Shining knocked on the door to Mustard and Cinnamon's house. Anypony looking in from the street would be able to tell that he was nervous, so he tried to keep his face hidden from view. He didn't want anypony to see him like this.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. The reason he was upset was because he'd received some disturbing news, which had only been confirmed with testing, but he wasn't sure what it meant, what the plan was, or how to fix it. All he knew was that there were some things he needed to check.

Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire:

It has come to our attention that your nightmare is recurring. As per our agreement, we tried to access your dream last night to make things a bit easier to deal with. However, we were met with heavy resistance. There are several things that may stand in the way of this, and we were hoping you would help us understand, that we may ask you to help us to help you.

Of the many causes, the most common is that you are resisting our advances. This usually occurs if there is something embarrassing that you do not wish for us to see. If such is the case, we give you the assurance that we will do nothing to damage your reputation, nor will we be judging you on what we see. It is your actions that define you, not your desires. At worst, we would have reason to start an inquiry, but we have faith that you are doing little wrong, if anything.

The second most common cause is that there is some kind of magic sealing your dreams off. If that is the case, we fear that the Crystal Empire may be under attack, and soon. From whom, we cannot be sure, but we recommend putting an abjuration field up before lying down for bed. We feel no need to explain in further detail, as you are a master-level abjurer, and your wife is an expert abjurer.

However, because of your chevaliery* and your skill in the art of abjuration, we can safely presume that neither of the two most common scenarios is the case. That leaves the most likely cause to be the third most common reason, and for that, we urge caution. We insist that you speak to the royal physician at once, as we fear that there may be a plot to poison you. We especially encourage you to have somepony else taste your food for you, as an off taste will denote something is wrong with it.

Wishing you the best of health,
Princess Luna of Equestria
Dictated but not read.

Shining had gone to the doctor, and had tested his blood, saliva and urine. The urinalysis had yet to come back, but the blood and saliva tests had shown no trace of anything deadly. However, his blood tests had shown an increase in Estrogen levels. While the doctor had said he was currently at safe levels, if they continued to rise, they would need to do something about it. Letting it rise unchecked could lead to gynecomastia (which was explained as swelling and sensitivity around his breasts), decreased sex drive, and erectile dysfunction.

The worst part was, he had no idea who was doing this, or why. His best guess was the jealous lover of a mare he'd slept with, as those were common enough, but nopony had come forward to accuse him of breaking up a marriage. If they had, he would have helped them put it back together. Cadance would have helped, too, as she was really good at that.

He also considered that it might be entirely accidental. A few things that were well-known to cause increased estrogen levels, according to the doctor, were extracts of ginkgo or ginseng. Ginkgo leaf could be found in teas, and ginseng was a muscle relaxant used in some massage oils. If he found both here, it may explain why his estrogen was increased.

He knocked again, louder this time. If he was convinced that this was a vile plot, he could come back with a warrant, but he didn't think that behaviour was warranted. If it was an accident, then he only needed to look at the box the tea came in, and the bottle of massage oil. It wasn't so bad that doing so needed to be a punishable offense, but something that would say that any massage given in the future needed a different oil, and drinking a different tea.

"You lookin' for Cinnamon an' Mustard?"

Shining turned to see an older stallion just over the fence, a trowel in his hoof and a straw hat on his head. "Yeah."

"They left, 'bout an hour ago. Said they was goin' shoppin'. Don't know what fer."

"Did they say when they would be back?"

"I didn't ask. Didn't matter to me at the time. Still doesn't."

Shining sighed. "Did they say where they were going?"

The stallion shook his head. "I was payin' attention to the flowers. Or maybe I was workin' on the berries by then. Either way, about the same time. They walk out, talkin' about some stallion at the bar. I'm guessin' that's you?"

"No, I... I haven't been in a bar in six years. Probably some other stallion."

"I can let 'em know you were lookin'."

Shining shook his head. "I'll just come back in a bit."

As he walked to the street, it occurred to Shining that, if this all was an accident, that Cinnamon and Mustard might not have a tea and massage oil that didn't have these ingredients. After all, most ponies seemed to be unaffected by the amount widely considered reasonable, and it wasn't as though Shining was pouring down gallons of tea and soaking in drums of massage oil. He had a rare weakness to a common household item; like an allergy, but presenting in an odd way. They might not have a massage oil free of ginseng, though it was likely they had an amenable tea. Still, in the event that they didn't, a box of tea was not very expensive.

He opted to do some shopping of his own, and headed into the market. Among the massage oils, perhaps a third of them contained ginseng in some form or another, whether the root was dried and ground up, or the oil was extracted and mixed in. One of them was the same stuff Cadance liked, and may have been absorbed through his hooves. He'd have to be careful moving forward, if that were the case, but there, it was clearly accidental. Cadance would never drug him on purpose.

Author's Note

*Chevaliery, in this context, is an olde-timey variant on "Chivalry." Much as a cavalier practices cavalry, a chevalier practices chevaliery. But when it was translated from French to English (Battle of Hastings), it was respelled to be chivalry. Cavalry, chivalry and, in this case, chevaliery, all mean "the behaviour expected of a knight," where "knight" means "mounted soldier."