Princess Cadance clicked her tongue against the inside of her bottom lip as she waited for her husband to return from his daily rounds. She'd finally been freed from the necessary tedium of Day Court half an hour or so earlier, and was now laying stretched out on her grand four-poster bed, waiting for Shining Armour to return from his rounds of inspecting the garrisons and directing the guards stationed there. His rounds seemed to be taking a bit longer than usual these days.
Hardly surprising, Cadance thought, smirking to herself. As that thought crossed her mind, her ears perked up at the sound of hoofsteps in the hallway outside. The door to the bedroom opened, and her husband's figure appeared in the doorway.
And what a figure it was.
After Cadance and Shining had taken up their new positions as leaders of the Crystal Empire, Shining had discovered that being the head of the Crystal Guard was a much less hooves-on job than being Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot had been, with his duties never really amounting to more than a daily round of inspections—he was really more of a figurehead than anything else, with the sergeants and lieutenants taking up the job of keeping the guards in check. His new lighter workload meant that he'd had more time to enjoy the finer things in life; most notably, the excellent food that the palace chefs continually managed to serve up. As time went on, his newfound decadence had started to go to his waist and flanks. Most mares would have chided their husbands over this, either encouraging or forcing them into acquainting themselves with the dreaded twins known as Diet and Exercise.
Cadance was not one of those mares. Far from being repulsed by her husband's increasing weight, she actually rather enjoyed it. In fact, it had been her who had managed to pull Shining out of a slump over his weight and convince him that it wasn't the end of the world.
Now, just about two months after that incident, Shining had only gotten larger. He'd been a little tubby at first, but now he was downright plump. A lot of his weight had collected around his rump, with both his cheeks stretched out to a generous size and bouncing noticeably with every step he took, his cutie mark blown up to match his newly-enlarged flanks. His belly was no slouch, either, forming a warm, soft ball of flab that brushed up against his pudgy forelegs and gave them the impression of sinking into his body around his elbows. At his front, a new padded layer of fat rested on his chest and around his neck, with the whole look finished off by a chubby-cheeked face that was, quite frankly, absolutely adorable. By all accounts, that extra weight should have looked grotesque on him, but Shining managed to carry it all just about perfectly. He was the very definition of a big handsome stallion.
"Hey, honey, I'm home!" Shining announced, smiling at his wife and puffing slightly as he trundled over to the bed where the love of his life waited for him.
"Hey there, Shining," Cadance replied, giving her husband a grin in return as she hopped up from the bed and trotted over to give him a kiss. "Are you okay, sweetie? You look a little flushed," she added, noticing the sheen of sweat on Shining's forehead.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Shining said with a wave of his hoof, breathing a little less heavily. "The heat's just getting to me a little, is all. Whoof, I don't know what the weather ponies were thinking with this heatwave. I'm thinking of asking them to give us a bit of a cooling rain shower later this week."
"I didn't think it was that bad," Cadance said.
"Yeah well, you weren't walking around the garrisons in it," Shining retorted. "Oh, I'll be glad when fall gets here," he sighed, pulling his wife in for a hug.
As Cadance returned the hug, she couldn't help but notice the way Shining's rump jiggled as he leaned in to her. Her urges got the better of her, and she reached out to give his rump a light smack, sending it off rippling as she did so.
"Whoa!" Shining pulled back and gave Cadance a sly smile. "Feeling a little frisky today, are we?"
"Hey, who could blame me?" Cadance answered, rubbing a hoof against his back as she did so. "What mare in her right mind could resist a body like that?"
"Ooh, flattery will get you everywhere, wife of mine," Shining chuckled, before deliberately giving his rump a little shake of his own, smiling as Cadance blushed slightly and giggled at the display.
"You know," she said in a playful tone, "there is something you could do for me that I think would be pretty fun."
"I'm listening..." Shining said, his smile becoming a little more sultry.
"Well, I always thought I'd love for you to give me a bit of a show. You know, nothing extreme, just something you could do to let me really appreciate your figure. Would you, um..." Cadance blushed and swallowed before she spoke again. "Would you... dance for me?"
"Dance?" Shining repeated, looking at her quizzically.
"Yeah. You know, I've got some records in here that have some good dancing music on them. I just thought you might find it fun to give me a dance," Cadance said, now blushing even brighter as she realised just how dumb it sounded when she said it out loud.
"Hmm..." Shining raised a hoof to his pudgy chin in thought, before he smiled back at Cadance. "Ah, what the hay? You're right, it'll be fun. Besides, it's just between the two of us, right?"
"Of course," Cadance said, beaming. "Thank you so much, Shining! This really means a lot to me."
Shining laughed. "Okay, okay... let's see what we've got here," he said, turning his attention to the record collection that sat next to a gramophone at the end of the room, using his magic to flip through the records while Cadance made herself comfortable on the bed for the show. "No, no, no..." he muttered, before stopping at one and smiling widely. "Oh. This one, definitely this one."
Shining put the record onto the gramophone and lowered the needle. He strode back to the end of the bed as the needle crackled and popped, before the music came to life.
As the tune started up, Shining started slow, simply nodding his head and moving his hooves in time to the rhythm. As the music increased in tempo, however, so did his movements, his faster nods and steps setting his body off wobbling ever so slightly. He wasn't ready to cut loose just yet, though. That would come in a moment. For now, he was content to lightly tease Cadance with his rhythmic shuffling and stepping, as she grinned and nodded along with him to the beat.
Eventually, the chorus came, and Shining gave Cadance a huge smile. Alright, he thought, warm-up's over. Let's go!
As the chorus started up and the instrumentation and vocals leaped to life, so did Shining. A quick hop left him with his rear end facing Cadance, where he immediately started to energetically sway and bounce to the music, his capacious rump bouncing and swaying wonderfully rhythmically along with him. Behind him, Cadance raised her hooves to her mouth and let out a girlish squeal of delight.
"Oh my gosh, yes!" she cheered, laughing joyfully. "Go, Shining! Shake what Celestia gave ya, sweetie!"
Shining laughed just as hard as she did, and was only too happy to oblige. As the song went on, he continued to lose himself to the rhythm and get swept up in his one-stallion dance routine, giving his wife the show of her life. As well as giving her a view of his wobbling plot, he got up on his hind legs and gave her a good look at his bouncing belly, before getting back down on four legs and continuing to jump, trot and sway to the contagious beat of the music. All the while, Cadance laughed, cheered and encouraged him, delighting in the performance her wonderful, gorgeous husband was giving her. She'd forgotten just how good a dancer he was, and he clearly hadn't lost his touch with his extra weight!
As the song started to draw to a close, Shining moved in for the grand finale. He moved closer to the bed so that Cadance was able to reach out and touch him if she wished, before turning and giving her a close-up of his plot. From there, he started to lightly move his weight up and down, allowing Cadance a close-up shot of his jiggling, bouncing rear end. To his pleasant surprise, he felt a pair of hooves grab hold of his flanks as he did so, and he rode out the remainder of the song with his wife holding on to his rump as he gently twerked in front of her.
Eventually, the needle moved off the record and the song drew to a masterful close. Breathing heavily, Shining turned around and faced his wife, who wasted no time in pulling him in for another hug.
"Oh, Shining," she gushed, "that was absolutely amazing! I loved it, I just loved it!"
"Aw, thanks," Shining giggled, nuzzling his wife in return. "Autographs later. Now, I hate to break this up, but I really need to take a shower."
"Really?" Cadance said, giving her husband a look of feigned surprise. "What a coincidence! So do I!"
"You really are feeling frisky today, aren't you?" Shining grinned.
"Well, I don't hear you complaining," Cadance laughed, giving her husband's rump another smack as they headed for the bathroom together.
END
