The Prince's Predicament 2: The Princess's Predicament

Shining held the door open for Cadance, then walked in behind her. The interior of the building was a large, open space with a very industrial feel to it. Directed spotlights hung from a gantry on the ceiling, with various filters on them. Several large, powerful-looking speakers surrounded the room from hanging in the corners to a big stack near the stage. Crossing the floor was a large platform made up of several white squares, like huge tiles. At the other end of the room, there were several tall tables and chairs, as well as a very long wooden bar; enough to seat forty ponies. Behind that, several shelves of liquor.

"Excuse me," came a voice from the middle of the floor. A stallion with a pushbroom had just come to a stop. "We're not open."

"That's okay," called Shining back. "We're not customers right now."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"And I'm going to ask to see the owner."

Cadance looked at him, a panic on her face. "You're going to have him fired?" she whispered accusatively.

"Shining!" called another voice, this time above them. They looked up, and the bartender from last night's banquet was standing among the lights, waving a screwdriver over his head. "Let me finish this light, I'll be right down!"

Cadance pushed shining further back. "You're not going to have that guy fired, are you?"

"Why in Equestria would I do that?" asked Shining. "He's just a janitor, and he's right. They're not open for business, and if I didn't know the owners intimately, I would, and should, be asked to leave."

There was a rattling above them as the bartender moved across the gantry to the one wall Cadance had not looked at, one flush with floor-to-ceiling poles, one of which the stallion slid down to a small stage before moving over to the couple.

"Prince Shining Armor!" he laughed, wrapping his hooves around his shoulders. "When I suggested coming over, I'd meant during business hours!"

Shining chuckled and hugged him back. "Oh, that's still in the plans. Just not immediately."

"And this must be your lovely wife!" The bartender wrapped his hooves around Cadance's shoulders, pulling her into a hug that was a bit too tight for her liking.

"Cadance, this is Top Shelf. Top, This is my wife, Princess Cadance."

"It's an absolute pleasure, ma'am," he smiled, breaking the hug. "What can I do for you two?"

"I was showing my wife all of the improvements to the Empire," explained Shining. "How could I possibly claim to have showed her all of the great improvements without bringing her here?"

"You flatter us, highness," Top blushed.

"Is your husband in?"

"No, he left a few hours ago. He was complaining about a pain in his shoulder after a nasty slip, so I sent him to a doctor to check it out."

Cadance glanced at Shining. "Is his husband important for me to meet?"

"You saw him last night," answered Shining. "He's the other owner. Wild Dance and Top Shelf own the place together."

"After a collective five unsuccessful marriages and just as many successful businesses, we came together to run this place. It started off as just a business venture, but... It quickly turned into more than that..."

Shining directed them all to a table to sit down. Top Shelf even had some ice water brought over for them all.

"So, my second wife was this huge nag," started Top. "I knew that going in. I thought she was looking after my best interests, of course. Everypony wants to believe that their partner wants what's best for them. But it turns out, she just wanted to argue. I couldn't do anything right, and when I did, she treated it as a miracle. I'd go to work, and when I came home, she'd complain about how I didn't do the laundry. How do I go to work and do the laundry at the same time? And she'd just go for a hooficure in the meantime!"

Shining nodded along. He'd heard this story twice before, though never this brief.

"So, anyway, The judge, when we divorced, very nearly awarded her nothing. She nagged him, too, and he was unwilling to put up with it. He had to give her something, though, and what she managed was thirty percent of my company. She managed to convince the board to vote me out, and I just let them buy off my remaining thirty-five percent. It was a pretty hefty sum, and I started looking to buy my way into a new company. I'd worked with Dance, my current husband, in the past, so I knew he would make good on my investment."

"And you decided to marry each other?" asked Cadance.

"Not at first. See, we'd both been through some nasty stuff. Dance was still in his third marriage, and going through the rough patch that would ultimately kill it. That's when we met the prince. Shortly after, there was recorded proof that Dance's wife was sleeping with another stallion. That ended their marriage. Knowing the feeling, I was a comfort to him, and when his highness saw how much we cared about each other, he asked us why we didn't just date each other. The sex wasn't great, and is still kind of lacking, but the love is there. We're supporting each other, and that's more than we've been seeing in other relationships."

Cadance glanced at Shining, then back to Top. "You're still having problems with your relationship?"

"Just superficial ones. Every relationship is going to have its problems. The trick isn't to look for a relationship in which problems don't exist, because you will find that even the best pairings can grow a healthy supply of problems. What we learned from your husband is that, even when you run into a problem, you stand beside each other, you talk it out, and you come up with a solution. It's not about how easy it is or how well you can do it. It's about trying hard, standing together, and moving forward. Marriage is like a company merger, and the contracts look almost identical. If the two are willing to work together on something, then great things will happen. I guarantee it."

Shining stood up and patted Top's shoulder. "That's right. You're absolutely right. Thanks for the water. We'll be back, when you're open this time, but for now, we'll let you finish cleaning up, let you go home to your husband, let you rest a bit."

"Sure thing," nodded Top. "Drop in anytime."