The Prince's Predicament

As Shining walked his guests out of the castle the following morning, he remembered that it was once again time for the uniform inspection. He'd not had any incidents since the day everypony was chuckling at his arse. But he didn't want to go down there today. He'd been up half the night trying everything he could to reignite the spark in his guests' marriage, and he didn't know if he'd done too much, or not enough. He only knew that he'd not succeeded. Regardless, he was exhausted.

Still, he had to do it. A splash of cold water on his face and a good shake pulled him out of his stupor, and he made his way down to the barracks. He was early, still having twenty minutes or so, so he stopped off at Mustard's table.

"Cards, sir?"

Shining nodded, and was dealt a seven of clubs and an eight of hearts. With a few chips that had no monetary value, he played.

"You feelin' okay?" asked Mustard, working his way around the table. "You look a little tired."

"Didn't sleep much last night," answered Shining.

"Need a nap?" Mustard asked, burning a card and playing a flop of two eights of clubs and diamonds, and the seven of spades.

"A nap would be wonderful," Shining chuckled. "But I have a meeting at noon, another at two, and then at four, I have to attend a banquet. I don't have time for a nap today."

Mustard nodded. "When does that banquet end?"

"About eight. I can sleep then." Shining raised to triple his bet. everypony else matched, except two who folded.

Mustard fell silent and pursed his lips. Shining didn't know if he was thinking about his cards, or his situation, but eventually, he matched the bet. "There has to be something we can do to help you," he said, burning another card. The turn was the two of spades.

"I wish there was," answered Shining, checking. "Unfortunately, this is just one of those times where I'll have to deal with it and move on. Nopony said this would be easy."

Checks around the table. The river was the two of diamonds. Shining checked again.

"I'm not going to sit idly by and let you wear yourself down," Mustard sighed. "If I win this deal, I'm ordering you to take a nap."

Shining scoffed. "Since when do you give me orders?"

"I don't. You need this, though. I'm making that part of my bet. If you don't like it, fold."

"Somepony has to do uniform inspection," argued Shining.

"I'll do it."

Shining thought about it for a moment. Anypony could do the uniform inspection; the outlines were published in a small book in a sleeve at the front of the room next to the door. Even the basic list could fit on a large card. The only reason that Shining didn't let somepony else do it was because he wanted to be absolutely certain, and also because it was one of the few guard-related things he was still able to do. Even sparring was out of the question. It was nice to feel like a protector again.

"Okay," sighed Shining. "If you win this deal, I'll go take a nap." He checked. "After the game."

When it rolled around to Mustard's turn, he pushed his chips into the pot. "All in."

Shining chuckled. "Seriously?" He matched. Everypony else folded. "Knocking yourself out of the game won't stop it."

Mustard shook his head. "You're going to bed, sir."

"Then you'd better beat a full house." With two sevens and three eights, Shining leaned back and folded his hooves. "That's not an easy hoof to beat."

"I know," answered Mustard, lying down a pair of twos. "But four of a kind will." He pulled in all of the chips. "Go to bed, sir. I will make sure this is dealt with properly."

The nap didn't do much. It was almost worse, having glimpsed sleep only to be torn away from it. He was groggy through his meetings and the banquet was upsettingly long, with less food than he'd like. He was very cranky, and unable to vent any of that through his fake smile. At least his bed was waiting for him.

Or so he thought. As he stepped through the door, Mustard was waiting for him. "Good evening, my prince. Did the banquet go well?"

"No," sighed Shining, letting his façade fall as he trudged toward the bed, which had the canopy closed for some reason. "The food was good, but such small portions. And with all eyes on me, I can't sneak off with extras..."

Mustard smiled. "Glad to hear it."

Shining looked up. "What?"

Mustard backtracked a bit. "Okay, I know how that sounds, but hear me out: Cinnamon is now officially licensed, and I brought him here to help relieve some of your stress so you can sleep better. More stress means he has a better chance of lifting your spirits."

Shining sighed. "I don't know, maybe I should just go to bed."

"Oh, stop whining and lie down," called Cinnamon, opening up the canopy a bit. "I'm ready for you in here, so climb in and lie down. If you fall asleep, you'll just wake up more refreshed in the morning, anyway."

Shining sighed, and then let out a loud burst of laughter. "Okay, okay, you win..." He climbed in and lay down on his stomach, discarding his tailored outfit.

Cinnamon sat down on his butt and wiggled around. "I'm never going to stop being amazed with how comfortable your arse is. You can sit just about anywhere and be comfortable." As he started rubbing some oil on Shining's back, he chuckled. "You know, now that I have a license, I'm allowed to start charging for my services. I mean, you can have a discount, obviously, and some freebies from time to time, but what I bring it up for is that I can have my license revoked for sexually harassing the customers. What I'm trying to say is, no more hinting at happy endings. You have to explicitly request them now."

"If I ask you for a happy ending, will your fiancé join the fun, too?" joked Shining.

"If you like," answered Mustard.

Shining raised his eyebrows. He hadn't expected that, entirely. "Okay, then. You two should sleep here, tonight. Bed's big enough..."