on a cloud while Soarin' positively encouraged Fluttershy. Once she reached to tag him, he flew off and managed to get in neck in neck with Indigo until they tagged the next pair. Soarin' actually got to kiss his wife's cheek before she shot off like a rocket. Bulk, however, was going slow and Indigo shouted.
"Come on, Bulk! Pick up the pace!"
Sour Sweet shouted below, "Yeah, can't you go any faster?!"
Bulk felt bad he wasn't winning for his team of in-laws.
The Canterlot royals noticed this and Spike motioned, "Geez, what a way to treat someone, especially an in-law."
"No kidding…" Cheese shook his head in sadness.
Dash had crossed the finish line in record time and the airhorn blew, declaring the end of the race before Bulk could cross it. He hung his head in shame as the team glared at him.
Above the stadium was a scoreboard that said CANTERLOT and GAITI. Canterlot had scored one point.
Sugarcoat saw the cheering couples rooting for the winner and the two others that were in the race. She said, "It's not over yet."
A series of events happened and the Canterlot couples managed to win every event so far, while the Gaiti couples were doing poorly.
"I can't believe we're actually winning!" Dash exclaimed.
"I know!" pointed Rarity, "I thought they would at least get a few events, but we've been winning at all of them so far!"
Applejack questioned, "Why do you suppose that is?"
Discord said nonchalantly, "Oh, it could be that they're having marital issues. I've noticed they don't even communicate with their husbands the way you communicate with us."
Flash mentioned, "Yeah, it always seems they leave them out of the planning when they're about to enter another event."
"And they aren't even nice to them." said Spike.
"It's like they're a nuisance that they have put up with." said Fancy.
"That's awful," said Fluttershy. "It's like they don't even love them…"
Twilight's eyes widened, "You don't think they actually went through arranged marriages, do you?"
AJ said, "Can't say that would surprise me." She wiped her brow, "I'm going to get some water. Be right back." She went to the concession stand, only for a blonde unicorn to block her path. "Excuse me."
Trenderhoof said, "Oh, yes, pardon me. I didn't mean to get in your way." He stepped aside.
"Thank you. So, um, how are you enjoying the Olympics so far?"
"It has been… quite demanding…"
"Wife's giving you trouble?"
"She and her sisters are determined to win."
"I'm sure they do."
"I don't mind winning, but I could use some… affection…" He was easing, putting his hoof around her, but she slapped it away and moved a few feet away from him.
"Whoa there, partner! First of all, I'm a happily married mare! Second, you're married to somepony else!"
"To the politics, perhaps, but I was never in love with her, nor are any of my brothers-in-law in love with the princesses they married."
"Then why the hay did you go through with it?!"
"We weren't really given a choice. All marriages in Gaiti's royal family have been arranged. The other stallions and I lived in Gaiti and had been chosen since birth to be the princesses' future husbands."
"Seriously?"
"An outlandish law, to be sure, but it serves its purpose. Once chosen to be the betrothed, your family is well-rewarded for offering their child."
Applejack didn't know what else to say and just ran off.
"You have got to be kidding me." said Rainbow after AJ told them what she learned from Trenderhoof.
"That is completely barbaric!" said Rarity.
Twilight mentioned, "Suddenly, Mother's proclamation for suitors is nice compared to how other arranged marriages worked…"
Pinkie said, "No wonder they were always serious and wanted to win! I would be bitter too, knowing I had already had a husband chosen for me!"
"By winning, they actually had some control in their lives…" said Fluttershy.
Applejack pointed out, "Somehow, it makes me feel bad that we're winning now."
Rarity said, "I know what you mean… I was excited about how we were winning but now that I understand their situation better. I actually don't want to win anymore."
Rainbow motioned, "Well, we can't just forfeit! We're way ahead as it is!"
Twilight said, "And somehow I don't think they want to win by default. They want to win as the best they can be."
Cheese suggested, "So do we just pretend to lose?"
"That wouldn't be fair to them or us." said Twilight.
Flash said, "You know, what if it looked like we were cheating?"
They stared at him in disbelief.
He continued, "Just hear me out on this. Supposedly they catch us for having an unfair advantage. They'll think they had rightfully won those events because we didn't win fair and square."
They pondered on this and thought he was right.
Fancy gestured, "But how do you propose we made it look like we were cheating?"
"Oh, I have one idea…" He slowly turned his head toward the disguised Lord of Chaos and everyone got the gist.
The next event was underway: the ice archery competition. Three of the Gaiti husbands (Pokey Pierce, Comet Tail, and Trenderhoof) were going against Fancy, Flash, and Discord. And once again, Canterlot was taking the lead.
The girls overheard the princesses.
"Can they be more pathetic?" Sunny Flare said about her husband and in-laws.
"It's their fault that we haven't been able to win." said Sour Sweet. "Ever since we married them, they've been holding us back!"
"Our fellow princesses must have trained their husbands." said Sugarcoat. "How else can you explain them working so well with them?"
Rarity muttered under her breath, "It's called communication… Every marriage needs it to survive…"
Her sister muttered in agreement, even the husbands that were with them.
Rainbow asked, "Sure, we still want them to win, after all."
Twilight responded, "Even if they don't deserve it, it's the only happiness they ever have in their lives. The least we can do is give them that."
Screwball asked her parents and relatives, "So what happened? Did you have them figure out you cheated?"
The other kids asked random questions whether they did or didn't.
Twilight answered, "About halfway through the ice archery competition, we signaled Discord to reveal himself."
Discord pointed out, "I acted all clumsy and from there, I showed my true self. You should have seen the look on their faces! It was too priceless!"
Rarity took over, "We knew there would be a large quarrel about us cheating all along and we tried to say that we were being fair."
Applejack said, "And that was the truth. 'Course, they didn't really believe it and we decided to surrender our lead."
Rainbow mentioned, "And Gaiti's royal family won once again."
Whirl pointed, "I just can't believe you gave up your winnings like that…"
The rainbow-haired mare said, "Yeah, well, compared to what those princesses were going through in their marriages, I think we're already winners…"
Pinkie grinned, "That's right! When it comes to having the best marriages, we're winners, all right!"
Rarity smiled and wrapped her hoof around her husband and the others followed suit, "So true!"
There was joyful laughter while the kids took this lesson to heart. There was nothing better to compete for than for love…