A Tale of Two Princes

"Consorts?" The combined voices of all eight girls echoed a little in the tree.

"And just what is THAT supposed to mean, Lulamoon!?" Rainbow snapped, cracking her knuckles just in case.

"Uh-ba..I...ah..." Dusk tried to say something, but his exhaustion-and Trixie standing right in front of him wearing pretty much nothing- made it impossible to effectively string any syllables together.

Spike's attempt failed before he could even begin, especially when he kept trying to fight glancing over at Fluttershy's STILL wet shirt. How much water did that thing soak up, anyway?

"Hm!" Trixie scoffed, her usual loud self returning, "Trixie presumes that you lot are here because of Princess Celestia's declaration, are you not? That the two Crown Princes must take a minimum of three consorts each." She pointed defiantly at the girls, causing Dusk to try and back away only to fall over, "Don't bother getting your hopes up, for none of you are a match for the Great and Powerful Trixie!" She fixed the currently downed stallion with a gimlet eye, "She will be Prince Dusk's first consort, and she stakes her claim now!"

"Yaa-haa!" Dusk shrieked as he tried to scramble away from her when she suddenly lunged at him.

"Ah don't THINK so, Missy!" Before she could reach him, a lasso found its way around her and she was snatched out of the air. Applejack was almost a blur as she firmly tied the stage performer up, ensuring she wouldn't be moving any time soon. "There." She set Trixie down in a nearby corner while Rarity and Scootaloo helped Dusk back up.

Trixie squirmed against the ropes a bit, making cute little squeaks and grunts as she did, "Unf! Oh! Are all the extra knots really necessary?" The blush returned, "They're rubbing Trixie in...sensitive locations."

Applejack held up another length of rope, "Just so ya know, Ah got plenty more rope with me that yer gonna be snackin' on if ya don't behave, understand?"

She just gave her a sulking look.

Once the excitement settled down, Dusk and Spike were soon munching on a couple plates of sandwiches courtesy of Pinkie raiding their fridge. Meanwhile, the girls had moved to the side to try and piece things together.

"Ok, so there's something about this 'consort' deal that's causing those two to act like this." Rainbow spoke up, "But what's hanging around with somepony go to do with why their so jumpy?"

"Rainbow, I think you mean the other definition of 'consort'" Fluttershy replied. Suddenly, her eyes widened and her face went scarlet, "Oh.."

"The other defin...ition...oh my..." Rarity gasped, a hand shooting up to cover her mouth.

"Care to fill the rest of us in?" Rainbow asked, getting a little annoyed.

"Consort is like a title, Rainbow." Fluttershy said, glancing over to the boys, "It...it means betrothed..."

Applejack blinked, "Betro...ya mean...like a spouse??"

"Oh no...I...I think I get it now..." Rarity spoke in up, her voice not much louder than a whisper, "You remember how they'd get when it came to dating and such?"

"You mean how skittish...ohhhh." Realization swept of Pinkie's face, "You think they were already nervous about this out, and all the stuff we did just made it worse, even though it was accidental?"

Rarity flushed with embarrassment, "And I...oh Celestia, I had my hands all over Dusk! I admit I was enjoying myself a bit too much measuring him, but I certainly didn't mean to torment the poor boy like that!

"I'm still not sure what I did that scared them so much." Fluttershy commented, her head tilted in confusion.

"Um, Shy? Ah think Ah know. Look down." Applejack pointed to her shirt.

Fluttershy looked, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints when she saw her breasts visible through her top, "EEP!" She squealed, crossing her arms to cover herself, "That means S-Spike...he saw..." She whimpered and covered up with her wings, "And...the cat...oh no...when I said help with my wet pussy..." The shy pegasus looked ready to cry.

"You..you" Rainbow's shoulders started to shake, "You asked them-pff-to-snerk-and they..!?" She bit her lip trying not to laugh, tears welling up in her eyes, "I didn't know you had it in ya, Shy, or should I say want it--mpff!" She was cut off by a hat bopping her in the head.

"That's enough outta you." Applejack said, putting her stetson back on. "And try not to let it get to ya, Shy, now that we're findin' out what's goin' on."

"Oh? and what, pray tell, did YOU say to them, farmgirl?" Trixie asked, looking a little smug.

"Just if Dusk wanted some pie." She glared, hands on her hips, "Ah still don't get what's so wrong with that."

"And did he understand that you were referring to 'pie' as in the baked good, or...?" She glanced dawn at the front of her pants.

Applejack's glare slowly faded, replaced by a reddening face. "Ohhhh." She quietly pulled her hat down in front of her face.

One by one, Pinkie looked at them. Anyone paying attention would have seen her mentally putting things together before, "HAHAHAHA*snort* Heheehee!" She fell over, clutching her sides in laughter, "This*giggle* this is great! Your pie, Flutter's pussy, and my donuts! Hehehehe*snort*! We pranked ourselves and didn't even know it!"

While all this was going on, the CMC were nearby talking, though they could hear the others.

"That explains why he was acting weird." Scootaloo said once Pinkie had calmed down, "I mean, Trixie said that consort stuff applied to Dusk now that he's a prince."

"Yeah, but still, how does it apply to Spike?" Sweetie scratched her head, "He's not..."

"Actually...he is." Dusk said, getting everyone's attention.

"Dusk, what're you doing!?" Spike asked, glancing at the girls uneasily.

"We may as well tell them, Spike. Besides, Trixie already blabbed part of it." He sat back in the chair, "Yesterday, Princess Celestia called us to the palace. Because of my ascension and when me and Spike got the element crown back, she said I'd been declared Crown Prince of Equestria." He sighed, "Then she dropped the bombs. The first one was there was a law that-due to how rare male alicorns are-that a Crown Prince must select a minimum of three consorts."

"I-I'm sorry, did..did you just say you really WERE named 'Crown Prince'!?" Rarity asked, her eye twitching a little, "That wasn't just Trixie mishearing something or exaggerating??"

He nodded, gesturing to Spike, "We both are. That's the second bomb she dropped: seems he's BEEN one since she adopted him after he hatched. Apparently she wanted to wait till she could tell us both."

"A-adopted?" Apple Bloom asked, paling a tad.

"Well, yeah. I was a little foal myself when he hatched; didn't know the first thing about child care back then. Celestia signed the adoption papers and everything. Anyway, she dropped this on us and..."

"And you saw the results." Spike finished.

"I thought he was the closest thing to a prince here...and now he really is one..." Rarity could be heard mumbling to herself, staring at her hands, "I felt up a half-naked prince!" Her eyes slowly rolled back into her head, a rosy blush on her cheeks.

Rainbow just scoffed, "Ah, quit being so melodramatic, Rares! I groped him too, and you don't see me freaking out."

"A lady does NOT 'grope' Rainbow Dash!" Rarity glared at her, snapping out of the fainting spell surprisingly fast.

Apple Bloom, on the other hand, was shaking a little, "You..you mean all the times we asked if he saw a Cutie Mark..." Her face a glowing red, "Ah...Ah been barin' half mah backside to a PRINCE!?"

"W-we all did..." Scootaloo said, blushing almost as intensely.

Sweetie Belle let out a loud 'eep!' before she ran over to Spike and started bowing rapidly in front of him, her panic making her voice even squeakier than normal, "Your highness...! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to...to m-moon you!"

He tried to wave it off, "No, Sweetie, it's-"

"Oh Sweet Celestia!" Scootaloo almost shrieked, "We flashed him too!"

Apple Bloom looked at her, "Flash? Waddaya..." She trailed off, gulping, "The...the tree..."

"Say what?" Applejack asked.

"Th-the sap on my chest..." Sweetie Belle blushed, "That's why his shirt..." Even though she'd gotten a change of clothes earlier, she squeaked and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity gasped, looking scandalized, "How could you!?"

Rainbow just smirked and gave Scootaloo a thumbs up, "Nice, squirt!" The smirk turned to a leer as she steeped over to Dusk, "But don't think I'm letting you have all the fun! Yo, Dusk!" As soon as he looked her way, both thumbs hooked under the waistband of her shorts and they came down. She him a wink as she wiggled her now bare ass at him "How d'ya like these cupcakes?"

"Hey!" Pinkie protested, "I'm the one with the cupcakes here!" With a flourish, the shorts they'd made Pinkie put on were in the floor and giving both guys a front row seat of her rear, "Care to fill these donuts, boys?"

"Girls!" Rarity snapped indignantly, "At least keep your underwear on!"

"What underwear?" They asked.

Dusk and Spike stared, slightly blank expressions on their faces.

Well, aside from twin trickles of blood from their nostrils. "Dusk, if you would?" Spike asked.

Dusk responded simply by placing a hand on his shoulder; both of them vanishing in a flash of purple light.

"Well, now we just confirmed it." Applejack said. She glared at the bottomless mares, "And put yer shorts back on!"

"Wait." Sweetie adopted a thinking position, "If-if we were..." She blushed, "You know...then, maybe he..he wasn't choking like we had thought?"

"Well,now that you mention it, he didn't act like that until..." Scootaloo blinked, "You...you think...?"

Apple Bloom bit her lip slightly, "Maybe he might've been seein' us as...?"

Wide, excited grins began forming on their faces, until-

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CONSORTS, YAY!" They squealed in unison.

"Hang on a sec." Applejack cocked her head to the side, "Say wut now?"

"Come on, sis, we're of age!"

"But...

"Now Sweetie-"

Sweetie Belle glowered at her, hands on hips, "Is this where you hypocritically ban me from trying to snag Spike and share him with my friends when you're actively planning to do the same to Dusk?"

Rarity moved as if to respond before sighing. "...touche, Sweetie Belle. Touche."

"Bet I snag mine first, Scoot!"

"You're on, Rainbow!"

"Um...Scoot, Bloom?" Fluttershy piped up.

Scootaloo groaned, "Aw, come ON, Fluttershy! Don't tell me you're gonna tell us not to!"

"Is...is there room for a fourth?" She smiled sheepishly, letting out a cute squeak.

The room went silent. At least until-

"Um, could someone untie me? The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to go to the bathroom!"