It was warm in the village today, as the bright sun high above was relentless in its job. Many in the place were unbothered by it, however, and simply went about their day. There were smiles abound, and everywhere one looked, there appeared to be an upbeat mood at the moment. Of particular note was a trio of ponies that now sat around a table just outside the local bakery. Double Diamond, Night Glider and Party Favour were all gathered together, looking eager in anticipation of something, with Party especially keeping his eyes upon the door of the aforementioned bakery. It seemed as though their patience was soon to be rewarded, as that door now swung open, revealing a fourth pony, Sugar Belle, who was using her magic to levitate a plate of delicious-looking small cakes to her colleagues. Many of the assembled ponies licked their lips at the sight of it, and as soon as it was close enough, they tucked in. With the cakes being fairly small, it took no time whatsoever for them to be eaten, and before long, Double was the first to comment on them.
"These are astounding, Sugar!"
"I'll second that!" Night added.
"Nicest things I've eaten all week!" Party concluded.
Sugar blushed at the praise, taking the now-empty plate away from her friends.
"Oh, it was nothing. I've just had a lot of practise lately. Still, I'm glad you liked it."
Night chuckled.
"Hey, when's that nice-looking stallion of yours coming to visit? It should be soon, right?"
As expected, Sugar's blush deepened at that.
"Mac? Oh, he won't be here till tomorrow. But, I'll be glad when he gets here."
She turned, making her way back inside the bakery, all while her friends gave her knowing smiles. Once she was gone though, Double turned to his colleagues.
"So, what are the rest of you up to today?"
Party opened his mouth, ready to give an answer to that, only to be interrupted when, all of a sudden, there was a sound that caught him off-guard.
"Psst!"
Naturally, all three of the ponies stopped what they were doing, looking around to see where the sound had come from. When no answer seemed to present itself, Party cleared his throat, ready to speak again.
"Psst!"
Again, everypony looked around, and this time, they actually did catch sight of something. It was the top of somepony's head, creeping out from just around the corner of the bakery. And not just anypony, but the village's resident singer, Feather Bangs. In spite of the fact that the guy was known as the most confident and self-assured member of their community, here he was looking anything but. He was nervous, jittery, looking around as though terrified somepony might see him. Of course, behaviour like this earned quite a few raised eyebrows from Double and the others, and after a long and awkward silence, the white stallion was the first to speak.
"You...um...you doing okay there, Feather?"
At last, the younger stallion slowly crept out from the corner, constantly looking around himself before taking a seat beside the other three.
"Guys...I need help!"
Party looked to him with confusion.
"With what?"
Feather's answer was immediate and hurried.
"With them!"
While Party and Double looked to one another, clearly having no idea what the guy was talking about, Night was a touch more perceptive, as realisation soon came to her, followed by a slight smirk.
"Oh, I get it. Mare trouble, right?"
Feather hung his head, nodding slightly.
"Yeah. I just...I don't know what to do!"
Hearing that, Double rolled his eyes.
"What, you have three beautiful mares all swooning over you at every opportunity? Oh, sure, I can totally see that as a problem!"
His sarcasm did not go unnoticed, and Feather looked to him with a frown.
"It's not that! It's just...I don't know what to say! I mean...how am I supposed to talk to them like that?"
Night looked to him with an arched eyebrow.
"You talked to Sugar Belle pretty well a while back, right? Heck, you're talking to me with no issue."
Feather looked to her, shrugging his shoulders.
"Yeah, but...you know...it's easier when it's mares who don't flirt back to me."
Night frowned at that, which led to Feather raising both hooves in a defensive manner as he began to explain further.
"And yeah, I know that sounds bad. It sounds...well..."
"One-sided?" Night suggested.
"Yeah...that," Feather conceded.
Night sighed before speaking up again.
"Look...just go to them and start up a conversation. Just say hi or something. You know, get the ball rolling. I mean..."
A smirk returned to her lips.
"...I'm pretty sure that if I was in your position, I wouldn't hesitate. I mean, a trio of ladies like that. Nice-looking manes, pretty eyes, decent flanks. Yeah, you'd bet I'd be willing to talk to them."
Slowly, Night realised that all the stallions around her were looking at her, seeming very much taken aback by what she'd just said, which led to her letting out a sigh before giving them a look of indignation.
"Oh come on, like any of you are all that surprised."
Wanting very much to move away from that particular line of conversation, Party cleared his throat again before turning to Feather.
"So...isn't there also the problem that there's...you know...three of them?"
Feather hung his head again.
"Don't remind me. I'm either going to have to actually choose one, or..."
Diamond looked to him.
"Or...what?"
A shiver passed through Feather as he answered.
"Or...they might want to...share."
Immediately, everypony got what he was talking about, and Double and Party froze upon hearing it. Night, by contrast, just kept her smirk.
"Hehe...nice."
Feather frowned at that, but he soon slumped back into his chair.
"What am I going to do?!"
Night looked to him with at least a small degree of sympathy, but, before she had a chance to say anything, she stopped. Something had caught her eye, and she was now giving yet another of her smirks.
"Well...now's your chance."
At first, Feather was unsure of what she'd meant by that. But, after the passing of a few moments, realisation came to him. He snapped his head to look behind him, and found, to his dismay, that those very three mares were now standing behind him. They were all smiling sweetly to him, just as they always did, and the green unicorn stepped forward, speaking first.
"Hey there, Feather."
Naturally, Feather was stunned into silence, frozen like a statue. But, after rolling her eyes, Night gave him a sharp nudge with her elbow, jolting him out of his trance-like state and at last prompting him to reply.
"Oh...um...hi?"
Giggling, the three mares waited for a few moments to see if he'd say anything else. When he didn't, it was then the turn of the purple pegasus to talk.
"We've been talking and...well...we've come to an important decision."
Feather tilted his head to one side, which caused the orange earth pony to speak next.
"Yeah...we realised that if we continued to fawn over you like we've been doing, we might lead you to choose between us. That'd cause a pretty big rift with us, and we're all friends, so...we've decided it's best if we avoided that."
For one, brief, glorious moment, Feather looked as though he'd been given an out. A way to escape the predicament he'd been worrying about this whole time.
"Oh! So...you mean...?"
The green unicorn nodded, looking quite confident as she did so.
"Yep...we've decided that all three of us will get together with you!"
And just like that, all the colour drained from Feather's face, his last hope now very much snatched away from him. Diamond and Party looked to one another, having no idea what was going on, all while Night watched with interest. As for Feather, he just, what else, fumbled his words.
"But...but...but...but..."
Seeing that this was going nowhere, Night rolled her eyes, then slapped a hoof down on the poor stallion's shoulder before addressing the three mares herself.
"What Feather means to say is that he's delighted that you've made that decision. In fact, he's decided that he'd like to take you all out to dinner tonight!"
As one would expect, Feather's eyes darted to Night, though he still found himself unable to say anything. As for the other mares, they seemed overjoyed by this news, and the purple pegasus soon responded.
"That sounds great! Does six sound like a good time?"
Feather tried to answer, only for Night to cut him off.
"Six sounds like a perfect time ladies. Feather's really looking forward to it!"
Again, the mares giggled, before then happily trotting off, each one giving Feather a very clear look of amorousness as they passed. Moment by moment passed afterwards, with nopony saying anything. But, in the end, Feather slowly turned his eyes back to Night, looking both impressed and horrified at the same time.
"But...but...but...WHY?!?!"
In response, Night just leaned back into her chair and chuckled.
"No need to thank me, Feather...you're quite welcome!"
