The Great Fruit-Off

by Twinkletail

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Original Character, Cherry Jubilee, Comedy
Length: 5242

Cherry Jubilee's business is is hampered by the devious Sugar Grape.

Cherry Jubilee's got almost everything she could ever want. A position of power in Dodge Junction, a handsome business-owning husband...a foal would be nice, but that's besides the point.

But one day, she discovers that her orchard's a bit short of its usual profits, and she's determined to find what the problem is and fix it.

Published 2014-10-03 20:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-03 20:50:02 UTC

It's the Pits

Cherry Jubilee glanced up at the sign of her favorite bar with disdain. She had suggested multiple times that the Cherry Popper change its name; something about the current title just bothered her to no end. Try as she might, though, there was nothing she could say to the owner to get him to waver in his stance. One would think that with as much clout as she had over the small town of Dodge Junction, she'd have been able to push such a change through, but efforts had been fruitless. She'd even been so helpful as to offer suggestions for a new name. He'd seemed nearly convinced when she suggested "The Pit," but in the end Cormano's stubbornness won out. It always did.

Friendly greetings rang throughout the air as Cherry strolled into the establishment. Many seemed genuine enough, but she could pick out the few scattered voices whose hellos dripped with resent and insincerity. It came with the territory, and it would have been foolish of Cherry to expect any less. Nopony who held a position of power like she did ever had a 100% approval rating. It was a logical fallacy to expect such a thing; there would always be somepony who disagreed with her. It would take a mind control ray to bring such an idea to fruition, and that was not an option that she wanted to go through with.

Not that she hadn't put careful consideration towards it in the past.

"Afternoon, Miss Jubilee!" came the voice of the bartender, Straight Edge. Cherry had originally questioned Cormano's judgment in firing the old bartender (a sour old sort named Amaretto Stone) and hiring the local barber to take his place, but she had to admit that Edge was far more pleasant, and he certainly had less of a tendency towards drinking the bar's stock.

"Afternoon, Edge," Cherry sang back, her chipper tone persistent despite the serious matters that led to this visit. "How's the family?"

"Wife's been on edge," Edge said, cleaning a glass mug.

"Trying for another foal?" Cherry asked.

"Thought four was enough," Edge responded as he began to fill the now-clean mug with Cherry's favorite lager. "But I just can't say no to that face."

"She has to teach me her secret," Cherry said, a bemused smirk crossing her face. "Still can't convince Cor on even one."

"I'd give you all the foals you wanted if I was your husband, Miss Jubilee," Edge told her as he carefully styled the foam at the top of the mug.

"Well then," Cherry said, smiling awkwardly. "That's...awful kind of you. Cor is working today, right?"

"Sure is," Edge said. "He's in the office." He wiped the condensation from the front of the mug, leaving a little wet mustache on it before passing it to Cherry. "Shave and a haircut."

"Two bits," Cherry replied, reaching for her bag.

"You know your money's no good here, Miss Jubilee," Edge said. Cherry gave him a sweet little smile as she took her drink and headed towards the office.

For once, Cherry was thankful for the state of disrepair that the Cherry Popper's office existed in. Walking with one front hoof holding a mug was hard enough; if she'd had to work at opening the door as well, she very well might have been standing there until Cormano happened to leave. Knowing Cormano, that likely would have been quite a while. All it took to open the dilapidated door was a nudge.

"Afternoon, sweet cheeks," Cormano called, not even needing to look up from under the brim of his powder pink Stetson.

"The sweetest," Cherry replied with a grin, giving her hips a little shake as she approached. "Some might say these are foal-bearing hips." If the last few words of her sentence had taken physical form, they would have been sharp enough to cut right through the mug she was holding.

"Might," Cormano replied. "Now sit 'em down over here and let's talk." Cherry nodded, sauntering her way over and taking a seat next to Cormano on the piano bench that he'd been using for a chair ever since his previous chair broke a month back. She had half a mind to scold him over not taking better care of his office, but there was other business to attend to. Plus, one look from his gorgeous green eyes was enough to melt some of her frustration away.

"Got the finances for the orchard together," Cherry said once she was situated. "But things just ain't adding up. We're missing a big chunk of our usual profits, and I'll be a prickly pear in Ponyville if I can't figure out what the issue is. I've read through everything from top to bottom, but I can't come up with a thing."

Cormano nodded silently as he reached a hoof towards his wife. Once she'd passed him the paperwork, he began reading. Cherry knew she'd been diligent in studying the paperwork left and right, but Cormano just had a way of noticing things that she'd accidentally passed over.

"Hmmm," Cormano hummed, eyes darting feverishly across the paperwork. "Who's Soft Serve?"

"Soft Serve?" Cherry asked, her curls falling a bit as she tilted her head. "Why, she's the sweetheart who runs the most popular sundae shop this side of the Mareson-Dixon. Why do you ask, sugar?"

"C'mon, girl, how'd you miss this?" Cormano said, pointing a hoof down at the paper. "Records from last month show that you were making a lot more money from her then than you are now. Income from her this month's about ten percent of what it was last month."

Cherry nearly spit out her last sip of beer. She stared at the paperwork, stunned. How could she have missed that?

"But Softy's one of my best clients!" the confused cherry baron moaned. "How is this even possible? What happened?"

"Afraid I couldn't tell you," Cormano told her, tipping his hat back over his eyes and sliding the paperwork back in front of Cherry. "Reckon you should go to the source. As for me..." He shifted positions, getting as comfortable as the piano bench would allow. "Bout time for my afternoon nap."

"Your whole life's a nap, you goof," Cherry said as she set her mug down on the desk and stood up. Suddenly, she felt a little pat on her rump.

"Love you, beautiful," Cormano said.

"Ah ah," Cherry said, swatting at his hoof with her tail. "If you ain't gonna put a bun in the oven, then no kneading the dough." She turned and gave him a little wink. "And I love you too." With that, she left the office, giving her hips one more shake for her husband's enjoyment.

"Everything alright, Miss Jubilee?" Edge asked as he watched the cherry matron head towards the door,

"Got a lil' problem on my hooves, Edge," Cherry said, glancing back only briefly as she trotted out the door. "Got a mystery to solve, but luckily, there's a Cherry on top of it."

~~~~~~~~~~

Thankfully for Cherry, it was a fine day for a mid-afternoon stroll. Softy's shop was a bit of a trek from the Cherry Popper, and a rainier day might have weakened her resolve to get to the bottom of her current dilemma. A manestyle like hers wasn't really suited for a wet environment.

Cherry idly wondered what the problem could be as she traveled the dusty path down the road. Softy had always been a valuable and loyal customer. She had first met her when they were both young. Cherry Hill Ranch had only just gone into business when Softy moved to Dodge Junction, and Cherry had seen opportunity as soon as Softy mentioned opening a sundae shop. Every sundae served at Soft Serve Sundaes was topped with a Cherry Hill cherry, and both businesses benefitted from it.

So what was the issue now? It was odd enough for Cherry to begin worrying more about Softy than the financial issues. It had been a while since she'd gone to visit Softy. Could something have happened to her shop? She had mentioned something about money troubles the last time they had spoken. Cherry's pace increased proportionally to her degree of worry as she hurried down the path towards the shop.

Cherry felt her worries begin to fade as she neared the sundae shop. Judging by the amount of ponies milling around the front of the shop and enjoying their ice cream, the straits that the store was in couldn't have been too dire. With the worry for her friend's business out of the way, her mind was now free to return to worries about her own. With how well the shop seemed to have been doing, there had to be some kind of discrepancy here. Either most of the customers had decided to go cherryless--something akin to sacrilege--or something else was up.

Greetings rang out once again as Cherry approached the front of the shop. Cherry smiled politely and returned them, but this time the number of ponies who chose to say nothing to her was noticeably larger. Cherry had come to accept the few dissenters here and there, but the sheer volume of them centralized in this area seemed just the slightest bit peculiar. Even more peculiar was the reaction of a small group of ponies at the table just barely inside her peripheral vision. Each pony at the table had made a point of grabbing their sundaes and hiding them. Cherry frowned. She knew her figure had become a bit fuller since settling down with Cormano, but she was far from a dessert-stealing colossus. She made a sudden turn towards that table, striding towards it with a look of determination that struck fear into the hearts of its occupants.

"Afternoon, Miss Jubilee!" one of the ponies at the table, whom Cherry recognized as a cheery young spice farmer named Lemon Balm, said, smiling awkwardly. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Cherry let her frown soften a bit. As annoyed as she was by the behavior she'd witnessed, she could at least respect that they were being polite to her face. Some ponies didn't know that kind of courtesy. From the subtle changes in the looks on their faces, she could tell that they were somewhat relieved to see this.

"Afternoon," Cherry responded. "Enjoying your sundaes?"

The four ponies at the table looked nervously at each other. If they were trying to be subtle about it, they certainly could have been doing a better job of it.

"We don't have any sundaes," the lone stallion at the table said, tapping his front hooves together uncomfortably. Cherry watched all four ponies wince as she glared at them, clearly not convinced.

"So the spoons on your table are for show, then?" Cherry said flatly. "You know as well as I do that you're a bad liar, Lincoln Log. You don't have a golden tongue."

"Golden Tongue was busy today," Lincoln Log said, looking ashamed.

"Uh-huh," Cherry said. "You know, you don't have to hide your desserts from me. I may have picked up a few pounds, but I'm no monster."

"What?" one of the mares at the table said. "That's not it at all! You look gorgeous, honey!"

"Well, thank you, Bumblesweet," Cherry said, patting the mare on the head. "But if it's not that, then why were you hiding them?"

The four ponies looked at each other for a few moments. Finally, all four picked their sundaes up from their benches and put them on the table. Cherry leaned in, inspecting the sundaes to see what reason the ponies might have had to hide them. At first glance, nothing looked particularly different about them. They were typical Soft Serve sundaes, from the delectable ice cream on bottom all the way up to the...

Cherry narrowed her eyes as she inspected the tops of the sundaes. Something seemed very off about the cherries on top. They were a much lighter red than the cherries she grew, and shaped much differently. If she didn't know better, she would have thought they were...

"Grapes," Cherry spoke, although it was almost more of a growl.

"Sorry, Miss Jubilee," the fourth pony at the table said sheepishly.

"Not your fault, Lanolin," Cherry said evenly. "Tell me, is Soft Serve working today?"

All four ponies nodded. Cherry hummed quietly to herself as she turned towards the cone-shaped building. By this point, the crowd in front of the building had caught sight of what was going on, and they watched her in a hushed silence. Her eyes scanned the treats held by each pony, and sure enough, each one was topped by one of those detestable little oval-shaped fruits.

Something had changed in Cherry's town, and she didn't like it one bit.

Cherry strode towards the door of the shop, the determined look on her face enough to scare anypony in her way promptly out of it. With one quick motion, she threw the front door open.

"Softy!" Cherry shouted into the shop, accenting the last syllable sharply.

Every decibel of sound in the shop came to a halt. Even the record player scratched, seemingly in acquiescence to the priority of the new entrant's needs. A set of ears, one white and one brown, perked up.

"Cherry?" the owner of both the shop and the aforementioned ears called out. A hush had already fallen over the crowd, but it somehow seemed to get quieter still. "I-I can explain..."

"Grapes?" Cherry asked incredulously as she walked with conviction to the counter. "How could you replace my delicious cherries with...those?"

"Simple," spoke a third voice. All eyes turned towards the front door as a white pegasus mare with a purple mane entered, the smile on her face indescribable as anything other than pure malevolence. "Grapes are just that much better."

A tumbleweed blew through the shop, and was quickly ushered out by the janitor.

"Who do you think you are, saying something like that?" Cherry asked, doing her best to keep calm amidst the pure nerve of this unknown pony who dared to insult her livelihood.

"Name's Sugar Grape," the pegasus said. "And I reckon you'll be hearing a lot more of it soon enough."

Cherry's glare could practically be felt by the surrounding ponies. The tension was enough to send one pony running out of the shop.

"What's the meaning of all this?" Cherry asked firmly. Sugar let out a confident laugh, one which Cherry hated immediately upon hearing it.

"Oh, that's an easy one," Sugar replied. "Why, I'm here to take over the fruit business in Dodge Junction, of course. And thanks to your friend Soft Serve, I'm one step closer to that goal!"

Cherry's gaze turned back to Softy, who looked for all the world like she'd just been caught stealing from the elderly.

"I'm sorry, Cherry..." Softy said feebly, ears flat against her head. "She offered me a better deal, and I know I should have talked to you first, but the shop's been struggling..."

"Oh, hush," Cherry said softly. "You and I can talk this out later, in private. Right now..." She focused her stare back on the intruder. "I'm gonna deal with you." She strode confidently up to the white pegasus, whose smirk had yet to fade.

"You seem tense, Miss Jubilee," Sugar said. She reached into her saddlebag with a wing, pulling it out a second later with a single grape tucked between her wingtips. "Care for a refreshment?"

"I wouldn't eat one of those if you paid me!" Cherry said with a sneer. "Personally, I prefer the far-superior cherry." She reached into her own saddlebag, plucking a perfect cherry from its depths.

"Pfeh," Sugar responded. "Like I'd eat that garbage." She reached one wingtip forward, flicking the cherry from Cherry's hoof.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the fruit hurtled through the air, every eye in the shop glued to it. The deep red orb spun in the air, its stem dancing the macabre pirouette that only one that was utterly doomed could manage. After what seemed like an eternity, the cherry made contact with the ground. Everypony in the shop, save for Sugar, breathed a sigh of relief as the fruit simply bounced, unharmed, then came to a rest. The moment of relief was quickly crushed, however, as one of Sugar's hind hooves came down upon the cherry with unbridled force. A disconcerting splat echoed through the shop, bits of cherry flesh hurtling from the point of impact.

"Well, that'll leave a stain," Sugar said, smirking triumphantly as she looked back to inspect the bottom of her hoof.

Nopony else dared speak. Every single gaze now turned to Cherry. The usually even-mannered mare's face had begun to turn as red as her namesake as she leaned in towards the smug pegasus. The two were nose-to-nose within moments, the tension in the room so thick that nary a knife existed which could create an incision on its surface. The crowd waited with bated breath for Cherry's response, and the gasp that followed it showed that it did not disappoint.

"Fruit-off."

~~~~~~~~~~

The mostly-sleepy town of Dodge Junction hadn't always been supported by the profits of Cherry Hill Ranch. Many of the town's residents remembered the before-time well, primarily because it was only about ten years ago.

Ever since the founding of Dodge Junction, it had been run by fruit barons. From the bitter reign of the Grapefruit family to the small-yet-sweet rule of the Blueberries, the fruit family who proved themselves capable of bringing in the most money for the town was revered as the town's de facto leader and focal point. This was not to say that the townsponies always accepted it happily. The Banana family's period of rule was often seen as a bit of a slip in the town's history, and while some ponies enjoyed the Durians, others believed that they truly stunk. The Miracle Fruit family had looked promising, but once the town got a taste of it, their tastes changed completely. Regardless of the public opinion on the matter, the fact remained that the family who controlled the town's fruit production controlled the town itself. It always was that way, and it always would be.

This, of course, created conflict. A pony who preferred another fruit and had the ability and the stock to push their own would spring up every so often to challenge the town's leader. Each time this happened, the leader of the new fruit movement would face the leader of the current regime in combat. At first, such disagreements would be settled in a vicious battle, but such a practice was outlawed after the vicious Lemon Vs. Lime battle, which left two ponies down in the ground and seven up in the hospital. From there on out, the regular practice for proving fruit superiority became the Fruit-Off.

The rules of the Fruit-Off were simple. The heads of the two opposing sides would enter, each with 100 of their own fruit. They would each bring along one judge, who had to make an oath to judge the contest fairly. Then, each leader would go around town, followed by the judge from the opposing side, to try and get the townsponies to eat their fruit. Each propositioned pony was only allowed to eat a maximum of three fruits, to prevent hoarding, but could also deny that fruit. For each fruit that was eaten by another pony, that fruit's owner would score one point, but for every fruit denied, the judge would eat it and subtract a point from that owner. Once both supplies of fruit were completely drained, the side that scored the most points would be declared the winner of the Fruit-Off, and by extension, the baron or baroness of Dodge Junction.

Some called it unnecessary. Some called it an improper way to decide leadership of a town. Some even had the gall to denounce the Fruit-Off as rotten. But it was the way it was, and the way it would stay.

The reign of the Cherries had been lauded as one of the most refreshing changes Dodge Junction had ever seen. Before Cherry Jubilee moved into town, it had been run by Ketone and the Raspberry empire. The residents of the town had always seen the Raspberries as a seedy bunch, and Cherry's cherries were a breath of fresh air. Not since Strawberry vs. Prune had the reigning party been run out of town so decisively. The new regime had blown up like a cherry bomb, and as far as Cherry Jubilee was concerned, she would remain in power for a long, long time to come.

"Did you really have to tell me all of that, girl?" Cormano asked as he trotted alongside his wife to the town square. "And why did you refer to yourself in the third person the whole time?"

"That's not important," Cherry said, eyes forward. "What's important is that ain't no way I'm gonna let some grape pusher take my town. Worked too hard to get where I am to let that happen."

"I know, sweet cheeks, I know," Cormano said. He grinned a devious little grin. "Want me to fudge with the numbers while I follow her around?"

"No!" Cherry suddenly shouted, startling her husband. "You do NOT cheat in a Fruit-Off. I'm gonna win this, and I'm gonna do it fair and square." Then she narrowed her eyes, turning to glare at Cormano. "You trying to say I can't win this fair and square?"

"What? No!" Cormano quickly responded. "Ain't nopony can beat your delicious cherries, doll. Only thing tastier'n them is you." Cherry's frown faded quickly.

"You always know just what to say, stud," Cherry said with a grin. The grin didn't last long, though, as the two ponies arrived in the middle of town.

Nearly the entire town had gathered for what looked to be the biggest Fruit-Off Dodge Junction had ever seen. Fruit-Offs were always a big deal, but as far as Cherry remembered, the one she'd been victorious in hadn't been quite this populated.

"So you decided to show your face after all," came Sugar Grape's voice from the other side of the square. "I was beginning to think you were gonna give up."

An "oooooo" spread throughout the crowd, but was quickly silenced as Cormano shot its more vocal members a look.

"I did consider staying home" Cherry said with a smirk. "Figured with how terrible your stuff is, I didn't even have to show up to win."

Another "oooooo" rippled throughout the ponies in attendance. Sugar frowned, but the pony beside her, purportedly her judge, placed a hoof on her chest, shaking his head.

"Attention, combatants!" rang the voice of Pyrite, the figurehead mayor of Dodge Junction. "The Fruit-Off is about to begin!" For political reasons, the town needed a mayor, and Pyrite was more than happy to assume the role. Even he knew, though, that when it came down to raw power over the populace, Cherry was the true head of the town.

"Hope you're ready to eat your words," Sugar said as Cormano approached her side.

"Better than eating your grapes," Cherry responded as she was joined by Sugar's judge. The two mares were nose to nose again in an instant, snarling, and it took the combined efforts of their stallions to pull them apart.

"Are both participants ready?" Pyrite called out. Both mares nodded, eyes darting around the square, already planning their paths.

"Are both judges ready?" Pyrite asked. Cormano and the other judge nodded as well, looking slightly less determined than their female counterparts.

"Then without further ado," Pyrite said, raising the cherry-adorned flag of Dodge Junction. "Let the Fruit-Off...begin!"

As soon as the flag was waved, both mares took off at top speed, their judges following close behind. Cherry made a beeline towards her closest friends. Edge was more than happy to eat three cherries, as were his wife and each of their children. Cherry smirked as the judge tallied each fruit eaten. With the rapport she held with the townsponies, there was absolutely no way she could lose. It didn't even concern her when she saw Sugar feeding grapes to a small group of ponies. This was her home turf, the townsponies loved her cherries, and this was a done deal. Nopony could resist her cherries.

"No."

Cherry blinked as she heard that two-letter monosyllabic word echo through her head. She was shaken out of her reverie as she looked at the pony who stood in front of her.

"...Excuse me?" Cherry asked.

"I said, no," the stallion repeated. He grinned an evil grin as he stared straight into Cherry's eyes. "Cherry time is up, Miss Jubilee. It's the Grapes' time."

Cherry was stunned. She knew that she had her dissenters here and there, but she had never expected them to come out so vocally against her. She shook it off and moved to the next pony, but was met with another declination. She felt herself begin to panic as the judge marked down negative points with each refusal. There was no way she could lose her position in Dodge Junction. The only thing that got her moving again was the sight of some of her friends refusing Sugar's grapes. She watched Cormano mark each no on his own sheet and locked eyes with him as he gave her a smile and a wink. Cherry felt her spirits begin to rise, and she turned to face the dissenters with a smirk.

"Don't think so," Cherry told them. "Cherries are here to stay. And if you don't like it...well, ain't that just the pits." With that, she took off, reinvigorated towards her goal.

~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was just starting to set as Cherry dragged herself back to the town square. She was nearly out of cherries, and much to her chagrin, she wasn't quite sure if she'd done well enough to win the Fruit-Off. She'd gotten plenty of ponies to eat her cherries, but she'd also received a surprising amount of rejections. Regardless, she was doing her best to be optimistic, but that was made all the more difficult as she watched a confident Sugar Grape return as well, with a less-than-excited Cormano following behind.

"74 yes, 24 no," Sugar said with a grin.

Cherry was shocked for more than one reason. For one, she'd never expected grapes to be so popular amongst her cherry-loving town. To make things worse, Sugar had inexplicably scored the exact numbers that she had. The two mares were once again nose to nose, growling.

"Ain't no way you're taking over," Cherry said.

"Ain't no way you're staying in power," Sugar responded.

Both mares reared back with a front leg. Before anypony could stop them, they swung at each other simultaneously.

"Cherry!" Cormano yelled out.

"Sugar!" the Grape judge cried.

Both ponies' hooves swung towards the other's face. Just before impact, each hoof stopped. Cherry would have been surprised at the grape that had been stuffed into her mouth, if it weren't for the fact that she'd just done the same to Sugar with a cherry.

The townsponies watched in silent shock as both ponies held their hooves against each other's mouths, keeping them shut. The ponies held out as long as they could, but once they each realized that the other would not give in, they both reluctantly began to chew. Both ponies chewed slowly, then swallowed. Once each was sure that the other had eaten their fruit, they let go of each other's mouths, Sugar spitting the cherry pit from her mouth. Both judges looked at each other awkwardly, then shrugged and marked down the points.

The tumbleweed from earlier passed through the square as the ponies in attendance waited in silence. It was Sugar who spoke first.

"...Delicious!" Sugar exclaimed. "That cherry was amazing!"

"Outstanding!" Cherry cried. "What a fantastic grape!"

A gasp rippled through the crowd. Nopony had expected this kind of reaction as the two mares smiled satisfied smiles.

"I don't know why I was fighting so hard against these!" Sugar said, licking her lips.

"Me either!" Cherry said with a laugh. "Mmm, I could go for another one!"

"As could I!" Sugar said. They both reached into their saddlebags and pulled out their very last fruits. They held them out, then hesitated.

"...You know," Cherry said. "The rules of the Fruit-Off say that whoever has the most points once both fruit supplies are exhausted is the winner."

"Right," Sugar said.

"And," Cherry said, smiling a thoughtful little smile. "The rules never said what happens in the case of a tie. Which is exactly what would happen if we both ate the last of each other's fruits."

"Yeah?" Sugar asked. "I think I might see where you're going here..."

"Mhm," Cherry said. "If we both eat each other's fruits at the same time, then technically, we both win. Maybe Dodge Junction could do well with joint baronesses."

Sugar's smile grew, and her wings flapped excitedly.

"I love that idea!" Sugar said, passing her last grape to Cherry.

"As do I," Cherry said, giving her last cherry over to Sugar. The two former rivals held the fruits up.

"To joint leadership of Dodge Junction!" Sugar said, popping the cherry into her mouth. She chewed happily, soon swallowing and spitting the pit out. Then she watched Cherry eagerly. Cherry held the grape up in the air, regarding it with a smile.

"...Actually, I'll pass," Cherry said, grinning a devious grin as she let the grape fall to the ground. Sugar nearly choked on the remainder of cherry in her mouth.

"B-but..." Sugar stammered, but she was quickly interrupted by the voice of the mayor.

"And the winner of the Fruit-Off...Cherry Jubilee!" Pyrite shouted. The crowd erupted, primarily in cheers.

"You...you tricked me!" Sugar yelled.

"Mhm," Cherry said, chuckling triumphantly. "Mare's gotta do what a mare's gotta do. Now take your garbage and get." Sugar stammered, but couldn't come up with a response. With a final sneer, she waved her compatriot to her side and turned tail, beginning the long journey out of Dodge Junction.

"That...was amazing!" Cormano said as he joined his wife's side. "And I thought you were above playing dirty, you little minx."

"Ain't no cheating in the Fruit-Off," Cherry said, giving her husband a nuzzle. "But that doesn't mean I can't use some clever tactics, does it?"

"Sure doesn't," Cormano responded. The two ponies shared a triumphant kiss as the crowd applauded their victorious leader.

"So," Cherry said as she began leading her husband back towards home. "Guess I'll work things out with Softy tomorrow, and our finances'll be right back to where they were."

"Might not be, actually," Cormano said, giving her a sidelong glance.

"What?" Cherry said, stopping short. "Why not?" Cormano gave his wife a little wink.

"Well, you got what you want with the Fruit-Off," he said. "And I've been thinking about the other thing you want. We'll definitely have to work our finances differently if we're expanding the family." Cherry let out a high-pitched squeal and threw her forelegs around her husband's neck, hugging him as tightly as she could.

"You're the best, Cor," Cherry said."

"Second-best," Cormano replied, booping his wife's nose. "Now let's go plant some seed."