The Prince's Predicament

Shortly after returning to their house and knocking on the door to no answer, Shining once again left, but as he came to the end of the yard, he spotted them coming around the bend with several large bags of groceries, which he was quite happy to help them carry back home and put away.

"Glad you were in the neighborhood," smiled Mustard, folding up the last of the paper sacks and sliding the stack into the cavity between the fridge and the wall. "I thought that was going to take out the rest of my morning. Tea?"

Shining nodded, but pushed forward his own box of tea. "Can you brew this one, though?"

"Making requests?" chuckled Cinnamon.

Shining nodded. "I have to. I talked to my doctor this morning, and he found chemicals that were knocked way out of balance."

"So this is a medicated tea?" asked Mustard, looking at the box. "Looks normal to me."

"It is normal," replied Shining. "There are just a few things I have to stay away from to keep the balance in check. By the way, can I look at your tea box?"

"Oh, sure."

Shining examined the box, and it was the exact same brand. They had been serving him a bergamot tea, and he had bought a lemon-ginger blend. Neither had ginkgo leaf, so he was safe on that front.

"Do you really think we'd feed you something harmful?" asked Cinnamon.

"Not on purpose," assured Shining. "It's like giving a colt a chocolate bar on Nightmare Night, and then finding out the next day that he was allergic to almonds. No harm intended; it was an accident. I just happen to be having an adverse reaction to a few ingredients of teas and massage oils. It's rare in teas, but it turns out the massage oil ingredient I'm having a bad reaction to is in thirty percent of the massage oils I looked at in the market. It's a common muscle relaxant."

"I can check the oil," offered Cinnamon. "What's the ingredient?"

"Ginseng."

Cinnamon didn't even bother to go find the bottle. He just shook his head. "Yeah, it's in there. I bought it with that in mind. Sorry."

"I didn't even know," smiled Shining. "Not until this morning. Here." Shining pulled out the bottle he'd purchased and offered it to Cinnamon. "That's safe for me, at least for now."

"So, if you don't mind my asking, what's this problem you were having?" asked Mustard, sitting down as he waited for the water to come to a boil. "You don't have to say, if you don't want. I'm just curious."

"Well, aside from the dreams, whatever it is is causing my estrogen levels to be really high."

Mustard glanced to the side. "Isn't estrogen only found naturally in mares?"

"Stallions have it, too," affirmed Shining. "It's just much lower. High estrogen in males is like high testosterone in females. Doesn't usually occur naturally, but sometimes it does. Mine was a sudden onset."

"And ginseng causes it to rise?" asked Cinnamon. "They don't say that on the bottle! There should be a health warning!"

Shining shook his head. "The change there should be negligible. It may not even be from there. Princess Luna thinks somepony may be poisoning my food, and I don't know how. We went out to eat last night."

"Whoever's doing it must have access to the kitchen," reasoned Mustard. "Come with us to the bar tonight. We know the owner, and he personally runs the kitchen. You can even watch him prepare your meal for you. Guaranteed safe."

Shining thought about it. Sure, it would be safe, but a lot of bars had a minimum number of drinks one had to order. Shining wasn't a heavy drinker, and any alcohol he consumed would impair his judgement. Would he even be able to detect the off taste he was looking for?

"I don't know..."

Mustard stood up, walked to the front door, and came back with his helmet and saluted. "Sir, it is my solemn vow to protect the many wonderful citizens of Equestria and its enclaves. As a royal guard, to let my prince be harmed is to bring shame upon the entire kingdom. I will not fail to keep you safe tonight."

Cinnamon leaned toward Shining. "Doesn't he just look damn sexy in uniform?"

Shining sighed his way into a smile. "Okay. Just for tonight."

"It's a date," smiled Cinnamon.

"I'll just tell Cadance before I leave. That way, she'll know that I'm alright."

"Shouldn't she come, too?" asked Mustard.

"Whoever's coming after me, they don't seem to have any interest in her."

"Are you sure? What if she has elevated estrogen levels?"

Shining scoffed. "She's always had elevated estrogen levels. But they're not putting anything in her food or drink. At least, she hasn't said anything. Pretty sure they're after me, trying to give me erectile disfunction."

"We should check for that to be certain," joked Cinnamon.

Shining looked up. "Do you want to?"

The room fell silent. Nopony talked, or even moved until the tea kettle began to whistle.

"I suppose I'd better explain what I mean," sighed Shining. "Cadance wants me to be more open to having stallions join us in bed. I don't like the idea, not because of the act itself, but more because I don't want to be involved, and I don't like the idea that she's going to replace me with another stallion; a better stallion. It scares me to think that she'd be happier having sex with some other guy.

"I don't want to lose her. Really, I don't, but I'm not cut out to be what she needs. What I need is to be even more okay with gay stuff, specifically performing it. I want to be the stallion she deserves. I came to the two of you because I'd like you to help me learn what I need to do to change myself for the better."

There was a pause as Cinnamon and Mustard looked at each other, then left the room at Cinnamon's beck. They spoke in hushed tones, and if Shining cared to eavesdrop, he had the means, but whatever they were discussing, he was sure they would let him in on it soon enough.

When they returned, Cinnamon had a big smile on his face. "You'd better tell Cadance that you won't be back until morning, because after we come back from the bar, we're going to spend the night making sure you have a good time."