Sugar Bell looked up at her window. It was late, bed was being considered, but then a knocking... There were only a few possibilities. "Either that's a big mare I want to come in, or somepony else who needs to go to bed!" she shouted at it.

The window slid open. Blossom wriggled through the space into the room. "Um, howdy."

"Howdy yourself." She quickly closed for some gentle nuzzles. "You didn't tell me you were coming." She bopped Blossom gently on the head. "Get in that habit."

Blossom snorted at the bonk. "Sorry... Um, got news though."

"You sound right excited about that." She sat to listen. "Go on."

"So, talked to some ponies... Cadance fer one." She pointed northerly. "Crystal Empire?"

"I'm not that sheltered!" Well, she was pretty sheltered. "Cadance? What for?"

"She wants to help." Blossom tapped her hooves together. "She's a princess of love, an' she wants to be there, when we all talk."

"We all? Who's the we in this all?" She leaned in, head tilted. She took a little sniff of Blossom while she was in there. Her boyfriend smelled nice, even when he was a girlfriend.

Blossom pinned her ears back. "She knows, about us. Um, ah kinda asked her about it."

Sugar blinked, knocked dumb a moment. "You did what? She's a princess!"

Blossom curled a hoof back at herself. "So am ah, these days... Um... So ah asked."

Sugar flopped down. "What'd she say? Did she yell at you for wasting her time?"

Ochard Blossom smiled awkwardly at that. "Ain't nothin' like that. Right nice mare she is. She wants to be there, when we all talk." She waved her hoof about. "An' Fancy Pants wants to talk. Yer the only one left who hasn't said alright. Now, uh, to be fair..."

"To be fair," she echoed dubiously, but rolled a hoof for Blossom to continue.

"The day ponies in this got me outnumbered." He pointed at Sugar, then off. "There's you an' Cadance, to start. Fancy's up at all times, but he's more day than not. It'd be rude of me to insist we do it during this time." She turned that waving to be up at the sky. "So, ah'm thinkin' Big Mac aughta be there, in the day."

"Well, alright." She poked Blossom gently. "I love you both, and you can both hear when I talk to either of you, so what's the harm in that? Just..." She shrugged softly. "He's interested in this you, not the other you... right?"

Blossom shuffled in place. "Ya reckon... But if he's not happy talkin' wit' Big Mac, then that settles it right nicely, don't it?"

Sugar folded her arms. "Reckon it does, when you put it like that. Anypony that wants either of you has to take both of you or it's not really going to work out. So where, and how? If it's during the day, we can't ask you to teleport around much..."

Blossom considered that with a soft hum. "What if ah brought 'em here?" She pointed outside. "They can stay the night. Ah'll bring, uh, mahself too... He can sleep wit' you. Then, when everypony's nice an' awake, we chat."

"Clever..." Sugar planted a smooch on Blossom's nose. "I'll get a place for them."

With the larger details worked out, there was little in the way of the plan. Blossom conferred with Neat Fold and Cadance what day worked for them. The night before, she visited each to whisk them away to the small town Sugar Belle lived in. They'd stay in the same house, but there was room for either of them. "Thanks fer comin'." she assured both of them. "Now, tomorrow, it'll be Big Mac that's here, but we're the same pony."

Fancy Pants dipped his front. "Of course. Thank you for arranging this so quickly."

"I must say." Cadance was looking out a dark window at the street outside. "It's been quite a while since I was in such a small town. I think I'll do a little touristing tomorrow, see the sights, as it were."

Blossom smiled at that. "They'd be right happy to make a princess feel at home the best they can. Now, let me get mah other self." She spread her wings to take off, but a hoof touched her shoulder. "Hm?"

There was Fancy Pants, withdrawing his hoof. "I just want to be clear that you're quite welcome in either fashion. Don't feel awkward about it."

Blossom took an unsure step back. She brought down her wings in a great flap, vanishing from sight.

Cadance smiled knowingly at Fancy Pants.

"Did I speak poorly?" he asked of the princess.

"Not at all," she quickly assured. "Very gentleponly of you. Now, it's late, and this town does sleep." Easily proved by the still and quiet outside. "So, I suggest we take after them. It's a fine excuse to get a good night's sleep."

"A full night's slumber. They've brought us a rare gift indeed." The two upper crust ponies nodded with complete understanding, going to get those valuable Zs while they could.

The next day, Big Mac stretched awake, but he wasn't in his bed. Right. He had, as a she, brought him there, to Sugar Belle's house. There was Sugar Belle, sleeping next to him. He slowly slipped an arm around her and drew her close. It was quiet and still, but he was cuddled up with his mare, so it was time well spent, he decided.

"You gonna relax all day?" She hadn't opened her eyes, but that she was awake was hard to argue. "As comfortable as this is..."

Big Mac smooched her cheek and slid up to his hooves. "Mornin'!"

"Good morning to you too." She slid from bed to join him. "And you're all rested?"

"Why wouldn't ah be?"

She inclined her head at him. "Well, ya just spent all night Orchard Blossoming everywhere. Must be such a funny thing, finishing one day just to hop into another."

"It ain't quite like that..." Big Mac frowned with thought. "Think of it this way. When ya go to sleep, do ya even know how much time goes by afore ya wake up? Ya just wake up. Same thin' fer me. I jus' wake up, and ah don't feel tired no more, so there ain't no big deal."

"Guess that makes sense." Sugar trotted into the front and got to making breakfast. "Now, since I have you here, you're going to come, sit down and..." She trailed off. There was another pony there, in her house. "Princess?"

Cadance nodded. "Good morning. Did I hear you mention breakfast?" She licked over her lips. "That sounds wonderful. Am I invited?"

Sugar Belle resumed her preparations. "I thought you and Fancy Pants were coming later today?"

"That was the plan," she half-sang. "But I wanted to see you, specifically, spend some time, so I had some idea of you before we began. I already had a lovely chat with Fancy Pants, and I've talken to your +1."

"Who's that?" Big Mac came out to find Cadance sitting there in the dining room. "Oh... Hey..."

"Hey yourself." She gestured to an empty seat. "Come, join me."

"Sure..." Big Mac hopped up into the offered seat. "So... what's up?"

"You, just barely." She looked to Sugar Belle. "But you, more pressingly." Her vision unfocused faintly, looking at the connections between ponies. "Oh..." Nice and bright. Their connection was hard to argue. "Such a lovely couple you two are." She cupped her head in her hooves, smiling at the two lovebugs. "I am sorry if I'm getting in the way."

"A little," admitted Sugar Belle, but she got breakfast together for them all, joining them at the table. "But you came so far to help us, even if Blossom gave you a lift." She gestured towards Big Mac with her head. "I'm sure you have important princess duties."

"It never stops," grunted out Cadance. "But Shining, lovely boy he is, stood up and is taking charge while I'm away, allowing me to see to this. Now... I wanted to ask, if you don't mind, but what do you think of Fancy Pants, as a pony?" Her vision was still nudged gently into the field of relationships and love, so she could see Sugar's reaction to even the name.

The connection between Cadance and Sugar flared, an angry pulse, an unwanting. But she had asked a personal question. She ignored that, instead on the thread that became easier to see, with Sugar thinking of that rich noble. Hm. "Interesting." She didn't share what she had seen. Her eyes went to Big Mac, but not focused on him, exactly, but the many threads that dangled from him, one fading. That was probably Fancy Pant's, poked with his mention. The color and quality told her much. "I see..."

Big Mac nudged a plate towards Cadance. "Eat up. Won't have no guests starvin' on our watch."

Sugar Belle smiled brightly, proud of her stallion's words. "Exactly so. If you're hungry, we're fixing that." She tapped the same serving plate. "You too, honey bun. Time to eat. Talking comes later."

Big Mac decided to answer the unasked question, "Cadance can see how ponies feel about each other."

Sugar's hooves fell at her side, eyes wide, staring at Cadance. "You... can?"

Cadance raised a metal-clad hoof. "I promise to only use my powers for good. What I see is for my eyes only. A helpful hint for how I proceed, but not gossip to be share." Oh no, she'd get plenty of that the old fashioned way... "And emotions can be very complicated. I wouldn't want somepony arrested for what I see. It's hardly foalproof."

"I see..." About a six out of ten on the seeing table. "So!" She forced a smile and resumed eating. "You already talked to Fancy Pants?"

"I knew him a long time." She waved off into the distance. "Met him in Canterlot, before I moved to run the Crystal Empire. You're the only new pony I'm meeting today." She smiled at sugar Belle gently. "But no less important."

Sugar chomped lightly, taking the chewing time to just be quiet a moment. She glanced between Big Mac and Cadance, trying to find the right words. "Feeling..." Cadance was focused on her. "I'm feeling... really small right now."

Cadance shook her head. "You're the largest pony here. Everything hinges on what you decide." She smiled a little viciously. "Enjoy that power. If you tell Big Mac to never see Fancy Pants again, pretty sure he just, wouldn't, in either form."

Big Mac squirmed at that, unsure of how to respond. "Um...breakfast's mighty good."

"Thank you." But Sugar's attention wasn't on that. "What's the other option? We're a thing." She gestured between Big Mac and herself. "He's the extra one. What would the other option be?"

"Quite a few," assured Cadance with that smile of hers. "This is why we're talking, to put this on the table and consider it like the grown ponies we all are. Now, me?" She turns a hoof on herself. "I'm just the pony in the middle. I have no bits in this race. Whatever you do, it won't hurt me. Well, unless you decide I need a good kick. Don't do that."

Sugar blushed at the idea. "I'd never! You're going out of your way to lend a hoof... That'd be very rude..." She pushed away the plate and hopped to her hooves. "Alright. Let's talk. Like reasonable adults, was it? Look... I know he backed off the moment he knew... I'm not even mad..."

Cadance could see what emotions were brewing, but she kept that to herself. "Let's have that little discussion." She looked over her shoulder, going with Sugar Belle. "You too! You're the prize of the day, hm?"

Big Mac hit the floor, his face redder than usual as he staggered after the mares. "Don't gotta put it that way..."

Author's Note

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